Ch 2: No Hurt
A soft tapping came from Page's window, slowly awakening the young boy from his sleep. Page groaned as he rolled over in his bed, still tired from eating too much cake the night before. When the tapping began to quicken and get louder, Page with a groan, climbed out of bed and went to his window. Opening it he looked around to find the source of his annoyance.
A pebble bounced off his head sending Page tumbling backwards. Sitting on the floor, Page rubbed his head, "Ow ow ow!"
Eevee's ears perked up as it woke up and quickly bound over to his master. From outside, Jeanne stuck her head through the open window, "hey you ok?"
"You hit me with a rock…"
Jeanne rolled her eyes, "it was a little one. Now come on. We're going to the river."
Page finally looked up, and noticed that Jeanne was carrying her large inner tube, and still had a few little blotches of sunscreen on her face she hadn't rubbed in.
"Come on, let's go already."
"Ok ok, just give me a second."
Jeanne pulled away letting Page close his window so he could change in private. After changing, he and Eevee snuck out. Making sure to not wake his sister. At least he didn't have to worry about his mother, who had already left for work by then.
Once outside they found Jeanne and Dratini waiting for them. Together the four hurried off. When they made it to the river, Jeanne quickly made a beeline for the rope swing that hung over the water.
Jeanne hit the water with a splash, and was quickly chased after by Dratini. Page waded in after them, much to Jeanne's annoyance, "just jump in already."
"The water's cold."
Jeanne sighed as she dunk down and swam towards Page popping up right besides him, "that's why you jump in. It's like pulling off a band-aid. Better to be quick about it."
Page wasn't convinced and kept slowly wading in. Jeanne not wanting to wait, grabbed hold of his arms and yanked him forward, and into the water. Much to Pages anguish.
"Gah cold. Why would you do that?"
"Oh quit being such a baby."
Page in retaliation splashed Jeanne. As this was a declaration of war, Jeanne responded by splashing Page twice, and then tackling him under the water. As the two struggled for dominance, Dratini swam over to Eevee, who was paddling around near the shore.
[Not much of a swimmer huh?]
Eevee made it back onto the sandy shore, where he shook himself dry, [I only hatched a few days ago… I need fins and gills.]
Dratini giggled, as she floated lazily on her back, [maybe you should find yourself a water stone.]
Eevee lay down as he watched his new master play with his friend, [they're having fun.]
Dratini nodded, [they're good friends alright.]
Jeanne swam back to the shore and grabbed her inner tube, and a long rope, "hey Page want to see the idea I had last night?"
Taking one end of the rope, she gave one to Dratini who chomped it eagerly and tied the other end onto the tube. Turning back to Page, Jeanne was beaming at her genius.
"Admit it. This is a great idea."
Page sighed, "ok ok, you had one good idea" Bending down Page picked up Eevee as he and Page sat down in the tube.
Jeanne smiled, "Ok Dratini, go!"
Both kids cheered as Dratini swam forward pulling them up the river. Jeanne urged Dratini on, "faster! Faster!"
Dratini answered and sped up. When they reached the first turn in the river, the tube bounced and Page gave a startled gasp as he and Eevee were tossed over. As Page treaded water, Eevee perched himself on top oh his head. Both waited for Jeanne and Dratini to turn around, but soon came to realize, they weren't coming back.
"She isn't coming back…is she?"
Eevee gave a sigh in response, while Page swam over to the nearest shore. The two sat down and waited for Jeanne and Dratini to come back. As Page lay back, he looked over to his side and noticed something floating, tangled in some weeds and tall grass.
Walking over Page was surprised to find that what he had seen was a Ralts. Just from looking at her he could tell she was hurt. Bending down, Page gently picked her up.
As Page held Ralts, she began to wake up. Opening her eyes she looked up and found herself being held by a human.
[Human…no, no human. No hurt.]
Page gave a gasp as the Ralts suddenly began to weakly struggle.
"Hey, its ok. My name is Page. I'm here to help you."
Ralts though could barely hear him though. Everything hurt. She didn't have the strength to get away from this human. She could already feel herself slipping back into darkness.
"Hey, are you ok? She's asleep again…Come on Eevee we need to get her to the pokemon center."
Looking around Page saw Jeanne and Dratini coming back up the river, so he quickly waved them over. When Jeanne got close enough, she was alarmed to find what Page was holding.
"Page what's going on?"
"I found her over there in the weeds. She really hurt Jeanne. We need to get her to the pokemon center."
Jeanne was already pulling her inner tube onto shore, "Yeah lets hurry."
The four raced off, Page being careful not to hurt the Ralts anymore as he ran though, every once in a while Ralts would hiss, or give a small whimper. Soon though the center was in site, much to their relief.
Once inside Page hurried to the front desk, "Please she needs help."
Alarmed the nurse immediately called for a gurney. Page gently handed Ralts to the nurse, just in time for the gurney to arrive and take her away. As Ralts was taken away by several nurses and Chansey's, Page watched helplessly not knowing what else to do.
Eevee pawed at his leg, trying to reassure his master that everything would be fine. Jeanne put a hand on his shoulder, "I think you better call home. Let your sister know what happened."
Nodding, Page walked over to the nearest phone and made the call.
-Later-
When Ralts came too, she looked to try and figure out where she was. The little boy from before was nowhere to be found.
[Page…]
She couldn't think why she would remember his name. It wasn't important. She needed to figure out where she was. And how to escape. She needed to get away before more humans came to hurt her.
Sitting up slowly, she pulled the sheets off her and moved to the edge of the bed. As she did the wires, she hadn't noticed before, popped off. Setting off alarms on the medical machines. Before she could hop off the bed, the door to the room opened and to her horror, more people rushed in.
A nurse stepped forward, "easy there. You're safe."
[No stay away.]
She jumped down, but when she landed her legs gave out, so she fell onto the cold floor.
[Why don't my legs work?]
As the nurses moved closer, trying to desperately to calm her down, she crawled backwards. Trying to get as far away from the humans as she could. Ralts in her desperate attempt to escape found herself backed into a corner.
The humans were getting closer.
[Please stay away! Get back!]
Everything was hurting again. She wanted to teleport away, but her head hurt too much to think of where she'd want to go. But she knew she needed to make the humans go away.
[GO AWAY!]
-Elsewhere in the pokemon center-
Page sat in the hallway, idly scratching Eevee behind his ears.
"I hope she'll be ok."
Jeanne put her hand on his shoulder, 'I'm sure its going to be ok."
Page nodded, but went back to petting Eevee. Agnes frowned as she pushed off the front desk, where she had been talking to the nurse on duty. Sitting down next to Page she pulled out her pack of cigarettes, "they still don't have anything to tell us."
Page tapped her, "um I don't think you're allowed to smoke in here."
Agnes grumbled, but put it away.
Everyone jumped in alarm when they heard the loud crash coming from down the hall.
Agnes frowned as several nurses rushed past, "wonder what that's all about?"
Page got up, "I think that came from Ralts' room."
Before Agnes or Jeanne could stop him, Page was already running off, with Eevee close behind. Page made it to Ralts' room just in time to see several nurses scrambling to get clear as trays of medical equipment were thrown out of the room.
As the nurses tried to figure out how to sedate the Ralts, Page hurried inside.
"Page wait a second!" Agnes cried out. When the others saw Page going inside, they tried to stop him but they were too late.
Ralts was still backed into the corner, and all around her the room was littered with broken medical equipment, and ruined bed parts.
Eevee stayed close to Page as he knelt down in the middle of the room, "Hey there, you remember me right?"
Ralts felt her breath catch. It was the same human from before. Why was he here? Did he bring her here? Was he going to hurt her too?
Eevee saw her eyes begin to glow, [Please stop. He's a good person.]
Page reached out his hand, "No one here is going to hurt you."
Lies. Humans couldn't be trusted.
Ralts shook her head, she wouldn't be fooled. She began to gather her energy, and began to lift some of the debris off the ground. Intent to hurl them at Page.
Behind him the nurses called out for him to get away but Page didn't budge.
[Why isn't he running?] Ralts thought.
Agnes reached to her belt for a poke ball, "Page, get away from that Ralts! Houndoom don't let her hurt him!"
Houndoom popped out and stalked closer to Ralts.
[Put the stuff down, now.] Houndoom growled out. Ralts however was too scared to listen. In a panic she threw everything she had at him. But in her desperation her aim was off and Houndoom was able to easily avoid her attack.
"Houndoom, use tackle!"
Ralts closed her eyes and curled up, terrified as Houndoom darted towards. But after a few seconds, she hadn't been hit. Confused she opened her eyes to see what had happened.
To her shock she found the little boy had covered her to protect her from the attacking pokemon. Houndoom had stopped a few feet away, not wanting to accidentally hurt his trainers little brother.
"Agnes stop! Please you aren't helping!" Page called out.
Eevee had put himself between Page and Houndoom and growled at the dark pokemon, [back off!]
Houndoom was not impressed, [move aside pup.]
Ralts couldn't believe what was going on. This…this human was protecting her.
Her time with humans she learned to close her self off. It was better to feel nothing, than to feel the constant hate that emanated from them. But this whole situation was so foreign to her, she was willing to risk it. She needed to know what this human was feeling. Maybe it would give her a hint for why he was acting like he was.
She wasn't feeling what she had expected. This wasn't hate, or anger like she had been so used to feeling around humans. This boy…felt warm. He was worried for her. He wanted to help her. And she couldn't understand it.
"W…why?"
The room went quiet. Not sure who had spoke.
"Why…help me?"
Page looked down, not sure he was hearing this right. Jeanne peaked past Agnes, her jaw almost on the floor, "did that pokemon just talk?"
Page moved so that he was sitting right in front of Ralts, "you can talk?"
Ralts could feel suddenly everyone was looking at her.
"You…want to help…why?"
Page answered, "Because you're hurt. And I want to help you. We all do."
"But…you," Ralts frowned, not sure she wanted to continue. What if he got angry?
"Its ok Ralts. I just want to make sure you're safe."
"But humans…they help?"
Page didn't understand, "a person helped teach you to speak. Didn't they?"
Ralts shook her head. That wasn't the right word; teach. "Bad…men. Bad men they," what was the right word, "make…me." She stammered unsure of the correct words to use. She still found the way humans spoke to be difficult. It was one of the many reasons she was punished so much. "They make me speak…human. Or, ouch."
Page didn't understand, "ouch?"
Ralts raised her hand up to her horn, and then pointed to her bandaged legs, "They hurt…ouch. And then, they throw me away."
From behind Agnes turned to one of the nurses, "I suppose that explains why she's has been so scared."
The nurse nodded, "poor thing."
Page reached out his hands towards her, "It'll be ok. No one here will hurt you."
"N-no more ouch?"
"I promise."
Slowly, Page picked up Ralts, holding her against his chest.
"Stay, you stay…"
Page nodded, "I'll stay."
-Later That Day-
Michele walked into the pokemon center and immediately found her daughter sitting in the waiting room.
"Hey mom."
"So what's going on? Did Page's Eevee get hurt?"
Agnes shook her head, "no, he's fine. Actually though, things are a little complicated."
"What do you mean?"
Agnes sighed, "Well…um you may just want to see for yourself."
Confused, Michele followed her daughter down a hall till she stopped at one of the recovery rooms. Agnes pointed through the window on the door. Michele looked through and saw Page, sitting besides the bed with Eevee sitting in his lap. On the bed was a Ralts, that her son was talking to. On the other side of the bed, a nurse was gently examining the Ralts' horn.
Michele noticed that several times when the nurse would touch the Ralts it would flinch and try to shrink away, but her son would reach out and hold her hand. When he did the Ralts would calm down and allow the nurse to continue.
"Page and Jeanne went down to the river this morning, and while they were playing, Page found that Ralts washed up on the shore, in pretty bad shape."
Michele looked back inside, "does she have an owner?"
"Not one she'd ever want to go back to."
"Huh?"
Agnes sighed "her past owner was…abusive to say the least. And apparently he had her thrown away into the river because she wasn't learning fast enough or something."
"Poor thing…how do you know that though? I doubt her owner showed up."
Reaching into her pocket, Agnes pulled out her pack of cigarettes, and thumbed at the opening, "Well… some of her injuries were obviously not done by a pokemon…or so the nurses said. But she also told us."
"Who told you?"
Agnes pulled a cigarette from the pack, "She did. The Ralts. Her old owner was trying to make her talk. Her not learning fast enough was one of the reasons she got hurt."
As Michele looked back into the room, Jeanne came walking down the hall, holding a bottle of water, "I got your drink Agnes…oh hello ma'am."
"Hello Jeanne. It sounds like you and Page had a little adventure today."
Jeanne nodded as she handed Agnes the drink, "yeah, it was really scary."
"Well I'm sure it was, finding that poor thing by the river like that."
Jeanne went over to her chair, where Dratini had been waiting for her, "Oh I was talking about after that. Page was really brave though…"
"Brave? Agnes what else happened today?"
"Well," Agnes began sheepishly, "the Ralts was kinda afraid of everyone. She thought all the people here were going to hurt her, so she kinda…umm…"
"She blew up her room." Jeanne finished for her.
Agnes groaned, while Michele turned back to her daughter, alarmed, "Page isn't in danger is he?"
"No, no he's safe. Page was able to…get the Ralts to trust him. In fact the only way any of the nurses can get any work done on her is if Page is next to her."
Michele frowned, "ok…but what's going to be done with the Ralts then?"
Michele noticed that Agnes and even Jeanne looked ready to start buttering her up, and could guess what was going to come next. Deciding to cut out the whole episode she knew was coming, she caved in, "Page can keep her."
Agnes blinked, "that was easy."
"You want me to go in there and tell my baby that after everything that happened today, he'll have to let some strangers take that Ralts away? You may think I'm a villain, but I don't need my son thinking so to."
Soon, the door to the room opened and the nurse walked out, "oh hello? Would you happen to be Page's mother?"
"I am."
"Well you have a very brave little boy ma'am. He's been very helpful."
Michele smiled, "so I've heard. My daughter has been telling me about the whole ordeal."
"Yes it has been rather…eventful. Thankfully we've been able to mend up the Ralts. I'd like to keep her over night just to be safe, but after that, she'll be free to go. Where she'll go however…"
"If," Michele began, "if you don't think there's a danger…I'm sure Page would like to bring her home with us."
"She's going to have to learn to trust people again, but I think being brought into a loving family will help her with that."
"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll go in and tell my son the good news."
With a nod the nurse walked off, leaving Michele as she walked into the recovery room.
Page looked up and smiled, "hi mom."
Ralts shifted back slightly, eying the new human.
"Its ok, this is my mommy."
Michele offered the Ralts a reassuring smile, "Hello there. My name is Michele."
Ralts smiled back, uneasily.
"So Page, I've spoken to the nurse and she says that Ralts will need to stay the night, but tomorrow she'll be free to leave."
Page grinned, "you hear that. You'll be better in no time Ralts." Turning back to his mother, Page asked, "so…um mom…"
Michele raised her hand, "Ralts can come home with you. So don't worry about it."
Page and Eevee gave a little cheer, while Ralts let out a breath she hadn't know she was holding.
[I have a home] she thought. [I have a home]
-Authors Notes-
Yeah for happy conclusions! Next chapter will have a little time skip to the start of Pages journey as a pokemon trainer. Hope to see you all there!