I just want to give a shout out to the anonymous reviewer who let me know that Misty's last name is Waterflower. I really appreciate it. I've replaced edited that name into the chapter. Also, I want to encourage anyone who knows any other prominent character's names to let me know. Thanks!

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"Are you sure you don't want to get the rest of the Kanto Badges before you go to the Orange Islands?" Jordan asked over the mill of people and the foghorns of the ships in Vermilion City's bay. "I mean, it's not like you'll be able to just pick up where you left off when you come back."

"This is family we're talking about, Jordan, not just more Badges. Besides, I'm really curious to meet them."
"Yeah, but this family you haven't met before. What did your parents say when you told them?"

"They want to come out and meet them. Of course, they won't come right away, they're willing to give me time to meet them before they come disrupting the whole place." Chira picked up a souvenir shirt, studying it. "What do you think?"

"I think people act differently when it comes to family," Jordan crossed his arms, eyeing the busy side street and its occupants.

"Oh, har de har. You're not funny. I'm serious."

"It's not your color."

They had reached Vermilion in good time, taking the diglet cave, something Lance had told them about, cutting their travel time in half. They had a day to wait before their ship left; in fact, it was supposed to arrive in Vermilion that day. They were gradually making their way down to the docks, planning to try and guess which ship it would be. The town had proved to be more populated, and intriguing, than any of them had expected.

When Chris and Jordan had come through several weeks earlier for the badge, it hadn't been near as busy, and they had never found the souvenir stalls.

Now Chris was at the next stall over, looking at items for Trainers. Chira sighed and placed the shirt back, catching up with Jordan who had started leaving without her.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" she commented, stretching as they passed an unshaded area in the alleyway. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was a clear blue. The temperature was in the late 60's, and no one was wearing long sleeves.

Jordan simply nodded, staring ahead. He seemed to be brooding.

"What's up?" Chira asked breezily, concern for her friend weighing utmost in her mind.

"Nothing," he grumbled. Chira chose to leave it at that. She put her hands behind her head and studied the bright colors rampaging everywhere one looked. There were banners of all sorts, and Chira could tell she already loved this city. It was a typical seaside port as far as she knew, and she knew she would love to live in a port city. She smiled as she realized that was what she would be doing if she moved to the Orange Islands. She paused as she became aware of the turn her train of thoughts had taken. She was already replacing the family that had raised her with a family she had never even met before. She bit her lip, feeling guilty.

"Hey, check out this great deal I got!" Chris came running up behind them, waving a bag triumphantly over his head. "Ten potions for ten dollars each!"

"That's good," Chira told him. "Why didn't you pick me up any?"

They were interrupted by a roar of sound coming from the docks. People around them became concerned, several rushing toward the disturbance. Even some of the shop vendors closed up and quickly made their way down to the wharf. Chira and her friends exchanged glances before hurrying down there themselves.

They got to the commotion right as a ship limped into the harbor. Its sides were badly torn and scratched and its smokestack barely emitted any smoke. In fact, most of the smoke came from various parts of the ship. It looked about ready to keel over, and there were no faces on the docks, a rarity for passenger ships coming into port.

It was at that moment the tourists were separated from the natives. The tourists just stared as everyone else jumped to work, readying lines and getting a spot ready for the ship. Chira quickly joined a group preparing a line to pull it in, Jordan and Chris right behind her. A sailor threw the line to the ship and, amazingly, a face appeared just in time to catch and attach it. With the combined efforts of everyone on the docks, they managed to get the ship safely into its dock. A ramp appeared, and passengers and crew both slowly started filing off.

The captain was last off. People rushed up to him, asking what happened. Of course, the rest of those on the ship were being asked as well, but not quite as ferociously as the man in the captain's hat. Chira and her friends tried to stay by to hear the explanation, but the crowd soon made that impossible. Chira soon got separated from the other two, the crowd forcing her the opposite way from her friends.

She managed to get out intact, but, she felt, just barely. She was breathing hard, and scared about how she was going to find the others in the crowd. She debated for a minute, finally deciding to just head back to the pokecenter and meet them there. She had taken three steps when she realized she didn't remember how to get there.

"Just great," she muttered. She spotted a fisherman mending his nets and headed over. "Excuse me," she said. "I was just wondering if you would be so kind as to point me toward the pokecenter?"

The old man gave her a missing tooth grin. "Just head up that hill, sticking by the water, until you come to a wharf-side bakery. Turn right, on the next street and go straight. You can't miss it. It has this huge-"

"Thanks," Chira interrupted quickly. "I think I know what it looks like."

She heard him muttering about "impolite youth these days" as she turned, following his directions carefully. The cobblestone street was uneven, and Chira felt sorry for anyone driving on it. She walked quickly, regulating her breathing as a training exercise. By the time she got to the end of the street, she knew she had missed her turnoff.

The end of Vermilion wharf was heralded by a hill with a lighthouse on top, ready to shine safety at a moment's notice.

Chira looked out at the ocean, glittering softly in the afternoon sun. She sighed. It truly was beautiful. She was turning to retrace her steps when she saw it. She paused, squinting her eyes, trying to determine what it was. There it was again! A movement, a splash in the waves. A pokemon? Could it be?

Chira quickly looked around for someone to share her suspicions with. Not that it was a rare occurrence, but it was still almost magical, none the less. She saw no one. She moved to the edge of the dock, trying to determine what kind it was. She was so intent on that one point of interest; she didn't realize she was leaning out too far. She lost her balance and, for a moment, hung there, arms flailing. It did nothing.

She fell in with a splash, the water immediately covering her head. She felt herself sinking. She vaguely wondered how deep it was, before coming to her senses and kicking her legs, aiming for the surface. Her head broke through to air, and she took a deep, grateful breath. She treaded water for a minute, trying to determine how to get back up onto dry land without wearing herself out by swimming up and down the wharf. She completely forgot about the pokemon which was the reason for her treading water for a moment.

Chira shouted for a time, trying to get someone's attention. After several moments of no success, she gave up. She redoubled her examination of her surroundings, hoping against hope there was a ladder not far away for if a sailor fell in. Nothing.

The water was starting to sap her energy. Though the day was warm, the water was still cold from the recent cold spell around here. Chira began shivering.

She started swimming around the hill, scared of going the other way lest a ship not see her and run her over. She tried to keep warm by going at a brisk pace, but it wasn't working. She could feel herself growing weaker and weaker.

"N-not good," she said, her chattering teeth making it hard for even herself to understand her words. Thoughts of hypothermia flashed through her mind.

Chira swam for some time, not encountering anything. She knew she was just about at the max time for being in this cold of water. She decided she should at least try to make it back to where she had fallen in. Maybe someone had found her dropped pack by now and was looking for her. She knew it was a long shot, but right now she was desperate for any thing she could lay hope on.

Chira's hand hit a rock, and she grabbed onto it, desperate for anything to conserve energy at the moment. She thought to hold on until she had more energy to make it, but it wasn't long before she realized this rock was moving. With a cry, she pushed herself away from it, but didn't get very far. It moved, and the head broke the surface.

Chira stared up into the face of a monstrous, blue, fish-snake pokemon. She immediately recognized it from pictures. Gyarados. She whimpered, ducking lower into the water. It reached down, grabbing her shirt in its mouth. She screamed.

"Don't eat me!" she babbled, terrified. "Please, I'm just skin and bones; I don't taste good at all. Honest, I don't!"

Gyarados twisted around and placed her on its back. It then proceeded to take her back to the wharf. "Hush, Child, I won't hurt you. I just want a favor in return for rescuing you."

She stared up at it. "What kind of favor?" she asked carefully. In her opinion, you don't refuse a great bit water snake anything. You just don't."

"A ship ran into me, I am hurt and I need help. Humans are the best for helping hurt pokemon. I need you to take me to a… Pokecenter? I think that's what it's called."

Chira nodded mutely. "Sure thing. Not a problem, anything you ask for. Sure thing." She realized she was repeating herself and clamped her mouth shut. To her surprise, Gyarados chuckled.

"I'm glad you fell in," it said. "Not many humans can understand me when I ask them for something."

"Most are probably too scared of you," Chira couldn't help putting in. A gust of wind chilled her, and she shivered more violently. Gyarados picked up the pace.

They finally reached where Chira had fallen in. Gyarados carefully picked her up by the shirt again and set her gently on the dock. She quickly rummaged through her still present pack and pulled out an extra pokeball.

"Alright, I need to put you in here to transport you-" Before she had even finished speaking, Gyarados had pressed his nose (if you can call it that) against the button and entered the pokeball. Chira stared at it a moment before gathering her stuff together and trotting back to the pokecenter, still shivering and weak, but pressing on for both of their sakes.

"Chira, where have you been?!" Jordan confronted her as soon as she stepped inside the pokecenter. She looked up at him, eyes glazed. Her cheeks were badly flushed, and in her hand she clutched a pokeball like a lifeline. All this Jordan noticed in a matter of seconds. "Chira, what's wrong?! Are you alright?"

Chira collapsed against him, her legs unable to carry her any farther. She pushed the pokeball into Jordan's free hand while the other was engaged in trying to keep her off the floor.

"Chris! Call a doctor! And be snappy about it! Don't worry Chira, you'll be alright." He began guiding her over to a couch. "Chris, you can see to her after you call a doctor," he snapped. He tried to lay her on the couch, but she refused, pushing the pokeball harder into his hand with the last of her strength. He finally seemed to take the hint.

He pushed her down, taking the pokeball. "Don't move," he told her. "I'll take care of this." He raised the pokeball as he said it. He left her at a run, making a beeline for Nurse Joy, who by now had come out of the back room to see what the commotion was about. He shoved it at her and shot straight back to the girl now lying motionless on the couch. Chris was hovering over her.

"An ambulance is on the way," the boy told his cousin. "What should we do about…?" motioning to Chira, he left the sentence hanging.

"Keep her comfortable until the ambulance arrives." Jordan crouched down beside her. "Nurse Joy's taking care of it," he told her, unsure exactly what the it was.

Chira barely opened her eyes, fighting to focus on him. "Thanks," she whispered. He had to strain to hear what she said. She raised a hand, but it only got about a half inch off the couch cushion before it dropped limply down again.

"Chris, how soon will they be here?" Jordan asked, starting to panic.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Didn't you call them?"

"Yeah, but I was too preoccupied to listen to what they said."

"They're here!" Someone cried from the front window. Jordan looked back in time to see Chira's eyelids flicker, then settle in what seemed too much like a permanently closed position.

"You're going to be okay, you here me?" Jordan told her, blinking back tears. He had no idea what happened, but he knew it was probably something big. "You're going to be okay."