Leo fluttered his eyelids, his vision slightly blurred from sleep, and saw a night sky with far more stars than he was used to. It confused him at first, but then he finally noticed as wind began rushing through his hair and his limbs dangled through the air.

Leo was falling.

He hardly had time to panic before the pain of slamming into water wrecked his skin, followed up by the chilling shock of ocean water. He nearly screamed in pain, however his ears registered the sound of the ocean and his nose caught a breath of salt water. He flailed around for a moment before he start swimming upwards with desperation.

With a loud gasp, Leo broke through the surface and let himself breathe once more. It was a relief, only for him to start a coughing spree as bile rose to his throat and he rapidly hacked it out. Acid and salt mixed, causing his mouth to burn. His thoughts were still disoriented though, so he just focused on trying to keep on swimming as he quelled his fucked up throat.

"Jesus fucking- gyah!" Leo nearly swore, but a wave splashed over his face. He instantly spat it back out, but the repulsive taste remained. It served as a reminder though, because once reality hit him he was left with wide eyes as he panted and turned rapidly in all directions. It was night, but the light of the moon was still clear, he could see that in every direction there was just water with nothing else on the horizon.

He wanted to think he was dreaming, because it was just absurd to think he was somehow stuck in the middle of the ocean. He didn't even live anywhere near the sea. A hallucination caused by his brain being deprived of oxygen? If so, then it was very realistic. The way that the water assaulted all of his senses at once couldn't be ignored, and how the sea went on and on without end, it all felt so painfully real. The sting in his eyes from the sea water. The way his body was going into shock from the sudden, freezing touch of water. The pain in his throat caused by a concoction of bile, salt and water. How the despair and reality of his situation was crashing down on him, reminding him that he was utterly doomed.

So, he made the smart decision... and leaned back.

Breathing in heavily, Leo puffed his chest out like a balloon, then he tried to relax and focus his eyes on the sky. Nothing else. If he tried to think about what was going on, then he'd probably freak out. That wasn't what he needed right now. Maybe when -if- he made it to safety he'd probably break down, but he wasn't dumb enough to begin a line of thought that killed him quicker.

"This sucks." Leo whispered to himself. It was soothing compared to the isolating silence he was surrounded by, the type of silence where you felt like hiding under your covers at midnight. But, unfortunately, that wasn't an option for him. He couldn't hide anywhere in the sea. The darkness he'd find below his head was probably infinitely worse to gaze into when compared to the star filled sky, the type of horrifying, cold, dark abyss that paralysed you with anxiety.

So, here he was, trying to calm his increasing heart rate as the ocean water started to feel warmer. It wasn't that the sea was heating up- that couldn't happen, right?- his body was just loosening up as the final signs of cold water shock faded away. It was a small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

For a while, Leo just laid with his feet and chest floating above the water; trying to save whatever energy he could. A human could float in water for potentially hours on end and, whilst he wasn't the most experienced swimmer, he believed in his capacity to lay back and keep his chest above the water. He couldn't do that much when he was drowning. When the dirty, vile, river water was forcing it's way down his nose and throat. All he could do was hold his breath, but that didn't stop his lungs from burning like iron as the world began to turn black-

No. He was spiralling. Already, he was starting to shake uncontrollably- and not because he was drifting through the freezing ocean in the middle of the night- and the anxiety of realising he was surrounded by nothing but water settled in. The cursed liquid that, just a short while ago, snuffed his life out like a cloth over a candle. It was like sleeping next to your arch-nemesis, and it made him want to shrivel up and cry.

But, neither of those were an option for him. Hugging his legs would literally kill him, and crying would worsen his dehydration, which was nearly just as bad. In the middle of the sea, a single, tiny krill in the land of leviathans, he didn't have many options.

All he could do was lean back and wait as he aimlessly drifted wherever the wind decided.

Water was a force of nature.

Leo had never thought much of the power the literal essence of life held over him. He had easy access to the liquid his whole life, through a conveniently place tap in his kitchen, and rarely ever went to the beach since he lived inland. He'd never had to see how merciless the sea, in all it's enormity, really could be. He did now though, and it turned out the source of all life hated creatures which lived on land.

There was truly nothing here other than water, and whatever animals lurked underneath. When the sun finally rose, and he stopped feeling like the pitch-black sea was about to swallow him whole, he turned his head up for a moment to gaze at the horizon. The horizon was empty, asides from the colour blue. Then the heat eventually came, and he was hit with the reality that he was going to get a sunburn.

It was giant. It was scorching, It was lonely. How ironic is it that the biggest desert in the world is the ocean?

Numbly picking at his chappy lips with his teeth, Leo tried to keep his mind off how his face was lightly stinging in a way that got worse when he clenched his facial muscles. All he was wearing was a thin shirt which, whilst better than nothing, wouldn't end up saving his front from the harsh rays of the sun.

And boy were they harsh. Leo had considered that he was stuck somewhere in the tropics, since he'd have died of hypothermia by now if he were stuck in England's sea. At the dead of night, when it was cold and dark, he hadn't minded. Now he definitely did though, since the unrelenting sun was making him lick the air and recycle his spit for any kind of relief it granted his dried up throat. There was none to be found.

Leo painfully cranked his head down, ignoring how it irritated his crimson skin, hoping to find that he'd drifted to land of some sort, a city on the horizon would be ideal. His hopes were crushed though, since his view wasn't any different from the other dozen times he'd checked in who-knows how long. Just turquoise water and waves.

Leo breathed out lightly as his neck grew tired, and he was forced to look straight upwards once again. His body was racked with pains, and the fatigue was building up. He had to face the fact that humans weren't meant to live in the water for very long.

"Shit." He rasped out, licking his lips in some vain attempt to gather moisture. It didn't work.

Leo wished he had a watch on him, that way he could count down the seconds until he finally sunk. it was a morbid thought, but not misplaced in the least considering his circumstances. The sun was nearly gone, with the sky and a few haphazardly thrown in clouds starting to darken.

The dehydration was starting to get to him. Humans weren't meant to survive for more than a few days without water, and he hadn't exactly been building up a tolerance. His mouth was dry, his throat felt itchy in a way he couldn't scratch, and his lips were cracking in painfully. And if that wasn't enough, the hunger in his stomach was slowly growing. It wasn't too unbearable yet, but he had a feeling that would change. There was also the way his skin burned with the slightest shift, or when a glancing wave of water washed over it and set his nerves on fire.

He'd made a lot of mistakes in his life. It was hard to admit your own faults, but Leo knew deep down how flawed he was. He shouldn't have been so routinely visiting his parents' graves; that was hardly healthy for his mental well-being. He shouldn't have brought them up with his brother, opening up old wounds that should have stayed closed. Maybe he shouldn't have even broken it off with Alina. She and him had amazing chemistry, and maybe he should have been more willing to commit. If he was, then perhaps he wouldn't have drowned.

It was strange how he wasn't fixating on his own death, most probably would, but he just couldn't bring himself to care. Maybe that made him weird. Actually, it was probably the dehydration which was getting to his head. They said that a lack of water could make a guy go crazy, so he was probably insane now.

Still though, Leo wasn't quite gone. Most would say he was done for, but he wasn't dead! He already died and was still kicking, if barely.

He'd keep on going to the bitter end.

The sun went down and Leo knew that, no matter how tempting it might have been, he was not going to pass out. That meant death.

He was sick and tired of staring at the same, boring sky for hours on end.

Leo had never gone this long without sleep. Sure, he'd sometimes spent extra hours awake to play video games or spend some intimate time with his girlfriend, but he always went to sleep. He'd always been a healthy person with a good sleep schedule, so the idea of spending an entire thirty six hours- that was a rough estimate- wide awake something he never thought he'd do. It wasn't really that long when he thought about it, but the other factors in play definitely made consciousness hard to sustain.

His eyelids felt heavy, and every now and then his vision would darken, but he'd always shake it off. That became marginally easier when the sun finally rose again, after what felt felt like an eternity, but then came the problem with his extremely sensitive and he could physically feel his angry, crimson skin burn. It turned out that his thin, white shirt gave him even less protection than he thought. It clung to him like a second skin, irritating his skin flakes and the ugly blisters he'd been developing.

Leo was pretty sure this was his breaking point. It hurt to give up, but he knew deep down that there wasn't anything he could realistically do. He wasn't in any shape to swim. He was definitely starting to lose his power to float, his chest hurt from being puffed out so much, even if the action itself wasn't really that taxing.

He was simply tired. Of the pain, the thirst, the hunger. Everything. He was hanging by a metaphorical thread.

With a weary sigh, Leo lamented his fate. His time surviving in the sea might have been short, but it was definitely the most hopeless and torturing. Here he was, standing on the metaphorical edge with a body that hurt with every twitch of his muscles. He could tell that he wouldn't be lasting much longer, and his hope had been disappointed more times than he cared to count.

He was done.

The idea of dying was a terrifying one, but he found himself surprisingly calm. Strange, it was like that when he was drowning, but maybe it was the resignation. He'd been suffering pointlessly for too long, and quite frankly enough was enough.

Leo allowed himself to take in one final look at the blue sky, not a cloud in sight, but found the sight stale. Well, he had been staring at the sky and nothing else for over a day, what was he even expecting?

With a deep exhale, Leo closed his eyes and let the sea finally swallow him. The sudden movement triggered his ruined skin, causing a sting to ring through him, but he'd adapted to the pain. He chose to ignore it.

It was a lot warmer than the river. England was cold, especially when September was coming up, so the water he'd drowned in was like ice and probably riddled with toxins. Drowning in the stuff was highly unpleasant. It would probably also hurt to drown again... but this was better.

Finally, Leo took notice of how his thoughts were beginning to slip. It looked like he was about to pass out, a development that he embraced wholeheartedly. Dying in his sleep was something he could accept. So, he allowed his vision to be clouded with dots, and for his mind to turn off. The water didn't bother him whilst this was happening. In fact, he almost found peace with it, like he was being held in his final moments.

Still though, it was a bit disappointing. Being brought back, only to find himself dying once more.

…

…

…

Luckily for him, fate decided to step in.

Just as Leo passed out, a school of white eel-like creatures swarmed towards him.

Heaven was different than Leo expected. Well, maybe not heaven, he'd never been a religious man, but he figured that there must have been an afterlife of some sort. It was probably just comfort, but the idea of believing that you weren't just gone was something he wanted to agree with.

"For the love of Arceus, what happened to this guy?!"

Regardless, this wasn't what he thought heaven would be like. There were people around him, if the amount of voices he was hearing were a clue, but they were all loud. He didn't want to open his eyes, since the lights he was seeing were enough to blind him. Everything he saw was a blur, so he couldn't quite make out his surroundings. But some idiot was pulling at his eyelid and flashing a light into it, which was only making things worse.

"Hey, are you good?!"

Leo wanted to say that no, he wasn't good, but he was even less alright now that someone was trying to blind him. He wanted to reply. He wanted to tell these people to fuck off and leave him in peace, but his throat felt like someone had dumped sand into it, and the arm he'd raised began to burn like someone was branding him.

Luckily, the man seemed to take a hint and back away.

"He needs some water, he's severely dehydrated! Get some cream for his skin too, he looks like a damned Pansear!"

Leo wasn't sure why these angels were so bad at their jobs. They kept on screaming and yelling, it was giving him a headache. Still though, he had to give them credit, they were only the third most painful thing he was dealing with right now. With immense effort, Leo grabbed for his neck and let out a series of strangled gasps as he scratched uncontrollably at his Adams apple. He was grasping at his throat, trying to force whatever insufferable itch there was buried in his neck to quell itself. It caused his sunburns to seethe with pain like molten iron was being spread over them, but he just didn't stop.

"Guys?!"

At first, Leo didn't pay the shitty angels much attention, but that changed when they grabbed his arms and force them away from his neck. He ashamed to admit that he screamed and thrashed like a wild animal. He was too weak to resist, but they were freaked out by his behaviour.

His cries were interrupted by a terrible coughing fit though. It started small, something he tried to brush off and continue fighting, but it escalated until he was practically doubling over. It felt even worse since his throat was dry. Eventually he felt something behind his tongue tear, and then the blood came after it. Luckily, the care workers had the decency to let him go.

"Shit, we need to put him under!"

"What are you talking about, he just got up! We need him to talk-"

"Does he look like he can tell us anything right now?!"

Leo didn't think that was needed though. His vision was already starting to blur, which he was fully willing to embrace. Apparently, when you got to heaven they took you in as they got you. He just needed some rest. He listened to the angels pointlessly bicker as he laid back once again, finding the bed to be a little uncomfortable, but infinitely better than what he'd been getting for... how long was he in the water for? It felt like an eternity.

"Hey, cut it out! He's obviously uncomfortable! You want some water?"

He didn't respond, couldn't because he was nearly asleep and didn't want to since his throat felt like it was torn apart, but he still hummed and a cool liquid ran over his broken lips. It was just for a moment, since he could only swallow a little before falling asleep, but he found slight relief.

Leo wasn't sure where the hell he was. The last thing he could vaguely recall was fainting, being surrounded by voices and lights. He was meant to be dead, nothing but a hunk of flesh for the fishes to swim with, yet somehow he was stuck in... nowhere!

Well, maybe not nowhere, but that was the best word he could use to describe a plain where everything was black. He could still stand somehow, even though there wasn't a floor, but there was about three things to note about this place.

First, it was really god damn empty, since there were no stars in the sky- or at least what he assumed was the sky- and the realm seemed to stretch on forever.

Second, the pains he was feeling all over were healed. His skin was back to it's ordinary white instead of an angry red, and the disgusting blisters which were developing on top of said scorched flash were also absent. He was grateful for that at least

Third, the intense isolation that this place imposed on him... wasn't pleasant. It brought back the memories of his 'death', particularly the darkness which followed after, and that induced anxiety in him like nothing else.

Fortunately- or not- a roar garnered his attention.

Leo nearly jumped out of his skin as he whipped his head around, only to freeze in terror when he saw him. Familiar, yet unfamiliar, the shadowy form of a dragon lorded over him.

Deep crimson eyes, intensely piercing into his core.

Golden armour wrapped around his mouth and form.

Wings of darkness with blood-red tips.

Then, his mouth opened and contorted unnaturally as he spoke-

TRANSCENDANT ONE

Leo cracked an eye open, an odd wave of confusion overcoming him as he internally questioned why he was so afraid and why his breaths were ragged, only to let out a cough of pain when his skin flared up.

"Shit." Leo uttered out, his throat still dry, but marginally better than earlier. That stubborn itch was lingering though, and it the discomfort in his oesophagus grabbed his attention away from trying to remember whatever he was dreaming about to scratch in a vain attempt to sedate his pain. It was probably nothing.

"Oh, you're awake." A feminine voice captured his attention, and he lazily cast an eye to whoever had woken him up, only to stop and stare when he saw just who it was.

Now, he wasn't a particularly big fan of cosplay, but had nothing against it either. Everyone had their preferences when it came to hobbies, and if that involved dressing up occasionally like it was Halloween, fine. That being said, dressing up like Nurse Joy when you were supposed to be aiding a sick man wasn't very professional, and he was in a considerable amount of pain.

However, just as his expression morphed into one of irritation, he noticed something else. Namely, the pink smudge that was poking its head out from behind the, admittedly, very gifted cosplayer. It's eyes were big and blue, with it's legs a bit too short and it's hands too stubby, yet the nurse outfit it had on disguised those features quite well. It looked exactly like a pokemon he remembered from Pokemon Black and White: Audino.

Nurse Joy and Audino seemed to get unnerved by his intense staring, and asked with slight concern. "Sir, are you alright?"

Leo felt unformed words die in his throat as the back of his head crashed against his pillow, and suddenly the world became dark as he came to a mind boggling conclusion.

Either he was being pranked very hard, or... he was in the world of pokemon.

And that realisation was enough to make his vision go dark, and for the Nurse Joy and her pokemon partner to fade away as unconsciousness claimed him for what felt like the dozenth time today.

If you want to support me, then look towards The Magician 565 in the place of patrons. I am a pretty broke student all things considered, so if you want to read additional works of mine then the donations would be much appreciated. I hope to write for you all, and if you could show your support more openly then I'd be happy to crack down!

Additional chapters:

Rising To the Top - 5

Now It's My Turn - 1

An Outlier - 5

The All Mighty Earth - 5

Power Grasping - 3

Dealing With Darkness - 2

God of Destruction - 5

Counterattack - 5

Total - 31