FEARFUL OF THE NIGHT

Chapter 15: Goodbye

When Chip woke up, his head felt foggier than it ever had been before. He shifted slightly in the hospital bed then noticed something strange: he was no longer dressed in his normal clothes, not even his swimsuit, but rather in a white hospital gown. In the bed beside him, Hau had been dressed in the same. Their clothes were cleaned and folded, sitting on the stand between their beds. The room was small, about the size of a bedroom. To Chip's other side, a smaller bed held Rotom, who looked just as unconscious as it had been before, except with a mask attached to its face. A large window stretched from one wall to the other, but blinds were drawn. Outside, shadows moved around, and faint voices came from the other side.

"Chip? Are you awake?" came Hau's voice. Chip rolled over in the bed to see that the other boy wasn't actually asleep as he had originally assumed, but rather Hau's dark eyes were cracked open just barely.

"A-ah, yeah," Chip said, trying out his voice. It felt dry. "Are you okay?"

Hau sat up a little in the bed. "Just a couple of scratches," he said, trying to smile. "Hey, Chip… Nurse Joy came by earlier, she said… we're okay, we're just in shock. She said we can leave in a couple hours, just so she's gotten some time to observe us..."

"Did she say anything about Rotom?" Chip asked, looking at the ghost. The mask on its face made Chip feel sick to his stomach. What had he done to his partner? How could this have happened? If he had been watching Rotom closely, he would have seen the shark. No, it wasn't even that. Chip was selfish for going on the beach when water was dangerous to Rotom. He shouldn't have gone on the beach at all. He should have known better.

"Rotom should be okay too," Hau said, sniffling and wiping his nose with a tissue. "She said it's hurt bad, but nothing they can't handle. I think she was trying to make us feel better."

Chip lay back against the pillows, the sinking feeling turning to heavy one, like someone had piled rocks in his stomach. Those thoughts from before weren't going away. They were eclipsing all his other ones, pounding through his head like a deafening drum. "Hau… can I ask you something?"

"Anything-ouch! Anything." Hau shifted with a wince, rubbing a spot on his side that was bruised from forcing himself into the rocky cavern.

"If… if being with you caused someone you care about a lot of pain… would you let them go, knowing they'd be safer without you?"

Hau sat up in surprise. "Is this about Rotom?"

"Rotom and I…" Chip felt tears starting to choke him. His throat felt like it was starting to swell up. He loved Rotom, and Rotom loved him too. That's why he knew this was the only way. Love was never easy, sometimes it involved making the hardest choices. Maybe that's why his brother had left. Maybe he'd done it out of love. Maybe, now, it was Chip's turn. "Hau, look, I've been bad luck all my life. It feels like everyone who gets close to me gets hurt. Rotom's so young, and it's… it's gotten so hurt since becoming my partner. It hasn't even been a week. We haven't even done anything! I can't take it anymore. I can't see Rotom hurt like this again."

Chip's gaze seemed to narrow until it was only focused on the unmoving orange Pokemon in the bed beside him. Seeing Rotom like that just twisted a knife in his heart, a knife that he should have known better than to let stab into him. Rotom had almost died out there, and they hadn't even been training or battling. His bad luck would only get worse, and Rotom would be the one who paid for it.

He had been wrong. Everyone had been wrong. He couldn't do the island challenge. It was too dangerous-not just for him, but for the one sworn to protect him. Chip couldn't let Rotom put its life and happiness on the line any longer.

"I think…" Hau said, biting his lip. "I think you can't make that decision for someone, Chip. If Rotom wants to stay with you, then that's Rotom's choice."

"Rotom would always choose me," Chip said, feeling his voice starting to choke again. "I know it will. That's why I have to make this choice. Because it won't even consider the alternative."

Hau sighed, his shoulders falling. "Then what? You'd quit the island challenge? What would you do with Rotom, give it away? Rotom's not going to go with anyone." As Litten jumped up onto the bed and Hau ran a hand through its fur, he murmured, "Partners never leave each other. They always stick together, even when it's hard."

"That's easy for you to say," Chip snapped. "You didn't have to see Litten almost die!"

The dark-haired boy froze at the words, staring at Chip for a couple heartbeats before he looked down at Litten. Those fiery eyes stared back, and as the seconds ticked by, Hau realized what Chip meant-what it would mean for him if he watched the light in those eyes extinguish. He wrapped his arms around Litten tightly and buried his face against its fur. Could he do it? If everything he did resulted in Litten's injury and potentially its death, could he keep going? Could he ignore the indisputable fact that his presence caused another pain and suffering?

Battles weren't the same. He'd wanted to argue that, felt the words dancing on the tip of his tongue, but Hau knew better. A structured Pokemon battle was nothing compared to the stress of the real world, where everything fought to survive. He had grown up in a society that stopped battles the moment a Pokemon became too exhausted to continue, but that shielded little world reflected nothing of the true dangers outside.

"You should…" Hau breathed out softly. "You should keep Rotom close to you, but stop battling and anything that could be dangerous. That'd make everything okay, wouldn't it?"

But even as the words slipped out of his mouth, he knew it wasn't enough. And Chip knew it wasn't enough as well. "My bad luck will always bring misfortune to Rotom. It almost died because we went swimming. Because I went swimming. It's me that Rotom needs to get away from, not battling."

Hau couldn't argue with him. He was so tired already, and the knowledge of Chip's decision was weighing heavily on his heart. He didn't even know how the boy would go about doing it. "If you love Rotom... then you know what's best for it."

They were the words Chip wanted to hear-permission to do what he thought he had no choice but to do. Rotom wouldn't like it. Chip didn't know how he would convince it to go with anyone else. He certainly couldn't let Rotom go free, it would just follow him wherever he went. The only alternative he had was to give Rotom to someone, forcing the Pokemon to obey its new owner, just as it'd been given to him.

Chip hoped he had the strength to do it when the time came.

It was a full hour before Rotom finally woke up. The ghost rolled a little bit in its bed, disturbed by the mask, until Rotom suddenly blinked from sight. Chip hadn't noticed the ghost had woken up until he glanced over and realized the mask lay on the bed, but there was no longer a Pokemon attached to it. A couple moments later, something pushed against his arm, and Chip looked to see Rotom flopping down by his hand, panting in exhaustion.

"How did you get over here?" Chip asked, perplexed. "Are you feeling better?"

"Ro-to," Rotom breathed out, its eyes closed. A moment later, it sucked in a breath, then hovered in front of Chip. Before the boy could react, the ghost suddenly disappeared again. Chip looked around in surprise before the ghost appeared in the same place where it'd been before, falling out of the air and into his lap from the effort.

Chip was shocked. "You've learned to go invisible?"

Hau rolled over at the sound of the voices. "Oh, Rotom! Are you better now?"

Rotom looked over to the other boy and shook its head. Rotom was feeling tired beyond belief, to the point where it could barely keep its eyes open. Its electric glow was faint around it, and its wings were still only a mere inch or two off its body. Rotom simply hadn't generated enough electricity to feel healthy again, and as a result it couldn't float much either. Getting from the smaller bed to Chip had been difficult, but it was worth it. Rotom was already feeling much better now that it was leaning against Chip.

Chip knew he couldn't spring his thoughts on Rotom-his decision, rather-while it was still feeling sick. As much as it hurt to keep himself close to Rotom, he knew he couldn't abandon the ghost when it was ill. That was just cruel. Chip wanted to free Rotom out of concern for its health-he never wanted to hurt it, not if he didn't have to. The secret would stay with him for now, until he felt Rotom was healthy enough to hear it.

"Even when you're not feeling well, you're still managing to learn," Chip murmured, running his fingers over the ghost's head spike. Rotom opened its eyes and looked at him happily. "Don't focus on impressing me, though. Get some more rest, Roro, I'll be here… I promise."

It broke his heart to know that promise wouldn't last forever.

When the door to the private room opened, it wasn't Nurse Joy who entered. Instead, a flurry of people slipped into the small space-Kahuna Hala, Professor Kukui, and Lillie. It made sense, of course; Hau must have called his grandfather when he'd woken up originally, and it was only expected that information would get to the professor and Lillie as well. Chip offered a sad smile in response to their arrival. It was so sweet for them to come, but he couldn't stop rehearsing what he'd say to Rotom in his head.

"My goodness! You two have gotten yourselves into a lot of trouble, haven't you?" Hala said, looking Hau over. "You look like you're all right though, aren't you? Didn't I tell you not to get too close to the coral on the reef? It's sharp."

"We were being chased by a sharpedo!" Hau complained.

"At least they made it out alive. I wonder why the Pokemon in the waters around the island have been so agitated lately," the professor said, frowning. "It's something my wife has been studying over the last week or two. There's definitely something wrong, but none of the island scientists are sure what it is. It could be something sound-based… but oh, I'm sorry, Chip, Hau. Are you two all right?"

"I'm okay," Chip said. "Hau's the one who got cut up."

"It's really not a big deal," Hau said. "Just a couple of flesh wounds!"

Chip was staring into space again when the professor noticed the broken PokeDex sticking out of the boy's bag. With a frown, Professor Kukui pulled the PokeDex out, looking at it as his frown grew more and more intense. "... it's broken. What happened to this thing?"

"The sharpedo attacked Rotom," Hau said. "We were swimming, and Rotom was hovering over us, and the sharpedo just jumped out of the water and slammed into it."

"I didn't mean to break it, professor. I'm sorry," Chip said, feeling a sudden rush of fear. Would the professor get angry at him? It was a one-of-a-kind machine! Now he'd managed to break it… "Rotom had insisted it would stay on the beach… I didn't think it would end up following us." He looked down at the ghost with a light frown. If only Rotom had listened to its instincts… then none of this would have happened.

Unless the sharpedo attacked them instead of Rotom…

Professor Kukui sighed. "Well, there's no use in chiding you over it. I have a couple of replacement parts Clemont sent me when he mailed the PokeDex over. I'll try replacing them and see if it turns on again. If not, I know a trial captain who lives on Ula'ula who can help fix it. In the event that Sophocles can't do it… we might need to ask Clemont to fly out here… or I could board a plane to Kalos and bring it to him."

"I could do that," Chip murmured. "I wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced."

At that, Professor Kukui smiled. "Let's just see if the replacement parts help any, all right? He gave me an extra battery and a couple other parts, like a motherboard and a power supply. This thing looks like it needs most of the electric components removed. If little Rotom over there was awake, it could help diagnose the PokeDex's problems, but it looks like it's still recovering."

An idea hit Chip in that moment. What if he gave Rotom back to the professor? He knew that Professor Kukui would take good care of it. It'd have Cosmog to play with, for as long as Lillie stayed there, and all of the professor's Pokemon to keep it company. Rotom knew the professor, so it wasn't like it was going to a stranger. It was the perfect solution. Chip just needed to get up the courage to tell Rotom.

"You mentioned Sophocles, didn't you?" Hala asked. "Do you want me to give him a call and see if he can stop by?"

"I think it'd be best. He's skilled when it comes to tinkering around with technology, and he did bug me quite a lot to show him the PokeDex," the professor said.

Nurse Joy slipped into the room in that moment, looking over the crowd with a light smile on her face. "You know, the maximum number of visitors allowed in a room is two… but I guess we'll let it slide this time." Professor Kukui and Hala laughed, turning to talk to the nurse. Hala, in particular, inquired where the phone was as Chip stared down at Rotom. Hau slid out of the hospital bed as soon as Nurse Joy gave the okay, and Chip did as well, carrying Rotom in his arms. He was silent as he waited for his turn to slip into the bathroom and change back into his clothes. By the time he'd finished, the jostling had woken Rotom up again, though its eyes were half-lidded in exhaustion as it rested in Chip's arms.

"Hey, you guys go on ahead, okay?" Chip asked when Hau paused in the entranceway to their private room. "I'll catch up with you in a minute. I just need to catch my breath."

Lillie looked ready to protest when Hau looked at Chip knowingly-but sadly, at the same time-and took her arm, pulling her out of the room as he happily chattered about something or another. It made Chip's heart warm a little to see Hau was backing him up with this. He didn't want to tell Rotom this uncomfortable truth while there were other people in the room; it deserved the privacy closed doors would offer it.

When Hau closed the door behind him, and Chip heard the faint sound of Hala and Professor Kukui's voices disappearing down the hallway, he slowly sat down on the bed. Rotom looked up at him sleepily, but it still smiled.

Chip had known this would be hard, but he hadn't imagined the struggle to force the words past his lips when he looked at his partner. "Roro… we need to talk."