Lolly hobbled into the room with a grin evident on her face. "Good morning-" she started, but was stopped when she saw the Pokemon. Mesprit stared at Lolly in fear, frozen in its place. Lolly stared back, bewildered by the sudden appearance of the pink Pokemon.
No one said a word.
Finally, Mesprit floated over to Lolly and cried out a pitiful "Oyo!" Lolly exhaled. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath. Mesprit held its little paw out to Lolly, beckoning her toward Lyra. Silver just watched, not saying anything.
Lyra lay on the floor, shivering. Silver came to his senses and picked her up. He set her gently on the bed. Mesprit landed gracefully next to her head. Lolly's gaze flickered from Lyra to Mesprit and back. "What's wrong with her?" she whispered to no one in particular.
Mesprit cried out, staring at Silver. It knew that Silver understood the issue, and Silver knew it wanted him to tell her, but he couldn't speak. His red eyes were wide with shock. Mesprit cried out again, and it brought the words gushing from his mouth.
"Mesprit says she's sick."
Lolly blinked at him, turning back to the Pokemon and asking directly: "What's wrong with her? Can you tell us?"
Mesprit stared up Lolly with big eyes of gold, closing them suddenly. It began to float again, letting out a small murmur of concentration.
Silver and Lolly saw the same image at the same time. It was of Mesprit itself, a hand touching its head. The image panned to Lyra's face. She looked like she was going to puke and her eyes were as big as saucers. As soon as the picture came, it was gone, but it lingered in both of their heads.
Lyra rustled in her sleep, and Mesprit vanished. Lyra, who still looked like all the color was drained from her body, gazed up at Lolly with hollow eyes. Lolly and Silver stared at the spot where Mesprit once stood.
"Lolly," she nodded, offering nothing more than an empty smile. She sat up on the hospital bed. "Silver, if I remember correctly, I believe it was an emotion that I was selfishly feeding that caused you to find me where I was this morning. I apologize for causing any confusion or distress."
Lolly and Silver gaped in her direction as she rose from the bed and moved to the bathroom, splashing water in her face. Suddenly, Barry burst in, a grin that shone like the sun apparent on his face. "Good morning!" he cried, running over to Lolly and giving her a big hug. Lolly didn't say anything.
Barry's face changed when he saw Silver looking like he was going to be sick. He set his sister down and shuffled over to him. "What's the matter? Where's Lyra?"
Silver pointed to the bathroom, Lyra only glancing back in acknowledgement without saying anything. Barry instantly knew something was not right. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Lolly hushed him with a look.
Lyra came back into the room looking more presentable, with her hair in new pigtails and her face washed, but her face was still the pale gray color. She nodded to the three trainers. "I'm going to the cafeteria for breakfast. I shall meet you there."
As soon as Lyra left, Barry started shooting out questions.
"What's wrong with Lyra? Why doesn't she sound fun anymore? Why does Silver look like he's going to be sick? Lolly, you're not resting! Is anyone else hungry-"
Lolly clasped her hand down over her brother's mouth. Silver sat down on the bed. Lolly sat next to him. Barry, even if silenced, was greedy for answers and was bouncing with energy.
But that changed when two men walked into the room. Lolly and Barry's eyes grew bigger than their heads, grins spreading across their faces.
"Dad!" Barry yelped, running up to the blond headed man. The man chuckled, embracing his son. Lolly limped over to the man as well.
"Lolly, I got here as fast as I could. Why aren't you resting?" he said gently. The man's gaze turned to Silver. Silver gave his default look – a glare. The man chuckled. "Lolly, I think this boy is a little young for you."
Silver went red, and Lolly punched her father's arm. "Dad! I wouldn't date someone that's at least 4 years younger than me!"
Silver was surprised. Lolly was 18? She looked his age…
The man gave a hearty laugh. "Fine. But you need rest. Now," he ordered, picking his daughter up and placing her on his back. Barry was still bouncing with excitement.
Lolly's expression had SOS written all over it, but Silver was still trying to get over that little comment and didn't notice. Besides, what could he have done? Barry followed his father to Lolly's room.
That left the other young man. Silver stared up at the boy. He was just a little taller than Silver himself with dark, spiky hair. He had a bundle of papers in his hands.
"I think I have the wrong room…" he said finally, starting for the door. However, leaflets of paper floated to the floor. He bended over to get them, and the rest of his papers came with him.
Silver silently helped him pick them up. He wasn't really a nosy person, but when he saw a picture of Mesprit and two other similar Pokemon, he stopped dead, staring at the paper. The boy snatched the paper away and glared. He stood again and tried to hurry away, but Silver stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his shoulder.
"What do you know about Mesprit?" he demanded. His grip was iron-hard.
The boy continued to glare. "Mesprit. The Emotion Pokemon. It's about a foot tall and doesn't weigh much. It lives in a lake cavern in Lake Acuity. It's one of the three lake guardians. It, along with Uxie and Azelf, are said to have given humans emotions, willpower, and knowledge. Anything else?"
Silver sighed, releasing his arm. "Oh."
The boy's look softened. "What is it?"
"My friend is sick."
"Sick? We're in a hospital. You shouldn't be too concerned."
"I mean, it's like she's lost her personality, and Mesprit came and told us itself that she was sick."
The boy dropped his papers deliberately, his mouth and eyes wide open. "Did she touch it?"
"What?"
"Did she touch Mesprit?"
"Uh, yeah. Mesprit told us that part, but we didn't understand it." Silver shrugged.
"Do you realize that if you touch Mesprit, in three days time, you lose all your emotions?"