Chapter 9
Where was I? Ugh, I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't feel my body either, but that was a blessing. That dunsparce had left me in so much pain that I was surprised that I hadn't fainted from it when Miror B. had thrown me over his shoulder like a doll.
Wait, was I still in that cave? C'mon, open your eyes, Rui. It's not that hard! But as I tried time and time again to open them, they were too heavy. It was like someone had taped them shut. I couldn't move my body to try and pry them open. I was stuck. Please not be in the cave, I prayed, please not be stuck in the-
"The bleeding's stopped and her vitals are back to normal." Someone was nearby. They were near my feet. Their voice was unfamiliar. Now I was beginning to get nervous. Was I alone with someone I didn't know? Maybe a Cipher Peon? "She reacted wonderfully to the medicine as well. She's quite the fighter, you don't see that very often here." Oh, so he's a doctor. Or I guessed.
"Dunsparce don't have poison, do they?" Duking? What was he doing here? Ok, so maybe I wasn't back in the cave. He would've definitely carried me out if he had come back to get me. Now that I thought about it, I wasn't lying on a cold floor. It was soft and warm, like a mattress. A bed, I was in a bed.
"We didn't find any traces of poison," the doctor spoke. "Either the dunsparce didn't inject her with it or she fought it off masterfully. I'm guessing the second option here."
"So she's a better healer than we thought." Silva sounded relieved. "Thank Arceus."
"Plus!" I heard the happy cheer of the familiar electric pokemon chant. "Plus! Sle! Plus! Sle!" Was she using helping hand? That wouldn't work on humans, but I liked the effort. If only I could open my eyes to see them or open my mouth to thank them. But I was as still as a statue. Ugh, how annoying. I wasn't comfortable whatsoever. The mattress was nice but the bandages around my waist were tight and my clothes were positioned wrong. My hair was still up in pigtails, though. That was nice. I wouldn't need to deal with it getting in my face all the time.
"Will you four be staying the night here?"
"Silva, Plusle, and I will be heading to the hotel for the time being." There was a pause. "What about you, Wes?"
"I'm staying." The group went silent.
"Plusle…" the electric pokemon said softly.
"We don't have any beds for you to sleep in," the doctor said softly. "All we have are the metal chairs. And there is no telling how long she'll be asleep. It could be a couple days for all we know. I'd recommend you go get some rest yourself."
"Without all due respect, I'd prefer to stay here." There was a pause. "I want to be there when she wakes up."
If they had me attached to a heart monitor, I'm pretty sure they'd see how hard it was beating against my chest. A metal chair didn't sound at all comfortable. How could he plan to go days in that thing? Certainly he didn't bring that many books with him. He'd probably be just sitting there with nothing to do. All that to be the first one to see me wake up?
Oddly enough… it made me happy.
"Alright, then. We're closing our doors for the night, so all of you heading for the hotel, if you'd please."
"Thanks, Doc," Silva said. "We'll be back in the morning."
"You're all great friends. Now, follow me."
I listened as the sound of their footsteps faded down a hallway. Once they were almost out of earshot, a metal door opened and closed. One of the pairs of feet started down a different hallway and vanished. Now it was just Wes and I in the room.
He had taken a seat to my left. I heard the ruffling of pages; he was taking out his book. But as time went on, he didn't turn a single page. It was like he was just sitting there, staring at it. Had he fallen asleep? Maybe that was the case.
A loud clattered followed. If I had the ability to jump from surprise, I would've. Damn, that was loud. Had someone knocked something over? It was loud, it must've been within the room. Had Wes fallen over on something?
"Dammit!" he hissed under his breath. I heard him shuffling around, like he was trying to pick something up. Judging by the noises, it wasn't an accident.
He had thrown his book, hard.
"Dammit, dammit!" he hissed. I heard him drop the book on the floor and sit back down. He ruffled his hair and grunted twice. What was he so upset about? Had Duking or Silva upset him somehow? That couldn't be it, those two had helped us so far into the hideout. Was it the fact that Miror B. had gotten away? That was probably it. He had the admin right where he wanted him and he had been too busy taking me back that he couldn't pursue him.
I tried to tell him it was ok, that we would catch him next time. But, duh, body wasn't working here. Still couldn't open my eyes, still couldn't move. The only thing I could control was my breathing. And even that was hard. It was much easier to put it on automatic and avoid not screwing myself over.
I was startled again when I felt Wes put his hands on the side of the bed.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, clenching his fists. "I'm so sorry!" He punched the mattress. "I should've captured that stupid pokemon first. The others wouldn't have harmed you like that. I'm so damn stupid! This wouldn't have happened if I used my head!" He pushed off the bed and walked to the other side of the room. For a while, it was silent. He was still as stone, there was no telling what he was doing or thinking.
Was this what he was beating himself up over? He felt it was his fault I had gotten injured? It wasn't, I wanted to tell him. Stop being angry, I'm ok! I'll be fine! Don't beat yourself up anymore, please!
His footsteps started over to the side of my bed again. I thought he was going to punch it again or yell at himself, but he didn't seem to be angry anymore. He sighed to pull himself together. Then, I felt him take his hand in mine.
"This won't ever happen again. I'll protect you. From now on, you're not going to get hurt." He cupped his other hand over mine, squeezing it gently. "I promise." His hands were so warm. Had he taken off his gloves and the Snag Sleeve to do this? He must've, his grip was too soft to be covered by fabric. If only I could grab it back.
He must've been there for a while, because I remember him still holding me when I fell asleep.
How many days had it been? Definitely more than one, I knew that. The night before, the night where Wes held my hand and told me he'd protect me, was cold and quiet. When I woke up, it was warm. People were moving about the hospital, only a few, but more than the night before. There must've been a window next to me. The smell of rain wafted into the room. I couldn't hear it, however. It was too hot to be raining, too. It had stopped. The storm had passed.
My fingers, thank Arceus, I could move my fingers. As I worked at moving them, my toes worked just as well with them. Now I could roll my arms and legs around the bed. They were heavy, but as the minutes rolled on, I was able to move. Oh, the sweet glory of being able to move again. My eyelids were much the same. Once heavy, as I worked them slowly open, the weight was lifted off them. I could move, open my eyes, and finally, slowly sit up.
Wow. I expected to be in a nicer hospital, but what else would you expect from Pyrite town? The floors, walls, and ceiling was dented and rusted metal. Some rooms outside my own had graffiti on the inside. The inside. Talk about some rebellious patients. And the medical equipment, how did those things still work? The blood pressure cuff they had on me read 1000/256. Like, really? At least the beds were clean. That was probably because there was a code against having dirty beds in hospitals.
Wes was sitting in the metal chair near the door, but he was fast asleep. His feet were extended away from the chair, one leg bent, the other out at an odd angle. His head was leaned all the way back against the wall. He looked funky because his mouth was wide open and his left arm was up over his eyes. He looked like a dork. But it was still cute, very cute.
He must've heard me shuffling, because he started to stir. Slowly, as to avoid being heard and seen, I lie back down and covered myself again, back to him. I was in a different position now, so when Wes came to, he was immediately awake. He walked over to me, peeking over to the other side of the bed to see if he was imagining it. But he wasn't. I opened my eyes at him, slowly for added effect.
His smile was gentle and genuine.
"Good morning," he said softly. "How do feel?" I blinked at him.
"Tired, to be honest." He walked over to the side of the bed and sat down.
"Not in pain?"
"No." I pulled the blankets off and looked down at the bandages they had wrapped me in. Luckily the dunsparce hadn't torn my belly shirt, or else I would've needed a whole new outfit entirely. The blood had destroyed my skirt and my boots altogether. I doubt they had any clothes stores here in Pyrite, so I was stuck with them until I could find some new clothes. The bandage on my stomach were spotless and clean, but when I looked to my back, it was scary to see how much blood was on there. Sure, it was dry and chapped, but it was a lot.
I caught the look of disappointment on Wes' face. He still blamed himself for this, didn't he? Well, he shouldn't be. I was just about to talk to him when Duking and Silva walked in the room, Plusle balancing herself on Duking's shoulder.
"Oh my god!" Silva nearly shouted. "You're awake?"
"Um, yeah." I rubbed the back of my neck. "How long was I out?" Silva darted over to the bed and hugged me. Ow, the squeezing hurt my back. But not enough so to make me tell him to stop. Just a little prickly pain.
"We brought you here about two days ago. The doctor said it'd take longer for you to wake up, but I guess not." Yeah, I heard that. But I wasn't going to tell them I heard anything, especially Wes. The thought of last night nearly made my heart start beating again. But who would notice? The heart monitor was just as broken as the blood pressure cuffs.
"Good to see ya awake, kiddo." Duking leaned to my height. Plusle jumped off his shoulder and landed on mine. She pecked my cheek and chirped in joy. Aw, she was so cute. How could anyone want to take her hostage and make her into a Shadow Pokemon? Then again, Miror B. had said she wasn't able to become one. How did that happen? "How's the back?"
"Better," I replied. "Thanks for bringing me here."
"Hm? I didn't bring you here." He turned to Wes. "This youngster nearly got hypothermia running all the way across town in the storm to get you here." Wes' face was expressionless. But deep down, I had a feeling he was trying to maintain the color of his cheeks. "They wanted to treat him, but he wouldn't leave your roo-"
"Plusle!" the tiny pokemon snapped. Obviously, she could tell that Duking was embarrassing him.
"Oh, right," he muttered.
"But anyway, you think you can walk?" Silva asked.
"Yeah, I think I can do that." I hung my legs over the side of the bed. Wes was there quickly, offering his hands out to me. I smiled at him and took both. As I started to my feet, he was sure to keep a firm hold on me, watching carefully to make sure I didn't fall over. Thank goodness, my legs were working just fine. A little weak and painful, but they worked. That's all there was to ask for.
"Oh, is Ms. Yurika up?" The doctor from the night before walked in. "Good to see you're awake. We didn't expect you this soon."
"She's a fighter!" Silva was excited. "That was what he said!" Man, this kid was happy to see me. I've only known him for a few days, the majority of which I was under for, but he still treated me like a close friend. It wasn't bad. It actually felt good to know that there were people in this town worth trusting.
"Yurika?" Duking repeated. "That's your last name?" Oh, no. Don't tell me.
"I was thinking the same thing," the doctor said. "Tell me, are you related to the elderly couple in Agate Village?" The room went silent, waiting for my reply. I wanted to lie and say, 'Haha, that's not how my name is pronounced!' but they'd know I was lying. Cat's out of the bag, I guessed.
"Yeah. I'm related to them." Wes' eyebrows came together. Duking, Silva, and Plusle got all excited.
"Wow! Why didn't tell us you were related to them?" Silva clapped his hands together. "I want to meet them! I want to meet them! Take me there sometime!" Yeah, no. That wasn't going to happen. Not anytime soon.
"But anyway," the doctor continued, flipping a paper over on his chart. "We just need to change your bandages, then you're free to go."
"Free to go?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, ma'am. You heal quick; it would be a shame to keep you here. When you've got quite the group of fans here waiting for you to leave." Well, that was better than I thought. "Let me get the nurse." He started out the room and took a left. "Oh, excuse me, ma'am."
"Not a problem. Thank you." A girl with stars printed on her circular glasses poked her head inside the room outside the door. She looked old and wrinkly, but he hair was startlingly pink for someone who was older than eighty. It was even done up in a flawless Princess Leia style. "I heard you are awake, young Yurika."
"Um, yeah. You can call me Rui."
"Right, right." She opened the door. On old feet and a heavy cane, the woman wandered into our room. I thought her pink hair was flashy, but her purple shirt and skirt were even brighter. She didn't seem to notice she was uninvited, she just sauntered into the room and approached me. She tapped my knees with the butt of her cane. "Good, good. Not falling over I see. Strong girl."
"I don't mean to be rude or anything," Silva started, "but who are you?" Without looking back to answer him, she took his hand and slipped a card into it. He read it with Duking looking by his side.
"Fateen the fortune teller. You may know me from around town, I make quite the cup of tea. Oh, and I'm an expert in unusual occurrences." She brought her cane up and pressed it between my eyes. "Ah, so this one does have the sight. I thought so." What? Did this grandma know I could see the Haze? "Correct, I know you can see the Haze." I shut off my thoughts the instant I realized she had read my mind.
"Fateen," Wes said, catching her attention. She saw him and her wrinkly lips pulled up into a smile.
"Ah, Wes. It has been quite a while. Where have you been?" She hit him right on the top of the head with her cane. He flinched slightly. "You exposed yourself too early! We don't know enough about these Shadow Pokemon! And handling explosives while indoors! Tsk, tsk, tsk!"
"W-w-wait, what?" Silva stammered. "What's she talking about-" Fateen hit him upside the head as well.
"Do not be rude, young man! Didn't your mother teach you not to speak when others are speaking?"
"Fateen," Wes said to distract her from Silva before she hit him again. He had one hand on me and the other to rub his head. "Please, they don't know anything about what's going on."
"I should hope so," the grandma snapped, pointing her cane at him. "Keep all this secret, you hear?"
"It's… it's a little too late for that now…" She turned to me and I instinctively put my hands on my head. Her eyes were glowing.
"Ah, Rui. How long have you been away?" I froze. "You should visit your grandparents. They'll be happier than anyone else to see that you're doing well." I took her words into consideration. It had been a while since I'd talked to them. "You." She pointed her cane at Wes. "Take this young lady to Agate Village! Your work in this town is done!" Wes nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Wait, can't we- OW!" Silva stepped backwards. "Stop that! It hurts!"
"What did I just tell you, youngster? Do not speak unless spoken to! And no, you shall not follow them there! They are the ones needed, not you. You two shall have your own destinies to fulfill soon, but not now!" Silva waited until she had finished speaking. Then, he pointed to himself in a questioning manner. "Yes, you may speak now."
"Destiny?" he asked. "What do we have to do?"
"You will know when the time comes. I can't just give away futures all willy nilly! That's blasphemy! You write your own destiny! I am just the one to sit by and judge you! Tis the true job of a psychic!" I didn't think that was the dictionary definition of psychic, but whatever. She seemed to know what she was talking about.
"Here we are, Ms. Yurika." The doctor walked into the room holding a fresh roll of bandages. In his other hand he had some ointment that must've been some sort of antibiotic.
"FOOL!" Fateen hit the doctor upside the head with her cane. In the confusion, he dropped both the roll of bandages and the ointment. She picked them up and tossed the antibiotic out the window. She pulled a container of some sort of purple sap that she set on the bed. "Only fools use factory-made medicine for someone as noble as the granddaughter of the Yurika's! Sit, child. Sit, sit!"
I didn't want to get hit by a cane, so I obeyed. She walked around to the other side of the bed, heels clicking loudly against the metal floor. With sturdy hands, she started unwrapping my bandages. She was rapid yet efficient at it.
"Hospitals are not at all better than homemade remedies!" Fateen snorted. "Applying expensive, fake, and slow-reacting remedies to patients, hah! You doctors make me laugh! When I was a kid, we didn't have any of these fancy places! No, we had a grandmother, in rare cases, two!" The last of the bandages got stuck on the wound on my back. She had to rip them off, which nearly made me scream if I hadn't covered my mouth. The doctor she had smacked upside the head stood.
"Ma'am, we can't have patients being treated by other-" he started.
"You stay out of this, young man!" she snapped. "I know her grandparents! She's nearly a grandchild of my own, yes she is!" She started applying the purple syrup to my back. What was once hot and throbbing was suddenly chilled and relaxed. I could finally take a full breath without my back hurting. "Look at this poor work! If I had been here sooner, she would've been up the moment I finished!" She waved her cane at the doctor. "Shame on you, making her sleep so long!"
Silva and Duking exchanged glances. Wes just put the heel of his palm to his forehead, obviously embarrassed. The doctor was at a loss of what to do. Good, I thought. I suddenly felt more comfortable with her working on me. She knew Grandma and Grandpa, too. That was a big bonus.
Only after my back had been covered with every last drop of that purple syrup did I truly feel much better. I wasn't tired nor did I ache. I could probably run now if I wanted to. Fateen started wrapping up my back. It wasn't too loose nor too tight, it was just comfortable and easy to move around in.
"There!" Fateen exclaimed, snipping the excess bandage and tucking it tight where it would hold. "You will be fully healed in the morn!"
"Um, thank you?" The doctor said as she handed him back the rest of the roll.
"You are most certainly welcome, you uneducated log!" she said, waving a cane at him. She looked back to me. "Rui, dear. I hope you do visit your grandparents. They'll be so proud of you. Toodles!" She then walked out of the room and down the hallway. I thought we'd seen the last of her until she yelled again. "Young lady! What do you think are you doing with that needle! Give me that! Give it right now!"
"You are discharged," the doctor said, nodding at us before starting out the door after her.
It was great. Now with this syrup on my back, it wasn't painful to walk. I was fully capable to make it all the way to the front door by myself yet Wes kept a protective hand on my shoulder. It crossed my mind to tell him I was fine but I decided it was better to let him do it. It might calm him a bit. Duking and Silva followed behind us, Plusle looking behind them to catch sight of Fateen arguing with yet another doctor.
The doors to the hospital opened automatically for us. That was good. I didn't feel like having the boys open it for me. The smell of fresh rainwater washed over me. I stepped outside and the Pyrite Town I knew was gone. Well, not gone, but heavily changed. The buildings that had once been covered in grime and dirt were scraped clean by the rain. It looked like they had been scrubbed down and polished by heavyduty brushes. The sun shone on them brilliantly; I had to look away to avoid being blinded.
The street, once a barren wasteland of dirt and random patches of cement, was nothing but a trail of pristine stone. Sure, there were chunks that had been removed and pieces of sidewalk that had been shattered, but it was much better compared to what it had once been. So much better. Even the people looked cleaner. That was probably because they didn't have any place to live and had to stand out in the rain but whatever. They were much better now, that's all that mattered.
"Amazing, ain't it?" Duking said, nudging me with his massive shoulder. "There hasn't been a rainfall like that in ages. I'm surprised you two were around to see it."
"Pluuuusle!" The pokemon on his shoulder chanted.
"Even little one here is happy to see it." Duking met my eyes. "Thank you, Rui, for saving her. I don't want to know what they would've done to her if you hadn't been there in time."
"Yeah, thanks, Rui!" Silva came up and hugged me again, this time briefly. "You're the best! Come back into town when you can, alright? We want to see you again!" I smiled.
"I'll be back sooner or later," I promised.
"Good." Duking pat Silva on the head. "We better get back to the Colosseum, Silva. They're going to need help drying up the water."
"Right!" Silva met my eyes. "Be safe! Or else!" Then he started off towards the Colosseum, Duking on his tail. When he was halfway across town, he looked back and waved. Was… was he crying? "Don't worry about us! We'll be just fine!" Then, covering his face with his sleeve, he ran back towards the Colosseum. Duking rolled his eyes and followed, Plusle waving over his shoulder. We watched them go and vanish inside.
"Well, Agate's quite a ways away," Wes said. "We're going to need to get on the road now if we want to get there before dusk."
"Right." I tried to meet his gaze, but he looked away almost immediately. Eyes on his feet, he started off towards the bike. My impulsive side kicked in again. "Wait." I reached forward and grabbed his arm. He stopped. His hand was limp in mine. Even though it was obvious I wanted to talk to him, he wouldn't face me.
For a while, I waited for him to face me, and he waited for me to let go. He was stubborn. He wouldn't back to me for quite a while. I was sorta glad for that, though. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to tell him. There was no chance I was going to bring up that I heard him everything he said when he thought I was asleep. No, that wasn't going to fly. Then what was I going to say? Great, I had put myself in a position where I'd end up embarrassing myself.
He turned to me, eyes to the left. "Is there something-"
I raced forward and wrapped my arms around him. He stumbled back on his feet a short ways. He was so surprised, he forgot to breathe until we came to a stop. His arms were hovering above my body, frozen in place.
"I'm so glad you're ok," I whispered. "You took on all those pokemon when I couldn't, and you still carried me all the way to the hospital." I couldn't see his expression, but I could hear his heart as it started beating frantically. I inched closer, pressing my entire body up against him and resting my hands on his back. "I know you're upset that I got hurt. But it's ok. I'm ok, and I'll be just fine. I just don't want you to feel like it's your fault."
There was a pause. I thought he was just going to wait until I released him to talk, so I started to pull away. That's when he quickly wrapped his arms around me and held me close, too. Now I was certain he could feel my heart beating against his.
"I've put you in danger so many times," he said softly. "You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to. You can choose to stay with your grandparents where it's safe-"
"No," I interrupted. I nestled my cheek a little closer to his chest. "I want to stay with you." He paused, then sighed. He wrapped his arms around me a little further.
"If you're sure…"
For a while, we just stood there, holding each other. This is what it felt to like someone. The swirling in my chest, the warmth, the feeling of being safe in his arms… I didn't ever want to let go. He didn't want to either, because I had to be the one to pull away. His eyes were gleaming softly.
"You're going to ride in front," he said. "In case you can't hold on, I want to be able to catch you." I smiled.
"Okay!" He smiled just as wide. God, he was so handsome. So cute, so handsome, so sweet and protective. What was there not to like about him? Nothing, that's what. I liked him more than anyone else I'd ever known. And you know what, that was just fine.
Because I knew he liked me, too.
Rui Was Revived!
Fateen Used Healing Hands!
Rui Is Fully Healed!
Wes And Rui Have Fallen In Love!
Saving Game…
Game Saved!