Howdy y'all! Enjoyed that cliffhanger last chapter? Yes? No? In any case, get used to it, it's gonna be one of many in this story.
Enjoy!
Calem did not recognize his surroundings. He was in a forest unlike any he'd ever seen. Lined with large stones that seemed too orderly aligned to be naturally occurring, the landscape was a treacherous one, covered with ridges and crevices that enormous Sequoia grew over as though they didn't exist, large roots dangling in the air and interconnecting to form rough bridges over the gaps. As Calem looked around, he realised that the trees had grown in a ring structure, surrounding him.
However, It was what lay gleaming at the center of the ring that truly caught Calem's attention. Stumbling clumsily across the root bridges in his attempt to reach the center, it took Calem a while to reach it, but what he found there astonished him.
Truly an unusual pair. To the left lay a lustrous white tree, shimmering with a brilliant blue light and exuding an aura of vitality and peace that filled Calem with new life, rejuvenating him. To the right lay a black cocoon-like structure. No, not black. Had it not been for the glowing tree, Calem would not have noticed it. It appeared to be drawing all of the light from the tree into itself, like darkness given physical form. No aura emanated from it, but Calem noticed that, despite his feeling of renewal, he felt angry and empty. He could have watched the whole world burn in front of him and he wouldn't have batted an eyelash.
Calem turned to the tree and walked closer to it than the cocoon, his negative feelings vanishing in the wind as he approached. Something within the tree seemed to be calling out to him, urging him forward towards a destiny he had never even imagined. The light grew in intensity, dazzling Calem.
"I await you..."
Calem's eyelids fluttered open as he awoke from his deep slumber. Confused and disoriented, the young boy sat up and shook his head like a wet Growlithe as he struggled to come to his senses.
"Huh. Well, I feel like I was dreaming about something important. Hey, isn't the bed too soft? And what's that beeping noise?"
Calem looked down, expecting to see his normal striped dark blue sheets, but instead finding sheets white as the winter snow and a much more narrow bed.
Eyes widening at the sight, Calem turned towards the source of the beeping, only to find a monitor displaying narrow waveforms. Every time a wave appeared on the screen, the machine beeped.
Calem looked down at his body one more. He was dressed in something similar to a nightgown, with metal leads attached to his chest. The monitor was part of an EKG that was displaying HIS heartbeat, Calem realised. Feeling his face, Calem felt a bandage across the bridge of his nose where the sting of the Beedrill had sliced.
Almost afraid to look, Calem glanced at his immobile right arm. There it was, a syringe inserted into his veins and held there by medical tape, connected to an IV drip bag suspended by a tall metallic pole to his side.
Calem glumly put his head in his hands, his memories from before he lost consciousness flooding back to him.
"Perfect. I was attacked by Beedrill in Santalune Forest and now I'm in the hospital, literally hours after I began my journey. Just perfect. I gotta get outta here."
Calem attempted to get off of the bed, only to realise his legs were numb and that his muscles weren't responding.
"What the hell?" A bewildered Calem wondered out loud.
Checking the railings of his hospital bed, Calem quickly located the red button that called for a nurse and jammed his thumb upon it.
Within half-a-minute, a nurse clad in the typical light green hospital scrubs walked into the room, a clipboard in his hands and the customary stethoscope around his neck.
"Glad to see that you've awoken young man. There's no need to worry, this is Blissey Teaching Hospital in Santalune City. Are you feeling alright? Any pain in your legs?" The nurse asked, the concern in his voice almost touching.
"That's actually the reason I called you in here nurse. I realise that I'm in the hospital, and I remember why I must have been brought here. To answer your question, I feel absolutely no pain in my legs, thanks for asking. As a matter of fact, I feel nothing at all. Why though?"
The nurse looked at him for a moment before answering. "You must be either very strong, very lucky or both. Two poisoned and venomous Beedrill stings lodged in that deeply? It's a wonder your leg muscles didn't die immediately. A forest ranger was alerted by a Chespin that we assume was yours. He was returned to his pokéball and your unconscious form was brought here. We managed to extract the stings before necrosis set in so your muscles did not suffer any permanent damage. However, our Wigglytuff alerted us to a problem while she was using Heal Pulse on you. It appears that the proteins from the neurotoxins of the Beedrill stings have bound to your nerves at the cellular level, making them impossible to extract or destroy. They are now constantly stimulating your nerve cells to cause you pain, and I'm afraid that pain is permanent. We have placed you on morphine for the time being so that you are not caught unaware."
Calem stared at the man, waves of shock crashing down upon him.
"So you're saying...I'm gonna be in pain for the rest of my life? No, that can't be. Isn't there something that can be done? Like ripping out the nerve cells and placing in sythetic nerves or regenerating them with Heal Pulse or something?"
The nurse shook his head. "I'm afraid that we would have to excise the entire nerve to remove the pain, which could be disastrous for you. We haven't developed synthetic nerves yet. Also, Heal Pulse only HEALS. There must be some of the nerve left to regenerate from, sort of like a new stem growing from a root of a plant. I'm so sorry, but there's nothing that can be done Calem. Painkillers might ease the pain for a while, but we can't risk you getting addicted to them."
"You mean, I have to just live with it? As in, tough luck?" Calem said softly after a moment.
The nurse quickly turned placatory. "No, I'm not saying that at all! It's just that-"
"Just that what? Just that it's unfortunate? I don't need to take this bullshit." Calem snarled, anger now replacing the shock.
"Screw this place. I'm leaving."
Right before the nurse's unbelieving eyes, Calem grabbed the syringe in his arm and ripped it out roughly, hissing in pain as the needle exited his vein. Pulling the leads off of his chest and throwing them to the side, Calem turned to the nurse.
"I don't need morphine, and I'm not staying here. Sign whatever papers that need to be signed and let me out." Calem barked, removing the medical tape from his arm and attempting to get out of bed.
The nurse, caught unawares as to Calem's temperament, attempted to reassure the boy.
"I'm sure you wish to leave Calem, but we need to-"
"And how do you know my name?" Calem interrupted him.
The nurse sighed as he applied some sort of solvent over the skin the needle had pierced. "It was your trainer ID that gave us the information as to who you were and where you come from. As for you leaving, I have no authority over that. Only a doctor may sign a discharge form. I'll go and get her. But please let me re-attach the morphine drip and the leads? They shouldn't be detached or I will get in trouble. I'm still a trainee nurse."
Calem relented out of sympathy as he settled down on the bed and allowed the nurse to hook him up once again, feeling caged in the bed.
The nurse disappeared and returned soon with the doctor and a very tidy man in an expensive looking suit, a legal advisor to the hospital maybe.
The man in the suit spoke first in a business-like tone. "You wish to leave? Though you're a minor of only 16 years of age, your status as a rookie trainer complicates things. As per Kalosian law, Pokémon trainers are given various benefits and one of them is to be considered as adults at a certain age, with or without requiring counsel, in certain legal matters, including this one. If you were a full trainer, You could leave as your injury isn't life threatening and you are stable. However, you must first register for the status of full trainer in Lumiose city in order to receive the benefits. We may need to inform your mother Grace in order to receive her permission to leave."
"NO!" Calem burst out before realising he probably shouldn't raise his voice in a hospital. He lowered his voice.
"No, don't inform her. She was already against me going. If you tell her, she'll tell you to detain me and drag me home. I'll never get to..." Calem stopped as he was hit by a sudden inspiration.
"What? Are you okay?" The doctor questioned his silence.
Calem looked around the room. "Where is my bag? And more importantly, where is my pokéball?"
It was the nurse who answered this time. "They were removed from your possession in the ER and have been safely placed in a storage locker."
Calem grinned. "There is a letter of consent from my mother in that bag, addressed to Professor Augustine Sycamore. It gives me permission to help the Professor on a certain mission that may involve danger on my part. Would that suffice?"
The man in the suit thought this over. "Hmm, perhaps. We need to inform Professor Sycamore, and you will need to sign a writ waiving us of any accountability should your injuries worsen."
Calem sighed in relief. "Done. Get me that form, I'll sign it and then I'm out."
"Wait!" The doctor interrupted. "You're still under the effect of Morphine, you can't sign that until it wears off. It's late evening now, I recommend you stay the night." She pulled open the curtain to the window, revealing a darkening sky.
Calem sighed once more, this time in frustration. "Fine. How long was I asleep for, anyway? 3 hours?"
"Heal Pulse encourages the body to rest in order for cellular regeneration to occur. You have been asleep for two days Calem. The doctor gently informed him.
"TWO DAYS?!"
Calem grunted in pain with every step he took, the walking cane the hospital had given him doing little to take the pressure off of his legs.
"Fuck! Now I almost wish I hadn't left! Shit! Whatever, I don't need that morphine anyway. I'll just HAVE to get used to the pain." Calem thought to himself. Professor Sycamore had given the go-ahead as long as his life wasn't in danger or he wasn't at risk of permanent damage. The pain had been small at first but had slowly grown into a dull ache in both his knees as the morphine left his system. But this was Calems journey, he would not be denied.
Despite his suffering, Calem could not help but appreciate Santalune City. It reminded him slightly of Viridian City as both were connected to forests bearing their name. However, that was where the similarity ended.
Santalune City was circular by nature. Arranged in concentric rings as could be seen from the skies, the roads of Santalune were interwoven with each other, comprising of differently shaped stones that had been fit together to form pathways and had no dead ends. What had interested Calem were the gaps left in between the roads and the pathways for small groves of trees and other plants to grow, right in the middle of the street! The houses, apartments and public buildings were all very unique, of different sizes, colors and roofs, though the most popular color seemed to be blue and many houses had a hipped or flat roof, around the hospital anyway. Practically every window had a hanging garden of pink and purple flowers, and there were tens of cafes and hotels scattered about. It appeared that the Kalosians took aesthetics very seriously.
Calem had been pissed off when he'd learnt that the Gym was located at the exact opposite end of town from the hospital, though he'd calmed down a bit when he'd learnt that this meant that he'd only have to walk a straight line through the center of town to reach it. Nonetheless, he still wished the Gym had been right next to the hospital.
The center of town, as Calem found out, was a water fountain, constituted by a statue of a Pokémon that Calem had never seen before.
A well-rounded head with a very cute face comprised of medium oblong eyes with a small mouth in a smile. Its ears were long and drooping and it had a slender body with no legs, ending in an arrow-like tail. It clutched the stem of a flower, with three long petals and a single straight filament, that was anchored to the ground. The water flowed out of that filament in a large arc and into the basin of the fountain.
Calem had asked an elderly man, who was sitting on a bench close to the fountain, of its significance. The old man had responded that almost 3000 years ago when the city had been founded, the city founder, Lord Santalune, had built the fountain and had decreed that it remain as the exact center of the city, so that everyone may be equally close to immortality. When Calem had asked what that meant, the old man shrugged and had said that the Lord had never specified, leaving Calem mystified. He'd taken a picture with the camera function in his Holocaster, intent upon asking the Professor what the Pokémon was.
But the time for deliberation was over. He'd arrived at the Gym. It was battle-time!
Calem took a deep breath while the cane supported his body weight, straightened up, and entered the Gym, a man on a mission.
Well, the Gym battle is gonna have to be next chapter, because I want to focus a good chunk of that chapter on the battle. Looks like our hero is gonna be facing a tough time in the future.
Thanks for reading everyone, and as always, Have Fun!
PEACE OUT
