Alex impatiently and nervously drummed his fingers against the steering wheel of his car as he scanned the hospital parking lot for an open space. The moment he spotted one, Alex made a beeline for it and hastily parked himself, not even bothering to double check his parking job. In a single rushed motion, Alex turned off the car, opened the door, and leaped out of his vehicle. Alex almost fell flat on the ground in his clumsy haste to get out of his car. Luckily, he was able to catch himself, and as soon as he regained his balance, he rushed inside the hospital as fast as he could manage.

Alex had to stop himself for a moment, however, when he saw a small group of people crowding around the reception desk. Alex groaned impatiently. 'I really don't have fucking time for this.' Alex approached the reception desk without regard for how populated that area was, and listened in to see if they were all in a singular group, hoping that if they were, Alex could be helped sooner. But what Alex heard instead was slightly alarming to him.

"And I'm telling you, I don't give a damn. You're harboring a criminal here and we have the right to know where he is!"

"Sir, this is your last warning. You cannot visit anyone that you have no relation to, nor without a valid reason-"

"I just gave you my reason like five times already! That little miscreant you're harboring assaulted a woman!"

"Be that as it may, he still has a right to privacy and you have no right to breach that privacy. Now please leave before I call security to escort you out."

Alex was slightly alarmed hearing that exchange, but it only confirmed Alex's suspicions that, not only were they not there for a productive reason, but also that they were all in a single group, judging by the dirty looks the other people were giving the receptionist. Alex paused slightly in his stride, wondering who they could even be talking about, but after quickly reminding himself of the reason that he was even at the hospital in the first place, Alex quickly put any wandering curiosities aside and rushed up to the receptionist desk. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Eli Edwards. Could you tell me how he's doing and where he is?" Alex hurriedly asked the irritated receptionist, completely ignoring the protests from the group of people hounding the nurse.

The nurse then fixed her annoyed gaze at Alex, making him rather uncomfortable. "Do you have any familial or professional relation to him?" she droned out without missing a beat.

"Well, I mean, he's my friend, so-" Alex started defensively, bur was almost instantly interrupted by the nurse.

"I'm sorry sir, any non family member or coworker is unauthorized to visit him at this time," she droned rather curtly.

Alex's impatience was once again rising at the unexpected and ill-timed roadblock of seeing how his friend was doing, and as a result, his voice began to shift upwards in volume as he began to sound more and more desperate. "Please, you have to let me through! I don't care if I have to have an escort the entire time! He's my friend and I need to see how he's doing! You can even go and ask him. He knows-"

"Hey, back off, buddy! Where do you get off butting in?" One of the men in the group of angry people clearly had enough of Alex's interruption of their crusade, and marched up to him in an aggressive manner, shooting a rather dangerous glare straight at Alex, interrupting his effort to visit his friend.

Alex felt a small pang of fear from the sudden confrontation, but this was one too many unnecessary obstacles towards seeing his injured friend that Alex could tolerate. He clenched his teeth and, in a fit of defiance, whipped around to face his aggressor with a glare of his own. "Oh shut the fuck up, dickweed. I'm trying to visit my injured friend and I would think that's a little more important than bitching at an innocent person for their own warped sense of justice or whatever the fuck is going on here."

Before the man was able to get a word out in response to Alex's sudden outburst, they were interrupted by a rather loud and authoritative shout from the receptionist. "Hey! That's enough, all of you! Now every single one of you will leave before I have you forcefully escorted off and charged with trespassing!"

Alex whipped around to face the nurse once again, rage giving way to helplessness. He fixed a pleading look towards the nurse. "But-"

"Alex? What the heck is going on here?"

Alex stopped himself mid complaint as his name was called out, putting a sudden halt to the tense exchange. He glanced over to the front of the hallway, where the voice originated from, to see his roommate, giving an alarmed look at the unfolding scene before him. "Isaac!" Alex rushed over to his roommate and gave him a single-armed hug, which a rather bemused Isaac reciprocated after a mere moment's hesitation, still appearing to try and make sense of the scene before him. "Oh thank god," Alex muttered, pulling away from the hug, "you have no idea how much I needed a friendly face to be around right now."

"Yeeaa, I can see that..." Isaac muttered in return, still glancing back and forth between Alex and the rowdy group, who once again took to arguing with the receptionist, half of whom were also giving Alex and Isaac dirty glares. Isaac narrowed his eyes in confusion and disbelief. "So what is- who are these guys, anyway? What, did they stalk Eli here or-"

"Excuse me! You two," the receptionist called out to Alex and Isaac while largely ignoring the argumentative group, to their immense displeasure, "Are you together? Does he know the patient too?" she asked to Isaac, gesturing to Alex.

Isaac nodded. "Yea, he's my roommate. He actually has known him longer than I have."

The nurse's facial expression seemed to soften lightly, though she still didn't appear any less tense. "My apologies. You can go ahead," she said simply, facing Alex, before turning to Isaac again, "Do you remember the room number?"

Isaac nodded. "Yup. I can find my way back just fine."

In the midst of the exchange, Alex was startled to see a rather large dark skinned man in a security uniform approaching the front desk from the other side of the room, who then also caught the attention of the rowdy group that were still shouting obscenities to both Alex and the receptionist. The security guard's presence did little to deter them, though they were eventually forced to begin leaving the area, lest they get themselves into more serious trouble than they were already in.

"Alex, you coming or what?"

Alex's attention flipped back to Isaac, who to Alex's surprise was already a decent distance down the hallway. Alex took one last uneasy glance at the lobby before jogging down the hallway to catch up to his roommate. He let out a stiff exhale, letting a great deal of tension out of his body, though still with loads more to spare. "Uuuggghh... first the protests on UT campus and now this bullshit?"

Isaac gave a concerned glance behind him towards Alex as he led his roommate to Eli's room. "What even was that, hun? Who were those people?"

Alex gave a helpless shrug. "I wish I knew. They were already there when I arrived. Seemed to have it out for one of the patients for some reason..."

Isaac's gaze darkened and he turned his attention ahead of him once again. "I wonder if they're looking to get at Eli again," he muttered in a dangerously venomous tone.

"Wai- what now?!" Alex gawked. A grunt of discomfort from Isaac and a few uncomfortable seconds of silence prompted Alex to speed up his pace until he was walking side by side with his roommate with a deadly serious stare. "Isaac, you gotta let me know what's going on, man. I didn't get a chance to read your texts outside of those first few frantic texts you sent me. So please, what happened to Eli? And is he okay?"

Isaac let out a tired sigh. He looked pained and weary. "Eli is fine, thankfully. Mostly. And what happened was- ah, well I'll tell you in a minute. We're here."

Alex started to let out an irritated scoff, not enjoying the fact that his lack of answers had yet again been prolonged, but it quickly died in his throat the moment it hit him that he was going to see the state of Eli in mere seconds. Alex watched with bated breath as Isaac walked up to the door to Eli's room, gave two quick knocks, and opened it up, allowing Alex step inside first.

Alex swallowed nervously and took Isaac's cue to enter first, slowly stepping inside the room to see Eli turned on his side, facing the wall away from the entrance.

"Nurse, unless it's something urgent, I just wanna be left alone right now," a depressed sounding Eli murmured without moving a muscle.

Alex cracked a small smile. He seemed to be somewhat spirited, at least relatively speaking. That was a good sign. "You sure you wouldn't mind a visit from your other friend too?"

This caused Eli to stiffen up and sharply turn his head towards where Alex was standing. "Alex!" Eli flashed Alex a wide smile and then shifted his body so that he was facing his friends. However, as soon as Eli tried to prop up his body using his left arm, which was being cradled in a sling, he let out a cry of pain and sharply pulled his arm away from the propped position, clutching his shoulder as he flopped down onto his bed. Eli rolled his body so that he was laying flat on his back and continued to grimace as he attempted to ride out the pain.

Alex felt a surprised jolt go through his body at the sudden pained reaction from his friend. "Eli!" He took a couple of hurried steps towards Eli's bed. "Shit, are you okay, man?"

Isaac let out a sad sigh as he closed the door behind him. "Oh Eli," he whispered under his breath.

After a few seconds of squirming in discomfort, lightly groaning through his pain, Eli forced a grimaced half smile at Alex, making sure to remain as motionless as possible. "Ugh... well, I've been better, but it's nothing I won't be able to get up from."

Despite Eli's obvious pain, the fact that he was still able to even force a smile and remain relatively calm through his injury did help to somewhat soothe Alex's fears for his friend. Alex did a quick once over of his friend, now that Eli was facing him and Alex could see the extent of his injuries. Eli looked bruised and swollen in several spots, but it wasn't close to the extent as Nick was when he was first admitted. Alex let out a prolonged shaky exhale, bringing a hand to his forehead and taking a staggered step backwards as a large amount of tension suddenly rushed out of his body. "Oh Jesus Christ, you're okay..," he whispered in a quiet tone.

Eli's strained smile faded after seeing the very sudden shift in Alex's mood. "Alex? You alright, man?"

"Yea, I'm fine, it's just..," Alex paused and took another calmer breath to get his emotions in control, "when I first heard about you being here, I uh... didn't take it well. I thought it was going to be bad. Like, real bad. I'm just... glad you're okay is all."

Isaac gave Alex a comforting shoulder pat. "Not to worry, hun, Eli's gonna be fine. He's gonna need to take it easy for the next month and a half, but he's otherwise not much worse for wear."

Eli flashed Alex another smile to support Isaac's statement.

Alex took a moment to process what Isaac had told him, then let his head hang limp, letting out a low, relieved chuckle. "Thank God..." Alex then clenched his fists, and in a single very sudden motion, sharply whipped his body around to face his roommate, and connected a solid punch right onto his arm.

"Agh!" Isaac recoiled, taking a step backwards out of shock while clutching the arm that Alex just hit. "What the-?!"

"Alex!" Eli nearly shouted in similar surprise to Isaac.

Alex clenched his teeth and glared at his roommate. "That's for scaring the absolute shit out of me with those messages! Do you realize you nearly gave me a heart attack?!" Alex's flash of anger quickly left him as soon as it came, leaving him tired and drained. He used one arm to prop himself against Eli's hospital bed as Eli and Isaac shared a shocked glance, unsure of what to say.

Alex shook his head and broke the silence again. "Look, I'm sorry for doing that. I was just... scared. Stressed. I mean, what was I supposed to think after seeing so many missed calls and your first several texts on the subject being so frantic that it had multiple misspellings?"

Isaac, still rubbing his arm, raised an eyebrow at Alex. "You know, you could've scrolled down. My later messages to you explained Eli's condition in greater detail."

Alex let out a light scoff. "Well sorry for not seeing those, but I was kinda busy trying to get here as soon as possible for fear of being too late before the worst happened. Or something similar... like with Nick," he finished in a mutter, avoiding eye contact with either of his friends.

Isaac's gaze became more empathetic. He walked over beside Alex and rested a hand onto his shoulder again. "Yea, I suppose that's fair. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, hun. But do you think you could take it easy next time? You're a fair bit stronger than you think," he added with a good natured chuckle.

Alex let out a quiet grunt and turned to face Isaac so he could pull him into a hug. "I know, I know... I'm sorry, man. It's- I've just had quite the stressful day today," he muttered.

Isaac gladly returned the hug, holding onto it for a moment before Eli spoke up.

"Huh, funny, and I thought I was the one who needed some cheering up," he teased lightheartedly.

Alex glanced over to a smirking Eli, and let out a chuckle of his own as he broke the hug with Isaac and walked over to the opposite side of the hospital bed. "Yea, yea, I know, you're supposed to be the man of the hour. Sorry for stealing your time in the limelight," he shot back cheekily, adding in a much lighter punch to Eli's non injured arm for good measure, causing Eli to let out a snicker in response. Alex then let out a relieved sigh and gave Eli a smile that was much more genuine. "But for real, man, you have no idea how glad I am to see that you're gonna be okay."

Eli gave a meek shrug and avoided eye contact with Alex, but he couldn't hide a smile of his own. "Honestly, I'm just glad that you care enough to worry that much about me."

Isaac walked up to the other side of Eli's bed and leaned against the wall. "Oh c'mon, hun, don't talk like that. You're a fun guy to be around and a super good friend. It's honestly a wonder how you don't have more friends than you do."

Eli let his gaze drift upwards towards the ceiling, attempting to avoid eye contact from the both of them, but also inadvertently giving both Alex and Isaac a perfect view of Eli's eyes beginning to grow misty. "...thanks, guys," he finally muttered quietly, "You have... no idea how much that means to me."

Isaac gently grabbed hold of Eli's hand and gave it a light, comforting squeeze. "Anytime," he said simply.

Alex's smile quickly turned into a concerned frown after realizing he still had several questions that were currently unanswered. "So um... what exactly happened to you, anyway? How did you get this hurt that it got you landed here?" Eli's expression darkened in an instant, as did Isaac's, though to a lesser extent than Eli. Alex glanced back and forth between the two, growing more uneasy the longer they stayed silent. "Guys? Is... everything okay?"

Isaac and Eli shared a look, ending in Eli giving Isaac a stiff nod before staring blankly at the ceiling again. Isaac faced Alex with a sour look, clearly upset with what he was about to talk about. "You know how there are a ton of protests popping up everywhere?"

'Uh oh...' Alex's simple unease began turning into dread. "Yeeesss...? Did something happen at one of them?"

Isaac clenched his teeth and shot a glare off to the side of the room, but quickly took a breath to stop himself from losing his composure. Isaac still held a glower, but it was more muted and control as he recalled the events that took place. "To summarize, Eli ran into a protest on complete accident- or rather, a group of protestors ran into him- and while trying to deflect and avoid, they ended up finding out he was a pokemon. And well, they were... none too happy to find that out, to put it kindly," Isaac spat, gesturing to Eli's bruised and battered body.

Alex clenched both of his fists again as he felt rage begin to swell up. "So what, they decided that simply being a pokemon is a crime worthy of doing this?! What kind of fucked up- they could've permanently damaged something!" Alex seethed with growing volume, almost to the level of a shout, but then Alex glanced over at Eli's state, and anger gave way slightly for concern for his friend. "Err- you did say that he was going to be completely fine, right? Nothing worse than... what, was it a dislocated shoulder?"

"It wasn't my shoulder," Eli muttered suddenly, causing Alex to stare in confusion.

"It... what? What do you mean it wasn't your shoulder? Why else are you in a sling, then?"

But Eli went silent once again, prompting Isaac to speak up in his place after a couple of seconds. "Well... okay, technically speaking, he's right. You're correct in that Eli suffered a dislocation, but it wasn't of his left shoulder. It was his left foreleg."

Alex narrowed his eyes in even greater confusion for a split second before it hit him. "Wait... are you saying that they did that to him while he was a pokemon?!"

Isaac's face began to contort in silent fury as they discussed the events that led to them being where they were. He was only able to manage a single nod in response.

Alex clenched his teeth and tried to take a calming breath, but it had no effect. "Unreal. This is not fucking real. Do you realize how hard it is to seriously hurt a pokemon compared to a human? I'll tell you. Really fucking hard. The fact that they were still able to do that is... were they trying to fucking kill him or something?! What in the hell possessed them to do that?! What could've possibly led to that?!"

"All because Eli had the bright idea to defend his own life," Isaac shot angrily.

Alex paused, giving Isaac a disbelieving look. "Excuse me?"

Alex could see Isaac clenching his own fists unbelievably tight while the rest of his body began to relax, as if letting go of enough tension to keep his anger under control. "So from my understanding of the situation, Eli happened to run into some chick who found out that Eli was a pokemon. Maybe she tripped over him, maybe she tried touching his human illusion. I dunno. But either way, from what I can tell, it sounded like she made some sort of aggressive advance towards Eli, and it got to the point to where he felt threatened enough to use a move against her. Which... in hindsight was probably a big mistake, cuz it got the attention of the crowd around them as a whole, and after a bit, he got blindsided in the form of a stray hit to the head. And then... this."

Alex was fully prepared to lose his mind. The more of the events that Isaac described, the more furious he grew. But all of that anger melted away in an instant when he heard Eli choke out a single sob. Alex looked down to see Eli had turned his head to the side and buried halfway into his pillow, presumably because he was trying to hide his emotions. But listening to a recollection of the trials that he had just gone through were plainly beginning to take its mental toll on him. Alex let out a sigh that was equal parts sadness and anger as he sat down on Eli's bedside and began rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him as much as he could. "Man, I'm so so sorry you had to go through that. Fucking hell, I don't get what kind of warped... I don't think I even want to understand how people like that think," Alex muttered angrily.

"'s not your fault," Eli muttered in a shaky voice.

The three say nothing more for several moments until Isaac pulled out his phone, letting out a tired groan shortly after. "Damn it... I really hate to leave you guys like this, but I've already been here for too long."

Eli gave a stiff nod. "Is fine. I'm just glad you were here for this long," he muttered in a depressed tone.

"Where you off to?" Alex asked curiously.

Isaac began backing towards the door as he responded. "I need to get back to work. I really did want the day off entirely, but... well, I'm trying to get a management position, so I need to be there as much as I can."

Alex wanted to get offended on Eli's behalf for letting work get in the way of something that he thought was a tad more important, but he reminded himself that Isaac had already been here for a bit, and there's really not a lot else either of them could really do. "Alright, that's fair, I suppose... since we already know Eli's going to be okay and this opportunity may not come up again."

Isaac flashed them a sheepish smile. "Exactly. Trust me, I hate it too, but I kinda need to so we can be better off in the long run."

"Yea, go. You're fine, man," Alex said in a dismissive manner while waving an arm in his direction, but also offering a small smile.

Isaac returned Alex's smile with a grateful one of his own. "I'll see you guys later though, alright? And Eli, I hope you get better really soon."

Eli forced a small smile towards Isaac, but said nothing else as Isaac left the room.

Alex's smile dropped the moment the hospital door closed behind Isaac and he let off another tired sigh. "Crummy timing, but I guess not much you can do there, huh."

Eli just let out a depressed grunt in response, still avoiding eye contact with Alex.

Alex gave a light pat on Eli's good shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "You gonna be okay, man?"

"I'll live," Eli muttered, "I've been in worse pain when I broke a couple bones. I can handle this."

Alex gave a slow nod, still holding onto Eli's shoulder. "...right, so you gonna be okay?"

Eli let out a frustrated exhale, but otherwise remained motionless. "I... I dunno," he whispered in a barely audible tone. Alex pulled his hand away from Eli after a few moments of silence, unsure of what to say to comfort his friend. Alex stared up towards the ceiling trying to think of something, but then Eli continued with a more audible voice. "You were right."

"What?" Alex faced Eli again, who still hadn't moved, and remained silent for a beat. "Right about what?" Alex asked again to try and get Eli to explain what he was referring to.

Eli took another moment still to answer. He slowly shook his head and let out another quiet sob before he responded. "To worry about pokemon-kind. They really do hate us. And me being in here is proof of that," Eli paused to take a breath to try and calm himself, "I guess I was just an idiot to think things would be simple enough that we could take every challenge as they come."

Alex felt a wave of guilt hit him in the chest. "Eli," he muttered, keeping eye contact with his friend even as he remained motionless, "I'm so sorry this shit happened to you. Trust me, man, I take zero pleasure in being right about this. Hell, it... nearly ended up getting you killed because of it. I dunno if I would've been able to live with myself if that were to happen."

Eli finally stirred. He turned his head so that he was able to make eye contact with Alex. "Alex, no," he said, turning the rest of his body so that he was laying on his side, supporting his body with his good shoulder, and facing Alex with an air of empathy, "Please don't think any of this is your fault. It's not like you're responsible for every living being on the planet. People are still going to do dumb and destructive shit either way. It's just the world we live in."

Alex pursed his lips as frustration with the entire situation began to swell up again. "Does it really have to be that way though? I just- I-I feel like there's still something-"

"Alex, stop," Eli pleaded, interrupting Alex before he could continue, "Just... don't. You're beating yourself up way too much over this. Please just... stop? For my sake?"

Alex ground his teeth, despising the fact that he felt utterly helpless, but eventually let out a sigh and forced himself to relax. "Okay, Eli... I'm sorry."

Eli flashed Alex a small half smile, leaned back into bed so that he was flat on his back, and used his good arm to give Alex a comforting pat on his back. "It's okay, man. I know you wanna help, and I appreciate it. There's just... not a lot that can be done right now."

Alex gave a stiff nod, conceding to Eli's point, and went silent. Neither of them spoke for a while, with Eli once again looking away from Alex and staring off into the distance, until Alex heard a voice distant voice that sounded pretty loud.

Eli seemed to have heard it too, having shot up from his bed, sitting upright, looking around the room in a confused state. "What the fuck was that?"

Alex raised an eyebrow and looked back at Eli, who seemed rather startled. "Uh... are you okay, man?"

Eli's attention shot to Alex with growing alarm. "You mean you didn't hear that voice just now?"

Alex then narrowed both of his eyebrows and shifted his body backwards ever so slightly as he was taken aback by his friend's sudden frantic reaction. "W-well yes, but wasn't that just someone next door or something?"

Eli rapidly shook his head, seeming to calm down a bit after confirming that Alex had heard it as well. "No. No it wasn't. Even ignoring that these walls are thick as shit, there shouldn't be anyone in those rooms as far as I can tell."

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but found that he didn't have a response. He wasn't sure what to make of this information. 'Okay, I guess that would explain why it's been so damn quiet the entire time, but then where the hell did that voice-'

The next thing Alex knew, there was a skull with a pair of glowing red eyes directly in his face, abruptly stopping all lines of thinking and replacing it with a cascade of fear. "HOLY SHIT!" Alex scrambled to get away from the skull and ended up falling down onto the tile ground, bumping his head against the wall. "Aahh, fuck!"

Eli was also startled and made a sudden instinctive movement to get away from the source of the danger, but he was a slightly greater distance away from the red eyed skull, so he was able to recognize what it really was relatively quickly. "What- wait, that's a duskull!" he shouted as the ghost pokemon in question began making a sound as if he was laughing at Alex's expense.

Alex held onto the back of his head, groaning in pain. He looked up when Eli named the suddenly appearing entity and, much to his irritation, saw the ghost laughing at him. Alex gritted his teeth. "Oh for fuck's- urgh," Alex shook off the pain of his fall and stood himself up, making a swipe at the duskull, which the ghost pokemon easily avoided. "Yes, thank you! Thank you for the completely unnecessary scare. I really needed that after the day I've had. Now who the fuck even are you?!" Alex demanded.

The duskull seemed to respond rather promptly, but as neither Alex nor Eli were in pokemon form, all they were able to hear was indiscernible distant speaking that sounded vaguely human-like.

"Holy shit, that's creepy," Eli muttered.

Alex shook his head when the duskull finished speaking and pinched his forehead in exasperation. "Eli, I can't understand a single word he's saying, do you think you can transform and translate?"

Eli glanced up to the ceiling as if to consider something, but quickly nodded nonetheless. "Yea, sure. Shouldn't be an issue." Very briefly, a white glow began to illuminate the room, alongside a slight tint of lavender, and when it faded, Alex, along with the duskull, were both surprised to see Eli exactly as he was just seconds prior.

Alex blinked and narrowed his eyes again. "Wait... you- did your transformation fail?" he asked in confusion.

Eli shook his head. "Nope. I'm in my pokemon form now. I just figured out a way to conjure my illusion while I'm transforming," Eli explained simply. Eli was playing it off casually, but Alex could see Eli's small smile as well as his chest puffing out slightly. Whether he was doing it on purpose or not, Alex could tell Eli was proud of himself for figuring it out.

Alex cracked a smirk and leaned against the wall. "Alright, that's actually kind of impressive," he conceded, causing Eli's smile to grow. 'Huh... now that I think about it, I wonder if I can do something similar with Transform? That's gonna need some testing in the future. For now, though...' Alex nodded towards the duskull while still facing Eli. "But anyway, what was he saying?"

The duskull made a noise towards Alex, causing Eli's eyes to widen slightly. "Holy shit that's weird," he muttered.

Alex glanced back and forth between Eli and the duskull. "What? What'd he say?"

"She," Eli corrected, glancing over to Alex, "the duskull is a girl. And uh... that's not what I was saying was weird. I mean, her gender is what she said, but the weird thing is I never realized just how different pokemon sound when listening to pokespeak versus being able to actually understand that pokespeak. She sounds waaay different from that distant echo we just heard. Like... she still sounds kinda echoy, but I can understand her now."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, that is an interesting revelation... but we can delve more into that with you later."

Eli squinted his eyes shut and shook his head rapidly. "Right. Yes, sorry. Getting back on track." He opened his eyes again and faced the ghost pokemon with a more serious expression. "So I'll get down to it. Who are you and what do you want?"

Alex waited patiently as the duskull once again began a lengthy explanation in her unnerving sounding voice. Alex's body did an involuntary shudder, listening to the paranormal sounding speech. After a few moments, the ghost pokemon stopped speaking and Alex shifted his focus to Eli once again. "So what's the story?"

Eli shot a look of uncertainty towards Alex. "Well uh... the short of it is we're apparently being invited to some sort of underground pokemon support group?"

Alex's eyes lit up slightly. "Okay, that does sound kinda interesting, but I'm gonna need a little bit more."

Eli pursed his lips and took a moment to find a good way to summarize what the ghost pokemon told him. "Okay, well she says her name is Sierra, and she's a part of a local pokemon group that, from the sound of it, picked out a spot away from public eyes so pokemon like me could cut loose, socialize, and escape from all these protests and prejudice." The duskull girl nodded rapidly to confirm Eli's summary.

Alex nodded slowly. "Huh, alright. That does sound very interesting. So like, a private place where all pokemon can train, spar, relax, play, all that fun stuff?" After the duskull girl nodded in response, Alex glanced over to Eli again with a shrug. "That sounds really neat, actually."

Eli flashed a nervous smile. "You think it'd be worth checking out?"

"Oh for sure-" Alex stopped himself and once again glanced over to the ghost pokemon, this time with a suspicious gaze. "Ahm, just one thing though. Actually, a couple things. First off, how long have you been in here? How did you know to find Eli, and that he was a pokemon? And finally... what was the deal with showing right in front of me like that out of nowhere?" Alex demanded.

After the duskull went through another lengthy explanation, Eli faced Alex again. "Apparently she was in the area when she saw... well... the fight that I got into," Eli translated, "and it took her a bit to find me and the hospital I was headed for, but once she did, she went invisible and waited until I was alone to show up. Or, well, that was her plan, anyway. She said she got here about the time Isaac was describing to you what had happened to me, and didn't even plan on showing herself to me until after you left, but once it became clear that I had your full support, she made a different call."

Alex felt a chill go through his body as he realized just how long she had been in the room with them, but he forced himself to react outwardly as little as possible. 'Oh fuck, she was watching and listening the entire time? It's a good thing none of us said the wrong thing, or I'd have had my cover blown!' Alex drummed his fingers against the wall, deciding how to respond to that revelation, and decided to press the issue in a way that he figured most people would. "Okay, I'm just gonna ignore the fact that you were snooping on a private moment cuz I guess you had a good reason to this time," Alex paused when the duskull girl made a sheepish shrugging motion, "but I'd still like to know why she felt the need to jumpscare me like that."

After another brief explanation from the ghost pokemon, Eli snickered and glanced apologetically towards Alex. "Uh, well... she says that was just her deciding to have a bit of fun."

Alex shot an annoyed glare at the girl. "Okay, and you thought that was a good idea because why? I was sitting right next to my injured friend!"

Eli chuckled again and interrupted before the duskull could respond. "Yea, uh... she says that's why she did it to you and not me."

Alex threw his head back, letting out an exasperated groan. "Oh for fuck's sakes- alright, fine, whatever. You got me. Now onto the real issue here. Where is this pokemon haven, and when should we head over to it?" Alex asked gruffly.

The duskull turned to face Eli and began speaking once again. After a brief pause, Eli responded to the ghost pokemon. "Yea, I should be out by tomorrow." The ghost began speaking again, prompting Alex to shake his head and sigh, not enjoying the fact that the conversation was fairly one sided. After a few seconds longer, Eli turned to face Alex again. "Apparently it's in a pretty nondescript area of northwest Austin, so she couldn't give us exact instruction on how to get there if she wanted to, but she can lead us there from the hospital after I get out tomorrow."

"Huh, alright. Sounds like a plan-" Alex paused and narrowed his eyes out of concern as something came to mind. "Actually, hold up, you didn't make plans to get picked up by your folks, did you?"

Eli pursed his lips and avoided eye contact with Alex. "Uh, well... I was actually gonna ask you or Isaac to pick me up. As far as I know, my parents don't actually know I'm here," Eli admitted in a sheepish mutter.

Alex did a small double take, not expecting Eli's answer. "What? Why? Why would you not tell your parents something as serious as that?" he asked, maybe a little harsher than he intended it to be.

Eli flinched at Alex's tone and turned his head away from Alex entirely, staring down at the bed he was laying in. "W-Well I don't want them thinking that I can't handle myself, okay? I love them to death, but... they smother the hell out of me. I had to fight just to get them completely off my back after I moved out. I just didn't think something that's only slightly worse than a bad shoulder sprain, along with a few bumps and bruises, would be worth bothering them about for that kind of fallout. Especially if I can get it healed by a pokemon later."

Alex nodded in understanding. "Ah, yea, fair point. I remember you telling me something like that about your parents," he conceded, "Sorry, man. I didn't mean it like that."

Eli relaxed a bit at Alex's apology. "It's fine."

The duskull girl floated forward slightly in Eli's direction and spoke to him once more, somewhat startling Alex. 'Fuck me, I forgot she was here for a moment.'

Whatever the ghost pokemon said, it made Eli shuffle around in his bed nervously again. "Um... well maybe- err, sorry Alex, she asked if I'd have them as emergency contacts, and I think I do, but see the thing is, the hospital never asked for my info."

Alex raised an eyebrow again. Yet another sentence he hadn't expected to hear out of Eli. "Excuse me the fuck?"

Eli gave a nervous and confused shrug. "Y-yea, I dunno why. Maybe it's cuz they didn't have a chance when I came in at first? But like, I don't have my ID on me, and the only thing they asked for ever since I woke up was my first and last name, and nothing else. Since then, well," Eli threw up a single hang in the air, further signaling his confusion, "I haven't seen much of anyone."

Alex narrowed his eyes and made a slow glance off to the side, trying to make sense of the hospital's seemingly nonsensical lack of action, but then his eyes widened for a split second as one possible reason came to mind. Alex let out an exasperated groan and let his head fall backwards against the wall he was leaning against, giving an empty stare towards the ceiling. "Oh God, I wonder if it's because they're trying to protect you from the mob," he muttered tiredly.

The duskull seemed to have a similar reaction to Alex in that she brought one of her tendril-like arms over her face to cover her eyes, and made a motion akin to shaking her head.

Eli's reaction was a lot more animated. He made a startled jump in his bed and sharply turned his head back and forth from Alex to the ghost pokemon, desperately searching for an explanation. "Wha- A mob?! What mob?!"

Alex let out an annoyed exhale through his nose and lifted his head off the wall to face Eli. "Yea, when I came in, there were a group of several people trying to get into one patient's room to try and... I dunno, get revenge or some shit? Isaac mentioned the possibility, and now I'm wondering if he's right and it's actually you they're after."

Eli's breathing became notably faster and he began shifting around nervously. "I don't like this. I need to get the hell out of here right now."

"Eli, dude, calm down!" Alex said in a gentle tone, "You're not gonna get caught. The hospital is a pretty safe place, and one of me or Isaac can pick you up tomorrow, so you won't be alone."

Eli whipped his entire body to face Alex, causing him to flinch from discomfort, but he was too agitated to acknowledge any pain he may have felt. "Yea, well hospitals can make mistakes! And it's a hell of a lot easier for some random person to take a swing outside, or even in the lobby, even with someone else around. If they're really that dead set on attacking me, I don't want to be around for that!"

Alex held his hands up in a placating manner and took a couple steps closer to his friend. "Okay, okay! Calm down, man, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise. Just... gimme a sec to think about this," Alex muttered he began pacing as he went deep into thought. Eli began to calm down slightly as Alex pondered the issue. 'Okay, so worst case scenario when Eli leaves the hospital. He gets injured even more than before. Even if there's security around, they may not be enough if the mob is determined enough... yea, gonna want to avoid that. A police escort? ...no, someone would still follow him and find out where he lives. Maybe Eli can use an illusion on the way out tomorrow? Ah, but we still don't entirely know the extent of his powers. It might fail on him. Shit, maybe we do need to leave today.' Alex shook his head again in irritation, realizing there was no safe way to leave at any other time other than now. Alex let out a frustrated grunt. "Ugh, he might be right. Alright, guess we're just gonna have to do a little hospital escape. Sierra, was it? Change of plans. Looks like we're gonna need to visit the pokemon haven today. Is that alright with you?"

The ghost pokemon nodded her head, accepting the change in plans.

Alex brought a finger to his chin, going into thought once again, thinking of the best way to get Eli out safely. 'Hmm, they know Eli, but... I don't think they realized that Eli was the one I was visiting. Maybe I can take advantage of that.' Alex nodded as something came to mind and he faced the two pokemon before him. "Okay, Sierra, go invisible again and stay close to us. Eli, drop your human illusion and climb into my arms. I have an idea."

Alex walked out of the hospital room, carefully shutting the door behind him, and began walking towards the front of the hospital. He looked down at his arms, which appeared as if they were casually hanging down at his sides. In reality, Alex was holding both of his arms in a cradling fashion, with something distinctly warm and fluffy nervously shifting around in them. It was a bizarre sensation to be seeing something completely different than he expected. Alex forced himself to look forwards and ignore the conflicting signals his brain was sending him.

Alex reached the hospital lobby in a few long moments. He was relieved to see that it was much more empty than it had been when he first arrived. Alex let out a relieved exhale.

"Have a nice day, sir," a friendly voice called out from his side.

Alex flinched and whipped his head to face the source of the voice, only to realize it was only the receptionist sending him well wishes. Alex relaxed slightly and flashed her a forced smile. "Ah, yea. Thank you. You too."

The receptionist gave him an empathetic smile. "Don't worry, he's gonna be just fine. He should be on his feet by tomorrow."

Alex nodded. "I sure hope so." Not wanting to waste any more time and potentially ruin their cover, Alex kept his responses short and simple, and showed little outward emotion as he finally made it to the front entrance of the hospital.

Alex took all of three steps out before he heard a voice call out from the parking lot. "Hey! Hey, it's that kid!"

Alex turned his head towards to voice, and much to his irritation, it was the same group of people from before. "Fuck's sakes, not this again," he whispered under his breath.

"Just keep going," another voice nervously whispered from only a foot below his head, "we can lose these guys."

Alex nodded and continued towards the parking lot, doing his best to ignore the rapidly approaching group.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, asshole!" The loudest of the bunch rushed up to Alex and began walking right beside him, getting in Alex's face, causing Alex to lean away slightly without breaking his stride. "Yea, I remember you from earlier. Where do you think you're going, huh? Done visiting your little pokemon buddy?"

Alex shot a side eye glare at the man and stopped walking as he reached the parking lot roadway, waiting for the cars to pass so he could cross the street. "My friend isn't a pokemon, not that it's any of your business," Alex said in a dismissive manner.

"Huh, really. Cuz I'm not sure if I believe that!" the man spat, causing Alex to recoil at the man's loud volume, "Did your 'friend' tell you how he got hurt? Go on, feel free to share with the class!"

Alex turned his head to more directly face the irritating man and shot a glare at him. "Again, not really your business, but if you must know, it was because of a workplace accident."

"Oh bullshit-" "Uh, hey Dan?" another man interrupted, causing the loudest of the bunch, along with every other person that was part of the group, to face him instead.

Alex's eyes lit up. There was their opening. "Now, Eli!" he whispered. All of the sudden, Alex's eyes became flooded with a confusing array of lights that weren't particularly bright, but did well to disorient him. Alex shut his eyes and took a step backwards. When he opened them again, he saw himself standing in front of him, still holding a glare at the group.

"Say that you don't have time for this," the voice from below him whispered.

"Okay. Doing it in three... two..," Alex whispered back. On the beat of one, the Alex in front of him rolled his eyes and focused his attention across the street towards the parking lot. "I don't have time for this," Alex complained aloud, once again drawing attention from the group, "I'm going home."

"Hey. Hey, buddy! Hold the fuck up!" The Alex in front of him began to cross the street as the last car drove by, with Alex, himself, reaching out blindly with one hand. As soon as his hand connected with something solid but invisible, he began following close behind. The obnoxious group seemed entirely unaware of Alex's actual presence, much to his relief. It was working.

"Hey, which direction is your car?" Eli's voice whispered.

"It's on the right side of the lot," Alex whispered back.

As soon as Alex answered, the image of Alex turned and began walking to the left side of the lot, still ignoring the obscenities that were being shouted at it. Alex quickened his pace towards his parking spot, still holding his hand in the air to gently push the unseen entity along, but kept his body facing the image of himself just so Eli could see what he was doing. Eventually, Alex managed to get far enough from the group that they were out of obvious eyesight. Alex was surprised to see that the image of himself was still being held. 'Dang, even if the quality of the illusion isn't as great from that distance, that's still incredibly impressive.' Alex kept glancing back to see how close he was to his car. As soon as he saw that he was only three spots away from it, Alex dropped his hand from the air and gave Eli a gentle pat. "Okay, I think you can drop the image now. My car is right here."

Alex watched as the image of himself vanished in a flash of purple in the distance, causing the group that was following it to start shouting and frantically running around in confusion. Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the chaos unfolding. He looked down to see Eli in his arms managing a tired smile as well. After a moment of watching the chaos, Alex glanced back to the duskull girl. "Alright, car's right there. Let's head on over."

The duskull girl let out an excited noise and floated over to Alex's car, following his lead as he got into the driver's seat. After setting Eli into the passenger's seat and after Eli turned back into his human form to fasten his seatbelt, being careful to not strain his bad arm, Alex calmly started the car and began making his way out of the hospital parking lot and onto the road once again.