Who cares about common sense?

"Seriously, a mid-boss levelled Pokemon Battle and all I have on hand is a Zubat that is capable of flying itself into a Water Gun not aimed at him."

Citrine can see the hopelessness in this situation already. Maybe she should turn tail and run for it.

As if on cue, Zubat flies into her face. With a groan, she pries the bat off of her face and points at the Vibrava, "that way!"

But Crowy is still confused. Her eyes sharpened at that, sensing something wrong in the situation.

Now that she pried her ears to listen, there was a humming noise in the background. obscured by the whizz of the sandstorm. Alarmed, she looked for the source-- and found it in Vibrava's sharply-fluttering wings.

"Crowy, use supersonic!" she commanded immediately, holding her Zubat in the direction of the Vibrava-- "it's sending ultrasonic waves with its wings. That's why you can't see!"

And instantly, Zubat roared. Vibrava tensed its wings, fluttering sharply in retaliation.

It was a fierce battle of Supersonic against Supersonic. It rang loud in Citrine's ears-- surely, if she had a better pain sensor, her head would be an explosion of agony if this pressure in her head making her feel nauseated was anything to gauge.

Covering her ears, she knew she wouldn't make it the other way back. Maybe she should call for Lotty or Whismy? Crowy can't defeat the Vibrava on his own... the type disadvantage of the weather, among other things.

The supersonic battle in progress, she couldn't give any commands.

Instead, she breathed in, and screamed. She was muted amongst the sound already present-- but from the way Crowy fluttered sharply, dipping down and raising again-- he'd heard her loud and clear.

There was no command in that voice. Just a wordless, mindless scream, in hopes that Zubat would understand.

Fight for me, it meant.

And despite everything, Crowy was Rash by Nature. It's impulsive, dumb, and reckless.

So immediately after understanding the order, it dove forward, wing glowing silver before he flapped it sharply forward, sending a wave of razor-sharp wind rippling through the air, nailing the Vibrava's side.

For a startled moment, all sound stopped.

"Crowy, Confuse Ray!"

Vibrava was just a second too late to bring its supersonic barriers back up. Hit straight on, swirls filled its eyes and its wings stopped as it struggled to take a step forward.

Confused, it fired a maddening Dragon Breath in all directions. Failing to dodge it, Crowy was blown away by a direct hit.

Citrine lunged aside from the attack and ducked behind a large stone until it died down. Once it was safe, she bolted out and picked up her Zubat, before ducking behind another rock pile, lying flat to avoid detection.

"Crowy... crap, Paralysis?" she noticed quickly, "I left all my Berries outside with Loudred..."

Zubat was a little dizzy from all the tugging around, but it was conscious and not defeated just yet. It definitely wouldn't last any longer against that Vibrava...

"Crowy, can you use Haze?"

He could.

Gray smog spilled from its mouth, filling the area quickly. Zubat's status condition was cured in moments.

Unfortunately, the haze seemed to erase the confusion in Vibrava's senses too. It noticed the dark haze and screeched in their direction.

-

Zubat couldn't last another Supersonic battle, and the exit was too far from here now.

Maybe they could jump out the window? The sandstorm was weaker now... yeah, fat chance. Sand or not, Citrine's going to really shatter her legs this time. Crowy wasn't strong enough to carry a person with him in flight.

Maybe she should just break the tower... but the historical relics! The Sandshrew! Actually the Sandshrew probably don't live here, this is a Mirage Tower after all...

This was a hopeless battle, no matter how you looked at it. For a moment, she felt despair.

"Oh, if only Leafeon was here," she mourned, speaking hushedly to Zubat, "Leafeon's really, really strong, so she can probably take down a Vibrava or two easily."

Zubat made a krrr sound, fluttering in protest. It didn't have eyes, but for some reason, Citrine felt that he was frowning at her, desperate to prove himself.

Then Zubat flew out of her hands, and she panicked.

"Wait, Crowy! NO!"

Vibrava spotted Zubat immediately, and against the wave of purple Dragon Breath, and Zubat took it head on.

She needed to do something-- anything--

Zubat dropped to the ground, unmoving-- no, it twitched. It was still conscious-- but not for long.

She stifled the worry, the concern-- and swore in her head. What could she even do? She's just a trainer, she's useless once she's out of Pokemon--

"Crowy, use Haze!"

And Zubat did. Deep gray fog filled the surroundings, and Vibrava Screeched, on high alert.

Haze was never meant to be used to lower accuracy, because it didn't last long. But a few seconds were enough for Citrine to leap over the boulder she hid, charging in, not for Zubat--

But for the Fossils.

After all, if the Pokemon was attacking them for being here, it must not want her to touch the fossils. That's how it is in Mystery Dungeon and literally every probably Dungeon manga in the goddamn world, because the world is cliche like that.

She set a hand on both fossils-- but they were stuck tight. Vibrava noticed her, an ear-piercing, shriek resounding as wings batted, and the Dragon Pokemon came right for her.

She heard Zubat use Supersonic of his own volition, and knew exactly what was coming.

Citrine moved her hands quickly, so she only held one of the fossils-- and with one rough grunt, tugged the fossil right out.

There was a resounding crack in her fingers, but she didn't have time to look out for it. She was blown back by her own force when the fossil came loose, which, by luck, sent her rolling right out of Vibrava's attack trajectory, and the Dragon Breath carved through the wall.

For a second, Citrine felt victorious.

And then the tower shook.

She managed to run to her Zubat, covering him in her arms-- before the ceiling caved in on her, and the world faded to black.

She remembered seeing something yellow flash past her, but she couldn't see what exactly it was.

-

She didn't exactly fall unconscious, but it really felt like it.

The world just collapsed, the tower shattered to pieces like the illogical contraption it just was, and before she really understood anything, she was staring at the sun, lying strangely intact among broken bricks and a lot of sand.

By strangely intact, at least she still had all her limbs and could move them.

She looked to the side to see the Vibrava, overturned and all dizzy-eyed. Poor thing. Maybe she'll give it a berry later...

"Oh, the sandstorm stopped," she noticed belatedly. "Awesome, now I can see without those swimming goggles.

Then, pause.

"What happened to everything else?!" she freaked out, rolling to her knees-- oh, Crowy is inside her shirt, how did he get inside there-- then continued panicking. "Where's Whismy? Lotty? My wheelchair? The bag?! The bike?!"

If the entire tower was in crumbles-- this was awfully little rubble for a whole tower collapsing...

There were very confused Sandshrew around, rolling across rubble and picking up an intact brick before going on their way in different directions. Okay, that explained the lack of debris...

With a roar, Loudred rose dramatically from the dead, punching away a whole load of rubble off of him before making some angry declaration to the skies. Citrine's bag was around his shoulders, intact, though a little squished and dusty.

Beside him, Lombre woke up sleepily and very, very confused. She tilted her head to the side, as if wondering where she even was. Then she seemed to remember something, flipping a rock and picking up Citrine's vest jacket before hugging it desperately.

Citrine sighed in relief. She then turned her head back forward-- and froze. Every cell in her stopped moving, because she knew she shouldn't make any sudden reactions now.

In front of her, seated between her legs and wobbling curiously-- was a little Abra.

And suddenly, everything made sense.

She was safe, and this wouldn't be the first time she'd been sent out of danger by a conveniently-timed teleport. She was mostly uninjured right now because this Pokemon was here, and it had saved her from the worst of it.

And Abra in the desert? It's not a coincidence.

Has it been following me, she wondered, is this the same one as back in Mauville? Why is it following her? Is it alone, and for what reason?

Instead, she leaned forward slowly, slightly, and smiled.

"Thank you," she says, and after a moment she adds, "hey, want to come with me?"

The Abra didn't respond. At the words, it vanished in a flash of Teleport, as if it was content just knowing the girl was okay.

They say that psychic-type Pokemon have foresight. Maybe Abra was just looking out for the girl, knowing what she was going to face. It didn't want any emotional attachments-- wasn't interested, perhaps.

Either way, she was grateful.