FicWad

     "You ready?" although I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his gaze, as though he were burning a hole in me. I looked up from the poorly gray dirt I'd been staring a hole into and, unwrapping my arms from my torso, replied,

 

     "If I wasn't ready, would I be here right now?" He smirked, although I could tell he was relieved. Although it lacked most of my usual snark, there was enough that he knew I was alright.

 

     "Everything will be okay. We'll get this done, and everyone will get to live happily ever after." He set his hands on my shoulders, and met my gaze as though searching for something.

 

     I ignored his playful teasing about what I'd been doing when we met for the first time, and forced a grin in return. "Well, we have to get this done. If we don't, everyone's screwed." We both paused for a heartbeat, waiting for someone to add in their two cents, before remembering.

 

     The third of our triad -/we used to be a foursome, and it hurts to think that we'll never see him again/- took on his job while maintaining her own. "Well, Ms. Pessimistic, Sir., uh..." she'd still yet to pick out a name for him. "Sir., uh, Sir. Brainy!" was finally decided on, resulting in an eye roll from the both of us.

 

     "Really?" he laughed.

 

     "Is that the best you've got?" I had to jump in.

 

     She put her hands on her hips indignantly. "Well, excuse me, but I'm not the funny one!" We were all quickly sobered, our gazes dropped to the ground. 'Why, why would you do it? You were our friend, our companion, our comrade, our partner-in-crime! I saved your life three times, you've saved mine twice! You still owe me a favor, remember?' I remember when I saved his life last.

 

     

     He was sprawled out on the ground, pinned by a Mightyena. I knocked my own opponent, a Breloom, across the cave with a sweep of my staff, and raced to his aid. A sharp 'thwack' across its head, and it went limp, its skull caving in under the force of the blow. I hauled it off my partner, and looked at his wounds.

They were severe. If he didn't get aid soon, he'd die. (Can his type die? It doesn't matter!) I dug frantically through my satchel, praying for something, anything to magically appear. My hand brushed against something, and I yanked it out. A Full Restore? Where had I gotten that? No matter, I'll wonder about that later. It was spritzed over the wounds, which wept freely on the cave floor.

The bleeding quickly came to a stop, coagulating and forming a scab, over which the skin stitched itself. He looked up at me in shock, breathing heavily. "W-wh-h-hu-?" Whatever he'd said had been indiscernible over his wheezing.

I shook my head. "An eye for an eye. You've gotta save my life now, got that?" I poked him where he didn't have a wound. "Geeze, you can't stay outta debt with me for very long, can you?"

 

 

     My eyes welled with traitorous tears as I remembered. 'Why? What did we do? You despised them, so why did you turn your back on us?' My eyes narrowed. 'You owe me a favor, and I will collect! I don't care if I have to drag you with us kicking and screaming, you will pay back the favor!' It was then I swore to come back, to succeed, if only to find out just why he'd done what he'd done, and to bring him back.

 

     "Hey, Ms. Pessimistic and Mr. Brainy!" she caught our attention once more. "If you don't get going, the portal's going to close!"

 

     We looked at the portal and, sure enough, parts of it were beginning to flicker and shimmer, threatening to dissolve away. His left hand grasped my right wrist. We approached the portal, and stopped when we stood a mere bound away from it. I turned to look at him, and he did the same. He quirked his brow muscle (for he had no brow) and I nodded.

 

     "On the count of three," he whispered.

 

     I started the countdown. "One,"

 

     "Two," he continued,

 

     "THREE!" shouting it together, we pushed off the ground and leaped into the ethereal portal, and into the unknown.

 

     "Good luck!" her voice was tinny already, far, far away despite us having stood beside her only moments before.

 

 

     It was rather like falling.

 

     We had long since lost sight of our companion, and now images rushed passed too fast to comprehend. We were spread out like those, oh, what were they called, 'base jumpers'?, clinging to each other's hands and sprawling out through the 'sky'. The fall had been calm until now, only a light wind rustling my hair, but it had slowly gotten stronger, although not too strong, or anything to worry about.

 

     Crash!

 

     Now that, that is something to worry about. We snapped our heads to the side in tandem at the familiar sound of a lightning strike, watching as one after the other lit up the portal around us. I screamed as one struck far too close to me, and moved my grasp from his hand to his wrist, closing my eyes as I trembled.

 

     The wind began to pick up as though a Pidgeot were using Gust – no, strike that. It was more like a Lugia was flying by, so strong were the winds. It felt like a cyclone around us, and my grip on him kept tightening, and tightening.

 

     "Whoa!" a sudden, sharp burst of turbulent wind nearly tore me from his grasp. My hands slipped, sliding to his finger tips, and only a quick move on his part kept me from being torn away. He let out a cry of desperation as he lunged forward, his claws digging painfully into my skin as he grasped my wrists. The wind tugged at us once more, and as he was jerked back, his claws slid through my skin like scalpels, splitting it and causing blood to well.

 

     "Are..." he noticed the blood, and struggled to rearrange his hands in a way to avoid the open wound. "Are you okay?!" The wind continued to pull and tear at us, and it was beginning to be more than I could bear. I was never the physically strong one on the team. I was used to sneaking in and out while the others provided a distraction, grabbing something before fleeing, the rest hot on my heels. This struggle, having to support both our weight in a constant game of tug-o'-war, was more than I could bear.

 

     His claws tore through my skin as we were pulled apart once more, and I struggled to regain my grip, my arms and shoulders crying out in agony. "No! Don't let go!" his voice was a desperate sob and, although I was guilty for it, my grip began to loosen. "Just a little longer..." That was a bold faced lie; there wasn't an exit portal in sight. A tug of the wind that felt nearly like a grasping hand, and we slid so we were fingertip-to-fingertip. "Come on! Hang on!"

 

     "N-no, I can't... hold on..." Lightning flashed, and we were torn apart. While he stayed on course, I was sent hurdling into the cyclone of time around us.

 

     I was falling...

 

     Why was I falling? 

 

     Someone was screaming my name...

 

     Who was calling for me?

 

     Darkness began to eat at my vision, and the last thing I was fully aware of was the feeling of water all around me.