Story 5: Rescue. (5-5-02)
After several hours in intensive care, Alpestreon had been detoxed from the stun spore by the Nurse Joy as Zephyreon and the bandaged Eon watched. The process had been a little more complex than a Paralyz Heal since the powder had been allowed to circulate through its system. Its blood had to be nearly replaced with donations from Eon, Zephyreon, and some Eevee blood that the Pokemon Center had laying around. Now that all three had been healed (Zephyreon just needed a nap and fed since it had only exerted itself by running, Eon needed some minor bandaging and rest as well from its battles and keeping up with Celeste all that time). However, they had all been bandaged and awake for at least two hours now, and there had been no sign of Celeste. Night was beginning to fall outside, and the Pokemon were very worried that their master was lost in the forest. Since the three Pokemon were drawing a crowd from the trainers that came in the center and Nurse Joy was visibly getting upset by the noise all these trainers were making over them, the three left for Viridian forest in the dusk that was quickly falling.
Zephyreon walked off down the path that it had used to get out of the forest in the first place, carrying Eon and Alpestreon easily on its back. The path had been very faint during the day however, and at night Zephyreon was having extreme difficulty following it. It had help from the light shed by the occasional campfire made by the trainers that had decided to spend the night. The voices and laughter of these trainers echoed throughout the forest, and the three pokemon hoped that Celeste had simply decided to camp out for the night, maybe taking too long to avoid the Pikachu. However, when they listened, Celeste's voice was never among those calling out in the night.
After about an hour of walking (Zephyreon was a very slow Pokemon when not in flight), the Pokemon had still not found their owner, and it was now stone dark and no trainer fires lit the path anymore. Moonlight could not penetrate the thick forest canopy, and the pokemon could not see the weak path in front of them anymore. They heard the noises made by the beedrill flying through the forest and hoped they would not be targeted. Eon dismounted from Zephyreon and began walking in front of the other two, squeaking so that Zephyreon could follow. Since it was the smallest, it could discern the difference between the hard-packed earth covered by grass in the narrow path and the underbrush that ran alongside the path.
After about 20 minutes of follow the leader, Eon stepped on something cold and soft. It squeaked sharply and put a paw on Zephyreon's leg behind it, indicating a stop. Eon sniffed for several minutes but was unable to determine what it was. However, it could tell by its size that it blocked the path completely. Eon began patting the object cautiously with its paws, and when he realized that the object was an arm, a cold feeling sank in its heart as it began squeaking urgently and following the arm up to the human's head. Eon began liking the face and hair, and could tell by the features and texture of the hair that it was Celeste.
Eon began crying out piteously, and Zephyreon and Alpestreon finally understood what was happening. Zephyreon bent its head down to Eon's cries and began to lick Celeste's face with its big, rough tounge. Alpestreon jumped off Zephyreon's back and set to licking her hand, all three trying in vein to wake Celeste. Eon, with a sudden idea, left her face to Zephyreon, jumped over her prone form, and began rooting through her backpack. After a few minutes of rummaging, it came out with the high-powered flashlight Celeste had packed for night excursions and turned it on to hit her body.
After the Pokemon's eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination, they all three cried out in suprise. Celeste had clearly not escaped the wrath of the Pikachu. She was covered with scratches and bruises ranging from severe to minor. Her clothing had been sliced to ribbons, and her supplies had slid for the most part out of her backpack and her pokeballs had rolled all over the ground, something Eon had failed to realize during his earlier foraging. Her body was also stone cold, very pale, and covered with severe electrical burns. All this, and she still hadn't woken up from their gentle urgings.
After the Pokemon took all this in, they realized the situation was extremely urgent. Alpestreon started gathering up all her supplies and putting them into what was left of her backpack, binding it together with vines. Eon was hunting down the Pokeballs in the light provided by the flashlight. Zephyreon was attempting to lift Celeste onto its back, but wasn't having much success. The only way it had to lift her that high was its mouth. It tried to lift her by her clothes, but there wasn't enough of them left to support her body in his mouth, they all ripped when it tried to lift her. It wished not to lift her by her body, since she already had several clearly-defined bite marks all over her body, but it really had no choice. It gently grabbed her around the waist, then as quickly as it could, swung her through the air and placed her gently on its back. By this time Alpestreon had gathered all her supplies and Eon had all 13 of her pokeballs lined up in a neat little row across the ground, all the Eevee-lutions accounted for. Eon put all the pokeballs in the pack save one and Alpestreon used its vines to swing the pack onto Zephyreon's back. It turned to Eon and nodded its head. Eon took the remaining pokeball up in its mouth and sucked Alpestreon back in since there was not enough room for both it and Celeste on Zephyreon's back. Zephyreon then bent its head down and Eon jumped on top of its head and bounded down to its back. It put the pokeball into the patched pack and rode on top of Celeste, holding onto her with all its tiny might as Zephyreon took off on its painfully slow pace through the forest.
It took about a half hour to clear the forest again, and Zephyreon ran past the Pokecenter and into the city. The two Pokemon began searching the streets for the human hospital. After a frustrating 10 minutes, Eon spotted it hidden down a narrow alley off a side street, as far removed from things as it could possibly be.
The large Zephyreon burst in through the front doors, startling the jaded-looking nurse at the counter. She regained her composure as Zephyreon approached the counter, it and Eon calling out desperately.
"Now, you two know that we don't treat pokemon here. Why, I don't think they'll even treat wild, untrained pokemon at the Pokecenter, but you can try. Now run along, you'll scare the patients." The Nurse drolled slowly.
Zephyreon became angry and desperate. It turned its back to the counter, and Eon began licking Celeste's face wildly, hoping the nurse would get the picture. The nurse got a horrified look on her face as she ran from behind the counter and took Celeste in her arms.
"Oh no! It looks like she got ganged up on by the Pikachu in the forest! We have people walk in with electrical burns all the time, but this is the worst I've ever seen! I don't even know if she's still alive, her wrists are so swollen by burns I can't feel a vein! We'll begin working on her right away, but right now her chances don't look very good. Doctor, Doctor! We need you and a gurney out here RIGHT NOW!!!" The nurse said as she began checking Celeste over, yelling the last part hysterically.
The two pokemon watched as the doctor came out and began exclaiming things over Celeste. He took off her backpack, put her on a gurney, and covered her with a blanket. He and the nurse quickly wheeled her back into the body of the hospital, leaving the two pokemon by themselves out in the deserted waiting area.
Neither of the two did anything for several minutes. After awhile, Eon walked slowly across the white polished floor and grabbed Celeste's backpack. It drug it slowly over to Zephyreon. Zephyreon nosed through the contents, found its pokeball, and let itself in. Eon began to cry quietly, left all alone on the floor of the waiting room.
After several hours in intensive care, Alpestreon had been detoxed from the stun spore by the Nurse Joy as Zephyreon and the bandaged Eon watched. The process had been a little more complex than a Paralyz Heal since the powder had been allowed to circulate through its system. Its blood had to be nearly replaced with donations from Eon, Zephyreon, and some Eevee blood that the Pokemon Center had laying around. Now that all three had been healed (Zephyreon just needed a nap and fed since it had only exerted itself by running, Eon needed some minor bandaging and rest as well from its battles and keeping up with Celeste all that time). However, they had all been bandaged and awake for at least two hours now, and there had been no sign of Celeste. Night was beginning to fall outside, and the Pokemon were very worried that their master was lost in the forest. Since the three Pokemon were drawing a crowd from the trainers that came in the center and Nurse Joy was visibly getting upset by the noise all these trainers were making over them, the three left for Viridian forest in the dusk that was quickly falling.
Zephyreon walked off down the path that it had used to get out of the forest in the first place, carrying Eon and Alpestreon easily on its back. The path had been very faint during the day however, and at night Zephyreon was having extreme difficulty following it. It had help from the light shed by the occasional campfire made by the trainers that had decided to spend the night. The voices and laughter of these trainers echoed throughout the forest, and the three pokemon hoped that Celeste had simply decided to camp out for the night, maybe taking too long to avoid the Pikachu. However, when they listened, Celeste's voice was never among those calling out in the night.
After about an hour of walking (Zephyreon was a very slow Pokemon when not in flight), the Pokemon had still not found their owner, and it was now stone dark and no trainer fires lit the path anymore. Moonlight could not penetrate the thick forest canopy, and the pokemon could not see the weak path in front of them anymore. They heard the noises made by the beedrill flying through the forest and hoped they would not be targeted. Eon dismounted from Zephyreon and began walking in front of the other two, squeaking so that Zephyreon could follow. Since it was the smallest, it could discern the difference between the hard-packed earth covered by grass in the narrow path and the underbrush that ran alongside the path.
After about 20 minutes of follow the leader, Eon stepped on something cold and soft. It squeaked sharply and put a paw on Zephyreon's leg behind it, indicating a stop. Eon sniffed for several minutes but was unable to determine what it was. However, it could tell by its size that it blocked the path completely. Eon began patting the object cautiously with its paws, and when he realized that the object was an arm, a cold feeling sank in its heart as it began squeaking urgently and following the arm up to the human's head. Eon began liking the face and hair, and could tell by the features and texture of the hair that it was Celeste.
Eon began crying out piteously, and Zephyreon and Alpestreon finally understood what was happening. Zephyreon bent its head down to Eon's cries and began to lick Celeste's face with its big, rough tounge. Alpestreon jumped off Zephyreon's back and set to licking her hand, all three trying in vein to wake Celeste. Eon, with a sudden idea, left her face to Zephyreon, jumped over her prone form, and began rooting through her backpack. After a few minutes of rummaging, it came out with the high-powered flashlight Celeste had packed for night excursions and turned it on to hit her body.
After the Pokemon's eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination, they all three cried out in suprise. Celeste had clearly not escaped the wrath of the Pikachu. She was covered with scratches and bruises ranging from severe to minor. Her clothing had been sliced to ribbons, and her supplies had slid for the most part out of her backpack and her pokeballs had rolled all over the ground, something Eon had failed to realize during his earlier foraging. Her body was also stone cold, very pale, and covered with severe electrical burns. All this, and she still hadn't woken up from their gentle urgings.
After the Pokemon took all this in, they realized the situation was extremely urgent. Alpestreon started gathering up all her supplies and putting them into what was left of her backpack, binding it together with vines. Eon was hunting down the Pokeballs in the light provided by the flashlight. Zephyreon was attempting to lift Celeste onto its back, but wasn't having much success. The only way it had to lift her that high was its mouth. It tried to lift her by her clothes, but there wasn't enough of them left to support her body in his mouth, they all ripped when it tried to lift her. It wished not to lift her by her body, since she already had several clearly-defined bite marks all over her body, but it really had no choice. It gently grabbed her around the waist, then as quickly as it could, swung her through the air and placed her gently on its back. By this time Alpestreon had gathered all her supplies and Eon had all 13 of her pokeballs lined up in a neat little row across the ground, all the Eevee-lutions accounted for. Eon put all the pokeballs in the pack save one and Alpestreon used its vines to swing the pack onto Zephyreon's back. It turned to Eon and nodded its head. Eon took the remaining pokeball up in its mouth and sucked Alpestreon back in since there was not enough room for both it and Celeste on Zephyreon's back. Zephyreon then bent its head down and Eon jumped on top of its head and bounded down to its back. It put the pokeball into the patched pack and rode on top of Celeste, holding onto her with all its tiny might as Zephyreon took off on its painfully slow pace through the forest.
It took about a half hour to clear the forest again, and Zephyreon ran past the Pokecenter and into the city. The two Pokemon began searching the streets for the human hospital. After a frustrating 10 minutes, Eon spotted it hidden down a narrow alley off a side street, as far removed from things as it could possibly be.
The large Zephyreon burst in through the front doors, startling the jaded-looking nurse at the counter. She regained her composure as Zephyreon approached the counter, it and Eon calling out desperately.
"Now, you two know that we don't treat pokemon here. Why, I don't think they'll even treat wild, untrained pokemon at the Pokecenter, but you can try. Now run along, you'll scare the patients." The Nurse drolled slowly.
Zephyreon became angry and desperate. It turned its back to the counter, and Eon began licking Celeste's face wildly, hoping the nurse would get the picture. The nurse got a horrified look on her face as she ran from behind the counter and took Celeste in her arms.
"Oh no! It looks like she got ganged up on by the Pikachu in the forest! We have people walk in with electrical burns all the time, but this is the worst I've ever seen! I don't even know if she's still alive, her wrists are so swollen by burns I can't feel a vein! We'll begin working on her right away, but right now her chances don't look very good. Doctor, Doctor! We need you and a gurney out here RIGHT NOW!!!" The nurse said as she began checking Celeste over, yelling the last part hysterically.
The two pokemon watched as the doctor came out and began exclaiming things over Celeste. He took off her backpack, put her on a gurney, and covered her with a blanket. He and the nurse quickly wheeled her back into the body of the hospital, leaving the two pokemon by themselves out in the deserted waiting area.
Neither of the two did anything for several minutes. After awhile, Eon walked slowly across the white polished floor and grabbed Celeste's backpack. It drug it slowly over to Zephyreon. Zephyreon nosed through the contents, found its pokeball, and let itself in. Eon began to cry quietly, left all alone on the floor of the waiting room.