Chapter #4Struggling along the scorching sands. by: sneakyk   The narrow strip of sand that is Hau'oli city's shore is likely the greater part of a kilometer in width, and the shoreline stretches into the distance for who knows how long. Small dunes of sand dominate much of the beach, and you suspect many of these 'dunes' were formed from simple footsteps. Standing from the edge of the umbrella's shade, you catch a glance of a discarded action figure resting in the sands. The toy, a cheap plastic human wizard that likely served double duty as a pacifier or a chewtoy, judging by the grime on its body and the warping of its mass-produced body, lies immediately adjacent to a car-sized footprint. The distinct shape of a pokeball insignia is stamped into the sand. The sight immediately gives you a mental image of a gradeschool boy looming high above you and trampling your meager body flat beneath his sandal.
You shake the thought away and turn back towards the ocean, where the gigantic Lycanroc sits. The path oceanward is far more level than the path towards the city proper, though a few remnants of five-toed craters remain stamped into the soggy sand. The ocean's waves lap against the shore like a ravenous and otherworldly beast, waist-deep waves of salty water advancing inwards like miniature floods, only to retreat away with that same alarming swiftness. Should you lose your footing or misjudge the strength or distance of an upcoming wave, you may well get swept under the water and pulled out to sea by an undertow... and once this metaphorical beast 'devours' you , you may well get swiftly devoured by a waiting fish Pokemon. All of this is ignoring the possibility that the Lycanroc could devour you on a whim.
You decide not to risk heading towards the ocean. Instead, you will head inland. You're about midway along the width of the beach. Walking barefoot, along three hundred meters of unstable, uneven terrain, amid sweltering heat, in potentially hostile territory, only to have to scale either a staircase with steps twice your height or a large slope is not ideal... but it should manageable. You check the area under the umbrella for anything you could use as shade... nothing. You briefly scan your surroundings for any signs of predators that you haven't missed. You step over to the edge of the shaded area closest to the staircase and hesitate. Even from here, you can feel the ambient heat from the sunsoaked sand.
You take a deep breath, almost as if the brightly lit sandgrains you were about to leap into a bottomless chasm rather than set foot on a public beach's sandy soil. And then you step forward with all the adventurousness of a man about to set foot on the moon. You wince in pain as your foot sinks up to its ankle in the heated sand. You will have to endure it. You step forward again, your body now fully exposed to the sunlight and the ambient heat from the sand.
You begin your trek across the sand, first approaching the fallen wizard toy and turning your attention towards its walking stick. It would appear to be grafted onto the toy's hand. Not that the plastic stick would do you much good. On second thought , you need all the help you can get. You reach forward and attempt to break the stick loose from the toy's hand... but your efforts prove fruitless. You only succeed at getting your hands wet with saliva residue.
You trudge past the toy, stepping over the Pokeball marking on the nearby footprint, and are immediately sent stumbling from an unexpectedly loose patch of sand. After a moment's struggle you break your foot loose from the sand, only to underestimate your momentum and find yourself tumbling forward over a sand dune, getting a faceful of sand in the process. You do not let this deter you. You sigh as you get to your feet, and resume your trek.
As you venture along the beach, you catch a glimpse of something in the periphery of your vision, something white rushing forward at an odd angle. You let out an involuntary yelp and turn to face this predator, only to see that it actually appears to be a simple napkin, blowing in the wind. Realizing its use as potential shade, you rush for it and manage to grab hold of it. The wind whips at the tissue, the motion twisting your body 180 degrees, but ultimately dying down before it can knock you over. You wrangle the inanimate object until you manage to throw it over your shoulders. The effects of the tissue are almost immediate, though not quite as significant as you had hoped. The air is still hot... but the shade is enough to justify the tissue, even if there is a shockingly large strawberry icecream stain adorning it.
You advance for about fifty more meters, relative to your height, glad to have the protection of the tissue. That is, until a wall of wind with all the ferocity of a gale grabs hold of the tissue. You desperately attempt to maintain your hold on the object, not wanting to lose the shade it provides... and in so doing, you wind up getting swept into the air along with it. You scream as you are carried dozens of feet through the air, hitting the sand hard, suffering a scrape courtesy of the coarse sand in the process. To add insult to injury, you lose your grip on the tissue, and it is sent flying away from you, leaving you once more helpless against the heat.
The gust of wind sent you tumbling a frightful distance away from the staircase. You're now standing on soggy ground, right over the remnants of a kid's footprint... not too far from the edge of the oceans current's flow, in fact. Worse, your movement was diagonal. The staircase is now farther away laterally as well. You consider heading directly forward, towards the natural slope at the beach's edge... but realize that you could well fail to ascend the surface. You sigh and head back towards the staircase, the heat only serving to make the scrape on your back more painful. You will have to grin and bear it.
And bear it you do. You eventually manage to power through the sweltering heat. With determination in your heart, you advance along the surface, this time far more prepared for sudden winds, soft sand, and uneven terrain. As you advance along this terrain, you spot a few pool-sized puddles of murky water in the sand. Likely troughs dug by playful children... at this scale, they more resemble otherworldly lakes. The colorful discarded buckets and shovels that are scattered about only further enhance the otherworldly nature of your surroundings.
As you survey your surroundings, you catch a most curious sight. A circular patch of shade resting in the middle of the sand. Actually, it isn't resting in place. It appears to be moving. Moving... towards you. Interesting. Is something overhead? You think back to your earlier assessment, but draw a blank...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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