Ch. 5: Fear

Jason woke up and found himself on a bed and in an unfamiliar place. He looked around but he only saw a small desk, a small chair and a basin full of water.

'Where am I?' Jason thought.

Jason got out of the bed. When he put his feet on the ground, his legs gave out and he fell straight into the ground. He felt the pain of his fall.

'Why do I feel so weak?' Jason thought.

Jason tried to stand up but his legs failed him again and he fell backwards towards the side of the bed. Then, Wilfred happened to visit by and saw him in pain.

"Jason! You okay, pal?" Wilfred said as he approached the Snivy.

Jason gave a feeble nod and said, "My body just feels numb and weak." Wilfred helped Jason to stand up and get back in his bed.

"You still need to rest," Wilfred said.

Jason just noticed that it was night already as he saw the moon through the window near his bed.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"You collapsed a while ago, about twelve hours I think," Wilfred said.

Jason just stared blankly at his bed before he said, "I can't sleep."

"I'll bring you something to eat then," Wilfred said and he exited the room, leaving Jason all alone. Jason looked at a nearby desk. He saw a glass of water and a shiny object. Curious, he picked the shiny object in a slow pace with his vines. Sometimes, he accidentally drops the object and takes his time picking it up. After a few minutes, the object was close enough for him to examine. The object is circular in the middle with two pairs of wings. It has a gem in the center and there are four lines, which divides the remaining part of the circle. He examined the back and there was something engraved on it. Just then, Wilfred came back with a tray of berries. Wilfred noticed what Jason was doing.

"Oh, that's my team badge. I forgot that I placed it there," Wilfred said.

"Team badge?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Every team member must have his or her own personal team badge. With it, you can perform missions and emergency rescues and they'll recognize you as an official member of the said team," Wilfred explained.

Then, Jason fell silent. Wilfred placed the tray on the desk. Jason grabbed an Oran Berry with his vine but quickly lost grip of it and the berry fell into the floor.

"Take it easy. You don't need to push yourself," Wilfred pushed the desk until it touched the bed so that Jason can easily reach the contents above the desk.

"Thanks," Jason softly said as he picked up another Oran Berry and took a bite out of it.

"Don't mention it. Anyway, someone will come here and check you later," Wilfred said.

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Ms. Megan, the guild's head medic. She'll check on your current condition," Wilfred said.

Jason fell silent again and he took another bite on the berry.

"Thanks a lot," Jason said after he took the third bite out of the berry.

"Like I said, don't mention it. We're Team Nexus now, remember?" Wilfred said. "Anyway, I have to go. Get well soon, pal."

Then, Wilfred left the room, leaving Jason all alone once more. Jason took another bite out of the Oran Berry and thought about the team's name for a moment. Then, he finished the berry he was holding and picked up another one. After a few minutes, an Audino entered the room.

"Mr. Jason, right?" the Audino said.

Jason gave a weak nod.

"Are you feeling okay?" the Audino asked.

"I'm not," Jason said after he completely finished his Pecha Berry.

"Looks like you haven't finished eating yet," the Audino said.

"I don't think I can," Jason replied.

"It's okay," the Audino said with assurance.

"But—I don't like wasting food," Jason said.

"Why is that?" the Audino asked with curiosity.

Jason stared at his half-finished meal for a while before he replied, "It doesn't feel right."

The Audino stayed quiet for a while and Jason took a bite from another Pecha Berry.

"Wilfred told me about you. He said that you have amnesia but it seems you're getting better bit by bit," the Audino said. Jason was silent for a while and then he asked, "Ms. Megan, right?"

"Correct," Megan, the Audino, said with a smile. "Do you want to ask something?"

"No," Jason honestly replied.

"Then, can I ask if you feel anything strange?" Megan said.

"It's just that I can't seem to exert enough strength to do things," Jason said.

Megan asked Jason if he feels sick but the Snivy gave a negative response. Then, she asked if Jason knows what might've caused it but the Audino received the same negative answer. Megan thought that it's strange because in her career life, she always encounter some kind of cause on every situation.

'Maybe something happened that we failed to notice or maybe it happened before Wilfred met him,' Megan thought. 'I'd better ask him more questions.'

Meanwhile, Wilfred just finished explaining to his dad, Cindy, and Elaine about how he met Jason and what he observed on the Snivy. Both Cindy and Elaine were confused and Wilfred's dad is deep in thought.

"That's really strange," Cindy commented after a while and Elaine agreed with her.

"I know but that's what I saw back then," Wilfred said.

"I hope you're not daydreaming," Elaine said.

"Do I have to say this a million times?" Wilfred faced the Vulpix as he tried to make his point clear.

"Stop it, you two," Wilfred's dad calmly said. Elaine turned her back on Wilfred, who just sighed in relief.

"You two will never change. This might lead to something someday," Cindy commented. Then, the Vulpix faced her.

"Did you say something, Cindy?" Elaine said while she stared at the Zorua.

"Of course I said something but there's no deeper meaning in it. It's your fault if you thought of something else," Cindy said with a small grin.

Just then, Megan approached the four of them. Wilfred asked the Audino about Jason's condition.

"Nothing's wrong with Jason except that his body strength decreased a lot for no reason," Megan said.

Wilfred's dad got curious and he asked the Audino why she wasn't able to find the cause. Megan explained that she can't find what caused it.

"It might've been there because of special conditions that might've happened before he lost his memory," the Audino added.

Cindy suspected that it might've been related to what Wilfred saw but the Oshawott highly doubted it. Megan asked Wilfred to give her the details. After a while of silence, Megan commented, "Nothing seems wrong so it must've happened before you met him."

"That's a possibility but what exactly?" Cindy said.

Just then, Wilfred recalled something.

"Wait! I just remembered that he had a fever when I found him," Wilfred said.

"And what is the connection?" Elaine sarcastically said.

"Elaine, fever indicates that the body is trying to keep itself maintained after some sort of disturbance. Usually, it happens after an infection," Cindy said.

There was a moment of silence before Elaine said, "Alright, you medics win." Another moment of silence came by and went before Wilfred's dad spoke.

"It's getting late. All of you should take a rest," he said.

Elaine agreed to the guild master but Wilfred argued that they're not finished yet.

"You can finish it tomorrow, Wilfred. Besides, you can think clearly when the mind is refreshed, right?" Wilfred's dad said.

Cindy supported the guild master and also convinced Wilfred, who then agreed to give it a break.

"Since it's late, you can use one of the unoccupied beds," the Samurott said to his son.

"Thanks dad," Wilfred said with appreciation. All of them went to their respective rooms and had a good night's rest. The next day, Jason woke up and found himself on the same bed inside the same room as he was in yesterday. He blankly stared at the ceiling for a while before he heard some quick footsteps pass by his room. Being a curious one, Jason got out of his bed and realized that he can finally stand but his legs still lack the strength. He slowly walked towards the doorway, leaned besides it, and opened the door. The corridor was silent for a while until he heard some voice.

"To all medics, please report to the ER immediately," a voice rang throughout the corridor.

Jason thought to himself what an ER is. Then, he slowly walked into the corridor. Just then, someone bumped into him and he lost his balance before he fell to the floor.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see you there," someone said.

Jason finally shook it off and tried to stand up, only to be supported by a Pokémon. Jason looked around and saw a Buneary.

"I'm sorry!" The Buneary lowered her head as a sign of apology.

"It's okay. I'm fine," Jason said.

"I'm really sorry! I'm just in a hurry that I didn't saw you there," Buneary said and followed it with a couple more apologizes before she left. Then, Jason went down the corridor and followed some signs that points to the room in question. When he reached it, he noticed a Minccino sitting on a bench across the room. Jason approached the Minccino, who's slightly crying.

"It's all my fault. I was supposed to be the one severely injured but Mark defended me against those fire attacks," the Minccino muttered while she cried.

After Jason heard these and remembered that Mark was the Pansage he met two days ago, he had a flashback.

As Mark went past Jason, Jason suddenly saw a Minccino down on the ground. Just then, searing flames approached the fallen Minccino.

"Watch out, Mincy!" someone shouted.

Just then, a Pansage went in front of the Minccino.

"No! Don't!"

Then, Jason's vision went back to an Oshawott trying to get his attention.

"Hey! You okay?" Wilfred asked Jason."Why are you spacing out like that?"

Jason brought his attention back to the Minccino, who was still crying. Jason wanted to calm down the Minccino but he doesn't know how to start. Just then, he tried talking to the Minccino.

"Don't worry. He'll be fine," Jason said to the Minccino.

"But…" Minccino said but stopped as Jason looked at the Minccino's face.

"I'm sure that he protected you for some selfless reason so think the same. Don't think that it should've been you; think about your partner's welfare. Besides, the guild has the best medics and they'll do everything they can," Jason added.

There was a moment of silence for a while before the Minccino wiped the tears and thanked Jason. Then, a familiar person went out of the room.

"Don't worry Mincy, Mark didn't obtain fatal wounds and he'll be able to recover. He just needs lots of rest," Megan said with confidence as she closed the door behind her.

"Thank you Ms. Megan!" Mincy approached the medic and hugged her as a sign of appreciation. Then, Megan noticed Jason's presence.

"Jason? What are you doing here? You should be in your room getting some rest," Megan said.

"I'm fine," Jason said with assurance to the Audino as he approached the head medic.

"Are you sure about that?" the Audino asked.

"Yes, I'm fi—" Suddenly, Jason's voice weakened as he felt his strength being sapped away from him. Then, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The two were shocked and Megan asked Mincy's help to carry him to his room.


A/N: Again, I apologize for the LATE update. Lots of things really blocked me from writing like school requirements, laziness, games, etc. Also, I corrected some previous chapters from errors. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there's more on the next chapter.

Update: I've fixed some parts of the story and corrected some grammatical errors. Sorry about that.