Chapter 13: Touko (I Take the Plunge)

The next morning, I get a call from Professor Juniper on my X-transceiver.

"Hi." I pick up.

"Touko, I need you in the lab now." She tells me. "There's a genetics test we could preform that would tell you who the father of your child is. You would get the results in a week and a half." She bubbles as my heart drops.

"That's too late for me to have a non-surgical abortion, isn't it?" I ask.

"Well, I suppose it would be." Juniper admits.

"I'll do it." I say. "I'm on my way now."
I grab Rufflet's Pokeball and head out the door. Funny how I seem to spend most of my time in Nimbassa, isn't it? I land, jump off Rufflet's back, and I run into the hospital at full tilt. I crash into Professor Juniper who tumbles backwards. I pull her up.

"My, Touko, you got here fast!" She cries, dusting her wrinkled lab coat off.

"Sorry, I just really want to take the test." I mention.

"Ah, yes, the test. Now, in your case, Touko, if you are displeased with the results, we could preform a surgical abortion, although it would be messy and long."

"Thank you." I tell her, as she leads me in to a sterile room .

She gives me a hospital gown which I change into, and she tells me to lay on the table. She slides a clear, plastic mask over my nose and mouth, while hooking the tube up to a machine. Gas flows freely into the mask, causing the world to swim in front of my eyes.

The last thing I hear is Professor Juniper's steady voice telling me,

"Just breathe deeply." Before I shut my eyes and the world fades into black nothing.

. . .

"Touko? Touko? It's done. Touko? Are you awake?" A soft voice asks me.

"Yeah." I say, but it comes out like garbled mush.

"Just relax." The female voice tells me again.

Instead of listening, I sit up and rub my head. I see Fennel place a small glass vial in a wrack on a white hospital cart.

"What time is it?" I ask, feeling out of it.

"Four-thirty." Fennel tells me.

Arceus! Why didn't she wake me up sooner? Oh, right. I was gassed. I hop off of the table, and stumble over to my clothes. I pull them on, and shed my gown. I have to get to a lawyer before the day closes. I have some business to take care of.

. . .

"So, let me get this straight." My lawyer tells me. "You want to restrain the man who may be the father of your child?"

"He sexually abused me!" I cry.

Here I am in family court, as a minor, trying to get a restraining order, and my lawyer is refusing to cooperate?! He must understand how dangerous the look on my face is, because he informs me,

"I will write you one, but are you absolutely positive this is what you want?"

"Yes!" I say for the fifteenth time in half an hour.

"Okay. A restraining order for?" he asks, scribbling down on a legal pad.

"Nine months." I say impulsive.

I do not want him anywhere near the baby. My lawyer scribbles down dates and times on his legal pad, rips off a slip of paper, and hands it to me.

"Here you go, don't ever lose this." My lawyer emphasizes, handing me the slip of paper that will keep Cheren at least five hundred steps away from me.

I don't even bother to say thank you, I just rush home, and rip the back off of an old picture frame. I pull out the image, and instead, frame the order to insure I won't lose it. I do this none too soon, for I hear Cheren's annoying voice calling out for the last time,

"Touko, I said I was sorry."

I walk over to the window holding the picture frame, and call down to him,

"Cheren, do you see what I'm holding in my hand?"

"Yeah, why?" He responds.

"This is a legal restraining order which I have just received, and you are in strict violation of. You must remain five hundred steps away from me for nine months so lets see, I'm counting to five, then I'm calling the cops." I tell him.

I must look serious, for Cheren sprints back to his house. I really hope that I made the right decision with this genetics test. I hope I didn't gamble and lose.