Chapter 12
Sam wasn't really sure how they'd ended up going to the Nellis Airforce base. All he really cared about was the chance to sit down for awhile and the chance to take care of his pokemon. He and all the other humans had already been looked at by the medics and had any injuries treated. Now all that was left was for their pokemon to be looked at and everything would be okay.
Things would be better of course if Sam could find something in the cabinets that he was digging through to feed Orion with. He would have preferred a baby bottle but one of those water bottles with a pull top would work just as well. It didn't really matter so long as he was able to feel Orion. A group of Military officers had promised to bring food for both human and pokemon alike and seemed to be taking their sweet time about it. While Sam himself wasn't really hungry the people and pokemon around him were and the feeling of it was about to drive him up the wall. He wanted the day to be done and over with already so that he could go home, get yelled at and go to bed and sleep for the next week.
Mikaela sat not to far from where Sam was digging through cabinets giving him a weird look. It was one that Sam would ignore until he absolutely had to answer the questions that he was sure were threatening to burst from her mouth at any moment. One of which probably had to do with him offering to let the Autobots stay on his property until they had somewhere to go.
The simple answer would of course be because he could. There was plenty of room on the preserve and so long as they were careful about stepping on things Sam had no problem with them staying at his home. He'd taken away their chance and returning to their true home so it was only fair that he be the one to offer them a new place to stay. Sam gave a cry of triumph as he pulled a bottle that he could use from the cabinet before him. It was old and battered but it would be good enough to hold milk and feed Orion from. Turning Sam's eyes swept across the many forms of pokemon and soldier that filled the room. Lennox and Epps were missing as well as Keller and Simmons and the Autobots themselves.
Sam was only half certain that Ratchet was still fixing Bumblebee so that meant that Optimus and Ironhide were probably off having a pow-wow with Lennox and the others. The soldier pokemon however were still in the room with them and waiting for treatment. Epps' Blaziken was still cradling her arm close to her body and refusing to let any of the medic's near. Every time one of them would try and take a step closer to her she'd screech and snap her beak at them.
She was making it quite clear that she didn't approve of the strangers around her being near her when her master wasn't in the room with her. It made plenty of sense of course. Most of the pokemon in the room were only calm because their trainers were with them. They knew that their masters were safe and that they were safe and there was no need to be on alert or ready to fight. At least there wasn't a reason to fight yet.
Sam doubted that a group of pokemon this large would be able to keep from at least squabbling for very long. There would be some sort of fight eventually. That was part of the reason why the only pokemon he even had out at that moment were Mojo, who'd refused to be returned to his ball, and Clover.
When the group around him died down some Sam would let out the rest of his team. Sam knew that Orion and Yin would need to be feed soon but he was reluctant to do so with so many strange pokemon in the room. Orion wouldn't be a problem but Yin would. She'd see each and every one of them as something to fight against and end up annoying half the room before he could stop her. It really wouldn't be very civil of him to let Yin loose just yet. No, they could wait for a bit. He had something else that he needed to do before he got to Orion and Yin. Shaking his head slightly Sam sat the bottle down on the counter under the cabinets and made his way across the room towards where some foolish medic was still trying to treat Kendra.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Mikaela asked as she followed after him.
"Helping." Sam answered. Mikaela raised an eyebrow at his short answer.
"Helping what?" Turning so that she could see him Sam jerked his thumb over his shoulder and towards Kendra.
Mikaela gave him a flat look. "Are you seriously going to go near Epps' Blaziken?"
Sam nodded his head. "Sure, she's not gonna hurt me." Mikaela opened her mouth to comment but an angry screech made her stop short. Both her and Sam were standing about five feet away from Kendra who was looking at them like she was going to roast them and them eat them.
"Sam!" Mikaela said as she made to grab his jacket only to have him move out of her reach. Sam gave her a smile before turning and slowly making his way closer to the irritated pokemon. Kendra snapped her beak at him and when that didn't show any results she exhaled a small flame. Sam didn't back down however.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanna help." Sam took another step forward. The entire room had gone silent around them. Both humans and pokemon alike held their breath as they watched Sam take yet another step closer to the pokemon before him.
There would be no way for him to get out of the way in time if Kendra chose to attack him. The only thing that would save him now that he was so close was Epps himself but the black soldier wasn't in the room with them. Mikaela swallowed and turned so that she could look for Sam's pokemon. At this point they were his only hope. Only they hadn't moved an inch from where they had been when Sam had been digging through the cabinets on the other side of the room.
Neither of them seemed worried about Sam getting attacked by another pokemon. If anything they seemed calm, relaxed and a little amused by the goings on in the room around them. Mikaela's mind suddenly flashed back to when Bumblebee had fought off the Decepticon that had been after them. When she'd been worried about riding in the yellow bot Sam hadn't hesitated.
He'd told her that he wasn't scared because their pokemon hadn't been scared and Mikaela wondered if what was going on now was anything similar to what had been going on then. Wondered if Sam had no fear of the monster before him because his pokemon had no fear. Mikaela's head jerked back towards Sam when one of the near by soldiers made an awed noise in his throat. He had a good reason too.
Sam stood not even a foot away from Kendra his fingers digging into her arm as he felt along the bone. He was muttering to himself as he did so and at one point stopped only long enough to free another pokemon from it's ball. The Ivysaur he released was small and female and had a color around her neck with an Everstone set into it so that she wouldn't evolve. "Lexie would you be kind enough to get me some bandages from one of the medic's?" Sam asked. He didn't even bother turning to look at the small dinosaur like pokemon as she nodded and started making her way over to one the medics that had been trying so hard to get close to Kendra and treat her earlier.
When approached the man held out two rolls of tan bandages and the Ivysaur took them from him with a long vine extended from the flower on her back. When Alexis returned to Sam he simply held out his hand so that she could place one roll into his palm. He never even bothered to look up from where he was wrapping the bandages tightly around Kendra's arm.
Alexis sat quietly by his feet as he worked. It was almost like she was waiting for Sam to ask her to get something else for him. He never did however for as soon as he was finished wrapping Kendra's arm he bent down to rub the space between her ears, thanked her for her help, and turned to walk away. Alexis turned her head so that she could look at Kendra, said something in her own language to her fellow pokemon, and then followed Sam as he made his way back towards the bottle that was sitting on the counter.
Mikaela hurried after him not quite sure what to do but she did want to know what was going on. Because Sam was different. Not the different that left him an outcast in school but the kind of different that meant he'd never been the same. The kind of different that meant that there was something special about you and she wanted to know what it was. Wanted to know why he was able to face death and angry pokemon and stay calm and collected. Why he seemed to know things that he really should have had any business knowing. She never had a chance to ask him however.
"Sam Witwicky ladies and gentlemen! Empath extraordinary!" Simmons all but yelled as he and the others walked into the hanger followed closely by the Autobots.
Sam cringed before turning a glare at Simmons. Mojo growled from where he was sitting near by before climbing to his feet and moving so that he was standing next to Sam. It was clear that if Simmons so much as made a wrong move Mojo planned on tearing him to pieces.
"You're an empath?" Mikaela asked, her voice more than a little shocked.
"Yes, I'm an empath."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Mikaela snarled.
Sam crossed his arms. "Because its not any of your business." Sam said as he stared her down. And it wasn't. Sam hadn't planned on telling anyone that he was an empath simply because it wasn't something that they needed to know. That and people tended to annoy the piss out of him when they found out. So his empathic abilities were something that he didn't really tend to talk about unless he absolutely had to and Simmons had gone and shouted it out to the entire room.
"You've been poking around in my head haven't you?" Mikaela asked him her voice held a tinge of anger to it. Sam grumbled something and turned to face her completely.
"I'm an empath Mikaela. I can't read minds so no I haven't been poking around in your head. Not that I'd want to. I can sense your emotions so before you go and get all huffy don't worry about any of your secrets getting out. I only know what Simmons told me about." Sam jerked his head at the jerk in question before he went back to his business.
Some time during the whole thing with him wrapping Kendra's arm food and drink had been bought to the hanger. The room around him was quiet for a few moments after his and Mikaela's little fight. It didn't take long however for the soldiers and pokemon to begin making noise and Sam fought the urge to wince at the sound. No one dared come near him while he seemed to be in a bad mood and he was thankful for it.
Sam took a moment to grab a couple of small milk cartons from a cooler, a small bowl from a stack of other bowls meant for the pokemon, and a container of pokemon food before he made his way out of the hanger with the pull top water bottle in hand. He wasn't going to wait around for people and pokemon to calm down and finish eating in order to feed Orion and Yin.
It was warm enough outside that he'd be able to let them out there and not worry about them getting cold and it wasn't hot enough for them to overheat. He'd feed the rest of his pokemon after he was finished with the babies. They could wait the babies couldn't. No one stopped him as Sam left the area and went outside. Though he was followed by several sets of eyes and a few pairs of optics as he went.
Bumblebee lingered with Optimus and the others for a moment before he followed Sam. Though he did so with a bit of hesitation on his part. If Sam was really mad then he didn't want to make it worse. He also didn't want the human outside with only his pokemon as protection. Sam merely glanced back at him once as he made his way towards a less crowded part of the base. He didn't care if Bumblebee followed him. He couldn't feel Bumblebee like he could the others and the bright yellow mech wasn't adding to the constant pain in his head.
"Are you alright?" Sam almost jumped at the soft British accent that sounded from behind him. It wasn't really surprising that he had. He'd only heard Bumblebee speak once so far and that had been a request to stay with him.
"I'm alright Bee," Sam replied, "I'm just tired and sore. I'm ready to go home and sleep until I can't sleep anymore."
There was quiet between them for a moment as Sam followed behind Mojo and Clover with Alexis and Bumblebee on his heals. The small group was something odd to behold to any that happened to see them walking towards one of the back buildings. It was only when Mojo plopped down in the shade of an old and likely unused building that Sam stopped.
"I don't really care for crowds on a good day and given the nice big group that was in the hanger I was bound to go off eventually. I'm not mad not really I'm just kinda fed up with everything that's going on I guess." Sam shrugged and plopped down on the ground beneath his feet. "I can stand the pokemon. It's the people that give me problems."
Bumblebee said nothing as he watched Sam get to work. One carton of milk was used to soften the pokemon food that he'd put in the small bowl that he'd been carrying while the other was poured into the pull top water bottle.
It almost seemed that Sam had forgotten that Bumblebee was there with him for all the attention that he paid the yellow robot once he started preparing food for Yin and Orion. He hadn't of course it was simply that he had a job to do and everything else could wait for a few minutes while he did it. Bumblebee didn't seen to mind the quiet that fell upon the group as Sam released Yin and Orion so that they could be fed.
Yin upon being directed to her food dug in with gusto. She acted almost like she hadn't eaten in years with she way she was shoveling the slightly soggy pellets into her mouth. Sam merely shook his head at her actions and plucked Orion from where he'd been sitting on the ground his red eyes taking in everything that they could. Feeding Orion from the water bottle wasn't as easy as it would have been had Sam been able to feed him from a regular bottle. The end of the bottle wasn't meant to be suckled upon like the rubber tips of usual bottles so Sam had to squeeze the bottles body in order to get any milk to come out. It didn't help that more milk seemed to be running down Orion's shout than down his throat.
Not that the little Riolu seemed to mind all that much. He simply seemed happy to be outside and to have something to eat. The scene was peaceful and even when Yin had finished shoveling her food down her throat and started running around Clover and Alexis in an attempt tot get them to play with her it remained peaceful. Sam gave a quiet sigh as some of the stress left his muscles and some of the pain left his head. He hadn't had enough time alone for the pounding in his head to ever stop completely and it was nice to know that he wasn't going to be stuck with a permanent headache one everything was said and done.
Now all that needed to happen was for who ever was in charge to give him the all clear so that he could go home and get ambushed. And there was no doubt in his mind that he would get ambushed as soon as he steeped onto the front porch of his house. Dorian would have his shirt collar in a heartbeat and then he'd be in for a nice long lecture while he was poked and prodded and looked over by Faith and Hope.
He had no illusions of being able to escape, not with Dorian being a psychic type. The fact that he was still alive and could go home was a relief as well. There had been so many times that day that things could have gone differently. So many times that he could have died or been injured. There were so many mistakes that he could have made that would have probably ended the world as he knew it. So many things to be grateful for. Sam uttered a soft prayer to Shaymin as he pulled the empty bottle from Orion's mouth and wiped the little bogs snout with the sleeve of his jacket.
Orion gave a soft bark before he sniffed at one of Sam's fingers and began chewing. Sam winced slightly as Orion's sharp little teeth dug into his skin. He didn't mind though because most of the baby pokemon that he cared for ended up doing this eventually. And though their milk teeth were needle sharp they never broke through the skin. It was when they lost their baby teeth and got new ones that he had to put a stop to the chewing on his fingers. He had more than enough scars of the slender appendages as it was and he wasn't looking to add anymore.
Mojo yawned and stretched from where he was laying behind Sam and Sam fought against the sudden urge to do the same. Sam smiled slightly at the big dog before he turned his head towards the group of people that was making their way over to him.
"Well I'll be damned." Keller drawled as he, Lennox and Epps stopped a few feet away from the ragidy looking teenager that sat surrounded by pokemon. "The last time I saw a Riolu was when Auron himself was one."
Sam huffed a laugh and looked up at the slightly limping man. "Not many people are willing to give up a Riolu egg and even fewer actually know what one looks like when they get one." Sam nodded down to the little dog in his arms that had stopped chewing on his fingers and was looking at the group before them with interest. "I think I got him by mistake or something. I'm not sure what that lady thought he was but I sure she didn't think he was a Riolu."
"I'd say she didn't." Keller said as he took a few steps closer. Auron however didn't stop until he was close enough that he could crouch down and touch noses with Orion. The little dog seemed delighted by the presence of the older pokemon and went so far as to lick the elders nose in greeting. Auron pulled his head back and shook it in surprise.
Sam snorted and set Orion on the ground next to Auron's feet before he stood up. "What can I help you with?" Sam asked.
"Well, I was hoping you could do something for us?" Lennox said. Sam's eyes shifted to the brown haired soldier and then to the belt that he held in his hand. Lennox's own belt was still around his waist and his Houndoom whined where she stood next to him. The feeling of sorrow told Sam all that he needed to know and with a soft sigh he stepped forward to take the belt from the older man's hands.
"When did their trainer die?" Sam asked as he ran his fingers over pokéballs that had been bleached by too much time in bright sunlight. It was Epps who answered his question. "Died in battle not even two days ago." Sam winced. Fresh loss always had its own flavor and was a type of pain that he wasn't quite used to. At least he wasn't used to having to deal with entire teams that had just lost their trainer.
"I'm not quite sure what I can do. And that's if I can do anything but I'll try." Sam said as he turned to Mojo and nodded. Mojo sighed and pushed himself up from the ground only stopping so that he could pick Yin up by the scruff of her neck. Yin let out an angered hiss at the treatment and began to struggle in his grip. Rolling his eyes Sam reached over and gave her tail a swift yank.
The sharp pain was enough to make her stop struggling and was no more than her parent pokemon would have done had she been born in the wild instead of being born in his care. Glancing down Sam smiled a small smile as he saw Orion held in Auron's arm. The old Lucario seemed more than happy to carry the younger pokemon around.
"So where are we going to do this?" Lennox nodded his head back towards the hanger that Sam had escaped from earlier.
"Same hanger. Keller had all of the soldiers empty out not to long after you left. Simmons said that it'd be easier for you if you didn't have all of the people and pokemon around to distract you." Sam grumbled slightly.
"The bastards right too." Sam hated to admit it but the jackass knew his facts.
oooooo
You know I've had this typed since the end of November and never seemed to get around to posting it. There's actually a bit more to this chapter but I didn't manage to get the scene finished before I lost the laptop that I'd been using. So I figured that while I have my brothers computer for a few hours I'd get this posted while I still remembered too. That and it lets you guys know that I'm still alive and kicking. I'm sorry I more or less vanished but like I said the laptop I had been using was taken back by its owner and I can't use my brothers computer to type up chapters for my fic's. At least not until he's out of collage for the year. I don't think he'd appreciate me clogging up his computer with my big long list of nonsense words. Well they're nonsense to him. I do type a little on occasion and now that I have extra notebooks I'll be able to start writing my chapters seeing how I can't type them up yet. But who knows maybe I'll be able to do little stuff here and there though I make no promises.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and even though I'm pretty sure I'm back in the hole with you guys I'd love it if you would be willing to drop me a review of some kind. Who knows maybe I'll get lucky and get a knew laptop for my birthday or maybe a computer screen that works.
Pagen
