Blanche's venusaur lumbered through the streets, his huge feet splashing down through the rapids that engulfed the town. Blanche leaned over the side of their steed to watch the debris racing and swirling underfoot. The storm had been predicted to be bad, but not this bad. They wondered about the citizens of the dark homes they passed and hoped they were safe. In the worst case scenario, Blanche suspected the lab contained enough water pokémon for a rescue and evacuation maneuver if the water rose too high, but it would be a gargantuan effort.

"Why…?"

Spark's voice caught Blanche off guard, and they almost lost their grip on the venusaur's foliage. Spark's eyes were cracked open, and he blearily took inventory of himself. Blanche had instructed their venusaur to bind him firmly in vines, so he wouldn't slip off or squirm on their painstakingly slow journey. Spark stared at the vines with an expression of deep concentration.

"Why am I a metapod?" he asked.

"You're confused," Blanche said. "I need you to stay calm."

Spark smiled and quirked a brow at Blanche. "I know I'm not literally a metapod."

Blanche sighed, trying not to let Spark see their embarrassment. "Good."

Spark's head lolled to the side so he could get a better look at his surroundings. Blanche watched him closely, trying to assess his condition. It was good that he wasn't delirious, but his complexion remained alarmingly pale, and his lips were an unnatural blue.

"Where are Candela and the prof?" he asked, looking back to Blanche.

"At the lab," Blanche replied.

"What are we doing out here?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

Spark grunted and fidgeted against his restraints. He managed to free one shoulder with unexpected speed.

"What are you doing?" Blanche patted the venusaur's side to get his attention. "Venusaur, hold him tighter."

The vines clenched around Spark and reclaimed his shoulder. He fought against the restriction, rocking his shoulders, pushing with his legs, until he let out a sharp gasp.

"Easy, Venusaur!" Blanche said. Bile rose in their throat. Had they gone too far?

Spark caught his breath. "Blanche, we gotta get out of the storm. We shouldn't be out here."

Blanche dug their nails into their palms. "If only you'd had such presence of mind when you went after that meowth. Then we wouldn't be out here now."

"Her name is Muffin," Spark said in the meowth's defense. "But… I am sorry. I never meant for things to turn out this way."

Blanche guided the venusaur around a lamppost that had fallen at a bizarre angle as they considered Spark's words. They analyzed him from the corner of their eye, and he appeared sincerely crestfallen.

"I understand why you did what you did. It was a noble – if foolish – impulse," Blanche conceded, but the guilty feeling remained.

Spark frowned. "I couldn't just leave Muffin out there. That would have been heartless. She's just a low level house pokémon; she could have been killed."

"So she was worth risking your life for?" Blanche hadn't meant to raise their voice like that. Maybe the noise of the rain pelting the venusaur's canopy had softened their exclamation.

Spark jerked within the vines again and gritted his teeth against the pain it must have caused to do so. "That's what trainers do for their pokémon! Trainers and pokémon trust and protect each other! That's what our partnership is all about!"

Fine, if Spark was going to get angry, Blanche wouldn't hold back either. "That ungrateful meowth wasn't even your pokémon! You're going to die for some child's stupid pet!"

"Then you're out here risking you and your pokémon's life on a dead man. How does that make you any different from me?"

His eyes were cold and his mouth formed a grim line. He was trembling, though Blanche couldn't tell whether it was due to the injury or the cold rain or the unexpected fury they'd unearthed.

"You're not going to die," Blanche said, though their voice faltered.

Spark nodded his head at a deserted bakery across the street. "I know that place. That's where I pick up the donuts for our weekly operations meeting. Rutabaga walks with me there so she can get a treat from the owners of the store, but you know she wouldn't bother going if it were more than two blocks from the lab."

Blanche pretended to be busy looking at something in the water ahead. They'd always thought Rutabaga was a ridiculous name for a raichu, but the raichu herself was fairly absurd on her own. She was roly-poly and lazy, despite being an electric pokémon. She was often Spark's napping companion and would serve as his willing pillow. Rutabaga had been in her ball all day. Did she even know what was happening?

"Your venusaur is trying his best, Blanche, but we're getting nowhere fast," Spark continued. "We can still turn around."

"You don't understand," said Blanche. "You're in bad shape, Spark. I can't fix what happened to you with towels and tape. If I don't get you to the hospital, I don't know what would happen to you."

Spark laughed dryly. "Yes you do. You said it before. I'm going to die."

Something about the way he said it send a shiver up Blanche's spine. "Don't say that."

He was quiet for a while, and Blanche had to divide their attention between the venusaur's route and Spark's condition. He looked so small, bound as he was by the grass pokémon. His spiky hair had been deflated by the rain, and his sunshiny eyes lacked their signature energy. Blanche couldn't grasp why seeing him like this felt so profoundly wrong. He still had time. He was alert, talkative even. Sure, there wasn't much time to delay, but he could certainly make it to the hospital. He had to.

"Why don't you name your pokémon?"

Blanche took his question in stride, glad for the change in subject. "I consider it to be degrading. It's saying that I own them. That I have the authority to label them, and there's nothing they can do about it."

Spark pursed his lips to consider their argument. If the situation weren't so dire, Blanche would have found the image of him cocooned and pouting somewhat humorous. "That's fair. But I think working with pokémon is kind of like ownership, except you and the pokémon own each other. You're responsible for your pokémon, and they're responsible for you. And if they don't like their names, they'll tell you." He paused. "Sometimes violently. With electricity."

"Is there a story there?" Blanche asked.

Spark groaned and rolled his head back, but it wasn't out of pain. He laughed weakly and straightened up before answering. "I wanted to call Rutabaga 'Her Grand Duchess Thunder-Wagon,' but she wasn't into it. Like, a couple well-placed zaps not into it. So I jokingly offered to call her Rutabaga because she was chubby and shaped like one, and she clung to it. I think out of stubbornness at first, but it grew on both of us."

Blanche couldn't stop the smile that tugged their lips. It was just too ridiculous a story. "That's cute, but I still don't know how I feel about naming."

"I just wanted to know," Spark said, closing his eyes. "You don't have to change your mind."

A gust of wind whipped Blanche's ponytail into their face, and they struggled to tuck it away again. Spark was right. They were moving at an agonizing pace, but their venusaur was giving it his best. Every so often, he grunted and huffed as a barrage of water struck his legs or a loose newspaper plastered itself to his face. Yet he continued on, consistent and unflagging.

"I'm sorry if I alarmed you with all of the… death talk," Blanche said.

Spark didn't open his eyes. "Hm?"

"I didn't mean it," they went on. "I overreacted. It's still critical that we get you to the hospital, of course, but I shouldn't have said you were going to die. I feel terrible about it."

"It's OK," said Spark. Blanche barely heard it over the rain. "I know you're just worried. But… I'm not as big of an idiot as you think I am."

"What do you mean?" Blanche didn't like how long his eyes were closed. "Look at me, Spark. I don't think you're an idiot. Not all the time."

His eyes opened, and Blanche could tell it took some effort for him to even get them part way. "I want you to turn your venusaur around and go back to the lab."

"Stop. I'm not going to do that," said Blanche. "We must be most of the way to the hospital by now."

"The storm destroyed the lab, didn't it? I didn't make that up, right? I remember waking up and seeing the machines all smashed on the floor just before I was lifted up here," Spark slurred. "The prof needs you back there. You should go back."

"He needs you, too," Blanche returned. Another blast of wind buffeted them, but the venusaur trudged on.

"Not like he needs you and Candela. I'll just be in the way."

The hair rose on the back of Blanche's neck. "I don't like hearing you talk like this. You know that's not true. You aren't thinking rationally right now."

Spark's eyelids drooped again, and he smiled thinly. "I'm the idiot who runs into storms and puts other people's lives in danger. I'm the reason you're out here now, instead of helping at the lab."

"Spark, s-stop," Blanche stuttered. "It's not like that."

Spark chewed his lip. "Blanche… I'm scared. I know you must be too. You can still go home. I… I don't know if…"

"Stop it!" Blanche exclaimed in a breaking voice. They quickly contained themself and swatted away a tear before it could roll to their chin. Why were they getting so upset over this crazy-talk? "You're going to be fine. You need to stop thinking like that. Of course I'm out here for you. I'd be anywhere for you. If you don't understand that, maybe you are an idiot."

When he didn't answer, Blanche supposed they must have hurt his feelings. They'd never heard him speak about himself like that. It made them sick to hear it, and to hear him talk as though he were already…

"Spark?"

He didn't move.

Blanche jumped to their knees and shook him without thinking. He muttered and squeezed his eyes tighter.

"Thank the stars," Blanche breathed. "Spark, I'm sorry. You did the right thing with Muzzy, or Muffin or whatever. I couldn't have done that. Maybe that makes me heartless, I don't know. But you're kind and warm and funny and thoughtful. Everything I'm not. And that's why the lab needs you. That's why I need you."

Spark blinked feebly up at them. "…Blanche?"

They laughed once, a sort of manic little cough. "You keep scaring me, Spark. I can't take it."

He didn't seem as tickled. His eyes darted. "What's going on?"

Blanche thought their heart might shatter. "Stop playing around. I told you, I don't like your pranks."

Spark started to writhe, but sucked in a sharp breath as he felt his wound. "Ah! Blanche, it hurts… I don't understand…"

Blanche held his shoulders, encouraging him to be still. "Shhh, everything's OK."

He choked on a breath and his face contorted in pain. The delirium had set in. Their time was slipping away. Spark's eyes rolled up until Blanche saw only a sliver of white.

"Hey! Stay here, Spark. Stay with me," Blanche pleaded.

His breathing was quick and shallow, but he managed to respond. "Something's wrong… I can't… move…"

"That's OK, Spark." Blanche scrambled for something to get him to focus on. Not the raging storm, not the terrible pain he had to be in. "You remember how I said I've never named my pokémon? Why don't you help me?"

Spark shook his head limply. "Blanche… I don't know if I…"

"Come on. How about my venusaur?"

Spark sucked his lips in, bracing himself, thinking. "I, uh… I don't know… I can't remember… tell me about him?"

Blanche looked down at their pokémon and found his great, half-lidded eye was looking back up at them. They weren't ready for that pressure. "Sure… uh, he's larger than average. I'm impressed by his stats, as a whole, though his battle move-set could be honed."

Blanche wasn't sure if Spark grinned or grimaced. "No, not like that," he said. "There's… more."

"What more?" Blanche asked, trying not to be frustrated with a critically injured cohort.

"What's he like?"

"I just told you what he's like. What more do you want?"

Spark's lips moved, but Blanche couldn't make out any words. They rocked his shoulder, and his head flopped without resistance.

"No… no-no-no," Blanche muttered. "Come on, Spark. I need your help."

The hospital loomed ahead, still several blocks away, but finally in sight.

"Look how close we are! I just need you to stay awake," Blanche said, patting his cheek.

Still no response. Blanche pressed two fingers against his neck. The pulse was faint, but present. Blanche couldn't guess how long it would remain so. They leaned over and brushed the side of their venusaur's head.

"You've done such a good job, Venusaur," they said. "But I need you to go faster. I know it's hard, but you've come so far already. Please, try for me."

To Blanche's horror, the pokémon stopped in his tracks. He stood in the middle of the flooded road and began to tilt forward. Was he preparing to throw them off? Blanche gripped the vines that enclosed Spark's body and waited for the worst.

And then, the venusaur launched forward like a rocket.