Her last thought before impact was simple: Protect the Munna.
Dana curled around it, shielding it with her arms and body. The Razor Leaves hit her in a volley, every one sharpened to a knife's edge by the Snivy's power. For a second, she felt nothing.
She felt the air first. Air touching skin through slits in her suit, air touching gaps in her skin where air had never touched before; a sudden, terrifying sense of opening. The fire came next. Burning lines traced themselves along her arms, her thighs, her face. Every wound was hot, stinging as blood soaked into her bodysuit.
Dana screamed.
She'd been hurt before. Every trainer caught the wrong side of their Pokemons' attacks at some point. Rose had hit her too hard in their second week together, and Dana had hobbled around for three weeks with a bruise the size of her spread hand.
This was beyond that. Distantly, she felt the Munna fall from her hands. She was still screaming – couldn't stop screaming. Dana curled up again, squeezing herself into a tiny, shaking ball on the ground, trying to stop the pain. It did nothing. The pain continued, an all-encompassing force as every heartbeat forced her to bleed more.
"Oh fuck!" Harlan yelled. He was saying other things, but she wasn't listening. Bianca was screaming as well, her high voice hysterical. The boy was shouting. Their noises blurred together into a wave, sweeping over Dana and carrying her away.
She had her face pressed into the dirt, her body at once somehow distant and still there, the pain continuous. She couldn't staunch it, couldn't bear to touch her wounds because it hurt- it hurt too bad to move and she wasn't screaming because it hurt too much to draw breath now.
Hands touched her and she drew away with a whine of agony.
"It's gonna be okay, kid. It's gonna be okay."
Harlan touched her again, his hands sliding under her to lift her like a child. She reached out blindly and wrapped her fingers into his surcoat, gripping it until her knuckles turned white.
"It's gonna be okay," he repeated.
They moved. Dana couldn't see where. She had her face in his chest, her eyes closed, trying to block out the world. Harlan was moving though, carrying her.
For a while, things blurred into a sickening haze of motion, Harlan's voice the only thing real. Every step of the way, he whispered. "Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." Over and over, saying it like a mantra.
They stopped.
She only realized he was setting her down when her back touched cool concrete. Dana opened her eyes. The light above was blinding. They were in a clearing, the cracked dome above open to the sky. She turned her head a bit and saw the flight of stairs that led into the basement of the Dreamyard.
"Ha…rlan…" she croaked. "Wh…what…?"
"Stay with me," he said. There was the faint beep of a phone dialing, and then he spoke again. "Put Fay on. Yes- you- put Fay on right now!" A pause. "Fay? It's Harlan. No- Harlan, from the Dreamyard. We need an evac. Yeah- no- a- no listen! We need an evac! I have a squire dying down here!"
Dana let her head loll to the other side. She didn't want to look at the stairs. The darkness seemed to be bubbling up out of the stairs, staining the edges of her vision. She stared away into the brush, her eyes half-closed, her lips cold, the pain so great that she wasn't feeling it anymore. The world had started spinning and wouldn't stop.
Something rustled in the underbrush. The branches parted and a creature walked out. She couldn't see it, her eyes wouldn't focus.
"Har…" she whispered, trying to get his attention.
"-need fliers on my position or a teleport or anything, do you hear me?!"
Something warm and furry pressed against her forehead. The thing purred softly. The blackness rose up.
Her last sight was a pair of golden eyes, staring into hers.
XXX
White.
Sky. White sky.
Blink. The sky came into focus. Ceiling, not sky.
Her eyes were heavy. She felt very warm and sleepy. There was a faint ache through her whole body, but it was far away, someone else's. She didn't want to move. Moving would ruin the wonderful sense of rest filling her.
Something shifted on the… on the bed… a soft shape in the crook of her arm… Rose?
Yes… Rose.
"Missed… you," she rasped.
Dana rolled over and went to back to sleep.
XXX
She woke.
The room was dark. She wanted to sleep, but her bladder was heavy and full, its pressure constant. Dana rolled out of bed, wincing as her feet touched cool tile.
She was halfway to the bathroom when it hit her. She stopped. Turned. Surveyed the room.
The bed was plain, the sheets pure white, plastic rails hung unused on either side. An IV stood beside it, adjacent to the bedside table. An empty bag hung from the IV stand, a few trickles of red liquid pooling in the bottom. There was a bland landscape print was mounted over the bed, and white curtains covered the only window. A faint sound of traffic from carried in from outside.
This was not her room in the Pokemon Center.
She swallowed, wincing at the foul, sour taste on her tongue.
A hospital bed.
She was in the hospital.
Memories came rushing back. The Dreamyard. Harlan. Munna. The girl and boy.
Razor Leaf.
She walked to the adjoining bathroom, her steps slower and clumsier than they had ever been before. She shut the door and locked it. Flicked the light on.
The fluorescents were painfully harsh. She spent the long minute it took her eyes to adjust leaning against the sink, cold slowly seeping through her hands from the porcelain.
"Oh."
The girl in the mirror stared back, her mouth open.
Her hair still hung to her shoulders, but one side was shorter, a long, blond lock missing, the edge sharp and uneven. There were lines as well. Pink lines on her cheeks, her chin, the side of her neck… Dana tugged the collar of her green hospital gown to one side. Another pink line marked the top of her shoulder. She could feel more beneath her gown, on her thighs, the skin pulling taut as she moved.
She let her hand rise, touching the highest scar on her face. The skin there was furrowed, cut deeply from nose to cheekbone. It flared into life with a needle-jab of pain, and she hissed, pulling her fingers away. The pain faded, but didn't disappear entirely, dying to a slow throb beneath her skin as if to remind her that it was still there.
Slowly, she traced the wound, her fingers hovering, not touching. The cut was a half-inch below her left eye. If it had been just a little higher… Just a hair's difference and it would have been her eye.
She swallowed again. Tasted bile. She-
Someone knocked on the door. Dana jumped, a little yelp escaping her.
"Miss?" someone said from outside. "Are you okay?"
Dana opened the door slowly, blinking owlishly at the newcomer. A woman in floral-patterned scrubs stood at the door, her pink hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Nurse… Joy?"
The woman smiled. "Nurse Practitioner Joy, actually. How are you feeling?"
"Raw."
At Joy's direction, Dana made her way back to the bed. She still had to pee, but her discoveries, this woman, made her feel out of sorts, and she knew it would have to wait.
Joy went and checked the IV before turning back to Dana and examining her cuts. The process took a long time. Joy snapped on latex gloves and probed every wound on her body, touching gently with her fingers and making a note on a clipboard each time. Dana flushed red when Joy asked her to remove her hospital gown, and stood shivering and cold while the nurse went over the cuts on her chest.
"I'm sorry, dear, but this one is likely to scar," Joy said suddenly, indicating the cut on Dana's cheek. "We think two cuts intersected. There's a very good chance it removed too much flesh to regrow easily. This one as well." She pointed to another laceration on Dana's chest, a long, clean line that contoured one of her ribs, just below her left breast.
"Oh." Dana had nothing to say to that. Nothing she could say to this stranger, at least. It was something she'd worry about later, when Joy was long gone.
Scarred. Marked. Her failure was on the outside now.
"Now," Nurse Joy said, removing her gloves and discarding them. "You can get dressed."
Dana threw her gown back on and huddled miserably on the bed. "Are we done?"
"For now," Joy said. "I'll be back with Doctor Jonas in an hour or so for another check. But until then, you have visitors waiting."
Dana looked at her sideways. "Visitors?"
Joy gave her a pleasant smile. "Of course. Where did you think your Pokemon had gone?"
Before she could question that, Joy had bustled out of the room, humming softly to herself.
Dana took the opportunity to rush to the bathroom and finally pee. She did not look in the mirror.
When she exited, she glanced at the bed before deciding against it. The examination had left her feeling… naked. She started pacing between the walls, back and forth, back and forth, turning on her heel each time. Moving around made her feel better, more in control. It was getting easier the more she did it, but her body still felt slow and alien, like the time she'd had pneumonia and spent three weeks in bed.
Her pacing brought her to the window, and she pulled the curtain away to look out. It was dark out, but she couldn't see anything to tell her how late, and there were no clocks in the room. Beyond that, her window faced a wall, the concrete blank and unrelieved by even a grate.
Urgh.
She put the curtain back and started pacing again. Eleven steps either way. Every breath brought a small tug as the wounds on her chest expanded. She changed the way she walked; heel, toe, heel, toe, like she was on a balance beam. It was something to focus on, a distraction.
It was eight laps of the room before someone knocked, then opened the door. Nurse Practitioner Joy returned, her smile much smaller now.
"Let's keep this quick," she snapped at someone standing just outside the door. "Doctor Jonas still needs to examine her before she goes anywhere."
The woman who entered was tall and willowy, her red hair loose around her shoulders. Her features were sharp, made more so by the thin-lipped frown she was currently directing at Joy.
"I'll do as I need to, Nurse."
Dana immediately turned and saluted, her fist to her heart. "Captain Bartlett, ma'am."
The Plasma Captain blinked, seeming taken-aback. Some of the sternness disappeared from her face when she turned to face Dana. "Marion. You- ah, at ease." She stepped aside, making way for a second newcomer.
The man who stood silhouetted in the doorway for a moment was older, white-haired beneath his tall cap. A set of heavy brown robes made him look rather old-fashioned, but the large Plasma emblem embroidered on his chest proclaimed his allegiance loud and clear.
Dana saw him and stared, disbelieving. And then she threw herself to one knee before him, bowing her head.
"Lord Sage, sir!"
Sage Bronius' thick mustache twitched in a smile. "Rise, Squire Marion, I'll say that the floor is no place for an injured girl."
Dana shot to her feet at once, ignoring the way her cuts screamed with protest. One of the most powerful Plasmas in the country had just given her an order.
"Honestly," interrupted Nurse Joy. "Back to bed! You'll pull those cuts open if you keep jumping around like that."
Dana ignored her too, looking between the two officers for her orders. They exchanged a look that she couldn't decipher, but Captain Bartlett was smiling now as well, looking like she was about to laugh.
"Bed, Marion," Bartlett ordered.
Dana nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She made her way back to the bed, only realizing how tired she still was when she sank onto the soft mattress.
"May we have a moment alone with her?" Sage Bronius said to Joy.
Nurse Practitioner Joy looked like she'd rather set herself on fire than let these two strangely dressed people bother her patient, but she gave a stiff nod all the same.
"I'll be just down the hall at the desk. You have a button on the bed if you need me, Miss Marion." She paused in the doorway on her way out. "And no more bowing."
Bartlett waited for a moment after Joy left before opening the door and glancing out, checking to be sure that Joy was gone. Dana watched her, her brow furrowed. Why was she being so cautious?
Bartlett closed the door again and whistled softly. "Goodness gracious, kid. You certainly don't do things by halves, do you?"
Dana hesitated, not sure what to say to that.
The two officers moved to her bedside. Bronius offered Bartlett the chair, which she politely refused, before taking it himself. The Sage dropped into it with a groan of relief, rubbing his knees.
"Too much travel at my age," he murmured.
Bartlett stood beside him, her arms crossed, one well-manicured finger tapping her arm. "How are you feeling, Marion?"
"Ready to be out of here, Captain Bartlett. Nurse Joy said most of my cuts were already nearly healed when she looked at them."
"Good to hear, but I've told you- call me Fay," Bartlett said. "You gave us quite a scare, you know?"
"Sorry," Dana said softly, dropping her eyes. "I really messed up out there. Did we… did we get the Munna?"
Fay shook her head. "No. It escaped when you were injured."
Dana's fingers knotted themselves into the sheets. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Fay said incredulously. "Mar- Dana, do you understand that Harlan failed to retrieve the Munna because he was trying to keep you from bleeding to death? He tore up that coat I gave you and used it to bandage your wounds, and you still nearly bled out before the teleporters got there."
"I'm sorry," Dana said again. Her hands were beginning to shake; adrenaline starting to course through her veins in preparation for a fight that she'd already lost. "So, you're here to discharge me now?"
"Discharge?" Bronius repeated, sounding confused.
The words stuck in her throat like sharp bones, and Dana barely managed to whisper, "From Team Plasma."
The two adults exchanged another look, this one of shock, and Bronius spoke up. "Squire Marion, why on earth would we expel you from the team?"
There was a soft pop-pop as Dana's knuckles cracked, her hands tight and bloodless in the sheets. It was infinitely worse this way. It was enough to be marked, to wear her failure on her face, but this was… it was like a confession, admitting her shame to the people who would hate her the most for it.
"Because I failed, sir! I failed to catch the Munna, and then I got hurt on the job."
The old Sage leaned forward, squinting at her over his mustache. "You were injured in the line of duty, Marion," he said levelly. "Protecting a Pokemon from an attack with your own body. We call that heroism, not failure."
She looked at him- really looked at him for the first time since he'd sat down. Bronius met her stare and didn't look away, his dark eyes intent beneath their heavy lids. And there was no anger there, no disappointment at what she'd done.
It made no sense. Dana shook her head, frowning. "I don't… I don't understand, sir."
"Honestly, Dana," sighed Fay. "I just told you that you almost died, we're not worried about some Munna."
"But I failed."
Fay raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you a Captain, Squire Marion?"
"No, but-"
"Then let me worry about it. That's my job." Fay smiled at her gently. "What you did was very brave, and no one will fault you for what happened after that."
"Exactly," Bronius said, nodding his agreement. "I'm here, and Captain Bartlett is here because you nearly gave your life for a Pokemon on your first day. It is… well, you made quite an impression on us. I was already in town for other business, but I assure you, I don't take time out to visit every Squire." The Sage rose from his chair with a creaky motion. "Squire Marion, continue to serve as you have today, and I believe you will go far." And then he pressed his fist to his heart and saluted her. "Plasma."
Dana gaped at him.
Bronius rubbed his mustache thoughtfully before addressing Fay. "I'll head back to headquarters. I think we can put off our meeting until tomorrow." With that, the Sage departed, leaving Dana wide-eyed in his wake.
She turned to Fay. "Did I die in the forest? Because this can't be happening."
Fay smiled radiantly. "You're not dying on my watch. You-" She paused, stifling a yawn. "My goodness, it's late. Bronius had the right idea. What do you say we go home and worry about the nitty-gritty in the morning?"
Dana cocked her head. "Home? Am I ready?"
Fay's gaze traced the scar on her face, and her smile faded a little. "Do you feel ready?"
Slowly, Dana uncurled her fingers from the sheets. They came away stiff, her palms creased from gripping the cloth too tightly. A gentle warmth was spreading through her, growing with each passing moment. Sage Bronius had praised her. Her failure hadn't ruined everything. They were proud of her. She was the one who had seen it wrong- they were proud of what she'd done.
She returned Fay's smile, tentatively at first, but it became a grin as she realized exactly why Fay was still smiling at her. Fay was happy with her. Happy that she was okay. Not worried about her failures.
"Squire Marion, reporting for duty," Dana cheered, laughing with joy and relief as she said it. "Go Plasma!"
XXX
Dana's enthusiasm was enduring, but it didn't change the fact that leaving the hospital was a long and tiring procedure. They had to check in with Nurse Practitioner Joy again to move Doctor Jonas' exam forward, confirm the results of the exam with Attending Doctor Joy, before standing in line to check out with Medical Intern Joy. By the third encounter, Fay was snickering and making jokes about how she'd had a "Joy Dreamhouse" as a child, and that she wondered if there was an "Astronaut Joy" as well.
Dana ended up wearing another set of Fay's clothes, casual this time. She still had to roll them up and cinch the waist with a belt to get them on, but they fit better than Fay's uniform had. Fay guided her along with a hand on her arm, and Dana was content to let her captain steamroll through most of the paperwork. Dana was still exhausted by the time they made it to check out. Her body ached, and her wounds itched, and she couldn't scratch them.
Jonas had pronounced her to be healing nicely, and given her a spray and a medicated salve for the cuts, with instructions on how to apply them. If, he said, they worked properly, she'd be walking around at full health within a few days.
Medicine was amazing. It wasn't quite to the level of what Pokemon Centers used; Pokemon were naturally hardier and healed much faster, but it was still mind-boggling for Dana that she'd taken those injuries and was walking around with nearly-healed cuts only a few hours later.
They exited through the front door, and Dana took a deep breath of the warm summer air, tasting the faint scent of flowers and trees that always seemed to fill Striaton. The garden quarter was in full bloom.
"Alright," Fay said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We're teleporting."
"My room is at the Striaton Pokemon Center," Dana supplied.
Fay shook her head. "You're staying with me for a few days."
A shiver ran down her spine. The idea of imposing on Fay even a little was profoundly uncomfortable. Bronius had said it himself- Plasma Officers didn't come see every old Squire. Fay had already done her a favor she could never repay by not firing her on the spot.
"You don't need to do that. I don't want to be a burden," Dana stammered. "You already came to see me, and… it's okay."
Fay's grip on her shoulder remained firm. "Dana, we've literally just walked out of the hospital. I'm not letting you run off and bleed out in some gutter."
Dana tried to protest, but Fay cut her off, her voice suddenly sharp. "I've been with the Team for five years, and I was a trainer for ten before that. I've seen a lot of horrible shit happen to a lot of good kids. Don't become one of them."
She had no answer to that.
Fay spoke to the air. "Kellis."
The air wavered, Dana stepped back as a small form appeared from nowhere. A Kirlia curtsied to Dana before reaching up to take Fay's hand. Fay moved closer to Dana, releasing her shoulder in favor of linking arms with her.
"It's easier when we're closer," Fay explained. "Whenever you're ready, darling."
Kellis blinked her red eye in acknowledgement. "Kir."
A second later, the world around them blurred into smears of color. There was an instant- a blink almost too fast to even comprehend, in which everything was nothing, and-
Dana's feet struck wood and she stumbled, only Fay's hold keeping her from falling. Their surroundings flickered before coming into focus, blobs and shapes resolving into the familiar landscape of a living room.
"Welcome home, Dana."
XXX
Fay's apartment was on the south side of Striaton, about twenty minutes from the hospital, according to Fay. It was in a tall, tower complex that overlooked the surrounding town. Dana, who'd spent the last year of her life alternating between Pokemon Centers and a tent, found the clean, modern furniture and hardwood floors off-putting.
It was all wrong. This whole thing was wrong. Sage Bronius' acclaim had been unexpected, but it wasn't right to bother Fay like this. They barely knew each other! But every time she tried to speak, Fay's words rose up and caught her tongue.
"Settle in. I'll get some stuff for you." Fay waved her toward the couch before disappearing into a hallway.
Dana sat. She managed nearly thirty seconds on the couch before her discomfort drove her up again. She went to the glass doors that made up much of the far wall in the living room.
Striaton's city lights illuminated nearly to the edge of sight before dying off abruptly, none of them taller than a few stories. A handful of pinpricks in the dark, far off to the west marked the garden quarter of the city, where there were only a few, very rich houses. After years spent in Castelia, with its endless skyscrapers past the horizon, Striaton was a world apart.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" Fay said.
Dana jerked, unaware that the woman had come back. "Y-yeah. It's really nice."
Fay dropped an armful of blankets and a pillow onto the couch. "We'll get your stuff from the Pokemon Center in the morning."
Dana tried to smile, managing only a grimace. "You really don't need to."
Fay met her gaze and held it. "No, I don't. But I want to. I'll tell you what, Dana." Fay walked forward until they were very close, still holding her eyes. "You can leave if you tell me one thing."
"Yeah?"
"The forms you filled out when you joined. Why was there no emergency contact?"
"I- I didn't think…"
"You didn't think your parents might want a phone call when you almost die?"
Dana shook her head vehemently. "No! My parents were- they're- I didn't want to be a burden on them!"
There was a long silence.
Fay finally cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable. "You're not a burden. It's… it'd be more of a burden for me if you weren't here. Just sleep on the couch, okay? Please? You can consider it payment for my coat." She clearly meant it as a joke, but Dana flinched all the same.
"Sorry. I- I'll sleep on the couch tonight."
That settled it. Dana made up a bed on the couch, while Fay bustled around getting together a toothbrush and other toiletries for her. Embarrassment turned into full-fledged guilt around the point Fay came out with an old pair of pajamas that she'd outgrown. A burning, acid sensation in her stomach, the worry over what Fay must think of her lingered all the while.
"Good night, Dana." Fay hovered at the edge of the living room, her hand on the light switch.
"Good night," Dana replied.
Fay turned away, but then stopped. "Shoot, I completely forgot!" She hurried away down the hall for a moment before rushing back into the living room and tossing something to Dana. The thing landed in Dana's lap, and she looked down at it. Froze.
A Pokeball sat on top of the blankets.
"Your Pokemon," Fay said.
Dana frowned openly at her. "That's not mine."
"It was in your hospital room."
Dana picked up the ball with two fingers, holding it away from her like a poisonous snake. "It's not mine, Fay."
Fay crossed the room to look at it more closely. "Send it out."
Dana bit her lip. Words floated up to her. Rose, I choose you! Go get them, Rosie!
The ball fell from her hand and struck the floor. It sprang open, a spray of red light filling the room. The shape wavered, the glow fading.
The Pokemon tilted its angular head at her, its pointed ears twitching. "Purr."
"Cute Purrloin," Fay said, reaching down to scratch the Pokemon's head. "I told you. It was sleeping on your bed when I came to visit. The nurses made me return it, said it was unhygienic."
Dana stared. The Purrloin was young, its thin body juvenile. It was more feral than any of the Purrloins she'd seen before; its rough purple coat equally spotted with yellow, one of its ears split at the top.
"Pretty wild looking. Is it recently caught?"
Dana didn't answer. The Purrloin looked up at her. Yellow eyes met gold.
Something tickled at her memory. Those eyes.
"You're from the Dreamyard," she whispered. "I fed you."
The cat blinked slowly at her before turning away and sauntering into the kitchen.
"I've got Pokechow," Fay said. "What's it like?"
"Cheesy rice."
Fay made a face. "Pokechow it is."
XXX
Feeding Purrloin turned into an event. Kellis and a Vulpix came thundering in as soon as Fay opened the can of food. The Fire-type yipped and wagged her tails and generally made a nuisance of herself before Fay finally got annoyed and fed her some leftovers out of the fridge. Kellis sat in her owner's lap like a little girl and picked at her own plate of food, humming happily.
"I always wanted kids," Fay mused. "Didn't realize they'd be Pokemon."
Dana was quiet. She couldn't stop staring at the Purrloin currently burying its face in a bowl of Pokechow. Vulpix barked at it shrilly, and the Purrloin stopped eating to yowl back. That was as far as it went before Fay stomped her foot and yelled at them, and the two Pokemon separated.
How had it ended up here? She hadn't caught it. Had Harlan done it?
Her feelings mixed and jumbled together, becoming too snarled to even begin working through. She'd tried to recruit it, but why would it possibly want to go with her? Rose and Menchi and Simon… all three of them had left her. What was to stop Purrloin from doing the same?
It was nearly 11 when Fay stood up and ordered everyone to bed. Vulpix bounded down the hallway to the bedroom, Kellis riding demurely side-saddle on her back. Fay stayed behind, watching Dana.
"Everything alright?"
"No. I… I don't know." The Purrloin nosed its way across the countertop, sniffing everything, rubbing its chin on every available surface. Dana grimaced. "It's not my Pokemon."
Fay sighed. "Let's just get some sleep, okay? Tomorrow is going to be a long day for the both of us, and I know you need your rest."
Dana nodded, returning to her bed on the couch. The empty Pokeball sat on the coffee table, just within arm's reach.
For the second time that day, Fay said good night.
"G'night," Dana murmured.
Fay flicked off the lights in the living room and headed off to bed. Her voice echoed back behind her. "I'm leaving the bathroom light on, okay?"
"Thanks!"
For a little while, the faint sounds of Fay getting ready for bed carried through the walls. When the noises faded, Dana was left alone, staring out into the dark room. Her eyes adjusted quickly, picking out details in the blackness, changing the shadows into shapes.
Sleep didn't come. Her eyes didn't want to shut, and her body wouldn't relax. The ache radiating from her tender skin joined with a deep fatigue caused by the accelerated healing and became a leaden weight. And she still couldn't sleep. As tired as she was, she couldn't quiet the steady thrum of readiness going through her limbs. All the nervous energy she'd accumulated was still there; meeting the officers, leaving the hospital, imposing on Fay…
Her mind was still going strong, trying to work apart the puzzle of Purrloin, trying to find solutions, answers to other problems. Plans for what she was going to do tomorrow. Heading to the Pokemon Center and getting her stuff. She'd need to find accommodations too; trainers only got a week at a time in a Pokemon Center before they started charging for it. Other ideas bubbled up, half-formed. Ways to repay Fay. Advancing Team Plasma. Pokemon recruiting strategies. Exercise routines she could go through while her body healed. Recipes for cheesy rice…
Dana was just tensing, preparing to get up, when the floorboards creaked. She froze, peering out for the source of the sound. She was still looking when something leapt up onto the couch.
Dana squeaked with surprise, nearly throwing the blankets away before she realized what it was.
"Purrl." The feline Pokemon rubbed its head against the back of the couch, turned a circle where it stood, and then sat down in the gap between Dana's knees.
"Get down."
The Purrloin folded its paws under its body and put its head down.
"Get down, Purrloin," Dana hissed. That had always been Simon's spot, but it wasn't Simon she thought of, but Rose. "Get away."
It opened one gold eye, looked at her, and then closed it again. It didn't take a genius to decode that. I see you. I dismiss you.
Dana reached out to push the cat off the couch.
Do you even want to be my Pokemon?! The words echoed up suddenly, as devastatingly clear as the day she'd spoken them.
She stopped.
Purrloin had come back to her in the Dreamyard. It was here now, choosing to be with her.
"Purrloin…" She swallowed, her mouth dry. "Do you want to be my Pokemon?"
Both eyes opened. It raised its head and looked very pointedly at the Pokeball on the table.
"Par-purr." The contempt in its voice was clear. As was its meaning.
Why are you asking?
I already am.
The Purrloin closed its eyes again.
She watched it for a long time. The Purrloin remained still but for the rise and fall of its thin ribs, its breath rasping slightly on every exhale. It was hard to tell with Pokemon sometimes, and the room was very dark, but Dana thought that maybe, just maybe, the Purrloin looked content.
"Thank you," she whispered.
She lay back on the couch and wiped her eyes on the blanket. It took some effort after that to get settled; shifting her body until the couch felt right, working hard not to disturb the Purrloin still nestled between her legs.
But when she finally lay still, the tension began to bleed away, her energy siphoning off with each deepening breath. The problems to come, the trials and tribulations to be met in the morning, suddenly seemed a little smaller.
The warm body pressed against hers was proof.
It wanted to be there. Be with her.
She was not alone.
Dana slept.
XXX
Starting to find Dana's voice as a character. Hammered down most of the details in her backstory, but many of the finer details in her personality haven't come home yet. She's very different from me as a person, so it takes a little work for me to get her thought process down.
Not actually sure if this chapter holds up to 1 in terms of continuity for her characterization, so bear with me while I work it out.
Generally not a fan of using sleep/wake as a closing point to a chapter, but it fit here, and the healing nature of sleep is definitely something that works well as a literary device. Also, the healing nature of cuddly-ass Poke-cats sitting between your knees.
Still need to hammer out Purrloin's purrsonality. Right now, he's mostly channeling his inner asshole, like most cats do, but he'll be fleshed out as we get to know him. He's a pretty big sucker when it comes to people who feed him, it seems like.
Almost inserted a scene of Dana speaking to Fay while Fay is in bed, if only for the image of a Kirlia in a tiny sleeping cap, but I figured the bit with her eating dinner while sitting in Fay's lap was cute enough.
Could probably do to differentiate Fay's voice from Harlan's... something for me to think about.
Comment and critiques welcome. Especially if there are typos/errors/bits that need correcting, as I haven't started getting this beta-ed yet. I'm well familiar with the Philosopher's Stone that are betas, turning shit into gold, and once I get another chapter or two for this, I'll probably start getting it betaed.