When I woke up the next day, Christina was already in the room. Next to her was a cart with a small pillow on it. I sat up and gave her a confused look.
"Oh! Good morning Zangoose! Hope you slept well." She said as she wheeled the cart near my bed. "Today there's quite a bit for us to do. First we need to bathe you". Bathe me? I'm sure I was capable of bathing myself, even while injured, but I just went with it. Christina went over to me and put her arms around my chest, a little above my bandages, and lifted me up, which I hated the moment it happened. Not only did it hurt a little since it was so close to my injuries, but the feeling of being picked up made me feel sick, now I knew why a lot of pets hated it.
Luckily it didn't last very long since she then placed me onto the pillow, then started to wheel me out of the room. The hospital didn't look at all like a pokemon center, which were usual full of more pink and white walls, this one just had average blue and gray walls of any hospital. It was sort of boring to look at. Christina continued wheeling me until we got to the washroom.
To keep it short, the bathing process wasn't fun, it felt weird having so many of the doctors have to wash me everywhere, some places more uncomfortable others, definitely wasn't a fun time. They also had to take off my bandages and wrap some sort of weird plastic around my wounds to keep them from getting wet, I refrained from looking at my wounds, I didn't like the idea of throwing up at the sight of them. Especially not all over the doctors.
After the bathing was over, they wrapped me in new bandages and put me back on the pillow, then wheeled me to some sort of small backyard area. It looked well treated and all, but it smelled absolutely horrible. Christina set me near one of the bushes and told me to do my business there. As much as I hated doing it outside, even when I was human, I knew protesting wasn't an option since figured I wouldn't have any other opportunities anyway. I knew that would probably be the worst part to get used to while I was here.
Afterwards, Christina brought me back to my hospital room and set me on the bed. She then pulled up a chair and sat near me. I moved myself forward to prompt her to pet me, she giggled and complied. I realized I was acting like a real pet now, but I didn't feel as embarrassed about it. I knew I wouldn't be able to pass off being human, so I could just pass off being a Zangoose... Right?
Christina then spoke. "So.. The other survivor will be here soon. I bet they'll be happy to see you!" That worried me. All I had planned was to act like I didn't remember the pokemon. Which, to be fair, I didn't. If some sort of genocide attack did happen, and I was part of some village, then wouldn't I remember it?
Nothing made sense, but then again, I was a Zangoose. Anything making sense at the moment would make even less sense.
I looked at my paws again, examining them. Not much for any reason, but mainly just because they were there. I had lost who I was and became this now, was this good? Bad? Was this all some nightmare? I didn't feel as if I could rightfully say if this was a positive or negative thing... At least until I understood why it was happening and whether or not I'd be stuck as a Zangoose. Though from what I've gathered, it didn't seem like I was gonna be a human again any time soon.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a knock on the door. Christina got up to open it, at the door there was a fairly tall teenage boy, he had light skin as well as dirty blond hair. He was wearing a blue hoodie with a pokeball on the center, some casual red basketball shorts, and some plan blue sneakers, as well as he was wearing a light blue backpack. He had a concerned look on his face.
"Oh! Bryan, it's a pleasure to see you here in person!". Christina said to the boy, who I now knew as Bryan. I was confused, wasn't I supposed to be meeting a Pokemon?
"Thank you ma'am". He shook her hand, then he walked over to me as Christina left the room. "Hey there.. My name's Bryan. I heard what happened to your village and... I want to say I'm sorry for all your loses". He seemed genuine in that apology, which made me feel bad since I remember any of the Pokemon that died. Bryan bent down to pet me, I was a little reluctant at first, but I allowed him to do so. As he pet me I smelled his scent, it was fairly nice, but it did leave something to be desired.
"Oh! I was wondering.. Do you have a name?". I was a little confused by the question, but I figured there was no harm in telling him I had one, so I nodded. "Perfect! I brought these just in case!" He set his backpack down and opened it, pulling out a deck of what seemed like alphabet cards, and setting them down on the bed.
"You can use these to spell out your name for me!". I had to admit, this boy was smart. I looked for the right cards until I found the three that I needed, then arranged them in the proper order to spell out "Rye".
Bryan smiled. "Rye huh? Wonder where ya got that name from" He gave me another pet on the head, then placed the cards back in the bag. "So.. The nurses may have told you already but... there's was another Pokemon who survived the whole accident... I guess it's about time you get to see her again huh?". He pulled out a pokeball, it was almost pure white with only a few red outer strips on the rims. It looked like a premier ball.
He clicked the button on front of it, causing it to open and a flash of white light to jet out of it and onto the ground. The white flash took from and soon faded, revealing a shorter than me blue furred creature. It had long black lobes coming from either side of their head, as well as two blue pointed ears. It had many black markings, mostly on it's chest and on it's nose. As well as a long blue tail. If I remembered correctly, it was a riolu. However, one thing that differed was that this one had multiple layers of bandages wrapped around their eyes.
The riolu looked at me, well sort of, she was facing in my direction at least. She was just, standing there, despite her not having eyes shown, it felt like she was giving me a strange look. I just stared at her, not knowing what to say or do, I didn't want to say something wrong, or preferably anything at all.
Finally after what felt like ages, the riolu spoke. "...Hi...". Her voice sounded saddened, like she had lost so much so quickly. Which, in a way, she really had. I wasn't very sure on what to say, but I knew it'd be rude to say nothing.
"Hello.." I tried not to sound unhappy or worried.
"You're... the new one right? The one who had just joined?". She asked. New one? What did she mean by that? Joined? Joined what?
"I... I don't know...". I wasn't lying, I really didn't know if I was.
"I.. I guess the whole thing was... sudden for us... H-hehe..". She laughed sadly after that one. I had no idea what to say.
"O-oh.. I should probably introduce myself." She walked her way towards me, holding out her paw. "I'm Emma...".
I took it with my own paw and shook it. "I'm Rye." I tried to be polite about it.
"Rye... So you are the new one.." She said in a thoughtful tone. So whoever the pokemon in the village were, I must have met them at some point if they knew my name.
"I-I... I guess I am" I said, now I wasn't even trying to act like I didn't know, I didn't need to act.
Emma went silent for a moment, seemingly not sure on what to say. Though it was hard to tell since I couldn't see if she was making an expression. I decided I'd speak up.
"So... what.. happened? To.. you know.." As soon as I started the question I knew it was rude to ask, but she didn't seem to mind it, since she answer a bit quicker than I expected.
"While I was trying to run, I fell down and one of the falling tree branches hit me in the eye... I had already lost one before the attack" She seemed so calm about her answer, I would've expected it to be more personal.
"I'm.. sorry that this happened to you...".
"Don't be.. I'm exactly blind, at least, not completely. Certain Pokémon like me have the ability to control our aura... I can use my aura to sense my surroundings. It helps with not bumping into things". Emma's tail swayed back and forth slowly, it was rather eerie to see.
"Well.. That's good..". I figured if she was ok with answering more personal questions, she'd be able to answer some other one as well. "So... What exactly happened to me during the attack? I've been trying so hard but... I can't remember...".
"I'm honestly not sure where you were... I don't really know much about you at all... Expect that you were the newest edition to the village. Nobody ever told how they found you... I'm sorry...".
I held back a saddened sigh, I didn't wanna make her feel bad. "Hey it's alright, we're both alive right? We just... gotta try and stay positive about it!".
"Positive...". She repeated the word a few times, then a small smile formed onto her face. "Yeah... positive."
Bryan had been watching us talk, I was worried he'd be confused on why it seemed like we didn't know each other, but he seemed fairly happy with our interaction.
"So Emma, you ready to go home?". Bryan asked her. Emma turned to his direction and gave him a nod, then Bryan looked at me. "I'll be able to take you with me soon Rye, but Christina told me I'd have to wait until you were healed enough to leave. I'll come back though!"
Emma turned back to me. "Bryan here said he was willing to adopt us both since our village was destroyed. I've only been at his place for a short time, but his family is quite kind, I'm sure you'll love it once you come there".
I was pretty on board with that idea, the thought of being a pet didn't sound very thrilling, but it sounded a lot better than being sent back to the wild with no idea how to fend for myself.
"Alright! I can't wait!". I said, half lying and half being honest.
Bryan seemed to get the memo, he pulled out the premier ball from early, clicking the button on the front. A red like emitted from it onto Emma, causing her deform into the red light, which then took her back into the ball. I always knew pokeballs did that in the show, but seeing it in person made it all the more bizare. I wondered, what was it like in a pokeball?
Bryan gave me another pat on the head. "See you soon Rye, can't wait to introduce you to my folk!" With that, Bryan took his leave.
The rest of the day went as normal. Christina came back and gave me dinner, which to my annoyance was the same kibble from last time, then at night she shut the lights off and told me goodnight, leaving me once again in the empty room with only my own thoughts to keep me company.
I thought about Emma and Bryan. Bryan seemed like a nice guy, a person I could get used to being around. Emma on the other hand, something about her unnerved me, and I know that's not one of her abilities. Maybe there was something she wasn't telling me? She seemed trustworthy enough, and I did feel bad about her eyes, the least I could do was trust her for now.
I curled up on the bed, slowly beginning to drift off. I knew that very soon, my new life here, as a human turned Zangoose, would truly unfold. I had no clue what was in store for me next, but I wanted to find answers, to learn how I got here, and how I could get back home.
That is, if getting back home would even be my choice.