19-20

19) Gray

Two eyes blinked in the darkness. A shadow slipped through the night, blending in seamlessly with the shadows of landscape, of buildings, of the air. The night was ending, a thin seam of orange slowly seeping into the black, somehow changing it to gray instead of the dark orange one would expect. The shadow moved faster, as the blackness around it began to lift, revealing its silhouette much more effectively. This was not its time. It could not dwell in the moments of gray, the shadows and the shades. It could only dwell in the purest dark, or the purest light. But this night, it had gone too far from its lair. It would not reach it in time.

As the sun rose, the gray slowly dissolved. There was nothing in the landscape that the sun rose over, except for a spot of black that could have been the entrance to some sort of tunnel. But even that seemed to vanish in the light.

20) Fortitude

"You are very fortunate," the nurse tells me, as she hands me six Pokeballs. I know Skystorm is in one, and the Zigzagoon in the other. If I remember correctly, the rest should be empty, ready for me to capture other Pokemon to make them my own.

"Fortunate?" I ask.

"Yes!" she replies. "Most of the time, Pokeballs can contain Pokemon and prevent them from dying of poison, but since you didn't have any on you, your Wingull would most likely have died if your Zigzagoon hadn't come along with an antidote."

It's weird, hearing those two referred to as being "mine." But I guess they are mine, now.

"You showed great fortitude," she adds. "With a Pokemon injured like that, yet trying to press on and find this town. You obviously care very much for them, even if you don't have a license." She pauses. "Wait...why were you traveling without a license?"

Before I can answer, I hear the door being slammed open. That's a feat, considering this center's door is a sliding door.

"I've found you, Anna! You naughty girl!"

I know who it is.

And I run.