Doubtful Once Again

Several hours after the fight Mint got into, he wakes up in a room inside the Pokemon center. His face, stomach, and back hurt him real bad and he's got a few patches of gauze on his stomach and back where he was cut up. He's still a bit lightheaded from the loss of blood but thanks to Tony and Fai quickly bringing him here, he didn't suffer from it for too long. The Nurses quickly patched him up and stopped the bleeding as best they could. He faces the ceiling with a few bright lights shining down on him, making him squint and hold his left paw up in response to block some of it out.

He's lucky to be alive, had the oil on his fur failed to protect him from the bullet that he was shot with, he'd be very much dead in the fountain plaza. He doesn't quite remember this though, and most of the fight is extremely fuzzy due to passing out at the end. He does remember being chased by those 4 men though and he raises an eyebrow as to how he ended up here. "W-what…? I was being chased by those humans, how'd I end up here?" he thought to himself as he slowly sat up in the recovery bed.

He opens his eyes completely now since he isn't looking at a bright light and looks at the room he's in. He recognizes where he is, the Pokemon center. He barely gets any time to think about how he ended up here because a familiar voice grabs his attention. "Mint! You're awake!" he looks in the direction he heard the voice come from and sees both Fai and Tony sitting in chairs a few feet away from him.

Fai jumps out of the chair, flies onto the bed he's on, and grabs him into a big hug. "We were so worried about you!" she doesn't know that she's hugging him a bit tighter than normal and it isn't that comfortable for him due to his wounds.

"F-Fai… y-you're hurting m-me…" he tells her through a pained and somewhat forced voice. Hearing this, she loosens up a bit and after a few seconds, stops hugging him.

"I-I'm sorry... when we found you, you were kind of catatonic and unresponsive to us. We called your name and you simply looked at us as if we had 10 heads." she says, her tone sounding more upset than usual even though he's mostly okay.

Tony walks up to the bed. "She's telling the truth. You were bleeding profusely and if we didn't find you as fast as we did, you might've been in some real bad trouble." he then clears his throat. "After what happened, I don't want you coming back to the cafe for work anytime soon. 2 weeks at the most. I don't want you getting hurt again while recovering from such terrible injuries."

He doesn't really know what he means. "W-what're you t-talking about? I-I'm hurt?" he then looks down at his stomach and notices the gauze, which makes him a bit upset. "W-what happened to me? D-didn't I run a-away?"

Fai and Tony aren't so clear on what happened. He looks at them and notices their faces seem a bit unsure. This doesn't help him understand what happened so he says out loud what he remembers. "I r-remember tripping over something and dropping the c-customer's food on the table… t-they didn't l-like that and they all tried t-to hurt me." he looks at Fai. "Y-you flew at one of t-them and tried to s-stop them from doing that, but they h-hurt you and knocked you o-out."

She nods. "Yeah… I didn't think they'd be able to do that in one hit, using a backhanded slap of all things too…"

He continues. "I-I then r-ran to avoid being h-hurt by them and I can't r-remember what happened n-next."

Tony sighs. "It's not too important, what is important is the fact that you're okay. Those people were part of a nasty gang from deeper in the city. I just hope they don't come after me or Fai in an attempt to find you because it seems like you really did a number on them as well."

Mint scratches his head with his right paw, but ends up touching the area where the bullet ricocheted off him and it stings. He grabs it with both paws in response. "...Ow… w-what the hell…"

"Here, let me see…" says Tony as he gently moves his paws away from the area with his hands, revealing the nasty black and blue mark on his head. "Ooooh… that's quite the nasty bruise." he shakes his head, disgusted with everything that's happened.

Fai looks at Mint with a bit of worry. "Are you in any pain? Can you walk?"

He stands up a bit slower than usual, some pain writing itself on his face and him grunting faintly from it but he manages to do it. "Y-yeah… I'm fine…" right as he says this, he's hit by a small dizzy spell from his blood loss and wobbles a little. Fai grabs his paws to keep him from falling over and their eyes lock with each other. This makes Mint become extremely embarrassed as this is in the presence of Tony and his cheeks quickly become a deep shade of red and he looks away.

Fai, however, isn't embarrassed or blushing. She's worried about him because he almost fell over. "Are you sure you're okay? You stood for about a second and almost fell over! I don't want you to hurt yourself on the way home…"

He nods and gives her a weak smile for a second. "I-I'll be fine… I-I just wanna go h-home already…"

"Alright. I guess we can see if they'll let you go." she says, letting him go.

Tony pulls a strange looking piece of paper out of his left pocket and places it next to Mint. "Here… since you're going to be out of work for a while, I decided to do some calculations and other stuff for your pay. I feel bad that things turned out this way, so I decided to give you what I felt like you truly deserved."

He picks the paper up and reads it. The first thing his eyes land on is a large number with a strange symbol in front of it. He reads it out loud. "370,000…"

"370K Poke. I shouldn't give you that much, but you had such terrible days and now you're injured. I hope this gets you through whatever until your injuries are fully healed up." he says.

Fai looks at him, her eyes are a bit wide. "370K!? Tony, that's insane! Are you sure you won't get in trouble for doing this!?"

He nods. "If I do, I'll explain the situation to the owner. He's very understanding so I wouldn't worry too much." he then turns to Mint. "Take that money and use it well. Whatever you need, food, water, medicine, whatever. I hope to see you when those injuries are all healed up, okay?"

Mint doesn't want to accept this, from how Fai reacted, it sounds like this is a lot of money. He shakes his head. "I-I can't… this is t-too much…"

Tony waves it off. "I said you'd get double for wearing the outfit that humiliated you and I kept my promise. The rest is because you've had such a shit week. Please take it, I can't actually take it back now, the check is already made."

Fai takes the check from Mint. "I'll deal with it." she turns to Tony. "Thanks, you didn't have to, but you did anyway." she then takes a deep breath. "I just hope you won't get in trouble for it."

He shakes his head. "It's my pleasure. I'll see you next week, okay Fai?"

"Yeah, see you then…" she says and he walks out of the room to leave. She looks down at the check, then back to Mint. "He's insane. There's no way he won't get in trouble for this."

He doesn't care and just wants to get home. "C-can we go home…?"

She nods. He stands up once again and with her help, hand-in-hand, they hop down from the bed and slowly walk out to where the receptionist desk is. They give Mint the green light to leave but advise that he stay away from any battles or strenuous activity for a little while until his wounds recover. This is something Fai expected them to say and with that out of the way, they slowly make their way out of the Pokemon center.

They brought Mint to the Pokemon center in the old district since there's a path straight there from the fountain plaza that would allow them to bypass all the crowds in "Cast Square". Hand-in-hand, they slowly walk out of the old district, along the way, Fai has something to tell him. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but when I woke up from that attack, a customer came in and said that they saw you being chased by those men and one of them had a gun…"

He doesn't know what a gun is. "W-what's a g-gun?"

She sighs and looks down. She doesn't want to tell him because it'll lead into what could've happened if certain things didn't fall into play. She sucks it up though because at the end of the day, she'll have to tell him one way or the other. She looks back up at him and she gives him a rather sharp look. "A Gun is a type of weapon. It can kill you if the shot hits your heart or your brain."

Silence falls and Mint seems to go a bit pale as if he's seen a ghost. Fai's sharp look turns into a very sad one. "They were looking to kill you. Somehow, you didn't die though. I don't know what happened for you to avoid a bullet, but me and Tony heard a gunshot and we thought the worst had happened…"

A shadow falls over his face and the thoughts that he stopped worrying about suddenly come back to him in a fury. The doubt that coming here was a good idea, that it's exactly the life that he's looking for, it hits him across the face and he wakes up. Reality is speaking to him and hearing that someone tried to kill him makes him think of what happened the day he left the colony. His bullies were on the lookout for him because they wanted to kill him too, and with the "Hyper Voice" he let loose moments before he ran, the entire colony would've probably tried to kill him as well.

He tenses up a little and in the process, tightens his grip on Fai's hand as well. She takes note of this and becomes worried. "Mint, Is something wrong?" she looks at his face and notices that it's darkened out a little by this weird shadow. The last time she saw this, he was looking at something in the distance and it ended up making him really upset for a while. She doesn't want this to happen to him again, so, even though he didn't answer her, she decides to ask again. "Mint, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

He doesn't answer her and simply ignores her. He can't believe what he heard. The last two days built up to everything that happened today and it's almost a perfect mirror of the events that went down back at the colony with a few differences. He fought Patricia and ended up getting hurt, his father ended up trying to fight someone and got real hurt that same day. The day after, he found a Shiny stone, evolved, and then found out that his bullies wanted to kill him because he evolved.

Yesterday, he got into a big fight with some Pokemon who were harassing Fai, who ended up getting knocked out by them when she tried to defend herself. The next day, he was picked on at work and insulted by a customer. Today, he was not only picked on and insulted, but he got badly injured and could've died if it wasn't for the oil on his fur. He can't understand how the last few days could come so close to what happened at the colony, it's too coincidental. "How is this possible? I ended up getting into a fight that caused someone to get seriously injured in the process, I've been picked on, and now, almost killed for doing the job I was told to do… It's almost like everything that happened back at the colony…! Is this meant to be? Am I truly destined to be harassed and hurt my entire life? Why are these things happening to me?" he says to himself under his breath so Fai doesn't hear him.

He doesn't know what to think anymore. Before, he just wasn't understanding his feelings and doubts, but now, there's more to it. The recent events that he's gone through are too close to stuff from the past and he can't let it slide anymore. Fai looks at him, worried about what's going through his mind. He's been through quite a lot over the last few days and she doesn't want him to retreat back into the shell he's had since she met him. She doesn't want him to become depressed over what happened, so as they ascend the stairs to her apartment, she plans to talk to him about everything, including the reason why he came to Castelia in the first place once they get inside. She pushes the door open, enters, and he follows, closing the door behind him. She takes a small breather for a moment, then turns around to initiate the conversation but he's already gone. She hears the door to the guest bedroom close and she turns her head to face it. "Great… I'm not gonna have any chance to talk to him, aren't I?" she thinks to herself as she walks into the kitchen, places Mint's check on the table, then goes over to the guest bedroom door and knocks on it with her right hand. "Mint, open up, I wanna ask you something."

No response. She knocks again. "Mint… C'mon, I need to talk to you…" Yet again, no response. She sighs, there's no use in trying to force him to talk if he doesn't want to. She turns her body away from the door slightly getting ready to leave, but she looks at it for a few more seconds, hoping that he'll be okay and will come out a few hours later before turning away and going to the couch. She takes a seat but instead of turning the TV on like she usually does, she places her hands on her chin and hunches over, trying to figure out what it is that's been bothering him this whole time.

8 hours later, the sun has gone down but Castelia City itself isn't gonna be sleeping anytime soon. Such a large city has to uphold its reputation as "The city that never sleeps" and currently, it does just that. Even amidst the darkness, people and Pokemon commute to where they have to go. The streets are busy, neon signs light the night, electronic billboards cast the light of advertised products onto the streets below, and the glow of lights from the inside of the buildings shines through gaps in the blinds in the windows.

During this time, Fai didn't hear anything from Mint, his voice couldn't be heard from behind the door and chances are that he could be sleeping now since it's getting to be around that time. She sits on the couch, playing the game console in the hopes that it would take her mind off him. It helps a little, but because she's extremely worried about him, the game isn't able to fully distract her. The game she's playing is very hard, it involves your character going on a big quest. Along the way, they fight tons of monsters and massive bosses as they get closer and closer to the end. The people and Pokemon who made this game, however, made it where the enemies do major damage and many of them are able to kill you in one hit.

As she dodge rolls to avoid an attack, another monster comes from behind and with a strong blow, kills her in one hit instantly. This is something that's happened many times during her playthrough but this one seems to do her in. She presses a button on the controller and the console's main menu shows up. She navigates to an icon that looks like a power button, selects it, and the console shuts down. She waits for a few seconds, then tosses the controller on the table. She sighs and looks over at the guest bedroom door. "He's been in there for over 8 hours… It's possible he went to sleep but if he didn't, is he okay in there?" she thought to herself as she stood up off the couch and slowly walked over to it. She places her right hand on the knob and attempts to turn it, but like she thought, he locked it from the inside and she can't open it from the living room without a key. She frowns and then places her hands on her hips. "I gotta get him to come out somehow, I don't want him to stay hidden like this forever, it's not good for his health in any shape or form." she thinks to herself as she starts to pace back and forth across the living room, trying to remember where she put the key.

In the room, Mint had fallen asleep, but the thoughts he had before he ended up falling asleep had transcended into the dream world he's in. What should be a somewhat bright and cheerful dreamscape is reduced to a dull, dark, lonely world that reflects his inner turmoil. Ironically, he finds himself standing in the middle of Pinwheel Forest, but everything about it is much different than usual. There's no sound, none of the leaves and grasses are moving, the sky seems to be an endless black void, and there's no wind. His dream self finds it difficult to breath, and it feels like he could suddenly start choking and suffocating at any moment here.

Behind him is nothing but more forest, but it goes on for as far as the eye can see, something the real Pinwheel forest doesn't do. He doesn't have much of a choice, and he starts to walk down the path towards what can only be assumed to be the colony. The walk is long and silent, the only thing his dream self hears is his own heavy breathing. The closer he gets to the colony, the harder and harder it gets to breath. A suffocating force of epic proportions lies ahead, but why? Is this the doubt that's been bottled up inside of him for all this time, or is it the guilt of what he possibly caused towards the ones that loves, appreciates, and accepts him? There's no clear answer to this and as he walks, he notices that the den he used to call home is nowhere to be found. He stands in front of the spot where it should be, but there's nothing there except for grass, dirt, and a tree occupying the space. In this depressing, lonely world, his home no longer exists. He attributes this to the fact that Castelia City is his new home, but after what happened today and the last few days, his doubts have been stronger than ever on staying for much longer. He turns back to the path and keeps walking, the brush starting to clear up and the first few dens of the colony come into view and that suffocating feeling becomes relentless.

To breath now is a chore, it feels like he's lifting an Aggron with his lungs now and it scares him quite a bit. Regardless, he pushes on, curious to see what it is that the colony has in store for him. He slowly walks, getting closer and closer to the fountain plaza. He reaches it but the moment he steps foot near the fountain, he's suddenly met with the sound of odd howling. It doesn't sound like the Herdier or Stoutland that live nearby and it scares him a little. He looks around to see if there's anyone else there, but nobody's there but him. The suffocating feeling loosens up quickly and his breathing returns to normal but he starts to hear voices whispering to him. He can barely make out what they're saying but some of them come in clearly and he makes them out to be insults that've been said to him in the past. There's too many voices to focus on and they start to surround him. He looks around quickly, trying to figure out what the hell is going on and where those voices are coming from. They start to get louder but nobody shows themselves to him. He takes a few steps back and he starts to get a panicky feeling forming in his gut, the voices sound like they're right in his ears and he grabs them, folding them over to try and block out the sound but it does nothing. He falls to his knees and starts to shake, sweat pouring from his head and dripping down to his chin and falling off. The voices get super loud and tears form in his eyes. He can't stand it and yells out into the darkness. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" but this only makes the voices get furious and in response, they start yelling at him. His entire body falls to the ground, including his head. He clenches it with both paws and he growls. "G-GET OUT…. GET OUUUUUUUT!" the voices violently assault him and destroy him verbally. Tears drop from his eyes and through his water blurred vision, he sees what he thinks is his bullies surrounding him. One of them points at him and speaks.

"You're dead Mint, consider this a favor since you don't have a purpose to live anymore. Good riddance forever."

They all hold their paws up and right as they slam down on him, he wakes up in the bed. He shoots up and quickly looks around the semi-dark room, expecting to be attacked by someone but once his panicked body realizes that there's nobody here but him, he relaxes a little and sits back down on the bed. It was all a dream, a nightmare to be more exact, and one that scared him quite a bit. His heart is pounding and as he puts his left paw up to where it is on his chest, he can feel it. He takes a deep breath and exhales, trying to calm down. "I-it's just a d-dream… t-that's not g-gonna happen…" he says to himself quietly. He repeats this a few times and he manages to calm down.

The door knob suddenly starts to turn and this grabs his attention, making him panic slightly. He prepares to fight if he has to but the door opens and Fai stands there with the key in her left hand. She holds a face of total worry and the light from inside the living room shines in, seems she managed to remember where it was. Mint takes a massive breath of relief. It's just her, and even though it was only her, it scared the living hell out of him. She notices that he seems to be in a bit of distress. "Mint, are you okay?"

He's kept quiet for all this time, but now that she's here, he doesn't wanna seem nasty so he speaks up. "Y…. Y-yeah… I… I just had a pretty bad nightmare…" he then hops out of bed and slowly walks over to the doorway.

She has a frown on her face, her eyes and tone reflect the worry she has for him. "You were in here for more than 8 hours, I was getting worried that you weren't gonna come back out."

"No… I-I just fell a-asleep. I-I don't think I-I'm gonna be a-able to go back t-to sleep a-after this…" his tone is a bit shaky, nervous, and slightly upset.

She walks up to him and puts her arm around his left shoulder and coaxes him out of the room and into the living room. She speaks softly to him. "Nightmares are the worst shit ever. I don't know what kind of nightmare you had, but it must've been really bad for you to be like this…" she then gently wipes a bit of sweat from his forehead with her left hand. Being touched like this and having her so close to him makes him a bit embarrassed and he blushes a little from it. She notices this and while she would usually poke him in the cheek or nose, she decides not to do that this time. They both walk over to the couch and sit down. Mint situates himself so that his tail wraps around the lower half of his body while Fai sits facing him. Once again, silence falls between the two of them and with the terrible nightmare that Mint just had, he further delves into his doubts yet again. The question that he's asked himself since that day he met Fai comes back again and still has no clear answer. Was it really a mistake to come here after everything that's happened? His past life continues to haunt him and it seems with every passing day, worse things happen to him. He sits there with his his face buried in his tail, trying to understand just exactly what it all means.

PD: The doubt sets in once again, except much worse. Is this going to be the end for Mint's time in Castelia City, or will he continue to live among his doubts? Find out in the next chapter! Seeya then!