Follow Me Ch 6: Dive

Follow Me
A Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Story

Chapter Six
Dive

    What should she do?  A million thoughts clouded her brain.  Had Chocobo fallen as well, would Silver be able to reach her, where was Chuu--each fear washed over her with a somber chill.  She kept her eyes on Silver, who was diving after her with great intensity, and the idea that he wouldn't catch her made her numb.

    The whole experience was numbing, to be frank.  Falling itself might actually have felt pleasant--the wind rushing across her body and the odd sensation she usually associated with flying--but the dread of hitting the water drained such niceties.  From this altitude, she was certain, the water would make no difference.

    "Grab on!" Silver yelled, reaching for her as he approached.

    She returned the gesture, but he was just out of reach.  Their fingers danced around one another at a short distance as they fell in a spiral, and then, with a great rush of relief, Soul clasped her fingers around his strong palms and he guided her in front of him on Crobat's back.

    "We have to land--Crobat can't handle this much weight!" he said over the wind, and indeed, the Pokémon was now struggling to stay aloft and losing altitude rapidly.

    Soul scanned below them.  "There!" she said, pointing.

    Without a word, Silver directed the Pokémon downward until they finally landed on the shore of a small island.

    Shaken, Soul sat on the sand, trying to slow her pounding heart.  Catching her breath a bit, she turned.  "Silver, tha--"

    "What in the HELL did you think you were doing?!"

    She flinched in spite of herself.  Trying to regroup, she replied in a meek voice, "I-I didn't mean to--"

    "Why in the hell did you go to sleep?!"  His face was red with rage.

    "I just...It was a long trip, and I'd been up all morning, and I--"

    "You scared the ever-living piss out of me!"  He started to pace a bit.  "I'm going along like everything's normal and look up just in time to see you ROLLING OFF YOUR POKÉMON LIKE A DUMB ASS.  I swear to God, I think I had heart failure."  He rubbed his eyes with his hands.  "My God, of all the stupid..."

    She stared at her hands in her lap as he trailed off into grumbling.  "I...I'm sorry."

    "You're damn right you're sorry."  He turned and scanned the horizon.  "Where the hell did we land, anyway?"

    "I don't know," Soul said, climbing to her feet.  She stared at his back, trying to catch her nerve.  Finally, she said it.  "Thank-you, Silver.  F...For saving me."

    He turned to her and paused.  "...Yeah, whatever," he said dismissively, turning away.  "Ah, look, here comes the other half of this failtastrophe," he commented, gesturing above them.

    Following his indication, she spotted (with a sigh of relief) Chuu gliding down from the sky, Chocobo calling from his back.  Soul ran to greet them at their landing spot and opened her arms as Chocobo leapt at her.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she cooed, petting his head.  She gave Chuu a reassuring stroke as well.  "And don't worry, I'm sure it wasn't your fault."

    "Family reunions are nice and all, but did you bother to check your supplies to make sure you didn't lose anything?" Silver said as he was minding his Crobat, who had been recovering from the sudden landing in the shade of a nearby tree.

    She hadn't even thought of it.  Thankfully, her bag was still around her shoulder, and the elastic band she'd used to secure the flap was still in place.  Loosening it, she investigated her belongings, as well as her jeans pockets, where she usually stored her party Pokémon.  "Everything's still here, even my PokéGear."

    "That's lucky, I guess," Silver said, not really caring either way.  He retrieved a Pokéball from his belt and recalled his Pokémon.  "Crobat needs to rest a bit before we go on; even if I tried, he would just need to land again before we'd get too far."

    Soul nodded.  Retrieving Chuu's Pokéball, she turned to him.  "You should rest too, Chuu."  A red beam shot out of the ball, and in a flash, Chuu was gone.  She checked the clock on her PokéGear.  "It's almost noon...Wow, I was asleep for a while before I fell."  She turned to Silver.  "Want to have some lunch in the downtime, then?"

    Sighing, he shrugged.  "Might as well."

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Selected quote from the next chapter:
"Wow, it's bigger than I thought it was..."