Chapter two: Grudge.

Enough was enough. I've spent three months recovering and stewing and going mad at the time on my hands. I couldn't ride my bike without feeling dizzy, so my delivery days were over. Sometimes I would drop into the Pokémon centre to have Grim checked up on, chat with Nurse Joy.

My hair had been cut off to put stitches in my head. For a few days, I didn't leave the house, self-conscious about people looking at me, pointing me out to one another, whispering 'that's her, the one that got run over, the one that let the Pokémon get taken-'

Mum fixed that with a knitted hat. Dr Cox's grandmother heard of the incident and had seen me at the hospital when I was first taken in and had been knitting an Absol themed beanie since then. I hadn't taken it off since I got it.

It seemed the Hat had been one of the highlights of my recovery, most of the time I slept, went to doctor's appointments and when I felt good went to have coffee with friends. It had been difficult to let them see me with the stitched and broken bones and bruise, but eventually, it was like nothing happened.

Grim sat at the side of my chair, dozing in the sunlight. It had been a long time since Janice, bobby and I sat together as a group and talked. They still spoke quietly to each other when they thought I was distracted, and each time they did I felt a little more distant then the couple of feet between our chairs.

"I hear Marsha is coming back home." Bobby said, barely touching his coffee the entire time. He reminded me a lot of a Flygon, Green clothes, slicked back dark hair with red googles, He told us once it wasn't intentional, and we believed him until he actually caught one. He stopped training after a year, collecting a handful of badges before coming back home and started to do deliveries too, only over towns.

Janice was a little less Pokémon themed. She liked her blues and had blonde hair kept together in a white hairband. She never went training, deciding on a career that didn't involve venturing out into the wild. She currently minded a Pokémon shop where she sold potions and pokeballs.

"Oh, why so soon before the championships?" I asked, it had taken her the better part of three years to get to her level of champion, even sticking the title for two weeks before getting dethroned. After that, she couldn't go back to regular training since she and her Pokémon had gotten so powerful and travelled to compete in different leagues.

"Yeah, she wanted to catch up, she's been in Janto for so long, her parents basically demanded she come home for a party." Janice confirmed, stirring her coffee after adding more sugar.

"Oh, not for her friends?" Bobby asked in an innocent voice, but the way Janice glared at him it didn't go under her radar. I had forgotten the animosity between Bobby and Marsha from when they first started training, and little love was lost between them when Bobby dropped out. I didn't know many details about it, but I know the last time she was in the city it almost came to blows.

"Don't start that now." The sudden change in Janice's tone made me double take. It was just a twitch my way that things clicked together. "Not in front of Morgan." Her gaze in her words loud and clear.

"Fine." Bobby grumbled, leaning back in his chair and leaving us in a silence. I wanted to scream that I wasn't some fragile vase. That nothing changed, that I was still the same person- being slightly broken in places shouldn't warrant their behaviour change.

But I had changed. I needed the help of a cane to walk and felt so old doing so, how many fifteen year olds walk with canes? I hated the staring; I hated everything about what happened. I never screamed, I stayed quiet and sipped on my coffee.

_LineBreak_

I was still thinking about long after I had tucked into bed and staring up at the ceiling. Grim at one point left the room and I could hear him quietly pat around the apartment. He seemed more and more restless as the weeks went by and I couldn't figure out why. Even Nurse Joy had difficulty explaining his behaviour. At one point Mum called my uncle, who wasn't even in the country anymore to ask about Grim's behaviour.

He called Grim being protective, and it fit into his Pokémon Nature, only he was concentrating on me than anything wide scale. Grim had always been a little unusual for a Absol, I know that there were only about 8 people nationwide that had Absols and even less that trained them.

When I couldn't sleep, I thought of things to make things better. People had to pay for this, the people that put me in hospital for a dozen Pokémon, the people that put me out of commission that put me out of my job that have ruined my life.

I heard Grim growl and I bolted up from sleep, not even knowing I had eventually dozed off. Two yellow eyes started at me thought the dark. I reached for my lamp and nearly tugged the switch on hard enough to send the lamp crashing down. Grim stood at the doorway, looking ready to bite the intruder into two.

"Gawh!" I sputtered out. Jumping up and standing on my bed. The Pokémon became more visible, knowing that it was caught. It was the size of my head, with a horn and seemed to me covered in a purple sheet. "A Shuppet?" I recognized the Pokémon from seeing them around the city. They weren't uncommon, but ti was still a surprise to see one, especially one floating in my room.

It buzzed around, seeming to be mortified at being caught and keeping to the corner away from a growling Grim. I was glad that this Appartment building didn't skimp out on thick walls and that for the first time since the hit that mum wasn't home or my screaming would have drawn attention.

Grim was waiting for a command. He had spent years as a trainer's Pokémon, he had it integrated into his head that he needed someone to tell him to fight. I had never told a Pokémon to battle before; I didn't even know Grim's skill set! I thought back to when my uncle battled him and I had watched on and cured myself for not paying attention when I came up with blanks.

"Grim, scare it!" I blurted out, he seemed to try and match it to something he knew for a second, before I recognized the stare of a Leer attack directed at the ghost Pokémon. The Shuppet gave what closely resembled a shriek and phased quickly through a wall to flee.

A moment passed, and then another while the sudden rush of adrenaline faded and left my stomach feeling hollow. Absol trotted over to the window and peered out, growling softly while looking around. My mind was reeling at what just happened and what felt like a sign from whatever entity existed and watched over us.

"I know what I'm going to do." I said, grinning. The Absol tilted his head in confusion.

_Linebreak_

I stood at the registration booth with Grim at my side that very morning, trying not to look like I didn't belong. Every six months a group of ten year olds would come in and start their Pokémon Journey, some a little more successful than others like Marsha, others like Bobby came home after a while to do other things. Today was a long way off one of the two Journey days and aside from parents coming in asking for updates on their kids the centre was empty.

She tapped slowly on the computer to bring up information on Absol, he had long since been registered as a trainer Pokémon. I had to stand and didn't want it to show on my face how uncomfortable it was. I was told I was lucky that my pelvis wasn't shattered and my nerves were intact or I would have been in a wheelchair a lot longer than I was.

"Ah, Absol, nickname "Grim" Male, caught 10 years ago, approximate age 27." She frowned and I felt myself gulping. "Rather old, and would not met the requirements as a beginner trainer." I was afraid that this would happen, not only is Absol not a standard starter Pokémon from a lab, he's getting on in his years with a recently healed injury.

"Absol doesn't fight anymore," I insisted. "Can he come with me as long as I don't train with him? He's basically my service Pokémon."

And there it was, the little light or recognition in her eyes as she looked from Grim to my hat. It's her. Starting Centres, labs and Pokémon Centres were friendly with each other and worked together often, and having the Pokémon stolen and the person that got hit being the kid of one of the scientists of Rustboro would have been talked about, or mentioned at one point in the last couple of months.

"Your Absol can accompany you," I wanted to jump up with a fist in the air in joy. "But you will need to register a different Pokémon. Will you be taking the Shuppet as your starter instead?"

"Shuppet?" I turned around immediately and hovering over my shoulder was of course the ghost Pokémon. Grim barked in alarm at the sudden appearance of the little Pokémon. The Shuppet floated over to the registration woman.

"This one seems young; let me give them a check over for you." She said. I was too dumb folded to respond as she gave the Shuppet a check-up.

"Female, very young, less than five years old." She listed, the Shuppet nuzzled at her hand. "She's friendly, city Shuppet usually are."

I didn't say anything as she gave be an empty pokeball. The Shuppet tilted its head at it before tapping it lightly at the release button. In a flash of red light she disappeared and with little resistance the ball clicked with a successful capture.

"Are you going to let her out again?" I didn't want to, barely knowing what to think of the recent events. Grim still looked alarmed at the pokeball in my hands.

"Shuppet, come on out." I said, pointing the ball and closing my eyes. She appeared again, looking absolutely giddy at the thought of being out and circled around my head. The registration woman gave me everything I needed for a Pokémon journey, a pokedex, a map with a trainers card with my face and number on it.

It wasn't until I was walking to a Pokémon Store that I realized I should have put the Shuppet back into her pokeball, because she had disappeared. I tried calling for her, but she refused to show up. I wanted to ask why it felt so attached to me, but since I didn't speak Shuppet and she didn't speak Morgan I dropped it. Besides, Grim was the one I wanted with me, and it wasn't like I was intending to do any actual training.

1,903 words- a little bit of a slow start but I'm working on it.