A.N. I know I said this story wouldn't be as dark as my first one, but this chapter is still going to be rather dark, but it'll also be tooth-rottingly sweet (I hope). Something I forgot to clear up in the first chapter is, I've decided to tell the story from Irida and Adaman's points of view. It'll switch between the two of them after two chapters each. Also, I've changed the story of the game slightly (duh, says you). But with those said, enjoy chapter 2.

CHAPTER 2

Pain and Recovery

Rei was immediately brought to the home he used to stay in when he was 15, and medics were called to the house. Cyllene and Kamado came to see what the commotion was and were completely stunned to see who everyone had gathered round. "Is that who I think it is?" Kamado asked Laventon as he brought Rei into the home. "Yes," Laventon replied. "Me and Adaman found him lying in the Mirelands. A group of crazed Stunky were attacking him." "Did he say anything at all?" asked Cyllene. "He said Akari's name," Laventon replied. "He also said the name of what I think is a pokémon, because Irida and Adaman seemed to be shaken by its name."

As Laventon brought Kamado and Cyllene up to speed, Irida and Adaman had some of their wardens brew up special potions to heal him. Akari knelt beside him, fretting over everything, making sure nothing went wrong. She was starting to annoy a few of the wardens with this, but the heads of the clans told them to deal with it. "She hasn't seen him in five years," Irida told them, "She'll want to spend as much time as possible with him." So, they left her be.

Everyone thought Rei would be up by the end of the day, but he was still out cold by the end of the day. Akari wanted to sleep in the same room as him, but Kamado simply wouldn't allow it. she was forced to return to her own home, where she spent most of the night pacing and only fell asleep around 3 in the morning. When nine o'clock rolled around, and Irida headed over to give Rei some medicine and seeing if he was awake, Akari was already there, kneeling next to his bed.

"Not a crush, huh?" Irida asked her as she walked into the room. "It's not!" Akari answered, her face a red as a pokéball. "He's my friend. I'm just worried about him." Irida nodded but didn't believe her. she sat next to her and applied the medicine to Rei's gash, as well as a few of the other bruises and cuts. "All that's left to do now" said Irida as Akari watched her do these things, "is wait for Rei to awaken. Akari nodded, and clasped Rei's hand. As Irida walked out, she thought she heard Akari say, "Please come back to me Rei. Please."

Rei was still unconscious at the end of that day too. Once again, Akari begged to be allowed to stay with him, and once again Kamado forbade it. So, once again, Akari spent the night pacing her room, and only slept for six hours. Once again, she was by Rei's side when Irida brought the medicine again. "You know," she told Akari, once again giving the young scout a fright, "your case about you and Rei not being a thing is falling apart rather quickly."

Akari looked annoyed when Irida said this. "Let everyone think what they want to," she told her, "I don't care. All I want is for Rei to be ok." "We all do," said Irida as she reapplied the medicine to Rei's cuts. The gash was starting to heal. Laventon had a Wurmple use its silk to seal the wound, and it worked surprisingly well. when Irida was done, she left Akari to stay by Rei.

Many people were gossiping about Akari's behaviour since Rei returned. But no one wanted to say anything to her face, as during these past two days, she was prone to bursting into tears at the mention of Rei. Despite how bad she felt for Akari and Rei, she was glad the rumours were on someone else for once. She was getting rather tired of the rumours about her and Adaman. She absolutely did not like him like that. Well, her heart fluttered a bit whenever they spoke, but that was normal. Wasn't it?

By the third day, Kamado put his foot down. He decided that Akari had spent too much time next to Rei's unconscious form and sent her out to perform research tasks and investigate a massive mass outbreak in the Obsidian Fieldlands. Irida decided to join them, because she hadn't left Jubilife for more than a week because of her duties. Akari rushed around on Rei's Braviary, trying to be as quick as possible, so she could return to Rei's side as quick as possible. She got through five of the Outbreaks before they dissipated.

As she was showing Laventon what she'd found, a member of the Security Core came running up to them as fast as he could. "Rei… is… stirring" he panted. He barely finished his sentence before Akari ran back to Jubilife as fast as she could. Laventon finished jotting his notes as fast as he could, then he, Irida and the Security Core member ran back to Jubilife.

When they got there, a large crowd had gathered around the place where Rei was being housed. As they approached, Adaman came out of the building and started giving out to people for crowding. Then he spotted Irida and Laventon and called them over. Irida's heart fluttered a little bit, much to her annoyance. Adaman pushed a few people back in order to let them through.

Akari was once again by Rei's side, Kamado and Cyllene were hovering over the two of them, keeping an eye on Rei. "How is he?" asked Laventon as they entered. Cyllene shook her head. "He gasped maybe ten minutes ago," she told them, "And he tossed and turned a bit, but other than that, nothing has changed." Laventon, Irida and Adaman looked down sombrely at Rei. Akari was openly crying over him.

She placed a hand on his chest, to feel his heartbeat, when, to everyone's amazement and relief, Rei lifted his hand and placed it on Akari's. Akari gasped and looked at his face and saw his eyes had opened a squint. "Hey Akari" he said weakly. Akari smiled at him, then burst into tears and rapped her arms around him. They all gathered round him and smiled at the warm sight.

Rei remained bedridden for another week. At first, Kamado refused to let Akari sleep in the same house as him, but after the whole of Jubilife was woken in the middle of the night to the sound of bloodcurdling screams of fear coming from Rei, he conceded and allowed her to stay with him. "But only until he's fully recovered," he told her. "Once he's better, you go back to your own house." Akari reluctantly agreed to these terms.

Finally, after a week and a half of being completely bedridden, Rei was able to leave the house. He was given to sticks to help him walk, and Akari would accompany him around the place, to make sure he didn't fall. After a day or two of getting used to walking around, he was able to move without the help of the sticks. He also went to the hairstylist and finally neatened his hair. He liked the length it had grown to, so he decided to keep it like that. But he had it straightened and washed, which took a few hours due to how knotted and dirty it was.

He'd also grown a proper beard during his absence. But he decided to have it shaved a bit, so it was a small goatee that went from his top lip to his chin, and he had a bit of stubble run from his chin to his sideburns. He also purchased himself some new clothes. He now wore a grey kimono top with dark grey trousers and dark grey shoes. Irida had to admit, he looked really good. She looked at Akari, who was looking at Rei as he left his house looking brand new with desire and happiness. The sight made Irida chuckle to herself.

As Rei met up with the two of them, Kamado came out of the Galaxy Team's HQ and walked up to them. "Glad to see you back to normal Rei," he told him. "Now, if the three of you could come up to my office, we need to discuss exactly what happened to you Rei." Then, he led them into the building, Rei and Akari hand in hand.

A few things that I wish to clear up. If you want a more visual description of Rei in this story, just picture a pale-skinned, dark haired Eren Jaeger, wearing the outfit you get if you pre-ordered the game. Also, sorry if the part where I discuss Irida's crush was unnecessary, but I wanted to bring it up. Next chapter will discuss what happened to Rei. I hope you're enjoying this so far.