It was the third day we had been in Mistralton.

The snow had stopped, the air was steadily getting warmer. I watched the snow outside thaw as we trained, and the birds started to come back, too. Great flocks of them. It wasn't until I saw a Deerling with downy pink fur that I knew it was official - spring had come at last.

Training was going steadily, a bit slow, but well. I finished training Marco, and it was time to train Sonata. Marco and Leatho were at the ranch now, and I had the rest of my team with me, when I got on Fang's back and flew to Nimbasa. See, every day the sports teams there have training in the mornings. Their Pokemon were all a lot weaker than mine, but it was still good training, so I had been going there every morning to get the extra training besides Audino.

We went into the big stadium and I waved to the soccer players below. I went down, chatted to them - I knew most of them by name at this point - and one of the guys, Marco, he challenged me to a battle. I liked to make fun of him because he had the same name as my dog. An easy going guy. I hadn't fought him in a while.

But it was Sonata's turn to train. I recalled that most of the strikers here trained bird types, Ducklett and such, so I didn't think much of it. I sent Sonata out first.

Marco laughed at that. And he sent out a Boldore.

I flinched. "Dang it!" I hated rock types, especially Boldore. They always had Sturdy, and all my team were weak, except Leatho and Kitt. Leatho wasn't here though, and I didn't think of sending Kitt out to fight, since I was done training him at the moment. But I had to switch, Sonata couldn't fight that. So I pulled out Maria's Pokeball. A quick pair of Energy Ball's could take out that boulder, and she had high defense. She'd be fine.

I sent her into battle, and she switched with Sonata, who flew back to me. Maria faced down her opponent, but Marco got a free hit. He snapped his fingers. "Use Rock Slide!"

The Boldore slammed its foot into the ground, the floor rumbling. A cascade of rocks tumbled down from the ceiling - and then I froze. There were too many, for a normal Rock Slide. The thought passed through my head in an instant - Something is wrong.

And then, before Maria could dodge, the rocks slammed down on top of her, with a sickening crunch.

Critical

Hit

My heart leaped into my throat and I screamed, "MARIA!"

I waved my hand wildly, gesturing for Fang to get in there. He took another Rock Slide - and it was ANOTHER critical hit. But his health was just down to half. I ran into the battle, towards the heap of rocks, yelling at Fang to use Earthquake.

He slammed his tail down and the whole building seemed to shake. The Boldore was knocked off its feet, but of course it survived the first hit. I ran to the boulders and started to claw through them. Marco saw what was happening, what had happened, and he told his Boldore to use Iron Defense. He was throwing the fight. While Fang dealt the finishing blow, knocking his Boldore unconscious, Marco ran to the rocks and helped me dig.

The blood was pounding in my ears. I threw the rocks aside, and Fang and the others helped me dig too, all of us desperate. Finally we pulled a stone aside, and there she was - bloody and filthy, but her eyes were wide open. Terrified. Fang helped dig the rest of her out, and we carefully dragged her out of the rocks. The fruit on her neck had been torn off. Marco wouldn't stop apologizing. I didn't care.

She was alive.

She had survived the hit at 11 HP.

I was crying in relief. I pulled out potions and tried to tend to her wounds. She shakily tried to get to her feet, but she stumbled and fell. I told her to stay still. She was still in shock, staring straight ahead. Then, suddenly, as I tried to clean a gash on her neck, she burst into tears.

"I - I - I - I almost died!" she sobbed. "Oh I almost died - I almost DIED - I almost - I almost - Oh Tabby I vas so scared! I vas so scared!"

I looked at her face, so frightened and horror stricken. Great tears rolled from her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her neck and rubbed her head. "Shhhh, Maria. It's okay. You're okay! You're just fine. You didn't die. You're okay. Don't cry. Don't cry." I soothed. I was holding back tears myself. I felt lightheaded in panic and relief at the same time.

She crumpled against me, sobbing as if her heart would break.

I sank to the floor under her weight, still holding her neck, until her head rested in my lap and I gently dabbed the blood and dirt off of her. "It's okay." I kept murmuring. "It's okay. Don't cry, Maria. It's really okay. It's okay you're scared, but it's alright now. You're just fine."

When she had finally calmed down enough, and I had patched her up a little with super potions, I managed to get her back in her Pokeball. I took her to the Pokemon Center. Training could wait for later. The Nurse there said she would be fine - One of her wings was broken and would need to be tended to before she could train again, but the rest of the wounds were superficial, on the surface, stuff like that. Nothing was seriously damaged. The Nurse said the shock would cause the most harm, in the end, and advised me letting her rest for a while. Recover from the trauma. I agreed.

It took a full week for Maria to heal fully. Another week for her to feel up to training again, emotionally. The fruit on her neck never grew back - I suspected the traumatic event had stunted some sort of growth, there. The experience had hit us all hard. But she was feeling much better after the rest in Mistralton. In the meantime, I had been training the others. The whole team was trained now, except for her and Belle, and Gilda.

So after being in Mistralton for two and a half weeks, we got back to training, drawing closer and closer to our goal, and the next gym badge. I was more firm in my goal of training than ever.

I didn't want to have a scare like that. Not again. Not ever.


Remnants (c) me
Pokemon (c) Pokemon

(In nuzlockes, it's usually the trainer who freaks out at close calls, not the Pokemon. Which makes sense. But really, some folks would be pretty freaked out at a brush with death like that. Maria is one of them. Nearly dying scared her horribly. But she wants to continue training and battling, because she loves Tabby and the rest of the team, and doesn't want to let them down. So she is facing her fear.

In game, that was TERRIFYING. Oh my goodness. That was the worst close call yet. For a brief, horrible second, I thought I was going to lose Maria.

I hate rock types in this run. X'D)

Current Stats:

Kitt
Ambipom
level 60
Acrobatics, Cut, Low Sweep, Return

Sonata
Murkrow
level 60
Faint Attack, Return, Sucker Punch, Wing Attack

Marco
Arcanine
level 60
Flamethrower, Flame Burst, Close Combat, Heat Wave

Fang
Aerodactyl
level 60
Fly, AncientPower, Earthquake, Iron Head

Belle
Deino
level 46
Crunch, Dragon Rage, Dragon Rush, Dragon Pulse

Gilda
Gligar
level 45
X-Scissor, Earthquake, Sky Uppercut, Swords Dance

Maria
Tropius
level 52
Leaf Storm, Air Slash, Energy Ball, Magical Leaf

Leatho
Samurott
level 60
Razor Shell, Surf, Slash, Aqua Tail