Chapter Ten: Shared reality
Author notes:
The mind speak will be in { }'s, and PokéTalk is in [ ]'s.
After our nap, the doctors returned and started asking a bunch of questions. Kirlia didn't like most of the doctors, but she did trust them enough to get me better. She was quite protective of me and yet we hardly know each other.
"{There's no need for much Master.}" A quiet voice in my head said startling me out of my thought process. "{You saved my life and I saved yours, which is not something that leaves the involved parties unaffected.}"
"{I know that…}" I struggled to say, still not completely used to the mind speaking. "{I just suppose I can't help but wonder why this bond is here so suddenly and why you're suddenly a Kirlia when I last saw you as a Ralts.}" The two of us were still lying in the bed as the doctors were jabbering about and looking over me still. I wanted nothing more to just tell them to go away and let me be since I really didn't want to be poked by more needles, but there was nothing I could do unfortunately but talk with Kirlia over the mind link…my Kirlia. The thought alone brought a feeling of happiness to me, the Kirlia I rescued from a possible life of horrible abuse and who knows what else.
"{Let's not think about that Master.}" Kirlia said, jumping off of the bed. I was about to ask her where she was off to, but she sent a mental 'shh' back at me before hopping onto an empty bed next to us, grabbing a pillow, and coming back over. She smiled and hopped back up, placing the pillow on my side before burrowing herself into it.
"{Ahh, that's better.}" She said sighing contently. I laughed a bit and placed my hand on her head and rubbed it a little bit. The doctors around us eventually quieted down as they noticed Kirlia had fallen asleep. One of the doctors moved closer to me and pointed towards Kirlia.
"She might need to move soon." He said. "We're going to be changing the sheets on your bed so you'll have to slide to the next one until we get done. Hospital policy, sorry." I nodded and started looking through my mind, searching for the tunnel that we use for communication. After a few seconds, I found it.
"{Hey, Kirlia?}" I whispered into it. There was a small pause before she responded.
"{Hmmm…?}"
"{Doctor says we gotta move so they can change the sheets.}" Her body stirred as she opened her eyes and slowly sat up. I scratched her behind the ears a little as she stretched a bit and smiled at me. I looked back up at the doctor and nodded. He pointed to the bed next to us, the one that Kirlia took a pillow off of, and we slowly moved ourselves over there. Kirlia was able to easily hop off of our current bed and onto the other one, but my legs refused to cooperate. The moment they touched the ground, my legs wobbled as if they had never been used before, and my balance was off even more. Kirlia took pleasure in giggling at me as I stumbled around until one of the doctors fixing my bed managed to prop me up and slowly walk me over to the bed.
"Thanks doc." I said. The doctor just nodded and went back working on my bed as I slowly sat myself down on the bed. Kirlia slid over somewhat and rested her head on my shoulder and I lifted my arm up, which slid her head into my side, and slowly pet her head. A feeling of content slowly seeped over the connection we shared and I smiled, happy that she was feeling safe.
"{I suppose we'll be leaving soon?}" Kirlia asked. I nodded.
"{Yeah, I hope by afternoon. I still wonder where the hell Tom and Gold are though…}" She looked up at me.
"{Tom was by earlier, checking in. He said he'll be waiting in the lobby all day until you're out…I'm assuming Gold was another trainer? A trainer did drop by but didn't say much…I couldn't read his feelings at all either.}" She sighed and put her head on my lap. "{Oh well…not much I can do about it now.}" I smiled a bit and closed my eyes, leaning back a bit wondering how Growlithe and the others were. Wait, where were they exactly? I opened my eyes and looked around for them, hoping to see a couple of Pokéballs lying around somewhere but didn't see any. Kirlia caught on to my panic and mentally hugged me.
"{It's OK, Tom has them.}" She said. "{He told me shortly before you woke up.}" I relaxed a little bit and closed my eyes again allowing my mind to relax. It didn't take long for my heart rate to slow down to normal and before long; I was dozing slightly when something startled me. I could feel the doctors in the room. Not very well defined, but, I knew that we weren't alone and I could feel what they were doing to some degree.
"{I'm not sure if you're feeling them through me or not…}" Kirlia said, startling me out of my investigative trance. "{But the fact you can feel them period is…unusual to say the least.}"
"{Tell me about it…it's rather crazy. I can't tell much about them other than that they're here and that's it.}" I replied. I retreated to my mind and materialized myself in front of the tunnel between our minds. The void around me was bright white still, with the tunnel slowly fading out of view in the distance. However, there were several orbs floating around inside the white void out in the distance. Intrigued by them, I slowly walked towards them half expecting to run into another barrier that prevented me from doing so, but there was none this time. Instead he stopped right before the orb and looked at it. To his surprise, it moved around a bit, as if doing a task.
"{That's one of the doctors}" Kirlia said, appearing next to him. He looked down at her and back at the sphere.
"{This is a bit freaky, that's his mind?}" She nodded and placed a hand on it.
"{It's warm and comforting, and feminine. This is the mind of a female doctor who's very warm and caring…}" she said before removing her hand. "{I'm better at picking up feelings and emotions right now I guess, I wasn't able to glean any clear thoughts…}" The sphere started to move towards the tunnel.
"{Ah, she must be coming towards us; perhaps it's time to return to our bodies.}" I nodded and closed my eyes, allowing my consciousness to drift back to my body. I awoke with a start and slowly sat up as I saw a nurse approach us smiling.
"Your bed is ready. The doctors also said you'll be clear to go home in a few minutes while we prepare your paperwork and get your friend to sign you out." I nodded and slowly got back to my feet, my legs not as wobbly this time and slowly made my way over to the bed, Kirlia following behind me. I had just sat down on the bed when Tom came around the corner holding a couple of Pokéballs and some clothes in his hands.
"About time you got your ass up!" he said smiling, tossing the Pokéballs and clothes at me. I grabbed the clothes out of the air and let the Pokéballs land in my lap.
"What do you mean about time? I didn't see you getting shot!" I said sticking my tongue out. Tom sat on the bed I just got up from and smirked.
"Bah, you had to pull an almighty hero act and not wait for back up." He replied. "I was literally three minutes away from the center when it exploded." I shrugged and got up again, setting the Pokéballs on the bed, my legs still wobbly, and walked towards the hallway.
"Where you goin?" he asked. I pointed out in the hallway.
"To find a restroom so I can change." I said. Kirlia hopped back off the bed and started walking towards me when Tom held out a hand blocking her path.
"I don't think you should go where he's going, that's the guys restroom." She looked up at me with a sad expression on her face.
"[Awww…]" she said, looking down at her feet. Tom looked back up at me, not really sure what to do.
"Hey man, you're the one that told her no. Now you have to look at that sad face and deal with it." He flicked me off as I walked down the hall laughing at him.
"{I'll be back soon anyway.}" I said over the link to her.
"{Ok…}" she whispered in reply. I could feel her sadness over the link, and I almost turned around to get her anyway. But I don't think people would like having a female Pokémon in the guy's restroom. Regardless, I wandered the halls for a few minutes, crossing into my mind occasionally to see how many people were nearby. There were hundreds of spheres each with varying degrees of brightness and colors. I was tempted to just lean against a wall or sit down in a chair and explore the vast number of spheres in my mind that moved as I walked through the halls, but I wanted to get back soon to Kirlia and Tom so we could get out. I glanced at the tunnel and was surprised to see it slightly constricted, smaller than before.
"{It must get smaller the farther apart we are…}" I said to nobody in particular, figuring that Kirlia couldn't hear me. I was right as there was no response. I sighed and continued to walk; suddenly missing the companionship she had in my mind, and found the restroom. I walked in to see it completely empty, no spheres inside the room. I smiled at the knowledge I was alone in here, wondering how often I had thought if anyone else was in here. I walked down to the last and largest stall and closed the door, locking it. I pulled off the hospital gown I had on and slipped into the change of clothes that Tom had brought me. Surprisingly, they were some of my own clothes. I made a mental note to ask him exactly how he got a hold of these after we got out of the hospital.
It didn't take much longer to finish changing and I made my way out of the bathroom. Several orbs were floating around now in the hallway, clustered together around a small orb that was barely glowing. Slightly alarmed I ran out into the hallway and saw several doctors running around a cart that held a rather bloody girl, a large gash across her chest. The doctors were shouting out different things as they came barreling down the hallway, forcing me back into the restroom to avoid running into them. As they rounded the hallway, two things happened simultaneously: The orb went dark inside my mind and the heart rate monitor flat-lined. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as the doctors frantically hustled about, trying to save the girl. I shook my head, getting the feeling of being hopelessly cold out of my mind. Her orb was now a dark sphere in my mind and the cold feeling slowly disappeared as I got farther away.
It didn't take long until I was back in the section of the hospital where Kirlia and Tom were located. I could feel the tunnel loosen some and feel her happiness flood over the connection. I rounded the corner and Kirlia was waiting on the bed, looking right at me and smiling. Tom turned around and stood up.
"Yep, she seemed to know you were nearby since she suddenly perked up and turned around." He said, walking towards me. I smiled and got on my knees, holding out a hand to Kirlia. She hopped off the bed and grabbed my hand. I carefully picked her up and pulled her into a hug and started walking to the hallway.
"Let's get out of here, shall we?" I said, glancing back at Tom. He nodded and the two of us, Kirlia in my arms, walked out of the hospital.
"Oh by the way, how the hell did you get in my house?"