Chapter 7

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You and Cato have been sitting in this little tunnel for what feels like hours.

The storm has gotten worse, with no signs of letting up any time soon. Cato is curled up next to you, trying to preserve body warmth for the two of you.

It's so cold.

You shiver against Cato's fur, head resting against the hard, rocky wall behind you. You know Ash and the Professors are probably really worried. You left without leaving any hint of where you were going.

Granted, you didn't really know where you were going either.

"I'm sorry," you say, your voice drowned out slightly by the torrential rain pouring outside. Cato lifts his head and looks at you, but this time he doesn't have the look of "I told you so" on his face. Instead, he just looks worried.

"I should've listened to you, we wouldn't be stuck here if I did," you sniffle. Cato shifts and lays his head down in your lap, and you rest your hand on top of his spiked head.

You sit there in silence, the only noise being the sound of rain pounding against rock and thunder growing in the distance. You stroke your Luxray's black fur and stare outside at the storm.

You feel a lump start to form in your throat, and hot tears make their way to the corners of your eyes. A tear slides down your cheek as you bite your lip, struggling to keep it all in.

You hiccup as more tears trail down your face, and Cato looks up at you, worried.

"I just want to go home," you say quietly, "like, home home." You look down at Cato and smile faintly.

"I miss Dad, and I don't even know who he is. I miss him so much, Cato. And what about Mom? I don't even know if I have a Mom," you say in between hiccups. Cato looks up at you with sad eyes, wishing he could help, but he doesn't remember either.

"Why can't we remember anything? Why did this have to happen to us, of all people? It's not fair!" you yell as you lay your head back, hitting it against the rock wall. You close your eyes as more tears fall down your face. Cato nuzzles his head in your lap again, comfortingly.

You both sit like that for a bit, until you break the silence.

"Do you think he even misses us?"

Cato lifts his head abruptly and stares at you with a hard look on his face. You look away sadly, staring at the raging storm outside that's keeping you from getting back to safety.

~~~~~

More time passes, and you know you can't take much more of this.

You sneeze heavily and turn to Cato, who's taken to pacing around the little tunnel, too worried about the storm to lay down.

"Cato, you can make it out of here," you say, exhausted. Cato stops pacing and looks over at your weak form and growls, immediately dismissing your suggestion.

"You can find Professor Kukui and bring him back here, I'll be fine," you continue. Cato shakes his head and lets out a sound of disapproval. He makes his way over and sits down next to you, protectively.

He won't leave you alone. He has to protect you.

"Cato," you say as you put a hand on his head, "please, I need you to go get help. I can't wait here until the storm lets up. I'll be just fine, I promise."

Cato looks down at you, concern etched across his face. He nuzzles his head into your arm and licks your face, then gives you a look of determination. You smile and wrap your arms around his large body.

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"Thank you," you whisper. When you let go, Cato runs to the entrance of the tunnel, and takes one last glance behind him at you before sprinting out into the storm to find Professor Kukui.

You sigh and lean back against the rocky interior, shivering. You listen to the sound of rain and thunder. If it wasn't for the fact that you were stuck here, it would've been peaceful.

A little while passed when you suddenly feel something wet against your legs. You look down, confused, and you see that the ground is now covered in water. You watch the water flow towards the exit of the tunnel and see the water spilling over the edge of the cliff. Your eyes widen as you look to the other end at the entrance of the tunnel, realization sinking in.

Ten Carat Hill is shaped like a bowl or a volcano.

Massive amounts of rain would cause it to fill up and flood, but it never does.

Where does all that water go?

The little path you followed here is too small for a fully grown adult, meaning it isn't an actual designated path.

You're sitting right in the tunnel that drains all of the flooded water out of Ten Carat Hill.

You start to panic as you realize just how much danger you're in. You look towards the entrance of the tunnel, where you came from. Maybe you could limp your way out just before the huge flood goes through the tunnel.

No, you can hardly even stand, you could never squeeze your way out like you had to coming in.

You look towards the exit where the cliff is. You grab your backpack and force yourself to stand, your legs almost giving out, screaming in protest. The water is now up to your ankles.

You lean against the wall, shuffling your way out to the cliff and into the raging storm. Looking around, you see a large boulder embedded into the wall. You know you'll never be able to climb it, but it can be used to keep something else safe.

You take off your backpack and toss it on top of the boulder, out of the way so the water won't destroy everything inside. You know it's probably the last thing you should be worrying about right now, but if you survive, you don't want your book, the only link to your dad you have, to be ruined.

You turn around, and search for anything else that could save you. There's basically nothing, since every time the mountain floods it drains here and takes out any small boulders and plants you could use.

The water is up to your knees now, and it's picking up speed, almost knocking you over. You need to stay away from the edge, because if you lose your balance, you'll fall.

Frantic, you make your way over to one of the larger trees on the small cliff. You get behind it and wrap your arms around it to try and hold you in place. Your heart races as you can feel the water rising quicker and getting stronger.

Your hands slip against the wet trunk and you nearly fall over, but you manage to latch on again and straighten yourself out. 

The water is up to your chest now and its strength is almost too much.

You screw your eyes shut and squeeze the trunk as hard as you possibly could. Suddenly, you hear something in the distance. It might just be your ears playing tricks on you, but you swear you heard a voice calling out.

"Hello?" you scream out, voice drowned out by the rain. "Is someone there?" you scream louder. You listen for any sort of response, any sound other than the roaring water.

There it is. You know you heard it that time.

"I'm here!" you yell out, trying to get their attention, whoever it was. 

"(Y/N)? Is that you?" you hear a faint voice call, followed by a head poking over the top of the boulders surrounding the cliff. You look up, squinting to see who it is.

"(Y/N)!" the person yells, and you recognize the voice.

"Professor Kukui!" you shout, "I can't hold on much longer!" Cato's head pops up over the side next to the Professor's, and he lets out a yell of pure terror.

"(Y/N), hold on! We're coming down to get you!" Kukui yells over the sound of rushing water.

You close your eyes and grasp the tree trunk, trusting that they'll get you out of here. You hear them yelling and shuffling around, and you suddenly hear the professor shouting your name.

You open your eyes and see his outstretched hand in front of you, and you see how they used their Pokemon to help get him as close to you as they could.

You reach out for his hand, but your arm isn't quite long enough. You shuffle a little to try and get closer, and you can just barely feel his fingertips when you hear a deafening roar.

You turn towards the source and see the tunnel completely filled with water, shooting like a jet right towards you. You hear Kukui start to shout your name, but it's cut off when the water hits your body with so much force that it knocks you off the tree's support.

The water shoots over the edge of the cliff, taking you with it.


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