PMD: Stargazer Chronicles

Guildmaster- There and Back Again

Several hours passed.

Flareon Light passed out. Pain lashed out at him in his sleep, but Ariel's power shielded his mind from it. He didn't fight to break the wall, knowing what waited on the other side for him. His peaceful, relaxing stupor spared him the worst of it.

Gentle rain hit the roof of whatever building he ended up in. His eyes opened to a closed window drizzled in raindrops with brown drapes covered in prisms and artistic wave patterns. He laid on his side on top of soft, white covers and stared out. He shifted to straighten out his back. Out of a gray sky, trails of raindrops flung themselves at the window.

A familiar weight shifted with him. As expected, Sky Shaymin Ariel's arm crossed over in front of him. She stirred awake.

"Light?" she asked. "Hey. You feeling okay?"

"Feel like my insides got yanked and pulled on like strings," he said.

"Well... That's accurate."

"What even happened?"

"Sacred Treasures kind of gnaw away at your body's chi, including the chi to keep your heart beating and breathing. I had to re-route it back."

"Are the others okay?"

"They're fine," she said, tightening her grip. "I mean, some of them will have scars, but they're not in any pain. I talked to all of them since I knew you'd ask. They're okay. I mean it."

"Right..."

"Think you'd be okay to talk to that Butterfree?"

"Did he want to?" Light asked.

"He told me to bring you down when you woke up for a short talk. He... really is the president of the WPO, so I, uh... have to listen."

Light frowned. He shoved himself up to his feet. His paws stung. He flinched and rolled back on his side.

"It's okay," Ariel whispered. "I'll carry you."

Ariel lifted him up on her back with ease. She floated off the bed onto a carpet, walked past cream walls, and opened a dark brown door that led out of the room.

In the hallway, exotic fish tanks lined pitch-black walls. Octopus, squids, and fish he didn't know the names of floated inside. He tugged on Ariel's back to stop and look at one. The fish inside had small eyes and jagged teeth.

"Is that a piranha?" Light asked.

"Yeah," Ariel said. "We're in a hotel that doubles as an aquarium. Apparently, they're pretty famous."

"But wouldn't I have gone to the hospital?"

"You did, for a little bit. Doctors couldn't really do much other than advise that you rest up for a few days. Just let me know if you're in any pain, okay?"

"You don't have to-"

"I do. There's no reason for you to go through pain when I'm around."

"Let me grow from it," he said. "If I'm never in pain, I'll never grow to be able to handle it."

Light's head rumbled. For a moment, he knew Ariel's anger lashed out.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Ariel groaned. "Every time I try to do something nice for people, they always insist on denying me. It's annoying."

"I'm not in any pain right now."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Ariel turned a tight corner. The hallway opened up to a wider, open room. She walked across wood panels over clear water with colorful fish swimming about underneath. At the end of it, a maze of wood tables sat underneath a huge fish tank. Lights from inside the tank tinged the whole room in a light blue. Up above, chandeliers showered down more light.