This will be a Two-shot (if I stop being lazy and actually write) and I'd like to thank my Beta, Slazer.
I should have known.
Now when all the symptoms are smack dab in my face, when you're struggling to breathe through the fevers, and only now when your life is on the line I can finally see what should have been so obvious. Something I should have noticed right from the start.
Some of the pokemon from around Treasure Town say it's not my fault; that I couldn't have known. They say no one would have been able to tell what it was when your illness first started to show. After all, there hadn't been an outbreak for half a century now.
I know better though. Despite how strong you seemed to be I noticed that something was off a couple months ago, that you were acting odd. You were suddenly fatigued; you seemed to struggle to get yourself up in the morning for our tasks and at night you would gratefully collapse in your bed. I thought that it was the missions that we took, all the pokemon we had to find and the outlaws we were bringing in. Outlaws were always more difficult to defeat than the ferals we normally encountered.
I trusted that you would take less difficult missions if you weren't feeling well. I just couldn't bring myself to suggest it; it would be like an insult to you and I knew how seriously you took our job, how important our high rank was to you. It was the result of our blood, sweat and tears; our victories and failures. To even suggest that we should take an easier job would be a crushing blow to you, even more so if the reason was that I didn't think you were up to our regular ones. So I bit my tongue and said nothing.
A week later you seemed perfectly fine again, you were eating with gusto and you seemed to have an endless source of energy keeping you moving. It was almost humorous to see you acting like you had one too many Perfect Apples. We would always joke that they were the reason that Wigglytuff could be so cheerful and hyper all the time.
You were doing so well on our missions; taking down outlaws and ferals, even leveling up at an alarming rate. You constantly seemed so happy, it was contagious. Half of Treasure Town would start grinning whenever you looked at them. Everyone was just so happy... It kills me to think that you were forcing it. You were putting on an act to keep our friends from worrying. To keep me from worrying.
Yet here I am; sitting next to you as you fight for each breath, your body wracking with spasms as you lay drenched in a cold sweat. I'm tending to you now, alongside Sunflora and Chimecho. I've even caught Chatot occasionally checking up on you late at night when I step out to get a fresh bucket and cloth. Everyone is worried about you, you know? We may have moved out of the guild four years ago but everyone can tell that there has been a major decrease in cheer and motivation. Even Guildmaster Wigglytuff, the one you would refer to as the resident 'Energizer Bunny', seems quieter and more subdued.
It was only a month ago that it became apparent to everyone that you were unwell, and no matter how you tried to hide and deny it we all could tell. You tried to avoid telling us how you were feeling and how long you had been this way. I can clearly recall the shock on everyone's faced when you finally admitted that you had been feeling under the weather for over seven months now. I still can't fathom how you could have hidden it from us for so long. It was obvious you were feeling horrible, and even at that point you were still trying to act strong. As much as I admired your strength for holding on so long I couldn't help but to feel hurt that you had hidden something like this from me. Why did you? Why didn't you tell anyone?
The answer is obvious but all the same I can help but to wonder sometimes. Right from the start you never spoke more than was needed, you always preferred to show support by your actions. For me it was more than enough just having you by my side during our adventures.
When I lost you the first time I was heartbroken. When Dialga gave you back to me, to this world, I promised myself that I would never take your presence for granted again. I broke my promise. I know this now, and this time I'm not sure if I will ever get you back should things take a turn for the worse. And at this point I'm not sure if there is anything worse. Maybe death, but I pray to Arceus that you will make it through.
The thing that really bites is that this could have been avoided. If I had only been watching my back you wouldn't have had to take that blow for me. That Electrike wouldn't have made contact with you if I had only been paying attention. You wouldn't be sick right now.
I can picture you response if I had told you that, you would have tried to redirect the blame onto yourself. Yeah, its electric attacks would have really hurt but I wouldn't have gotten sick, only you would.
It seems that I had taken something else for granted as well; the fact that you are a pokemon. I never once thought about our differences. Not just species but the other differences between us. I was born in this town in the Chansey daycare, and even after the team that had brought my egg there decided that they didn't want me on their team I still hung around the area. It seems that even from a young age I had wanted to be an explorer.
I guess that even though you told me from the start that you were human in a pokemon body that a small part of my still thought that you had been born into this world. It's clear now that I had mistakenly assumed something that wasn't true, and you were now paying the price for it. A simple vaccination could have prevented this, one that I had gotten as a hatchling, one that every non feral hatchling has gotten, and one that each new team member has to get. You are sick with something that only a feral can carry.
Honestly I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again. It's painfully obvious that with each day, with each hour, you are getting steadily worse. No one knows what to do. If we had caught this earlier there would have been treatment, but at this point…
Nobody wants to give up on you, I know that, but it seems that every one is preparing themselves for the worse. I don't know if I can do that. You were just so strong… And giving up on you now seems disrespectful. You never gave up on me. You always helped me get past my weaknesses and move past my shortcomings. I don't want to give up on you but I'm at a loss for what I can do to help you. For now I will have to settle with tending to your needs.
It's kind of funny whenever we used meet new teams and they thought I was the Team leader. I might have turned into the powerhouse but you were the one with a true talent for exploration. It never ceased to amaze me that you'd be able to locate an outlaw, a certain item, where our employer was, or even the next stair case the moment you would step into the new floor. Out of the two of us you were the one meant for exploring and it was obvious from the start that despite your naturally meek disposition that it the team leader would be you.
It seems that even feral know this. Whenever a feral asks to join Team Radiance it's always you they look at for the answer, it's always you that they want to be on the team with. I don't think any feral I've ever beaten has asked to join our team. And I honestly don't know if our team can survive without you.
Team Radiance wouldn't be the only thing to take a massive blow if you were to go. When you first disappeared everyone was affected, not just the guild. It was like every life you came into contact with during your stay here was hit hard. Sure they were able to get back into the swing of things after a week or so, but even then there seemed to be an empty spot in all of our lives. Things only returned to normal when Dialga gifted us with your return. I don't think you ever truly understood how different things were when you were gone.
All I know now is that I couldn't survive losing you again. Not to Dialga, not to Darkrai, and defiantly not to Pokerus.
And all I can think of while I stay by your side is that I should have known.
I came up the concept today on the train out of the city. I was playing my PMD Explorers of the Sky game when my main charater kept getting burned, poisoned, confuse etc. one every single floor. Just from the dialogue the main character seems rather quiet. And from they way he/she handles their fate of dissapearing kind of makes me think that they are a sufferer. The kind that no matter how much pain they are in will keep it to themself until the end or when it just becomes too much to hide.
The pokemon I play as in my PMD: EoS is a Turtwig and her partner is a Totodile. He tends to deal more damage on a regular basis than she does, and for some reason no matter which path I take in game it either leads to the missing pokemon, the missing item or the stairs. So I actually based alot of this on the game play.
Yeah, I know Pokerus isn't actually a bad thing in the games but for the sake of this story it is.
.... So did any one reading this figure out it was Pokerus before the second to last line? No lying please~
Read and please reveiw!