I'm pretty sure over half of these chapters and around 90% of the thought-up content for this story have been done while sick. Don't remember which chapters exactly, but eh. Weird fact regardless. Also another chapter that doesn't eclipse 1k (in word, at least) mostly 'cuz I just wanted to get something out.

Anyways, TW: dead thing.

Chapter VIII

To my… relief…? To my relief, I wake up feeling far better than I last remember.

…Still relatively hungry and I do still feel relatively sore, but… at the very least, I don't feel like I'm on fire. The ground below me is cold too. A very nice cold.

'Am I still in the u-haul?'

I blink my eyes open, and immediately freeze. …Just like a good portion of the street around me.

Coating nearly half the street is a literal wave of ice, towering multiple feet above me and covering my head… protecting me from the sun, at least partially. The ice is generating a good amount of cold air for me too which… is probably why I feel the best I've felt probably since I first woke up as this creature.

The u-haul is nowhere to be seen.

The Hydreigon is…

Right in front of me.

I scoot myself back a foot or two in what I'd consider to be primal fear, my flippers getting a surprising amount of traction on the ice-coated road. I stop myself though.

It is… not moving.

Hesitantly, I brush off the fear for a moment to give myself a better look at the creature, pushing myself back those few feet.

I would say I'm surprised at how small it is, but then again. '…How big are dragons supposed to be? This one seems only a… little bigger than…'

My attention briefly flashes back to the dream I'd had – or what little I still remember of its naturally fading existence.

'The… being in my head didn't know what happened to Sid, Martin, or Beck. They might be okay, or I might've just… fallen out of the u-haul due to the attack. Or…'

'I don't really want to think about the other alternatives.'

I look back at the Hydreigon, and realize something I hadn't noticed before.

In the center of where I'd assume its chest is, there is a…

I look away with a hard wince – one that agitates my still somewhat sore stomach, though it is alleviated by the surface I'm on. But…

Where I'd assume its heart is, there is, instead, a small, but gaping hole – one that passes right through its chest, with ice coating the sides of the hole. The Hydreigon is… very much dead.

I… can't help but feel a little weak at the sight – at the feeling that…

"Was… was I the one to kill it…?" I whisper to myself shakily.

I back up again. Not in fear of my life, but in what happened. Or what might've happened.

"The… the- the voice in my- in my dream said that they- they'd taken out the… did they?"

The dream's still quite rapidly fading from my memory. I don't have anything to write down any of my thoughts, nor do I have the digits to.

"O-okay… they said… doesn't know where u-haul is… ice-type abilities… food… Food."

I look around, temporarily and conveniently taking my mind from the dead dragon.

"What around here could even be considered… food…?"

I smell the air for anything that might stick out to me, but I can only really smell… two things. The freshness of the ice, and the very weak smell of asphalt.

…And the almost overwhelming smell of the thing in front of me.

I sit dumbly, turning my head back and forth like a fast-moving periscope. Then, a realization strikes me, and my searching efforts quicken even more.

I can't help but have my attention forced back though as, with probably tens of thousands of emotions trying to claw their way to the forefront of my mind, I slowly, mindlessly turn to face the Hydreigon once more.

Three manage to cement themselves above the rest. The first, and the one I most fear, is one that probably came from this body. One that… thinks it doesn't exactly smell bad… plus, I am hungry…

Another fights that feeling – anger. Angry at even considering it food, angry at possibly being left behind, angry at the possibility that the others might be dead, angry at once again being alone, angry at… everything.

And the final is, of course, fear. That final one is the one that manages to take that top spot in my mind, as I once again slide myself away from the Hydreigon, squeezing myself against an ice wall, staring at the Pokémon.

The… the coldness of the wall does feel nice, admittedly. It helps me calm down, at least a little.

"I… I wasn't the one to kill it. That was the other m-… the creature whose body replaced mine…? I… didn't kill it."

I take a few deep breaths, pressing my neck against the wall and closing my eyes. My breathing, slowly but surely, steadies.

A hunger pang strikes at my stomach as it rumbles, bringing up my anxiety for a moment and quickening my breathing, but I just manage to force it back down.

'Just, breathe. Don't think about surroundings, don't think about the situation, nothing. Breathe. In… out. In… out. '

And I do so. I do so for three or so minutes I think, counting the seconds (probably inaccurately) in my mind for that time, before letting my eyes blink themselves back open droopily.

My gaze briefly slide over to the Hydreigon, before dropping down to my flippers.

"If… nobody finds me within the next couple of hours, I'll… consider possibly… eugh, eating the Hydreigon. That's… only an if though."

I nod to myself.

"…Yeah. That's a plan. …"

Another hunger pang hits my stomach, and it grumbles again. I wince.

"Just… gotta wait."

I lay my head down slowly against the ice-covered cement, and close my eyes.

"…I hope the others are okay."

I fall asleep once more.

See y'all here again when I'm sick I guess? Lmao (Or just when my mind dredges up random plot for the next chapter.)