Chapter 11: The Birthday. (Former Title: The Postponed Party.)

Satoshi woke up the next day when he heard the doctor enter the room. Satoshi looked over at Hikari; she was awake, and was looking out the window.

"How are you feeling today?" the doctor asked, noticing that Hikari was awake.

"A little better..." Hikari replied, still in a weak voice.

"Can you walk?" the doctor asked again, "you have to go to the emergency room so we can do something about your punctured lung."

Hikari got out of the bed and tried to walk, but she couldn't by herself. The doctor helped her walk out of the room and took her to the emergency room. Satoshi watched as the door slowly closed, but noticed that the door didn't fully close. It started to open again, but he didn't see anyone open it. Suddenly, his Pikachu jumped up onto the bed. All the others entered the room, seeing how Satoshi was awake and Hikari was taken to the emergency room.

"Hey, you're awake. So, how are you feeling?" Satoshi's mother asked.

"Fine, I guess. I mean I wasn't doing bad to begin with," he replied, "but I do feel a little guilty though."

"Why?" Takeshi asked.

"Well, all of the injuries Hikari suffered was...because of me."

"What?" Takeshi asked, surprised.

"Well, she got hypothermia trying to save me from the water, she got poisoned from trying to save me from a Beedrill, and she got the fractured arm from the same Beedrill. 2 days ago, when I was under a Haunter's control, I tried to kill her! From what I remember from Hikari telling me, I threw a knife at her injured leg, I punched her injured arm, I fractured her forehead, I broke some of her ribs, and I tried to strangle her several times. It's because of me she got a punctured lung, too." Satoshi replied grimly.

"Oh… Well, it's not your fault that you fell under Haunter's control and it wasn't your fault that she risked her life to save you. Those were her decisions. Don't worry about her; everything will be fine." Takeshi argued, trying to relieve him.

The others left the room, since Satoshi wanted to change clothes. After changing, Satoshi came out of the room and waited in the waiting room for Hikari to return. 2 hours later, Hikari came back, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by the doctor.

"Well, her punctured lung won't be a problem anymore. She's free to go as long as she doesn't yell next couple of days. If she does, then her vocal chord might take longer to recover," said the doctor. "Take good care now, I don't want you two to return here."

After carefully helping Hikari into the car, everyone left for Pallet Town.

"Hey, want to battle when we arrive at the lab? Double battle this time." Satoshi offered.

"Sure," she replied.

An hour later, they arrived, and Satoshi and Hikari had the promised battle. The first match was between Satoshi's Sceptile and Bulbasaur against Hikari's Buizel and Buneary. The second will be between Satoshi's Charizard, which he called from Charific Valley, and Squirtle, which he also called from Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad, against Hikari's Piplup and Pachirisu. Hikari ordered all sorts of combinations such as Aqua Jet mixed with Ice Beam (resulting in a frozen ice block flying towards the opponents) and Water Gun with Ice Beam (frozen stream of water), but Satoshi countered with Vine Whip and Leaf Blade (Vine Whip sent Sceptile flying towards the opponents, avoiding all the attacks) and double Solarbeam combinations to quickly knock out Buizel, then Buneary shortly after. In the second match, Hikari tried to use her Pokemon's type advantage, but Satoshi countered Discharge with Flamethrower, and Bubble Beam with Hydro Pump, then quickly ended the battle with Overheat and Bubble Beam.

After the match ended, Satoshi let Charizard and Squirtle return to the Charific Valley and the Squirtle Squad respectively, while Hikari healed her Pokemon at the lab. Prof. Oak wasn't in the lab (Prof. Oak and Takeshi both went to Satoshi's house), so she got her Pokemon healed by his assistants. Satoshi and Hikari watched their Pokemon play in the back yard until supper time. Hikari called back all her Pokemon, Satoshi called back all his Sinnoh Pokemon, then Satoshi pushed Hikari's wheelchair to Satoshi's house.

When Hikari opened the door and entered the house, all the lights instantly turned on, and everyone jumped up, shouting "Happy Birthday!" Surprised, Hikari jumped from her wheelchair, looking around the house, seeing all sorts of decorations. She looked at Satoshi, who was grinning ear to ear.

"Happy Birthday," he said, smiling at her.

"We've been ready for this for days, but you weren't here, so the party's been postponed. Anyways, happy birthday." Satoshi's mother told her.

Everyone sat at their seats in the dinner table, with a special seat in the middle reserved for Hikari (or her wheelchair). They all ate the special dinner Satoshi's mother had made and happily watched as Hikari blew out the candles (slowly, due to the injured lung) and made her wish and performed all the other birthday stuff.

After the party ended, Prof. Oak returned to his lab, Satoshi's mother started to clean the dishes as Mr. Mime cleaned the floor. Satoshi lifted up Hikari and helped her up the stairs while Takeshi brought the wheelchair.

"Satoshi, …thanks," she said softly, as he carried her upstairs. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek as a sign of gratitude, as Satoshi slowly set her down in the bathroom, so that Hikari can change into her sleeping clothes (Satoshi brought that too). Satoshi waited outside as she changed (she just has trouble walking), his cheeks blushing.

After about 10 minutes, Hikari limped out the door, and towards Satoshi's room, where they were all going to sleep. Satoshi picked her up in his arms and set her down in her sleeping bag, which was still next to his. He then walked into the bathroom so that he could change.

After carefully setting up the pillows so that he can't fall off the bed, Satoshi lied on his bed and watched Hikari as she slowly fell asleep. 30 minutes has passed, but he couldn't sleep. His cheeks were still red from the kiss Hikari gave him. He smiled, knowing that it was inevitable for them to admit their feelings for each other. He wondered if Hikari already knows that he likes her, and if she really likes him back. They were going back to Sinnoh the next day, so Satoshi slowly fell asleep, thinking of the upcoming challenges he was going to face in the Sinnoh League.