Chapter 5
Crystal woke up first and returned her pokemon back to their balls and surveyed the campsite. She saw Gold sleeping over a tree stump but couldn't find Hiro anywhere. She walked over to her remaining friend and poked him in the back. Grudgingly; he woke up looking very distressed.
"Golden Boy, where's Hiro?" Crystal said. She was starting to worry about Hiro.
"He's up my assho-."
"GOLD! This is serious!" she shrieked. Gold scratched his head and stood up. Since when was she worried about Hiro anyway? "What happened last night when I was sleeping?" She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. There was no way around it, he had to tell her.
"He and I had a fight last night, okay." He turned away from her and picked up his bag and pokeballs. He threw all three to the ground to check on them. Pyro and Trunks lay on the ground with swirls in their eyes. Abra wasn't hurt at all. It was asleep as always but still floated in the air; over his fainted comrades. Gold returned them all and turned back to Crystal.
"We should find him for you two to kiss and make-up." She grabbed Gold by his collar and dragged him into the forest.
"You do know I'm not gay Crystal."
"It was an expression, Golden Boy." She stopped dragging him and bent down to her knees. There were two sets of footprints in the dirt. One was the same as any teenage boy's foot and the others were small pointy like a certain Totodile they knew.
The two friends followed the footprints into the area where they were attacked yesterday; right outside Cherrygrove City. There was no more dirt to leave footprints in so they had to go in and look for him without any help.
"Crystal can we stop at the Pokemon Center first?" he said weakly. He held on to his aching stomach and looked at her. Crystal was power walking down the sidewalk while Gold was ready to keel over and die. She came to a stop when she heard him.
"Why?" She stared at him.
"Because most of our pokemon are fainted, we're not certified trainers yet and we haven't eaten in two days."
"I'm hungry too but we need to find our friend first," she said as she leaned against a street sign. "Which reminds me. You're his best friend right? You should know what he's going to do right?"
Gold knew Hiro since they were two. He definitely knew what Hiro was doing right now.
"If I were Hiro," he started. "I'd completely forget to register at the Center then challenge someone twice my size and when I start to lose, I'll scream like a sissy." Then as if on cue they heard an ear shattering scream for help towards the center of town. Gold and Crystal ran towards the disturbance.
Gold's prediction hit the nail on the head. There Hiro was being swung around by a Tentacruel. Highfang was trying to gnaw the tentacles binding him; but to no avail. A gang of punks were laughing and jeering at them as Tentacruel swung them higher.
"Golden Boy, do something!"
"My pokemon can only teleport! Use Chikorita!"
"Are you nuts? Chikorita can't take on that thing!"
The two friends watched in horror as Hiro and Highfang were sent up, down and around. Hiro threw up after the fifth swing. Gold couldn't take it anymore. Hiro may have acted like a jackass but Gold was the only one who got to beat him senseless. Gold drop- kicked one of the skinnier dudes and searched through his bag. He found a yellow, pointy capsule labeled 'Revive'. He took out Pyro and fed it to him. Pyro got up and powered up the flames on its back.
"Smokescreen!" Black gas poured from Pyro's mouth. The Tentacruel threw Hiro and Highfang into the air to wipe its eyes clean. Hiro landed on Tentacruel's red orbs for safety. Gold and Pyro ran under Tentacruel and helped Hiro and Highfang off to safety.
"Thanks, Gold..." he said pathetically.
"Don't menti- DAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Gold was grabbed around the middle and swung around like Hiro. The biggest member of the gang came next to Tentacruel and scoffed.
"This battle is between me and the sissy!"
"Pyro, tackle!" Pyro slammed into the trainer headfirst. The force sent him careening into his flunkies. Hiro told Highfang to scratch Tentacruel, only to get snatched up again. Tentacruel sent another tentacle after Pyro.
"Pyro, run around in a circle!" Pyro did what he was told. Tentacruel sent its tentacle after the fire mouse which in about three laps wrapped around the tentacles Tentacruel was using to stand. The monster fell to the ground and dropped all of its captives. Hiro and Highfang landed on their feet but Gold was thrown in the air. Gravity wasn't on his side as he fell at least twenty feet. His back had made contact with the ground hard.
CRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK
Gold felt like a thousand knives stabbed at his back at the same spot. He coughed up blood and winced. It hurt to cough. His eyes started to close as he saw Hiro and Crystal rush to his side.
"HOLY CRAP! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" That was Hiro beginning to freak out.
"Don't worry Golden Boy we'll get you out of here," Crystal said through her tears. Gold could hear Hiro yelling at the gang and the yells of citizens coming to see what was happening. Gold's brain was beginning to fail him. He wasn't able to interpret what he was hearing anymore. All he could feel was pain. Gold blacked out without anyone noticing during the confusion.
Gold woke up the next day in a hospital bed the next day. At least he thought so. The window showed the city at sundown. He tried to sit up but his back prevented him from doing so. His entire middle section was wrapped in bandages (just so you know, I don't know what doctors do when someone breaks their back).
He coughed again but this time it didn't hurt. He must have stayed up for an hour because the town outside was dark and eerily quiet. Gold was just about to fall asleep again when a doctor walked in.
"Ah Mister, uh whatever your last name is, your awake." Gold wanted to tell him that his last name was Ryu but his voice wasn't with him yet. The doctor fiddled with something on the counter and sat next to him on the bed. "Your friends came here everyday to visit you. They even got you gifts." He opened a cabinet that was overflowing with gifts.
"Where are they now?" Gold asked in a hoarse voice. His voice had come back.
"They're staying at a hotel. Most likely they'll see you tomorrow morning; after all they did it for the past three days."
"Three days?"
"Save your strength. Now drink this." He put a cup to Gold's mouth. The liquid tasted awful and immediately after he swallowed it, Gold was knocked out again.
The next day Gold awoke to Crystal staring at him over head. She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug around the neck.
"Good to have you back Golden Boy." Hiro rushed into the room looking exasperated.
"Do you know how much you made me carry downstairs, Crystal? Oh, hey Gold, you're not mad at me are you?" He looked as if Gold was going to smash his face in.
"Let's put it this way Hiro," Gold answered, "When I get the feeling back in my arms I'm going to STRANGLE YOU UNTIL YOUR HEAD POPS OFF THEN USE YOUR BODY FOR A TOILET AND USE YOUR HEAD FOR A-!"
"STOP IT!" Crystal screamed. Hiro was whimpering in a corner like a frightened puppy. "AWW look what you did to Hiro."
"WHAT I DID? HE'S THE ONE WHO MADE ME FALL 20 FEET!"
"WHY ARE WE TALKING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?" Hiro pointed out. Gold and Crystal looked at him; not knowing what he meant.
"Okay everybody just calm down," Crystal instructed. "Now both of you shake hands."
Hiro walked over to Gold and outstretched his arm. Gold didn't raise his hand.
"Gold shake hands," Crystal said warningly.
"I can't feel my arms remember."
"Then say sorry."
"Sigh. Sorry man."
"Sorry too."
Crystal grinned up at the two. "Hiro show him the trainer cards." Hiro took out a card from his back pocket and put it front of Gold's face. It had Gold's picture on it and eight slots for the gym badges of Johto. Gold's picture self had its eyes closed and he still had the bandages on. They took the picture while he was asleep.
"You should have seen it! Professor Oak came all the way from Kanto and gave us the pokedexes." He handed the high-tech encyclopedia to Gold.
"Is pokedexes a word?" Crystal asked. Gold was thinking the exact same thing.
"Who cares; you know what I meant!"
Crystal and Hiro then started fighting over the proper plural version of pokedex. Gold preoccupied himself by flipping through the pages on the pokedex's screen. He stopped at the page on cyndaquils.
Pokedex: Can turn into a fireball by rolling in to a ball and setting its entire body on fire.
"I should use that for Pyro," Gold muttered to himself.
"I'm telling you that its pokedexes!"
"And I'm telling you that its pokedi!"
"Shut up!" said the doctor from last night; who just walked into the room. "I'm sorry but visiting hours are over and you two must leave." He grabbed the two and pushed them out the door.
"But there's, like four hours left!"
"Not for you two!" With that he slammed the door in their faces.
Hiro and Crystal didn't come back the next day. Gold spent the day being tested for brain damage and mobility. It was painfully boring; to say the least. The only exciting thing that happened was the sponge bath (Gold: you want me to do what?). It was the same every day for about a week. He didn't even have his pokemon to keep him company. When the day came to take his bandages off, Gold was able to walk and move without any help.
"You got really lucky you know," said the doctor cutting the last of the bandages. "Not too many fall from a height like that and survive."
"I got lucky, I guess." Gold put on his shirt and walked outside the room. He stepped onto the elevator and pressed the lobby button. He was the only one in the elevator besides a girl about his age in a wheelchair. She looked rather depressed. They both got out on the same floor. He watched her leave in the opposite direction.
Hiro and Crystal walked through the door and came to greet him. Crystal hugged him again and tore away from him after a couple of seconds. She still wasn't use to doing that.
"Where the fuck have you two been for the past week?"
"Um, nowhere?" Crystal replied looking pretty shooken up by Gold's question.
"You should've been there man! We went all the way to Violet City and got our badges and-."
"You guys left without me?"
"That's why we weren't supposed to tell you," Crystal said giving Hiro an angry scowl.
Gold ran out the door and started sprinting. He ran towards route 31 and out of the city. Crystal and Hiro ran after him.
"Gold stop we can just take your Abra!"