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Equilibrium	By : jvperric Category: Pokemon > General Views: 12587 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo does. I make no claim towards any of the copyrighted intellectual property contained herein. I am making no money from this story in any way.

Chapter List
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*****Chapter VIII: Overboard*****

Average starting salary, Sederan Army enlisted personnel: $27,089/yr

Average starting salary, Blackwing Security contractor: $78,655/yr

—Report compiled by the Sederan Department of Commerce, Private/Public Military Income Disparities

*****

Terrorism is the single greatest threat to the stability of the Sederan government.

—Richard Cole, PhD., CEO, Skorta Holdings Group

*****

Xavier opened the door to his new house and locked it behind him. The light on the porch was out, and the moon was the only guide he had as he placed his key back in his pocket. He shrugged off his knapsack and unpinned the name tag from his shirt, grimacing at the scent of meat that had followed him home, clinging to his clothes. Ten hours was too long to smell it, and having it hang about him was intolerable. Xavier pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it into the washing machine on one side of the little mudroom.

He walked into the house proper and banged his foot on the step up into the kitchen. He swore, more loudly than he intended, and propped himself against the counter while he massaged his foot. This new house—his stepfather’s house—was still full of unpleasant surprises. He knew every inch of his old home, what spots in the floor would creak and which would not, the height of each step in the staircases. That was his home; this was a house in which he happened to live.

The pain in his foot subsiding, Xavier continued down the main hall towards his room, or rather the half of the room he had wrested from his new stepbrother. Richard was a supremely unpleasant boy, brilliant and insufferable, always hunched over his desk either reading or composing some new manifesto. Xavier was lucky to get two words out of him on a good day. He saw light coming from under their door at the end of the hall.

He passed his mother and stepfather’s room, rife with snores and the smell of alcohol. Whatever his mother saw in her new brute of a husband was lost on him.

Erica’s room was the last one before his. It was empty, like it was every night when he came in. He saw her only rarely. The arrangement was just fine with him.

As he got to his room, Xavier noticed the lock on the back door sliding open. His hand drifted to the blade clipped to his pocket as the door slid open. Erica crept in, oblivious to his presence until he turned all the way towards her. She jumped back, bumping into a vacuum cleaner next to the wall.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she said, glaring at her stepbrother. “Where’s your shirt?”

“I can’t help what scares you. I put my shirt in the wash.” Xavier could smell the smoke and cheap beer on her. Sex, too, but he didn’t mention that. “You should do the same.”

“Bet you’d like to see that, huh perv?”

“Whatever. Tomorrow’s my day off; Richard has to drive you to school.”

She scoffed and waved at the door to his room. “He leaves, like, an hour before class. I don’t get up that early. And I can’t take the bus, it’s disgusting.”

“Maybe you can use that twin connection to keep him around until you’re ready to leave, Your Highness.”

“Screw you. I’m going to bed.”

Erica stormed off and into her room, slamming the door behind her. Xavier entered his own room and smirked. Richard was asleep at his desk, his face in a book. Xavier was ready to flop onto his bed and pass out, but he went to the far side of the room and jostled his shoulder.

“Richard. Richard, wake up. Come on, you passed out in another one of your damn books.”

“This isn’t just a damn book,” he muttered, pulling his head up. “It’s my textbook on nuclear physics. Not that you would understand.”

“I don’t need to understand, I’m a linguistics major,” Xavier said, retreating to his bed. “You don’t either, you’re still in high school.”

“Whatever, Xav.”

Xavier laid down and stared at the ceiling.

*****

Xavier jolted awake, squinting at the morning light shining into the ship’s bridge. His tongue lapped at his dry mouth while he brought his feet down from the table in front of him. He shook off the memory of nights past and noticed his radio flashing. He tuned to the indicated channel, one they reserved for air support.

“Identify,” he said, reaching for his rifle with his free hand.

“Predator, this is Rapidash Two-One,” crackled a voice through the radio. “Flight of three pontoon-equipped C-47s on approach from bearing one-one-five-Bravo. ETA’s three mikes. We have elements of Ursaring Three aboard to assist with your recovery operation. Requesting permission to continue approach, over.”

“Permission granted, Rapidash Two-One. Have your lead bird touch down on the helipad at the bow of the ship, the other two should come down twenty meters on either side of the ship. We’ll have lifeboats come out for you. Keep running quiet and stay on this channel. Predator out.”

Xavier switched the radio channel again. “All Predator units, this is Predator. Call in, over.”

“Rickon and Mitchell here, over.”

“Brayer here, over.”

“Garrin here, over.”

“Cale here, over.”

Xavier waited for his last man, but the radio stayed silent. He grabbed his mouthpiece again. “Cale, find Terrell and ask him why he’s not responding. Everyone else, go prep the lifeboats. We’ve got friendlies coming in on helicopters now.”

He went to the western side of the bridge and peered out the window. Three helicopters were swooping towards them in tight formation, each bearing the Blackwing logo on the front of their fuselages. The two following helicopters broke off from the lead, diverting to either side of the ship and dropping quickly. The lead helicopter decelerated over the helipad and began descending, rotating so that the rear hatch faced the bridge when it finally landed. The hatch was unlocked and open before the rotors spun down fully, and the command staff of Ursaring Three stepped off. The sergeants broke off to direct their troops in the other helicopters while the captain spoke with one of the pilots. Xavier looked over at their captives, bound and gagged securely in the corner of the bridge, and walked out on to the deck.

The captain saw him and snapped a salute, which Xavier returned. One of the pilots handed Xavier a sealed envelope. “Orders from Command, sir. We’ll be extracting you and your team back to base with your cargo. We just need to stop at one of our refueling sites on the way.”

“Sounds fine, Lieutenant,” Xavier said, ripping open the envelope. “You and the other pilots can take a few minutes rest. One of my men will show you the pantry if you’re hungry. The bridge is closed off, but otherwise you have the ship. Keep your radios on and we’ll call you when we’re—”

Xavier cut off suddenly when he saw Cale running towards him out of the corner of his eye. He turned and waited for Cale to catch his breath. “What is it?”

“It’s Terrell, sir,” he said, still out of breath. “He’s dead.”

They stood in a circle around the body while a medic that had come with the helicopters examined what was left of Terrell. It was a gruesome sight. Several of the Rattata that lived in the bowels of the ship had gotten to him, and large parts of his torso had been eviscerated. His eyes had been chewed out, leaving dried, bloody sockets. The spine was exposed, and most of the neck had been stripped of its flesh. His gloves had been chewed through as well as his fingers, leaving only bone and some tough sinew.

“Rats didn’t do all of this,” Xavier said. “What killed him?”

“I can’t tell, sir,” the medic said. “We need a coroner to look at the body.”

“No need. He’s dead. Bringing a body back will only lead to trouble and I’m not sitting in a helicopter with it.” He turned to two of his men. “Salvage what’s useful and put him overboard. And you three—” He glared at the remainder of his squad— “Figure out how your teammate died while you were above deck. Show the others where the cargo hold is and get everything loaded. The sooner we’re off this boat, the better.”

Cale and Brayer picked up Terrell by the feet and what remained of the hands and carried the body up to the deck. The rest of Xavier’s team led the detachment from the helicopters down to the cargo area. Xavier returned to the bridge, passing a locked, unmarked door, behind which Mightyena was sniffing the air as quietly as she could.

“Lot more people,” she growled when she was sure there was no one nearby. “Too many to count.”

Kirlia relayed her assessment to Mira. “Probably from those helicopters we heard before,” she said, stroking Ralts’ hair. “If they’re here for the Pokémon in the cargo hold that’s probably how they’re getting them out of here.”

‘What about Jason?’ Kirlia asked.

“That’s space they need. They won’t take him.”

‘Will they hurt him?’

Mira brought her hand away from Ralts’ hair and up to her heart. “I hope not.”

They waited in silence, not daring to take one more breath than was necessary. Mira knew they would have discovered the body Mightyena had left, and were likely scouring the ship for them. Her stateroom’s door was on the most direct path between the cargo hold and the upper deck, and they all sat in fear every time a group of footfalls passed by, either laden with a crate of Pokéballs heading up or unburdened and going back down for another box. The Pokémon were quiet, having positioned themselves in front of the door should anything come through. Even little Ralts seemed to grasp the importance of their silence and kept from raising her voice, if only to sit by Mira instead of returning to her Pokéball. Mira held one of her tiny hands between her thumb and first finger, her other hand wrapped around the heavy lamp from her desk.

It took only half an hour for the Scion agents to remove the entirety of the ship’s cargo from its hold and place it on lifeboats bound for the outlying helicopters, but for Mira and the occupants of her tiny stateroom it may as well have been half the day. Adrenaline has the unfortunate effect of lengthening one’s perception of time, and there was plenty coursing through all of their veins. It was only when Mira heard the sound of rotors spinning up that her body unclenched, her hands relaxed and she fell back on her bed, letting out a great sigh. The Pokémon followed suit, sighing in relief.

“Sounds like they left. Come on, everyone back in their Pokéballs. Let’s go find Jason.”

Xavier watched the two helicopters speed away towards the mainland from the bow of the ship. Most of the cargo had fit aboard them; only a few crates would be riding with them in the last aircraft. His men were aboard, and he stood outside with the pilot, making a final spot check of the rotors and fuselage. Everything was nominal as far as the pilot could see, and Xavier was preparing to go aboard when the captain that had arrived came out, holding a satellite phone.

“For you, sir.”

Xavier took the phone. “Yes?”

“I trust everything went well?” Richard asked.

“I lost one of my men. Not sure how.”

“You can find someone else for your squad. Is the cargo secure?”

“It’s in the air now. We’re prepping for extraction.”

“And the hostages?”

“Secured in the bridge.”

“They’re still alive?”

Xavier felt a chill run down his neck. “They’re not armed and they didn’t fight. I didn’t see any reason to kill them.”

“It’s a loose end. Tie it up.”

“We don’t kill civilians, Richard.”

Mira crept into the bridge, peering around every corner. The ship had been deserted thus far, but in the bridge were three people on the floor, their hands bound and hoods over their heads. Mira picked out Jason by the Pokénav on his wrist and pulled off the hood. There was a spot of clotted blood on his forehead, where something had hit hard enough to split the skin in a straight line from his widow’s peak to the left end of his hairline. A strip of duct tape covered his mouth. Mira shook him by the shoulder and managed to elicit a low gargling noise from him.

“Wake up Jason, wake up!”

She slapped Jason hard across the face and his eyes shot open. There was a muffled “Ow!” behind the tape as he shook himself awake.

“I’m going to take the tape off, but you have to be quiet, okay?”

Jason nodded, and winced as Mira peeled the duct tape from his mouth and tossed it aside. She undid the knot of the cord around his wrists and it fell away. Jason rubbed the skin where the cord had been digging while his eyes adjusted to the light. “What happened?”

“Someone hijacked the ship,” Mira said. “They wanted the Pokémon in the cargo bay. Some helicopters came and picked them up, they just left. Your Pokémon came and found me after they caught you.”

“Where are they?”

“They’re downstairs in my stateroom with your things. Come on, they’re worried sick about you.”

Jason got to his feet and was the first to see the helicopter on the deck. “I thought you said the helicopters left.”

“They did, why?”

“That one didn’t.”

Mira turned around and the color drained from her face. The man who looked to be in charge had a phone in his hand as his head swiveled to the bridge. He dropped the phone from his ear while his other hand went for the pistol on his hip. Mira yanked Jason back down and towards the door as the man shouted orders to the others.

“Come on! We have to hide,” Mira said, taking the stairs to the lower deck three at a time.

“We can’t hide, they saw us,” Jason said. “We have to get off the ship.”

Mira jumped to the bottom of the stairwell and pushed off the opposite wall towards her stateroom. “Are you crazy? We’re in the middle of the Gulf!”

“There are hundreds of little islands out here, we can get to one. But they won’t stop looking if we’re still here.”

They stopped in front of Mira’s room. Jason set to work opening the exterior door on the adjacent wall while Mira ran into her room for their things. She reemerged with Jason’s bag and held it out to him. Jason took it, but looked away from what he was doing and jammed a finger in the wheel mechanism on the door. He drew his hand back, swearing while blood leaked from the wound. Mira pulled the door open and a gust of wind burst in, sending them both back a step. Footsteps echoed form down the corridor, and they both turned back to see shadows coming down the stairs.

“Mira, we have to go!”

“But you’re blee—”

Jason wrapped his arm around Mira’s waist and propelled both of them forward as Xavier and Cale got to the bottom of the stairs. Mira saw one of them raise a gun as the outer hull of the ship flooded the edges of her vision. In an instant there was no floor beneath her, and her stomach knotted up as gravity took effect. The open door shot up and out of view while the blue beneath her—or was it to the side? She was moving too fast to tell—grew larger and more detailed with each passing moment. She and Jason straightened out, slicing feet first through the air, and hit the water.

Cold covered Mira’s body. Salt water rushed into her nose and mouth and was just as quickly violently expelled. She forced her eyes shut, but not before the salt water got between eyelid and eye, stinging her badly. She thrashed around in the water, coughing and sputtering, until a hand clasped around her arm and pulled her up.

Her head broke the surface and she flipped her hair back, gasping wildly at the cold ocean air. Mira wiped her eyes dry while Jason continued pulling on her arm. When she could see again, she followed him, swimming away from the ship. From Jason’s right hand she saw a small trail of blood following the finger he had caught in the door. They swam towards the sun, to the east.

Cale leveled his gun at the swimming bodies in the water, but Xavier called him off. “Don’t waste your ammo.”

“What about them?”

Xavier pointed to the blood trail Jason was leaving behind. “The Sharpedo will take care of them. Nothing we can do about it now. Come on, they’re waiting.”

He watched the two small shapes move away, trailed by a faint red line. Xavier shut the door and went back to the upper deck.

Jason came up for breath, gasping and heaving, while Mira continued alongside him. “Great idea,” she said, clutching a cramp in her thigh. “We’re going to die out here because of you.”

“I told you we can get to one of the islands, we just have to keep moving.”

So they continued, fighting aches and fatigues while they advanced east through the Sepris Gulf. Neither of them had eaten since the day before, and the salt splashing at Jason’s open cut caused no small amount of pain.

“This…is even dumber…than jumping off that mountain,” Mira said between strokes. Jason didn’t rise to her taunt, instead he stopped swimming to turn to their right. “What is it?”

“Get your Pokémon out,” Jason said, pulling off his bag and searching frantically for the Pokéballs inside.

“Why?”

“Sharpedo are coming at us. Hurry and get Zangoose out!”

Mira squinted and saw the dorsal fins poking up through the surface of the water, honing in on their blood trail. They moved with a speed Mira didn’t think possible, but it was not the time for questions. She pulled Zangoose and Starly’s Pokéballs from her belt and released them, just as Mightyena, Riolu and Rufflet appeared around Jason. The three of them surrounded their Trainer, covering him in paws and talons.

“No time, guys, we have Sharpedo over there and they’re hungry,” Jason said, pointing them out. “Drive them off.”

Mightyena dog-paddled closer to the shiver of Dark-types and caught one with a swipe of her paw. The Sharpedo lunged up from the water and snapped its huge jaws, but she pushed it out of the way and bit down hard on its underbelly. Blood spurted violently into the water and onto her fur, driving the rest of the group into a frenzy. Mightyena batted away each one that came too close, turning them over with her swipe and then tearing at their unprotected undersides. Soon her paw pads and the skin around her mouth began to bleed from the rough skin of the Sharpedo, but she pushed through it.

Zangoose, much as he hated to have wet fur, relished the opportunity to use his claws. He would jab them twice with his claws extended, one set between the eyes and the other below the mouth, causing it to either seize from brain trauma or go into shock from blood loss. When a Sharpedo came too fast to jab it, he would swipe it across its eyes, blinding it and giving him enough time to end its life.

Riolu bashed every nearby Sharpedo with a flurry of aura-enhanced punches and kicks, taking care to keep himself afloat. When the Sharpedo realized he was not an easy target, they pulled away and focused on Mightyena and Zangoose, leaving him free to attack them from behind. He gave a few mighty chops to any fins he could reach, crippling several of the Sharpedo and causing them to sink towards the ocean floor, unable to propel themselves back up.

Starly and Rufflet watched the battle from above, calling out to the others when a Sharpedo would break off from the main attack and head towards Jason and Mira. If they were all engaged, the two Flying-types would swoop down and each grab a fin, lifting the Sharpedo right out of the water, and tear at the fin with their talons. They brought it back around and flung it back into the water, where it would either swim away or sink, if they had done enough damage.

While their Pokémon fought, Mira took a first-aid kit from her bag and bandaged Jason’s finger. She could not stop the bleeding or disinfect the wound, but she wrapped it tightly with gauze, pinning it with one of her hair clips to keep it in place.

“That’ll hold for now, but we have to go. They can’t fight forever.”

However, when they looked back to the fight, they saw it was turning in their favor. The pack of predators had been reduced by more than half, and the ones that were left were finding out how difficult their intended prey was. Zangoose impaled one last Sharpedo on his claws and tossed it towards the others, who turned back and swam away just as quickly as they had come.

“Good job, guys,” Jason said, recalling Mightyena and Riolu. “Rufflet, I want you to fly ahead and tell us if you see any land. We’re swimming this way.”

“Go with him, Starly,” Mira said, putting Zangoose back in his Pokéball.

The two birds gave sounds of acknowledgment and started off, heading in the direction Jason had indicated. He and Mira followed them, slowly, and with their eyes darting all over the surrounding water for more predators.

“So what exactly happened last night?” Jason asked.

“I’ll tell you everything when we find some dry land,” Mira said.

They kept up their pace for another quarter hour before Rufflet and Starly returned, twittering cheerfully. “You found something?” Jason asked.

“An island, not too far from here,” Rufflet said, hovering over them. “It’s this way.”

They altered their direction to trail after Rufflet, who moved them slightly to the right. Starly hung back with Jason and Mira to make sure they could keep Rufflet in sight. After a few minutes, part of the perfectly flat horizon became rough and and as they got closer more distinct features presented themselves. Green-leaved trees sprung up from the grass and the sand, and Jason and Mira were convinced they would never see such a beautiful sight again in their lives. They swam faster, pushing their muscles to exhaustion, and they soon felt sand under their ruined shoes. Rufflet watched them sprint up with the surf and collapse on the beach, laughing hysterically and embracing. He and Starly perched on a log nearby.

“We’re alive,” Mira said, holding the sweet words on her tongue and repeating them. “We’re alive, we’re alive. I could kiss you if it wasn’t your plan that almost got us eaten.”

“Is that all I get? A kiss?” Jason asked, smirking. Mira punched him lightly on the shoulder.

They sat up and took their arms from around one another, still grinning. Jason laughed, softly at first, but grew louder after a moment and Mira joined in. They laughed for a good minute before they had to stop to catch their breath. Rufflet and Starly hopped over to them, nuzzling against their Trainers’ hips.

“We should probably let the others know we made it,” Mira said, releasing Zangoose and Ralts.

Jason released the rest of his team. “When did you get a—”

Kirlia cut him off by tackling him and squeezing Jason around the middle with surprising strength. “You’re alive! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Jason said, sitting back up. Kirlia looked up at him with watering eyes. “I’m alive, thanks to you guys finding Mira. That was very resourceful.”

Mightyena came over and licked both on the cheek, while Riolu hugged Jason from the side opposite Rufflet. He gave them each a pat on the head, and Kirlia dislodged his arms from around Jason, choosing instead to curl into his chest. Zangoose stretched himself across Mira’s legs while she cradled Ralts, who had grown excited from the massive outpour of emotion around her. She squealed with joy and jumped out of Mira’s arms, hugging everyone she could reach. She hugged her teammates, and after they had reciprocated she wobbled over to Jason, hugging him and his Pokémon, even Mightyena. Once Jason gave her a kiss on the head Mira scooped her back up and she squealed with joy, overcome with their emotions.

“So where did she come from?” Jason asked. “I doubt you found her on the ship.”

“She was in the Pokéball Swath sent me in Callport,” Mira said. “She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“They’re very cute at that stage,” Jason said, stroking Kirlia’s hair. “So we should probably figure out where we are, huh?”

“Good luck getting a signal on your Pokénav. I doubt there are any towers out here.”

“No no, we can figure this out.” Jason motioned for his Pokémon to move themselves and they jumped off his lap. He took off his backpack and removed the waterproof satchel inside. While his computer started up, he took out an energy bar, broke it in two and offered half to Mira.

“I’m surprised anything made it through that fall,” Mira said, chewing on the bar.

“I paid out the nose for the ruggedized version. I think I’m going to return it though, everything on it I can get on a newer Pokénav. Here we go. I put a map program on it before I left Callport City. Do you have a GPS on your Pokénav?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Mira played with her Pokénav on her wrist. “Okay, we’re at…twenty-four degrees, thirty-three minutes, fifty-four seconds north, and eighty-two degrees, nine minutes and forty-six seconds west.”

Jason put in the coordinates in and waited. “Hopefully we’ll be able to go from island to island until Redrock Town. Oh, it’s done. It looks like we’re on one of the exterior islands in an atoll. Pretty much a straight shot into town, maybe ten miles. Do you want to head out, or…?”

Mira shook her head. “I just swam for my life. It’s time to relax.”

“Works for me.”

Jason put his computer away and put his bag aside. He turned back to Mira, who had stripped off her shirt and was in the middle of shimmying off her shorts.

“Uh…”

Mira looked at him and smirked. “Have you never seen a girl in her underwear before? My clothes are wet. I’m putting them on the beach to dry off. Your clothes can’t feel much better.”

Her words made Jason aware of the damp shirt clinging to his torso, the soaked denim on his legs. His shoes were barely holding together and would have to be replaced. Jason shrugged and grabbed the base of his shirt.

“Try to control yourself.”

“I think I’ll manage.”

Jason pulled off his shirt and tossed it onto the sand, followed by his jeans. His shoes and socks also came off, and the warm sand pressing between his toes was one of the best things he had ever felt.

Mira began fussing over Ralts, picking her up whenever she walked too close to the waves, and the Pokémon began drying off. Mightyena and Zangoose shook themselves violently until there was water all around them, while Kirlia wrung out his hair and brushed off the fringes of vestigial skin around his waist. Riolu rolled about in the sand to absorb the water and then brushed himself off.

They decided to take the day off. The trekking and island hopping would wait another day while they enjoyed themselves. Kirlia babied Ralts while Jason and Mira tossed sticks for Mightyena, once his cut had been properly treated. Riolu and Zangoose sparred on the grass, jumping from fallen tree trunks and using driftwood as projectiles. Rufflet and Starly took the chance to stretch their wings, soaring over the small island with a freedom the others would never know.

“Come on, go get it, girl!” Jason tossed his stick and Mightyena bounded after it, kicking up sand the whole way. He watched her run until he felt a paw on his leg. Riolu was tapping him, trying to get his attention. Jason knelt down. “What’s up, buddy?”

He showed Jason a spot on his arm that was usually hidden by the fur from his elbow. A Sharpedo scale was lodged in his skin, sticking out almost an inch. Blood tricked slowly from the sides of the wound.

“This looks painful, why didn’t you say something?” Jason asked, walking Riolu over to his bag. He took out his first aid kit and opened the folding shelves.

“You were all having fun, I didn’t want to interrupt. But when I was fighting with Zangoose he kicked my arm and it really started to hurt.”

“Well, tell me the next time something like this happens, okay?”

Riolu nodded and watched his Trainer. Jason put on a pair of latex gloves and removed a pair of spray bottles, a styptic and a disinfectant. He took out a pair of tweezers.

“This is going to sting. Try to stay still.”

Riolu clenched his jaw while Jason pried the scale out of his arm. There was another inch inside his arm, and Riolu began to whimper as it was coming out. Jason used his free hand to pet his head, but moved it back to keeping his arm still when he realized the end of the scale curved into a hook. Jason gently rotated it with the tweezers and it fell out, accompanied by a gob of blood. Riolu yipped as Jason tossed the scale aside.

“It’s okay, it was just blocked. Now this is going to hurt too, but after this I’ll put a bandage on it, all right?”

The little Pokémon nodded and steeled himself. Jason held his arm while he applied the styptic, all too aware of how much it stung. He remembered his father treating a bad cut on his knee from a fall from his bicycle. He looked apologetic when he sprayed the disinfectant, and then finally dabbed away the excess with a piece of clean linen. Jason took a roll of gauze from the kit and wrapped it tightly around Riolu’s elbow.

“Now listen. No fighting with Zangoose or anyone else until we get you to a Pokémon Center. Don’t pick at this, even in your Pokéball. If you do I have to fix it up all over again, and I don’t want to do that any more than you want me to do it.”

“Thank you, Jason.” Riolu put his arms around Jason and squeezed, giving as best a hug as he could. Jason pulled him up against his bare chest and hugged him tightly.

“And tell me the next time you’re hurt.”

“I will.” Riolu let slip his next words, wondering if the warmth he was feeling was what Kirlia had tried describing several nights past. “I love you, Jason.”

Jason looked down at the big red eyes framed by the short muzzle and ears and smiled. “I love you too, Riolu.”

Riolu felt a much stronger rush of warmth in his body, an almost painful surge of heat. He broke out of Jason’s hug and fell to the sand, began to glow, and whited out.

When he came to, everyone was gathered around him, looking down. He held the side of his head while he stood up—no, he sat up, but he was at the height at which he stood.

“Hey, look at you,” Mightyena said, tilting her muzzle at him.

He brought his paws up, but they were different. They were larger; the pads on the bottom were considerably darker. The fur was slightly longer and thicker.

“You got so big!” Kirlia said, holding his hands up to his mouth in excitement.

“What are you talking abou—”

Lucario went to stand up and saw two unfamiliar legs moving as his own. He stood up, nervous that the legs might give out under him, but they supported his weight perfectly. He now stood level with Jason and Mira, rather than Kirlia and Zangoose. A sturdy steel spike protruded from his chest, blending into the cream-colored fur at the base and the skin beneath it. He ran a paw down his torso, as if to make sure the body was really his.

“Congratulations, buddy,” Jason said, patting him on the arm.

Lucario leapt up, his new muscles carrying him well above his Trainer and his teammates. He landed behind them, kicking up a plume of sand. When it had cleared, he was already off and running, swinging from low lying branches and zipping between the trees.

“Should we follow him?” Mightyena asked.

“No, let him try out his new body,” Jason said, sitting back down on the beach. “He’s wanted to evolve for over a month now.”

“I’m jealous,” Kirlia said, kicking the sand.

Mightyena bumped him with her haunch. “You already evolved.”

“But I’m still tiny,” he whined, bumping her back. Zangoose—who stood eye to eye with Kirlia—cleared his throat loudly. “N-not that there’s anything wrong with this height.”

He laughed nervously and Zangoose rolled his eyes. Jason looked at his Pokénav and the sun in the west. “We should find somewhere inland to set up camp. I’ve had enough of sleeping on beaches.”

He, Mira and their Pokémon gathered the things they had left on the sand and started walking towards the center of the island. They followed the path of freshly broken branches and disturbed grass and found Lucario standing in a clearing of hardpan, slightly sunken in from the surrounding grass.

“How do you feel?” Jason called to him.

“Fantastic,” Lucario said, bouncing up and down on his heels. “I never thought I could have this much energy.”

“Looks as good a place as any to sleep,” Mira said. “We can set up a fire and dry out the rest of our stuff.”

“Yeah. This is a really cool formation, it’s almost a perfect circle,” Jason said, stepping onto the hardpan. The others followed, and they went to meet Lucario near the center.

The sun was just cresting the western horizon. A chorus of Kricketune were chirping somewhere in the grass. Mightyena brought up the rear of the group, and plodded happily along after the others, but her ears pricked up as she stepped onto the hardpan. There was a low rumble, so low only she and Lucario could hear it, but by the time they could alert the others the ground began to split. A web of fracture lines shot out from the center of the area, where most of the weight was concentrated.

Mightyena made to turn around, but the sudden motion accelerated the collapse around her, and suddenly the ground gave way, falling into the blackness below. Jason turned at the sound and caught a glimpse of his Pokémon before she vanished.

The hardpan began falling away, moving too fast for them to avoid. Jason grabbed Kirlia and Lucario, and Mira shielded Ralts while Zangoose latched onto her leg. Rufflet and Starly watched helplessly as the ground disappeared, along with their Trainers and teammates.
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Equilibrium