Following Disaster
Chapter V

'Unnh?' Naia cringed, rolling over in that half-conscious state that one can so often find oneself trapped in. Half dreaming, half remembering, distorted images flickered before her mind's eye. Falling, falling, falling.

She snapped awake. Her head throbbed painfully as she endeavored to lift it from the hard surface she seemed to be laying on, and she could feel the uncomfortable stiffness of her hair that indicated it was full of sea salt. So, she had fallen into the ocean. But what had happened? Why was she alive?

She sat up and peered around. The stone beneath her was a blazing, sun-bleached white that was cracked and chipped--ancient. All around her, huge boulders and bits of craggy rock that had crumbled from them stood intimitadingly. There was a high, sturdy wall surrounding the area. She noticed with a lurch of her stomach the scattered remains of a few unlucky Pokémon--their bones and flesh littering the floor like a horrible form of confetti. She stood up and moved carefully sideways over the aged stone. As she did, her view was no longer partially obstructed by the boulders all around. And what she saw made her heart stop.

It was huge, coiled into a pile of scales, wings, and nasty-looking claws. Green and some vivid red jumped out at her, and a scream scratched at her throat. She held it in. The creature's eyelids were shut, and its massive sides rose and fell slowly, peacefully. It was asleep.

Naia reached for her belt with trembling fingers and carefully, noiselessly detached the lone Poké Ball. She pressed the central button with her thumb to enlarge it, and raised it to her lips to instruct the Pokémon inside.

'Chaos,' Naia whispered, 'Be as quiet as you possibly can.. don't make a sound.' She tossed the ball and let it rebound into her outstretched hand, liberating her Absol. Obediently Chaos said nothing, and let his sight tell him why. He, though strong as Naia knew he was, shied away from the enormous Pokémon. Naia bent down to his level.

'We have to get out of here,' she whispered as calmly as she could, although her heart was pounding at a speed she wouldn't have thought possible. She took a deep breath.

'Absol,' Chaos whispered back presently. With the long scythe that protruded from his head, he indicated an opening in the wall around the place. It looked like a stairway, and Naia headed for it with a grateful smile to her Pokémon.

It was with the greatest fear she'd ever known that Naia crossed before the huge sleeping creature, but she held her breath and let her still-wet shoes make not the tiniest sound. The solemn, regular, soft click-click of Chaos's claws was all the noise that emanated through the area.

After what seemed like hours, Naia reached the opening. Sure enough, it was a stairway going down--far down. Naia had not realized how far up she was. It made her shudder to think what would have happened if she'd decided to climb over the wall.

The steps were just as weathered as the stone floor of the chamber above. Naia was careful to step in the center of each one, where she suspected the rock was strongest. Any thought of falling seemed to bring on nausea. Ahead, she could see a dark doorway--leading out, she wondered? Or into the claws of some other immense Pokémon? There was only one way to go.

It was a relief to get out of the sun as she entered the shady doorway. Indoors, it was not quite as dark as she'd expected and much more comfortable than the blazing heat outside. But all hopes of escape were dashed. There was a door, in the center of the far wall. But in front of it was a gaping hole that she could never hope to get over. There was no way out.

Naia was nearly in tears when a sudden voice caused her to jump, heart quickening again, frightened beyond frightened.

'Chaos?' the voice asked.

'Absol!' Chaos had forgotten his promise to be silent and his yip was absolutely joyful as he bounded toward the darkness of a corner. Naia couldn't believe her ears. She knew the voice, but here of all places? Here, the place she was dragged to, without any hope at all? Here, she had accomplished her original goal?

She followed the path of her Pokémon and faced the person she'd yearned for over the course of four years. Tears were beginning to form again, but this time for a different emotion.

'Hi, Spect,' she said.