*Voltflare's POV*

All I can see is a purple-and-black void of nothingness, all around me.

Pieces of land levitate in the air- discolored, earthen islands seemingly suspended by invisible strings. Miniature trees dot the "landscape," though they are just as disheveled and destitute as the petrified soil around it.

Hunger gnaws at me like I haven't eaten in weeks, and my throat is as parched as a volcano.

"Where am I? What's going on here?" I painstakingly shout, yet my voice receives no echo from the void around me, sending a chill up my spine.

I cautiously survey the area, clutching my large chest wound. Something that resembles a tall, menacing shadow had attacked me, and the marks it left wouldn't disappear, no matter how hard I tried to cover them up. The pain digs into me, hurting more-so than my other bodily needs ever did.

Then, what seems to be a mirage catches my eye from another island. My tongue lolls at the sight- a small, stagnant lake, only a few yards away from me. A large crevasse separates me from the cool substance.

Water... Life... My mind struggles to grasp reality.

I slowly stand up and stretch my legs- my joints hurt, and I don't know if I still have the strength to cross to that island, to my salvation.

But that's my only chance- it's so far away... but it's my only chance to survive...

I brace myself and face the chasm bridging the gap between me and my salvation. The feeling of vertigo brought on by the bottomless nothing below me only adds to my splitting headache. My paws begin to sweat, and I quickly step away from the precipice.

I... I can't do it... I pull away, and my feeling of dread dissipates.

I resist the urge to curl up into a ball to conserve energy, but I still know that I will have to make a leap of faith- standing still while my body erodes away won't help me. If I stay here, so far from water, I will surely die. Yet, at the same time, failing to reach the water in time would only reward me the same fate.

I have to do it! I have to jump! My mind scrabbles to the only foreseeable conclusion,

I'm either going to reach that lake, or I'm going to die trying!

I approach the chasm for a second time, and the paranoia from before overwhelms me, this time much stronger than before. My only wish is to escape the void below me- to get away... But, where would I go? The only scenery around me is more of the same- a limitless amount of floating islands, devoid of color, suspended over the great chasm between me and that lake.

Face your fears, Voltflare... You desperately need this water, and you know it!

I continue to reason with myself until I have the courage to firmly place one paw next to the "cliff," soon followed by another, and another, and another. After what seems like an eternity, I stand as close as I can bear to the void, and I dread to imagine what could inhabit such a place.

All I know is that I don't want to find out!

I take a deep breath and jump, pouncing off of my haunches with the last available outlets of my strength. The initial takeoff propels me high into the air, and I think, for a moment, that I may actually cross the chasm.

Three feet forward. Five feet forward. Eight feet forward.

The island is only a dozen or so feet from my grasp.

Eleven feet forward. Twelve feet forward. Fourteen feet forward.

Time seems to slow down the further my body extends towards the island.

FIfteen feet forward. Sixteen- seventeen.

I stretch my left forepaw as far as I can, in an attempt to grab the ledge of the island when I begin to sink in the air. I almost begin to panic, until I realize that any sort of maneuver will undoubtedly cause me to miss my mark.

Eighteen feet. Nineteen.

I reach, once again, and I just barely manage to slip the top of my paw over the opposite island's cliff. Sweat beats down my face, almost obscuring my vision. I dare not look down, in the direction of whatever beast may lurk underneath me. I can feel a force pulling me backward- slowly, yet surely- into the void...

My instincts take over, and I struggle against the invisible force, hanging onto the edge of life, quite literally.

Then, an unseen object strikes me from behind and flings me into the air.

The last thing I feel before falling into the void is the heart-wrenching pain of failing to gain even a drop of water, and I immediately black out from exhaustion, trauma, and the helplessness with which the blackness will claim me.

...

......

...

"Voltflare?"

...

"Voltflare, please, wake up!"

... ...

"Voltflare, it's been three days now! Please, open your eyes!"

From inside the void, something reaches out to me- a young man that touches with his warm hands. The figure seems very familiar to me, and, at that point, I realize who it is.

"... Nathan?!"

I open my eyes with a start, and I quickly see that I'm not anywhere near the dark, monstrous void that had claimed me earlier. I'm in a small room with a few drawers on either end, and a bed with some of Nathan's unpacked gear strewn over the top of it. The light blue wallpaper and soft floor under me ease my mind, and I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that this is Nathan's apartment in Olivine City. He had taken me here a few times to rest and recuperate while we fought against the eight Gyms in Johto.

I'm safe now... It was all a bad dream. At least, that's what I hope...

I can feel Nathan's hand on my neck, checking my pulse, and I immediately turn my head to look at him. His eyes are full of concern, and I can tell by his cheeks' red color that he had been previously crying. If I hadn't been so afraid for my life, I would have reciprocated his sorrow in a heartbeat.

"You're... You're alive!" Nathan cries out, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tightly. I would be happy, too, but one thing stuck in mind.

"Did... Did you say 'three days'?" my voice quivers. Nathan nods begrudgingly, only unnerving me even further.

"Yes, you were out for three entire days. I couldn't even feel your heartbeat until just now. It was like you... Like you were here, but not here, at the same time," he adds.

Here, but not here... Could have that dream have actually meant something? Something... that I can't help feeling will become gravely pertinent soon.

"I... I had a bad dream," I slowly say. My tone is still riddled with fright, but the falling sensation from the dream is all but gone.

Nathan releases me from his embrace and begins petting my head again.

"Tell me," he says, cooing like my mother would when I used to come home scared stiff by someone or something.

As soon as I begin to describe my dream, I begin to shake violently in terror of the horrible memory, but I know that if I'm going to tell someone about it, it's going to be Nathan. I take a deep breath and fight back the urge to curl up into a ball again.

"All, all around me were these precariously-floating islands, held in the void around me as if they were suspended by nothing but strings... And I, I just lie on one of them, emaciated by something- something that had attacked me previously. What that was, I have no idea. My stomach growled, and my throat felt like a desert. It was..." I stop, short, although not of my own will. The familiar feeling of weakness comes over me like a spell, cast on me by the craftiest of Pokemon. I crumple to the carpeted floor, and Nathan quickly catches my head before it can hit the ground.

"What was? What was there?" he urgently asks me. His gaze reflects more and more concern, and I have to steel my will towards both this deadening sensation and the sorry sight of a Trainer in front of me.

If I pass out before I finish recounting my dream, it'll crush Nathan. Gotta... keep going!

I turn to Nathan, whose face is becoming more and more disfigured with tears by the minute, which doesn't help me fight off this weakness.

"I... An island... Water..." My mind spins, and I struggle to even finish my sentence. An ominous image slowly appears in my mind- that of a large black draconian creature, bearing a meaty slew of eight spiked wings and a tail that reminded me of the time I saw my own ribcage. The Pokemon's body is centipede-like in shape, and its face looks like a large gold mask, hiding two cruel red eyes that seem to snarl when they come into vision. The beast rears its head back, and I can see, at least in part, its habitat.

The... the same void that... That was in my dream! Could this be the creature that inhabits that desolate place?!

Then, just as quickly as it had clouded my vision, the image vanishes, and I can, once again, see Nathan nervously staring at me.

"A... A Pokemon... " I mumble weakly. I can feel my sudden weakness and exhaustion begin to vanish. The familiar fireball that fuels me from the gut begins to burn again, and the warm feeling brings a smile to my face. Nathan, seeing this, slowly removes his hand and asks,

"Are you OK, Voltflare?"

I nod, but he doesn't seem to be convinced.

"What could that have been? I've never seen a Pokemon go through so many dizzy spells at once! I can't shake the feeling that something about that was totally wrong. I can't believe that it's gone. For your sake, Voltflare, I have to figure out what caused that to happen to you. I don't want it to happen to you again..."

He is interrupted by a newscast blaring from the apartment to our right. The jovial news reporter clashes with the overall mood of the room right now.

"... We brought you this special report from the Sinnoh Region's historic Eterna City. And, if you missed it, we have two special guests collaboratively overseeing a seminar today- our well-loved Scientist, Damian, and another man, the one who backed the founding of several new well-furnished buildings in the city, Cyrus! Join us for a history into the Sinnoh region, its legends, and a scientific diagnosis, to boot. Damian, himself, who is regarded as a world-famous doctor..." The television is muted at this point, so I can't pick up the rest of the newscast, but Nathan seems to be intrigued.

"A history, and a diagnosis... Voltflare..." he muses, turning to me.

"I think we just found the way to cure your hallucination spells! Come on, let's head to the Sinnoh Region- even though it's quite a ways away, I think a trip overseas will be both fun and rewarding! What do you think?" Nathan asks.

I pause for a moment, thinking it over. My head is still slightly spinning, but what Nathan says makes sense to me. I nod, but, little did I know that a trip like this wouldn't be half of what I expected it to be.

"Alright, give me a few moments to pack up what I'll need for our journey to Sinnoh," he says enthusiastically. He disappears for a few moments, reappearing with his blue lab coat and gloves.

He's acting just like a little Eevee on its first day of school! It's almost comical, and, if he wasn't both my Trainer and older than me, I would probably laugh. But...

My train of thought is interrupted by a hastily-toned Nathan holding a Pokeball out in my direction.

"Ready to go, Voltflare?" he asks me. While he's doing an admirable job of keeping everything in order, he seems to be quite ecstatic about travelling.

I wish I could figure out why... I think to myself.

Nevertheless, I nod, and he immediately presses the button in the Pokeball's middle. I close my eyes and sense myself being lifted from the ground- surrounded by a warm light- before I begin to feel weightless for a few seconds. I keep my eyes closed until I hear that gentle snap that signifies that I'm safely inside Nathan's Pokeball.

"We're headed to the S.S. Aqua, OK?" Nathan tells me from outside the capsule.

He phrases it like a question, but it's not like I have a choice right now. I'm just along for the ride, but I'm OK with that- I'm with Nathan, and that's what matters right now. We're going on a journey to a place that I've never seen before. What I'll find there, I have no idea, but something tells me it will definitely change my life. And, Markus, wherever you are... I swear I'll find you one day!

With that parting thought, I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep while Nathan's rhythmic steps rock my Pokeball back and forth.

*Nathan's POV*

Alright, the S.S. Aqua is scheduled to depart for Sinnoh at... When was it again? Oh, never mind- I'll figure it out from the bulletin board timetable posted outside the shipyard.

I leave my apartment and lock the door behind me. Rushing down the stairs, the receptionist barely has time to greet me before I'm out the front door, but I do stop and ring the "customer help" bell at least once before I go. While she finds my little habit annoying, it was something that I did the first day I checked into these apartments. I'm a man of habit- I can't help it.

Outside, the city is quite abuzz for how early it is right now. Fisherman walk back and forth across the streets, lugging massive nets of Magikarp behind and talking with each other over who has the biggest catch. A mother and father keep trying to escort their wayward daughter, who keeps screaming about ice cream, in the direction of the S.S. Aqua while trying to keep her as quiet as possible. Amid the chaos, Olivine's famous Glitter Lighthouse, powered by none other than the town's "mascot," Amphy the Ampharos, shines like a sentinel in front of the S.S. Aqua, giving the go-ahead for a safe voyage.

While the beams of light reflecting off the waves are pretty, I check my watch to make sure that I didn't just sleep late.

8:30. For a port town, Olivine's quite busy this early in the morning... I wonder why... The thought barely has time to surface before a sharp horn from the direction of the S.S. Aqua brings me back into reality, quickly followed by a loud P.A. announcement- courtesy of the ship's captain with a bullhorn. His voice is incredibly loud and assertive, like a sergeant, but it threatens to throw me into a panic,

"Attention Olivine City! The S.S. Aqua is scheduled to depart in ten minutes! Tickets for this voyage will be sold out in five minutes! I repeat- the ship will leave in ten, while tickets are sold out in five! Thank you for your cooperation!"

I watch as the captain puts away his bullhorn, turns to a crewmate behind him and begins to converse with him, using enough ship terms in the process to make me lose interest. I thrust my hand into my pocket to make sure that I've still got Voltflare's Pokeball, and, once my fingers close around the red-and-white capsule, I run for the shipyard. The mother and father are still in the process of bickering with their rebellious child when I run past them. The little girl points at me and mouths, "Voltflare," to her mother, who shakes her head. I pay them no heed and keep running until I'm at the shipyard's doorstep.

As soon as I step into the carpeted building's open doorway, I pull out my wallet and step up to the colorless receptionist's desk. Her springy brown hair belies her emotionless black eyes and face, but, the second she sees me, that all changes. She immediately drops her detached facade and pushes up her loose-framed glasses with a light smile, as if she can't believe her good fortune.

"Ah, you must be Nathan," the woman tells me, holding out her hand to shake mine. I cautiously reach out and take it, unsure of what to think.

"A man called earlier and paid in advance for a specific someone named Nathan, and you seem to resemble that man quite remarkably. Do you, perchance, happen to be Nathan, or am I mistaken?" she asks, with a ticket in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

I nod, and, although I still don't quite trust this person, I gladly take the offered ticket from the receptionist's hand.

This trip is for Voltflare! Any Poke that I don't have to spend here is more that I can spend in Sinnoh to help him while I'm with the doctor, Damian. They do charge quite a high cost for their services... I mumble a few things to myself, mainly a mental note to grab a map when we touch land in Sinnoh, and the receptionist motions me to the open railway that connects to the ship. Knowing that I only have a few minutes before we set out, I quickly board the ship and instantly realize that I never really thought about how I would get to Eterna once I'm in Sinnoh.

This ship heads to Snowpoint City, doesn't it? If I recall, Snowpoint is quite a ways away from Eterna City... Ahh, never mind- I'll figure it out when I get there.

I take a seat at one of the small, umbrella-topped tables and watch the last of the ticket-holders quickly make their way to the reception gate and board the ship behind me. Among them is the mother, father, and daughter from earlier, all of which seem to have calmed down considerably.

The ship's captain strides onto the deck a few seconds later, bullhorn in hand.

"Please make sure that you have not left anyone, anything, or anyPokemon behind- once this feisty little girl gets into gear, she ain't stopping for no one!" he shouts into the device. This time, the noise is much louder, as I'm up on the deck next to him, and even covering my ears doesn't help much to stifle the blow to my ears. The man waits a few minutes before blaring his voice all across the ship again,

"Alright! Next stop, Snowpoint City! Adios, Olivine!" He waves and heads back into his captain's quarters.

Seconds later, the ship lurches forward at an incredible speed, and I have to hold onto the bolted-down tables to avoid not being flung backwards. The other passengers are forced to do roughly the same thing. Those not currently holding onto their belongings gasp in horror as a few backpacks, purses, and other articles fly over the railings. One of the burlier men, obviously a Sailor, sputters a few curses about how "that guy'll never learn how to actually run this thing! Why, if I was at the helm, she'd cut through the waters more gracefully than a streamlined Lanturn!" He runs his hand along the ship's railing and sits down on one of the benches.

Luckily, after the first initial bout with inertia, the ship's chaos gradually regresses to normal cruise-ship banter. A few people discuss a legend about a massive Renegade Pokemon, a creature that supposedly lives in another world, but I pay it no heed. Legends never really interested me as much as science.

Soon, I can actually stand up and walk around for a few seconds before being thrown to one side of this ship. Between tosses and turns, I slowly make my way to the interior of the ship, clutching the railing for dear life every time the S.S. Aqua lurches in any direction. I step inside the air-conditioned cabin hallways and breathe a sigh of relief.

Now, if I get thrown anywhere, it will be into a wall and not into a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean... I think, slowly steadying myself. I make sure that Voltflare's Pokeball is still in my pocket before I do anything else, but, before I can even begin to explore the ship's insides, a butler, clothed in white and black, approaches me with a silver platter in his hand.

"Allow me to show you to your room, sir," the man slowly bows, dexterously balancing the platter the entire time. Once he looks up at me again, his brown eyes practically scream that he does not particularly like his job, nor half the people that he serves.

"Hmph..." He wrinkles his nose in disgust and feels the need to comment about it.

"A Rocket," he laughs,

"Leaving Johto now that your precious organization is defunct? And you couldn't just bring a spare set of clothes- nobody wants to see you in that dreadfully abominable garb! Nevertheless, your room is this way."

He turns, and I follow him into the carpeted hallways. Funnily enough, after his emotionless quip about my lab attire, the butler is silent for the rest of the thirty seconds I'm following him. Once's he's nearing the end of the hallway, he turns and hands me a small, rusty key.

"This is your room. Please do take care to make it your own, and, once again, enjoy your voyage aboard the S.S. Aqua," he says sarcastically, disappearing with an enormous grin on his face.

I shrug and try the key in the room the man specified is "mine." Somehow, the key still operates the lock, regardless of the copper decay covering its silver surface.

The room's inside is nothing much- a bed in one corner, a large drawer big enough to hold an entire suitcase, a small mirror fixed to one wall, and a wastebasket. The bedsheets are in disarray, like someone's already been here, and I cautiously throw my voice into the room just to check for anybody else inside.

When I don't get a response, I roll my eyes, figuring that the butler had just been messing with me, sit down on the bed, kick off my shoes, and release Voltflare from his Pokeball.

The light that signals his appearance seems to be slightly dulled in the room, but the Equilibrium Pokemon, himself, is none the more plaintive. In fact, he's quite the opposite, although not at first.

Initially, Voltflare is thrown against the side of the cabin when the ship banks to the right, and he yelps in pain when his body hits the white walls. Then, a smile appears on his face for some reason. I watch him, patiently awaiting our arrival in Sinnoh, and re-organize my backpack. After a few attempts, Voltflare successfully jumps in the opposite direction of the ship's rocking and sticks to the wall for a few seconds before the momentum carries him off the wall and back onto the ground. He laughs, and he does it again, and again, and again- so much so that the passenger to our immediate right, the resident of the cabin wall that he had kept jumping off of, angrily leaves his room. I hear his large footfalls as he returns to the ship's main deck and stifle a laugh. Meanwhile, Voltflare is having the time of his life, but he soon settles down, bereft of energy after, quite literally, bouncing off the walls for a good five minutes. He curls up on the floor and falls asleep, while I just wait for any news from the ship's captain about our distance from Snowpoint.

Somehow, I feel that this will be a very long trip... I think, watching Voltflare's eyelids flutter back and forth as he dreams.

o|y