Again, the doctor and the Gyarados surfaced. Raising above the water like a serpent, he allowed her to walk down his snout onto the platform below. As she landed, the redhead leaned her face against him. After so much swimming, her breathing was a bit erratic. All that time in the SCUBA gear was draining her. She needed a break.

“Why not go down by yourself this time? Stay a little longer?” Aubre smiled. “You don’t need me weighing you down.” With a roll of his eyes—mostly at the last point—the Gyarados vanished back beneath the waves.

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The experience of riding with Chester was unlike anything she’d ever done. The way his serpentine body flipped through the waves—even with his arthritis—was equal parts disorienting and exhilarating. And, of course, he was smiling as best as a Gyarados could. Soon enough, her melancholic was replaced by a general feeling of freedom.

After depositing her latest gift in a basket—a bed Alastor had long outgrown—she turned back to face Chester. Just a few minutes in the sea had wiped decades off his scarred, wrinkled features. Is it wrong to take him out of here? The doctor wondered to herself as she reclined on the platform. The crusty salt had started to irritate her back—it’d be a pain to scrub out later. But she wasn’t about to deny him any more of this.

And, if he decided to stay, she wanted to spend a little time with him. As she grabbed onto a back fin, she paused to study its broken peak. The giant pits left by a life of fighting for food and glory. “3—2—1—” With a roar, the Gyarados vanished beneath the waves.

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TW: Suicide Implications

Now, Aubre understood why at her core—beneath the smiles and wonder—there was a gnawing sense of betrayal and melancholy. It hit her when a Mantyke had bruised Roman’s fins, seemingly on a dare from its playmates. This place was not somewhere she’d explored since Ellie died. Her lungs were cursed and scarred by the flames of an enraged Houndoom—each breath a painful misery no misery could cure.


After a discussion—and many months of trying to make it feel better—her Pokemon sister chose an easier way out. That same action nearly unsettled what little stability Aubre herself had gained.


The freedom and beauty of the underwater world was not something she knew she missed. But, as she erupted from the water this time, sheThe Kabutops and his trainer burst through the water’s surface, and she felt her heart twist. “Whoever said time heals anything—” Her own voice echoed back in the mask. “--they lied.” As she and Roman stared out over the water, she lifted her eye to the sky. “I wish you were here, Ellie.”

As if summoned by sadness, a ball at her side burst open. From it, a Gyarados emerged. A scarred, battle-worn thing that had been risen in a concrete tank. A beautiful, saddened creature that had never been in the sea. “Chester?” Aubre murmured as the creature turned to look at its tail—seemingly amazed it could stretch out fully.

Watching as another pair dove, the dragon-type turned to his new friend. His toothy maw stretched upward in a smile—a timid one. She could see he was nervous, but curious, about what’d been going on. “Dos?” And, well, Ellie wouldn’t want her to turn down an invitation like that. Roman gently nudged her with the flat side of his scythes.

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