More words that took forever to type up. Enjoy!
I don't own Pokemon.
"Brock, it's kind of scary out here..." Dawn shuffled closer to him held his arm. Her eyes scanned the darkness around them, she had a strange feeling that they were being watched.
Brock noticed Dawn's hand on his arm, but he didn't mind it much. He felt a little uneasy about the darkness as well, but Dawn was already scared enough. So, he kept it to himself. "It's alright, Dawn. We both have Piplup and Pikachu to help us out if we find ourselves in a bad situation."
"Okay..." Dawn still held on to Brock's arm. She felt safer next to him. Out there, somewhere, it felt like something was watching them.
Ursaring ran through the forest huffing and grunting, looking around for something familiar.
Paul and Ash were struggling to keep their balance and tried to get a grip on Ursaring's fur. Teddiursa, on the other hand, seemed to have no trouble at all. She laughed and cheered as if she were on ride at the State Fair.
"uuuhh..." Ash groaned. He was becoming very dizzy again while also gaining a terrible case of motion sickness. "...c-...c-can you...slow down a little...please...?" His face had shown a faint tint of green.
Ursaring looked back with a worried smile and did an apologetic head bow. She had forgotten that they were sick and probably didn't want to ride at a very high speed. So, she slowed her run to a walk.
Paul didn't speak, he just looked ahead. He felt feverish, but he at least tried to look like he felt fine.
"...Ursaring?"
Ursaring tilted her head back and adjusted her ears to signal to Paul that she was listening. "...?"
"Do you remember where the pokemon traps are? The ones you found us by?"
"Ring, ursaring..." There were traps in many places in the forest, but she could probably find her way back to them. Ursaring thought for a moment, then nodded. "Urs-ring."
"...really...?" Ash was speaking very low, but could still be heard.
"Rwa, ur-sa!" Teddiursa gave Ash, who sat behind Paul, a thumbs up.
"heh,..." Ash returned the gesture through a coughing fit. 'Coughing and nausea?' he thought. "great..."
Teddiursa spun around to face Paul, who looked worn out and very sleepy. His head was down, but not very low. He had tiny beads of sweat scattered along his brow, his face was pale, with the exception of his flushed cheeks. His hand twitched every so often, but, other than the gentle rocking of Ursaring's slowed walk, he remained completely motionless.
"Sa...?" She leaned into his line of sight and waved her hand. "rwa rwa?"
Paul didn't notice her. He was completely zoned out, thinking of nothing. He was unaware of things around him with a strange feeling coming over him. 'What is this?' he asked himself. 'Why so-' "...empty?" He muttered.
"...?" Teddiursa didn't understand. 'What was empty?' She had no idea what he was talking about. Teddiursa placed her paw on his hand a shook it lightly. "Di...?"
Paul looked at the paw on his hand, then up to where his eyes met Teddiursa's. He almost felt numb as the corners of his vision were eaten and chipped away by darkness.
Teddiursa and Paul glared at each other for a brief moment. His eyelids were heavy, his eyes dark and dull, hers worryful and concerned. In the short time they spent together, she he had never seen him like this.
Paul watched silently as the image before him faded slowly. He could feel his consciousness slipping away. The world sunk into a pit of black around him and Paul suddenly grew weak. Teddiursa called out to him, but somehow her voice grew further and further away. Paul fell into a dreamless slumber, landing in Ash's arms.
"...wha-What the-!? Paul!?" Ash shook him. "...PAUL!?" No answer. "He needs help now, Ursaring." Ash looked up. "I don't care how fast we go! Let's hurry!"
"Urs!" Ursaring bolted through the forest dodging trees and jumping over bushes, knocking Teddiursa into Ash as well.
Ash allowed Teddiursa to stay on his back and looked down at Paul. Paul looked just as bad as Ash, if not, worse. "Hang in there, Paul..."
Pikachu and Piplup could be heard snoring softly as Brock and Dawn walked. Those two had been very tired and slept soundly, gently rocking with every step taken by Brock and Dawn.
Brock allowed Dawn to hold his arm for a while. The pain subsided long ago, but Brock had felt his arm go numb. Dawn was squeezing it a little too tightly. She didn't let go at all, not even once. She didn't want her and Brock to be separated again. No more ravines for her!
He didn't want to be rude, but he was starting to feel light headed again. "Dawn...?"
"Y-yeah, Brock...?" She nearly jumped from the sudden sound of his voice.
Brock tilted his head in her direction, but kept his eyes on the path ahead of them. "...I can't feel my arm..."
Dawn glanced down and noticed the tight grip she had on him. "Oh! I- I-I'm sorry..." Dawn let go and stepped away nervously, continuing to walk at his side. "I didn't mean to hurt you..." She whimpered.
"You didn't hurt me at all." He lied. His eyes slowly sliding to the left.
"...really?" Dawn turned to him.
"Well, not too badly..." Brock said, putting a hand behind his head.
"...oh..." Dawn looked kind of sad. Her eyes were glassy. She felt her body begin to tremble. Dawn felt as if the darkness was closing in on her, like unbreakable walls from which nothing could be heard.
Brock saw that Dawn had cowered."Dawn... If-" He let his arm down.
"hm..?" Dawn sniffled. She stared at the dirt path they were walking on, counting the rocks and stones that passed her boots.
"...if you're scared. You could hold my hand..." Brock lifted his hand from his side. "That is,... if you want too." He watched, from the corner of his eye, that she wiped some tears away.
Dawn took his hand gingerly and walked closer to him, whispering "...thank you." She felt a little better holding Brock's hand, it was comforting. Dawn never liked being in the forest at night, especially when it was very dark. She had always been afraid of the dark, but she never knew why.
Brock felt Dawn's shaking hand. 'I wonder what she's so afraid of...' He pondered on that for a while until they came to a point where the path split in five different directions.
"N-now where do we go...?" Dawn asked, looking around. Each path seemed to get darker a darker as she looked them over. "They all look the same..."
Brock ran the flashlight across each of them. He stopped when the light suddenly began to reflect back to them. It was on the third path, the one in the middle. "There's something over there."
"What do you think it is?" Dawn stood behind him.
"We should check it out." Brock began to walk, but stopped stopped when he realized he couldn't go any further. Brock looked back to see Dawn's eyes wide and horrified. She was holding him back. "What's the matter?"
"Th-there..." Dawn stared straight ahead. "There's s-something there...!"
"Yes, I know. We shou-"
"N-no, look!"
Brock lowered the flashlight a little, dimming the reflected light and saw strange figure with angry glimmering eyes.
Pikachu's ears twitched and then both Piplup and him we're awake. They were up so fast, it nearly gave Brock and Dawn heart attacks. "Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked furiously. He was ready for battle if that was the case. Ash wasn't there, but he would still want Pikachu to help protect his friends.
"Pip-Lup!" Piplup was also ready to defend against any kind of attack. Whatever it was, he and Pikachu could handle it. They both jumped out in front, in the yellow glow of the flashlight.
"Stay behind me, Dawn." Brock didn't have to tell her, she was already there. "Pikachu and Piplup will protect us if need be."
They all stood in silence as the figure grew closer and closer. Dawn wanted to run, but her legs wouldn't move. She was paralyzed with fear and watched as the creature bared its teeth and roared loudly. They braced themselves. She could hear something in the distance, was it "...coughing?"
Ash fought himself to stay awake. He couldn't pass out, not now. Paul and him needed to find Brock and Dawn fast. His vision went from blurred to clear every few minutes, he was in no condition for this. The night air, cool and humid, made his eyes water and his nose run. Something was causing his throat to hurt and become irritated. Ash gasped and soon began to cough uncontrollably; he had been surprised by a light that he saw ahead. "Ursaring, that might be them! Head towards that light!"
Ursaring nodded, then ran past the traps going even faster than before, dodging and jumping over each one she encountered.
Ash couldn't seem to stop coughing, every time he breathed in he would start coughing again. It was very hard to take air in at this speed. It made his chest hurt. When Ursaring jumped, he felt Teddiursa's paws slowly slipping off of his back.
Teddiursa whimpered as she tried to reclaim the grip she once had on him. But, almost immediately after she shifted her paws, Ursaring jumped. Her grip was gone and tears formed in her eyes as time seemed to slow. She was terrified. "Rwa-!"
Ash grabbed her quickly, and just in time. If she were there any longer she would have been out of reach. He desperately tried to hold in a cough as pulled her in close, all the while struggling to hold Paul in place with with his other arm.
Teddiursa had her eyes shut tightly and she held on to Ash's hat. The tears in her had long drifted away in the wind. She cried for a few minutes soon after. Her entire body trembled from being startled so suddenly.
Ash's body jerked slightly with every cough he suppressed. It worsened his chest pain greatly and made it difficult to breathe. There was also a strange taste in his mouth. It tasted like blood and he only hoped to Arceus it wasn't.
Two figures appeared in front of the light. To Ash, they looked like pokemon. 'Is that..?' Ash tried to identify the familiar zigzag tail. His eyes widened. "Pikachu!?"
Ursaring turned quickly, startled by his sudden outburst.
"S-sorry-" Ash gasped, "Watch out Ursaring!" He pointed ahead to a giant tree root sticking out of the ground.
Ursaring tried her best to stop, but they were going way too fast. Her front legs slammed into the root, causing Ash, Paul, and Teddiursa to fly into the air as she tumbled forward.
Ash accidentally let go of Paul. He panicked and flailed his arms. Ash couldn't catch his breath, he seemed to be spinning out of control. The air began to rush past him faster and faster until he realized that he was falling. Ash gasped suddenly and went ridged. He felt arms and chest go numb. His vision grew black and, with that, there was silence.
Ok, calm down.
Ash IS NOT dead, he's unconscious.
Chill...
Sorry, this took so long.
