Yeah. I'm unorthodoxically late. I have no excuse. I just went through a phase of 'I don't want to do anything but read books' and so I read and read and read...until my husband started complaining that he had been alone in the house for days since when I read I don't exist. I weaned myself off the books like an addict off heroin and have finally returned to my duties as a functioning human being.

*sigh*

Pokémon caught in one gain friendship more quickly.

16

I learned three things about Steven Stone over the next twenty-four hours.

One: he was famous.

The nurse who came in with his food hadn't been the one who'd left. She wore a traditional nurse's outfit, the kind of little white dress you got at costume shops, and, even though I hadn't been the most girly of girls, I could tell that her makeup had to be a grade A job.

Steven instantly stiffened at the sight.

"Here's your food, Mr. Stone." As she pulled the tray around, she kept talking. "I'm Stacey, I'm going to be your nurse for the rest of this shift—that's until five—so don't hesitate to call if you need anything, kay? The button's right there, and here's the remote, and over here is the button for the headboard light if it keeps you up, and the controls for the bed. Also, I'd just like to get this out of the way, but," she sucked in a breath as covertly as possible, mainly because she hadn't breathed during that entire spiel. "Could I have your autograph?"

Steven had yet to even touch his food, his hands folded against his lap. "Um…"

"It doesn't have to be right now, I know you need your rest, but I just…I'm one of your biggest fans." She gave a squeal that hurt my ears. "Ohmygosh, you're cute even when you're all bruised and bandaged up, ahh! Could I have a picture?"

It didn't take psychic powers to see that the poor bloke just wanted to melt through the floor and eat his food in peace, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to endear myself to him by coming around the bed and growling a bit at the girl.

She flinched, but tried to take it in stride. "Oh my, is that a black Ninetales? I didn't know they came in that color. I didn't know you had a Ninetales."

And not wanting to give him the chance to deny that, I showed some teeth and snapped at her calves just enough so that the threat grazed her skin. I think she'd used the same kind of shaving cream as me.

She squealed. "I'm sorry! I'll come back later!"

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," I muttered.

The moment the door shut, I heard Steven sigh.

"Thanks," he said.

I jumped back onto his bed to make myself more visible next time. Something about black poke'mon threw people off for a moment. "No prob."

Two: he was as uncomfortable around people as I was around poke'mon.

It didn't really matter whether the nurse or the doctor came in, Steven spoke as little as he could get away with while being polite and not a complete mute wacko. His poke'nav, the screen cracked in several places, rang several times, but he ignored it.

In comparison, he was rather talkative to me, which was saying something as all I had was body language and my mother-effing name. There was nothing groundbreaking in our almost one-sided talks. Mostly it was him asking if I was hungry, if I liked people, if I'd met any other black Ninetales—general yes or no questions.

Though he did like to jabber about his hobbies.

"I had heard that silver had been found in that cave," he said around his midday meal, of course while no one else was around. "Silver in and of itself isn't all that remarkable, but that cave is made of limestone and sandstone, and silver simply isn't found near those kinds of minerals. But, lo and behold, I had only gone a few meters in when I found a vein of argentite about as thick as my pinky nail, such a beautiful electrical blue striking through the gray, I just had to be sure. I'm afraid I got so excited I didn't consider the softer constitution of the surrounding rock and, well, we both know how that turned out. Stupid, really, I should have had at least one poke'mon out, but being so close to the entrance tempted me into a false sense of safety. Or perhaps it was because I was use to silver being in a shale-like environment, which isn't nearly as precarious."

I just blinked at him and called him a nerd. Not like he'd ever know. Kind of endeared him to me. I could call him "Fuzzy Nuts" or "Silver Shit" and he'd just give me that dopey smile that he did when I called him nerd and say, "I know it sounds silly, but it really is a beautiful stone. It's almost a pity to extract the silver out of it. I should have some in my backpack."

Like hell I was lugging that thing again. He could wait until he could get it up himself.

Three: His dad was a loser.

Well, not a loser by the strictest sense of the word. He did come in dressed like he was walking into a conference room to talk to his fellow big bosses. He smelled like money, or more precisely, cologne, which stabbed up my nose like prickly foxtail grass. He probably wouldn't have even noticed me under the bed if I hadn't sneezed. Lucky me he didn't bother bending down to look, because the last thing I needed was another rich guy eyeballing me.

"Is that your poke'mon sneezing?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Steven.

And without further ado, the middle-aged money man said, "I'm not covering this one up, you know. You've been digging around in the dirt long enough to know how to keep yourself safe. Don't you have poke'mon to do that? Poke'mon that are rather at home in rocks and the like?"

Steven sighed and said the first smart aleck thing I'd heard. "Thanks Dad, love you too."

"Obviously not if you're willing to let yourself decay like this in the holes of the world. Not like you'll ever understand, as I can't see you ever getting to the point of having kids yourself."

Ouch. Great confidence booster you got there.

I sneezed again. Ugh, the stench. The prickles.

"Why are you here?" Steven asked.

"Obviously, to make sure you're alive. Also to take you back home so you can recover—"

"I am not going back there."

"Oh? I read your files, son. One leg completely out of commission for twelve weeks, hips fractured, concussion, oh, and how do you plan on tending to the gashes in your back?"

"I have poke'mon."

"Poke'mon are hardly people. They're animals, or did you get something with opposable thumbs and first-aid training?"

"I'll be fine. I always have been. You coming just means there'll be even more eyes on this place."

His father harrumphed. "You've been under public eye since you were a child. This isn't anything new. I have the cards of a few very reputable psychologists—"

"And I don't need a shrink!"

The chill that came over the air made me shiver. I did my best to hold in the sneeze and breathe through my mouth, but then I was tasting that damn cologne. Uck, bitter bitter chemical peel of death!

"How dare you raise your voice at me when I am trying to help you," said his father in a low, cold voice.

"I don't want your help."

"I don't give a damn what you want. I'm checking you out and you are returning to the manor."

"You have no power. I'm twenty-five, I'm a legal adult."

"A legal adult who is cowering away from people, fleeing his legacy, and lazing about his hermitage like a useless bum. I'm tired of feeling ashamed for you, it's time you felt it yourself."

"You think I don't feel ashamed!"

I sneezed my greatest yet, spraying spittle across the polished shoes.

"If that damn poke'mon sneezes one more time—"

"She can be wherever she likes—"

And since I was being dragged into this, and I wanted him to leave so I could breathe normally again, I wriggled out and set my eyes upon Boss Daddy.

I could see the resemblance immediately. He had the same steel-colored hair, the same steely eyes, except these gleamed like the sun through water at me, urging me to drown as they narrowed.

"What is that?"

And also since I was a poke'mon who couldn't be legally held accountable for my actions, I grinned at him and let streams of bright blue Will-o-Wisp drip down my fangs.

The narrowed eyes went wide with alarm. He stepped back. "What in Arceus name is that?!"

I stalked him, growling, letting my black tails swim about me, trying to seem as intimidating as possible all while dribbling blue fire towards his feet and onto the linoleum, which blackened at the touch.

I waited for Steven to stop me. When he didn't, his dad looked up at him with almost a snarl.

"This is low, boy, even for you."

"I just want to be left alone," he said.

"And you'll sic poke'mon on your own father?"

When Steven didn't say anything, the man actually did snarl.

"Fine then. Be alone, for all I care."

Then the foot came out and I barely dodged getting nailed in the face with Unovian leather.

He left, and I let my fire go. I gave a glance to the black burns on the floor before giving Steven my best apologetic look. But he wasn't even paying attention to me, his gaze at his hands, expression half-hidden by those fan-like lashes. Then, he abruptly threw off his blankets, startling me.

"If you want so bad to be with me, be ready. I'm leaving."

He pushed off his bed, catching on to the railing when he put his weight down on his casted leg with a hiss, revealing for the first time how the cast met up with a thick brace about his hips. I rushed over to him with a clack of claws to put my shoulders at arm's length. I looked around for crutches, but found none. Maybe they would get them to us on check out?

Apparently I'd work as crutch enough, as he tossed his backpack over his shoulder and toddled out of the room, ugly hospital gown and all. At least this one wasn't open-backed.

The nurses at the station across the hall instantly spotted him.

"Oh! Mr. Stone, you could have just pushed the button, there's no need—"

"I'm leaving," he said.

Both women frowned—why were nurses often women anyways? "You're going to need a check out form for that. If you just wait in your room—"

"It's either out a door or a window. You're choice."

The older nurse, with copious cheeks and tightly curled hair, frowned deeply before opening her mouth to protest. But the younger nurse beside her cut her off.

"He has the money for repairs," she only half-whispered—or perhaps she had whispered and I was just underestimating my hearing.

"You'll have to return to remove the braces on your ribs—"

"You have my number."

With that, he pivoted on the spot and begun his limping way towards the end of the hall, where the security doors were, his hand tight in the fur on my shoulders. They opened of their own accord as we approached.

It wasn't till we'd hit the first floor and was passing the shop that he muttered, "You're going to need a poke'ball…" And grimaced at the store clerk who was staring at us through the glass. He sighed, wobbled in, grabbed the first poke'ball his hands fell on—some sort of black thing with a gold strip around its middle and red accents—and tossed it onto the counter. The flummoxed store keep barely caught it from falling onto the floor.

"Uh, sir, you don't happen to be…"

At Steven's bland glare, he thought better of it and rung up the poke'ball. I nearly choked. Last I'd check, pokeball's hadn't been even a fraction of that cost.

The front desk folk all but jumped out of their seats as we walked past.

"Uh, sir, those garments are property of the hospital. Do you have a release form?"

"I'll mail them." Steven didn't so much as pause.

"Can I see your release form, sir?"

I got ready to dish out some more intimidation as the guy ran through the doorway and came around, but Steve already had his arm in and out of his backpack with a pokeball by the time he came out.

A flash, and my old giant friend Aggron, looking once more too heavy and beastly to be allowed indoors, stood between us.

The front desk guy stopped so quickly, he fell on his rear.

"Sir, please, I don't make hospital policy. There's no need to—"

Steven just leaned heavier on me. "Keep people off our backs, will you, Aggy?" He'd become breathless.

Aggron turned his head only enough to give Steven one, sharp blue eye, before turning round to level his horns at shoulder height.

"Mr. Stone!"

We pressed on. Through the front, glass doors. Into the bright evening sunlight of Mossdeep city. I had never been there before, and I didn't get much time to see much other than the parking lot and surrounding buildings before the black poke'ball dropped open before me.

With a flash I was in a poke'ball once more.