Chapter Twenty-Six:
Healing
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Notes: I am always blown away when I get notifications in my inbox about new subscribers to this story, and what's more, those review! Thank you to those who dropped a line in the review box as well. I'm so immensely grateful to you all.
On a separate note, when is the best time to write, you might ask? While watching horror films of course! At least, I find that's what helps me write.
Current Team: Keno the Marshtomp, Sela the Poochyena, Ambrose the Kirlia, Faye the Taillow, Breela the Breloom, Luna the Delcatty
Badges Won: Stone Badge, Knuckle Badge
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"Looking at my scars now, it reminds me that life is so short, and I was lucky to come out of this experience alive."
— Robyn Lawley
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When Pokémon Sapphire and Pokémon Ruby had come out, it was right around the time Shay had started sixth grade.
It should have been seventh grade.
Shay laid blame on a petty, unqualified permanent substitute teacher. Shay had loved the subjects they were learning sans math…and yet, she somehow failed every subject. It seemed statistically impossible. Her teacher's "assessment" however, Shay had to repeat the fifth grade. Sadly, Shay wasn't alone. Several others were failed as well, and it had been deemed they all would need to do the same as her. When several students failed a grade, what did it say more about those involved? The teacher's failure to educate or the students' failure to learn? It was one thing when one student failed.
It was completely different when nearly half a dozen failed.
She did as bid when the next school year rolled around and completed her second go-about with fifth grade. Her second teacher had been so much better, but she was tired of the school, the teachers, the kids. Shay had been immensely grateful she took to another school for sixth grade, in the end. To top off the sundae with a bright and shiny cherry, a new pokémon game was due to drop and she found herself completely engrossed in it, every morning, without fail.
Her gratitude for this all soured instantly on the first day, when she didn't "make the cut" with the most popular girls, who immediately took up the mantle as "Alpha Bitch Pack" in their grade. Even her teachers took to regularly mocking Shay on a daily basis shortly after the school year began. They weren't professional in the least and it allowed unspoken permission for students to join in and even be encouraged by the bullying.
The only respite Shay could take solace in back in those days was playing those pokémon games. She'd play before and after school on a constant loop, even when she had to take the city bus to and from school and home on a regular basis.
That was why the world of Hoenn was so special to Shay. It was the comfort and light in those dark days that kept her sane until she moved on to seventh grade.
She was the reigning champion in her head. She could overcome any trainer and with a trio of starters that she adored to no end, it always ended up being a torturous choice as to which one she wanted to begin her journey with.
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Shay seethed between clenched teeth as she adjusted herself in bed, gingerly moving her injured arm to a less pain-inducing position. Her back was aching. That was an old pain. It was sad to say she was used to it.
Outside, Shay could hear the pattering or clomping of feet as other patrons passed to and from past her room. Shay cradled her arm close to her chest, grinding her teeth as she settled.
What had been mere fragments of memory snippets days ago was now slowly piecing themselves together. Perhaps not in perfect and neat chronology, but it was easier to parse through when she didn't have a doctor staring waspishly down their nose at her. She had meant what she'd said when she spoke with Brendan. Shay could recall having tried coaxing her friend to get on the ground, to lay there in a curled-up fashion to protect both of them.
How did that saying go again…?
"If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lay down. If it's white, say goodnight."
Three simple rules reduced to three simple ditties. Shay would've rather had an encounter with a black bear. Chances of survival would have been higher, same as Brendan's, if they had been alone with one. They were perhaps lucky enough that they hadn't been ambushed by a polar bear…as fucked up as it was to admit.
Her arm continued to throb, and she could feel her pulse in every inch of damaged tissue. The massive swelling wasn't doing her any favours, either. The doctor had warned her it would take time for it to go down, but she'd need to help it along.
"You should ice it every chance you get. It'll help you out in the long run."
It took Shay quite some time to pull herself upright so she could sit on the edge of the bed. She moved gingerly to prevent disturbing her team. She froze when Faye ruffled her feathers, but she remained asleep, head still tucked under her wing.
Shay fished out the meds from her sling-pack alongside her canteen. She downed a pill in a swig of water, and it washed down without a hitch. She wished Brendan had listened to her. Perhaps they both wouldn't have been injured nor scared shitless like they had been.
Not at odds again like they are now.
They were alive, though. That was better than dying in a field, alone and in agony, and miles from help.
Shay knew most of all that she owed Breela her life. Brendan too.
If Breela hadn't gathered her courage to step up…things would have ended far more rapidly than they had. If Breela hadn't evolved, her Stun Spore would have been weaker, less effective. The bear probably wouldn't have grown paralyzed as it had after it had been dusted. Likewise, Breela's area of intent wouldn't have been as controlled or deliberate. Pairing that with Breela's freshly learned Mach Punch, none of it would have worked out together as well.
Sure, her team might have gotten a few good enough hits to scare off the bear, but things could have turned out so much worse. A normal grizzly bear had its natural defenses, and didn't have any elemental advantages, true enough…
But any one of her team could have been grievously harmed or outright killed. If a grizzly could take Shay's head clean off her shoulders with a single swipe of its paws, she shuddered to think what it could do if it got to the rest of the team. Or maybe she was being naïve? Maybe things would have been fine. Perhaps they would've been able to scare the bear off, dish out enough damage that it'd choose to retreat on its own.
Shay would never know, and frankly, she wasn't willing to wish to go back and see. She was simply grateful that their salvation had come at the last hour, and from the most unexpected team member.
Shay cast her gaze across the mattress, seeing Breela and Keno pressed side by side together. Breela no longer looked like a frumpy little fungus with legs come to life.
Her frame was more refined, elegant.
She now sported a long, S-shaped neck that curved much like a bird's neck. A fringe of pale, creamy feather-like moss wrapped across the back of her neck, part of her shoulders and along her breastbones. The rest of her body was covered in a thicker material—it looked almost like lichen—that covered the rest of her body in a semi-protective shell over her fungal flesh. Long legs complemented her slightly stubbier forelimbs, although her terrifyingly large talons were well-hidden beneath her frame while she slept. A modest-sized mushroom cap tilted down her head, covering it much like the brim of a hat would, hiding her tapered snout at certain angles. A concentric ring of reddish growths encircled the pointed nexus. Breela's thick tail topped the whole ensemble of her body's newly developed defenses, ending in a thick club that looked as though it could do quite a deal of damage.
Shay found herself most surprised by just how scarily similar she was to a dromaeosaur; bearing similar framework and features she'd recognize from the ancient ancestors of birds.
It was still dark as Shay found herself puttering about in the little cramped room. She couldn't fall back asleep, not with her arm still burning the way it was. She wasn't wired for wakefulness yet, but early morning hours were coming up. Shay was sure to hear an influx of early risers and their activities soon enough.
Guess I'm staying up, then, Shay thought as she pulled on the hospital-issued sling. She'd have to deal with things until the pain meds kicked in and everything else calmed.
Shay decided to listen to a podcast on low volume as she began to rearrange everything in her main pack. She listened to the soothing tone of the narrator's voice, honeyed and melodic. He spoke clearly as he delved into the horrors of ghosts and demons and eldritch abominations and strangeness all rolled into one.
It was sort of like Night Vale, but with more pokémon.
Shay's work was slow going, but she did her best as she handled things one-handedly. Some of her gear had been improperly stowed since fleeing Slateport. Now that she was forced to sit down and take a breather—however much-needed as it might be—she could take a proper assessment of what was what. Halfway through, she ran into snags of all sorts, and had to take pause to untangle them all.
She also began a list of gear or supplies they were all lacking. Water-purification tablets, camping materials, dry or dehydrated foodstuffs, pokémon-related gear. Any of the latter could relate to more food for her team, medicine for the field, extra pokéballs, and more.
When Shay deemed it appropriate to take a break, the morning sun had finally graced the day by setting the sky aflame with expansive pale blues, golden yellow streaks, rosy-pink glows. It didn't take long for the light mist clinging to the earth to burn away under the early morning's heat. The center square for Mauville was mostly empty, but after a cursory glance outside earlier on, she knew it'd fill up quickly.
Shay froze at the sound of the mattress of her bed shifting and creaking. Sela rose, her rump rising higher as she fell into a deep stretch. That was paired with a long yawn, her eyes squeezed shut. When she straightened and shook herself, Sela licked her chops and turned her gaze on Shay, shaggy little tail wagging slightly, a crooked doggish smile tugging at her black lips.
"You look well-rested," she started off, eyeing Shay up and down as she leapt off the bed. The Poochyena's smile fell from her snout. "Speaking of rest, you should be doing so, now more than ever. With your arm the way it is—"
"I couldn't go back to sleep," Shay sighed, tucking away her sleeping bag beside her pack. It wasn't ready to go back in the pack, and neither were the collapsible tent, pots, pans, or other utensils. Those were meant to be for last. They needed to be at the top of the pack, where she could access them immediately, right alongside her med-pack.
Shay rose her injured arm up a fraction for further emphasis. "This kept waking me up."
Sela padded closer, sniffing at the bandages. She got so close; Shay was almost certain Sela would bump her arm. She didn't, thankfully enough, and took a step back with a decisive snort.
"A shame you humans can't craft a machine to instantly heal your own injuries like you can for us. It would make things easier for you lot, wouldn't it?"
The honest-to-goodness curiosity in the lilt of Sela's voice threw Shay off-guard for a split second.
"I guess our physiologies and morphologies are too different for that kind of ease," Shay replied at last. Sela snorted again, blinking slowly.
"I have to go out now. Would you mind?"
Shay groaned as she rolled back to her feet, legs prickling with pins and needles as feeling rushed back into them. She stifled a yawn of her own. "Out? Out—oh. Right. Yeah, sure. Let's get the others up, see if they do too."
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The rattling of a cafeteria tray and a body sliding into her peripheral startled Shay from the book she was reading. She jumped in her seat, nearly knocking over her coffee mug as a result. Violet light encapsulated it, shimmering as it settled back down. Ambrose, sitting on Shay's left, plucked up a piece of fruit from his dish, popping it into his mouth. She saw the corner of his lip twitch, but he otherwise let nothing on.
Brendan flashed her a tired smile as he glanced between the two of them.
"Easy there, it's just me."
"Hey, Brendan. Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. Safe space around here, you know?"
Brendan sighed as he pulled his cap off his head and scratched at his scalp, nodding to her.
"Yeah. Safe. From that thing, definitely."
Shay swallowed her tongue along with the comment she had lined up, which was along the lines of how Brendan was doing. Brendan held her gaze, lips thin, his silence meaningful. Patient. Waiting.
Her words didn't come.
Brendan's smile was a veil, a mask for the public. She could see the questions burning in his gaze, blurring at the edges of the friendly countenance splashed across from her. Shay flicked her eyes away, glancing around the cafeteria. There were still quite a few people out, their pokémon at the tables or sitting beside them. It was then she noticed a pair of crutches beside their booth.
"How's the leg treating you?" She finally managed.
"It's doing fine. Swollen, tender. The usual for a laceration this size. Shouldn't have to worry about using those for the rest of my life," he said, pointing over his shoulder to the crutches. He nodded to her slung arm. "How's that doing?"
"Hurts like hell. Keeps me from falling asleep and staying that way, but nothing else is new."
The silence between them grew to an awkward head. Shay couldn't take it for long. Beside her, she felt Ambrose's clawed hand skirt across her thigh, gripping the fabric of her pants tightly in a show of support.
"I'm sorry, Brendan. I really am. I…I just didn't want to freak you out and Norman and your dad thought it best that…nobody else knows what I really am, you know? And—and I…I thought…" Shay sighed through her nose. "I know that I dumped a huge thing into your lap and acted like an outright bitch after the fact. I'm…not nice, all the time, and I'm trying to work on it. I practically walked out and left you floundering. I'm sorry."
After she had told Brendan the truth, she had done just that, in every sense of the word. She'd walked out of the hospital room and left him there, waiting for her discharge papers out in the hallway. The moment they were slapped into her hands, she was gone, rushing off to the Pokémon Center of Mauville City.
So occupied in getting away, Shay had completely overlooked to take the time or allow herself the luxury of marveling in the architectural bizarreness of the city.
It was practically a giant shopping mall, apartment complex, hospital institution, food court, and business complex all thrown together. With the exception of the rooftop access that was a walking trail, park, and community garden along with the outdoor center square in the heart of the city, there was hardly any outdoor access. Thoughts on the indoor city-wide internal structural planning shucked to the side, Shay remained in the moment before her.
She waited for Brendan to say something, anything, and it was becoming borderline torturous.
When he finally did, it started with a laugh. It was short and soft, and ended with a punctual shake of his head. His wry grin further bewildered Shay, who knit her brows together and stared at him as though he had just grown a second head.
"Shay…just stop. We were attacked and the second we were alone, I kept trying to interrogate you. It's a wonder we didn't die, and you didn't falter under the pressure, and I…I was an ass about it. You basically saved our asses. I owe you and your team my life, even if I didn't see it at the time."
His candor threw Shay completely off-balance. The sincerity in his voice, the look of mollification in his eyes. A trace amount of guilt flashed across his face, and he shuttered his gaze. The squeeze on her thigh tightened.
'He's going to tell you he spoke with his father," went the itch-shiver-scratch sensation of Ambrose, his ethereal voice skittering across the surface of her thoughts.
At first, Shay felt betrayed. It was quick to wither upon her split-second apprehension of the matter. Brendan had every right to speak with his father on what had happened. Whatever progressed from there had been Brenan's business. The secret was already spilled. There was no stuffing the worms back into the can once they were all out.
"I…I called my dad, after the hospital visit. After you left," Brendan remarked plainly, confirming what Ambrose had told Shay. Brendan was staring into an off-white mug of coffee, his face pinching together as he seemed to be gathering his thoughts. He inhaled deeply.
"I told him that I knew about you. He tried to feign innocence, but…well. He's not the best at lying, honestly. And I wrung the truth from him. The whole truth. Or the side that he knows, from what Norman told him."
When Brendan brought his ocean-blue gaze to bear on Shay, there were still so many questions in them. His grip tightened on the mug.
"What does it all mean? You mentioned the Creation trio in Sinnoh. What do they have to do with you? With…that thing, that-that bear thing that attacked us?"
Shay could tell he was holding back, biting his tongue. She didn't need Ambrose to tell her that.
Shay took a deep breath, studying him for only a moment longer. She reached for her own coffee mug, feeling the eyes of her team on her, waiting with bated breath. Ambrose clutched at her pantleg again. Faye hopped up onto her shoulder, while the others pressed in as close as they could to her side of the booth. Shay smiled at each of them, gratefulness ballooning inside her chest cavity at their support.
Shay turned back to Brendan, a great deal of weight on her shoulders feeling so much lighter than it had before.
Shay took a sip before she began.
She spoke softly, occasionally taking glances around them to ensure nobody beyond their table was listening. Ambrose began updating her on things to assist in that manner. Faye snuggled into the crook of Shay's neck as she spoke. Luna, at some point, hopped into Shay's lap as she explained where she was from, what she did for a living before all of this. She gleaned over some things that she still felt were private or bared no relevancy.
Keno eventually squeezed into the booth beside Shay, leaning his head on her free shoulder. Both Sela and Breela crowded around her feet under the table. Brendan listened in respectful silence. She could see a litany of questions building in his face, an avidity to interrupt and go a million miles an hour in every direction.
Shay told him of her last day in her own world, about how the weather patterns had been drastically altered. Many dismissed it as a rash of strange results from global warming. Scientists implored that change has to be made. It was the same song and dance that had been playing on repeat for the last several decades. It wore thin for everyone, and even Shay had grown exhausted in tandem with her wish that the world would just get off its collective ass and change.
She petered out when she felt she'd exhausted all she could allow herself to tell him.
Brendan was quiet for quite some time. Shay let him bask in the bombshell of information she'd given him. She knew that he needed time to process, but she was also braced for his questions. They were written so clearly on his visage. He was also thankfully holding back for the moment. Shay busied herself with taking a drink from her mug, noting that it had grown lukewarm since she began talking. Her food remained untouched, her appetite having waned to nothingness.
"How…how do you know that the Creation Trio is involved in all this, what—what makes you—?"
"It's been all over the news, Brendan."
Brendan smiled guiltily.
"I…don't watch much television these days. I mean, obviously."
He motioned around the cafeteria for further emphasis and Shay sighed, softly groaning. "Good point…being on the road makes that hard."
His sheepishness was quick to evaporate, but before he could press for more, his bright eyes widened. Shay's brow furrowed together, noticing he was staring at something behind her.
"Oh, shit," was all he got out. Itch-shiver-scratch. Ambrose's warning came at the same time as Shay twisted in her seat, craning her neck over Keno's head. She immediately paled.
All eyes in the cafeteria were instantly on Norman Radliff as he stalked their way with Dom right at his side. A thunderous expression was painted across his face, and it was perhaps his one and only shield with keeping the gathered masses at bay. Shay immediately began to shrink in on herself, her stomach dropping completely away.
Norman planted himself at the side of the table, Dom settling on the side where Brendan sat. He effectively caged the young man in, but the Vigoroth paid Brendan no mind. He was settling his wine-red gaze on Shay, looking every inch the intimidating beast that he was.
"Up. Now. We're leaving," Norman susurrated so quietly, that only she and Brendan could hear. Luna began to growl low and deep in her chest, fur standing up on end as she eyed Dom with a vengeance. The Vigoroth snorted.
"Try it, kitty-cat. I dare ya," he spat. That only incented the Skitty to hiss loudly in response. The noise kickstarted Shay's vocal cords and her brain all at once. She smiled weakly at the stony-faced man glaring down at her, giving him a wave.
"Uncle Norman! Uh, hi there—"
"Don't 'Uncle Norman' me, young lady. We're leaving. Recall your pokémon and let's go! I never should have let you leave Littleroot; this was all a mistake!"
Shay flinched under the abrupt boom of his voice, the clench of his jaw, the flexing of his crossed arms over his chest. She was almost expecting him to grab her, twist her arm. Even punch her. A horde of memories threatened to rise up and consume her, and it took every ounce of self-control to keep them all at bay.
She shrank away from the man, retreating further into the booth. Ambrose placed his clawed hands on her shoulders, gentle and mindful of their sharp tips.
'It's going to be okay. If he attacks, I'll keep you safe,' he told her, warmth colouring his words. There was also a hardness in the way he spoke, but she knew instinctively that it wasn't reserved for her.
"No," she responded, her voice small and distant. She struggled past the throbbing lump digging into her throat, unable to swallow it away. The corner of Norman's mouth twitched as he scowled, arms dropping to his sides.
"Excuse me?"
Slowly, inklings of defiance trickled life back into Shay. She squared herself up, flickering a stolen look at Dom. The Vigoroth exhaled rather noisily through his nostrils, like an angry bull that was one step away from going on a rampage. She turned her attention back on Norman, sitting up straighter and reaching for her mug of now-cold coffee.
"I told you before, you can't stop me. I'm going back home, one way or another. I'm not going back to Littleroot."
"The hell I can't—"
"Norman, please!"
Brendan's voice sliced through the suffocating veil that had encased her and Norman, instantly reminding Shay that he was still effectively here. Her vision had drastically narrowed in scope, she had been so focused on Norman and his visibly agitated Vigoroth. Dom seemed surprised as well since he scuttled back a step as Brendan swung himself out of the booth. The young man leaned on the tabletop and limped a step or two forward, inserting himself between Norman, Shay, and her team at the table.
Faye dug a tunnel under Shay's hair as she traveled around the back of the woman's neck to settle on Shay's other shoulder. The two at her feet were waiting, but she could feel Sela's vibrating growls as she laid across Shay's feet. Luna joined them below, wedging herself between Sela and Breela.
"You can't just take her back. She's a grown woman, not a child." Brendan began to protest. Norman's visage softened briefly as he stared at the young man.
"Brendan, as much as I love you, this is family business—our family—" Norman added rather poignantly, tilting to the side just enough to speak at Shay. There was that righteous anger again, that cold look, just for her. He turned his attention back to Brendan. "—and right now, I'm taking her back to Littleroot before she gets herself killed—!"
"She isn't your daughter, Norman!" Brendan shouted above Norman. It shut the older man up posthaste, and his steely-blue eyes went wide, his jaw going slack. Shay flinched at the sudden echo of his words and noticed that there were still quite a lot of people and pokémon alike in the cafeteria. She wanted to shrink down and disappear at how mortified she was that this was all taking place so…publicly.
Her heart was pitter-pattering at a reckless pace, while the palms of her hands broke out in a nervous sweat. Her eyes darted between Brendan and Norman.
I…can't tell if this is really about me anymore, or not.
'It is,' Ambrose replied delicately. 'And, it also isn't.'
It didn't take long for it to dawn on her.
Norman's daughter.
"Shay isn't your daughter, Norman. And treating her like a replacement isn't going to bring May back. Now, can we please take this somewhere private? I don't think you noticed how public this is, but the last thing any of us needs is some gossip rag getting more juicy tidbits than they have to create some front-page scandal for the next month or two."
Norman's eyes ping-ponged between Shay and Brendan, indecision tearing at him. The man almost looked ready to cave, maybe even…cry? Shay had never seen that expression on him before. Norman finally gave a very short, curt nod to Brendan and then motioned for the both of them to follow him.
Keno glanced back at Shay; tiger-orange eyes bright with worry.
"Should we run," he whispered to her as Dom and Norman turned away. She shook her head, mute, as she gently bumped him to get him to move forward. He scooched over, wordlessly following as she got out of the booth. Brendan grabbed his crutches, and after her team filed behind Shay, he too did the same.
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