Days passed and my training with Professor Conifer continued. I wasn't doing any real work yet, she was still going over the chemistry, statistics, and biology aspects with me, but I was ok with math and science in school so it wasn't all that difficult. Plus my time in nursing school had given me an edge on the biology aspect. Professor Conifer had given me some textbooks as well as the old notes from the laboratory archive to study and familiarize myself with in my off time. Meanwhile, Jessee and James and the new Pokemon partner Meowth spent every night doing physical agility training and team building, so they were out of the dorm most of the time, only there to sleep. Now it was the weekend and they were being shipped out to some remote place for some sort of test mission, so I would have the entire dorm to myself.

I had the weekend off from lessons with Professor Conifer, so she had taxed me with studying a pile of algorithm notes and notating what was incorrect with them and how to correct any errors. I sat at the desk mulling over these notes and diagrams scribbled messily on the yellowing paper marking my own corrections and notes in my own notebook to show to the professor on Monday. Pikachu by this point had grown used to me sitting long hours, papers piled high around me, until I inevitably passed out on my desk, and now he sat up in front of me—bless his heart—trying to help in any way he could, but only really ended up sitting there watching me scribble fervently on my notes.

I paused for only a moment and stretched. My movement made Pikachu pick up his head and perk his ears. "Pi?"

"Still got a lot of work to do, Bud." I replied with a quiet chuckle. "What time is it…?" I glanced over at the clock sitting on the table. "6:25…Don't worry, just let me finish up with this diagram and then I'll go down and get us something to eat."

"Pika cha!" Pikachu chirped happily in agreement.

I gave him a little smile and settled back down into my work. Not five seconds later the door flung open with a bang. "JESS!" My sister exclaimed rushing into the room in a panic.

I stood up hurriedly, knocking many of the notes and papers onto the floor. "Jessee! What's the matter."

Jessee didn't answer my question, but grabbed my arms and started pulling me toward the door. She was hyperventilating and just kept saying my name over and over, "Jess! Jess!"

"Jessee!" I ordered firmly, grabbing her by her jumpsuit sleeves and settling my feet onto the ground, trying to get her attention. "Breathe; tell me what's wrong!"

Jessee stopped tugging my arms for only a moment to look at me with panic-stricken eyes. "James is hurt!"

I don't even remember running all the way to the infirmary. As far as I'm concerned, I teleported from my dorm room to where a number of doctors and nurses were hurriedly wheeling my brother toward the operating room yelling things that in my mental state I could neither hear nor understand.

"James…!" I choked out with a strained voice I struggled to shove my way through the crowd in order to get to my baby brother.

One of the nurses grabbed me and pushed me back. "Miss, you need to stay back!" She said in a voice that was sweet but firm. With her movement I did manage to get a glimpse of him though—sopping wet, bruised almost black, deep lacerations marring his delicate ivory skin, and I could see his chest struggling to rise and fall with every painful breath he took. He opened his eyes and glanced at me just as they were pushing him through the doors into another corridor. He struggled a weak smile and moved a couple of his fingers in a sort of wave before the large swinging doors slammed shut.

My heart stopped, my eyes instantly welling with tears. I couldn't bare to see my siblings in pain, and this…Suddenly I was afraid I was going to lose him again—for good this time…

I turned around to see Jessee standing behind me, gripping hard the sides of her uniform. I walked over and gripped her shoulders firmly. "You need to tell me what happened."

Jessee swallowed hard, eyes wide with fear, "But, Jess, I can't…the confidentiality—"

"I don't care about that!" I interrupted her, clenching the sleeves of her jumpsuit. "You need to tell me what happened to him! We're technically on the same team, anyway."

Jessee took a hard breath and began quietly. "We had a mission…to get from point A to point B in a single 24 hour period. Almost directly across from the finish line there was a bridge, but it was old and rotten…I made it across just fine…I tried to make sure it was safe…but James…he tried to help Meowth across and it collapsed…He fell into the rapids down below. We found him a mile downstream and that's when I called in for help…"

Jessee started shaking. My grip on her uniform softened and I pulled her into a hug. "It's not your fault, Jessee. These things happen; you did everything you could…"

"We should have gone a different way…" Jessee whispered. "We didn't have to be the first ones at the finish line, we could have found another way around…I knew it wasn't safe, I should have charted a different path…."

Suddenly I thought of something. "Wait…Where is Meowth…?" I asked pushing away from her.

Jessee's eyes drifted up past me and she gestured her head toward another funneling hallway. I looked up and could see the tawny cat Pokemon waddling toward us carrying a large tray piled high with food. He had a big dopey grin on his face, a complete departure from the rest of us—like what had just happened to his teammate had no effect on him.

It may sound like I don't like meowths. That's not true. I don't have any problem with them. I am actually quite fond of them and their evolved form Persian. We even used to have a couple that lived in the barn when I was really young. I however DID NOT like THAT meowth! His voice grated on me, his commentary annoyed me, and the fact that he always walked around on two legs kind of creeped me out. And now his blatant disregard for the welfare of his teammate—my brother, whom I probably cared about more than anyone else in the world—was the final straw.

I walked over to the pokemon, who seemed blissfully unaware as he struggled to place his humongous tray of food on a table slightly out of his reach. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up to my face, knocking some of the food from his now askew tray onto the clean tiled floor.

"You just do not care, do you." I growled at the now cowering pokemon.

Meowth's ears drooped a little under my glare. "W-what da'ya mean, Jess…?"

I snarled, giving the pokemon a shake. "You know what I'm talking about, you inconsiderate, useless furball! Your teammate gets seriously injured and you don't so much as bat an eye; you just take advantage of the situation and go get a free dinner!"

Meowth was now curled up cowering under his front paws, but he suddenly peeked out, "Oh, is dat what dis is about?" He straightened out giving me one of his big annoying grins. "Eh, Jimmy'll be jist fine! Sure, he got banged up a bit, but you'll see, he'll come walkin' outta der any—"

"For James Newken?"

I turned around to see a doctor with thick black hair and a bushy mustache standing in the doorway. I dropped Meowth, who fell onto his tail, and hurried over along with Jessee. "Yes, he's with us."

"How is he? Is he going to be alright?" Jessee asked frantically.

The doctor cleared his throat and adjusted his thick glasses. "Well, it's not good…" He said, lowering his voice gently. He pushed the swinging door back for us to follow him in. "Come with me please."

Jessee, Meowth, and I followed him down the dimmed hallway to a large window. Inside I could see my brother lying on a table under a multitude of bright lights, hooked up to a bunch of machines while doctors all around him were working to stop the bleeding and reset bones. My breath caught in my throat to see him like this.

"Honestly, he's lucky to be alive." The doctor continued. "He has fractures in both his fibula and ulna, multiple broken ribs, a concussion and mild internal bleeding. Then obviously the cuts and bruises from his trek down the river." The doctor handed me a stapled pack of papers listing James' injuries in detail. "When he came in he mumbled something about being back in action, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon. I predict he'll need at least two months of strict bed rest before he can be up and around, and even more before he can go back to performing missions."

"Oh poor James…" Jessee mumbled, never taking eyes off James lying completely still on that hard table.

"It's all my fault…I'm so sorry, Jessee…" Meowth replied suddenly bursting into sobs, surprisingly only now speaking for the first time.

I glanced over and was about to chastise Meowth for making a mockery of my family's pain, but noticed he didn't seem to be exaggerating. Real tears were sliding down his whiskers and he seemed genuinely upset. Maybe I'd been too harsh on him earlier; maybe he truly hadn't understood the severity of James's injuries. Jessee put a hand comfortingly on Meowth's shoulder and I turned my gaze back down to the medical report the doctor had given me.

"How long do you think it will be before he can come home?" I asked.

"As of now, I'd like to keep him here for at least a week." The doctor replied. "If he's doing well, I'll send an order for you two to take him home."

"Thank you, Doctor, for everything." I said with a little bow. Then I turned to Jessee and Meowth. "Come on, you two. There's nothing we can do for him here—let's go back home."

Jessee and Meowth silently nodded and I led them back out to the waiting room and back toward our dorm.