"Arc... no.. lease..."

Sheets of heavy rain pelted from the heavens outside. The sound was constant and loud, yet its repetition made it seem silent rather than deafening. The sky was dark and the moon was new, not that it could be distinguished anyway through this storm.

Occasionally lightning would crack nearby, lighting up the night in a blinding flash. The thunder that followed was always low and slow, like the growl of an annoyed Glameow. It was never loud or sudden, so it, too, failed to wake anyone up.

Brave— or foolish— Pokémon darted through the grass covering the landscape, hoping for a drier place to relax. Others watched from their own dry shelters, letting out cries and hisses when anyone ran too close. No one had wanted to share their tiny cavern with a soaked companion for the night. Yet minutes later, they too were scurrying across the yard as their own shelter became flooded as well.

Lightning flashed once more, illuminating the small creatures fleeing from their once-dry homes. It was succeeded almost immediately by a sudden and uncharacteristic clash of thunder.

"No!"

A young man jumped in his bed, sweat forming around his forehead. He could hear nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat and heavy breathing from his sudden awakening. One might assume the powerful bout of thunder was what may have woken him, but a single glance at his gray gaze told that it was something more; the thunder was purely coincidental timing.

Several seconds passed in which the boy did nothing; he was still trying to regain himself from his nightmare, whatever it may have been. Only after silencing the beating of his own heart did he realize the pounding patter of rain on the roof above him.

His head turned, and almost instinctively he reached for a device on there. Once in his hand, he unplugged it from the cord connecting it to the wall and turned it on. Immediately he noticed two new messages from four hours prior, and quickly tapped them to read.

"Love you too!"
"Goodnight <3<3"

A soft smile spread across his lips as he read them, and laid back down with the phone resting on his chest. His expression remained even after he closed his eyes to return back to sleep—

The same image flashed in his mind, although this time he was unable to block or awaken from it. Everything around him melted away until he was left with an empty void surrounding, consuming him. The sound of rain and thunder disappeared as well, a deafening silence drowning out everything else. A shudder erupted through his entire body as he suddenly realized just how alone he was now.

He blinked, and suddenly a blinding light was there before him. It shone brighter than the sun, and the appearance of it made the boy put his hand up to block it while he painfully waited for his eyes to adjust.

He felt his name called, the vibrations echoing in the space around him. He shut his eyes and covered his ears, as if hoping to block the sudden noise. That had no effect, however, as the echoes continued on in the same intensity.

"Who are you?" The boy shouted after seconds of suffering. The sound vanished and he was left once more in silence, save for his own voice and breathing. "What do you want?"

The light intensified until it was too much to handle before dissipating. A foggy figure appeared, a glow emanating from it. It had no clear form, and seemed to move in a similar way to smoke from a fire.

"Seek out all Pokémon, and thou shalt find mine true appearance once again."

Again? Seek out all Pokémon? The boy opened his mouth to question the entity. "What are you-" talking about, he was about to call out, only to stiffen. A familiar ringing interrupted his thoughts and he turned, seeing his phone floating just out of reach. The screen rotated, revealing a image of a girl and Empoleon as the caller. The boy reached for it, all concerns with the being forgotten in a vague sense of relief. He yelled the girl's name and tried desperately to reach for the device, yet it was always just millimeters from his grasp. A few seconds passed and the call ended, only to start back up again. Once more he shouted her name, helpless tears now forming in his eyes. Why couldn't he reach her?

A wave of exhaustion overwhelmed the boy as the call ended a second time. He fell to his knees and looked around in anger for the entity from earlier. "Where are you?!" He screamed desperately. "Let me go!"

He was answered with silence. There was no one around to hear his plea for help.

He took a few shaky breaths and closed his eyes, wanting to rid himself of this terrible nightmare. It all had to be a dream, right? It was all too complex to be real otherwise.

The air suddenly became hot and the sun zoomed across the sky, followed by coolness and the moon right after. Over and over the cycle repeated, sun and moon, day and night, light and dark, heat and cold. Even through his closed eyelids he could vividly make out the difference between them.

"I... can't..." He gave in to his exhaustion and allowed himself to fall limp.

Sun and moon, day and night, light and dark, heat and cold.

The feelings became routine, and sped up faster and faster, until they merged into one. A pleasant warmth spread across his body, matched equally by an uncomfortable coolness.

A weightless sensation carried his limbs and it wasn't long before he realized that he was falling, yet the idea didn't seem to worry him.

Buildings deconstructed, trees and forests expanded, the mountains themselves began to shift and reform. The sun and moon continued to chase each other still. And through it all he was limp, falling, falling, the ground racing up ever closer.

The blinding light returned from behind, and he accepted his fate with a relaxed expression.

A blare of thunder erupted as he hit the ground.

🍃
Woo, it feels like so long since I've last wrote anything story-related. It's been what, almost over a year-and-a-half years since my last update of FoG?

Man, so much has happened since then. I promise that I have tried to write the next part of the story, but no matter how many times I rewrite or edit it, it never turned out the way I wanted. Eventually I gave up on the next update.

That doesn't mean that I won't come back to it; I have so much that I want to post with that story. For now though, it's on a break for the foreseeable future. My goal is to work on smaller works like this one, at least until I get back into writing again.

As for this story, I'd actually started it several months ago, just never had the courage to publish it until now. Writing is something I enjoy doing, and even if I'm distracted by other things, I still love writing and publishing things for others.

Thank you all for your support!