Anonymous {2nd Place in Miscellaneous (PWA 2018)}

Chapter 3: Securing A Destiny

Shin's eyes fluttered open to the sudden chilly draft that danced against his arms, which were now littered with goosebumps and stiff hairs. His pale hands twitched, groggily reaching up towards his heavy eyes to rub the sleep away from his conscious. It looked to be about the beginning of dusk outside, the warm sun readying itself to be dipped from its colorful aurora into the large blanket of stars.

After a few grunts of effort, Shin finally sat himself up and blindly gazed at the area around him. "Rockruff...?" he mumbled. His eyes began to focus on the closet across from him. There was no response. It was then that he noticed that the stones had disappeared from the closet's entrance. "Rockruff?" The faintness of sleep began to rise out of his body, replacing itself with a tense pang of panic. His coal-black eyes darted feverishly around the room. He felt his heart sink as he failed to spot the rough pelt of the Pokémon.

The child threw himself off the mattress to scan the larger area of his room, but to no avail. It was only when the breeze of the outside hit him once more that he turned towards the open window, the stabbing feeling of fear reaching its climax. Shin was too petrified to speak a whisper. His legs, however, responded by sprinting down the stairs into the living room. There was no sign of his mother, who he assumed had already left for work, and he took this chance to run straight through the door to his house onto the dirt road. He worriedly called out into the empty night, begging to hear a response. "Rockruff! Rockruff?! Where are you?!"

Biting his lip, the child bolted over to where his window looked down upon the earth below, and to his relief, he spotted faint imprints in the sediment that trailed off into the grass. However, as Shin began to take his first steps forward, he felt hesitation bubble within him. His fingers twitched beneath his purple shadow and his eyes darted back and forth from his house to the shrouded plains before him.

Am I really doing this? Why should I care? It was a wild Pokémon. It should be free anyways.

His thoughts whirled around like leaves in a storm, but his legs kept treading like a machine.

I shouldn't even be doing this... it's illegal to go out this far without someone... and Mom would never forgive me for going out this late without telling her...

He pushed aside a hanging palm tree leaf that had peeled from its trunk as he kept a steady pace.

And after that talk... After everything she's doing for me. I would just... betray...

His mind went blank, unable to process the surroundings quickly blurring by him; the weight of what he was about to go through with was but convoluted shapes within his mind.

Before he knew it, the boy found himself only yards away from the local Pokémon Center of his town. His eyes scanned the area intently for any crevices that the Pokémon could possible be hiding in. However, the bright orange building was isolated amongst the trees from the rest of the houses, and Shin knew for a fact that there were no other burrows in the bluff of palm trees before, for he had played amidst them in his early life. He knew deep down that there was no other place that could possibly be sheltering the Pokémon, and with its injuries, it wouldn't have gotten far at all— at least not past the town boundaries. The only option was...

Beads of sweat began to form onto his sticky forehead from the excessive humidity in the air. He shakily let his feet lead him into the center, and a cool breeze brushed up against him with the smell of wood and a faint floral aroma. The lobby was completely empty— of course, a center in the middle of a forest would be— say for a few stray Ratata and Yungoos that decided to hide out and snack from the pellets that Nurse Joy had put out. Shin shuffled uneasily to the front desk, his small stature making everything around him seem huge and overbearing. He glanced over at the wild Pokémon, hoping to spot his Rockruff, but to no avail.