I'm back to writing this, thank goodness. I'm terribly sorry to anyone who has been reading this and waiting for an update. I was beginning to feel that it wasn't worth finishing, but now I'm good. So here's a nice chapter for everyone that I've had on the backlot for two months now -_-'
I hope you all enjoy it.

I'd also like to give thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys (although few) are part of the reason why I feel I must finish what I've started. Especially thanks to FirebirdXoX for encouraging me to continue this. Hope you guys like it!

Chapter 9: Recuperating

The murmur of voices woke me up. Slowly but surely, I woke up. The brightness of the room was enough to cause me to shut my eyes again, but a few seconds later I opened them fully and with less annoyance.

A Chansey was standing at my side, and for the first time I realized I must be in the hospital back in Treasure Town. The white sheets and the overall peacefulness was a dead giveaway. "Oh goodness!" she exclaimed, taken aback by the fact that I was awake. "We didn't think that you'd wake up for at least another day or so! You must be recovering quite well!"

"Mm…how long have I been out?" I rubbed my eyes, there was no denying I would welcome another day of sleep.

"Oh at least three days! You and the others were carried in here by Team Lightwater and Team Hades. Aren't you lucky to have such nice friends?"

'Team Hades? Styx? THREE DAYS?' My mind screamed with questions. It didn't make any sense. Unless I was dreaming or something…

"Hey nurse! Did he wake up or something?!" I heard a familiar voice ask.

"Yes! You may come in and visit if you'd like. Just be sure to come and get me if he needs any help." Chansey said. She walked out the doorway at the end of the room to leave me to my guests.

A couple of minutes later, the entirety of Team Sting walked in full of grins. "We thought you were dead!" Scorp suddenly bawled, jumping up to the bed and practically into my face.

"Wah! Get off of me!" I cried out in shock. The force of Scorp's body made me lose balance, falling out of the bed and onto my head.

"You numbskull! You probably put him in that bed for another week!" Pin scolded as he buzzed over to Scorp and began to repeatedly jab the Gligar with his drills.

"I didn't mean to!"

"You never mean to!"

Puffer moved a ways away from his teammates, inching ever so closer to the door. "I do believe I'll just go now…and Tide, the Chansey told us that you will very likely be let out today since you have woken up." He told me. He hopped out of the room in his attempt to ignore the bickering between his teammates. I nodded and began to crawl back into the bed.

"Hey Puffer, get back here! We weren't even here for five minutes!" Scorp yelled as he took off in pursuit of the Qwilfish. Pin sighed again. "I suppose we'll be seeing you and Phloe around. And before you ask, we already visited her just before you. She was actually awake before you even though she looked to have taken more of a beating than you did. Lucky girl, I'll tell you," He began to buzz to the exit. "Take care Tide. It won't be very long before you're released. And when do get out, tell me all about your mission."

I collapsed in my hospital bed, glad to be free of company for the moment. In the silence I was given, I began to think again of my last mission. 'It's been three days since then…I wonder what's happened. Nurse Chansey said that Team Lightwater and Team Styx helped me and the others into here. I mean, Lightwater I can kind of see. Since Spade was a human and everything…which still boggles my mind now that I can't be considered just a freak accident. And then Team Hades helped me. Team Hades, of all people. I hope that Chansey was kidding. Like a cruel joke. Or even a mispronunciation, or that I misheard what she said. It doesn't make any sense why Styx and his team would help ME. Styx hates my guts, I'm a human. So why would he help me?'

"Uh, excuse me sir?" Chansey had walked in and broken my train of thought. I looked up slowly, my mind still reeling over everything. "Yeah?" I asked slowly. "Er, you may leave if you would like. Your teammates are waiting outside for you. They already know you're awake, in case you were wondering."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot!" I said with a sudden burst of happiness. I forgot about my problems with Styx and jumped out of the bed unsteadily. I was a little rough on my legs again after being down for three days like this. I couldn't believe that fact either.

I followed Chansey out of the hospital to find Phloe, Nero, and Raiga idling around outside. At first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, until I noticed that Phloe was out of her sling.

"Tide!" She shouted and ran up in an embrace, causing me to blush slightly. "I'm so glad that you're okay!" Nero and Raiga ignored us and just looked off in random directions. Phloe let go of me with a blush as well. "Er…yeah. I was afraid you would have been out longer after our fight."

"Are you kidding? I was afraid you would have had it a lot worse. I see that you were fortunate to recover before I did. And…your arm."

"My arm?" She looked down and laughed. "Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten. But, I'm good to go! Even better, the Hit 'Em Bros. didn't harm it any more than it already had been!"

I smiled and scratched the back of my head as I looked around. "Funny. It's weird to see you without your sling. Of course, that's only because that's what I've mostly seen you with. I'm happy that you're finally better though. And I'm happy that you guys are okay as well. Don't think that I forgot you two." I said to Team Fulmine.

Nero rolled his eyes. "We didn't." he said.

At this moment, Raiga decided to be typical him. "Hey, quick question here! Did we or did we not complete this mission? Me and Nero ARE the best rookie team around. Well, at the moment…but that we need to keep up the good missions. We can't afford to mar our record a bunch like this!"

"Relax," Nero quietly said. "I grabbed the TM. Tide and I took out the rest of the Hit 'Em Bros."

"So we completed the mission?"

"…Yes."

"ALRIGHT! Another good ending! Well, besides the fact that we got our bums handed to us. I suppose that's because we haven't really done too many missions to take down outlaws."

"That may be so, but I don't think that was all," Phloe said. "There was no way that was a C-Rank mission. They were far too powerful to deal with. Maybe a B-Rank, but still…why would they make that mistake?"

"A slip-up?" I suggested. "I mean, who really knows? Could've been a number of things."

"Your right. It could have been a mistake."

"Or sabotage!" Raiga suddenly added. The three of us turned and looked at him like he was crazy. Then again, I think it was enough to justify that he was.

"Sabotage? Are you serious?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, we are the best rookie team and…"

"Yeah, I get that much. But I don't think that justifies enough for sabotage. You must be over thinking this." I said.

"Yes Raiga. There's not enough to justify your claim." Said Nero. The Elekid's grin fell and he kicked the dirt at his feet. "It was an idea…"

"Come on; let's go Raiga." Nero said to cut off his partner. The Shinx turned around and walked off in the direction of the guild.

I looked to Phloe. "So…what should we do now? Go back to the guild?"

"Why not?" she shrugged. "We don't really have anything else to do. And I'm sure that Wigglytuff will want to know what happened to us." She said.

As we made our way through town, something in the back of my head kept gnawing at me. "Hey, uh, Phloe? I have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Do you know who got us in the hospital here?"

She tilted her head back to think after I said this. "To be truthful…no, not really. No one ever told me. Why, do you know?"

"Team Hades."

Phloe stopped in her tracks. I went a few more steps before turning back to her. "…Are you kidding me?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, no," I said. "It doesn't make a bit of sense to me either. I mean, Styx hates our guts, does he not?"

"Of course. You for being a human, and me for protecting you."

"Yeah. So the question remains: why on earth did he and his team help us out all of a sudden? It's not their nature to have helped us to live, of all things."

"Another mystery of life," Phloe sighed. "How about we don't trouble ourselves over it for now. I think it would probably be safer not to question it anyways." She said finally as we arrived at the base of the guild. "Let's just forget about it. If I were to bet anything, it was because Wigglytuff or Chatot made them do it."

"You're probably right," I agreed. We walked up the steps and made our way back into the guild, only to be greeted by Chatot.

"Team Impact? You're out of the hospital?"

"Yep. We just got out, Chatot."

"Well that's wonderful news!" He said. "I must alert Guildmaster Wigglytuff right away…it was no surprise to expect Team Fulmine back already, but seeing you two back so soon…amazing!" He said as he flew off.

"So what should we do now?" Phloe asked me. I shrugged.

"I really don't know. It's the late afternoon…so there's not much to do right now. I suppose we could go and talk to Team Sting. Pin wanted me to tell him about our mission, but had to leave since Scorp was a bit…emotional."

"How so?"

"He unleashed the waterworks."

"Oh…I see," she said. "Well, I don't see why we shouldn't go. It'll pass the time for us. And besides, who knows what could happen with them."

"So wait, Tide here used a random TM, hoping it would work, and began to unleash cold fury on those guys?" Scorp scratched his head in confusion. "I would think that a human would have a harder time at that…"

"Probably the fact that the disc drilled the information of the move into my head is why I was able to use Ice Beam on the Hit 'Em Bros." I replied. We were all in Team Sting's room with Phloe and me telling our story to the three of them. Pin and Puffer nodded in understanding at what I had just said.

"Makes sense," Puffer commented. "I would happen to know how a TM goes, and I can't see why it wouldn't work for any pokémon, regardless of...previous circumstances."

"Still, that's awesome that you used Ice Beam! Can you do it again?" Scorp asked. I shrugged, and not being one to deny a request, went ahead and fired another Ice Beam. Unfortunately, I wasn't really thinking of where I was aiming, and ended up having Scorp completely consumed by the beam, freezing him solid.

"Agh! I didn't mean to do that!" I jumped in fear. Pin and Puffer looked at each other and shrugged as best as they could.

"He had it coming," Pin said. "Besides, that was a better punishment for earlier than just me stabbing him repeatedly. Coming from you, that should have gotten through the fool's skull."

At the moment, Fate had decided to be unusually cruel to me as Chatot flew into the room. "Team Sting, I have an important message to-my goodness! What happened in here?!" He shrieked as he spotted the frozen Scorp in the center of everyone.

I looked to Phloe nervously, and she subtly motioned for me to run out of the room. "Tide? Do you have any idea how this happened? Uh…Tide?" Chatot asked, but realized too late that I was no longer in the room, leaving just him and Team Sting. "Pin? Any clue?" He asked, turning his attention to the Beedrill.

"Team Snowstorm passed by a moment ago. It was Chiller the Glalie."

"Always the prankster…" sighed Chatot. Pin sighed in relief that Chatot had bought the lie. As he and Chatot began talking, Phloe and I scurried away to our room.

"That was too close for comfort," I said as we got back. Phloe collapsed on her bed.

"Too much excitement for just getting out of the hospital." She said. I chuckled and sat down on my own bed.

"So it really ended with you using Ice Beam? And you managed to pull off a Water Gun! I would say that you must be getting used to your new life." Phloe mentioned to me. I smiled at this.

"Yeah, it seems so. And I'm actually kinda glad. It's not that I don't miss being a human…I do. But this…it seems that if I'm going to be stuck here as a pokémon, I guess it isn't so bad. Sure, I could have died the last mission. All of us could have. But the fact that I managed to pull of what I did is more than enough to make me happy. Too bad it won't last."

"Why not?"

"One pokémon: Styx."

"Oh yeah…" Phloe said as her mind drifted into thought. "Wait, remember what you told me? Team Hades carried us to the hospital!"

"And it still makes no sense to me." I said. "Once again, Styx hates my guts. And if he does, so do his cronies. So I see no reason as to why they helped, even if they were told to."

"Maybe there's something more to them than what we have seen?"

This caused me to burst out laughing. The prospect that Styx would ever have a heart, or to be kind to us, or most anyone for that matter, seemed laughable. Phloe looked at me indignantly. "I don't see what's so hilarious. You never know, he could just be nicer than he seems."

"And you would definitely suggest that after he was the reason your arm was crushed, which by the way you just managed to get fully healed."

She looked at her arm with a grimace, remembering how the painful experience was for her. I could see several tooth marks that would probably be permanent scars on her. "Please don't remind me. I would rather forget it…like another thing I would rather not remember…" She said as she seemed to disappear off into her thoughts. Complete silence followed, and I looked to her to see what was wrong.

"Uh, Phloe? Something the matter?" I asked. She ignored what I said, and continued to stare in space, absorbed in her mind. I got up on my feet and waved my hand in front of her face. "Hello? Are you here? Or even alive?"

Phloe's POV

I could hear Tide, but I ignored every word he said. I had gone too far into my memories this time, and I was recalling the times before. The times that seemed…so long ago. Even though it had only been what? Two years? Three years? I couldn't exactly remember. Not that I really wanted to, as much as it pained me.

It was several years ago though, and that much I can be certain. But what happened…was so painful for me. It was back when I lived with someone else in my tree. That someone…my sister, Cypress. To be even more correct, my twin. We never knew our parents, and we were just raised by the other pokémon of the forest. We never cared in that respect, and we just lived life the way we wanted: to have fun and enjoy every moment of it. Neither of us expected anything worse to come. Oh how wrong we were.

It was another average day, and I had just come back after gathering berries for our dwindling supply. I walked in and found Cypress lounging around on a chair, obviously bored. "Hey sis," she said, looking up as I walked in. "Did you get enough?"

"Plenty. I think that we'll be good for over a week with what I got," I had said, taking the sack and putting it away. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing."

"Isn't that obvious? How about we go see if anyone's up for a game or something?"

Cypress jumped off of her chair and was beginning to head out the door before I was even finished speaking. "You don't have to tell me twice! Let's get going, I need to do something to clear up the monotony!" She ran out of our house and left me in the dust. "Hey, wait up for me!" I laughed.

The weather on that day was perfect; it was not too cold or hot, just a perfect spring day. The two of us walked around the forest trying to see if some of our friends were around. That was when I began to notice that something was off. The forest was mostly silent, spare for a few far-off noises of traveling pokémon and the sound of the wind in the trees. It definitely wasn't this silent before when I was grabbing berries. Actually, there had been a huge hustle and bustle when I had been out not even a half an hour before.

We went around seeing if anyone wanted to come and play at the lake or have a game of tag or something. Unfortunately, no one did. In fact, we received no answers from any place that we tried. I could have sworn I heard rustling in some houses, but nothing more. We eventually just settled on going down to the lake by ourselves. "Somewhat ought to be there." That had been Cypress' logic. Well, when we got down there, it proved that Cypress was right. In all the wrong ways.

"Hey, who're they?" She had nudged my arm with her elbow and pointed to the edge of the lake. As we got closer, we could see that a Shedinja was floating over the edge of the lake as it spoke to a Xatu and a hulking Garchomp. Curiosity got the best of us and we quietly walked to the edge of the forest and hid behind some of the trees. From there we were able to hear what the three pokémon were saying.

"…You're certain?" The Shedinja asked in a gritty monotone. The other two nodded.

"I am certain of it," the Xatu replied. "I cannot say if, or when, it will truly happen. You know how time works."

"Yes. You've explained that to me many times before." Shedinja answered.

"Right. But if this does happen at all, you can expect some…interesting aftershocks."

"Aftershocks? By what means?"

"More than you can imagine. Like I said, my vision brought me many sights. All unbelievable. Arceus. And a pokémon that would devastate everything, and…kill you. And…"

I could see Shedinja narrow his eyes at this. "You didn't mention an extra part. My death was bad enough. What else could there be?"

"Someone shall come. That person, along with a Treecko, shall threaten your plans. They shall bring you pain through rejection and fear. You shall become foolish in you attempts to regain favor. And that shall lead up to your death."

The Shedinja visibly sighed at this. "So be it. I shall do all in my power to prevent such. As time is not set in stone, I shall prevent it all. Even if it defies Arceus himself."

The Garchomp and Xatu were taken aback by this statement and they exchanged mixed looks of fear and skepticism. "You can't hope to defy Arceus!" the Garchomp shouted. "He knows, and he does what he wishes. You can't interfere!"

"I will do what I must do. I must succeed. And I shall start with the final part of your prophecy. The one to come. Just who am I looking for besides a Treecko?"

Xatu closed his eyes for a moment as he brought the vision back to memory. "I cannot be sure. It was never a concrete form as to whom or what it shall be. All I am certain of is the Treecko friend."

Cypress and I looked at each other nervously, but turned back to continue watching. Unfortunately, I took a slight step back and snapped a twig beneath my feet, instantly attracting unwanted attention.

"…We have company" Shedinja said. Without saying another word, he shot several Shadow Balls in our direction, decimating the trees we were hiding behind.

"Run Phloe!" Cypress cried as she took off into the forest to avoid the three pokémon. I saw the Garchomp grin maliciously at me before I turned tail and ran to catch up with my sister. It was times like this that being a Treecko had unbelievable benefits as I speedily jumped through the trees. I could make out Cypress up ahead until a Dragonbreath cut through the trees and knocked me off balance. I landed on my stomach but got back up quickly, only to see the Garchomp charging through the trees and brush like they were nothing. I ran even faster at this point to avoid him.

Without a doubt, I had lost Cypress. I could have only imagined where she went, but I knew that she was smart enough not to hide in our home or anyone else's. Believing that she would have gone further into the remote areas of the forest, I turned right to do the same. After I did so, I could hear the crashing of trees lessen and grow more and more distant. I found a small ravine and hid in there, hoping the best for my safety and for Cypress. "Please Arceus," I prayed. "Please help the both of us get through this alive. Don't let them find either of us."

Fate could have never been crueler. After what seemed like hours, I was beginning to think of leaving and going back home, sure of the fact that they had moved on. Before I left my safe haven, a scream split the quiet afternoon air, gripping my heart. I knew who that scream belonged to. It was Cypress.

"You're sure that this is the Treecko?" The Shedinja asked Xatu. Garchomp was grinning psychotically as he held the whimpering Treecko girl by her foot. Xatu looked to the Treecko and searched his mind for the vision. After a moment he nodded to the Shedinja.

"Unmistakably. This is the one from my vision."

The Shedinja looked at the Treecko with malice. "What is your name?" He asked. The Treecko stuttered at first, but managed to choke out a "Cypress." The Shendinja floated up to her level. "Tell me Cypress, did you think you could get away after hearing that? And imagine, you would have been armed with that knowledge to ensure its reality. But I can't have that, as I'm sure you can understand. Now tell me," he said, slowly turning his body 180º. "Have you ever heard about Shedinjas? Remarkable thing about us, really. We have a unique ability that we have little control over, but it can be quite intriguing. Some would go so far to say, soul-stealing…" he said as his black hole of a back was revealed to Cypress, who quickly shut her eyes and looked away.

The Shedinja looked to Xatu. "If you would please?"

Xatu nodded. "Of course." His eyes glowed blue as he used Psychic to force Cypress to look at the Shedinja. A scream escaped her mouth as she felt her life being sucked out of her in a rushing whirlwind that led to oblivion.

I never knew what happened to her. All I heard was the scream. I never found a body or anything, so I have always presumed that she was dead. And now, sitting here with Tide, I look back. And I realize…that maybe it was me they were talking about. Or it was Cypress. Nonetheless, I hope to never see those three again. That they nearly killed me…I fear that they would only try it again.

I look at Tide now, and he's still staring at me expectantly. How long have I been in my thoughts?

"Phloe? You've been quiet for a few minutes, and seriously have been out of touch with the world. I was afraid I would have to try and use Water Gun or something." He tells me with a sheepish grin. I shake my head to clear out the memories once again, the painful memories of a time I wish to forget.

"Come on Tide; let's go see what else we've missed over the past few days." I say as I stand up and walk out of the room. He scrambles to his feet and stumbles after me.

"Hey, uh, you aren't going to tell me what that was all about now, are you?" he asks as we walk out. I ignore him as if I didn't even hear the question.

I wasn't sure what I was thinking when I wrote this. I had always had a certain plot element in my head for this story that I wanted to add, but wasn't sure when I would. So I did here with the flashback that we have at the end. A little background into Phloe's history, opening up some interesting things I'm sure. Although I think I did things a bit obvious with Xatu's prediction. Oh well, it'll bring important issues in the future to this story.
I don't know when exactly the next chapter will come. My other story is still a priority for me to finish, but I will continue to work on this now, unlike how I have been doing...
See you guys next time!