That afternoon, after I was done with Professor Conifer, I stopped at the hospital to visit James before going home. The nurse let me into his room in the ICU. I could hardly see him under all the bandages. He was hooked up to a number of beeping machines, and he had an IV drip in his left hand feeding him pain killers, but he was awake. After the nurse closed the door, I pulled over a hard plastic chair and sat next to his bed. We were silent for a while; I just watched his heart monitor, the red line jumping with every beep, until James spoke with a strained voice, "Are Jessee and Meowth holding up ok?"

"You should be more worried about yourself." I replied. "I read over your comprehensive list of injuries—you took quite the beating." I paused again. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." James replied. "I think after a couple days more of rest I'll finally be able to get up and get back at it."

"No, I think you won't." I laughed. "I want you to be up and about, but I also want you to heal. And with your injuries, they're going to take some time."

"You don't understand, Jess…." James insisted. "If I'm not back in commission soon, they'll probably set her and me up with new partners and that'll be the end of it! I found you by a stroke of luck—it's not going to happen twice!"

I shook my head. "We'll worry about that as it comes. Jessee and Meowth are still here and doing the group training. They should be doing just fine without you for a while. You're here, you're safe, so you just focus on resting up."

"But Jess, I—"

"Shh." I hushed him, putting my finger to where I assumed his lips were on all the bandaging. "James Ivory Newken, I will not hear this nonsense. You will stay here and do as the doctors say; then, and only then, will you be back to work."

James was silent for some time. "Alright, Jess…"

"That's better." I replied, brushing some of the silky blue hair that poked out from his bandaging away from his eyes. We were silent again for a long time before I spoke again in a low voice. "Hey, James…I need you to do something for me…"

James' eye drifted over toward me. "What might that be, Jess…?"

"If possible-if you can't that's fine! But if you can…I need you to get your hands on some vitamin supplements…and/or extra medication."

James raised an eyebrow at me. "May I ask why you are asking me to do this?"

"There's something terribly wrong going on." I replied. "The pokemon that they are testing here…they don't look healthy…"

"Maybe that's why they are testing on them…" James said. "Because they are not healthy and they are trying to test new medications for them."

"No James it's not that…" I replied, gripping the sheets on his bed. "I…I can't explain it…you weren't there, you didn't see those poor pokemon…Professor Conifer said they were getting care, but…there's no way I can believe that…!"

James tried to roll over toward me. "Jess…Jess…Gah!" James suddenly cried and fell back as the monitors went crazy behind him.

"James! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…!"

James laid perfectly still for a few minutes trying to catch his breath. Finally the beeping started to slow. "Fine…" He said with a strained voice. "If it means that much to you, I will see if I can get some extra medication or something…"

I clasped his casted hand in mine. "Thank you, James, you're the best." I glanced up at the clock on the far wall. "It's getting late. I need to go get some food for Pikachu and head home. I'll try to stop by again tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok, Jess." James replied quietly. He seemed completely worn out. He lifted his casted hand to me in as best of a wave as he could muster as I left the room.