Remember? -A Pokémon Story-

Chapter 9

Cold.

So cold.

Everything hurts.

Can't breathe.

Your head aches as a shrill ringing sound pierces the air.

You can't move. You can't speak. You can only feel.

A jolt of electricity courses through your body, and your muscles tighten. You feel a tingling sensation in your limbs, and you can hear muffled voices through the darkness.

Another jolt. Your head hurts even more now.

The ringing is still there.

Make it stop.

One last jolt of electricity throws you back into awareness. A blinding white light shines through your eyelids. Voices swim around you. The shrill beeping finally stops, though the echo of it still rings in your ears. Your surroundings reek of disinfectant.

You suddenly feel something coming up your throat. You roll over onto your side as you throw up the water that you must've swallowed.

You feel hands on your back and arms holding you up, and you collapse into them as your energy leaves you. Voices start to straighten out, and you can feel someone lowering you back down onto a soft surface.

You slowly pry your eyes open, wincing at the blinding lights above. You can make out a couple figures standing around you, but you're still a bit disoriented.

"(Y/N)! Oh sweet Arceus, we thought we lost you!" a voice calls out as you feel someone embrace your limp body. Professor Kukui.

You look up and see his face full of relief and concern. Your mouth hangs open as you try to reply, but no words come out. You feel a soft nudge at your fingertips, and you sluggishly look down to see Cato. He's drenched, and he looks like he's about to cry.

You give him a small smile as you weakly lift your hand to rub his head. You slowly turn back to the others in the room and take in your surroundings.

You had a brace on your left arm and right ankle, but that was it. There are monitors hanging above you, showcasing your medical statistics, and some other machines you don't know anything about.

Ash is sitting in a chair to your left with Pikachu standing on the armrest, towels dangling off their necks from their attempts to dry off. Professor Burnet is standing next to him, hair sticking out everywhere from being out in the storm.

A couple doctors and some nurses watch you with careful eyes from across the room, wary of your physical state. Professor Kukui is standing to your right, next to Cato, his hand rubbing his forehead. You can tell you're going to get the lecture of a lifetime for this.

"Oh! We got your backpack, (Y/N)," Ash says, trying to break the awkward silence. You turn towards him as he stands up, holding your bag. You smile and sit upright a little too fast. Pain spreads through your body and you let out a little cry as you fall back onto the bed.

Professor Kukui puts a hand on your shoulder to steady you, and you close your eyes, waiting for the pain to fade.

"Hold on there, you're in pretty bad shape," Kukui says, "We lost you there for a second."

"W-what?" you stutter, looking at him. He stares back at you with sad eyes and gives you a reassuring smile.

"Your heart stopped beating for a couple seconds. The doctors had to use an AED Pokemon," he explained. You look away from his eyes, letting this sink in.

You had died. Yeah, it was only for a few moments, but you had still died.

"H-how... how am I still alive?" you question, referring to the fact that you were literally thrown off a mountain. Kukui sighs, recalling the events from earlier.

"We ran down to the base of Ten Carat Hill, and Kukui jumped in after you. He pulled you out of the water, but you weren't responding, so we called the paramedics," Professor Burnet answers, "the huge waves from the storm somehow cushioned your fall, causing you to pass out, but you weren't terribly injured."

You nod slowly and look down. Suddenly remembering your encounter with that strange creature, your heart rate quickens. 'Maybe the Professors could help figure out what that weird Pokemon was,' you think to yourself.

"Considering you withstood falling off a mountain into the ocean and coming out of it with very little damage, we want to keep you here for a bit to make sure everything is alright, but you'll be clear to go in a few days," says one of the doctors.

You weren't too keen on being locked up in a hospital for a few days, but you nodded nonetheless. Being stuck in bed was the reason you left the house in the first place.

How ironic.

The doctors and nurses finally left you four alone to go tend to other patients, and you felt this was a good opportunity to ask about the Pokemon you saw.

It would also postpone the dreaded conversation about you running off.

"So, um, while I was knocked out, I had this really weird dream," you start, "At least, I think it was a dream... I don't really know." Professor Burnet sits down in the chair next to Ash, while Kukui pulls up a chair next to your bed. Cato is curled up on a Pokemon bed, exhausted from the events that had taken place.

"What happened?" Burnet questioned. You sat there for a moment, trying to find the right words to describe your encounter.

"I was in this.. room, and there was a creature there. I think it was a Pokemon? It was really tall, and its head looked like a giant spikey crystal, or something. It had a bunch of arms that were like cables, too," you explained.

"Whoa, that sounds like a really strong Pokemon," Ash pipes up. He's been fairly quiet this whole time. Probably shaken up from what had happened tonight.

Professor Kukui looked over to Burnet, whose eyebrows furrowed as she thought about your words. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a strange device that you didn't recognize.

"Did it give off electricity?" she asks as she types on the device. You nod, curious. She then walks over to you, showing you the device she was looking at.

"Did it look like this?" she asks.

You study the image on the screen, and your eyes widen. You look up at Burnet, nodding.

"When did you have this dream?" she questions, trying to hide the concern in her voice. You thought for a moment, trying to remember. Everything was a bit hazy.

"Right before I woke up here," you admitted, truthfully. She looks over at her husband, nervously.

"What? What is it?" you ask them. Burnet sighs and looks back at you.

"Its name is UB-03 Lighting, also known as Xurkitree. It's an Ultra Beast," she says, her voice now laced with worry. You peer up at her, suspicious. You know there's something else, something they're keeping from you.

"What are you not telling me?" you state. Burnet looks up from the device and sighs.

"Xurkitree is apparently known to show up in peoples' subconscious before death to try and absorb the last bits of their life force. They convert it into electricity to sustain their own life forces, but this can only happen if they have had direct contact with the person while they were living," she finally admits.

No one says anything; no one knows what to say, really. The only sound is the pitter-patter of light rain on the hospital window, leftover from the storm. You stare at the small raindrops trailing down the glass as you think.

This only confirms your memory that returned to you in that encounter.

"It's the thing that took me away from my Dad," you announce, angrily.