Endless

Part 1 - Another Day in Paradise

I stand at the precipice of time. The beginning of the future. All that lies before me is our creation. Our destruction. Our past that will forever mar the pages of what will become our history.

It is... bleak.

The ash falls lightly on my face as I look up to grey skies. The scent of stale smoke hangs tiredly in the air, blowing gently in the soft breeze. I don't notice the smell anymore. The fire died a long time ago. As I look around, the endless dunes taunt the dull ache in my tired feet; sand as far as the eye can see. The air dances in a haze where the sun rises over beige mountain tops.

Another day in paradise.

My water skin hangs heavily on my belt. I feel the cool condensation against my thigh and have to still my hand as it reaches for the cap. The dry air has begun to tickle my throat already. It's still a long time until noon and I have to make this one last.

The beating of Scyther's wings soon fills the air as she drops back down to my side. She reassuringly points in the direction I assumed was the city. The dehydration hasn't taken my sense of direction just yet. She looks tired, beads of sweat already forming on her scarred green carapace. The desert is no place for a Bug-flying type. She needs food and water. All of them do. I call her back and place her on my belt. Our little family of four, where we all belong. At least in the pokeballs their hunger and thirst build much slower.

I steel myself for the next leg of my journey. The valley below offers a little shade in the early morning--it's not the most direct route but it's the easiest. I slide precariously down the side of the dune, an avalanche of sand in my wake. The dune sings quietly at my back as the grains form melodies in their gracious fall. The 'Danger: Radiation' signs come in handy to control my descent. I reach the valley and make my way through the signs. A glinting red catches my eye for a moment before I realise it's another broken pokeball. I just hope its old occupant isn't still alive somewhere out here. None of us would last another serious fight against a Mut'.

The City should be a good place to get some information. I've always stuck to the smaller settlements. You get to know everyone. There are fewer people to stab you in the back. 'City' feels like the wrong name for the place--'City' makes it sound civilised. Putting a lot of people together in the same place with a few rickety wooden walls and adding a few traders who will rip you off, smiling as they do it, doesn't make a city. The true cities all fell.

I stop and crouch down as the sound of grinding sand beats rhythmically on the dune to my right. Footsteps. My hand hovers steadily over my belt. Every instinct tells me to face the challenge while every beat of my heart tells me to run as hard as I can. My head tells me to wait. Heavy breaths, heavier than a man's. It sniffs at the air on the other side of the dune while I pray to anything that might listen. The sudden silence drowns out everything as my heart quickens. Another crunch heading toward me, quieter, prowling. We can't handle another fight. My heart and head reach an agreement and I take off running down the valley. It screeches like nothing I've ever heard. The radiation changes the Mut's into something horrific, like no Pokemon that lives. The mutated Primeape roars and gives chase. I look back to see that its eyes are bloodshot and weeping sores cover its patch-furred skin. It's gaining. I reach for my belt again. I need to make this quick.

I take the pokeball in my hand and throw it hard into the air above me. She bursts free in a green fury, assessing my needs in milliseconds. The Primeape stops as Scyther hangs in the air again, wildly eyeing her. She hovers casually down to the ground, confident that our training together has prepared us for much tougher battles than this, though I see the sweat and the weary way she holds her stance. The Primeape has lost all its battle sense--it doesn't assess her or its surroundings, just advances in a blind rage. Scyther is calm. She is no fool. She fights for a master she loves, not to continue on in this miserable existence. Together we have found a purpose.

The Primeape's attack is frighteningly powerful but Scyther is horrifyingly quick. She dodges to the side in a blur as the mut' barrels past. Thrusting her bladed arm in a rapid slash, she cuts a deep gash in its back. The Primeape wails, spitting blood and froth as it falls to a knee. She looks at me with sorrow and understanding. It should never have come to this. The Primeape turns and slips on the soft sand, its legs gone numb. Scyther delivers two final slashes to finish it quickly. I call her back and continue on.

I allow myself a small sip from the skin. As a nod of respect. As a celebration that another creature is set free from its torturous life. A wake to mourn the senseless loss of another innocent creature turned violent by this sour world.

The sun crests slowly over the dunes into the valley below, turning the dip into a heat trap where the hot wind burns my eyes. I climb again to the top of the dune to see the lay of the land and keep my bearing. The city shimmers like a mirage in the distance, a vision that offers no temptation or respite. I made good progress. It looks to be only a few more hours.

I gulp at the water skin, praising myself for being over prepared again. Better that it be in my stomach than confiscated at the city gate.

The world was a better place once. Then the bombs fell.