Bill scanned over the final lines of code he’s written, leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, then pressed the refresh button on the storage box he’d been trying to fix for the last Arceus-knew how many hours.. And it’s...yes! It’s working! No longer would his storage system be incorrectly showing this trainer normal Pokémon in place of their beloved collection of shinies. After he checked around to make sure that everything was order, he shot off a quick email to the user in question and pulled off his headphones with a sigh.
I wonder how long I’ve been working, Bill thought as he stretched out and felt his body ache in protest. It was light out, just as it had been when he started, but he was sure that he’d been going through the night--the sudden fatigue that fell atop him only seemed to confirm the passage of time. Stayed up all night again. Whoops.
Bill rose from his chair and started towards the hotel bed, ready to crash as soon as his head hit the pillow. But then the moment that he stood, the world seemed to tilt. Wooziness crashed over him like a wave, and he had to clutch at his desk just to hold himself upright until the feeling passed. Right. Food first. Then sleep. Bill shut his laptop, grabbed his key, and trudged out of the hotel.
There had been a restaurant somewhere between the hotel and the docks; Bill was sure of it. He knew he’d seen it on his way in, but now the entire city seemed like a maze. Soon enough, Bill was surrounded by buildings that he was sure he’d never seen before.
All right, he told himself. Just find something you know. There, just ahead, he caught sight of the ocean--and what better landmark was there? He trotted ahead to the edge of the dock with as much energy as he could muster and glanced around for the shipyard where he’d come into the city. He was sure that he could find his way around from there. Finally, he saw those big boats docked just a little ways down the shoreline. “There you are,” he muttered to himself. He spun around and started to run back--
Only to slip on a patch of water and go tumbling into the ocean with a splash.
Bill’s first thought was, predictably, Good thing I don’t have my phone on me. However, it wasn’t long before he realized that he had much bigger problems. He managed to kick himself up towards the surface, but only long enough to grab one shallow breath. After that, his limbs seemed to grow heavy. All of his exhaustion seemed to be pressing down on him, making it impossible to make his way back for the surface. He tried to kick, to pull himself through the water with some frantic arm motions, but he just didn’t have enough power. So Bill fell, and was forced to watch as the light above him grew dimmer with each passing moment.
