Chapter 12- Aftermath

I woke up on a hospital bed in what looked to be the locker room, based on its décor. I saw Delphyn standing over me, looking overjoyed. "Oh, hey, Delphyn," I said. I felt very well rested, and my voice reflected it. "How long have I been out?"

"Only a few minutes," the fox hybrid said cheerfully.

"A few minutes?" I questioned. "I feel like I just got a whole night's rest!"

Delphyn pointed to a piece of machinery. It was a circular device with a band of dark glass around the inside middle; I presumed light was emitted from it. Sitting up, I saw that it rested on a slide that allowed it to be situated anywhere along the bed. "This," Delphyn explained, "is a healing machine. Hybrid cells respond extremely well to some kind of radiation or light at this one wavelength or something which I don't really understand… the point is it heals you. Really, really fast. Seriously, they're still showing the highlights of our match. C'mon, let's go watch!" He bounded out of the room. I followed him away from the healing machines over to our waiting area, where the television replayed the scene of Delphyn stealing Ivory's whip. The present Delphyn grinned in pride as Amph went into excruciating detail over his performance and skill.

"Congratulations on your battle, Delphyn!" Exca spoke up. "I do not think very many people knew you could steal an object of that large size."

"Yeah," Bracken said lazily, resting with his eyes closed by an open window, sunning himself. He opened his eyes to see Vulcan show off Sidi's predatory talent in defeating Delphyn. "I think Sidi just had a natural advantage. Darkness does work wonders against psychics, you know." Delphyn scratched one of his vulpine ears in embarrassment, smiling haphazardly.

"Not only that, but your leadership carried us to victory. Your teaching was invaluable," Blaze commended.

Delphyn's excitement got the better of him. He leaped, punching the air above him. "Thanks, everyone! You guys are the best!"

Hope sat a little ways away hugging his knees. He was quivering. I sat beside him, stroking his fluffy, bloodstained fur softly. The quivering subsided.

I looked up to see a special camera show Exca's movements underground, giving viewers an understanding of how he laid all his traps so subtly. I finally got a first-hand look at all the planning he had to do, gauging the weight the dirt could hold without disrupting the surface. What's more, he was blind and spinning the entire time. I clapped him on the back, congratulating him before returning to Hope.

Bracken's highlight showed a slow-motion replay of his furious swiping played to peaceful music. I think the song was called "Blue Danube." We all laughed at that, except Hope, who kept his head down.

The screen then showed Hope's performance. Amph elaborated, "What's interesting is that Hope has never fought anyone before. Yena tells me that all he does in the Dark Room is train by himself, and even then sparingly. So to see him utterly destroy his opponents with such incredible ferocity is astounding!" Hope began shaking again, despite my efforts.

"Nobody hates you," I assured him. "They think you're amazing."

I barely made out his response it was so quiet: "I hate me…" I wrapped an arm around him in a hug, stroking him all the while.

Another underground segment showed off Exca's subterranean acrobatics, tearing up the soil while avoiding the relentless pursuit of Ivory's thorned vines. We applauded him. He grinned.

Then came my highlights: forcing Ivory to her knees with mental willpower alone, dodging tons of shadow balls, resisting Sidi's fear, and chaining him with my curse. On screen, I raised my hand to summon the column of fire. "Here it comes…" Vulcan commentated, "BOOM! Check out the size of that thing! Amph, do we have an official height estimate?"

"Yes; it's about thirty feet high."

"You saw it here first, folks. Eon's flaming, thirty-foot…" I heard him stifle a snicker.

"Attack," Amph finished.

The screen then cut to the special camera which showed what went on when Sidi covered the stadium in darkness. I looked around frantically as Sidi lurked about, occasionally striking me with paws or claws. A slow-motion camera explained how I won. "Okay, watch closely," Vulcan instructed. The screen paused. It zoomed in on my tails where Sidi's own bushy tail brushed them. I brought the unclean tails around, licking and combing them with my fingers subconsciously. "Right there," Vulcan pointed out. "For those who have not had the misfortune to touch Eon or Kyu's tails, they will totally screw you over for it. Touching their tails gives them the power to curse you. It's like a wildcard; they can do pretty much whatever they want with enough energy." The footage kept playing, showing my enraged state and then Sidi's confusion.

Hi Eon! It's Vulcan, a voice in my head called. Umm… none of us have any idea what you just did. Could you explain?

I raised my tails high in the air, even though he couldn't see me. I made him deaf, so he had no sight and no hearing. I thought back.

Vulcan continued broadcasting, "I have just received word that Eon cursed Sidi to be deaf- temporarily, I hope."

Right?

Yeah. It's temporary.

Yeah, it's temporary. But, still, ouch! Remind me never to get on his bad side…" I grinned.

My ears perked up as I heard heavy, ponderous, metallic footsteps, along with several other pawed ones. A few moments later, our opponents walked in, giving congratulations as they sat down among us, Titan causing a loud thud. I realized that while we were mortal enemies on the battlefield, there was no reason not to be friends off it. Sidi stood in front of me, all trace of malice gone. He pointed to his ears. I realized he was still deaf. Bracing myself, I reached a tail around, removing the curse. I still shuddered and went to clean the tail immediately.

He nodded. "Thanks." His bright red eyes were fixed on me, as if he was waiting for me to attack. He sat down across from me in a padded chair, back erect and rings glowing. "You were excellent. I did not anticipate using my Perfect Darkness. That is reserved for only the most tenacious of foes." He smiled softly. I smiled back.

Sidi looked to Hope. His fluffy ears fell slightly. He went beside him, placing a black-furred hand on his shoulder. "Brother, are you well?"

I started. "Brother? Hope's your brother?"

Sidi shook his head. "Not in blood. But I consider all Dark-types my brothers and sisters." He looked at Hope with such concern that I couldn't have doubted him.

"I'm okay," Hope whispered. "I just need a bit to recover."

Sidi lightly squeezed his shoulder. "I'm here for you."

"Thank you."

I noticed Exca and Titan talking as if they had been friends for years. Ivory sat apart from the rest of us with perfect posture, watching with indifference. Lucas and Blaze were swapping stories and techniques, and Tekna and Delphyn chatted about an upcoming test. Wait…

"Where's Matthew?" I asked Sidi. Hope flinched in my arm.

Sidi's rings dimmed. He looked at me with unreadable, wide eyes. "Matthew's still in shock from his battle." Hope broke down crying. Sidi scratched the collar of fur around Hope's neck. "He's not technically in shock, but he refuses to move from the Healing Room. He said he'd only talk to you or Kyu."

My heart skipped a beat at her mention. "Where's Kyu?" I asked.

Sidi pointed at the screen, where two new teams were taking position. I made out Kyu's white-gold fur almost immediately. My tails wagged slightly.

I returned to the moment. "Would you like me to talk to him?" I asked.

"If you would," Sidi said. "I can care for Hope."

"Thanks." I stood up before turning to look at Hope's sobbing form. I petted the fur on his head. "Sorry you had to do this," I whispered. He did not respond.

I took a deep breath, exhaling as I walked out. I sniffed the air, relying on scent to locate my friend. Not picking up any trace of Mew, I decided to follow Sidi's scent, a musky combination of fox and phosphorous. I passed other teams watching nervously for their turn; I could even pick up on their quickened heartbeats. Eventually I came upon a feline smell, cat combined with an incense I recognized when I caught of whiff of it emanating from the Psychic room. Matthew! I thought, running along its path. I ended up back at the Healing Rooms, where the scent trail led me to an open door. To my surprise, I came across a somewhat familiar smell, one of flowers and fresh soil. I walked in to find Shay, the hybrid with ankle-length verdant hair, a short muzzle, and thin, white fur, wearing a nurse's outfit and carrying a clipboard. Her petite form came only to my shoulder. She turned to me and practically yelped in surprise. I could hear her heartbeat speed up. "W-what brings you here?" She asked in her shy voice. I pointed to Matthew, who looked up from his bed. His pelt, though fully intact, was still painted with a faded crimson. His eyes were blank.

"Hey Eon," he said, smiling a little. I had never heard him sound so… empty. It was almost creepy. "I was hoping you'd come. I feel so lonely…"

My ears fell back. "You've got Shay, don't you?"

"Yeah…" His shining blue eyes stared past mine into space. "But all she does is ask questions. She's no fun." His speech pattern was the same, but the emotion was gone. I resolved to fix this. Suddenly, he bent over, clutching his head and gasping for breath. I was taken aback. "The pain…!" This was the most emotion I had heard so far. "So much pain, pain everywhere, pain in, pain out, pain flowing into more pain!"

Shay gave a little squeak before running over to pet the back of his neck. "It's all right, there's no more pain. You don't ever have to feel that again…" She went on, trying to assure him that he would be all right.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

Matthew took a deep breath and shuddered. "I've never felt anything so horrible. It was like running through thorns and getting paper cuts all over your body, every inch of it. I've almost never lost. It took everybody forever to beat me in a fight. Except…"

Tears welled in his eyes. "They say Jesus bled from every pore. I think I did, too." He began to cry. I sat beside him. Both Shay and I tried our best to help him calm down. We measured our progress by the diminishing lashings of his thin tail.

Shay whispered, "In my experience, I've found that it helps hybrids recovering from battle shock to just have fun. But I don't think he finds gardening fun, so I was hoping you'd know what to do." An idea sprang to mind.

"Matthew, do you want to play some games?" He stopped gasping. He looked up to see me. I saw a sparkle in his eyes, a flash of his regular self. But then it faded back into the dull yet anguished glaze that betrayed his inner state.

"Games like what?" He asked.

"I dunno, whatever you want to play!" I tried to remain optimistic and cheerful for him.

He gave a little smile despite himself. "Let's go to my room," he said in monotone. He extended a hand. I clasped mine in his, and suddenly we were in his room. The first thing I noticed was the surround sound system from which Vulcan and Amph gave commentary over the tournament. The next thing I noticed was a short, brown hybrid with a huge ring of cream fur around his neck. Unlike Flare's fur collar, his grew around his neck and down his chest, forming three distinct fluffs. His stood up from his soft chair, short muzzle open in excitement as his bushy vulpine tail wagged all about. He didn't even take notice of us, engrossed in the battle depicted on an enormous flat-screen TV embedded in the wall. I looked and saw Kyu breathe out an enormous stream of fire at her opponent on screen. My tails wagged, too.

"Hi, Vee," Matthew said dejectedly, floating a few inches above the ground, hind paws limp.

Vee's long ears twitched. He finally turned to face us, with a confused look. "Matthew? Why are you all sad?" Matthew eyes widened. He suddenly collapsed to the ground, writhing and screaming. Vee jumped. "What's happening?" He asked, frightened for his roommate.

I thought of how to answer this. "Remember his battle with Hope?" Vee opened his muzzle to speak, only to remember Hope's brutality. His tail fell between his legs as his countenance turned miserable.

"Oh yeah…" he said. He knelt down and lifted Matthew off the ground into a hug. "Sorry, buddy…" Matthew calmed down. Vee released Matthew, where he floated effortlessly. Vee's ears fell back as he noticed his empty expression. "That must have been so awful!" Vee exclaimed. He faced me and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"We were going to play a game to cheer him up," I explained.

Vee's excitement returned; his tail resumed wagging. "I know just the game!" He declared, running to a cabinet under the TV. He rummaged about through an extensive library of video games before pulling out one. "This is Matthew's favorite game," he explained, showing me the cover of Mario Kart 8. "Well, except Minecraft, but last time I let him play that he didn't get off the computer for twelve days! Twelve! He didn't even take breaks!" He exclaimed, exasperated. Matthew let out a half-hearted chuckle. I smiled. We were making progress.

Vee practically bounced over to his Wii U, turning it on before getting out all the Wii Remotes and the Game Pad. He slid the game disc in and directed the console to play it. Grabbing the controllers, he shoved a Wii Remote into Matthew's and my hands, taking the Game Pad for himself before sitting in his cushioned chair, tail wagging out of a hole in the back. Matthew used his psychic ability to move a padded chair off to one side of Vee, leaving enough room for him to sit between us on a big bubble of psychic energy. His long tail lashed back and forth excitedly, yet his eyes remained dead.

The game started up. Vee navigated the menus with extreme speed and precision… that's something I never thought I'd say. Within seconds we were at the character select screen. Looking over my options, I ended up just choosing my favorite character of the franchise, Luigi, while Vee went straight for Mario. Matthew took his time before selecting Yoshi. "Oh, man, battle of the bros!" Vee said, laughing at his own joke. I laughed, too. He looked to me with a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna wreck you!"

I used my best Luigi voice. "I don't-a think so, big-a bro!" Vee chuckled lightly.

Matthew did a spot-on impersonation of Daisy, for once using emotion. "Boys, boys, you're both pretty, can we just race now?" Vee and I burst out laughing.

"Matthew, that was perfect! How did you do that?" I questioned.

His voice returned to its previous monotone. "I heard Daisy. Isn't that enough?"

"Aww, come on, buddy, cheer up!" Vee clapped him on the back.

"And for the record, no, it's not enough for anyone." I stopped for a second. "Well, anyone except you."

I thought I saw a hint of merriment in his feline face.

It became clear I was totally outclassed within about… twenty seconds. Both Vee and Matthew were pros- they knew every trick to cut down on time, where to drift, how much, and their accuracy when throwing bombs or shells was near-perfect. Matthew won the first race by a hair's breadth, just passing Vee. I placed third, but they were so far ahead it didn't mean anything. "So close!" Vee exclaimed, ears pulled back in frustration. He began selecting the next course. "I'm winning this round, just you see!"

"Really?" Matthew asked with a touch of emotion.

"For sure!" Vee declared. "I'll leave you in my dust!"

Two or three minutes later, Vee left us in his dust.

"Oh, now it's on!" Matthew was getting genuinely excited. Although his eyes were still lost in the horrific events he experienced, he was returning little by little. Matthew selected the next track, going for one of the hardest. I mostly tried to stay ahead of the CPUs while my friends competed for first place. However, near the end of this race, a rogue blue shell detonated on both of them, sending both of their karts soaring into the air. My heart raced as I managed to pass them, winning the match. I stood up, arms and tails raised in a victory pose. I knew it was only by sheer luck that I won, but I intended to milk it as long as I could. After we all recovered from that miracle, I posed a question.

"Have you guys ever played with Vulcan?"

"Holy crap, that guy's annoyingly lucky!" To my surprise, it was Matthew who responded. "I swear, the only items he ever gets are stars in first place and blue shells in second! It doesn't help that he's already as good as us! We've never won against him! Stupid 'Victini always wins' rule…" He let out a melodious laugh, the first I've heard in a while. "But it's okay. It's kinda hilarious to see how far the universe will go to help him win."

Vee tackled Matthew in a hug, knocking him off his bubble. "You're back! You're finally back!" His tail was wagging frantically.

"Whaddya mean I'm 'back'? Haven't I been here for like twenty minutes?" Matthew said, laughing.

"Yes, but your smile is back. You don't sound like a zombie!" They laughed, embracing each other. I waited as they separated and we got back to racing. Or, well, they got back to racing. I just drove my kart behind them. Fifteen races, three grand prix and, a heck of a lot of online competitions (Or online "decimations" as Vee put it; humans simply could not compete with hybrid reflexes) later, I had to take a break. I grabbed a soda from their mini-fridge and watched as they took turns breaking their own high scores on the time trials.

My ears pricked as I heard footsteps running down the hall, then a frantic knocking. Matthew floated over to the door, opening it with his mind. A bloodstained Kyu stood in the doorway, looking rather frightened. My heart skipped a beat. "Matthew! I came as soon as I could! That looked so awful! Are you okay?" She embraced the floating cat hybrid, yet held her tails behind her, as to not dirty them. I felt something strange in me… jealousy?

"Yes, Kyu, I'm fine now. Eon cheered me up!" Matthew responded.

Kyu looked at me over Matthew's shoulder, but broke eye contact almost immediately. Nevertheless, she said, "Thanks Eon. That was good of you to help him out. I appreciate it." Despite her strange behavior I swelled with pride.

Matthew escaped her hug. "Hey, do you wanna play Mario Kart? We have room for another player."

Kyu smiled. "Sure!"

She took a seat, tails folded gracefully behind her.

…She was so beautiful…

Eventually, I heard Vee calling my name. "Hey, Eon! You playing?"

I jolted as I came to my senses. "Uh, yeah, sure! Hand me a controller." I thought back over what I did. My eyes widened as I finally realized, Oh, gosh… I love her. I really actually love her! To be honest, it kinda made sense considering we were the same species. I grew euphoric as I considered the possibility that she loved me, too. I mean, she always acted weird around me; maybe she's too nervous to admit her feelings. Although… I felt nervous myself. I didn't want to tell her just yet.

As we played together, I kept glancing back to Kyu. She looked so cute focused on racing; I just couldn't look away. This act cost me quite a few races… I mean, third places, but I hardly noticed.

"I heard Nintendo's making a game based off of hybrids," Vee mentioned.

"Really? What's it called?" I asked.

"Uhh… Pokémon, I think."

Kyu tilted her head in the most adorable way. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Vee thought for a moment. "If I remember right, it's short for 'Pocket Monsters'."

Matthew snorted. "Racist jerks."

Vee explained. "The idea is that considering we're called hybrids because we look part-human and part-animal…"

"More like they're part-hybrid." Matthew quipped, giggling a little.

"Anyway, so they're taking that animal half and making it into a creature that you can catch and train to fight other Pokémon."

I grimaced a little. "So it's like glorified dog fighting?"

"A little, yeah. Don't we already fight each other in tournaments anyway, though?"

"…Good point. But still, aren't we already made out to be monsters? This isn't helping our image."

"There's no way Pokémon will catch on," Kyu commented. We all agreed.

We raced for hours on end. By the time the last rays of sunshine strained to enter the window, I could almost hold my own against Matthew and Vee. Matthew seemed to have fully recovered from his trauma… I think. I decided to test something. Between races, I reached over with one of my blue-furred hind paws and scratched his leg lightly with a claw. Matthew stiffened in surprise, floating backwards and assuming a battle stance. He was panting heavily, eyes wide with fear. "Matthew," Vee questioned. "What happened?" His short muzzle was pulled into a frown. Matthew stopped shaking as hard as he sat back down.

"I wanted to see how you would react to getting scratched," I explained, holding up my hind paw.

Matthew looked hurt, his ears pulled back. "It's only been ten hours." He looked at me with fearful eyes. "Please don't do that again!"

"Eon!" Kyu chided. That hurt the most.

My tails drooped and my ears fell back. That was really stupid of me. "Sorry Matthew…" I apologized.

He giggled. "All is forgiven! Now get back to racing. I'm feeling lucky!"

Vee shot back, "Yeah, unlucky!"

"Bring it, Eevee!" And we played on.

Gentle moonlight filtered through the window when Kyu and I called it a night. As she walked off, I almost called out to her, but my voice caught in my throat. I lowered my tails in disappointment in myself.

Matthew flew out of his room, literally. "Hey, want me to teleport you back?" I was too preoccupied to answer. Matthew floated right in my face. "Hey! Did you hear me?!" He shouted. I winced and refocused. "Did you want me to teleport you back?"

"Sure," I agreed. He grabbed my arm with a pink furred hand and we were in my room.

I caught a whiff of a distinctly watery scent, like that of a pristine mountain lake, sweet and pure, mixed with the smell of wildflowers and berries. I inferred the aqueous aroma was Suicuna's, considering it led into the hallway along with Flare's smoky smell flavored with parsley and thyme; maybe they could tell me what to do with Kyu! I followed the trail out of the dorms to the central plaza where Suicuna and Flare were embracing lovingly. Matthew followed. Upon seeing the couple, he burst out in his melodious laughter. Suicuna looked over Flare's shoulder towards us; an easy task, considering she was at least six inches taller than the Flareon.

Matthew began chanting, "Suicuna and Flare, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he fell over in the air, laughing away.

Suicuna turned to Flare. "Kissing in a tree… We should try that sometime." Her voice was a little deep but soft.

Flare smiled back. "Maybe tomorrow?" Suicuna nuzzled his cheek.

Matthew's laughter quieted down enough for me to speak. "Hey, um… can you two help me out?"

Suicuna fixed her violet eyes on me. The crystalline horn protruding from her head was kind of distracting as it reflected the light. "What can we do for you?"

I pawed the ground in front of me nervously. "Well, you see, there's this girl I like…"

"Is it Kyu?" Matthew blurted out. I shot him a dirty look.

"Yeah, I, uh," I found it hard to say. Blushing through my silver fur, I whispered, "I like Kyu."

Suicuna extricated herself from Flare's hug. "Well don't be ashamed! We all need love in our life."

"It's also mating season for foxes this time of year. I wouldn't be surprised if our vulpine hybrids felt a little more… emotional nowadays," Flare commented.

I smiled awkwardly. "So, um, anyway, I'm too nervous to talk to her. Any advice?"

She placed a hand on my shoulder. "Here's what you do." I caught her nearly overwhelming scent of pure lake water. "Just hang out with her. You don't have to be forward, just get to know her, do fun things together. Maybe even date!"

"So I should just be her friend?"

"Exactly!" It was that easy? I smiled. She continued, "You know, I was so nervous when I first talked to Flare." Really? She seemed too outgoing to be intimidated by the quiet Fire-type.

"I was nervous, too," Flare pointed out. "I felt rather off put seeing a Water-type hybrid walk up to me completely unprompted." He smiled at her. "But I'm sure glad she did." They nuzzled again.

I decided to leave them alone for the night. "Thanks you two! Have a nice night!" Matthew teleported away, still laughing. I sprinted back to my currently empty room, so excited to try my hand at love. I curled my tails around myself, shivering in excitement. Maybe, just maybe, she'll reciprocate my affection. I closed my eyes but found it impossible to sleep. I was so focused on her beautiful tails and lustrous golden-white fur…

...I dreamed of us, our precious tails all intertwined…


Author's Note: A breather episode. The action will pick up again next chapter. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far.