A/N: Okay, so sorry for the delay in this chapter! I had finals and other stuffs to do, but I sat down to write this and it all just flowed! Thanks to my one reviewer, MoonlitNite! This is for you! Oh and I apologize for Saturn, but remember he is a guy. Haha but it's all clean so don't be worried! Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did!
Chapter 4: Healing Mission
Riley's POV
When I reached the training area I let out a breath and turned to make sure the grunts had followed me. They had. I pressed a button on my watch and spoke into it. "Let us in."
"Right away, Riley," Melissa's voice floated out of the tiny speaker. She was a technician for our team, and a very good one at that. The huge door to the training room opened to reveal a huge room that appeared to be empty. But I knew better.
"Give us a level ten," I said, speaking into my watch again. All the grunts groaned. Level ten was the hardest course, and many of them wouldn't make it through. I wasn't in the mood to mess around though, so I didn't really care. Obstacles began rising up across the field, from giant rock walls with deadly retracting spikes and geysers that shot fire to deep pits and a swirling river. I decided to make this fun. "I'll go first," I told the grunts. "And if you can beat my time then I will take over your guard duty for two months." With such high stakes, I couldn't afford to lose. But it wasn't like any of them could beat me anyway. "Rules," I began. "You can each take one pokemon with you, and if you get injured keep going anyway. Now let's do this." I gestured for a grunt named James to start his stopwatch, and when he did I took off running. I easily climbed over a large boulder that blocked my path and dodged a stream of fire coming out of the ground. Chimchar was on its hands and feet next to me, keeping up with no problem. I scaled a rock wall, narrowly avoiding getting impaled by a metal spike, and then clambered down the other side and dropped to the floor. Without warning, rocks the size of my fist came shooting towards me. "Chimchar, flamethrower!" I shouted.
"Char!" It let a burst of fire out of its mouth and spun in a circle as I dropped to the ground to avoid getting singed. The rocks were not as lucky, falling in disintegrated pieces into a pile on the floor. I kept running, maneuvering around still more boulders. I leaped over a pit, not bothering to look through the dark hole, and made my way into a vast maze of dark, thorny hedges. I weaved through turn after turn, Chimchar scouting the way ahead of me. Suddenly a great wall of fire burst out of the floor in front of me, and I turned to move down a different path, but not before the fire spread and flames danced across my shoulder. I winced in pain and grunted as I patted the flames out and kept running. No big deal. Chimchar ran to me through the wall of fire and hopped onto my back, its arms around my neck, nimble fingers laced together. I took another turn and made it out of the maze, then pushed myself into an even faster sprint until I slapped a hand on the door at the opposite side of the room.
"Time!" I called. I knew the grunts could hear me because of the speaker system that connected the two sides of the huge room. I bent over to catch my breath, my hands resting on my thighs. Chimchar clung tightly to me so it wouldn't fall.
"A minute and 52 seconds," James replied, his voice wafting from the speaker above. A few grunts whistled appreciatively. I grinned widely.
"Beat that," I said to myself, then went through the door and sprinted back to where the grunts stood, still staring at the screen where they had watched the whole thing. I took the stopwatch from James "Your turn," I grinned wickedly.
"Right," He gulped.
Saturn's POV
The battles were going slowly, so I left Richard in charge so I could go talk to Riley about finding a breeder to question. I hurried down the stairs to the first floor, not really wanting to waste time using the elevator. I walked swiftly to the training arena, and saw Riley watching the screen with the rest of the grunts as Kathy struggled to make it through the course. Riley was snickering, and I rolled my eyes. I called her name and she turned towards me. My eyes widened as I saw her shoulder, black and burned. Her injury was most likely from the course. "You're hurt," I said reproachfully as she neared me. "Let me see." I placed my hands around the wound and pulled her closer so I could see better. She hissed in pain and I sighed. "You should get this checked out." I told her. She was going to need a new uniform, the cloth around her injury was almost completely gone.
"I'm fine," She answered stubbornly, pulling away from my grasp. Chimchar, on the floor near her feet, looked anxious.
"Don't lie to me, Riley," I warned her. "I know a serious burn when I see one." I wrapped my fingers around her upper arm, the uninjured one of course, and dragged her away. I called over my shoulder to James and told him to keep an eye on things, and he nodded an affirmative. I told Chimchar to stay and help, because I knew having it around would be a hassle as we tried to get Riley fixed up. Riley glared at me angrily at this, she wasn't used to being separated from her partner. I pulled Riley to our little doctor's office and ushered her inside, following close behind. She didn't look happy, to say the least. She wouldn't look at me, but glared purposefully in the other direction. Neither of our two doctors were here, so I sat Riley on a chair and squatted so our eyes were level. "Stop acting like a child, Riley."
"Then stop treating me like one," She countered, giving me a hard look. "I'm seventeen, I can take care of myself," She added, throwing in another glare for good measure. I sighed and busied myself gathering the materials I needed to clean and bandage Riley's arm. I was thankful for the medical training I had forced myself to undergo in case of an emergency. I turned back to my friend and began to carefully clean her burn. Thankfully it wasn't serious enough to do any real damage, but it still needed to be taken care of. Riley clenched her teeth through the pain. Unlike a normal girl, there were no screams or tears. That was my Riley, always tough. I ripped the sleeve of her uniform entirely off and her eyes narrowed, the pain obvious. "Careful!" She said angrily. I smiled at her, hoping to relieve some of the tension. She relaxed slightly and shut her eyes. I looked to her ruined shirt and could feel blood creeping to my cheeks. A lot of material had come off when I ripped the shirt, and I could see more than I probably should have. I silently chastised myself for any remotely inappropriate thoughts. This was my best friend. She was injured, and she trusted me. I gently rubbed salve on the burn and bandaged her shoulder, and her eyes remained mercifully closed as I struggled to reign in my thoughts. Why was this suddenly so hard for me? I tried to hurry as fast as possible without hurting her, and made sure to touch her bare skin as little as possible. And then as my fingers brushed her bare collarbone, I swore a delicate smile graced her features, but I must have just been imagining things. Dang doctors for not being here! I finally finished and drew away to look in the drawers for an extra shirt. I finally found one in the fifth drawer I looked in, and even a uniform shirt at that. It was a size to big, but I pushed Riley into the adjoining bathroom to change into it anyway. She complied, and she seemed less mad when she returned. I gave her a smile which she returned after a moments hesitation.
"Better?" I asked. She nodded.
"Thanks, Saturn," She sighed, and I could tell she didn't like admitting she was thankful for my help. I chuckled.
"You are too dang independent for your own good, Riley," I poked her in the stomach and she shrieked. Riley's weakness: She is ticklish! I continued my tickle attack, being careful of her shoulder, until she was begging me to stop between fits of laughter. If anyone saw us now, we'd be in deep water then. I was serious around everyone else, but my best friend often brought out my humorous side sometimes. As she fought to regain her breath, I remembered that I had sought her with a purpose. "We need to find a breeder," I announced. She looked at me strangely for the abrupt change in topic, but I waved her look away with my hand. "A breeder will know how to hatch an egg," I explained. She nodded, understanding now. "So we need to find out if there is a breeder in this town, and if not we are moving on until we find one." I added.
"Sounds like a plan," She replied. "But for now we should get back to our groups of grunts, because we both know they don't function well without us." She laughed merrily, and I found myself pulling her into a hug.
"See you later then," I whispered in her ear, and shivers ran down her body. I chuckled and pulled away. Without another word, I turned and went back to my grunts.