Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
He clenches his teeth so hard, trying to deny the inevitable that's shoving on him; just in the verge of losing his consciousness to the point that his grinding teeth felt numb. Somehow, his headache starts to ease away as his blurry sight shifts back into normal, crystal clear; but the pain still lingers as it slowly swells around his dulling forehead. It was to the point that he's suddenly back to normal. "Woah." He exclaims. "Did my headache suddenly just, got away?" He adds, sounding confused as his jaw drops in astonishment; he didn't believe it at first, but he slowly starts to acknowledge it. Strangely, the environment turns quiet and the wind stood still. He carefully lifts his body back on his feet as he darts his eyes side to side, strangely, Lia and her pokemon are no longer on his side. Gabriel was put into further confusion. "Wait, Evie? Where did you go?" He exclaims, standing there for a second, but not a single response of them echoed back.
Gabriel is left clueless what direction she'd gone to, since he could barely see in the first place before regaining his strength. He carefully looks in every direction, but his eyes didn't even pick up a slight hint. Gabriel assumes that they've gone to the left, so he trots a few steps. Strangely, he sees a steep yet grassy hillside towering up his view that was never been there before, assuring that since he looked around his surroundings at the barn before that incident. Gabriel felt nervous.
Suddenly, a faint yet raspy shrilling voice echoes far at the distance, but not belonging to the voice of Evie. That crying tone of help wasn't familiar to him either. Gabriel repeats that indistinct tone on his head, realizing someone is calling his name in a very unfamiliar tone. Grave suspicion arises, aware that someone knows his name, although unclear to be certain whether intentional or not. Gabriel curves a few steps behind, only to see nothing at his sight.
Then, that voice repeats again, although it sounded in a different pattern of speech, yet the same tone. It seemed to echo from the right side. He listens closer as that voice continues to repeat. With small baby steps, he carefully creeps closer towards the source. It seemed to be coming from the forest edge as it shouted louder until it becomes clear and discernible; the shout cried "Gabriel, help, can you hear me!" In a repetitious manner, followed by a "Why can't you respond?!" as that crept him a few steps away. As he listens closer, it seems to have some familiarity. Then it hits him as if the switch turned on, Gabriel bursts out a spitless gasp, realizing that tone belonged to Rick the whole time. He scurries towards the forest but hesitantly, seeing an injured Rick barely stuck inside a bush and obscured by the tall patches of grass.
"Dude! Uh, why didn't you respond? I literally just saw you walking on the grass and I kept shouting your name!" An irritated Rick exclaims as he repeatedly slams his fist towards the ground.
"Sorry! I thought it was some pokemon shouting my name! I'm very sorry that I left you behind!" Gabriel gasps with a blend of worry and guilt, knowing that he should've responded earlier.
"Uh, why didn't you protect me from that Bouffalant, WHY?!" Rick screams, clenching his fists like a rock that startled Gabriel into confusion.
"Huh, Bouffalant? What do you mean?" Gabriel felt clueless, having no recollection of that memory despite him vividly dreaming that just a few minutes ago.
"Just, forget it... Excuse my yelling. That was the most ridiculous thing I ever said." Rick facepalms, feeling regretful by the surprisingly harsh tone he cried. "It's okay Gabriel... You don't have to do anything with me." He mutters in a lower tone of voice as his face relaxes into an easing sorrow that creased his whole face.
Gabriel, worried, blankly stares at Rick, helplessly watching his wounds bleed. "I-I don't have to do anything? But what abou-"
"You know... nature was always like this... beautiful... but... grim..." Rick's sorrow lets loose, acknowledging the precious moments that live had gave to him. Lifting his head up, he deeply reminisces those memories between him and Gabriel as his eyes gradually began to sink. He twitches a subtle smile, feeling blissful that this moment came. "I just realized something, Gabriel. Someday, it will happen. You'll feel pleased; grateful of life when it chooses you to fall bottom on this moment."
"What are you talking about? You can't be like this, please. I can't lose you." Gabriel pleads, shaking Rick's shoulder several times in attempt to jolt him up. But that didn't help at all. He gasps in a helpless fright, noticing his eyes slowly about to shut tight. "Rick, no!" He exclaims, constantly begging him as he vigorously wiggles his shoulder but Rick felt too weak to twitch any muscle.
Rick stares at Gabriel with intense blinking eyes with his mouth speechlessly open about to mutter something out. Though hesitant, he weeps out a tear knowing that Gabriel will miss him. Inside, he desperately kept trying to move, but was so stiff. There was nothing to do but the two helplessly watching each other. He couldn't help but accept his ending despite him fearing it.
"Cherish it..." Rick utters those two words casually, settling his neck down as he plants his head first to the surface.
Gabriel's eyes flood with tears as he heaves a deep collective sigh, filling his lungs over the top as he lets out a shrill "NO, Rick!". He just stood there spitless as his head slowly stoops a few inches towards the ground, not believing he witness his friend's death.
Suddenly, a light flickers out from nowhere on the sky as his eyes absently catches a glimpse on that light. His first thought screams "Arceus!", watching that yellow light flutter around his sight, hoping that it could rescue Rick back into life. Shortly, it vanishes mysteriously, riddling him into confusion. Then something clicks on him again; it was that unfamiliar click that clicked him, but that didn't do anything at the first moment. Strangely, he hears a conversation echoing at the distance, but as he looks around, no one was there except the invisible blabbers grating his ears. He darts his eyes back to Rick, but somehow he disappeared as the bushes in front of him rustle violently.
Scared, he gingerly plants several baby steps away from the bush. As he observed his surroundings, he felt a small yet firm fleck hitting his neck. He darts his eyes from behind, nothing was there, was it a fly? He wonders. Disregarding the touch off his mind, he focuses back on the bush. Suddenly, a large horned bull barges out of the bush as it violently rammed over Gabriel before he was able to react, only screaming his last words "AAAAH!" as his sight snaps into black just before he could feel any pain. Suddenly, something clicks again as his vision turns into gray.
Then, Gabriel whoops at the air as his vision flashes into a clear white. He wasn't able to use the rest of his senses until when it hits him...
"What the!" He exclaims to the top of his lungs and whiplashes up as his eyes shot open staring at a ceiling, but his sight was blur and milky. Confused, his heart starts to throb hard as if it's trying to escape his chest. Despite that, He sees and starts to dawn on him that he's in a completely different place, realizing that he had woken up from a deep uninterrupted slumber.
Still hyperventilating in sheer fear and confusion, he tries to calm his tense. As time passes, he feels something weird tingling on his eyes as if he never felt it before. As the blur on his vision gradually clears, he slowly rests down his eyes as they absently glance on those several small tubes connected to his body that were linked on various medical instruments, finally acknowledging that he's on some hospital by the moment he heard those faint rhythmically beeping sounds.
He begins to panic the moment he realized he's on a hospital, gravely worried if there's any injuries on his body. Gabriel attempts to twitch a limb, only to realized that he's locked and strapped in metal restraints and loops knotted around his whole body. Fortunately, he didn't feel any pain, so he tries to assume he's safe. Strangely, Gabriel still has that headache pulsating on his forehead.
As he tries to understand more why he ended up here, a nurse approaches a distance on his sight on his corner, who seems to be excited. Gabriel's eyes bolt wide open, looking surprised. "Urgh... What is this place? W-where am I?" He slowly lifts his head up, trying to focus his eyes at the nurse.
"Hey good afternoon young man, congratulations on making this far. How are you feeling?" The nurse stoops his head over, checking on the injured Gabriel and drifting his head side to side on Gabriel's sight.
Gabriel scratches his head, still not knowing where he is. "... I guess I feel fine. But where am I. What is this place? Where's Rick?!" Saying that out in a raspy tone, his face grimaces, overwhelmed with questions clouding his head.
"You're being treated in a remote hospital for now, you know what happened while you were sleeping?"
Hearing the message the nurse had spoke, Gabriel recoils in shock, afraid of what the nurse might say to him next. "No, I don't wanna know! Who are you? Where are my parents?" He vacantly stares at the nurse, not having a single clue of his parents despite them being dead a few days ago.
"I'm one of the nurses that monitors the patients in this room. You had a coma that lasted for three days. And we had to restrain you since your arms were constantly moving around. I know you don't want to hear this but it's important to inform you of that."
"What? But why; how were my arms moving?"
"It's possible that one of the nurses had accidentally overdosed you on medications, but fortunately that side effect had quickly faded, but we still had to restrain you just in case something happens to you. No worries, we'll set you free." The nurse unwraps the restraints and sets Gabriel free.
Gabriel gawks at the nurse, having no clue what he just said. "Man... Anyway, thanks nurse." Despite his forgetfulness acting up, he suddenly remembers the wound pecked from that Staraptor. "H-how about that bruise I got from three days ago." He touches his forehead in slight hesitance, which fortunately responded with little pain.
"It's almost healed, so there's no worry about it. Do your parents live around here so we can contact them?"
Gabriel rolls up his eyes, trying to understand whether his parents had existed or not. "Parents?" Sounding clueless, he tries to remember what his parents' names were, but somehow, he couldn't remember them, nor barely their image.
"Yes, your parents. Or do they not live here?" The nurse cocks his head and notices Gabriel's lip curling down as if he's trying to remember something. "No need to get upset." The nurse adds.
Gabriel freezes in position as he kept staring at the nurse with intense vacant eyes. Then after another moment of thinking, his obscure memories finally dawn on him, realizing that they died back in that disaster. His fragile mind ended up strained. "I, I don't know who they are, but something tells me that... they... They died, in the new year." He mutters in a gravelly monotone voice; he only felt a speck of numb sadness flowing by his body after remembering that event happened despite his lips obviously looking downcast.
"Oh... I'm very sorry that happened... I know exactly how you're feeling. These unfortunate things can happen anytime. Just like you, some of my cousins had died during that time. It was pretty sad that I wasn't able to visit them."
"Thank Arceus I'm not feeling alone... M-my best friend... also died too." Gabriel sounded casual as he uttered that out. He didn't feel a speck of emotion, so he just pretended to try feeling that emotion in order to emphasize on what he's saying.
"I'm sorry you had to go all through that. Things happen." The nurse pats Gabriel on the back, perfectly knowing how he is feeling.
"Thanks... You're a good nurse." Gabriel nods his head.
"So anyway, where are you from?"
Gabriel rolls his eyes down intensely, trying to remember where's his birthplace from. "I'm from... I'm from Cyiii." By the moment he muttered that, something sharp tingles in his head, but couldn't describe how it feels. "Ugh, my brain feels, really weird right now... I can't seem to... remember anything." He presses his fingers against his head as he grimaces in slight pain.
"Guess the meteor had hit pretty hard there, isn't it?"
Gabriel's jaw drops as that piece of memory dawns on him as well. "Meteor? Yeah... more worse, than rough; I think more than thousands had died." He tries to feel for the people, but his emotions felt number than before, convincing him that there's something wrong on him. "Man what's wrong with me, hope I don't have brain damage... I'm starting to notice I stutter a lot, than before." As he become over-aware of himself, his head tingles more as he overthinks it. "Agh, my head still feels numb?"
"Fortunately to say, it's very minor to the point that it doesn't really affect you. However, you may tend to forget things occasionally for a little while, but the good thing is that'll recover within a few days to weeks."
"Arceus... Thanks for telling me that." Gabriel sighs in relief, but he still ended up disappointed due to the sheer absence of emotions he's showing. "I can't feel anything... Not even my emotions."
"You should be able to feel touch. But for your emotions, that's normal for patients when they experience brain damage. Don't worry, you can still feel a bit of it, it's minor and you can recover."
"Ugh, right." Gabriel sighs as he felt a bit lost on where he is. "By the way, do y-you know uh... You know what's this region? I seem to be very lost... And I just recently traveled here a few days ago. I know it's odd to ask but... I just want to know." He sputters his words awkwardly.
"No need to feel shy about asking, but this region doesn't actually have a name, although it has some nicknames but unofficial. So, you're in Lame's Town, if you're wondering."
"Man, sounds like a desolated place." Gabriel stifles a chuckle for a bit, but stoops his head in disappointment as he took that word seriously.
"It's really not. Although, almost everything in the region is rural that's why it seems desolated." The nurse shrugs.
"Is there a quiet city that I can go to, at least? Just to feel safe, for some reason; I don't wanna risk myself in the wild and end up being injured again."
"There is a city located at the northern section just a few miles away. Right when you exit the hospital, there's a route that heads to the east that curves to the north heading to the exit of this town, still continue to that way, but there are some steep hills blocking the way so you'll have to take another route that heads back to the west, then to the north. You should see a sign named Galice City, that means you're very near. It should be a safe travel walking there. Beware that the city is heavily damaged because of the earthquake we've recently experienced, so you'll need to be extra careful on your steps."
From all this spoon feeding from the nurse, Gabriel's head numbs even more, trying hard to process the information what the nurse had said. "Hmm... I, I get it..." Despite not even understanding the slightest grasp of the information he processed, he casually nods his head and wonders something about. "Wait, t-this is an absurd question but how did this hospital not collapse during this earthquake?"
"Its structure was designed to endure most of natural disasters. Although it had experienced slight damages on the exterior part of the building however, almost nothing is interrupted inside the hospital except a huge mess we had to clean up.
"Wow... So, do I have to pay anything in order to get out of this place?"
"No, treatment is perfectly free for all patients. But before you leave, we will have to check on you first to see if you're perfectly in good health." The nurse inserts a special device on Gabriel's wrist. "Okay, keep that in, it'll take around ten minutes, and we'll let you free." The nurse leaves, rushing back to his paperwork.
"Damn... O-okay." Uttering that awkwardly, Gabriel sighs in a slight relief, idling on his bed as he absently fidgets the medical instruments. "Thank goodness this healthcare is free, just like in the pokemon centers." Uttering that to his mind. he smiles gratefully.
"Hey." A nervous looking girl pops up from the medical curtains. It was not like Amelia or Evie, but she looked entirely different.
"Wait, w-who are you?" Gabriel narrows his eyes at the girl, wondering why is she there, and what purpose?
"You don't remember me?" Despite sounding and looking worried, the girl twitches a subtle grin.
"No? Are you lost here or something?" Gabriel tilts his head. To his eyes, she looked suspicious although her face was strangely familiar, even though he hasn't seen her in his life. "Why are you smiling? Is something funny?" Confusion creases his brow.
"Just remember the Eee~ at the start of my name." The girl chuckles.
Gabriel continues staring at her, then it dawns on him, realizing that familiar face he had met back on that isolated field, although the major difference as to why he didn't remember because she's differently clothed. "Oh. It's you, Evie." He stares at her with eyes widened and confused, but gets disappointed wondering why he didn't recognized her in the first place.
Evie chuckles. "Yeah."
"Guess you've been w-waiting here the whole time?" Gabriel tilts his head.
"Not really though." Evie shrugs as her forehead started to crease in red. Her mouth pops open for five seconds, taking a moment to breathe as if she's about to say something. "Gabriel, I really wanted to tell you about something..." She mutters hesitantly as her whole face heats in red, she grasps her heart, heaving a collective sigh.
"What is it?"
"Because, it's really stuck in my chest the whole time." Evie drifts her eyes down, looking at the floor due to the sheer embarrassment she's about to say something. "I-I... I was the girl, y-you know, that beaten you back in that, region. You know that, that Cinccino? I... knocked your Budew out." She sputters out of sheer nervousness as she starts to grate her teeth. Her whole body trembles in fear that something might go wrong.
Just hearing that stutter out from her mouth, Gabriel freezes for several seconds out of cluelessness. His temporary amnesia was trying to get on him, but tries to fight it off. "Huh?" He utters that out, still not having a clue of what she said. Shortly, just when that piece of memory from Christmas dawned on him, he speechlessly opens his mouth, letting out an airy gasp as he vacantly stares at her. The memory gradually becomes clear to him, realizing that it was the girl that battled with him just almost two weeks ago.
"Yeah, I-I'm really sorry for that." She stoops her head low as that recollection melted her in great remorse.
"..." There's nothing for Gabriel to say, he's still speechless from the rare yet surreal experience she confessed. Inside he felt a bit astonished, but unfortunately, there's little forgiveness to give out from his heart. He creases down an eyebrow, embracing those strange waves of surreal yet weak emotions passing by.
"Please, don't get angry. I, I just wanted to confess, because something tells me that you're really a... a good person." Turning her head away in sheer hesitance, Evie's face starts to heat up like molten lava when she blurted that out.
Gabriel stoops his head in disappointment. He strongly felt like forgiving, but he couldn't; he tries to think of a forgiveness speech, but something kept stopping him because of his mind constantly delving back to his bad memories.
"The thing is, for some reason, i-it's so hard to forgive. You know, after you knocked my-a uh, that green thing, B-Budew out, and started a battle without my consent. I mean it's just strange and... what's the word... surreal, to see you again but why did you do that in the first place?" He sighs nervously, feeling the trauma that she inflicted to Budew.
"I was really stupid, and naive... I-I seriously regret it." She mutters in a downcast trembling manner, dangling her arms near the floor in sadness as she starts to realize her mistake. As her feelings begin to overwhelm her, Evie heaves a deep sigh and weeps out a genuine tear. "Y-you know, some man recently threatened me with his pokemon. I thought he was weak at first but... I almost got hurt... It was just before new year happened. I guess I shouldn't mess with people anymore..." Her lips curl down, sniffing her nose. "His Drapion almost... poisoned me, I could've, died..."
"Then why did you mess with people, and me in the first place?" Staring at the saddened Evie with intense vacant eyes, a surge of confusion creases down Gabriel's forehead.
"I was just stupid..." Evie sighs, trying to suppress the waterfalls from her eyes. "M-my parents, done this to me... Why did I live this way? Why did I acted like this?" She grits her teeth, venting off her emotions caused by her stupidity as she gasps, letting her crying episodes pass in. "I, I hate myself." She adds, whispering to her own self as another tear falls from her eye.
"Huh? Why are you blaming your parents?"
"They're stupid, greedy and useless... They punish or stalk me for no reason, whenever I didn't meet their expectations." She clenches her fist, trying to release her melting tense out. "But now, I guess I'm free from this hell, since new year came."
Just when she made that discernible to him, her feelings shared on him at a little bit at the least; Gabriel felt pretty sad, but the saddest thing is that he didn't relate that much or feel entirely that much despite the occasional punishments he had in his vague childhood memories he had remembered in the last seven years. To him, he sees it as a whole new level of bad parenting. "I see... I guess you've lived a pretty s-sad life... Just be grateful at least you had a parent."
"How can you be grateful of having a bad parent when they dismissed my brother at an early age." She exclaims, irritably.
"They dismissed your brother at a young age?" Gabriel's jaw drops again, looking surprised.
"They did, at the age of seven. I heard, that... someone almost, abducted him. A-and, nobody cared." As Evie thought deeper about that, she inhales a crestfallen sniff.
"What? That's crazy..." Gabriel heaves a sigh, trying to think about the situation as if he was on his brother's shoes.
"Yes... Shame on them." Her face turning red as she thought about that, Evie continues sniffing her nose again.
"I think that, t-that you need better parents but I guess you had no choice but to go through all of this."
"I always wanted to be with someone... But my parents didn't allow me to, so I felt so alone..." Evie sighs, lifting her head and reminiscing those sibling memories, but that only fulfilled her yearning sadness. "I wish my brother was here, right now, but he's too far away... I have to check on him, but how are we ever gonna get there since Drifloon is still, missing..."
Gabriel sighs, rubbing his chin and thinking about how he should've handled Staraptor in a much careful way. "Only if that stupid bird didn't d-disobey me in the first place, then we could've gotten to where your brother is... I guess it's all my fault I ended up here." Taking the blame to himself, he takes a deep collective breath and stoops his head lower, disappointed on himself because he handled it so stupidly.
"No, please, don't blame yourself for that."
Gabriel sighs. "Yeah, I shouldn't..." His head digs deeper into wandering thought. As something clicks on him, he gradually spreads a smile at his cheeks, suddenly feeling grateful knowing that his life was saved. "Man, thank you so much for saving my life... It means alot. If I wouldn't had met you in the first place, back in that grassy field, I guess you would've died back then, or I guess... we" As he thinks about it, he sniffs his nose, reminiscing deep on that memory as his eyes quickly flood with tears.
"Same as to you, I felt something really strange when I woke up, and I thought you were a complete stranger at first, but I secretly recognized you and didn't have the... guts to confess, until now." As her emotions overwhelm her again, she takes a moment to breathe. "And, I feel you are the first one to accept my apology, seriously... I was so nervous of confessing..." She sheds a tear as her head trembles, trying to ease her sadness up.
"You don't have to be." Gabriel spreads another subtle smile directly at Evie as he nods earnestly.
"T-thank you..." Evie mutters.
"Anytime, Evie." Gabriel nods.
"A-and, and another thing. For my name, it's actually... Lia, please keep it a secret for now, only I and you know." She utters that out hesitantly, hoping that she could give her trust to Gabriel.
His jaw dropping again, Gabriel is left speechless for a second, trying to organize his words not knowing what to say at first. "Why?" He questions, sounding a bit surprised the moment she revealed her actual name.
"I, I had a history of doing bad things... I just, want to change... For the sake of Arceus." She stoops her head as she hits a firm facepalm. Her mind still indulges itself on those unpleasant memories as she heaves another sobbing moment.
"It's okay, w-we all do bad stuff sometimes, it just so happens even without realizing it especially as a kid. At least you admitted it."
"Thanks..." She mutters in a shyly tone, briefly looking away as she partially glances at him with a side blushing look.
The nurse shows up, eager to check on Gabriel's health conditions. "Hey, what's up you two." He twitches a smile.
"W-we, we are just having a conversation." Shrugging, Gabriel twitches up both of his eyebrows.
"I'm hearing some deep conversations from there, huh?" The nurse subtly tilts his head, glancing at the special device as it indicated that he's okay. "Well, Gabriel, sounds like you're free to go." Seeing the test indicating that Gabriel's in good condition, the nurse disconnects the medical instruments from Gabriel.
"So, am I free to roam around?"
"You are free to head out now. But, just be careful out there. Recently since new year had passed, the number of injured patients has spiked, especially in this hospital. There has been disturbances happening among in this region. It's strange to what cause is happening."
"Yeah, I'm still figuring out the reason why my home region was completely swept out by a huge tsunami... Do you know any cause of this?" Gabriel questions, not knowing the origin of the cause despite experiencing it on the first place.
"It's unknown why these disasters are happening. Recently, a giant tornado swept our whole hometown despite the sky being clear; it struck just early evening before new years. I'm not a scientist or anything, so I have no clue."
"Thanks nurse. Oh, and by the way, is my Quilava healed." He questions again as his heart starts to pound in nervous. He absently pops his mouth a bit open, anxiously waiting for the nurse's answer.
"All of your pokemon are perfectly healed and in good condition."
"Great." Gabriel sighs in relief. "Thank Arceus I almost forgot to ask that question, thanks nurse." He takes a deep breath
"Better than not asking at least, just watch yourselves you two."
Gabriel and Lia exit the hospital room. They navigate towards the elevator as they head to the lobby. Gabriel still felt a little weird and off, but he shrugs it off as no issue anyway. As they walk closer to the hospital entrance, he takes a peek outside from the exit door, and indeed it seems to be desolated, judging by the looks of the ruined townhouses partly seen by the window from far away.
"Man, the nurse's right, this place looks a bit... isolated." Gabriel sighs, seeing no lights illuminating from inside as well. "How are we gonna escape this region..." He ponders about.