Storm Sworn

Synopsis: Found drifting at sea by a woman from her cruise suite, surrounded by a bright ring of Tynamo and residing inside an unfamiliar body, Aric Fisk doesn't know what to think about his old dreams becoming reality. But he learns fast it's not all rainbows and sunshine. Quite the opposite, really. And much too quickly in his opinion.

- [ᛊ] -

A bright head of short blond hair tilted, unsure what exactly she was looking at through the window of her suite. Outside on the sea's surface, there was a ring of flashing yellow energy, circling a piece of debris. At least, that was her first impression. Maybe it was nothing special, but something vaguely familiar about it made her give it a closer glance.

It reminded her of her latest capture.

"Is that...?"

Her sweet voice trailed off as she approached the glass, narrowing her sky-blue eyes. Her forehead soon pressed against the glass, and her warmer breath clouded the sea-weathered material.

"...whoops."

Easily, the teenage girl wiped the fog away. Then, she tried turning her hands into makeshift binoculars; it was the only thing keeping her from the glass. A part of her began to panic as the approaching debris only got clearer and clearer. She even recognized the flashing Pokemon. A small bed of eels were Tynamo's.

What were they doing so far from the shore? Never mind, flashing like they could defend themselves. Infamously, the first stage Pokemon were nearly powerless. She knew so, first-hand. And yet, she believed she could one day overcome it.

Her Tynamo was a ridiculously cute Pokemon!

—She sharply inhaled, noticing a figure in the center.

"Oh no!"

There was the ragged appearance of a skeletal person.

Quickly, she scrambled for her still packed luggage, and tried to dig out her Xtransceiver. A part of her regretted hiding it deeply, so she wouldn't be tempted to use it on (forced) vacation. Nonetheless, she shoved her thoughts away. Soon, her luggage followed suit as she threw it away in a fit of frustration.

Instead, she sent out one of her closest friends from their pokeBall. "Emolga!" It happily cried. Sadly, it wouldn't be one of those normal grooming sessions.

With a throat rumble, she drew up a serious voice, one fitting for her eventual role. "Code, there's a situation." The woman pointed to the glass. "There's a boy overboard, carried along by Tynamo's—y'know, like our newest friend, Current. I need you to keep track of him and guide the Pokemon if you can."

"Emol!" The Pokemon nodded, gravely.

"I'll go find someone who can help fish him out." With that, they left the suite in different directions.

Emolga followed the scent of ocean air to find the fastest exit route, drawing a few cries of surprises, from Pokemon and Humans alike. Elesa prayed they would understand as she rushed to find her fellow model friend, who wasn't a slouch with Pokemon either and focused particularly with Water types.

Elesa's thin figure rushed down the hall, the short, ribboned accessories in her hair dragged behind.

Nessa would make it a breeze to fish him out. Hopefully, the darker woman wasn't busy. She really should've brought more Pokemon... What was she thinking? Not bringing her water Pokemon to a cruise?

Elesa bit her lip, refocusing on the matter at hand. She turned a corner to scan the lower lounge. She almost slipped, running out of breath, and seeing neither relevant crew members nor her friend.

The lack of the former only reminded Elesa how she felt about taking over the Nimbasa Gym, located in the most popular city in Unova. She wasn't gym leader material and yet, at the top of her modeling career after making what she assumed were innocuous comments about the city, she was voted in.

She couldn't just decline. Becoming a gym leader was a big deal. Being voted in by the people? A bigger deal than she could ever imagine. She couldn't let them down, risk her career, the influence, connections this position would bring? Everyone was telling her she should accept, despite being a novice battler, a badge holder for only three years!

She hadn't even reached all eight under two years, the maximum duration before a badge lost its sign of verified strength in the eyes of the Unova League. She had yet to reach above six badge count! And therefore, she never placed into the Pokemon League Conference for potential champions, never mind all the other Gym Leaders.

It was her popularity, her carefully curated opinions, rapid exposure from modeling and dipping into Nimbasa's many hobbies. That and the people apparently didn't like the other options. Essentially, she just so happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the most popular opinion. The only people she could go to for advice could be counted on a single hand.

She turned on the edge of her heeled slip-ons, and briskly paced herself to a lower floor. She would try the cafeteria next.

They all said she should take a break. Her handicapped grandmother, who took her in after her parents passed on from their injuries during the last war, shared that the famously modern city wanted to try something new. That alongside all the technological advancements, they wanted a younger Leader. That her modeling gigs, Pokemon Contest wins and long-earned fame since childhood, which were seen as unintentional ads for her candidacy, made her the optimal choice—

"Elesa?" A familiar voice called out to her as cool as ever. "Is everything okay?" She had just come from her afternoon shoot, wrapping a towel around her hair to dry, and left immediately to find a snack, Elesa guessed.

—But there was something else to focus on!

"No, there's a person drifting in the waters!"

Instantly, Nessa's face schooled itself as she searched for her pokeballs. "Let me grab my Pokemon." She made wide, confident strides, which made a part of Elesa feel jealous at the ease she slipped into rhythm. "Alright. Lead the way."

"This way! Code should be circling the person and the Pokemon."

"Pokemon?"

Elesa shared what she could gather from her suite with Nessa while they rushed through the halls. She had plenty of time to worry about taking over a gym. Two years to acclimate to the position and build up a many series of Pokemon for it and choose what she wanted to focus on.

Electric seemed fitting for Nimbasa and her career, but she wasn't sure if it was for her. Of course, she already had three Electric Pokemon, but that was more of a coincidence, tying back to her job, the 'electrifying' fashion and persona.

In her opinion, it was too early in her Pokemon career that was tertiary to modeling and caring for her grandmother. The latter was the biggest reason she couldn't exactly travel. Her lack of experience would apparently be made up with the Elite Four members, who rotated with one another to head the empty gym and promised to even mentor the winner of the election.

She knew she would be completely mad if she passed this up, but this was so much on top of everything!

Her gaze briefly lingered on her friend. Nessa's jealousy was very transparent at the opportunity. Nonetheless, the younger girl didn't direct it in Elesa's direction, instead using it to motivate her own training. Even now, on their 'shared' vacation, the darker girl worked on both aspects of her life. The girl in the meantime between photoshop sessions and making time to talk with herself.

In terms of life and work balance, Nessa was the epitome.

Elesa hoped to have some semblance of it one day.

Two day later:

A scratchy groan broke the silence of the med bay in the luxury cruiser. The body it came from rolled over, pulling the sheets over themselves—only to freeze.

"H-Huh?"

My throat barely strangled that out. It hurt so much, feeling like I had pits of sand in there. I mustered the courage to reach up from the warm comforts of the bed I lay in, despite the numb pain I was in. It was so comfortable in fact; I nearly forgot my last experience before I woke up.

...I died.

At the thought, my tired and encrusted eyes flared open, painfully, and my body found the energy to scramble out. I threw the sheets nearly off the bed, curling my knees up to my pillows, where my back slammed against the metal frame. In my panic, I barely felt the pain.

Scanning myself immediately, I found a medical gown covering me. More importantly, my tanned arms were darker and much thinner than I remember. Neither was the forearm hair that I had grown in a drawn-out fit to look more manly. A peek under my gown saw my chest hair that took years of growth gone without a trace. The nappy brown hair that teaches my shoulders didn't match the spiky black of my old life.

Everything about me was younger. I thought you were supposed to lose your memories when you reincarnate... to like, reset karma or something. Nevermind, aren't I supposed to start out as a crying baby? To be fair, I'm not complaining about skipping those years of life, but this is all so very strange to say the least.

Trying to distract myself not to relive my death experience and take in my new self, I totally missed the door opening.

"Oh!" cried a girl's voice.

I jolted at the voice, turning to it robotically, unsure what to expect. A beautiful dark girl blinked at me, and I blinked back blankly. She seemed on the younger side. Really young honestly. But that didn't stop me from blurting out my next words.

My original mom was just as tall and thin, after all.

"Are you MY mom?" I hoped to whatever God that reincarnated me that my new complexion hid my burning blush at the horrible voice crack. My gaze had left her, so I missed her head tilt as she mulled over the words.

"No," she finally said, smoothly. "I fished you out of the ocean."

"The ocean?"

"We're on a cruise. Do you know what that is?"

What kind of question was that? "YE... yes.." I resisted the urge to scratch at my dry throat, too drained to blush.

So busy mentally throwing myself, I didn't hear her approach. "Here." In her outstretched hand, a cup of warm water sat, begging me to drink.

"Th.. thank you."

I tried my best to drink it like a normal person, but I failed the vibe check, nearly drowning myself for the second time in this new life, I assumed. The mature girl didn't say anything. She simply passed me a new cup and took the empty ones to refill, just to repeat. All that without a word, she patiently waited.

I wasn't sure how long I inhaled the water, like it was the most delicious thing ever, but I really needed that.

"—Hungry?"

I jolted again. I completely forgot she was here. I was so overjoyed to breathe without wheezing and trying to bite back a cough. But now that she mentioned it.. "I-," I made a grave realization. "Uhm, yes?" I had nothing to repay her with. Hopefully, she wasn't fattening me up to traffic me away. That would suck after getting my second chance.

She seemed more than nice enough for such a thing.

"I'll be right back with food."

"O-oh okay."

With that, she left.

She seemed really stiff. It only reminded me of girls that would ignore me in my primary education years. What have I done this time, I wonder..

For a while, I was left to stew in my thoughts and tried my best to ignore my growing hunger. It seemed like hours until the door opened again. To be fair, my reference of time has always been terrible.

This time, however, the door revealed a familiar head atop a tall, slender body. She was the Gym Leader in Nimbasa City, Elesa. Or well, a younger version of her. I wanted to say, she greeted me, but I was so surprised and starstruck, I froze instead. So, obviously I didn't catch what she said afterwards. Either way, her appearance confirmed a lot. Too much all at once, truthfully.

Like, for example, I was in a universe of a game and cartoon I used to play or watch. Sadly, I had fallen out of the series during the start of my college years, right around the end of the DSi games. If I remember correctly, Black and White 2 came out, but I never got around to playing them and wanted to focus on schooling for once so I could maintain my tight scholarship.

It had nearly taken every fiber of my being to do so.

When I graduated with a bachelor's in electrical engineering, I was left with no friends, struggling to find a decent job to stay away from my original parents, who had supported me all the way through. It was hard to face them when three-quarters of the way into my degree, I felt dissatisfied and disillusioned.

Ugh. No point in mulling over that, I guess.

I finally returned to my senses, but the.. Gym Leader—massive question mark, given her much younger age—was long gone. I hadn't even gotten to thank her... Hopefully, she didn't assume I was a fan. I don't even know why she was famous, other than being a Gym Leader.

She's a ton more pretty in person though.

Either way, the promised food was here, and it looked mighty delicious looking. Maybe it was the hunger talking since I wasn't much of a veggies guy, but a good ol' rice stew seemed perfect. The bits of meat looked especially tender and smelled great.

It didn't take me long to finish. I was fairly sure it was less than a normal portion since the bowl still had a lot of space left before I started. "Oh-" A memory shot through me. It was about a person on TV, talking about how starved people couldn't just eat a ton to regain their mass right from the get-go. It made sense, I guess. I felt pretty full after all the food settled.

...Anyway, the Pokemon Universe?

First thing was, which one? There was a series of manga I never really got into. But I recall hearing about a robot Dawn or something... I don't know. That place was crazy. Then, there's the games and the anime, nevermind some of the movies that weren't canon!

Ultimately, there was no point in trying to figure this out with a severe lack of info.

A time? It seemed to be many years before the games and the cartoon with Ash. Elesa was taller than I expected—gorgeous too, but that's beside the point. She didn't wear her usual hair accessories yet. Said hair was longer and actually done up in some curls.

As for the last major question that I knew I wouldn't have a concrete answer for: where? I looked around. The dark-skinned girl mentioned being on a cruise, and I only vaguely recall five. One in Kanto, Johto and Unova. Two in Hoenn, with one of them being a half-sunken ship. If I remember correctly, some were replacements because of an issue of some sort.

...As my mind tried its best not to focus on the possibility of being on any of those ships that were discontinued for very poor reasons, I peered more directly at the Pokemon staring right back at me. There was a small collection of various fish. More than a couple sported some kind of defect or debilitating injury.

It did further reinforce that I was in some kind of medical area of some sort.

I recognized most of the water Pokemon. A couple of dumb-looking Magikarp and Corphish, Krabby's without a claw or two, discolored Horsea's, cracked Clamperl... Honestly, I was surprised I got that many.

There was a bed of small, white eels, flashing excitedly, but I couldn't think of their name. I swear it's on the tip of my tongue. It just wouldn't come out!

My sudden rise of frustration made me dizzy. Thankfully, it was short-lived and minor. I brushed it up to the fact I had reincarnated, stranded at sea, and whatever else the world had thought to throw at me. So, I tried my best to turn off the part of my brain that kept trying to identify everything and tried to settle in a comfortable position to watch the anim—Pokemon swimming about.

There was one Pokemon I didn't recognize in the slightest, but it stuck out to me because it was very striking. A very sharp-looking fish, from its streamlined features to its spiky pink fins—especially the two that jutted out a ton from its otherwise narrow body—eyed me curiously with the roundest parts of its body. The eyes were just as pink as the fins and glowed faintly every time we made eye-contact.

It brushed up against my mind—or that's how I would like to describe it. I didn't know for sure. Either way, it didn't amount to much/didn't work, I think? I wanted to assume it was Water-Psychic, but at this point with what I knew, it could've been dark or ghost and was trying to fuck with me. So, I made the smart decision to leave it alone until I can gather more info.

And sleep. Yeah, that sounded perfect.

...Sadly, it never came.

My imagination ran rampant, dragging up dreams and hopes I once had about Pokemon as a child. Fuuuck, I miss those days. Life was simpler. The Pokemon franchise kept me company, morning, and night. Running around pretending to be a Pokemon, cheering Ash on, becoming my own champion..

It was all easily doused.

The thought I tried to ignore came storming back as the cruise announced the closing time on the deck because it was late.

My first date since forever was late—probably stood me up, and it had gotten me killed. Wrong time, wrong place, I wanted to think. But... My hesitant gaze drifted up to the Pokemon, lounging in the oversized tank. Some noticed the attention without any prompt. Despite their injuries, they could kill me with ease.

Gut me.
Drown me.
Snap me in half.

All in all, they could end me much easier in many more ways than my killer did. I was surrounded by potential death. The idea was suffocating. I felt like I was drowning for the nth time since I got here..

I'm not sure how long went by before I removed myself from my mental funk and passed out. I woke up in a sorely uncomfortable position and a sheet draped over me. The lights were off, except for the ones within the tank, which faintly lit the room in a soft blue. Because of that, I spied my bowl missing and a girl asleep on a chair.

She was the dark-haired and skinned one from before.

She must've been the one who placed the blanket over me. A shot of embarrassment flared through me. I was 24 for crying out loud. She didn't look any older than eighteen. Even then, I'd assume she was younger than that. It was hard to tell these days.

When was the last time I had someone tuck me into bed? I couldn't remember. The thought helped bring back my somber mood. To be fair, it sucked to die before I accomplished anything. But I couldn't cling to it. It wouldn't make sense, nevermind actively sabotage me. It was hard. It helped to remember I had apparently overcome death in this world.

Well, I had been found stranded in a Pokemon-filled sea too...

I inspected my tanned arms again, trying to move on before I spiral again.

Who are my parents? No sudden flood of memories answered me. No jolt of emotion that wasn't... foreign to me either. So, I shoved it to the back of my mind. Chances are I may have been transported with a whole new body. Either way, the answer was the same. I needed more information.

I glanced back at the sleeping girl.

She was a lot cuter while relaxed. Perhaps, she was a model like Elesa? That was why she was famous, right? Could be how they became, I assume, friends. Maybe she was just standoffish with strangers? That was fair, honestly. I could relate too much.

I'm glad I had been fished out the sea though. Would've sucked to deal with that all by myself, to say the least. I bit back a dry laugh, which reminded me. I really could use something to drink again.

My eyes found the water fountain device from earlier and the stacked cups beside it. It shifted to my bare and reddened legs. I frowned. They were sunburnt. Then it fleeted to my gown and then back to the dark beauty. Hopefully, I didn't expose myself to her.

I moved to the edge of the oddly comfortable but clinical bed and tried to push off to stand. I utterly failed, only slipping off with a crash and numb flashes of pain. I groaned, forcing my arms to roll me onto my back.

Unfortunately, I woke up the girl, who shot up at the noise and found me on the floor.

"You shouldn't be up and about," she chided, assisting me off the wood and onto my bed. All the while, I could only swallow my pride and ignore the closeness of the opposite gender. "What were you trying to do?"

I grumbled, "..was getting a drink and didn't want to wake you." My gaze was pointedly away from her, frustrated at my powerlessness. I didn't feel pain, like I was used to, but I was certainly weakened. I totally underestimated the whole stranded at sea and starved aspect.

"Hm, I see." She left the bedside to fill a couple cups. A minute later, she returned. "Here."

I also underestimated my level of frustration. I was never the type to accept help. In my opinion, it was a dangerous thing to get used to and never wanted to start. It was an extreme take but served me well. So, when I grumbled out an angry "Thank you," I immediately winced. This girl was simply helping me out. "S-Sorry, I just..."

She shrugged and plopped back into her chair. "Drink up. I have some questions for you if you're up for it." She pulled up a notebook from somewhere and explained, "the S.S. Cactus' Doctor, Dr. Osumi, said there's a routine for this." She blinked her light blue eyes that seemed to glow in the faint light. "That's the name of the cruise by the way, annd she went to rest."

I nodded mid-sip.

Patiently, she waited for me to finish the two cups.

"Finished? Ready?" I nodded at both, licking my patchy lips. "Name?" My hesitation must've been apparent on my face because she continued, "You shouldn't be in any sort of trouble. Unless, you know?"

I had my name from my old life, but I had no clue if I had one here. My inner turmoil made the silence ring longer than comfortable. I couldn't decide on my old one or feign ignorance. In the end, I chose the former.

From what I understood from shows, people don't really forget their names.

"A.. Aric Fisk."

The girl put the pen to the page, only to pause. "That's an A, not E, right?" I nodded. "Sounds northeastern Galarian."

I didn't know what that meant. It sounded like a place, but I don't recognize that from any of the five regions I knew more intimately. I don't mean to say I know everything about the first five regions... nevermind the regions that were released afterwards.

"Do you know how you got to sea?"

"No."

"Do you know what happened before you were lost at sea?"

"No."

"Do you have any connections to the Pokemon that dragged you over here?"

"What Pokemon?"

"That's a no then." She pointed to the tank. "The white eels, Tynamo, usually found at the shores, dragged you over to the ship and caught my friend's eye. They seem to care for you, unwilling to leave you after fulfilling their purpose. They're wild despite acting like that."

"Oh." They seemed to flicker happily at my returned attention. The flashing was something I couldn't get used to yet, so I turned away. "I.. I don't know why."

"Hm. Okay." She jotted something. "You didn't have any form of identification on you when we found you. Where are your parents?"

I flinched because I had thought about the same exact thing and came up empty. "I don't know," I repeated.

The girl searched my face, looked down at the notebook, and back to me before shrugging. "What do you know?"

I didn't know how to answer that, but my eyes trailed to the fish tank. "Most of the Pokemon from the fish tank?"

"Anything else?"

"Math, and electrical engineering?"

She blinked at the second one, "I'm sorry?"

"U-Uhm," it just came out. I panicked because math didn't feel sufficient. "Electrical engineering?" I tried again.

Her eyes narrowed, "How old are you?"

"I-I don't know." Definitely not 24, I'm sure.

She mumbled something to herself as she noted something into the book. She rose back up, "Did you come from an island or tribe?"

"No?"

Those exist?

"Do you know what region we're in?"

"No."

Her eyes widened. "We're in Hoenn at the moment, just under Slateport. Does that ring any bells?"

"Not really.." I mumbled with furrowed brows. I knew of Hoenn, but it had been years since I touched Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire. Slateport obviously sounds like a port city, but I couldn't remember anything of importance about it, like say, Littleroot or Lilycove.

"You're missing a lot of information, Mr. Fisk." She shut the notebook and pulled out a device. "I'll be looking through missing persons cases. But before that..." her eyes softened, retaking me. "Let me inform you on your injuries."

I was a wreck, I was sure. But I wasn't ready for her to list it all out.

" You had a bad blunt force trauma to the back of your head, but the Pokemon had kept you surfaced. You've lost too much muscle mass and fat; you're very malnourished. Your skin is sunburnt, up to the second-degree along your neck, arms, legs and back. Dehydration was pretty obvious. We cleaned nearly all of it, but you were covered in fungal and serial bacterial infections.

Oh, that reminds me. How are your ears?"

"T-They're fine?" I cupped them, cringing at the material covering them. I never noticed that everything was a little muffled until now.

"Good, they.. They weren't doing so great when we found you." She took the empty cups in my lap. "You should make a full recovery, but it'll take a month or so for the worse to wear off."

My face must've expressed what my mind was trying to suppress because the mature girl approached. "My Starmie—or well, my friend's Emolga said you had been blessed by Victini since you survived, so.. I wouldn't worry too much, okay?" She patted my shoulder, apologetically. "Very few get that honor, and it usually means a many great things are drifting your way."

For a couple of days, I believed her.

It did help answer a question, I was probably a Unovan native. However, it left even more questions and a major problem. Greatness often comes at a cost.

Also, why didn't Victini not save me? Wasn't it a Psychic type? Couldn't it just pull me out? And how did I end up in Hoenn? Or, better yet, what was it doing in Hoenn?

I have no idea what order any of these things happened.

Where do I go from here?

"Oh, I'm sorry. I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Nessa Rurina. I'm more like a lifeguard than a nurse, but I felt responsible after fishing you out when I saw..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Get some rest, Mr. Fisk."

Again with the mister... "Uh, right." I awkwardly shifted under her piercing gaze. "Thanks, Ms. Rurina," I tried.

"Nessa is fine."

"I don't think I'm older than you, Nessa." I don't know where I drew out the courage to make a small joke, but it was too late to back down. "Aric should be fine."

"Right. Then, Aric, I'll have breakfast waiting for you when I return. Hopefully, I can track down a lead on you."

It's been a week. The cruise was set to finish in another week and a half.

There was no success in finding my lost/stolen identity. A ranger had stopped by to ask about my story—or lack thereof. I was neither registered in Hoenn's databases nor any missing person cases around the world. Honestly, I didn't know what to think about that, and I really didn't want to, so I simply didn't.

My health had improved enough for me to walk, mostly unassisted. Every so often, I'd need a breather, usually to sit or lean on a nearby railing. The girls' or other friendly Pokemon would be nearby.

My blotchy skin cleared up under the watchful gaze of Dr. Osumi's Pokemon. It was kinda weird to shower with their assistance, but it was better than letting the Doctor, or God—Arceus forbid, Nessa do it.

Seeing me recover made the tall dark girl relax a lot.

My condition bothered her more than I thought. Not gonna lie, I was pretty numb to it all. I learned she also came on this cruise to scout out new water-types and was nearly sixteen. Boy, did that last one give me a mental whiplash. I still recall my question if she was my mother. Fortunately, she seemingly forgot about it. Given her height and elegant beauty about her, she was a model like Elesa, just as I assumed. However, she seemed more focused on Pokemon, even though she booked multiple sessions for her modeling gig.

Having learnt about her friend's candidacy for Gym Leader, Nessa was more inclined to step up her own game. She was adorably competitive like that.

I had gotten well enough to sit in a couple of her training sessions.

Elesa, on the other hand, had come aboard to relax. More accurately, to take a long break before she was forced to become what was expected of her. Kinda sucks, not gonna lie. She didn't seem too receptive to the idea but felt defeated in choice. It made all the hardships I dealt with in my previous life look small.

Ah, but there was no point in comparing.

Anyway, we met a couple times. Our first meeting had put her off, understandably. But with the help of Nessa, we sorted it all out. I had to sneak in a lie, like how her hair reminded me of the unrelenting and burning Sun when I was stranded.

She taught me more about the Tynamo's. The little buggers were lively, swimming happily and completely relaxed in the shared tank. She too mentioned it was very weird for the Pokemon to be far from seaweed, shores, and caves. They were very weak Pokemon that learned extraordinarily little moves and practically couldn't defend themselves. They had powers in numbers, capable of shocking most predators by chaining their energy together.

Whatever my... previous self did must've really drawn them to me because they seemed to have completely ignored their survival instincts, and assisted me at the surface of the water, exposing themselves. They had all been injured in the process. The organ that allowed them to generate electricity did not work properly. Apparently, overtaxed to such a significant degree, they couldn't cause their tiny bodies to levitate.

And so far, their bodies haven't even begun recovering despite being in calm waters. The two models and the Doctor Osumi had some experience dealing with them and said they should be able to recover.

It was weird that I was making more headway than Pokemon were.

I was told my survival was a miracle. The water life in Hoenn was notorious. Well, it was more like, the further from human civilization you got, the more savage the wild Pokemon became. And we were pretty far into the cruise path, away from any cities. Yeah, it was obvious, but unlike other regions, these were Carvanha and Tentacool-filled waters.

It only reinforced the unsaid capabilities of the little eel Pokemon.

Both potential gym trainers found themselves interested in them. While Elesa had a recent capture of her own, she noted her lack of Pokemon for her future occupation. Nessa found herself growing more involved with them as she watched Elesa try to help the Pokemon recover their innate ability to levitate and control their unconscious sparkles.

Both the doctor and the girls had said the Pokemon needed to unload their excess energy. Their electrical pouch organs were supercharged and swelled nearly twice the size, making them larger than normal. Fortunately, they didn't seem to hurt, notice, or care really.

The therapy didn't seem to be working for the small swarm. The eels even preferred the empty clear water, instead of the murky dark waters of an artificial cave. They went as far as to ignore food based on their normal diet and share the fish food with the other fish.

These cave or shore-bound Pokemon seemed more like oceanic Pokemon with a whole water type tacked on. They were social with the other Pokemon, apologizing for shocking anyone accidentally. A normal Tynamo stayed reclusive in their groups because they were easy prey.

They especially liked me, as if they were mine. Despite their sliminess, the numbing shocks and flashes, the little things were growing on me. In their sessions at the pool, they shot themselves out of the water to throw themselves at me. At this point, I would strip down to a pair of swimming shorts the doctor had donated to me.

I would've caught one, but I didn't have a pokeball and didn't want to ask.

"—Mr. Fisk, how are you feeling?"

Speaking of therapy, I was in a mini session of my own. The girls had snitched on me about my panic attack. My lack of convenient knowledge was obvious. My general avoidance of everything that wasn't Pokemon was noted.

"Just getting used to everything, still," I said non-committedly.

Normally, the Doctor would frown, note something, then ask another question. But the heavy creaking of thick metal made us cringe before the ship rocked wildly, and the air seemed to rise multiple degrees. I fell out of my chair, still unable to draw upon my physical strength immediately. Then, a deafening beam of what could only be destruction crashed through the wall behind me and the lower floors, swallowing the doctor before searing up to the ceiling and beyond.

My weakness was the only reason I hadn't been completely obliterated by the blast revealing the stormy sky. I didn't notice. I couldn't.

The smoking and unmoving body of the doctor froze me where I lay, even as the sweltering heat leftover dried everything around. Unconsciously, I gulped as I gaped openly, covered in ash and glass, like the flailing Pokemon from the shattered tank.

The ship lurched again, the world rolled, before I fell into the fissure of ruin made by the beam of death.

- [ᛊ] -

Aes (AN): I was originally gonna name it, 'I of the Storm,' but thought it was too cheesy... Not that the new one is much better but still!
I just wanted to try something new again- can't help the muse. I'm trying first person POV and a faster pace for writing as well.

Words: [6,211]
Edits: sum

Hint: S.S. Cactus