TTB7
((I don't own Pokemon but I do own the three characters))

After the fight with Phoenix my friends and I ran to the nearby Viridian City Pokemon Center with our wounded pokemon. They had taken such a viscious beating from Phoenix's Charizard and Hitmonchamp during the battle that the nurse on call that day had given us such evil glares when she saw the state of the four pokemon. that glare had the three of us had shrinking back from her. Charizard had trapped Howler and Ekans in a dome of molten rock during the fight so those two pokemon where badly burned. Pidgey had been hit with a pebble from Charizard that had tore through Pidgey's wing while Wolf had been attacked by the Hitmonchamp.

While the three of us waited for any information on our Pokemon we paced around the waiting room like caged animals and constantly glanced towards the doors that our pokemon had been whisked through or at each other for support. After what seemed like forever Nurse Joy came out looking rather haggard though not sad or seeming to be the bearer of bad news. Her eyes scanned the waiting room to find the three of us on a corner bench. Buttonz nudged my shoulder and bobbed her head up in an often common signal between the three of us to look up. When I looked up I noticed Nurse Joy making her way towards us. "I need to speak with you." her tone held a rather annoyed quality to it and I shrank back slightly as my heart tightened with fear. "Are.. are our Pokemon okay?" I blurted out as I stood up to grab my backpack and follow the nurse. "They'll live." She sounded like she was going to chew on us in the back where she was leading us and I wanted to get away from her.

Behind the sliding doors with a pokeball picture on them she took us to a room with furnishings and sturdy walls. "Please, sit." she waved her hand at the furnishings but instead I simply dropped my bag and took a deep breath. "I would like to stay standing, ma'ma."

"If that is what you want."

"I'd like to stand as well... If that's okay with you." Andrew spoke up sounding just as warry as I was.

"I have no problem with that." Nurse Joy turned and looked at Buttonz who was already sitting between Andrew and me in a comfy chair. The nurse then crossed her arms as if this was going to be unpleasent for her. "I need to know why you brought such heavily damaged Pokemon to my center." For a second the three of us stayed silent before we spewed out the answer in a wild storm of words and half finished sentences that we broke off to help one another finish a different sentence. The nurse looked at us with amazement at how chaotic we sounded and she rocked back on her heels before holding a hand up and told us to talk one at a time. She started with Andrew.

"What happened to your Pokemon?"

"Wolf, the Poocheyena was attacked by a Hitmonchamp and a Mudkip."

"Why?"

"We, me, Spirit and Buttonz where checking out a sports car when the guy riding in it had his driver stop the car. The guy got out and when the guy got out he asked if we liked what we saw and I told him I didn't like him but I liked his car. He told me to shut up and asked my sisters the same question. He had a fit over some smart alec answers my sisters made and he wanted a Pokemon battle. He told us he'd take us all out at once and called out his Mudkip and ummm his... what was it?"

"Eevee."

"Oh, yeah, his Eevee. Thanks Buttonz."

"No problem."

"The guy called up his Eevee and then, Howler did what he's named for. He howled but his howls have this ability to call out other Pokemon from their balls and they came out but they wanted to play with the Mudkip and Eevee but Phoenix had them attack. Instantly we blurted out attacks and the two pokemon where beat. Spirit told him if that was the best he had he'd have a long way to go to beat the eliet four and he laughed then summoned a Charizard." Andrew was talking as if he was giving a field report to Tzuya. He gave all the information he could rememeber and he told it how he saw it. "We told him that we could not beat his Charizard but the guy told us that we had provoked the fight so we couldn't forefit. So we had our pokemon attack first. His Charizard used rock throw then used flame thrower making the rocks all melt together around Ekans and Howler then it went after my Pidgey who got hit by a flicked pebble. I called her back into the Pokeball before she could hit the ground but Wolf went to attack the Charizard but Phoenix called it back and sent out a Hitmonchamp that attacked Wolf then he left." Andrew had left out the part where I had pegged one of Phoenix's cheerleaders in the face with a rock and I was thankful that he had. "We then got sticks and dug out Howler and Ekans who where still trapped in the molten dome thingy and came straight here." Andrew had crossed his arms during the end revealing how worried he was that he might get his Poocheyena taken away for a fight he was told he could not forefitt from that resulted with his Pokemon becoming critically injured. The Nurse nodded her head slightly then turned towards Buttonz who told the same story but added the comments we had made Phoenix and the nurse pursed her lips. She looked at me and asked me questions like why did I bait him and say such mean things to him and I told her I was just a normally smart alec person and that the guy was annoying so I thought he'd go away after he was brushed off. She frowned and told me to be nicer to people before standing up. "I see that you three are truely devistated by your Pokemon's current conditions so I will let you off with a warning this time. You should never have let the fight become so devistating, you need to train your Pokemon more as well as your tongues so as not to provoke fights. Now your Pokemon are in rooms 30, 31 and 34." She pointed to each of us in turn and told us the numbers. We darted from the room leaving our stuff on the floor where we had set it.

I ran to room 31 where I found Howler on a bed hooked up to machines that told his heart rate and other information but what tore at me most was the bandages and the smell of the room. Howler was covered in bandages and the room smelled of burnt fur and skin so thick I wanted to gag. "Howler... I'm so sorry... I never should of let you fight that Charizard..." I walked over to the bed and gently ran my fingers over the few areas that where not covered in bandages. Greif along with guilt built up in my chest to the point I had to fight back tears. My shoulders shook and I let my knees give out so I was in a crouch with my head below the edge of the bed with my arms above my head. "I'm sorry." I mummbled softly feeling the stinging in my hands from getting them scorched on the hot rocks for the first time but I knew I didn't care now just like I hadn't cared about it when I was digging out Howler and Ekans. I eventually fell asleep on the floor of the room and refused to take a bed in the trainer's section when a man came into the room to check on Howler. Instead of fight me the man simply told me to go to sleep in the window seat instead of take up floor space on the floor. I consented to that and immediately went back to sleep in my new spot.

When morning came I was woken up by the nurse who had questioned us the other day, she told me that I should go eat but to tell teh truth I wasn't very hungry. I told her that but when she frowned I was easily manipulated out of the room to be met by the man who had asked me to get off the floor last night. Now that I wasn't half asleep I could see the man in his scrubs. My nose went straight into his chest and I went backwards with the momentum of running into him. He quickly back peddled and mummbled about being sorry as I regained my footing and looked him over better. He was tall, about the same height as Buttonz if not a bit shorter and he had short cropped thick black hair, a tan, green eyes and the blue scrubs looked good on him. "Sorry." I mummbled back and stepped out of his way. As he walked past I looked more closely at his face and noted that he had a firm strong jaw, full lips, a straight nose and some light stubble across his face. "Spirit?" Andrew called sleepily as he walked towards me rubbing one of his eyes with the back of his hand. "Hey Andrew." Apparently he too had slept in the same room of his Pokemon Wolf and Pidgey. "Did you get kicked out too?" I asked as he fell in beside me and we started to walk towards the front of the hall where the sliding doors where. "Yeah, she told me to go eat." Andrew replied though I could tell he'd rather be in the room with his Pokemon. "How is Howler?" He asked and I gave a half hearted shrug. "He's covered in bandages and he's asleep.."

"I'm sorry sis."

"You didn't do."

"I know but I'm still sorry."

"It's okay." I ran a hand through my hair listlessly as we passed Buttonz room and found her just exiting the room as well.

"Get kicked out?" I asked and she nodded her head as well. The three of us traded information back and forth about the conditions of our Pokemon as we walked the hall and into the waiting room then towards the cafateria that was serving breakfast. As the scent of food filled my nose I grew sick to my stomach, I didn't want to eat when Howler was in such a bad condition. "I don't wanna eat." I muttered and stopped walking towards the cafateria. Andrew and Buttonz took a few more steps before they turned to look at me and each of them frowned at me. "You gotta eat sis." Andrew muttered and I shook my head at him "I ain't hungry."
"Just eat something small." Buttonz offered and I shook my head slightly. "The smell of it makes me sick.."

"You ain't pregnant are you?" Buttonz asked and I smirked slightly before shaking my head. "Not unless I'm the virgian Mary." My siblings/best friends smiled at me then shook their heads. "Well if you won't eat you can't go back to the room so quick or the nurse will know you didn't eat. Come with us." Buttonz walked over to me and took me by the shoulders and steered me towards the cafeteria where the scent of french toast and syrup filled the air. I gave up on not wanting to eat the moment Andrew plopped a plate in front of my face and told me very slyly that he got it for me just incase I got hungry.

The three of us ate in silence as the world moved around us with other trainers coming in and out along with Pokemon Center staff who came and went every so often. "We gotta call out parents." I muttered aloud after I had finished eating. "Oh yeah." Buttonz muttered and Andrew grunted his understanding as buttonz dug into her pocket to grab her cellphone but she didn't open it. I stood up and grabbed the plates on the table to take them to the back of the cafateria was where a conveyer belt was taking plates to the back to be washed. When I came back to the table the other two stood up and we left back to our rooms only to find the nurse in the hall who stopped us and told us that we should take showers then get a room to stay in.

"I want to stay with Howler." I muttered half heartedly and she shook her head. "If anything happens we'll call you." I felt my heart twinge with fear at what could happen while I was asleep or taking a shower. "I mean it, get your stuff from the rooms and then I want you to get a room on the other side of the building, the rooms are free to you since you're trainers and your pokemon are in the center recieving care. Visitor hours are over. Shoo." I gritted my teeth but I was not in the mood to fight with the nurse so I walked to Howler's room and saw him laying on his stomach with his eyes open. "Howler!" I cried out and ran towards him ignoring the clinging scent of burnt flesh and fur as I reached towards him. Howler let out a growl towards me and I froze. "What's a matter Howler?" I muttered feeling confused as to why Howler would growl at me. Slowly I tried to pet him again and he snapped at me. My heart sank and I backed away from Howler then moved to get my stuff that was in the corner. "I'm sorry Howler, I never ment to get you hurt.. I swear it." Howler didn't make any noise as I left the room. Andrew came out of his room just as I was as well as Buttonz. Andrew looked at me with worry written across his face. "Whats a matter?"
"Howler won't let me touch him."

"Why?"

"I don't know... He was awake when I went into the room but when I went to pet him he snarled and snapped at me." remembering the look of distrust he gave me I felt my heat break and I took in a shuddering breath.

"He's just in pain sister, he'll come back around once he's better." Andrew patted my shoulder and I gave him a half hearted smile before the three of us walked out of the hospital wing and towards the trainer section of the building. We signed in and we where given the same room, this time I got a bed to myself while Buttonz got top bunk and Andrew got button bunk. I smirked at this and told Andrew to watch out if the boards above his head broke that he'd probably be crushed by Buttonz and her matress. Andrew had laughed and Buttonz had told me to shut up but she was smiling as well. Like the hotel we had stayed in at Pallet town the trainer dorms also had communial bathrooms so we took our stuff and went off in the directions of them to clean up. Once we where clean all three of us made calls to our parents.

"Hello?" My mom's voice came through the phone with a clear connection.

"Hey mom."

"Hello Spirit, how have you been?"

"I been okay mom."

"You don't sound Okay, what's a matter?" Why where mom's able to pic up those kinda things over the phone?

"I got into a Pokemon battle yesterday with some prick and he used a Charizard on my Pokemon."

"Oh baby I'm so sorry to hear that. Is your Pokemon okay?"

"Kinda, he's in the Pokemon center right now being taken care of. He's burnt pretty badly I think.. I don't really know."

"Oh honey I'm sorry. I hope your Pokemon gets better. I'll pray for you."

"Thanks mom."

"How are Andrew and Buttonz?"

"They're okay I guess, their pokemon got hurt by the same guy yesterday too so they're worried about theirs as well."

"Oh, well tell them I'll pray for them and that I hope you all get stronger from this."

"Thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too." I smiled to hear her tell me she loved me. The last time I had been on the phone with her we had argued over me not calling her for well over two weeks and she had hung up on me refusing to tell me she loved me like she normally did. "Have you been eating?"

"Yes mamma."

"Good."

"You been okay ma?"

"Of course I have been. Your father and your brother are here with me."

"They're not much to rely on ma, you know that." I heard her chuckle slightly over the phone.

"You leave that to me, I know how to get them to do what is needed around the house. You have faith in your old mamma."

"Yes mamma." I smiled softly and leaned my head against the wall

"Have you been a good girl?"

"Yes mamma. I ain't started no fights... well other then the one yesterday but he had it coming."

"Spirit..."

"Well he did! He told Andrew to shut up and looked at him like he was trash. You know I ain't gonna let that slide, Andrew's my brother."

"Oh baby, I know but you should have walked away."

"I know.. but he made me mad."

"It's okay, you'll be able to beat him next time."

"I don't know ma.. he had a Charizard."

"Don't talk like that, I know you'll win but I have to go. Remember Spirit, I love you," My mom made kissing noises into the phone "thats me kissing you and hug yourself for me okay?"

"Yes mamma, I love you too." I shut the phone and sighed. It felt good to talk to my mom I already felt a little better about the whole predicament.