tO eXPLAIN iN dUE tIME
cHAPTER 3
[It's so unreal]
The next morning dawned bright and glorious, with nary a cloud in the brilliant blue sky. Shion Taun was bustling with people at ten in the morning, vendors hawking their wares, and people busily buying them.
There was the usual crowd of people at the Shrine in the center of the city, as well as the tourists, and while the sight of the graves of fallen Pokemon pulled at the heartstrings of all, there were tears of happiness along with sorrow.
Tears of another kind were being shed inside the human section of the Pokemon Center as Shigeru Ookido carefully swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed. He held back a biting comment about the scratchy hospital pants and tunic he wore. No one would hear him anyway.
"C'mon, Shigeru," He hissed at himself, "You can do it...It's only hard if you believe it is."
With a hand clasped to his left side, he stood and made his way to the room's private bathroom. Closing the door, he found himself looking into the mirror, and he sighed in annoyance at his rumpled appearance. Spiked hair stood at virtually every angle possible, and dark circles ringed his eyes. He shook his head in disgust, and carefully used the toilet.
Washing his hands proved slightly difficult. His left side felt as if someone was continually stabbing him, and he felt nauseous and slightly dizzy from the poison. Lifting the edge of his hospital shirt, he saw a mass of bruising along his side, and there was a swath of gauze wrapped along the center of the bruise.
So that's what's making it hard to breathe, He thought, while taking a shallow breath, Nurse Joi bound my ribs. He saw a few small spots of blood at the center of the gauze, and nodded to himself. A flying Rock Pokemon had hit him, naturally there'd be some bleeding. Deep down, he wondered if Nurse Joi was wrong about no ribs being broken.
Suddenly, he heard the door to his room being opened. With a grimace, he let the edge of the shirt fall, and after running his good hand through his hair, he strode out of the bathroom.
The sight of Kasumi, Takeshi, and Satoshi in the room had his emotions spinning. Why were they still hanging around? Probably because they had to, or else Jiichan wouldn't pay them. Kasumi and Takeshi looked exhausted, while Satoshi looked as if his best friend had died.
"Where's Pikachu?" Shigeru ventured. To his surprise, Satoshi burst out into tears. "What? What did I say?"
"You idiot!" Kasumi fumed, while pulling Satoshi into a hug, "Pikachu is now a prisoner of Team Rocket, thanks to you!"
"What?!"
"Piiikaaaa..." Satoshi sobbed.
Takeshi rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He simply handed over the clothes Shigeru had been wearing the day before. "You'll want to change into your clothes. We have to leave very soon."
Wordless, Shigeru nodded, and went back into the bathroom. Pikachu was stolen anyway? After all I did... He sucked in his breath. Arcanine...is he... But Shigeru had no way of knowing, since he didn't have his Pokeballs with him.
"Shigeru!" A voice called out loudly.
Takeshi helped Shigeru out of the rented helicopter. As soon as his feet touched the grassy earth, he found himself enveloped in a careful hug. His Ojii-chan released him from the hug, and the older man stepped back to take a look at his grandson.
"How did this happen?" Was all he asked.
Shigeru shook his head, "It's a long story."
"Let's have some tea, then." His Ojii-chan said, leading the way into the large home, "And we'll discuss what happened."
It took about twenty minutes, and several tissues for Satoshi, before the story was ended. Shigeru left out the parts where he swiped at Togepi and insulted Takeshi, and the others didn't move to correct him.
"That's quite a tale, Shigeru," Ojii-chan said. "You are to go to your room, and wait for Chansey to bring the full heal up to you. Nurse Joi of Viridian City sent it over as soon as I sent word of your condition."
Shigeru nodded and made to go upstairs.
"Wait, Shigeru," His Ojii-chan called. "It may hurt...a lot...Try not to let it get to you."
"Alright." Shigeru said, casting one last cool look at the others.
Shigeru made his way to his room and was glad the others didn't see how weak he really was. One hand was flung up against the wall as Shigeru paused to take a breath. The hallway spun for a moment, and Shigeru closed his eyes. Closing them had a worse effect, and a bigger wave of vertigo washed over him.
Opening his eyes, he was glad to see the hallway had stopped its spinning, but feared the darkness that edged his vision. He swiftly made his way to his room. Opening the door revealed a rather large room with a decisively male feeling. The walls were a deep navy color, the ceiling almost black. A large king sized bed graced one wall, while an equally large entertainment center was lined up against the other.
Shigeru paid no attention to the 62" television, nor the top of the line computer with a color laser printer. He didn't even blow a kiss to Ms. December, as was his usual ritual as he passed her. He merely fell onto the bed, ignoring the luxurious feel of the thick down comforter, closed his eyes, and let the darkness sweep over him.
The four heard a door close, and Ookido-Hakase turned his benevolent gaze to the three trainers. "Just what did he leave out of his tale?"
"Nothing, really," Kasumi answered. "He did pretty much as he said."
Ookido-Hakase raised an eyebrow, "I believe you then, though my grandson can be quite a handful."
Satoshi stood up then, "I'm going to watch some tv, if you don't mind." Without waiting for an answer, he left, walking through the open door of the kitchen.
"Professor Ookido," Takeshi said, leaning forward, "We have to get Pikachu back, if not for Satoshi's sake, then for ours."
"Alright, Takeshi," Ookido nodded, "How do you propose to do that?"
"It's simple," Kasumi grinned, "We pull a Roketto Dan and crash their party."
"Do you honestly believe it will be that simple?" A new voice queried.
The trio turned and saw a newcomer standing in their midst.
Kasumi was the first to recognize him, "Hiroshi!"
Oh dear, looks like Rocketto Dan was actually successfull. That's a lot of doubled letters. Um, kay. So, will Satoshi get Pikachu back? Will Shigeru get healed? Why did Hiroshi go to the Ookido place? Are soft tacos better than hard tacos? All this and more in the next chapter of...tO eXPLAINE iN dUE tIME!