Chapter 6

I had lost track of how long I had been on the floor. Minutes felt like hours, dragging on. I couldn't seem to bring my eyes away from the newcomer. There was something about this guy that just drew me in. I drifted back into the plane of reality when I realized that he was saying something. My back straightened, more alert. "Huh?" Yeah, real eloquent.

A smirk appeared on his face, creating a rush of blood to my face. This is embarrassing. "I said, are you okay? You had this weird look on your face." He held out his hand, offering it to me.

I sent a glare at him, only to have him laugh. Nonetheless, I took his hand and hoisted myself up. Hm, I was right. My eyes were level with his nose, making him only slightly taller than me.

"Just who are you anyway?"

He gave a small frown, though the spark did no leave his eyes. "I do believe that I gave you my name, already. Saotome Shuichi, or maybe you have short-term memory problems?" He finished with that smirk back on his face.

I scowled. "That's not what I meant. Who are you? Where are you from? How did you find me? And most importantly, what do you know about the Pokémon of Mu?" Each question was a bit rapid fire, but he seemed to take it all in alright.

He raised his hand, sticking three fingers in my face. "First," He said, " your questions will have to be answered later. Next, you may want to help your friend on the floor, there." He pointed to Treecko, who was currently on the ground, barely conscious. "And last, we appear to have drawn some attention."

I turned to the direction he pointed to see several sailors running down the hall. Shit. Just how are we going to explain this? Officially, the Law does not recognize Void Inc. as a criminal organization. So any testimony I have to give would be completely ignored. Thus, I did the logical thing. I picked up my partner, wanted or otherwise, and bolted.

"Time to go!" I said as I passed Sui… Pui… what's-his-face. What? This is not the time to be remembering names! Regardless of what his name is, he took the cue, and followed me as we ran outside and onto the deck. We stopped, briefly, by a map to locate the on-board Pokémon Center. Wasn't very hard to find, considering it was marked with the generic pokéball with a cross symbol. With that knowledge in hand, we went back into the ship, through a different entrance, of course. When we finally got there, we to the opportunity to catch our breaths. I turned to the guy for answers.

"You going to answer my questions, now, Mr. … uh, Guichi?" He face-vaulted, his Pidgey barely getting off of his shoulder in time. He got up quickly, his eye's closed with a sweat drop sliding down the side of his face. His smile was slightly more forced.

"It's Shuichi! Shu-i-chi!" he corrected me. He calmed himself down and straightened up. "Anyway, let's try that again. Name: Saotome Shuichi, age: 19. I am a Pokémon Historian, with some dabbling in Basic Research and Archeology, which is how I met Sora, here." He said as he motioned to the Pidgey on his shoulder, who took a bow at being introduced. "And your name, Young Miss?" He asked me with a bow of his own.

"Kaede. Minami Kaede, age 16. I'm a Rookie Trainer." He raised an eyebrow and I sighed. Here we go. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just… aren't you a little old to be a rookie?"

"Let's just say it's a long story, one of which I might tell you after you tell me yours," I gestured to the Pidgey, Sora. "Care to explain?" He gave a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You really should see a doctor about that memory of yours. I would think that such questions could wait till later."

I replayed the last few moments in my head, just to see what he was talking about. I could feel my eyes bug out as I whirled around to Treecko. I had set him down on a chair as I caught my breath. I gathered him up into my arms, dashing into the Pokécenter.

"Oh my Arceus, I'm so sorry. Oh Arceus, I'm so sorry!" I kept repeating this until Nurse Joy carted him off. In some corner of my mind, I made a note to find out why all Nurse Joy Looked exactly alike. The Officer Jenny's, too, for that matter. I turned, my face flushed with embarrassment, to see Shuichi waltz in behind me, chuckling lightly.

"Well, you're not the least bit dull, I'll give you that," he said. His face turned serious for a moment. "If the two of you are going to be partners, or you a trainer at all, you can't afford to be neglectful. You need to be able to work together and look after each other if you intend on accomplishing your goals." Great, a lecture. As if this wasn't embarrassing enough. "On that note," he added, "just what are your goals? You never said." I sighed. Of course he wasn't going to let that go.

"I'll tell you when Treecko's better. He knows more about this thing than I do." I only muttered that last part, but he seemed to heard it just fine.

"That makes sense," he said as he nodded his head. "In that case, we can wait on my explanation, as well!" That smile of his was reaaally starting to annoy me. Makes me want to punch out those damn perfect teeth of his! So I replied:

"Sounds fair to me." You smug bastard. Just then, the Nurse Joy came back with a rather confused look on her face. That's rarely a good sign.

"Excuse me, miss? You are that young Treecko's Trainer, yes?" Of course. I nodded my head. "What happened to the poor thing to give it such injuries?" I blinked.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Not that I don't already have a good idea, but smart as I am, I'm no doctor. The Nurse Joy went into a lengthy and detailed explanation of Treecko's injuries. The outer wounds were only from mana burn, the use of too much unneeded energy for one attack. An attack for which she really reamed me for using without proper training, and with an infant to boot. Just as...um, Shuichi had said, Treecko just couldn't handle an at tack of that caliber just yet. What really had her, and by that point me, worried were the apparent internal injuries. As a little known fact about Pokémon, their insides were very well protected. It's one of the reasons why battles are still legal. Anything that can actually deal internal damage was serious business. They would only hold Treecko down for one day, but still...

By this point even the arrogant prick was looking worried. He sat in the corner muttering something, then I took notice of the rune atop of his Pidgey, Sora I believe, glowing a clear white light. They must have been using that voice thingy, I thought. At least they were being discrete about it. I walked over to him, intent on getting an answer.

"What are you two talking about?" I asked. He looked up, surprised I suppose.

"Just about how powerful your Pokémon is. I didn't expect it to be so powerful as to harm its own organs with that attack. Very impressive, and very strange. The worst we've had was some singed feathers. I know pure-bloods are powerful, but that's quite ridiculous. Just what is that Treecko?!" Okay, so he's smart enough to give me a decent conversation, but he's still an ass.

"That's part of the story you don't get to hear til later."

With those words, the room fell silent. I seated myself across from him and Nurse Joy left to, what I would guess, monitor Treecko. There was no sound, apart from the occasional beeping of a computer. Mr. Historian was listening to his Pidgey while I itched to get on the computer. I focused on the beeping, trying to keep my mind occupied. Before I knew it, my head was leaning to the side and my eyes closed. I should have known I'd have fallen asleep. At home, I would concentrate on the whirring of my computer to get to sleep.

The next thing I knew, someone was shaking my shoulder, calling my name. I forced my eyes open, not wanting to wake up. As soon as my vision cleared, I yelped in surprise. Shuichi was right in front of me, holding his mouth open and sticking his tongue out. He quickly side-stepped, giving me room to fall out of my seat. He burst out laughing along with a chirping noise from his companion.

I stood, glaring at the pair of them. "The hell'd you do that for! Grr, I'm going to get you for that!"

He smiled at me, still snickering. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Why you-" I was cut off by the sound off a door sliding open. Nurse Joy stepped past the threshold, calling out to me. I froze, arms held back as if about to grab something nonexistent.

"Miss, your Treecko is awake. It's quite remarkable, considering his injuries. Would you like to see him?"

I turned toward her, nodding. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. The laughing behind me got louder. I whirled back around. "What?" I demanded.

Shuichi reached into his bag, calmly pulling out a...mirror? He held it up so I could see my reflection. I gasped, yelling "You are SUCH an ASS!" This only seemed to strengthen his laughter.

All over my face were multi-colored doodles. They looked like something the author's sister used to do in preschool: incoherent with a sense of order amidst the chaos. And it pissed me off. So I reached back once more, and this time I swung. Wham! I hit him with a hammer that I should not have been able to lift due to its sheer size. Underneath, I hear a muffled ad pained laughter. At least he felt that! The hammer dissipated as I released it. Suddenly I became truly aware of what I just did. How did I do that?

~That would be the power I spoke of, my Mistress.~

I whirled around to see Treecko standing right behind me. He grabbed onto the side of a chair for support.

"Treecko! How are you doing?"

~Better, but not by much. However, with your permission Mistress, I may heal at a much faster rate.~ He seemed to hesitate with his last words, as if he were unsure if he should have asked.

"Um, sure, I guess. If it'll help you, go for it."

~Very well. Thank you, my Mistress. Now, hold out your hand.~

Confused, I offered him my hand. His runes glowed faintly as he pulled off my glove. The moment our hands touched, I sucked in a sharp breath. My heart pounded against my chest, feeling slower and slower as energy left my body. My hand seemed to burn where skin and scale touched.

As soon as it began, the energy flow was cut off and I sank back into the seat. Even in my stunned state, I was aware enough to take note of Shuichi, who looked worse for wear but otherwise fine, with an interested look upon his face. As the effects finally left me, I saw Treecko, fully recoved, looking worried.

"I'm okay, just tell me what that was," I said with a lack of breath. Weakly, I pulled my glove back on. I slid my glasses off and used a sleeve to attempt to wipe away the drawings on my face.

~The Servitude Salve. In return for serving you, and at the price of your own energy, I get instant restoration. So long as I am conscious, that is.~ he "voiced." Huh. That's actually kinda cool.

"Alright," spoke Shuichi, "Story time kiddies! I can't wait to hear this!" Damn.