When I shifted through the haze and opened my eyes, I was staring at a white ceiling.
"Hello." I slowly turned my head to left, towards the sound of the childish voice. Standing before me was a little boy with dappled blue hair and orange goggles. His shirt was light blue and his dark blue shorts matched his sandals. He nervously touched his necklace, which had a miniature orange life preserver hung on it, and shyly looked at me with shining, pebble-gray eyes.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Mudkip," he chirped, smiling unsurely, still playing with his life preserver charm. "My name is Torrent."
"Oh. Oh! Oh, wow!" I forced myself up, making his forehead wrinkle in worry, "I was expecting a large fish or a frog. I thought that would be the most realis- oh, God, you're cute!" He took a step towards me and reached out a tiny hand, which I took. "You can talk, too! Hi, I'm Alexandra. Hi, Torrent. Can I hug you? I'm going to hug you." Torrent wrapped an arm around my neck. He smelled like a stream. "Jesus, you are extremely cute. I was not expecting this. Not at all."
He frowned for a second and then smiled prettily.
"You talk a lot. You're funny." He tightened his hold on my hand. "I like you. Also, Brendan is over there."
I had been so absorbed in Torrent, that I didn't notice Brendan to my right, sleeping on a chair.
"How long has he been here?"
"The whole night. Are you gonna be okay now?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to be okay. I think it was the vertigo from traveling between different universes." Torrent nodded like he understood and I turned to look at Brendan. He was wearing the same sleeveless black vest and white t-shirt as yesterday but had changed from his jeans into dark blue sweatpants. The sun glinted off the frosted strands of his hair and the same sunlight softened the worried lines on his face. Slowly, I reached out and touched his hand, uncurling his fingers. His eyes opened and I realized that the eyelashes that framed his cinnamon eyes were white as well. When he recognized that I was awake, his fingers squeezed mine and he sat up rapidly in his chair.
"Alex! Are you okay? You said your head was hurting and then you blacked out."
"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. It wasn't a dream then? Everything?"
Brendan shook is head. With his free hand, he started to smooth my hair again, fixing it.
"You had us worried there. You were screaming something about the voice being too loud."
"Really?" I thought hard, but already, the memory was fading from me.
"I see you've met Torrent."
"Ah, yeah. Do they all look like Torrent?"
"Every Piece in a specie looks similar, but not the same. Just like people." One of the assistants from yesterday walked in with a PEN, nestled the iconic red and white ball in my hand, and left.
"Do they say anything?" I whispered when he had left.
"They don't like teenagers," Brendan whispered back and laughed, again, with his hand over his mouth.
There was a knock on the door and I looked up to see a young boy who was taller and built less compactly than Torrent. His hair was the color of beech leaves in the summer and he had on a red t-shirt. His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his light green shorts.
"Oh, Aspen! Say hello." The boy bowed politely. "Aspen is a Treeko." Aspen stared pointedly at our hands with autumn-colored eyes, then looked at Brendan, his eye brows raised. Brendan let go of my hand, a light blush staining his tan skin, and got up hastily.
"Aspen and I are going to be on Route 103. I have to collect some data for my dad." Aspen was by Brendan's side in a flash and, like a squirrel, climbed onto his shoulders. "Your Icon has a map," he said, pointing to the bright red plastic square on the side table. "So you can use it to find me. It also shows what level your Pieces are and what moves they know. You can start training Torrent on the way to Route 103. Just to let you know, wild Pieces don't die, per se. They dissolve into energy and return back into the wild. This energy returns to the earth and is available for Pieces to use." He smiled softly at the uncomfortable look on my face. "It's part of life here. One day, you'll understand. And when you find me, we can battle."
"Battle? But..." I looked at Torrent. How could I lose him already? I had just met him.
"You can't avoid fighting forever. It's part of our challenge," Brendan said gently.
"I know. But most of the Pieces out there can't die because they're in PALs. Ours can."
Brendan's eyes darkened until they were the color of dust.
"They're dead already, enslaved like that," he quietly said. I shivered involuntarily at his words. "And don't worry, it'll be a light battle. Between us, I'll always stop long before your Pieces have any danger of dying."
I narrowed my eyes at his words.
"Are you implying you'll always beat me?"
He grinned until his teeth gleamed against his skin.
"We'll see," he sang confidently, and strode out the door, Aspen balancing on his shoulders.
All throughout showering and putting on my newly laundered t-shirt and shorts, I fumed at Brendan's parting statement. But one look at Torrent playing with the sink destroyed my anger.
"Torrent." He looked at me while I sat, brushing my hair, "You don't have to do this."
"I want to."
"Why?"
His eyes sparkled.
"Because of adventure!" he crowed, flapping his arms. Then, he stopped and smiled with an earnest look on his face. "Because I like you."
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"I'm not afraid of dying," he laughed and dramatically placed his hands on his hips, "Nothing can make me cry!"
I didn't know how to explain to him that the people left behind were the ones that would be crying.
The bright sun beat down on us when we stepped outside, making me squint my eyes. I could see a couple of houses near to the lab I had stepped out of, but nothing more. There were forests on either side. Life seemed to pass quietly in this town, with its population tending small gardens and raising small children.
"If we want to meet Brendan on Route 103," I said, consulting the Icon, "then we have to take Route 101, which is straight ahead." Torrent sucked on his necklace, looking around him breathlessly, and then ran towards the grass. "Careful!" I shouted. He didn't listen and plowed head-first into the grass that easily came up to my neck. I ran and caught up to him. "Torrent, you can get lost here!"
"But you have the map."
"But you don't have a map."
"Oh," he said carelessly, "I'll always bring myself back to you." He put one hand over his chest. "We share the same heart now and if your's is beating, I will find you."
I covered my face with both of my hands.
"Ah, no good, you're too cute. I'm going to melt." But Torrent wasn't listening.
"Alex!" He threw himself into the path of a figure that was hurtling towards me. Torrent's kinetic energy rolled them on the ground, over and over, flattening the grass around them.
"Tackle!" I shouted instinctively, the years of playing Pokémon kicking in. Torrent leapt up and I briefly saw the teenage boy with fangs, dressed in a black shirt and gray sweatpants, before Torrent hurled himself at the Piece, colliding right in the center of the older boy's chest.
"Ah, a Poochyena." Torrent stood up. "That was a critical hit." The Piece, which had been lying on the ground from the force of the attack, started to dissolve into stars. They floated away, scattering in the grass, all except a couple. These swirled rapidly around Torrent's necklace, making it glow, and eventually sank into the orange life preserver charm. Almost immediately after, my Icon pinged.
"Torrent gained a level," the calm female voice said.
"Look what I can do!" I looked up just in time to see Torrent put the life preserver is his mouth and blow hard, making mud fly off the ground and land forcefully on a nearby tree. Sure enough, when I looked down, Torrent's move set had expanded to include Mud-slap.
"Okay, Torrent!" I said, clicking the Icon shut, "Let's go level up!"
By the time we reached Route 103, Torrent had learned Water Gun. He put the charm back into his mouth and blew to make a stream of water shoot out and stun a nearby Zigzagoon. The girl shook her dark and light brown hair out of her eyes and charged crazily at us, moving in a zig-zag, her striped leggings wet. A barrage of mud knocked into her, making the Zigzagoon dissolve into energy.
"What now?" he asked. Battling wild Pieces and talking to Torrent had calmed the anxiety that had been lapping at my veins. I was finally starting to accept the fact that the situation I was in was not a dream. It helped that my little Mudkip was chattering happily, running here and there; my eyes, which had been stagnant for a long time, were forced to catch up with him.
"Hey, you made it!" I turned around to see Brendan jogging towards me, Aspen still on his shoulders. The wind ruffled his hair, revealing white eyebrows.
"Is that your natural hair color?" I asked when Aspen had jumped down from his shoulders. Brendan laughed, covering his mouth. In the sunlight, his eyes glowed tiger-gold.
"My dad said that when you started to ask light-hearted questions, I should tell you that he wanted to apologize for yesterday. And yes, it's my natural hair color. Do you like it?"
I nodded.
"It looks like window panes in the winter. Frosted."
"Ah, thanks," he said, his face tinged pink once again. Aspen snorted, which made Brendan flick the Treeko's nose lightly. "Do you want to battle now, or maybe you guys aren't ready yet?" The subtle derision made me furious. Aspen quirked an eyebrow, unamused.
"Let's battle!" Torrent exclaimed, tightening his fists in determination.
"You're on," I snarled.
"Alright. Aspen, you ready?" In response, the Treeko tapped his thigh with an open palm. Immediately, a small baton with a sharp end materialized in his hand. He nodded.
"Torrent, use Tackle!" He launched himself at Aspen, knocking into him with his shoulder and then rolling away. Aspen flew backwards, but flipped in the air and landed on his feet.
"Aspen, Pound." He swung the baton and caught Torrent's forearm. Torrent slid with the force of the blow.
"Tackle!" It really was no match. After all, Torrent was many levels ahead of Aspen; I would definitely win. But just as I uttered my command, my throat seized in horror. If Torrent landed a critical hit, Aspen would die. "No! Torrent! Enough!" But he was already too far into momentum to stop.
There was a bright flash of blue light and Torrent ricocheted off an aquamarine sphere that surrounded Aspen. The Treeko indifferently tapped his thigh with the baton and it dissolved into a handful of grass.
"Oh, good. It worked." Brendan put out a hand, which Aspen took, and easily pulled the Treeko onto his shoulders. "It's really handy, right? It calculates the maximum possible damage my Piece is about to take and shields if it is deadly. Really, I think..." Brendan trailed off when he saw the look on my face and my hand clenched over my heart. "Are you okay, Alex? Is it the vertigo again?"
"You incited the battle," I said quietly. "You can't-!" and I squeezed my chest until the rage simmered down. "-prod me like it's some kind of competition just to test your equipment!" Brendan reached for my hand, but I jerked it out of his grasp.
"Nobody's hurt," Brendan said, trying to comfort me. "It was the easiest way to test the machine as efficiently as possible."
"You can't play with my head that way. I thought I was going to kill him," I ground out through gritted teeth.
Suddenly, something changed in Brendan's face. It became smooth and expressionless, except his calculating stare. I could almost hear the whirring of gears in his mind. His body position became neutral.
"If I had asked you to try to kill Aspen, would you have?" he asked, "Even if I had told you that the device would definitely activate during the battle, would you have willingly turned Torrent against my Piece?" His tone was stripped of the warmth it had possessed moments ago. "No. You wouldn't have. I know you better than anyone here does, only by spending five minutes with you. I calculated the chance you were going to agree to try to kill Aspen and decided to instigate you instead. I am a psychoanalyst. That is my role in the lab. That is my gift. Was it wrong to use my gift?"
I felt bile in the back of my throat.
"You play with my emotions. You remind me of my therapist."
"And you remind me of mine."
There was silence.
"I don't like you like this," I said. "I like it when you look warm and happy and liquid." Immediately, he turned around, his back tense, his ears reddening. "But you are porcelain now. And I have no interest in that." I took Torrent's hand and started to walk towards Route 102. "Bye, Brendan."
Torrent looked over his shoulder and waved goodbye.