"Jana."

The voice was loud. Louder than physically possible. It shook Jana down to her core. The only thing she was aware of in all of existence was this deep, impossibly loud voice.

"Jana."

This second voice was also intolerable in volume, but it was slightly quieter. It was a definite female voice while the first one didn't sound like it belonged to any one person. The female voice had a tone of desperation to it. Like it was worried. It also felt a lot warmer. While the first voice sent chills down Jana's spine—if it still existed—the second one soothed her and made her feel at home.

"Jana."

The first voice sounded again. This one sounded less worried, but still slightly concerned. A warmth spread throughout Jana's body, but where was it?

Was she still alive? Where was she? She couldn't feel anything except her name, being repeated over and over by those two voices. How could she feel voices, anyway? She would be confused by all these question, but again, all feeling was replaced by the voices.

"Jana."

"Jana!"


Darkness.

Beeps.

"Jana?"

Jana felt something for the first time in an impossibly long time, and it was pain. Indescribable, unbearable pain. Her head was pounding and she had a lingering stinging sensation just below her ribs. Wait, that seemed familiar. And she was aware of her body and its existence. And the voice that had just called her name was a real, tangible voice that didn't belong to nothing. Jana took these facts as a sign that she was alive, and started slowly opening her eyes.

"Jana!" The man said. Was that? Yeah, that was a male voice, definitely. Jana's eyes adjusted to the harsh, bright light and the first face she saw was desperate, very clearly scared, and, actually, a huge relief to see. Which was something she never thought she would think about this face.

Then she said a word she never thought she'd say to this face.

"Dad?"

Lance's face lit up and he sat back in his chair. "Oh my god, thank god you're okay."

Jana didn't dare move, but she looked around to survey her surroundings. She was in a hospital room. She was laying on an extremely uncomfortable bed, hooked up to beeping machines. Her bed was surrounded by chairs, only one of which was occupied. Did she really have that many visitors? Her bedside table was littered with her stuff, from her Pokégear to her belt and her six Pokéballs. Her backpack hung on a hook on the far wall. "What happened?"

Lance took a deep breath. "Let's get to that in a minute. I'll be right back, okay?"

He jumped from his chair and left the room. Jana groaned in response. She wanted to get up and follow him, but something—namely, the searing pain in her abs—told her to stay put.

Several minutes later, three people came into the room. Gary, who seemed frantic and on edge, Lance, and Jana's mother, who's face was stained with tears. "Mom!" Jana said. It just occurred to her then that her voice was gravelly and she croaked out her words. Her throat was dryer than a desert, which she was just beginning to register.

"Oh my god, I'm so happy you're alright," Jana's mom said as she took her daughter in a tight hug. "When Lance told me what happened, I just...oh, I cried for days."

"Days? How long have I been out?"

"About a week," Gary choked out. Everyone looked at him and he coughed nervously. "Ahem. Sorry, I just...hospitals make me nervous. I don't like them. You uh, continue."

Lance nodded and started telling the story. Jana faintly heard the door to her room open, but was currently too entrenched in the tale of what went down.

"When you fell, we were all too shocked to do anything. You would have died, but Scizor jumped into action. Because it was so fast, it managed to catch you before you picked up too much speed. Jana, it turns out you had a severe concussion for some time before that, and you experienced one of the scarier side effects: fainting. Anyway, Scizor saved your life. However, since he's made of steel, you still suffered some bruising and another hit to the head from when he caught you."

Jana nodded, showing she was paying attention. She took a mental note to thank Scizor later.

"Anyway," Lance continued, "you also got a shard of glass embedded in you, just below your ribs on your right side. There was blood everywhere and...you were dying." At this, Jana's mom choked back a sob. "I think you would have bled out before we made it here, but you'll never guess what happened."

"What happened?" Jana parroted.

"Mewtwo saved you," Gary said. "It came down and used its Recover move on you. It also found your Alakazam—"

"Casey," Jana corrected.

"Casey. Casey and Mewtwo worked together and kept your wound in check in time for it to get patched up. Without them, you probably wouldn't have survived."

"Why did Mewtwo save me?" Jana asked amid this exposition dump. Everyone shrugged in response.

"We don't know," Lance said. "It flew off after helping you out for that first day or two."

"Interesting..." Then, a thought occurred to Jana. The reason she fell in the first place! "Wait, what happened to Giovanni?"

"My dad's dead." Everyone turned to see that when the door opened, Nicholas had silently slid into the room. He stood with his back to the wall. He had his arms crossed and his head hung low. "Scizor couldn't save both of you. He hit the ground."

Jana sat up in the bed. An action that caused her immense pain, but she did it so she could get a better look at Nicholas. "I'm sorry. I tried to stop him."

"It's whatever," Nicholas said. "A father who leaves me is no father of mine. My only regret about it is that he didn't face up to his crimes. What an idiot."

Jana looked down at the covers. Under which, she assumed, she was wearing only one of those thin blue hospital gowns. "Still though. He was your father."

Nicholas shook his head. "I lost all attachment I could have felt for him while we were fighting. He was already dead to me."

"Well then." Jana looked to Gary. "I'm sorry I couldn't make him pay for what he did to...yeah."

"Alexis? Yeah, I know. I'm sorry too. But that's something I want to talk to you about later, okay?"

"Sure," Jana nodded. "So...what now?"

"I think you should read all your letters," Jana's mom said. She nodded toward Jana's left side. To her left was another side table. This one had balloons and gift baskets and get well card aplenty.

"Holy shit," Jana said. "That's all for me?" Everyone nodded."Well then. I guess I better get to work." Jana took another look at her visitors. "Thanks for coming to see me."

"No problem!" Gary said enthusiastically.

Nicholas scoffed. "Whatever."

Jana smiled and then looked to her parents. Before she said anything, she noted how close they seemed to be standing to each other. She raised an eyebrow at them and they looked confused. Then she looked down to see that Lance and her mother were holding hands. "That's so adorable I think I'm gonna vomit." Everyone—even Nicholas—laughed as Jana felt a strange feeling welling up in her. Was it pure, unadulterated happiness for her mother? "...No, I actually think I'm going to puke. Like, for real. Oh god."


As the last light of day filtered through the curtains and into Jana's hospital room, it found her and her mother rummaging through her various presents and letters. Lance and Gary had to leave to take care of important business, while Nicholas decided to leave long ago, making himself scarce almost immediately after the vomit incident. Jana had gotten letters and gifts from all sorts of people, some of which she didn't even know. Apparently, the battle caused quite a stir and was extensively covered by the news almost the entire time Jana was asleep. Now pretty much the entirety of both Johto and Kanto knew Jana's name, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. As they sorted through the gifts from miscellaneous people (saving the ones from people Jana knew for last,) her mother struck up conversation.

"So that red-haired boy. He seems nice enough, doesn't he?"

Jana shrugged. "No, not really. He's pretty much an asshole. He stole his starter Pokémon."

"Oh, I see," her mother said.

"Besides, I know where you were going with that, and I don't think it would ever work out. You'd think it would be pretty awkward considering I, uh, kind of killed his father?" Jana shrugged.

Her mom laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry, I just wish you were more into finding a nice boy, you know? It's been a long time since I could talk about boy things."

"I see," Jana said. "Well, if you're so intent, why don't you tell me about your boy thing? Lance is with you again, right?"

Jana could see her mom blush. "Um, well, yeah. Someone had to call me and tell me what happened, and well, Lance did. You'll never know how weird it was seeing your name on my Pokégear and then hearing his voice for the first time in so long. So anyway, we, well, talked it out and sorted through the problem and, one thing lead to another."

"That's so great!" Jana said.

"Yeah, nothing like almost losing a child to reunite two parents, huh?"

Jana looked away, suddenly feeling almost guilty. "Yeah, uh, sorry I did that. The almost dying part. Oops."

Mom laughed again. "It's okay, sweetie."

"So what was the problem?" Jana asked.

"Well, Lance—your father told me he wanted to talk to you about it himself."

Jana groaned. "God, when will I get any straight answers?"

"Don't worry about it. Let's keep looking at your stuff."

"Fine."

The first letter Jana read from someone she knew was from a man that she really wish she didn't have to think about again.

"Dear Jana,

"I heard the big news! You met Suicune! That's so cool! I spent the better part of my life searching for that elusive, majestic creature and you not only met it, you got to fight alongside it! Against Mewtwo no less. I'm so blown away by your prowess as a Pokémon trainer. You've been at this, what, like a week? Man. Well, I do hope you get better and when you do, be sure to hit me up so I can meet Suicune myself. If you can't find me, you know where to find the man who has my number.

"Toodles,

"Eusine."

Jana rolled her eyes before crumpling the paper and tossing it in the general direction of the trash can. "What a fruitcake. Next."

She got letters from all the gym leaders she had fought thus far. Faulkner's letter was obviously hollow well wishes and Jana wondered why he even bothered writing it. Bugsy's was cheery and optimistic, much like the kid himself. Right next to his letter was a letter from Kurt! The fact that the old man not only remembered her, but wrote to her after hearing of her condition kind of warmed the teenager's cold, dead heart.

"Jana,

"In the course of a few days, you went from chasing a gang of punks from the well to saving an entire country or two. How impressive! I wish I could have been there to see your triumph over the strongest Pokémon alive, but if it was enough to make a young, spry girl like yourself faint, then an old relic like myself probably would have suffered heart failure. Jokes aside, I do hope you get better ASAP. I'd like nothing more than to hear that you've become champion. My granddaughter and I are behind you every step of the way.

"Regards,

"Kurt."

Jana smiled as she read the letter. As she rifled through all the gifts, treats and letters that were sent to her, it finally hit her that she did something important. She defeated Mewtwo and saved Johto, Kanto and possibly the world from whatever Giovanni was going to do to it, and people recognized that. Jana felt incredibly important and, more importantly, appreciated. The warmth of that feeling started building in her chest as she reached for the next letter. It was from someone Jana wasn't expecting to get a letter from, considering how she treated him. Morty's letter was hastily written, had several instances of written stuttering for some reason, and several words were crossed out. The short letter simply told her that he appreciated her help in saving the world, and though the letter was short, it made Jana realize something else.

She didn't do that alone.

Of course she wouldn't have stood a chance against Mewtwo alone. While Jana was the one who got the news coverage due to falling off a building, she wouldn't have been able to do it without Suicune, Nicholas, Lance and Gary there to help her. She needed to remember to thank them for their help next time she saw them.

If she ever saw Nicholas or Suicune again, that is.

Her mom then handed her the next letter. "This one's from another gym leader, though I can't read their name on the envelope."

Jana took the envelope and examined it. The messy cursive was indeed very hard to decipher, but finally, Jana could make out a J, an S and an M, which was enough to bring a warm smile to her face. "It's from Jasmine!" She hastily opened it and started reading slowly.

"Dear Jana,

"So I heard the news, and wow! Just a couple of days ago, you kicked my butt in a battle, and now here you are, all over the news because you saved the world and beat the mythical Mewtwo. Nobody was even sure that Pokémon existed up until now! Anyway, I'm so grateful for you and everything you've done. Me and Amphy owed you so much already, and then there you go saving the world. Anyway, as happy for you as I am, I still can't say I'm not worried sick about you. I'm putting my Pokégear number at the bottom of this letter. Please call me and let me know when you're okay. You hurry up and get better, and I'll try not to lose too much sleep over it.

"Love,

"Jasmine."

Jana read out the number underneath the letter, which was signed with a heart. She smiled and shook her head. "God Jasmine, your handwriting sucks." She then immediately reached for her Pokégear to punch in the number.

"What are you doing?" Her mom asked.

"I'm calling a friend," Jana said. "She wants me to call her when I'm better."

"Okay, but the hospital's only letting the four of us visit. Gary had to fight to get them to even let in Nicholas. So be sure to tell her no visitors."

"Got it," Jana nodded. She clicked the call button and her mom excused herself from the room to give her some privacy, which wasn't really necessary, but she shrugged it off.

The phone hardly even rang once before the familiar, small voice answered from the other side. "Hello?"

"Hey Jasmine," Jana said. "I just read your letter. I'm okay! Ish. Okay-ish."

Jasmine gasped. "Jana! Oh my god, I'm so glad to be hearing from you. Man, I was worried. The news stopped reporting on your condition a couple of days ago, so we've all been in the dark. How are you doing? What happened to knock you out for so long?"

"Um, well, I kind of had a concussion from a long-ass time ago, I guess?" Jana said. "I don't know when, but concussions cause fainting, so I sort of fainted and fell. My Scizor caught me though. Big thanks on that Metal Coat, by the way."

Jasmine giggled cutely on the other end. "No problem!"

"Anyway, falling out of the window also caused this like, huge glass shard to wedge itself in me, It hurts like a bitch."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but you're okay and alive and that's what matters!" Jasmine was sounding so upbeat and happy on her end. Jana would have thought it strange for her, but she knew from the gym battle that Jasmine was one extreme or another when it came to showing emotion. "So when can I come visit you?"

Jana found herself smiling at the thought. "Well, I dunno. My mom said they're not letting any visitors in except for her and La—my dad. I can totally call you when you're allowed to visit, though!"

"I'd love that," Jasmine said happily. "Just call me then, Jana. Bye!"

"Bye," Jana said, somewhat sad that she couldn't talk to Jasmine anymore. She hung up the Pokégear and slumped back in her bed. She didn't really care about the rest of the gifts on her table anymore, because knowing that Jasmine cared about her well-being was all she really needed.


Later that night, Jana lay in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling and trying in vain to sleep. The last few hours had been made up of various doctors running tests on her to see if she was alright. They determined she was good enough for them to unhook her from the machines that she had been attached to, but they didn't think she was well enough to leave—or even stand—yet. They said that she was still showing symptoms of the concussion, so until they disappeared, she would not be able to do anything that required thinking too much or physical activity. This meant that Pokémon battling was entirely out of the question for who knew how long. This left Jana laying in bed for entire nights staring at the tiled ceiling and wishing she was still comatose.

Some good did come out of being awake for so long, though. The doctors had allowed Jana to release her Pokémon from their balls to keep her company. The one condition was that she wasn't allowed to let Aerodactyl or Scizor out, due to the former's size and the latter's weight. Jana was so excited to hear this, she let out Feraligatr the first chance she had. After a nice, comforting hug, she let out the other Pokémon she was allowed to. Nidoqueen and Houndoom were relieved to see her okay, but no Pokémon was more excited than Casey the Alakazam. She looked at Jana and her eyes lit up happily. Suddenly,

"Jana!"

She nearly jumped out of bed, startled by the noise. That unbearably loud voice from when she was out was sounding within her skull once again. Well, one of them. This one was the slightly quieter female voice. Jana looked around, searching desperately for whatever caused that noise. Finally, she looked at Casey. "Did...did you say that?"

Casey looked confused for a second, as if to say, "did you hear that?" But finally she nodded.

Jana shook her head. "Okay, either I'm hearing really, really loud things, but you just said my name. And I heard that back when I blacked out too. Did you say my name then, too?"

Casey nodded.

"Huh. Can you do it again?" Casey responded with a simple shrug. "Alright," Jana said with a nod. "Interesting."

A couple of days ruminating on that later, Jana finally got what she had been waiting for since her "boy talk" with her mom. Lance walked in to visit. Alone and without any distraction. He sat down on the chair closest to Jana and rested his arms on his knees. "Hey."

"Hi," Jana responded. "You have something you need to tell me, if I'm not mistaken."

Lance nodded. "Right. One of the first things you demanded of me after we met was that I explain why I did what I did." When his daughter nodded in response, he sighed and continued. "You see, back, almost eighteen years ago now, I stopped by New Bark Town. While I was there, I met your mother and, well, we kind of fell in love."

"Kind of," Jana remarked. "Come on dude, I don't wanna hear every detail of my conception. Just get to the point already."

Lance shot a look at Jana and she piped up. The look was one that told her that this was hard enough already and not to make it any worse. Lance looked at his feet and continued. "You see, I never intended on staying for very long, because the Indigo Plateau was so close, and the title of Champion was in my grasp. However, your mother was so...wonderful that I thought, you know, what would be the harm in sticking around for a while? So I stayed for about a month or so and then it happened.

"One day, your mother approached me and told me she was pregnant. I was going to be a father. The mere idea of it shook me to my very core. I wasn't ready for that. I wanted to be the champion so bad, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to juggle both championship and fatherhood, so I...left.

"I left at night, without telling anyone. I couldn't bare to face your mother and tell her why I was going. I knew that if I watched her shed a single tear, I'd never bring myself to leave, but I would also never become Champion. It was stupid and selfish and I should never have done it. If I could go back and change it, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm so sorry, Jana." By now, Lance was choking up and his daughter was staring ahead blankly.

"You probably should have let my mom tell me."

"Why?"

"Because hearing it from you, I want to strangle you." Jana gripped her bedsheets tightly. "You let your stupid fucking pride come before the one you loved." She took a deep breath. "However, there is one bright side to you having told me."

"And what is it?" Lance asked.

"It makes me respect you a little bit, knowing you had the guts to admit it to my face."

Her father nodded. "Yeah, that's the effect I was going for. Jana, I know full well that I'm trash, but having met you now, I want nothing more to be able to do it all over. Hardly a day passed where I didn't think about your mother and how she was doing without me. It hurt so much and it still does."

"But my mom forgives you?"

"After I grovelled a lot, yeah."

Jana nodded. "I see."

"It's all my fault and I recognize that," Lance said. "And, I know I don't deserve to know you or be in your life, but I really would like to be. I haven't known you for long, but I already love you like my daughter, and I hope you can come to love me like your father, despite how shitty I am."

Several thousand thoughts and emotions were swirling in Jana's head, but she couldn't construct them into coherent sentences. Despite the torrent of swirling emotions, Jana simply said, "we'll see."

Lance nodded. "Do you, uh, need to be alone to absorb all this?" After seeing his daughter nod silently, he quickly stood up. "Alright. Goodbye, Jana." He made his way to the door but stopped on his way through it. "Oh, by the way, it probably won't help at all, but if you were curious, I basically didn't leave your side while you were asleep. The only person more worried than me was your mother. Anyway, now I'm going." He shut the door behind him and, when she was sure he wasn't coming back, Jana cracked a smile.

"Not bad, old man."


Jana's hospital stay lasted about a month. This was about two weeks too long for her taste. She not only had to go through physical therapy to rebuild her leg muscles, but her doctor wanted to make sure she had absolutely no remaining symptoms from the concussion. At least physical therapy meant she could move around. While it was shaky going at first, she managed to be walking fine again in no time. The first thing she did when she was released (besides give her Scizor a huge hug,) was fly to Olivine on Aerodactyl. She never did tell Jasmine when the hospital would be expecting visitors, but she figured it would be more fun to surprise the gym leader with a visit of her own.

As she made the trek from the Pokémon Center to the gym, she heard a couple of passers-by say something unsettling. "What? What do you mean the gym's closed?"

The couple stopped and the man who recited the news nodded. "Yeah, the gym leader's got herself cooped up in the lighthouse. Nobody really knows why. I guess this happened a little over a month ago too."

"Oh no," Jana said. "Well, thanks for the heads up!" With that, she abandoned the couple and sprinted for the lighthouse.

"What was that all about?" The second man asked.

The first guy simply shrugged in response.

Jana rushed up the lighthouse, desperately hoping Amphy didn't fall ill again. She reached the top and threw the door open, stomping into Amphy's room amid a loud gasp. She looked over to Amphy's bed to see the Ampharos sitting on it next to her trainer. Jasmine's eyes widened in shock at Jana's appearance, and Amphy smiled.

Before anyone could say a word, Jasmine sprung from the bed and ran at Jana. The gym leader took her in a forceful hug before lifting her and spinning around. "Oh my god, Jana! I was so worried about you! Again!"

Jana laughed as Jasmine finally put her down. "Sorry to worry you so much. I just figured it'd be more fun if I visited you instead of the other way around. Trust me, the whole 'stuck in a hospital bed' thing was so unflattering."

The girls shared a laugh and once they had calmed down, Jasmine invited her to sit next to her and Amphy on the bed. The next twenty minutes or so were spent catching up, having lunch and exchanging stories. The biggest story, of course, was the tale of Giovanni, Mewtwo, and the climactic battle on top of the Radio Tower. Jasmine was so engrossed in the story that it didn't even matter that Jana couldn't remember all of the details. By the time the lunch had been finished, Jasmine was fully caught up on everything that happened.

"Wow, so he killed himself, huh?"

"Yeah," Jana said. "I tried to stop him so he could face justice for what he'd done, but I guess there was nothing I could do."

"Who knows," Jasmine said. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"I am too," Jana said with a smile. "Sorry I worried you so much. Twice."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Jasmine said, putting an arm around Jana. "I think it was a better idea for you to visit on your own terms. Probably wouldn't have been much fun if you were bedridden."

"That's what I thought," Jana agreed.

The two girls spent the better part of an hour talking about whatever came to mind while keeping Amphy entertained. The otherwise shy Ampharos had warmed up to Jana considerably and by the time the sun was starting to set, Amphy gave both girls a hug before they left her to her job of illuminating the lighthouse. The two girls left the lighthouse and headed back for the gym. "So what's next for you, miss Jana?"

"I'm gonna keep going. I only have one more badge to get, then I can challenge the Elite Four. My team might be a bit rusty after a month of not battling, but I know they can totally do this. It'll probably only take a battle or two to get back into it."

"Sounds like a plan," Jasmine said with a nod. "When you become Champion, you should absolutely come back to visit. Tell me all about the battles with the Elite Four. Then I'll challenge you to a rematch."

"Oh yeah?"

Jasmine smirked. "Oh yeah, I'll even use my strongest Steelix. She'll show you a thing or two."

"We'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" Jana asked. By then, they had reached the Pokémon Center.

"You'll see," Jasmine assured her. She gave Jana one more hug in front of the center. "I'm so glad to see you again. Good luck on the rest of your journey. Kick some ass, alright?"

"You got it!" Jana said enthusiastically. With that, Jasmine walked away, back to the gym to accept some late night challenges. Jana went inside the Pokémon Center, intending on getting a room for the night. However, when she saw Gary sitting at a table near the entrance, something told her those plans would change.

She sat down at the same table as Gary, who was helping himself to some fruit. When he saw her, he nodded at her and held out a slice. "Pineapple? You should probably get some fruit in you. It's healthy and all."

Jana shrugged. "Good point." She took a slice and took a bite out of it. "So what brings you here?" She asked once she swallowed her bite.

"I had a feeling this is where you were gonna end up."

"So you need to talk to me?"

The Champion nodded. "I have something to show you."


The ride on Gary's Pidgeot was lengthy and quiet, save for the wind whipping at their hair and clothes. The dark sky did not allow for much sight-seeing, so Jana was forced to watch the lights of cities fly by far under them as she held Gary's waist tightly. After she lost count of how many clusters of light they had passed, she decided to make conversation. "So where are we going?"

"A bit farther away from New Bark than you've been before, I'd bet," Gary replied. His demeanor, as well as his curt response, told Jana this was a going to be a sobering trip at the very least.

"So does it normally take this long to get to wherever we're going?"

"No, but I told Pidgeot to go a bit slower. You can't put too much strain on yourself."

"How thoughtful of you. Thanks."

"Hm." The rest of the trip was spent in silence, and before long, Jana found herself mesmerized by the powerful sounds of Pidgeot's wings flapping. Eventually, she found that a group of lights were getting closer, and watched as Pidgeot descended into a city, weaving in and out of several tall buildings to land in front of a building with bright neon signs on the front. The light was too bright and Jana's eyes took too long to adjust, so she could not figure out where they were before they got inside.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around the bright waiting room. The sterile white tile on the floors, the fluorescent lights and the blank walls tipped her off that they were in a hospital, but what would they be doing in another hospital so soon?

Gary waited until he had talked to the receptionist to answer. She informed him that he did know visiting hours were almost over, right? He assured her that yes, that was why they had come. After he was told they could see "her" in a few moments, the two took a seat and he finally answered quietly.

"We're in the Celadon City mental hospital. The one in Saffron's better, but she refuses to take one step into that place."

"That place being the one in Saffron or actual Saffron?" Jana asked shortly before she realized Celadon wasn't even in Johto.

"Actual Saffron. Long story."

Suddenly, Jana realized why they were there and gasped. "Wait, are we going to see your friend? ...Alexis?" She felt like she had to whisper the name because for some reason, mentioning it around Gary just seemed rude. He nodded wordlessly and she stared ahead blankly, trying to process this information. Why was she being brought here? Before she could dwell on it, a woman bid them to follow her. During the short trip down several halls, Jana noticed Gary was leaning into turns before the nurse even was. She realized Gary had probably been this way more times than he could count and her heart dropped for him. Finally, they came to a halt in front of a huge, heavy door, so separated from the other doors in the hall that Jana almost forgot there were other doors.

"Please, don't get too loud. She's still sensitive to sound," the nurse warned.

Gary nodded. "Right. Thank you, ma'am."

Jana was almost terrified to go into the room, but after taking a deep breath and calming herself, she ventured behind Gary into the padded, bare room. She was surprised to find six Pokémon roaming around, completely free of their Pokéballs. A Dugtrio, Fearow and Gengar were in the corner, eating and drinking from bowls that had no doubt been provided for them, while a Blastoise and Growlithe were wandering aimlessly. A Clefable was sitting on the floor next to a girl with short, brunette hair trapped in a straitjacket. She stared ahead blankly, her otherwise beautiful green eyes wide and scared. She shivered slightly and mumbled incoherently to herself.

Gary sensed Jana's panic and held his hand in front of her. "You wait here. I'll get to why you're here." He walked over and sat on the girl's right, the opposite of the side Clefable was sat on. "Hey there, Alexis," he said. "I know it's been a bit longer since I came last, but I have lots of important news for you tonight. You ready?" He paused, as if awaiting a response. He then launched into several miscellaneous, unrelated stories about some of the duties being Champion entailed and some of the shenanigans the Elite Four had been up to, all while obviously trying to hold back tears. One named Bruno apparently lived in the mountains and Gary swore he ate rocks. His teeth looked like it, anyway. Koga was beginning the move from gym leader to Elite Four member, while his daughter Janine was taking over the Violet City gym.

Then he got to Lance.

"and—you won't believe this, but Lance has a daughter that he never even told me about! All these years of being champ and I had no idea. She's just a bit younger than us, too. I, um, actually brought her along today, because she and I have something very important to tell you." Gary motioned for Jana to step forward, and she finally made a shaky move away from the door.

At her movement, all six of the Pokémon present turned to look at the visitor. Growlithe looked about ready to bark at her, but Blastoise nudged it with its foot and shook its head. With all this attention on her, Jana suddenly started feeling very self conscious about the slight limp she had developed from the massive laceration she suffered at the hands of the radio tower's observation deck. She stood in front of Gary, Alexis and Clefable and the champion motioned for her to sit. She did as he said, sitting cross-legged in front of the trio. "This is Jana. Jana, meet Alexis."

"Hi Alexis," Jana said timidly.

Alexis, as she had been the entire time, remained unresponsive. She was looking directly at Jana's chest, but her blank stare said that she was not absorbing anything, and Jana started to doubt she could even hear Gary. He continued talking nonetheless. "Jana is here, because she can vouch for me when I say this." Gary gently placed his hands on Alexis' cheeks and turned her face so she was looking at him directly.

"Giovanni is dead."

At the mention of the man who killed her mother, Alexis blinked, suddenly snapping into the conversation. After the rest of the sentence sunk in, she looked at Gary in disbelief as he continued making statements. "Lance, Jana and I fought with Giovanni. He had the world's strongest Pokémon, can you believe that? Anyway, we beat him and he killed himself. Like, I know it's wrong to celebrate someone's death, but I thought you should know he's out of everyone's lives. Forever."

Jana watched as, within seconds, Alexis went from completely detached to crying on Gary's shoulder. He put his arms around her and let the tears flow at last. As Jana watched this embrace, she realized that Gary was in love with this broken girl, and she could not even imagine what these two had been through, Gary having to watch her go insane and Alexis losing her mother. Even thinking about it made Jana want to curl up in the corner and cry. Finally, Gary pulled away from the hug and turned Alexis to face his friend. "This is Jana. She dealt the final blow to Giovanni's Pokémon."

Alexis' eyes landed on Jana's face, and this time she was totally cognizant of her company. Jana nervously scratched at where her injury had been shortly after that battle. "Uh, yeah. I tried to stop him from committing suicide, because I knew he had wronged someone Gary loved, so I wanted him to face up to his crimes, but I guess it was for the best." After seeing that Alexis was starting to drift off again, Jana decided maybe being long winded was not the best idea. "Er, uh, yes. Gary's right. Giovanni's dead. Nobody has to deal with him ever again."

Alexis' tear-stained eyes blinked hard and she smiled weakly. She opened her mouth and a quiet, rough sound came out. Jana wasn't sure, but she thought that she heard Alexis say, "Jana. Thank you."

Gary's jaw dropped and he stared at Alexis. "Alexis. That's the first real thing you've said in over a year."

She looked back at Gary and nodded. "Thank you," she repeated.

It was then that the door slid open. The nurse peeked her head in and announced that it was time for Alexis' visitors to go. Gary scrambled to the door and pointed at his childhood best friend frantically. "She spoke!"

The two able trainers were shooed out with promises that they would investigate Alexis' condition and any changes that might occur over the next couple of days. Once outside the hospital, they hopped on Pidgeot and took off. "Would you like me to take you back to Olivine?" Gary asked.

Jana shook her head. "Blackthorn is closer and it's where the last gym is, so you can drop me off there."

"Are you sure you're ready to take on the gym tomorrow, though?" Gary asked.

"Good point. Yeah, Olivine it is, then."

This flight, again, was made in complete silence, but Jana could tell that her companion was in a significantly more hopeful mood than he had been before. When they landed, Jana hopped off the Pidgeot and took a few steps to gain her bearings. She was not expecting Gary to get off as well, so she was surprised when she turned around to find him wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Oh... Well then."

"Thanks, Jana," Gary said. "I think we made a difference tonight."

"Really?"

"I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but that was the first time she spoke in a year. I'm so glad we could do that. Thanks. For everything."

Jana returned the hug and quietly said, "you're welcome."


END OF DAY ?:

"Wow, it's been for-fucking ever, hasn't it, Journal? Well, I have an explanation and once you hear (er, read?) it, you'll know I'm totally Justified in not having written in you for like a month or something?

"Well, obviously I didn't get the Blackthorn badge. Team Rocket got in the way before that. They tried to take over the radio tower in Goldenrod City so they could call their boss. Apparently they were completely lost without him to the point where they needed to send a distress signal across all of Johto and Kanto in order to get their shit together. Well, me, Gary, Lance and Whitney (she's the Goldenrod gym leader) tried to beat them, but we couldn't get to the top without a Key Card, so we had to go underground.

"Oh whatever, who cares about the small details? Long story short: Lance, Gary, Nicholas and I fought Giovanni in a four-on-one Pokémon battle! He used this super strong Pokémon called Mewtwo that's apparently the strongest Pokémon in the world.

"During the battle, I figured out what those rocks my father gave me do! They allowed Aerodactyl to mega evolve! Apparently, Mega Evolution is this thing where your Pokémon transforms and becomes extremely powerful for a battle. Mewtwo did it too, but Aerodactyl looked so sweet, dude. I'm so proud of her.

"Anyway, I haven't been writing in you very much because after I kicked Giovanni's ass, I kinda fell out of the radio tower. Oops. Apparently I got a concussion and it caused me to faint and fall out of the building, so I've been spending the last however long in the hospital. However, I'm finally out and the next stop is Blackthorn.

"I'm feeling a lot better now that I can move around, but I don't think I'm quite in shape enough to take on the Blackthorn City gym yet, so the next week or so is going to be dedicated to Jogging my Pokémon battling skills by taking my sweet-ass time getting from Olivine to Blackthorn. Wish me luck, Journal!

"This one's dedicated to Alexis."