Whispers in the Dark「Pokemon Fanfiction」

Tᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ • Cᴏᴜɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ Wᴏʀʟᴅ

Chapter Twelve: Counting the World

Everything was black now.

Celeana found herself falling in this darkness, hurtling to an invisible floor—a ground that would most likely kill her if she continued to fall at this speed. The air pushed against her face, she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

The wind in her face made it impossible to breathe. She felt like she'd suffocate before she ever got to even hit the ground.

That would be less painful, she mused. Suffocating to death might just be a better choice than plummeting to the ground at such a high speed.

The girl heard a sound from above her, and she raised her head with difficulty, only to see Ryou fidget with the Pokeballs on his belt and click open one of the shrunken spheres.

A burst of harsh white dived in front of her like a bolt of lightning, taking the form of a familiar-looking avian and shaping itself into the frame of a common Swellow.

The pale-haired teen clambered onto the back of his Flying-type, hands shaking as he did so, and the Pokemon spread his elegant wings to keep the both of them afloat. He cocked his head to her, opening his mouth to speak, but she couldn't hear him over the gales buffeting the both of them.

She assumed, however, that he'd mean for her to climb on too, because she soon fell onto Swellow's back, the bird's feathers stiff from the low temperature.

The Pokemon descended, his flight shaky and hesitant due to the winds that seemed far too gleeful to oppose him, but he managed to get them both to an area that presented a calmer air current.

Finally able to speak, Ryou turned to her. "All right—where are we?"

"Why are you asking me that?" she protested. "All I did was touch that girl's arm, and the next thing I knew, there was this huge portal sucking us in!"

The male trainer glanced up—the sky around them was a dejected, sombre shade of rusted grey, the clouds soothing it with charcoal swirls. The near-hurricane winds had slowed to something resembling a draught, but it brought a mantle of dust with it.

Sneezing from the abundance of particles present in the air, Celeana tugged the collar of her vest upwards, shielding her mouth and nose from the sooty stench.

Ryou followed her, protecting himself with the black fabric of his jacket, and gave Swellow a muffled command to go even lower this time.

The avifauna obliged with some obvious degree of reluctance, spreading his wings out for balance and struggling to sink further down.

The air was still empty, full of nothing but dust, and it didn't give her any clue to where the two of them were situated.

"I see ground somewhere below," the silver-haired trainer muttered. "It looks even enough—we'll land there, OK?"

A lump had caught in her throat, and she didn't think she even had the ability to speak—so she nodded, and he spurred his Flying-type to move faster. The Swellow looked annoyed—not with his trainer, of course, but frustrated with his inability to do as Ryou wanted.

The duo sighted a series of rocky mountains, craggy faces weathered from the desolate conditions of their surroundings. The natural formations didn't seem very impressive—they weren't that visible through the dust clouds, after all, and all they had to show off was their height.

Swellow let out a high-pitch cry as he caught sight of land, and the Pokemon lurched forward, muscles quivering as he made a final attempt to land.