To Wrap My Life in Leaves~Pokémon Watty Awards2014 1st Place Short Story Winner~

Chapter 5: Four Days

A small yawn escaped my mouth as I looked around, Aqua and Sketchy no where in sight. Yawning once again, I wondered where they could be. Yesterday we had agreed to meet in front of the guild so we could all go on a mission together, and so far both of them had been a no-show. Suddenly, an aggravated squawking sound broke the silence of the morning, and I rushed to where it had come from.

As I entered the training area, the place where the sound came from, I froze and a small blush formed on my face. There, standing in the clearing in front of me, was Wes the Swellow, my crush.

He must have heard me walk into the small clearing, because he turned his head and said, "Oh, hey, Serphisa. What's up?"

"Oh, uh, nothing much. I was just waiting for Aqua and Sketchy. They're being slower than a Shuckle today, it seems." He chuckled, and my blush slightly intensified.

"So," Wes began, trying to start up a conversation, "What did Cobalion want to talk to you about?" For a second I froze, my heart seeming to stop.

"Oh, it's a secret," I replied, trying to sound completely normal. "But, I can tell you that something amazing is going to happen three days after today at sunset up at the guild." Amazing... That's one way to put it.

"Alright, Miss Secretive, way to tell me nothing," he said with a chuckle. My only reply was a mischievous smile. "Well, if we're just going to sit here and talk, why don't we take this time to go through a Dungeon?" I was about to nod, when I realized Aqua and Sketchy were waiting (or going to be waiting) for me.

"Can't. I was waiting for Aqua and Sketchy before I came over here. We were going to go on a mission, but they weren't there, so I should probably go back and wait for them. So, bye, I guess."

"Yeah, see ya later."

Waving to Wes, I returned back to the crossroads, only to notice a note perched on a stick stuck in the ground in front of the well. Curious, I began reading it.

Serphisa, it began, indicating it was indeed meant for my eyes to look upon, Sketchy and I had gotten assigned an urgent mission, and we had to leave immediately. Sorry we kind of ditched you, but as mentioned before, our mission was quite urgent. Feel free to go on solo missions or something of the like. --Aqua

Smiling at my fortune, I headed back to Wes.

"Still want to go on a mission together?" I asked, panting slightly from hurrying back. "Suddenly I've got some free time."

Happiness danced in his eyes at my words. "Yes"

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Panting, I ran from the crowd of hostile Pokémon chasing after me. Wes and I had started the mission little over an hour ago, and already we had run into trouble. The mission we chose was a client escort, one where we just had to stand guard while the client, Goldeen, explored. It seemed simple enough and the reward was good, so we took it.

"I am going to find the idiot who named this place Marine Resort, and murder them!" I screamed between breathes. Since the mission had said to let Goldeen lead, we had to follow him no matter what; It would have been fine if he didn't want to see every inch of each floor. So far we've wasted five Reviver Seeds, three Pecha berries, and a whole crap load of Oran berries because of all the Traps he had stepped on. But now was the worst of it.

To put the poisoned icing on the death cake, he had finally led us into a Monster House. We only had one Reviver Seed left, so Wes led Goldeen to safety while I battled. Everything was going well, until three Mantines showed up. I had defeated one of them when my health got low, so I retreated, allowing my health to naturally regenerate. Which leads to where I am now.

Finally, after running around the floor for the bajillionth time, my health was restored enough and I had led them into a smaller passageway so I could fight them one-on-one.

Turning around, I faced the Mantines behind me, rage-blazed eyes scanning their dopey, smiling faces.

"Get lost!" I shrieked in anger, forming a Leaf Blade in my hand as I charged at them. I hit the first Mantine near the neck with my attack, transforming his face from a mask of pure stupidity to one of rage. Using its one good move against me, it jumped into the air, preparing to use Bounce. I smirked, knowing just how to counter it. Stepping back, I used Leaf Tornado under the spot I was standing in just seconds ago, creating a whirlwind lethal to Water Types. The Mantine came down, landing smack dab in the middle of my attack. It fainted on contact, the odd powers of the Mystery Dungeons warping it some where else to rest, and the second Mantine floated up to take the place of its defeated friend.

"Oh, you want some, too?" I taunted, adrenaline swarming my insides like a pack of pestered Beedrill. Not even waiting for an answer, and knowing I wouldn't get one, I charged, throwing my body at it in a Slam attack. It cringed as I made contact, and tried to counter with Water Pulse, but it missed. While I was still up close, I formed another Leaf Blade and slashed it across the Mantine, fainting it. As the second Mantine warped away, I noticed a single Slowbro had been standing behind it.

"What, you want some too?" I asked, and its response was to turn around and walk away quickly. I smirked, and headed back to the room with the stairs and traveled to the next floor.

"There you are!" Wes exclaimed as my head came into his eyesight. "You took quite a while, so we were worried that you had fainted."

"I want to go back!" Goldeen exclaimed suddenly from where he stood (Laid? Sat? You can never tell with legless Pokémon) beside Wes, his words garbled by tears. "Adventures are scary; I could have died! Just take me back, please!" I gave a small smile, the exhaustion finally catching up to me, before activating my Wonder Badge to send us home.

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Wes and I sat atop the cliff behind the Guild, our feet hanging off the edge. When we got back, it turned out that it was getting close to nighttime. We decided that after an obnoxious Mission, it would be nice to go to Spinda's cafe and get some smoothies. We would have stayed longer, but a few of the more rowdy (and idiotic, if you ask me) members of the guild came to goof off as loud as they possibly could, thus why we were now on the cliff. I watched as the sun finally sank beneath the peaks of Mt. Bristle in the distance, and looked up to see the stars becoming visible in the darkened sky.

"Serphisa, you're an amazing girl, you know that?" Wes said, his voice soft and gentle as he leaned his head towards mine. "I didn't need Cobalion to tell me that you were special." His head brushed against mine, and he nuzzled me affectionately, and at that moment, my heart both fluttered and broke at the same time.

He loved me, too, but I only had three days left of my life.