Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 16: Adventure and anima

I was asleep, and yet the sound of a crying baby filled my mind and echoed through my ears. It was too loud and obnoxious to ignore so I shot awake, surprised to see a few clouds dot the scenery before me. A gasp followed, and I kicked my way to sitting up.

The crying child was right next to me, a tiny Chimchar, still bawling its eyes out. A Kangaskhan was soothing it, gently rubbing its back and patting its head to direct the Chimchar's attention to the fact that I was now awake. That fact seemed to bring a smile to the child's face, even though I was gawking at the scenario.

"It's okay now, Ruby. Isn't it Crystal?" Kangaskhan said softly, calming down any possible anxiety from me. It had my mother Suzie's voice, so I accepted what she just said without any doubt. Despite that, my attention was brought to what was going on, keeping my concerns active.

I was in a huge field, an endless land of hills, grass and trees, all of which seemed to cover the whole world. Behind me were my mother and the twenty-nine other children she took care of, whom I knew and loved like real family. Despite all being fire, water, or grass type Pokémon, we all lived together and never bickered over our type advantages or the differences between us that our elements created. Not that they could, since I was the eldest child and the role model to them all. If a fight ever broke out, I won on strength alone.

"Crystal Crystal, look, a flower! It makes mummy smile!" Pearl squeaked, showing me a tiny sunflower. I took it and gave the Turtwig just as sunny a look, twitching when I found myself clutching the flower against my belly. I was so hungry that my body ached, panging sharply all over without cease. All of a sudden, this pleasant scene had become a crisis for me, and I could feel myself passing out again.

I was weak. Even though the children began to laugh and play around me, filling me with the nostalgia of the joyful feelings I felt when I played with them, I felt like I was dying, right there and then. I was falling over right in front of them, lurching and helplessly trying to make a sound to cry for help. Without even realising it until I rolled over, I had crushed the flower I had just been given, shuddering at the sight of its scattered petals as they fell into the soil in front of my face.

"It's okay, right Crystal?" Suzie asked again, soothing a Charmander. "No matter how sad it looks, it's okay..."

I wanted to cry for help, to be heard and helped so badly. My body hurt so much. My sight was fading into the strands of grass that were too close to my face. My insides felt like they were bleeding inside me, burning through my body until I would end up as a hollow shell.

"No matter how sad everything is, you are Crystal, and you must keep on going. You have dreams... You have feelings... No matter what they say, you're alive... you have a heart," Suzie promised.

"Su... zie..."

...

My eyes opened again. This time, the ceiling was staring back at me. I felt hungry, but it was normal morning hunger, cravings for the berries in juice pancakes that my mother used to make. I sat up and groaned, rubbing my head from the annoying weight of a small headache, finding myself able to groan and mumble just fine too.

"Morning!" Brine greeted, sat on the end of her bed. She had a small board in her lap and a pencil in hand. "Want some breakfast? You were moaning quite a lot in your sleep."

"I was moaning? About food?" I grumbled, trying to focus my eyesight on the door. "That's quite an odd dream to moan about food for..."

"Yeah, it was pretty funny to be honest. I think the others are awake too," she giggled, setting her stuff aside. I got and up copied, having my attention taken by the paper that was on the board.