Side Story 05/05 - Care

The Savior's – Medical Floor

Twelve days had passed by slowly since the return of Rank 02 member Zack Raines from his mission in Hoenn, a return that ended in Zack's body changing into a Dewott, a Dewott with white fur, black sclera and blood red eyes. A form that baffled many members of the Savior's who had seen him, including his close friends who were there at the time it happened.

It was an attack by a Pokemon known as Shiny Latias, a Pokemon once associated with Team Annihilation before the fall. During the attack lead by Zack and his friends Sakura and Isaac, Shiny Latias had escaped the base to areas unknown for a long time, only to come out of hiding again to attack Zack, turning him into a Dewott by sticking a needle into his neck and injecting him with the serum later known through records found from Team Annihilation's old base; the Doom Serum, a serum that can change a human into a Pokemon of different color to that of the original forms they take, moves they can learn that they shouldn't originally, and deadly new abilities exclusive to the human turned Pokemon Team Doom members to be used in battle.

At his bed was Latias resting her head close to Zack's as she watched over him. It was almost two weeks after the attack, since she last heard the sound of her trainer's voice, her best friend. She as worried about him, fearing he wouldn't wake up. "Don't be worried about him," Said Dewott, leaning back against the wall on the opposite side of the room relaxed next to Espeon looking out of the window with Gardevoir. "Zack's a fighter; he'll be up and at 'em in no time."

"But when will he wake up?" Latias whispered tearfully, refusing to turn her head away from Zack's. "No one knows what going on, or why he's a Pokemon. Who knows what Shiny Latias did to him. He's been like this for almost two weeks now… how much longer will he be like this?" She cried.

Dewott shrugged awkwardly, glancing over at Espeon and poking at her with his finger to join in and help ease the situation. Espeon hoped away from the window and walked slowly over to the hospital bed. "The docs here at the Savior's are doing all they can on understanding on the situation with Zack and his transformation. Give them time and we'll find out soon enough."

"But when? Twelve days and still-" Was all Latias could muster before being interrupted by Espeon as she closed the remaining distance and approached her.

"Latias, Zack won't be like this forever, he will wake up. But please, don't worry. I assure you, he will wake up. I can tell you this not to upset you or worry you, but I do not know when he will wake up again. But you must remain hopeful that eventually one day soon he will open his eyes again." Latias slowly turned away from Zack and starred at Espeon. The two locked eyes with each other before any of them said anything. After a slow nod from Latias understanding of Espeon's words of comfort, she returned to look back at Zack.

Espeon hoped up on the foot of the bed and lied down, looking at Zack's still body. She smiled and lightly patted Zack's foot with her paw. "His color scheme kinda reminds me of a 'Doreo' a totally original tasty cookies and cream delight. Jeez, I gotta get me some soon…"

"I'm going to head on back to catch some shut eye." Gardevoir said as she walked over towards the open door of the room. "Anyone else want to walk back with me?"

"Yeah, I guess it's time for me to reture for the day." Dewott yawned, stretching before walking to stand beside Gardevoir. "Are you coming to, Espeon? How about you, Latias?"

Espeon scoffed. "Latias won't leave Zackary alone, at least not this 'early' as Latias puts it. I'd say give it till three or five in the morning before she retires and heads on back to the dorms. As for me I'll hang out and keep Latias and Zackary company for a while until I feel sleepy and head on back. Catch ya later you two. Don't let the bedbugs bite."

After the two left, both Latias and Espeon remained quiet as they starred at their trainer still in a coma. It took about thirty minutes before either one said anything. "Do you think you dream while in a coma?" Espeon asked her sudden voice making Latias jump a little after the long silence. "For two weeks… I wonder what it must feel like. Perhaps by the time they wake up I'll probably be as if minutes passed since they were last awake, or maybe they can dream."

"I hope they're good ones, if he is dreaming." Latias said as she shifted her weight to move her body to look back at Espeon. "Do you think he can hear us?" Espeon shook her head and replied with. "I don't know. I hope not after Gardevoir's thirty page dictionary reading session. Man, now that was a bore. Wasn't it?" She laughed, earning a slight chuckle from Latias. For whoever knows how long it took, Gardevoir had read from one of her many dictionaries to tell everyone about the 'wonders and amazing words' of the dictionary.

"It wasn't that bad." Latias laughed. "Especially when she got to the swear words and had to read them out to us. Do you remember the doctor that entered as soon as she heard Gardevoir say that word?"

"Oh my gosh, Yeah! The look on her face was so priceless. Damn it! I wish I could've recorded it at the time… ah man." Espeon chuckled along with Latias, remembering how Gardevoir's reading dictionary session kinda died down during the twentieth page out of the thirty pages she read from, slowing her voice down, growing embarrassed the closer she had gotten to another swear word in the dictionary.. "That was about twenty pages in, right? You know, I think when she was about to come to the next swear, it looked like she was trying to avoid it."

"And when she got to a certain word we all knew was coming, her face turned incredibly red like a Tamato Berry and she was all like 'Oh you know what forget it!' and she slammed the book closed!" Latias laughed loudly, causing a stray tear to run down her cheek and onto the bed sheets. Espeon smiled to, letting out a chuckle in between each breath. Latias hadn't been like this since Zack fell into a coma. Espeon grew worried for her, she hadn't eaten, slept. Worried that her trainer and her friend would remain in this bed never waking.

"There ya go Latias, you're smiling again." Latias looked back at her and gave her a confused look. "I mean, we haven't seen you like this before Zackary got like this." Latias nodded slowly and turned back to Zack, but Espeon continued. "We should all do something together to cheer us all up, get our minds off of things. Joke around like before, maybe moments with that dictionary again." She chuckled to herself, Latias smiled. "I know this has been difficult for you, Latias, but uh… Zackary wouldn't want you to be sad; he'd want you to be happy. You have been in here for almost every day for many hours since he becme like this. So how about tomorrow we get together, have fun with Super Dash Brothers, talk about stuff, and have more happier moments like this one?"

Latias didn't want to leave Zack, she didn't want to decline Espeon's offer to help cheer her up, to cheer everyone up after the near two weeks of waiting for an update to Zack's condition. She then thought 'What if Zack would wake up and I am not there? He would be scared, or shocked about the change… but Espeon's right, I have been in here since we got back… Zack wouldn't want me to be like this.' Latias nodded her head. "Okay Espeon, I agree to this, I will hang out with you guys. And besides, I look like a mess." She laughed as she ruffled her messy feathers sticking up off from the top of her head.

"I'm glad Latias, I really am. So get yourself s good night's rest, and tomorrow we'll have ourselves a really good time." She sighed exhaustedly. Espeon got up with a stretch and hopped up off the bed before walking up to Latias and giving her a hug with her forelegs wrapped around her long neck. "I'm going to go and retire for the night Latias." Espeon looked back at her with a smile, and Latias smiled back. "Goodnight Latias. Don't stay up too late." Leaving Latias as she watched over Zack for the night.

"Z-Zack, it's me… L-Latias. If you can hear me, I want you to know that we are not giving up on you. All of us at the Savior's are trying to come up with a solution on figuring out how to fix this." Latias got the courage to talk to him, nervous, wanting to tell him things she has never told anyone. She had waited for an hour before she talked, trying to figure out the words she would say to him. Zack remained silent, his chest moving slowly lifting the bed sheets up and down. Latias was reminded of the time Zack was like this once, but he was sick, a terrible cold and had to be bedridden for almost a week. She didn't want to lose her friend and stayed be his side and helped warm him up. But now in his current state, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to help him, she wanted him to wake up and things would be normal again. Latias wiped her eyes and gave one last look at Zack before she closed her eyes and prayed. "Arceus, please… please don't do this to him, please help him wake up." She cried, her voice becoming quieter with each word, almost in a whisper as she held both paws close to her chest and close to her beating heart for what she was about to say, not caring if Zack would be able to hear her or not, or if anyone else was in the room besides them, a secret for all to hear. "Please wake him up, I-I promise, I promise I'll tell him everything, how I feel about him… please don't let him sleep forever… please…"

In the early morning of a new day, in the medical floor of the Savior's HQ in one of the many rooms for the patients, in Zack's room, after a two week long coma… slowly, Zack's eyelids opened up… two weeks, he was now awake.

Trivia:

This chapter was originally included in the first section of chapter 01 of the story, but it was cut since I wanted Zack's new form to be a surprise in way… yeah.

AN: 40 chapters down, 5 side stories complete equals story 03 over and done with. At this moment in time I can rest for a while before working on the fourth story which will be released early next year at some point but done a lot quicker rather than take almost a year to write unlike the previous time. Well, thanks for reading the story, I would love to read your guys uh thoughts on the story so please leave a review if you want.

So uh, until next time. Take it easy guys.