Chap 8

"Stop running, we just wanna talk to you twerps" the woman said.

We had run down route 3. It was a windy path with tall grass patches and large rocks scattered throughout it. I wasn't sure what was on the other side of it, but I hoped that it had someone that could help us.

"Sure, we believe you. We know how honest and trustworthy Team Rocket members are." Samantha called back.

The three of them hadn't closed the distance on us yet, but we couldn't keep running forever. My lungs already felt like they were filled with steam instead of oxygen.

"There ahead of us" I said and pointed to an opening in the mountain with a Pokémon center sitting directly beside it.

"The cave or the center?" Samantha called from beside me.

Before I could respond I was interrupted.

"Koffing go!" The male said just before a poke ball flew past us.

A round, purple, floating Pokémon appeared at the entrance of the Pokémon center. It had holes in its body that released brown puffs of smoke. It also had white skull and crossbones marking below its face.

"Use Smog" The guy yelled.

The Pokémon began spewing a thick, black cloud of smoke. We were going to run directly into it.

"Hold your breath, that's poisonous" Samantha said as the cloud engulfed us.

Surrounded by darkness I had no choice but to stop moving. I didn't know what to do next. I couldn't hold my breath forever and I couldn't keep running blindly. There was only one solution that I knew for sure would get us out of this safely.

"Go pidgey" I said and threw out the poke ball.

Pidgey seemed to know what to do without being told. The moment her ball opened I could feel her kicking up wind. Within a matter of seconds, the smog was gone. My eyes burned as I recalled pidgey and ran to catch up with Samantha. She had somehow made it through the gas and was at the cave entrance. The Pokémon didn't attack as I ran past it and I wasn't looking behind me to find out how close Team Rocket was. I was more tired than I realized. Once I started running again, I felt the fatigue that had set in. Breathing heavily, I made it to Samantha.

"You're exhausted, I'm the heavy one between the two of us." She said and took my hand.

I wanted to respond, but just walking had become a difficult task. I did my best to keep up with her, but it became harder and harder to catch my breath. We wandered the cave for, what felt like, an eternity. I was so tired that I could see the drops of sweat dropping off my skin onto the stone ground. Samantha never let me go. She pulled me along until walking became more than I could manage on my own. Then she held me up and supported me as we wandered the cave.

The sweating and exhaustion were only part of my problem. My vision began blurring at some point. It became impossible for me to tell where we were or how much time had passed. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion until I felt myself collapse.

"Reef, no" I heard Samantha scream as I fell limply to the ground.

I could no longer move or see. I was trapped inside my body and the only sound I could hear was Samantha's panicking voice. Listening to the emotion in her voice made me want to do something to cheer her up. It bothered me that I was the cause of her distress.

"She really cares about you" The scientist that died in the lab said and sat next to me.

His glassy lifeless eyes were as grey as stone. His head lay on his chest with no support from his neck. The sight of him freaked me out but I couldn't move or speak. I groaned my disapproval as the spittle trickled from my mouth.

"Oh, don't worry, this is the worst part of the process. Pretty soon you'll be able to do whatever you want, like me." He said and pulled off his head.

He began tossing his head back and forth in his hands while his head said hot potato, hot potato repeatedly. I groaned again and tried to force my limbs to work. It was useless.

"I thought it was only fair that I watch you die the way you watched me. How does it feel to know that your life is over and there's nothing you can do about it?" He said and laughed maniacally.

As he laughed something changed. I felt heat coursing throughout my body. It started in my legs and moved upward. Everywhere the heat warmed felt stronger. I felt like I could move again.

"Just give in to the darkness" he said and watched me intently.

I looked down at my body and realized that every part of me the heat warmed had disappeared. Everything below my navel was gone. I panicked and tried to grab my legs. The cloudy darkness where my legs used to be wafted in the air as my hand passed through it. That was too much for me to handle. I screamed and started dragging my torso toward the scientist.

"Fighting it is pointless, it's already consumed most of you. Just give up!" He said with a sadistic grin on his face.

His pleasure at my distress infuriated me. I dragged myself harder toward him. My left arm was gone up to the shoulder, but I refused to stop. The sweat fell from my face like rain as I used my fingertips to pull myself forward. As my arm began to fade, I was just able to get my index finger on him. I wasn't sure what my plan was, I just needed to get to him. It was too late though. I watched the rest of my remaining arm disappear.

"I hate you" I screamed repeatedly as I felt the darkness take me.

"Reef, Reef, I'm here" I heard Samantha's voice say somewhere in the darkness.

I couldn't see anything in the infinite black, but I needed to get to her.

"Where? "I yelled back.

"I'm here" she yelled again.

I spun around searching for a beacon of some sort.

"I can't see you" I called out to her.

The darkness was so dense that I could feel it brushing against my skin at this point.

"Reef, you cant leave me like this. I need you to make it through this. Samantha said.

The pain in her voice was audible. I couldn't let her suffer like that without doing everything I could to help her. I frantically searched the darkness. It seemed to solidify more the harder I searched. When I noticed the tiny speck of yellow light I felt as if I was buried up to my waist in mud. I pulled myself through the thick nothingness toward the light. Every step I took was a struggle and required every ounce of strength I had in me. The closer I got to the light, the more fluid it became. Eventually it was so loose I could run. The tiny speck of light was now a shining rip in the darkness. It was just tall enough for me to fit through. I ran into it at full speed.

I felt my body lurch forward. As my vision cleared up, I saw Samantha sitting with her back to me. A bright yellow light was coming from Chinchou's antennae. Samantha sat hunched over with her head down. Her body trembled as she wept. I tried to crawl to her, but my body was still too weak to move.

"Samantha" I called out weakly.

My throat was so dry my voice came out as less than a whisper. Somehow, she heard me though. She turned and saw me sitting up. The smile that spread across her face seemed out of place under her red puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. She dropped an orange bottle as she crawled over to me. She moved so fast that her hug turned into a tackle. She bearhugged me next.

"Is this real, are you really awake right now?" she asked me without letting go of the hug.

Her powerful grip applied a pressure that made me think my ribs were going to break. It was the best hug I had ever received.

"I knew you would pull through. Samantha said and loosened her grip.

"Pull through what" I managed to say through my painfully dry throat.

"Here, drink something" She said and helped me drink water from the canteen she carried.

After giving me water and food, she sat in front of me and pulled my arms around her. She explained to me that I had been poisoned. It turns out that calling out to Pidgey while standing in a cloud of poisonous gas wasn't smart. The only reason I survived was because she had an antidote for Pokémon that she used on me. She had no idea if it would work or not.

She rested her head on my shoulder. Holding her that way made my mind race. The feeling of her soft body against mine just felt right, like she was a missing part of me. The floral scent that I could smell in her hair made me want to inhale her and never exhale again.

"Is this ok with you? I'm so tired and you're the softest thing I could use a pillow she said and giggled.

"Yeah, you're good. Get some rest" Is what I said out loud.

Inside my head however, I said something more like please don't ever move out of this position. I just wanted to be with her at that moment. I gently brushed the tip of my nose against her cheek. The sensation of her skin on mine exhilarated me. That was when the thought hit me. I think I'm in love with her. The thought chilled me to my core. Could I really have fallen for her? I had to be confused. She was the best friend I had ever had that was for sure. I was probably just misreading my feelings. I left it there. She fell asleep almost instantly. I listened to her breathe until I fell asleep myself.

When my eyes opened again the only thing, I saw was Samantha's face.

"Is it weird how much I enjoy watching you sleep?" She asked with her head slightly tilted.

I wanted to tell her how much I enjoyed watching her sleep as well. Those words got stuck in my throat and what did come out was pure immaturity.

"Yeah, it is, weirdo." I said and gently pushed her.

"Oh good, your strength is back! You feeling strong enough to keep moving forward? She asked with a smile on her face.

"I think I can." I said and stood up.

My body felt heavier than normal, but it wasn't too much for me to bare. We walked slowly, as it was the only speed I could walk. I was just happy that I could stand up on my own. Samantha didn't seem to mind me slowing her down.

"Hey how long was I out, and what happened with Team Rocket?" I asked.

"I don't know. They never attacked us while you were out. I don't know if they even followed us into this cave. You were unconscious for a couple of hours."

I had more questions, but something distracted me. We had turned into a long narrow tunnel. Directly ahead of us a thin man with long straight hair and glasses sat on the ground. He stuffed what looked like two targe stones into his backpack.

"What are those?" I asked as he stood up and turned toward us.

"They're mine. I saw them first" He said and waved his arms wildly at us.

He had a look in his eyes that reminded me of a trapped animal.

"I was just curious" I said and stopped moving forward.

"You're working with them, I know it. Stop lying!" He yelled at us.

"Dude, I don't know what you just shoved in that bag, but I promise it's not worth the beating you're gonna receive if you yell at us again." Samantha said.

There was a sudden thunderous rumbling from behind the man. The ground began to shake as the sound got closer.

"Earthquake?" Samantha asked with a grimace on her face.

"An earthquake isn't nearly as dangerous as we are." The familiar voice of the Team Rocket woman with the crazy hair said.

"Crap they found me!" The suspicious guy said.

A massive machine pulled into the tunnel behind the man. It was shaped like a Pokémon head with a giant metal drill on the front of it. The tip of the drill stopped less than in inch from his face. He backed up toward Samantha and I to keep from being impaled.

"Why are you two riding a drill, the cave is completely passable?" Samantha asked.

"I told you two it was" The cat said. To the other two.

"Cram it Meowth, you're making us look bad in front of the victims." The female said.

"Yeah, Meowth you're seriously killing the mood" The guy said.

As the three of them argued, Samantha tapped me on the arm.

"Look" she said and glanced at the rear of the machine they were sitting in. "I have a plan."

There was a stream of brown smoke pumping out of the machine. A tree root was hanging out of the ceiling of the cave. It sat directly above the hole in the machine. Samantha threw out Chinchou.

"Aww look at that tiny thing. Let's crush it" the woman said and started their machine again.

"Hit that root with electro ball" Samantha said and pointed to the root.

Everyone in the tunnel beside Samantha watched Chinchou attack the root. When the ball of electricity hit the root, it immediately caught fire.

"Fire's bad for us, isn't it?" The guy asked the other two.

"Mhmm" they both said in unison with tears streaming down their faces.

The flames met the gas and followed it to its source inside the machine. We all watched as the machine erupted in a brilliant blue ball of flames. I had to shield my eyes and turn away it was so bright. The explosion launched them through the ceiling of the cave into the clear blue sky above. I could've sworn I heard them yelling something about blasting off as they soared into the air. They disappeared into the sky with a quick white sparkle.

"That was strange" The man said just before the ceiling of the cave began collapsing around us.

"There's the exit" I said and pointed to an opening in the cave wall.

The adrenaline took over as I grabbed Samantha's hand and ran past the man. Instead of running as well, he dropped to the floor and threw his arms over his head. Samantha grabbed the strap of his backpack and tried to force him to come with us.

"I can't do it" He said while shaking his head back and forth slowly.

"You'll die if you stay here. At least run the other way" Samantha said and let his bag go.

At that point I thought he would run back into the cave. Instead, he removed his backpack and threw it at Samantha's feet. She started to move toward him as several large rocks fell and occupied the space, he was sitting in. I grabbed the bag and led her out as the rest of the entrance collapsed behind us. We got clear of the cave just in time to miss a massive rock seal the exit shut. A gust of dusty wind knocked us off our feet in an empty grass field.

We didn't speak as we continued down the path, we had landed in. Before long the mountain side on our left turned into water.

"We must be close to Cerulean City" Samantha said.

"Hopefully all this water will mean smooth sailing ahead for us" I said though neither of us laughed.