Luka laid on the ground, enjoying the warmth of sunshine streaming down on him and trying to soak up as much of it as he could.
The last couple of days had been overcast and chilly and had left him cold to the bone. There had even been a quick burst of big, feathery snow flurries. Winter's final rally as it tried to force itself into early spring. Luckily, Robbie had been home and had brought out an extra blanket and some hot chocolate for everyone to sip while they watched the snow fall together.
He lay on his stomach, arms tucked under him since the feeling of being cold never really left him these days, and watched his pokemon play nearby. The warmth also affected them, making them feel frisky and excited for spring. They chased each other gleefully, running circles around Luka and occasionally using him as a hurdle.
He smiled when Sigge performed a telltale sign that he was truly enjoying himself. He'd twirl quickly once and stamp his front paws to the ground while holding his head rigidly high and slightly to the side. He'd stand frozen except for a wiggly tail until whoever he was playing with got just close enough then speed away.
Unfortunately for Luka, Sigge wasn't paying attention to how close he was to the boy and crashed right into his face.
Luka sat up, holding his hand to his mouth. He felt soreness on the back of his lip and then an involuntary gag came when the taste of blood spread over his tongue.
Sigge, who had tumbled over the boy's head and hit the ground face-first behind him, raced back in front of Luka and looked up at him. He spoke frantically and quickly dug to reveal bare earth to write on.
Luka already knew what the pokemon would say and touched between his ears with his free hand to stop him. "It's okay, Sigge."
His face soured when he felt something hard swimming in his mouth come to rest on his tongue. He spat into his hand and grimaced.
Sigge's eyes widened and his fur poofed faster than Luka had ever seen. Luka almost laughed but Sigge let out a loud, anguished cry that cut him off. Johann quickly ran over and clamped his paw over the eevee's mouth, quieting him.
"Hush now," he scolded. "Don't draw attention to us back here."
"But," Sigge started.
"He just lost a tooth is all," Johann interrupted. "Remember he showed us how loose it was?"
"He lost two," Sigge gasped. "The loose one was from the top but one from the bottom broke off, too."
"What?!" Johann eyed Luka's hand then turned a concerned look to his face before placing a paw on the boy's knee and rising up on his hind legs till they were about eye level. He then bared his teeth in an obvious command for Luka to open his mouth, which the boy obeyed.
After a quick inspection, Johann dropped back down. "It didn't break, thankfully. The full tooth was knocked out like the other one."
"Don't worry," Luka mumbled as he stood. "You did me a favor, Sigge. I was trying to work up the nerve to pull it and now I don't have to. The other one was starting to get loose, too."
He looked at the teeth briefly and threw them behind him. All he cared about was rinsing the taste of blood from his mouth as quickly as possible.
He got to the hydrant and scooped some water into his mouth then spit. He did this repeatedly until that horrible taste had left him and then scrubbed the blood from his hand.
As he reached to pull the hydrant's handle down, he looked up to see Robbie crossing the yard, weighed down not just by many grocery bags but also a heavy look of apprehension on his face.
Luka raised an eyebrow at this and straightened up as the man approached.
Robbie noted the disgusted look Luka's face still held. "Is everything okay?" the man asked, looking from Luka to Sigge's alarmed appearance.
"No," Luka said, a slight smile pulling at his lips now. "Sigge punched me in the mouth and knocked a couple of my teeth out."
"No!" Sigge exclaimed in just such a way that he sounded like a human causing Luka, Johann, and Robbie to look at him.
"They were already loose, right?" Robbie asked. When Luka nodded, the man chuckled and dropped the bags. "Nice, let me see."
Luka walked closer to him and gave him a big, fake smile. The man smiled back although Luka felt uneasy when he noticed it lacked the warmth and good nature it usually held.
The smile didn't last and instead settled into a stressed frown. "I have some bad news, kid." Luka prepared himself, setting his face into a blank look. "My boss called me real early this morning. He needs me and some of the other guys to do a job in Violet city. I'll have to be away for a week."
Luka forced himself to nod although he felt instantly sick to his stomach. To his credit, he was able to keep his face neutral.
"I tried to get out of it but I couldn't. Boss wouldn't let me."
"When do you have to go?" Luka asked.
Robbie looked at his watch. "Now, actually."
"It'll be okay," Luka said and forced a smile. "I'll keep my mouth shut like you told me to. Everything will be okay."
Robbie stared at the child for a moment. "You're a brave kid, you know that?"
Luka frowned and shook his head.
"You are," Robbie said and looked down to the bags at his feet. "I got you three enough food to last the week I'll be gone." He then looked toward the house.
"Tina was supposed to go out with one of her friends this morning. Hopefully she did or she went back to sleep when I left and didn't see me bring these back here. I'll take them to the shed for you and get going." Robbie was about to bend to lift the bags when Luka stopped him.
"We'll get them," Luka said. "You need to go so you don't get in trouble with your boss." Robbie nodded. "If she did see, she'll be down here the moment he leaves," Luka thought. "I don't want her in that shed."
"Oh, wait," Luka quickly said as Robbie turned to go. "I have some good news. I didn't tell you about it before but the other day when we went to the city-"
"When you 'found' that bracelet?" Robbie asked. Luka nodded. "She's been modeling off that thing for the last several days like she's some high-class lady." His face twisted with much irritation and he mockingly thrust his arm out as if to model some fine jewelry. "She could cover herself in a hundred of those bracelets and she'd still be a trashy bitch. There's no salvaging her. She's been nagging me about why I don't buy her gifts like it now," he laughed bitterly and shook his head. "Like I'd waste any more of my money on her while she sits on her ass all day and does nothing but make us miserable." Luka nodded in full agreement, waiting for Robbie to finish his rant.
"We met a man who knows Johann's papa," Luka said when Robbie had finally quieted. Robbie's eyes widened at this. "He had a psychic pokemon with him and Johann was able to ask the man to tell his papa to come see us here."
"I thought his dad hated humans," Robbie said.
"Yeah, he does," Luka said. "Still, the man knows him and said he'll get Johann's message to him."
"And you're sure he can beat Tina's pokemon?" Robbie said, looking at Johann.
"I have no doubt he can," Johann said. He added a confident nod for the humans' sakes.
"That is good news." Robbie grinned. "Hopefully he'll come while I'm gone," he said with a laugh but then looked at Luka seriously. "If he does get you guys out of here and you need some help, ask the grownups wherever he takes you to look up my parents in Ecruteak. Their names are Rob and Mina and we have the same last name, obviously. Help him to remember that, you two," Robbie said, looking quickly at the pokemon then back at Luka. "We'll help you."
Luka smiled at the man, genuinely touched. For a long while, he had felt like he was a bother to Robbie since every single day the man had to protect him from the woman and provide food for him and the pokemon.
Robbie was always nice to him but Luka could see the stress was getting to the man as he was very short with the woman now, resulting in the most strained and volatile interactions the boy had ever seen between two people. He got a terrible earful of it the night before it snowed since Robbie forced him to sleep in the house due to how cold it was outside. That he was still willing to help him even after all he had already done meant a lot. "Thanks, Robbie." was all he could say.
Robbie smiled, too. "All right. I need to go," he said and then pointed at the boy. "Keep your mouth shut." Luka nodded. "Johann, don't let that freak across the road get him in his house. I don't care what the kid says. I don't care if Tina is standing right out there. You two intervene if he tries to grab him." Johann and Sigge both gave him a resolute nod.
Robbie turned to leave throwing up his hand in a wave.
"Thanks for the food," Luka said and waved back.
"Did either of you hear her leave this morning?" Luka said as he watched Robbie walk up the path leading to the little house. When both pokemon shook their heads, he frowned. "Get some of the food into the tall grass back there," he said, motioning behind him and to the right of the shed.
Both pokemon grabbed bags in their mouths and began dragging them away. Luka stood still, facing toward the house. His stomach knotted up and a soft, pained groan escaped him when he heard Robbie's car rumble to a start and drive away.
He had a terrible feeling that the woman was still home. He could just imagine her peeking out the window, giddily waiting for Robbie to leave so she could come torture him.
As Luka kept sentry duty, Sigge came near and was about to take off another bag but stopped abruptly with his ears and head held high.
Luka noticed this change in the pokemon and immediately grabbed a few bags. With all his might, he threw them behind him. When he saw Sigge trying to drag a heavy bag close to him away, he stopped him.
"There's no time. Leave it and hide those," he directed, pointing to the bags he had thrown.
Luka looked at the bags near him. They hadn't been able to hide many of them. She wouldn't notice any were missing. He added the bag that Sigge had been dragging back to the fold and raised his eyes to watch the path again. It wasn't long before the woman came into view. She smiled a wide, triumphant smile that made Luka want to kick every one of her teeth out but instead of showing that irritation, he kept his face blank as she approached.
"What a great day this is. I'm going shopping with Lisa in just a bit, and Robbie got me some groceries," she said, hands on hips and greedily surveying the bags at Luka's feet. The bracelet hung daintily from her wrist and looked completely at odds with the old, frayed pair of jean shorts and loose-fitting T-shirt she wore.
She bent and looked through a couple of the bags. "Good stuff, too. What a thoughtful guy." She smiled at Luka. "Be a good boy and help me carry these to the house."
"It's already starting," he thought. "He's only just left and it's already starting."
He lifted what he could and walked to the house. He was able to keep his face stoically set on the walk there, while putting the food away, and as he crossed the front yard to head back to the path, although when the woman's friend came to pick her up and had waved at him, he couldn't bring himself to even give her a feeble wave in return. Only a vacant stare in her direction and a quick nod.
That resolve vanished as soon as his feet hit the path. His lips trembled and his vision grew blurred from tears as he walked back toward the shed. He blinked repeatedly to try to clear them. Even hearing the car drive away and knowing the woman would be gone for hours didn't bring him any relief.
The pokemon came to meet him when he neared the shed. He walked past them without a word or even a glance and continued down the path until he reached the river.
Luka found the slowpoke lounging by the water, his webbed, white-tipped paws stretched out lazily behind him and one eye peeked back at Luka as the boy sat at his side.
"How am I going to feed the pokemon?" Luka thought. He covered his face with trembling hands as if that would shield him from the horror he felt now. A sprinkling of tears fell against his cheeks as he stared wide-eyed past his fingers at the river. "I don't want to be hungry again like before Robbie came here."
A sob came now. Johann pet the boy and spoke softly to him. Sigge was frightened. He had never seen Luka so distraught and tried to nose his way onto the boy's lap to comfort him. Usually whenever Luka felt stressed, he would hug Sigge or Johann close and stroke their soft fur but now the boy's arms were an impenetrable wall held tightly to himself.
"It's going to be okay," Johann wrote in the damp soil of the river's bank. "We'll figure something out." He tried to get the boy to look at his words but it didn't work. The sobs were coming more frequently now.
"The ghosts, Luka," Johann wrote and shook him. Luka let out a wail that made both pokemon jump. He turned away from Johann and Sigge and clung to the slowpoke, burying his face into the pokemon's neck and letting himself cry freely.
After a minute, Luka felt the slowpoke's body go rigid and a low, deep growl sounded behind him. And then another joined the first. He quieted immediately, realizing his mistake.
He looked back at Johann. The pokemon held himself low to the ground in a threatening posture with his ears held taut forward and lips curled up tightly, revealing almost every one of his sharp teeth.
Sigge mimicked Johann but with an exception. While Johann kept his gaze low and unfocused, Sigge boldly looked ahead, as he had been taught the ghost pokemon's mind tricks would not work on him. Luka took note that despite Sigge's tendency to puff up when disturbed, this time he remained completely unruffled. He only looked furious now and ready to fight if needed. Luka felt pride in the pokemon for this.
As he looked over his pokemon, instead of feeling afraid, he was becoming more and more angry. He placed his hands up on the slowpoke's back and shakily lifted himself. When he turned around, being careful to keep his eyes downcast as Johann's were, he could see the lower halves of the haunter and the two gastly.
The idea that these three would come after them instead of that horrid woman or the creepy man across the street infuriated him. He and his pokemon had enough to deal with and didn't need another problem piled onto the mountain. His inner pity party briefly stopped as he felt a slight prodding in his mind which he took to be a trick by one of the ghosts.
He grew even angrier now. To the point where he was shaking all over with rage. The pokemon fed off of this. Their growls grew raucous and more fierce and even the slowpoke responded by turning to face the ghosts instead of taking off to hide as he had the day they first showed up.
Johann walked to Luka's side. "Leave," he said.
"We're just having some fun," a gastly said, sneering at Johann. "Just enjoying our day. Do we need your permission to be here?"
"Yes," Johann said with a smirk. "This is my territory. Everything here is mine."
"The boy?" The haunter asked, grinning at Luka.
"Especially him," Johann said, stepping over to straddle Luka's foot. He rubbed his neck heavily up and down the boy's leg. His smirk remained but there was a hard, aggressive sharpness to it now and he held his body stiffly in a posture that any wild pokemon would know meant a fight was coming if they kept prodding.
"I don't want to be shocked, you guys," one of the gastly whispered to his companions.
Johann chuckled and looked back at Sigge, smiling at him. He then looked at Luka's tear-stained cheeks and his stubborn little frown.
"I'm sorry, Johann," Luka said softly.
Johann smiled sweetly at the boy and then, not taking his eyes from Luka's, began to glow.
A small, sharp intake of breath was all Luka could manage when he realized what was happening. The process only took moments and when the glow subsided, there stood a new, much larger Johann.
Luka wanted to feel happy for him but was instead disturbed as this stranger beside him wasn't the pichu he was so used to.
"Good thing I took so many pictures of him," the boy thought, relieved that there was still a way he could see that pichu again. He also took some comfort from the familiar, arrogant smirk the pokemon still wore.
Johann turned from the boy to the ghosts. "You want to have fun?" he growled, showing his teeth and pawing at the ground while holding his tail high and waving it slowly over his back.
He'd seen his father do this countless times to show off his sharp, thick set of fangs and claws and his long whip of a tail. Papa did such as a final warning to discourage a fight and usually it worked well since no one truly wants to be flogged on top of possibly being shocked, bitten, and clawed at. This was lost on the ghosts, unfortunately, since a pikachu's tail, paws, and jaws were in no way threatening like a big raichu's.
He was off quick and immediately went for the weakest link of the group. He sped underneath the gastly who hadn't wanted to be shocked and did just that, hitting the pokemon with such a strong jolt that the gastly howled and flew away.
The other two ghosts came after him but Johann was too nimble. He'd let them get just close enough, zap them, and speed away.
"These fools aren't serious," Johann thought. "They aren't experienced fighters either. That's a very good thing for me."
When the ghosts became wise to Johann's shenanigans, they tried to stay away from him, attempting to hit him with far-ranged attacks but Johann avoided each and ran under where they hovered, letting loose weaker bursts of electricity just to irritate them.
Sigge let out a frustrated growl. Seeing Johann ganged up on, even if he looked like he was comfortably holding his own, enraged him. He wanted to help and wished he could evolve, too, but the time of day was wrong and Johann had forbidden him from doing so anyway. Still, he took a determined step forward.
"Stop Sigge," Luka said. "He's doing fine by himself."
The pokemon gave him an angry look then showed his teeth, clamping them together several times.
"Yes," Luka said. "Bite is strong against ghosts but if you join the fight, Johann won't be able to use his electricity as freely because he might shock you. And those ghosts are also poison types. If you bite them, you might get poisoned. We've taught you about that. Sigge, you have to be clear-headed in a fight or you might make bad mistakes."
Luka thought for a moment. "There is something you can do," he whispered in hopes that the ghosts wouldn't hear. Sigge's ears perked up. "If either of those ghosts gets close enough, use Sand Attack. Don't do it if Johann is anywhere near-" Luka stopped abruptly when a ball of energy quickly whooshed by his right. And then another, this one landing squarely in the remaining gastly's face.
"Sigge," Luka stammered. "Sigge, watch the slowpoke. He's using Shadow Ball. That's an attack you can learn." Sigge quickly nodded and set his focus on the pokemon.
"Try to copy him," Luka said.
Sigge did try but nothing came of it. He tried again and again but nothing still. He stomped his paws and looked up at Luka helplessly.
"Don't get frustrated," Luka said calmly. "That won't help anything. Johann's doing fine. Just keep trying."
Sigge tried once more and a small wisp of purple flared in front of him.
"Almost," Luka said. "Keep going."
Sigge was about to try again when his eyes met the slowpoke's. The pokemon stared at him, eyes glowing, and he felt an intrusion in his mind that was reminiscent of when Emil spoke to him that first time. Although, it was heavy and awkward, nothing like Emil's gentle and pleasant presence. He winced but then felt as if something had clicked into place in his mind.
"Try it now," Luka ordered.
He did. This time, it fully formed and he set it off. It missed his target by a far margin but he was now encouraged. He tried again, this time grazing the gastly's backside.
"Good job, Sigge! And thank you, Slowpoke," Luka said, patting Sigge with one hand and rubbing between the slowpoke's ears with the other. He had noticed the odd stare the two had shared and correctly guessed what had happened. He crouched down and spoke quietly. "Now, you two. Focus your attacks on the haunter. Wear it down for Johann."
Both pokemon obeyed, unleashing attack after attack on the ghost until it grew angry and turned to face them. This gave Johann a chance to focus on the gastly but before he had a chance to do anything, the pokemon turned tail and ran. This wasn't how the ghosts had expected things to go and this one was not interested in staying in a losing fight.
The haunter appeared suddenly in front of Luka. He was so used to the woman getting in his face that his first instinct was to glare right back at it but a mishmash of the instructions his father and Ben had given him about dealing with ghosts, and even Robbie's "keep your mouth shut" which was the man's short way of telling him to stop being sassy and letting himself get pulled into fights he can't win, played in his mind and he forced his eyes to the ground.
"Protect, Sigge," Johann called out as he ran to them.
Sigge quickly placed himself in front of Luka and the slowpoke and did as told while Johann lept and clamped down hard onto the haunter's side with his jaws. He then let loose a vicious electric attack.
While Sigge's barrier kept them from being harmed by the attack, the heat and its blinding light were intense and caused Luka to squeeze his eyes closed and let out a small, surprised groan.
The ghost squealed and let out a puff of poison in response to the pain. Johann ignored this and let loose an even stronger burst of electricity. The haunter shrieked and then vanished. Johann fell, landing on his feet. His lips curled in a repulsed sneer and saliva had already started to pool over his tongue and drip from his open mouth.
"Johann," Luka whimpered. He started toward the pokemon but Johann held up a paw to keep him away.
"Sigge, tell him I'm okay," Johann gurgled. "Tell him not to worry. I'll be fine."
Sigge quickly wrote the message and jumped about in an attempt to get Luka's attention but the boy was too focused on Johann to pay him any mind. When his frolicking didn't work, he began yipping but still to no avail.
"Stay right there and don't move at all," Luka said, trying to remember any knowledge he had concerning poisoned pokemon. He began backing away. "Keep away from him, Sigge," he said. "I'm going to get an antidote."
Sigge was confused and took a few steps after the boy. He didn't know what to do since Johann was always determined to go with Luka when he was sent out, whether it was long trips into the city or quick ones to the store or pub.
"Stay with Johann just in case the ghosts come back," Luka commanded and then turned and ran up the path.
For most of the trip, he felt nothing and thought of nothing other than getting that antidote as he ran. He didn't hear the man across the street yelling out to him when he got to the road nor did he realize Sigge had followed him to the top of the path as per an order from Johann to make sure that man didn't cause him any issues. He did start to feel an insistent pressure in his head as he got closer to the store but forced it from his thoughts, thinking it must be the ghosts still trying to mess with him.
When he made it to the store, he gripped the railing leading up to the porch, panting as he stumbled up the steps. He quickly passed by the store owner's houndour who lay at the top, missing the confused and then worried look the pokemon gave him, then threw open the door to the shock of the store owner's wife who stood manning the register.
"What's wrong?" she gasped at the sight of the ragged child.
Luka ignored her. With single-minded focus on his goal, he strode past the small restaurant portion of the store and the snack and food shelves till he found what he needed then stepped up to the register.
He shakily put the antidote on the counter and looked up at the woman but when their eyes met, he realized something terrible. He didn't have any money to pay for it.
He gaped at her dumbly. "Please," he said after a moment.
"One of your pokemon got poisoned," she said. Luka nodded. She regarded the trembling child before her compassionately and offered him a warm smile. "Well, if you need it, you can have it."
"Thank you. I'll pay you back someday," Luka said earnestly with a quick nod. He reached for the antidote and was about to take off but the woman's hands shot across the counter and grabbed him by both arms.
"I need to hurry," Luka whined.
"Husband!" she called out.
After a few moments, the store owner poked his head out from a back room.
"One of his pokemon got poisoned and he needs to get back home quickly. Can you give him a ride?"
The man patted his pocket to check for his keys. He smiled when he felt them and nodded. "I'd be happy to," he said and walked to the entrance, motioning for the boy to come with him.
The woman finally released Luka and he backed away. He once again thanked her and she gave him a concerned smile before he turned to follow the man outside.
The trip back was quick and mostly quiet other than the man asking what had happened and Luka giving him a brief recount of the events. Before long, Luka pointed out the little house and the man parked in front of it. Luka climbed out after giving the man a quick "thank you".
"Do you want help giving him the medicine?" the man asked before Luka shut the door.
Luka hesitated. He wanted the man to come with him, he'd much rather some kind adult help him with this problem than have to deal with it himself, but he knew if that woman happened to come back early and the man was still there, things would get much, much worse for him. And Robbie was gone. There would be no one to protect him.
"No, thanks," he said with a shake of his head. "I can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
Luka forced a smile and nodded, waved at the man, then turned to walk to the path. He felt a lonely ache in his chest as he listened to the man reverse the truck and drive away. Clutching the antidote to him as if it were the most precious and valuable thing in the world, he staggered down the path back to Johann as he had no more strength in him to run.
Halfway to the river, he felt the probing in his mind return and he scowled. "Johann just made fools out of all of you," he said. "Dumb ghosts. Accept your loss and go away."
The feeling intensified, which caused his frown to deepen. He felt no fear in this moment. Pride in his pokemon and residual anger from before rallied him. He held his head up high, straightened his back, and now forced himself to keep a steady march down the path despite feeling as if he could keel over at any second. Since his pokemon stood so strongly and bravely against the ghosts, he was determined to as well if need be.
"Luka?" a voice gently said in his mind.
Luka's steps halted immediately and pure, wonderful joy rose within him. "Emil?"
"Are you alright? I felt something terrible might be happening to you."
"Yeah." Luka teared up immediately, more out of relief than anything, and started walking again after he quickly wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Those ghosts came back and Johann had to fight them off. He got poisoned."
"Just poisoned?" a voice chimed in that Luka didn't recognize. "That's nothing if you have an antidote and you have one, don't you?"
"Yeah," Luka thought, looking down at the bottle he clutched so dearly to his chest.
"Everything's going to be okay, then. Don't be scared. I'm Frankie, by the way."
"Mr. Ben's grandson," Luka thought.
"That's right. Do you know how to use that antidote?" Frankie asked.
"I don't," Luka said.
"I'll walk you through it. My pops is the head doctor at Granddad's Center. I've helped him use those many, many times. It's easy."
"Thanks, Frankie," Luka said. By this time, he had reached the end of the path and was relieved to see only his pokemon and the slowpoke there waiting for him. Johann laid still with his head resting on a front leg, looking miserable and drooling rivers but that didn't stop the pokemon from giving Luka a little smile as he approached.
"He doesn't look bad," Frankie said. "His breathing is still good. He's alert and his eyes are clear." Luka let out a relieved breath at Frankie's assessment. "He'll be fine. He's a wild pokemon. They handle these types of things well. I'm actually more worried about you than him."
"I'm fine," Luka said.
"You aren't," Frankie countered. "Not at all. When you're done taking care of Johann, you need to eat something and lay down for a bit."
"I'm always laying down," Luka thought, frowning.
"And that doesn't help much? That's not good," Frankie said, concerned. "What you need to do is let my granddad help you. He's been sick with worry over you."
"He has?" Luka asked although he wasn't surprised. The man was astute. He had known something was very wrong with the boy at their first meeting. Luka had seen concern in his eyes even then. Still, it hurt him to hear this. He had already grown so attached to Ben and didn't want to be a bother to him.
"Tell him I'm fine. Lie to him if you have to," Luka said. He waited for the other boy to reply but Frankie said nothing. "Please. Don't tell him how bad off I am." Again Luka waited but Frankie remained quiet.
Luka let out a frustrated huff. "Shouldn't we start helping Johann?"
"He'll be okay," Frankie said and went back to his silence.
Luka felt Frankie's full concentration on him now. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling for someone as reserved as Luka had become and he was confused for a moment till an idea came to mind. Was the other boy trying to spy on him? What better way to find out about his situation than to wait for any detail of it to pop into his mind where it can easily be seen unfiltered?
"Is that why you're being weird?" Luka said, irritated. Frankie's amusement at being found out was the only affirmation Luka needed. "Nice try but you aren't going to see anything."
"There's something very painful in there," Frankie said. "Something you're scared to face. Show it to me."
Luka shook his head. He doggedly crossed his arms and glared down at Johann. Johann didn't know what to make of this. Both he and Sigge gazed back at Luka, heads cocked in confusion at his odd behavior.
"What?!" Johann croaked.
"Too many bad things happened today. His mind has snapped," Sigge said, staring sympathetically up at his master.
Luka didn't respond. He continued staring, focusing fully on Johann's new looks, specifically the red cheeks and letting himself think of nothing but how striking they were against the blonde fur.
Several minutes were spent with Luka glaring at Johann's cheeks and Frankie's quiet focus on Luka. Eventually, Frankie became too tickled to keep this up and began snickering at the younger boy's stubbornness when Luka started coolly listing off anything red he could think of that matched the cheek pouches' color.
"Okay, fine," Frankie conceded with a laugh. Luka's lips twitched into a victorious smile.
"How did I not hear you making that plan?" Luka said.
"I came up with it while Emil was still trying to establish a connection with you and he hid it from you once we were connected. I wish you had showed me something, though. It would've been better for your sake. We want to help you but how can we if you won't let us?"
Luka bristled, thinking Frankie was trying to get him to slip up again.
Frankie chuckled. He briefly considered pushing further but decided against it as he felt the other boy was already stressed enough. "Calm down," Frankie said. "I'm done."
"It's okay, Luka," he said kindly now. "You have Granddad's number. We'll help you when you're ready. It's okay. Let's get to work on your pokemon." Luka nodded and let himself relax just a bit.
"Get closer to him but don't touch him and don't touch anywhere where he's drooled," Frankie said.
Luka nodded again and walked to Johann, his eyes momentarily catching sight of the frantic words Sigge had written earlier. He knelt in front of the pokemon, avoiding the grass near his mouth and warning Sigge to do the same when he came closer.
"Tell him to hold his mouth open and his tongue up." Luka shared this with Johann after telling the pokemon who he was talking to. Johann smiled. He was very relieved that the boy wasn't losing his mind and also that he wasn't having to deal with this alone. He obeyed, opening his mouth wide and lifting his tongue.
"The bottle says to spray half in the pokemon's mouth for the first dose but I want you to spray that half under his tongue. You see those big veins under there? They'll help the medicine get into his system faster. Tell him to hold it there for a minute." Frankie paused to laugh. "It'll be bitter. You got the strongest variety they make. The stuff's nasty." Luka turned the bottle over to look at the label. He hadn't realized. He had just seen an antidote bottle and grabbed for it.
"At least it'll heal him for sure," Luka said, wondering if it cost much more than the regular bottle.
"It does. Quite a bit more," Frankie said. "Now, he needs to hold as much under there as he can. I'll let you know when he can swallow."
Luka relayed the information to Johann and the pokemon nodded.
"Now give the bottle a good shake and spray half," Frankie said.
"How will I know when I've used half? Luka thought, turning the bottle again until he saw a clear line on the side indicating the amount of liquid in the bottle.
"You don't need that," Frankie said. "I'll let you know."
Luka shook the bottle, held it close to Johann's mouth, and aimed for under his tongue. He listened for the other boy's okay before lowering his hand.
"Tell him to close his mouth and don't swallow."
Johann's eyes narrowed to almost slits and his mouth stretched into a trembling line. If he hadn't been so frazzled, Luka would've laughed at the face poor Johann was making. Still, when he heard Frankie cackling in his mind, and even a chuckle from Emil, he felt his lips attempting to quiver into a smile.
Seeing Johann's reaction to the medicine made Sigge sniff the top of the bottle and he gagged. This time, Luka did join in with the others' laughter.
Time felt like it had taken forever to pass but Frankie finally spoke up. "That'll do for the first dose. Give him the rest of the bottle before bed. Let's get him moved now. Get him out of this place where he's drooled so much. It's not safe for you and Sigge to stay there."
"How do I do that?" Luka thought, staring at Johann as the pokemon rubbed his face in a patch of grass in an attempt to lessen the noxious smell of the antidote lingering in his nose. He'd been heavy to him as a pichu but he was much, much bigger now. There's no way he could pick him up or even drag him anywhere.
"He can walk," Frankie said. "It'll be good for him to move around a bit now that he's taken the medicine."
"Johann, let's get away from this spot," Luka said. The pokemon nodded, stood, and slowly tottered away from the scene of the fight.
As Luka walked beside Johann, he stared at the pokemon's back and couldn't help but feel sad. Gone were the huge black ears, short, wispy mane, and cute sprig of a tail that he had liked so much. Not being able to see Johann's face, this pokemon felt like a stranger to him.
"Don't worry," Frankie said. "He's still the same pokemon inside. And he'll get those huge ears back and even bigger the next time he evolves and raichu have the coolest tails of the whole line. No help for the mane but I think the pretty white fur on the chest and belly more than make up for that."
"Yeah," he thought, smiling now. Raichu were his favorite pokemon after all. Being one step closer to having one of his own was exciting.
Once the distance was to Frankie's satisfaction, Luka plopped down near the pokemon to rest. The events of the morning hadn't just caught up to him. It felt like they had tackled him, slammed him to the ground, and stomped him into a pulp.
"You sent for me, Emil?" he heard Ben's voice say. A second later, a grunt of confusion followed.
The man had walked into the break room of Goldenrod's Pokemon Center to find Emil laying upright and frozen, eyes glowing a brilliant cobalt and fixed absently on the wall beyond the break room's old TV set. His grandson sat hunched next to the pokemon, eyes squeezed shut and mouth pulled into a thoughtful frown.
"Mr. Ben," Luka thought happily.
"What are you two doing?" the man said.
"Talking to Luka," Frankie said.
"What?" Ben had not expected that. Luka could now feel his presence as Emil let him in on the conversation then alarm and distress when the man felt the boy's presence in turn. "What happened, my boy?"
"The ghosts came back," Luka said, staring at Johann. "Johann and the others chased them away but Johann got poisoned. Everything's okay now."
"Poor lad. I was worried that would happen," Ben said.
Luka nodded. His eyes began to close and his head drooped but he jerked himself back awake. He was afraid falling asleep would break the link between Emil and himself and he wanted to put that off as long as possible, especially now that Ben had joined them.
He thoroughly enjoyed talking with his new friend even if it was just about commonplace topics like what was happening at the Pokemon Center that day or being told about the man's family and had taken every chance to call Ben when he was sent out over the last few days since getting his number even if it was just for a quick hello. Ben's kind, grandfatherly demeanor torward him was a great comfort. He brought normalcy into the boy's difficult, little life. Luka was determined to hold onto the connection he had with Ben now as long as he could but his exhaustion was making that into an unwinnable fight.
"Luka," Ben said. "I want to help you, lad. Emil and I will come right away."
"Me, too," Frankie said.
Luka did want help. Desperately so but he shook his head. "Can't just yet," he muttered.
Still, the offer of salvation from this horrid place brought sweet, dreamy images to him of sitting by a fireplace next to Ben who held a book on his lap, and although Luka had never seen Frankie, he pictured a boy with black hair and the same brown eyes as Ben sitting on the man's other side. Johann, Sigge, and Emil lay stretched out comfortably at their feet on a plush wool rug savoring the heat rolling off of the crackling and hissing fire.
"Aww. That's comfy cozy," Frankie said. "My face doesn't look anything like that, though." This caused Luka to smile and he snorted a short laugh. He wanted to ask Frankie how he was supposed to know what he looked like but Ben cut in first.
"You want to be read to, lad?" the man said with great tenderness. Luka nodded. "I'll gladly do so when you come to stay with us. I'll read to you two every night."
"I'd like that," Luka said. He closed his eyes as he felt dizzy and sick with fatigue. He sluggishly thought that he hadn't told Frankie just how much he appreciated his help nor had he thanked Emil for connecting them in the first place. He also wanted to make Ben feel better, he felt deep concern for him gnawing at the man, but before he could come out with the words, he slumped over to the side and was lost to the world.
The connection with Emil severed immediately.
"Damn, it," Ben said. He raised a hand to rub his forehead and caught the stare of a man who stood in the doorway watching the three.
"Poor kid. No wonder Granddad's been so worried about him," Frankie thought.
He looked at Emil and tapped his temple discreetly. "I don't think it'll be a good thing for Granddad to see what we saw. It'll only worry him more."
"I agree but you know he'll want to see it and he'll want to show your father as well to see what he thinks may be wrong with Luka," Emil said. "It can't be helped."
Frankie sighed and looked at Ben's strained face. "He'll be okay, Granddad," the boy said. "Emil saw that he'll be fine and he's never wrong when he has a vision."
"What did you see?" the man said, eyes fixed on Ben's uncharacteristically dour face. "Nothing good, I'm guessing." His face softened from the harsh, pissy look he usually wore when the man didn't respond. He walked to Ben and pulled him into a tight embrace. "He'll be okay, Pops."
Ben nodded and turned his eyes to Emil, who still laid facing the wall but had his head slung back looking at Ben.
The pokemon lifted up and faced his master. "I know you're very worried for him," Emil said. "Be patient just a little longer." Ben's frown only deepened. He was tired of hearing this. Emil gazed at him with understanding. "He'll be with us safe and happy soon."
*Thanks for reading. Comments are welcome and appreciated.