Everything exploded into blinding black light. The golden barriers shattered instantly, the light tearing into him with the same dreadful cold, vibrating agony of the moment he'd died, drawn helplessly into the Blacklight sphere.
He felt himself crashing into the ground, bouncing off it, then landing again, biting his tongue hard. Everything ached, his vision spinning, but by some unfortunate miracle he didn't actually lose consciousness.
"Nngh, fuck."
For a good minute he just lay there, a high-pitched ringing in his ears, pain throbbing in parts of his body he barely knew existed. His chest was cold and buzzing with a familiar clarity. Why even fucking get up. He could just lie here for a while, see if anyone even noticed. Nate'd be fucking thrilled. Probably Mia'd be happier just sticking with him, somebody who was actually helping her in her fighting dreams instead of dragging her with him everywhere whether she liked it or not. (Mia? Oh. She'd just gone back through the portal, hadn't she, instead of waiting for him to do whatever nonsense with Saltriv. Of course she had.)
Something wet touched the side of his face, and he blinked. It was... Shadow. Fucking licking him. Why.
"We need to get Saltriv back to town," said the other Mightyena anxiously. "Wake up."
Yeah. Yeah, they did, didn't they. Nate was too small to move them anywhere. Why the fuck was he still lying here feeling sorry for himself.
He took a deep breath and dragged himself to his feet, wobbling dangerously as he tried to get his bearings. He'd gotten thrown back into uneven, bumpy grass on the opposite side from the forest, the blades flattened against the ground by the force of the explosion, all pointing conveniently back to where the unconscious Bayleef was lying. The Shadow, at least, was gone.
By Saltriv's side stood the Mudkip, looking around wildly.
He approached, Shadow staying close by his side.
