FEARFUL OF THE NIGHT

By: Cy Mendoza

CHAPTER 8

THE POKEMON CENTER

Rotom's eyes opened half-way, then its body began to glow a bright blue. The ghost let out a shriek of fury as it saw the fearow diving down toward its partner. The blue aura jumped in an arc around Chip's body, electricity slamming into the fearow as it got close to them. The bird let out an angry screech, pummeling its wings against the air as it rose back up. Rotom's electricity crackled around it, a dizzy look in the ghost's eyes. It'd taken all the energy Rotom had left to drive the fearow back in mid-dive, but it didn't even seem the bird was deterred. It circled them, eyes narrowed, waiting for the opportunity to dive again.

"Roto!" Rotom took in a sharp, struggling breath. Another arc of electricity exploded above them. "ROTO!"

Crack. Crack. Crack. Rotom kept sending up bursts of electricity, but they were petering out fast, each one weaker than the last. The fearow seemed to realize this, keeping its distance as it watched with keen eyes. Rotom would run out of energy soon. This was a guarantee.

"What's going on here?" a soft voice called out.

"Help them, please!" There was Lillie's voice now, filled with desperation. "Please, you have to help them!"

"Oh my, that's a big fearow… Smeargle, come! Let's chase this thing off!"

Chip forced his eyes open, seeing a strange-looking creature scrambling toward them. It was a very pale eggshell and brown color with a hat that looked remarkably like Rotom's head spike, and it clutched its tail in one hand as it scampered toward them. The strange Pokemon looked back at its owner for a moment, then launched an Ember attack with a swipe of its tail. The paintbrush-like tip burned for a second, then sent out a shower of of embers. The embers scattered through the sky, some of them impacting the fearow's feathers, sending them ablaze in a small flame. The bird flapped its wings with an angry caw, trying to scatter the embers.

"Excellent," called the trainer. "Water Gun, please!"

The burst of water struck the surprised fearow. It took off with a squawk of anger, feathers both burnt and drenched. The black shadow passed over Chip once more, then the sound of beating wings disappeared into the distance.

"Ah…there we go," said the trainer. Chip heard the sound of footsteps approaching him, one set slow, the other set hurried. He slowly uncurled from his protective cocoon around Rotom, holding the ghost carefully as he opened his eyes all the way. Lillie was dashing up to him, worry in her eyes, but approaching at a slower pace was a young man, tan-skinned and dressed in white and brown. His eyes were a calm green, the color of a field of grass, and his pale pink hair was styled to curl up away from his neck.

The smeargle scampered over to its trainer and looked up at him, letting out a little noise of happiness. The trainer stopped beside Chip, holding a hand out to him. "Greetings. I'm Captain Ilima. Are you alright?"

"I...I'm okay," Chip said breathlessly. He looked at Ilima's hand like it might bite him, then slowly placed his hand in the captain's. Ilima stood up, pulling Chip along with, and the blond stood up on shaky legs. Lillie rushed to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder as she looked over both him and Rotom.

Lillie sniffled. "But Rotom, i-it's…"

"Oh dear… your rotom looks very gravely injured, and you look like you're in need of medical attention as well," Ilima said, a slight frown on his face. "Please, let me show you to the pokemon center. Time is of the essence."

The cityscape blurred as Chip's sneakers slapped against the pavement. At one point, he'd passed up Ilima and Lillie, his gaze narrowed and focused on the pokemon center ahead. It felt like every set of eyes was on him, like every person who watched knew that he had an injured pokemon and was judging him somehow. Chip could barely focus as he exploded through the entrance of the pokemon center, taking the pink-haired woman behind the counter by surprise. She looked at him in alarm as he dashed up to the front desk. "I need your help—my rotom got ambushed by a bunch of spearows and a fearow!"

His two companions ran into the pokemon center just a couple seconds after Chip did. He glanced behind to see them, seeing the worry in their eyes, then turned back toward the nurse.

"Oh my goodness," the woman said. Her tag indicated her name was Joy. "Here, let me see it—poor thing, it's barely hanging on! What's wrong with you? You shouldn't let your pokemon battle until it gets into this state! You're lucky you got here in time, or this could have ended very badly!"

She placed a red spray bottle on the counter, and Chip immediately look it and began spraying down the electric pokemon. Rotom's aura sparked and hissed as it came into contact with the liquid, but slowly some of the scratches and bruises started to fade from its orange body. Its eyes opened all the way as it finally started floating on its own again. "Zzrt?"

"He wasn't battling with it, m'am," Lillie said, clutching her bag anxiously. The bag bobbed slightly from Cosmog's movements inside. "The spearows were attacking m-my pokemon, and he and his rotom helped us get away."

"I can confirm this," Ilima said, rubbing the back of his head. "That fearow was quite strong. He was running away from it, not trying to engage it in battle. His partner had no choice but to protect him when the fearow attacked."

Joy didn't look very convinced, but after a moment she sighed. "Very well, captain. Either way—" She looked at Chip. "—carry some potions on you at all times. You never know what could happen, or how far away the nearest pokemon center might be, and it's irresponsible to travel without them." She sighed. "Look, if you take the hallway to the right straight back, you'll come across the PokeMart. As for this little one, I think it would be best if we take it in for the night and make sure it's healed entirely. You can wait in the waiting room until it's ready the next morning."

"Zzrrr!" Rotom exclaimed, looking at Joy in alarm. It darted behind Chip and shook its head. "Ro-to, ro-ro!"

Joy looked at Rotom in concern. "If you don't want to, dear, then no one's going to make you. Please don't be scared, we're only looking out for your best interest."

"Are you okay?" Chip asked, holding his hands out to Rotom. The ghost pokemon slid into his palm and nodded. "You're sure you don't want the nurses to look at you?"

"Zz-zzz," Rotom said, shaking its head. "To-to-to."

"I apologize," Ilima said, approaching Chip. The blond looked at the other trainer in confusion. "I didn't realize that fearow was lingering so close to the city… as captain of this city's nearest trial, I should have known it was there and ensured it didn't attack the city-goers. You have my apologies for that…"

"It's not your fault," Chip murmured, then paused. "Wait, captain?"

"Yes—I apologize if I didn't introduce myself before. I'm Captain Ilima."

Chip frowned, trying to make sense of the vaguely familiar title, but Lillie seemed to read his mind. "Captains are the ones who control the island challenges on each of the islands. There's only one challenge on this island, s-so… this must be the captain that runs the Verdant Cavern…"

A small smile came to Ilima's face. "Yes, that would be my trial. I'm just glad to see both of you are okay. I think if you don't wish to have your rotom seen by the nurses here, you should at least rest before you do any more training. All pokemon centers have a communal quarters area where you can rest." He paused for a moment. "However, if you don't mind, I need to get back to work. I was supervising the Verdant Cavern when someone alerted me to the fearow's proximity. I'm glad I was able to assist."

"Thank you so much for helping us," Chip said, his mouth feeling dry. "I...I suppose I'll see you again when I challenge the Verdant Cavern trial?"

Ilima winked. "Yes, I do believe that would be the case. I will see you then. Please do have a good day, both of you."

"Goodbye, captain!" Lillie said. Soon as Ilima had stepped out, she turned toward Chip. "I think he's right… we should rest here until you're sure Rotom is better. We can get some supplies, then spend a couple hours here… that should be what Rotom needs to get its strength back."

Chip felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. If they stayed here a couple hours, there was a good chance he'd have to train Rotom in the dark. It already made him feel ill to think about the night, and sunlight was streaming in through the windows! Still, he couldn't deny anything that ensured Rotom's safety and health. He nodded, rubbing his face a little with one hand while Rotom rested in the other. Besides, nothing said he necessarily had to train tonight. Maybe they could do something else. Yes-that seemed reasonable, and with Lillie with him, it made even more sense. Lillie didn't like battling, so she wouldn't want to train with him.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" he asked Rotom.

"Ro-ro, ro-to!" Rotom said, darting in a circle around Chip. It landed back in his hand a moment later and flashed him a wide grin. It took Chip a moment of wondering why Rotom was in such a good mood before he realized that it must have grown stronger fighting all the spearows, even despite being beaten up by that fearow. After all, Rotom had unleashed a Thunder Shock attack much larger than it had ever done before, and seemed to be sustaining its electricity longer too.

"Pew!" called out a soft voice. Chip turned to see Cosmog was drifting behind Lillie.

"Wh— Nebby! Please, stay in the bag! That's what started all of this!" Lillie looked around rapidly, then opened the bag. Cosmog whined, then complied, slipping back into the bag. Lillie zipped it up and let out a heavy sigh. "It's so excited to see everything and meet people… oh, Chip, I'm so sorry all of this happened. It's all my fault for not keeping an eye on Nebby."

"It's okay. Rotom seems to be all right… and that's all that matters to me. Let's go to the PokeMart, alright? I need to stock up on potions, like Joy said… and PokeBalls too, for that matter."

"What about your injuries?" Lillie asked, frowning.

"Umm, I'll worry about that after I get some supplies," Chip said uncertainly. "We're going to be here for a couple of hours, so… there's plenty of time to worry about that then." He tapped Rotom's cheek gently. "You heard the nurse, you need to get some rest. How about you sleep in the PokeDex?" He dropped his backpack and pulled the PokeDex out. Rotom blinked hazily, then darted into the machine.

"Your rotom lives in your PokeDex?" Joy asked, looking at Chip strangely. She had been watching their interaction curiously, as if she wanted to know just what kind of trainer Chip was, and how he treated his pokemon—she surely hadn't gotten a good impression so far, not from how injured Rotom had been. But now she knew he had something to do with Kukui, as he had been talking about a PokeDex with a pokemon inside of it, though she hadn't remembered which one it was until now. "You received that from Professor Kukui, right?"

Chip looked up. He hadn't realized Joy was paying attention to his conversation. "It's a long story, but yeah. Rotom is my partner… and it's my PokeDex… pretty great partner I have, huh?" He smiled, then grinned at Rotom, causing the electric pokemon to blush. "It can talk too. Hey, Roro, why don't you say hello to Joy?"

Rotom popped the appendages out of the PokeDex then floated over toward her. She watched it with unrestrained interest, smiling when Rotom floated in front of her face. "Hello, Nurse Joy. I'm the Rotom PokeDex, zzz-zzz. Chip callzzz me Roro."

"A Pokemon that talks!" Joy gasped. "I didn't know such a thing existed."

"I normally wouldn't be able to communicate with humanzzz, but I can use the PokeDex's audio system to broadcast my thoughts into the desired language." Rotom bobbed a little in the air with a grin. "It'zzz nice to meet you."

"I cannot believe that… my goodness, you would be so useful if you worked here!" Joy said. Rotom tilted slightly in curiosity. "You could tell us exactly what the pokemon are saying when they come in. Being able to hear the symptoms from the pokemon themselves would cut out so much extra work. Oh, but I know you're his partner, dear—please don't feel like I'm trying to recruit you seriously."

Rotom blushed some more. "I'd be happy to help, if Chip doesn't mind, zzt."

"Nice to see you're finding yourself a part time job. At least one of us will finally make some money," Chip said with a laugh. He pulled the blanket out of his bag and slowly wrapped Rotom in it, then pulled the ghost out of the air and into his arms. Rotom squirmed a little, then popped its arms back into its casing as it leaned back against Chip, looking up at him.

Joy tapped her fingers against the counter in thought as she watched the way Rotom looked at its partner. Maybe she had been too quick to judge Chip. Sure, there were instances when a pokemon clearly loved its trainer more than the reverse, but this didn't seem to be one of those situations. Chip and Rotom must have truly been unlucky, and their misfortune wasn't due to negligence on Chip's part.

"...Zzrrrr.. I'm only a little tired…" Rotom said with a yawn. "Besidezzz, I'd love to help. Imagine how many pokemon we could meet if I helped in a pokemon center…"

'We'll meet a lot on our journey too, Roro," Chip said, nestling the ghost into his backpack. "I'll leave my backpack open, all right? Now go on, sleep. You need to."

"Zzr…" Rotom nuzzled into the blanket and closed its eyes.

Chip looked up to see that Lillie was watching him. "Hm?"

"You're just so sweet with your rotom," she said quietly. "It surprises me every time… you're so different than the other trainers. They're so focused on winning and success that they sacrifice their pokemon's health for it."

"Roro means so much more to me than winning or success," Chip said, gesturing for Lillie to follow him in the direction of the PokeMart. "I just wish I could protect Roro from harm, from pain… but there's nothing I can do. It gets hurt every time it protects me..."

"Rotom put itself in danger to keep you safe," Lillie said quietly. "That was Rotom's choice. You can't beat yourself up for that."

The two of them walked side-by-side down the hallway connecting the pokemon center to the mart. Chip could hear voices up ahead; it appeared that a number of trainers crowded the shop to purchase supplies. Some of the shelves were barer than they should have been, but Chip could still see an abundance of potions, which relaxed him. He'd get everything he needed to make sure that Rotom trained safely and comfortably.

"I'm just lucky Ilima was there," Chip said. "I couldn't have gotten Rotom out of that situation myself."

That scared him, too. There wouldn't always be a friendly face nearby, ready to jump in and solve all his problems. He was in a big urban city right now, but when he and Rotom traveled into the rural areas of Alola, there would be no one to depend on but each other.

"Ah… speaking of seeing Ilima, I was thinking about the Verdant Cavern earlier," Lillie said. "While I'm not Ilima, I can tell you… I think your rotom will do well against the first challenge. It's a normal-type challenge, and Rotom is a ghost-type, right? Which means that any normal-type moves can't affect it… it makes me feel better knowing that sweet little rotom can't be harmed by those tough pokemon in the Verdant Cavern."

"Really?" Chip said, his eyes widening. That was excellent news! He had worried a lot about whether he and Rotom were strong enough to face an island challenge, but this gave him a renewed sense of confidence. Rotom still needed training, but with this type advantage, he could at least be confident that Rotom could stand a chance. "I think I'll tell it that when it wakes up. Roro can be… um… pretty anxious about battles."

Lillie let out a soft laugh. "I don't blame it, battles are terrible."

The two chatted idly as they waited in line for the mart. There were three trainers ahead of them, and as one trainer argued with the cashier over discounts, Chip felt his discomfort and pain compounding on itself. The scratches he'd gotten from the spearow were itching and burning at the same time, making it hard to concentrate. Lillie had to nudge him when it was his turn to go up to the cashier, and Chip jolted in surprise. "Mm! Sorry!"

The blond trotted up to the cashier and carefully gave his list. Chip wanted ten potions and ten PokeBalls for his bag, that was for sure. He also wanted medicine to aid in curing illnesses. Rotom was electric, he knew, which meant that he probably didn't have to worry about it ever getting paralysis, but the other illnesses were fair game. It was probably best practice to get paralysis healing medicine too, in case he got other pokemon.

As Lillie purchased her items and quietly spoke with the cashier, Chip sat down near the entrance and stared at the items in his arms, and then at his backpack. He reached in and carefully picked up Rotom, holding the electric pokemon against his chest as he started putting the items inside. Rotom shifted a bit in its sleep but didn't wake.

"I think I have everything I need," Lillie said, coming back up to Chip. "Do you think we can get supplies for your injuries here? Or maybe back up front, from Joy?"

"I think you get them from Joy, since she runs the hospital," Chip said. When he stood up and slung his backpack carefully over his shoulder, it still sent a wave of pain through him that made him wince. Lillie looked at him in concern, then gently guided him back toward the front of the pokemon center.

Chip wondered if other pokemon trainers got injured like this. They all made it seem so easy, but it seemed like more often than not something was attacking him as often as it was attacking Rotom. Maybe as Rotom got stronger, that wouldn't be the case. He could only hope. His whole body felt battered, and it had only been two days since he'd become a trainer.

Lillie headed up to the counter. Joy glanced up at her from some papers she was working on. "Um… miss? Do you have any first aid supplies…?"

Joy gave her a soft smile. "We have some bandages, as well as some anti-bacterial lotions to ward off infection. Here, let me get you one of the trainer first aid packs. You'd be surprised how many trainers think their journey won't result in their injury as well as their pokemon's. Fortunately, we always have first aid packs at pokemon centers!"

She handed over a plastic package that was about six inches by six inches. Lillie thanked the nurse then headed back over to where Chip was. "Let's go to the resting area. I think that'll be easiest," she said, gesturing for Chip to follow her as they moved down the hallway again. The first archway they passed said 'Lodging' over it. Inside, numerous bunk beds lined the floor. In the back right corner, there were bathroom facilities that displayed a toilet as well as a shower symbol, divided by gender. A large flat-screen television hung on the wall, showing the news from around Hau'Oli City. A little station off to the side had a coffee maker, as well as some non-perishable snacks for trainers to munch on, then beneath it, a shelf where maps had been stacked. The pokemon center really did have everything a trainer could want for their journey.

Lillie stopped at the first bunk bed that was unoccupied on both the top and the bottom, then plopped down on the bottom bunk and started opening the plastic package. Chip sat down beside her, wincing, and set his backpack carefully on the bed. After checking to make sure that Rotom hadn't woken up, he slipped his shirt off and tried looking over his shoulder.

"Oh Chip, you have so many scratches," Lillie said, pulling out some sanitized wipes. "Um, these might sting, but it'll make sure they don't get infected… okay?" Chip nodded, then winced, clenching his fists when Lillie cleaned up the scratches. He could only imagine where those spearows' claws had been, so this was definitely worth the sting. "Okay… now the bandages. Lift your arms, please?"

It took them only a couple more minutes before Chip's injuries were addressed. He sighed and lay down on the bed beside his backpack. The television on the back wall caught his attention. It was playing a story about Ilima chasing off an aggressive fearow from the city borders. "Thanks, Lillie."

"It's no problem," she said with a small smile. She followed his gaze for a moment, then bit her bottom lip. "Do you want me to stay with you until Rotom's healthy again?"

Chip rolled onto his side and looked at her. "Were you thinking of going back?"

"Ah...yes. I can't leave the professor alone for too long… or he might forget to eat, or the place will be a disaster after he does some attack move research… so I think I should go back there and make sure his lab is still standing… that's what a good research assistant does, right?"

"I'll be okay. I'll probably take a nap while Rotom's sleeping. If you need to get back, then that's fine."

Chip felt a little twinge of sadness. He'd liked Lillie—she was quiet but pleasant company. Nonetheless, he knew from his studies in Kanto that an adventure like the island challenge could only be done alone. Or not alone, really. Trainers always had the company of their pokemon. If he thought about it, forging that deep, trusting bond with Rotom sounded very nice.

"You're sure? I can go back after you're done resting," Lillie said uncertainly.

"I wouldn't want to keep you from your job, especially if I'm just going to be sleeping," Chip said. "For now, I guess this is goodbye… until we meet up again."

A/N: Are there any particular characters you'd like to see featured in this story? Any scenes you'd enjoy reading? Comment below!