Sky's the limit

Chapter 1

She cried out as pain shot through her body, indescribable colours flashing before her eyes.

"Whoa! Are... are you okay?!"

Lightning split the sky, and thunder rolled in the distance. The girl's hand was slipping from her partner's.

"No!" he pleaded. "Don't let go! Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!"

The sounds of the thunder grew louder, and the lightning was becoming more visible with every passing second.

"N-n-no! I can't... hold on...!" the girl's grip weakened, and she felt her conciousness slipping.

Eventually, her hand slipped, and she screamed as she plummeted to her demise.

A storm raged below. Dark waves churned and crashed against seaside cliffs, which were illuminated by the lightning. The girl soon let the darkness overtake her, and she blacked out.

~o~o~o~o~

The first thing she could hear was the gentle sound of waves splashing against the sand. She groaned as she opened her eyes to blinding sunlight.

Where... where am I?

She winced. I'm drifting off again...

She closed her eyes again, pain filling every part of her body, wondering what fate had in store for her...

~o~o~o~o~

Riolu stood in front of the tent's entrance, staring at the grate in front of him.

You can do this, Riolu, he assured himself. It's only a grate. It's not going to swallow you into the ground.

His foot hovered above it, and he shrank back again, wimpering.

"Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself. "I can't do this... only brave Pokemon can..."

He turned away, about to head back down the stairs, when determination lit his eyes.

"No. I refuse to let my fear get the best of me!" he declared. "This is it. This is what I came here for!"

He straightened up, and stood on top of the grate. He nearly leapt out of his skin when a Pokemon shouted up at him.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Riolu's! The footprint is Riolu's!"

The blue Pokemon let out a scream, and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over himself trying to get away from the grate. He panted, got back up, and looked down at his feet in shame.

"I guess... I guess I can't do this after all..." he whispered. He grabbed the small stone hanging by a thick thread around his neck, turning it in his hand, letting the pattern catch the slowly dimming sunlight.

"I thought holding onto this would help me be brave but..." he swallowed back tears as he let it go. "I guess bravery isn't for everyone... I guess I am a coward after all..."

Riolu sighed, and trudged down the steps, feeling nothing but shame and guilt.

A Koffing and Zubat came out of the bushes, looking quite interested in what had just happened.

"Hey Zubat," the Koffing whispered to his partner. "Did you see that? What a wimp!"

"You got that right, Koffing," Zubat replied. "That wimp had some kind of weird stone. Looked almost like treasure, wouldn't you say?"

"It sure did."

Koffing grinned. "Do we go after it?"

Zubat snickered. "We do."