Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

Metchi's world ws fractured into a million pieces in front of her. Her eyes were wide open and yet she could see nothing except the shattered sky above, black spots filling her vision and slowly covering her body in what she imagined was a blanket of darkness.

Wind carried her. She felt herself flying atop something, perhaps her own Pokemon? Whatever it was it brushed against her arms and legs, tickling her almost to the point of laughter. And why wouldn't she laugh? She adored flying more than anything else. Her earliest, strongest memory came back to her, the memory of resting against a flying Pokemon's back as the sky unrolled above her. Soaring high above the sapphire blue of the ocean, flocks of Wingull keeping her company. The memory filled her chest with warmth, with familiarity. That had been a long time ago. Back when she still had a home. Back when her path hadn't been restricted by those invisible chains around her.

Back then, when the word Galactic hadn't meant anything to her.

The warmth inside her started burning, turning her insides into scorched black as she remembered. Why did she have to? Dreaming was fine, dreaming didn't hurt and it let her forget everything, even if only for a short time. She parted her lips, swollen and dry and bloody, and tried to draw a breath. She wasn't able to. She willed her limbs to move, barely being able to drag them from the floor below her towards her chest, and frantically tapped at her ribcage as if she could rip it open and force air into it. When her vision started getting blurry and her temples burned she felt that familiar heat behind her eyes, and the knot in her chest dissolved slowly, allowing her to breathe again.

Slow, methodical gasps came as her chest rose up and down. Her mind started catching up after that, and after a few seconds of staring blankly at the sky above she realized what she mistook for cracks in her vision were simply the leaves of the tree she was laying under. And the tickling in her legs and arms appeared to be the grass below her which she would've found embarrassing if she weren't in such a daze.

Where are we?

With some difficulty, she bobbed her head to the side, cheek landing on the soft grass and eyes barely focusing on the landscape around her. The floor curved downwards the more it got away from her and in the horizon she could see the blurry shape of Eterna city, far below. How'd she gotten there? She closed her eyes and saw that flash of purple again, the one she'd followed right before...

She let out a defeated sigh. Team Galactic, of course that was the why she was looking for. The mist in her head started clearing as she remembered; she'd foolishly gone looking for them in the depths of that blasted city, and she'd almost made it to two of their commanders before that Scyther fell from the ceiling, eyes glistening with killing intent.

Failure. The word stuck to her, flew around her head like an annoying insect she couldn't quite slap away. She had failed, and quite spectacularly at that. Their mission was simple: open a way through the labs, defeat the few grunts that were scattered around the building and find Jupiter and Charon, easily the weakest of Team Galactic's commanders. It had seemed so easy, and then she'd gotten herself slashed and kicked in the chest mid-teleport, leaving her stranded here. A golden opportunity served on a silver platter which had been executed with bronze stupidity.

So little old Metchi screwed up again? Next you're gonna tell me the sky is blue.

The wound, she reminded herself. Identify location, check your supplies, analyze your wounds and keep going; you'll have time to sulk later. She'd tried not to think about it back in the lab but now she really didn't have much else to do. Slowly, almost not wanting to, she moved one of her hands towards her abdomen, weakly touching the spot in her lower stomach where that Pokemon had slashed her. The fabric of her shirt was wet with blood, making it feel sticky to the touch. She pressed slightly and a sense of relief filled her when she only felt a sting of pain; no more blood was coming out of it. She could work with that, she could work with not being about to die. Next she tried to move her legs and her hip, and while they were responding a bit slowly she still had her mobility. She felt a lump behind her back which meant she still possessed her backpack, and a touch with her hand in her belt told her Lyserg's pokeball was still there.

Look at you, being all responsible. Maybe next time you'll even manage not to get yourself almost killed.

With a pained grumble she forced her body to the side, pushing herself upwards with her right hand, her left one making sure her backpack didn't fall to the floor. It was slow and sloppy and painful as all fuck, but eventually she managed to get up, and almost immediately wanted to throw herself at the floor again. She blinked fast, her vision blurry and her head spinning from the effort. Her stomach felt empty, painfully so, and her skin was way too hot considering the cold wind that surrounded her. The veins in her temples kept pulsing, sending shivers down her spine every time.

"I'm fine," she told herself, voice desperately trying to claw itself up from her throat. "I'm... fine. Now I have to..."

"Heads up, you're about to vomit a lot of blood."

Violent spasms shook her limbs, sliding her feet off the ground and forcing her to land on her elbows as her insides squirmed. The first heave made the skin in her neck tingle, the second one made her fingers run through the dirt beneath them as they curled into fists, and by the third one her entire body clenched and she couldn't hold it anymore.

It was for the better anyway. One thing she knew about throwing up was that the faster it was over the better. Of course it wasn't often that she let out a small torrent of dark red from her mouth, not even in her worse hangovers. The floor in front of her eyes was now splattered with a mix of blood and a few other fluids that she'd rather not think about. The disgusting flavor stuck to her teeth and gums.

"I'm sorry, but I had to get all that out of your system somehow."

Sluggishly she raised her head towards that voice, her breathing heavy and irregular. As familiar as always, it resonated inside her mind as an amalgamate of different buzzes and noises that somehow managed to form words together. There was nothing in front of her, but she knew better.

"Come out already," she said. "I don't like talking to the air."

That familiar heat inside her chest evaporated slowly as a stream of golden mist exited her body, spiraling in the air in front of her and taking the form of a small, floating creature. Its body was thin, grey with skinny arms and tiny legs. Two ribbon shaped tails moved behind it in unison, a circled hole at the end of them where a red jewel should have been. Its head had two strange protrusions coming out the sides, a pale blue covering most of its face. Metchi scoffed, not yet deciding if the sight of the Pokemon was a relief or a bother, especially with the glowing golden on its eyes set on her, unblinking.

For a legendary Pokemon, Azelf sure looked like a fucking wimp.

"How are you feeling, Metchi?"

Words came out of the Pokemon, even though its tiny line of a mouth wasn't moving. Metchi couldn't help to laugh at the question. A throaty, almost pained sound that some might have mistaken for a weep. She locked eyes with the thing, as usual hating that Azelf didn't have a body for her to punch. Unless she started hitting herself, which considering her current condition didn't sound like a great idea.

"I'm..." she looked in her mind for a term to describe how she was feeling, and finally decided to summarize it the best way she could. "Azelf... this fucking blows."

"Poignant choice of words, as usual."

Her eyelid twitched a bit. She hated talking to Azelf because it always felt like she was having a conversation with a floating, immobile doll. One who never stopped staring at her with those huge golden eyes. She had to look down, choking a curse, and her sight set on the small pool of fluids at her feet.

"I'm sick of seeing my own blood," she whispered.

"That sounds like a problem that's very easily solvable. For anyone who's not you, that is."

"Okay, shut your... ethereal mouth." She raised a finger toward it. "I didn't call you to have a damn chat with some tea and lava cookies. We need to strategize."

"No." That simple word hit her like a hammer. It wasn't a request, but a statement. "What you need to do is rest. I'm barely keeping you afloat with the power I have left, and after today's disaster we'll have to lay low for a while if we want to avoid capture."

"I'm fine!" she yelled back. "I'm feeling better already, and that wound wasn't as bad as we thought."

"And who do you have to thank for that?" Azelf's translucent body floated closer to her, piercing her with its eyes. "Do you know how hard it was to deviate that Scyther's attack to a spot where it wouldn't pierce your lower intestines or your iliac artery? Not very much, considering I had less than a second to do it."

"Yeah I get it, you're sooo fucking great," she scoffed. "I don't have time to stroke your ego now. I need a status report, how's my body doing?"

Azelf stood still for a moment, although she immediately realized that it was always immobile and maybe the loss of blood was getting to her head. Finally it spoke again, voice as toneless as usual.

"You've lost around two pints of blood. Your muscles are suffering from high exhaustion and your lack of sleep, food and drink have reduced your cognitive, physical and mental capabilities by fifty six percent. As for the wound in your stomach; I've managed to force your body to accelerate its healing capabilities to almost three times its normal effectiveness. Scabs are already forming around the cut and should have the wound completely sealed in a few hours. After that it will begin to swell and you will find it difficult to move due to the pain and your body trying to repair broken tissue."

"Summarize," she said, tapping her foot on the ground. "How much until I'm back to full strength?"

"That depends." Azelf stopped for a moment, but immediately began talking after Metchi shot it a murderous look. "By tomorrow night you'll be able to walk and act without too much pain, although you'll need to be careful not to reopen the wound. Complete healing will take at least a week and a half, even with my help."

"I can work with that," said Metchi. "Thanks, that's all I needed."

She took her eyes away from the creature, and slowly started walking towards the edge of the small patch of grass she was in. To her right the floor curved down in all directions but north, leading down the mountain path towards either Eterna City (the town seeming so small and insignificant from that height) or Route 208, peppered with ancient quarries and lakes. She turned around once more, shifting her gaze north. The path extended upwards to a point where it would've been impossible to pass through for anyone who wasn't a hiker. The mountain kept getting taller and taller until its body penetrated the clouds above. She'd been lucky to appear in the low part of what was the spine of Mount Coronet, otherwise she'd have no way down. Not after she idiotically used Lyserg to fight that Scyther and got her hurt, cutting down her only available means of transportation.

An itch in her chest surprised her and drained almost all her strength, as the blue of her eyes stood set against the imposing figure in front of her. She'd heard so much about this place back in Hoenn... the tallest string of mountains in the world, dividing an entire region in half and rising up even beyond the sky. She'd wanted to visit it with all her heart, back when her dream was nothing more than to fly to the top of it. Back when she had dreams, anyway.

She had to contain a minuscule weep and forced those emotions back into the depths of her mind. Move on. She told herself. Cry later, when you have a place to sleep.

"So," she said, feeling eyes on her back, "can't help but notice you haven't disappeared yet."

"I was hoping we could talk."

"What's there to talk about?" she shrugged. "I screwed up. You can wait 'til I'm feeling better to rub it on my face."

"I don't take pleasure in proving you wrong. All the contrary, I've had to suffer the consequences of your recklessness as well. Your pain is my pain, remember? And after you abused my power to such lengths just to get to Jupiter and Charon..."

"I didn't have a choice," she snarled through her teeth. "It was the perfect opportunity! Our plan just... lacked some polish is all."

"You mean the plan of not listening to my warnings and using half my power reserve to blow up an entrance to the building?" Azelf questioned. "And alerting half the town in the meantime? We could have searched for another way in."

"There was no time to think." she said. "We didn't know how long they would stay in there!"

"And then you pointlessly tried to follow them when they were sure to escape." The legendary Pokemon kept talking, not listening to her excuses. "Jupiter ended up saving your life, you know? What would have happened if she hadn't kicked you in the middle of the teleportation process? What would have happened if we ended up in the middle of Galactic HQ half dead and with no strength to fight?"

Metchi wanted to respond, wanted to yell at Azelf until her voice went hoarse. Something blocked her throat, however. She figured it had to be something like shame.

"Between Jupiter's stupidity and those kids appearing to help you, we got incredibly lucky. That will not happen again."

Metchi couldn't help but let out a chuckle. A very short, sad one, but it'd have to do.

"Those two..." She crossed her arms, brow furrowed. "If they hadn't interfered..."

"In that case you would most likely be dead right now, and team Galactic would have gotten all the energy they needed for the next step of their plan. They accomplished more than we could have hoped to."

She bit her lip, no retort coming to her. Azelf was right of course, the Pokemon usually was, but she hated to admit it. Inyssa and Barry... those names clung to the back of her mind, filling her with a single question that she wasn't sure she wanted answered.

"Do you think they escaped the explosion?" She didn't know why she asked that. "Do you think... they're dead?"

"Would it make any difference? After all you've done, the people you've hurt, is another death on your shoulders really going to bother you?"

"I... I guess not." She looked down, her fingers closing into fists. "I hope they're okay though..."

"Don't linger on those thoughts. The lives of those two are insignificant compared to the weight of our task. With one of my siblings in captivity and the other nowhere to be found we're the only ones who can stop team Galactic. Remember, if you die..."

"I know, I fucking know," she interrupted, heat rising to her face. "If I die you go back to them and we're all doomed. Got it, no pressure at all."

"Whining is unbecoming of you. I didn't give you humans the gift of Valor so you would be bogged down by your emotions. Even when not around Mesprit still manages to bother me, if only by proxy."

"Sounds like you have some family issues to work through." For the first time she formed a tiny smile, so weak that a gust of wind would've blown it away.

"Enough about that. For now, try to find respite and make your way to Hearthome so you can get supplies." She could almost feel Azelf's irritation inside her chest. Her words must've struck a nerve. "I'll go back into your body. I'll need all my focus to make sure you heal faster, so I might stay silent for some time."

"Finally, some good news."

"I heard that." Azelf's body started to dissolve once more, the golden glow entering her chest and filling her with warmth once more. "Now get going. And stay safe, not only your life depends on that."

Silence. At last it filled the air around her taking the form of the silver winds that ruffled her hair and made her pink locks block part of her vision. Talking to Azelf had always been exhausting but this time certainly took the cake.

The middle child of the legendary Lake Trio, the being of Valor and one of the oldest creatures in existence. And also a colossal pain in the ass, as far as she was concerned.

With nothing more than a tired sigh she started walking towards her right, following the tight path between the trees that lead down to Route 208. She'd have to cross it to reach Hearthome where stealing and pillaging would be necessary to get the resources she needed so she could survive a few more days. It would be a complicated day, she told herself, so it'd be better to get over it fast. With care, she started descending the dirt path, small stones rolling downwards as she made her way. Her legs were still protesting and she still felt a bit dizzy, but she could slowly feel the strength coming back to her. Between that and the clear air she was breathing she felt a momentary sense of peace as she descended. Sure, she was in a tricky situation at the moment, but it could be a lot worse.

She allowed herself a smile. I can get through this, she thought. As long as I'm careful and don't let my emotions-

A sudden, unnatural shiver ran down the length of her body. She took the next step unconsciously, and her foot slid on a small pebble she could've sworn hadn't been there before. She slipped, and with barely a yelp of surprise she fell down the side of the cliff, her vision going black with the first impact.

Metchi was lucky her body bounced off the cliff side a few times before hitting the base of the mountain, absorbing with every hit the momentum that could've shattered her bones. She was also lucky she fell on her feet and landed on her right side, although at that point she thought luck was relative when she was in so much pain. The impact shook her vision, clouding her senses and casting yet another cloak of darkness on top of her. She could almost feel her consciousness escaping her as her body laid limp.

She couldn't say if minutes or hours passed while she was in that hazy stupor, but finally the mist inside her mind started dissipating, and she heard echoes around her. Voices, distant and yet feeling too close. When the darkness lifted from her eyes she saw a pair of green in front of them. A young girl's face was staring at her with a mix of confusion and shock. Next to her that familiar blonde boy was speaking words that sounded fumbled to her, although she could pick on his worried tone.

"...You're alive." She didn't quite like how honest she sounded, even though she was completely dazed.

"She spoke!" the blonde boy yelled, putting both his hands on the girls' shoulders.

"I can see that." She gave him a side glance, frowning. "Hey Metchi, nice to see you again."

"Niss! Help me get her up!"

She felt a pair of calloused hands grab her by the shoulders, attempting to get her to sit. She scoffed but didn't protest at the touch, trying to help him by putting her hand against the ground to lift herself. The girl named Inyssa was still in front of her, hesitation clear in her face. Staring. Judging. Metchi didn't like her expression one bit.

"Are you okay?" She heard Barry's voice at her side, through the clouds of pain and stupor. "What happened? We saw you disappear back in the lab!"

"I'm... fine," she whispered, too tired to slap away the boys' hand. "Bit dizzy is all. What are you doing here?"

"We were on our way to Hearthome." Niss pointed behind her, towards the path of Route 208. "We found you passed out at the foot of the cliff."

"Oh my gosh, have you not treated that wound yet!?" Barry's eyes were set on her stomach, worry lines on his face. "We have to clean that! Niss, you have that first aid kit, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's here in my backpack somewhere," Inyssa seemed distracted, her eyes not wanting to dart away from her. She knew that gaze too well. "Here." A small white package made its way from the girl's hands to Barry.

"I said I'm fine." Metchi reiterated, strongly enough to make Barry consider backing out. "The cut is closed, I'm not bleeding anymore."

"Yeah, baloney." Barry put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back and preventing her from standing up. Had he really said the word baloney? "It could still get infected if we don't clean it."

A rasp, harsh laugh came out of her mouth. She had to admit, she was weak to this sort of idiotic naivete, and to the clear honesty in his big brown eyes. It was kind of like watching her past self in a mirror.

"If I let you treat my wound would you leave me alone?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Look at yourself, you're paler than Niss!" Barry kept talking, not paying attention to her words. Behind him, Inyssa frowned at his comment. "When's the last time you ate something?"

"That depends on what you consider food." She smiled. Barry, however, didn't seem to share her sense of humor. "Uh... a day and a half ago, I guess."

"What!?" She could see genuine concern on his face, to the extent that it made her a bit uncomfortable. "Don't worry, we'll give you something to eat and drink as soon as I get this wound fixed up. Right Niss?"

The question caught the young girl off guard. For once she took her eyes away from Metchi and looked at her friend, her lips stretched thin. She could see hesitation on her face, even if it only lasted for a second. She knew what it meant, she knew what was going through the girl's head right now.

I don't trust you, her eyes said. Maybe she was thinking too much about it, but she couldn't help but feel rancorous at the way she was staring at her.

"Yeah... of course." Inyssa finally said, nodding weakly. "I hope you like pancakes, Metchi."

Metchi switched her sight between the two, exhaustion covering her entire body. She felt a sting of something she couldn't determine inside her chest, and decided to look down.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked, voice almost too low to hear. "You saw what happens around me. You almost died twice because you tried to get close to Team Galactic. Why do you do this? What do you want from me?"

Both kids stopped in their tracks, and had to look at each other for an answer. A few seconds passed before one of them answered.

"Because you're in trouble and we want to help you." Barry squished her shoulder with his hand, smiling brightly. "That's all there is to it, we don't want anything in return."

"Well..." Inyssa bit her lip, trying to suppress a smile.

"Niss!"

"Fine, fine. Yeah we're just a couple of humanitarians, that's us." She crossed her arms, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Just let us help you so we can extract some information from you later."

"I told you, I can't say anything," Metchi said. "It would attract them to you, and I don't want your deaths in my conscience."

As if you care, the voice inside her head resonated, You would sacrifice them both to accomplish your objective.

Shut the fuck up, she replied.

"Right..." Inyssa rolled her eyes, and with difficulty got on her knees, eyes now at the same height as hers. "Look, these past weeks have been pretty crazy for us too. Between the shit that happened in the bridge, Team Galactic and that haunted house it's not exactly been a vacation for us."

"Oh boo hoo," she said in a mocking tone. "Yeah I'm sure not being able to take on the Gym leaders was extremely stressful for you."

"That's not..." Redness rose to Inyssa's cheeks. "That's not what I meant. After what Mars did to me, and after what we saw back in that lab, we can't go on with our journey just ignoring what Team Galactic is doing. And we know that you know something about them, we know that you're trying to stop them, whatever their objective is."

"Yeah! And any enemy of team Galactic is a friend of us." Barry smiled, pointing at himself. "We want to help you catch them, even if it's just with small stuff."

"Someone has to do something," said Inyssa, eyes full of determination. "And the Association is not making a lot of progress so we figured we could help even the odds a little."

"Aren't you... scared?" Metchi asked them, disbelief clear on her eyes. "You know what they could do to you if you got in their way, right?"

"Of course we're scared," Inyssa replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But my desire to punch Mars in the face trumps that fear, so we're all good for now."

"What do you say?" Barry placed a hand on her shoulder, an impossibly trusting smile on his lips. "We can help you."

Metchi frowned, not believing those idiots' words. They had no idea what true fear was like, they didn't know what Team Galatic was capable of. A wrong turn and both of them would end up dead. Just another couple of bodies, another two corpses forced into the back of her mind where her conscience couldn't reach them. She opened her mouth to refuse, to tell them they were a couple of morons and they should just leave her alone before they got hurt. But the words that came out of her mouth were something she didn't expect, something fueled by that stupid warm feeling that had started growing through her body after listening to their encouraging words.

"Fine." That single word was extremely hard for her to say, and she couldn't help but look down, avoiding their eyes. "I'll eat your food, I'll let you heal me and you'll take me to Hearthome. Then I'll go away and we'll hope to never see each other again."

Both of them smiled. Stupid, young smiles that did nothing but fill her with pointless hope.

"Whatever you say." Inyssa gave her a pat in the shoulder. "Let's get you fixed up, and then we can have a talk."