The obscurity of the night was suffocating. I couldn't move. I was back in the void! How? Why? Was I hallucinating everything that I experienced? The forest, the light, the Rattata whom I kill...

NO! no... I can't be back... no...no.

I wanted to burst into tears again. Yet none came. I couldn't cry anymore. My body didn't have any water left in it system. Even with my crippling anxiety, my mind could see that I need water. A severe headache rocked both sides of my head. One from the fall that I ignore and the other from dehydration.

The rumbling of my bowel also clued me in the other problem. I was hungry. I had yet to eat anything since in emergency announcement. My backpack shouldn't be far and inside would be a solution to both of this problem. At least for now.

Yet my body refuses to move. Frozen in terror.

I scream in my head to move, to eat, to do something. My body didn't listen.

An hour passed.

...

The silence that I kept experiencing grew somehow louder. Imagined sound made me jolt in terror. My eye couldn't help aid in my hallucination as persistent darkness keeps shifting and moving in the corner of my eyes. The night ensnared me in my fear. Coiling around me with the grip of a determined Onyx. I cream internally more and more. Yet my own thoughts crew quieter.

An hour passed.

...

As time drags on toward eternity... As my own frustrating lack of action grinded my own body to suffer... as irrational fear and nightmare projected by my brain tortured me. I slowly became drowsy. My thought crew silent, my brain shut down by made up worries, hunger and thirst vanish. I finally slept.

...

I awoke again with a harsh light determine to flash my eyes. I weakly sited upright as my brain slowly processed what appended.

The night...appended.

Never would I have ever thought that the natural cycle of the sun would scare me so much.

Took a glance upward toward the canopy. Brown branches, green leaves, blue sky, white clouds, everything is normal again. I look back on the ground where the Rattata corpse rested. My bag was still there in it red glory. I slowly made my way up to it. With trembling hand I opened it to reveal a mess of bumpy cans and smashed food. After a bit of rummaging in the mess a found the plastique bag containing the sandwich, I made a... few days prior... maybe.

The bag lost it transparency with the amount of surface sticking to it. The bread is now lying either in crumbs of chunks held up by cold gooey cheese. The little effort given in making the grilled cheese now seemed wasted. The sight wasn't appealing to any but the desperate. Someone in desperation I definitely was.

Taking scoops first with my right hand was soon found to be a pretty bad idea. The pain that I ignored since the battle was revealed to be caused by a small laceration baked in dry blood and dirt. The injury I had gotten in my haphazard deviation of the Pokemon charge. I switch which hand took a handful of food to my mouth.

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Once finished with the former sandwich, I turn back to the bag. Searching it unorganized inside to find the bottle, I knew it was there. Fortunately, it seemed that the water didn't spill all over with all the action that happened. So a drank until my thirst was quenched. I was left with a quarter full bottle. It was the only bottle I had packed in my hurry. Finding a water source of a friendly water type now became a priority.

At least it seems that the survival lesson I had learned at school would finally come useful.

The thought didn't bring any reprieve from the gloom I felt.

I looked around once again before standing up. I didn't know where to go. So I looked away in the distance to find anything that could hint to be useful.

I first saw light reflect from the leaves. I came closer to find why. It was a small rain drop sticking on leaves or morning dew. As I wasn't very hard to deduce which it was. At least water could be collected in small amounts but very slowly. It wasn't a very viable water source.

My search continued as my eyes look in the distance. I was in a relatively flat area with a small hill blocking my view in one direction and in the other a sea of leaves, trunks and branches. I made my way toward the hill to see what was over it. More of the same flat forest with an incline further away. Going that way will lead up.

I stop thinking.

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''If you are lost in a forest like Spinda you need to remember three rules. One... a forest is dense and hard to navigate. So managing your stamina is a must. Going downhill is easier and will generally lead toward lakes and rivers. Two... Pokemon may seem friendly to anyone in the city but remember that they are dangerous. In the wild, Pokemon sees you in only three ways: prey, predator or weak. DO NOT stay close to unfamiliar Pokemon. Even the weakest Pokemon if strong enough can cripple you or steal your supplies. Pokemon are intelligent. Some know what humans are and will seek you out. So stay vigilant. Finally, three... Pokemon are your best chance at survival.''

''But Mr. John, didn't you just say that they are dangerous?''

''Oh, they still are very dangerous. But if you already have Pokemons with you or befriend Pokemons your option for survival will improve massively. For example, if you befriend a Flying type, like Starly or Murkrow, or even certain bug types, like Beautifly or a wandering Combee, you can ask then to scout the sky to direct you to familiar sight or point of interest. With Water type you won’t have to worry about dehydration. With Growth or Rock type, you can make yourself some shelter to rest in. Grass types offer you ways to grow food out of forgeable plant...

Remember kids, moves are more than just a way to win Pokemon battle. When it comes to survival, it is not a hyper beam that will save your life. It moves like water gun, grow and heal pulse that will save your life.''

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Memories of my survival classes came back to me. Mr. John lessons were applicable to my situation now. I needed to find water so I should go downhill.

The lesson did also make me remember an object I completely forgot about. The Pokeball that I received after my last lesson with Mr. John. I went to look for it in my bag. In one of the sides pouches, it lay there.

Like all other Pokeball it, red and white contrast offered lots of possibilities. A safe way to let your Pokemon rest. A way to transport them where they wouldn't fit, mostly in cities. Most importantly a way to heal your Pokemon a center in case of emergency or after battle.

A mostly useless objet now. I didn't know where a center was. I wasn't in a city. Pokeballs won't help me survive my harsh reality unless I desperately throw it at a charging Pokemon. That would give me a few seconds to run away but if a Pokemon could chase me, a few seconds won't save me from getting hit by a quick attack. I experienced it already in my battle. I may have run at full speed yet I still got hit.

Resting in my hand was a miracle of technology that was useless in my situation.

I decided to keep it anyway.

Keeping it not in my bag were getting it would be too hard but in the front pouch of my dirty sweater.

I looked to the sky once again... and started descending until I couldn't anymore.