Nothing is more mysterious than the feeling of an unexplained emptiness. The feeling that you know you need, desire something, but you don't know what. It aches deep inside your chest, toying with you, and you hate it, but, deep down, you know you need it. It hurts, it aches, but its deviousness lures you back to it like a drug. Whether it's a feeling for an activity, an object, or someone you love - or even someone you hate - it drives you for more. There is no explanation as to why, and no one most likely will ever find it. We don't know why we feel this way, but what we do know is that we do, and that we always will.

The swampert winced as the light burned her eyes. She didn't feel ready to face the world again, but as she soon realized that she was coming back into consciousness, it was inevitable, she knew, and yet she fought it.

She felt tired and groggy. She hadn't completely opened her eyes yet, as part of her didn't want her to. She was almost afraid of what might be waiting for her.

As her head started to clear up, she fought to open her eyes. This used an unusually high amount of effort, the task proving difficult.

Once she managed to open her eyes and they adjusted to the light, she was able to observe her surroundings. Her neck stung as she lifted her head, hoping to get an idea of exactly where she was, realizing she seemed to be in some sort of hospital setting. Looking to her left side where her injury lived, she noticed that she was bandaged up, a few cord-like objects connected to her body. Moving slowly, she craned her neck to her right, observing the plain scenery around the simple bed she lied upon. There wasn't much but a small stand holding objects she was unfamiliar with.

Unamused, she set her head back down, letting out a soft huff of air through her nostrils. Staring at the plain ceiling, she reflected on what she could remember of the events between her and her former trainer. She didn't understand how she let him trick her into believing that he would truthfully change his ways. It seemed stupid to her; there was no way that he would change like that simply because of her appearance, and then there was the ninetales. She couldn't believe she thought that she was worth saving for later. It was a sin, abandoning someone who needed attention like that. She wanted another chance, to change what had done. Things needed to be made right. For all she knew, the poor ninetales could be dead, and her old trainer could be out hurting someone else. It put her through pain to think about it.

She closed her eyes once again.

I'm the worst. There's nothing I could've screwed up more than I did. I should've done better.

She remained motionless as she continued reflecting upon on what happened. The thoughts brought her nothing but pain, but she couldn't think of anything else.

She let out a sigh before she heard a door squeak open.

She heard someone walk into the room, fueling her curiosity. She slowly lifted her head as she opened her eyes once more, glancing over to whoever it may be.

It was a young, female human, dressed in a simple, white uniform. She seemed to be looking into a closet inside of the room, apparently being the source of the sound she had heard, as she realized that the door to the room was already open. The woman closed the closet door rather quickly before turning in the direction of the swampert, freezing as they made eye contact. They locked eyes for a brief moment as a small smirk grew on the woman's face.

"You're finally awake." she said in a rather light tone. "Great."

She made her way near the foot of the bed. "I hope you're feeling alright. We've been working very hard to keep you alive!"

The swampert said nothing, knowing that it would be pointless to say anything, since she wouldn't be understood.

The woman let out a sigh before moving to the side of the bed. "My name is Kristie. I'm part of the team that made this possible." She held out her hand for a hand shake.

The swampert stayed still for a moment, confused. Handshakes were a human thing, why was she offering her one?

She remained still for a moment more before slowly moving her own arm out to gently grasp her hand with her own, careful not to hurt her.

Kristie moved her hand back once they finished shaking hands, giving a quick, small nod towards the floor.

"You should be healthy fairly soon." said Kristie. "I bet you're hungry, having not eaten, and all. I'll go get you something."

She then turned towards the exit and made her way out. Only a moment later could the swampert hear speech out in the hallway.

"Hey," a male voice was heard before a small pause. "How's it going in there?"

"Oh, you mean the swampert?" Kristie's voice wasn't difficult to make out. "She's awake now. I'm about to fetch some food."

"Cool." the male voice said. "Think it'd be alright if I'd check in? I have a friend that wants to see her."

"I wouldn't…" Kristie said. "She seems rather… antisocial, you know? Not the kind for company, but if you'll wait, I'll be able to ask her for you."

There was another small pause. "O- okay. Cool..."

"Alrighty then."

There was nothing left to hear but footsteps after that.

The swampert set her head down once more, attempting to make sense of how fast everything was happening. How long had she been out for? Where was the ninetales? Was that trainer still on the loose? It bothered her to know that there were so many problems, yet there was nothing she could do but lie there and do nothing about it.

"I can't stand this…" she said softly to herself. "Something needs to be done about this, but… Ugh…"

As she had been living out on her own for a majority of her life, it had become regular for her to speak to herself. It made it easier for her to process her thoughts, eliminating the whole 'sounds-better-in-your-head-than-it-actually-is' sort of thing.

She let out another sigh. "It'll be taken care of…" she mumbled, attempting to comfort herself. "It will…"

"Excuse me" she heard the male voice yet again, but this time from near the doorway. "Are you alright?"

She remained still, feeling as if it wouldn't do her any good to move more than she needed to.

"I'm sorry you aren't feeling well, but I have a friend who wants to see you, I hope you don't mind."

She sighed yet again. "Somebody doesn't seem to know how to listen…" she said to herself.

"I'm a northerner, it's just what I do." she heard the man reply. She froze.

"Coincidence..." she muttered, reassuring herself that he was simply guessing what she was thinking.

"Wouldn't say that, no."

No way.

"Achoo."

"Gesundheit."

She quickly lifted her head and looked to the man speaking to her. Seeing him made her think of him less of a man, since he looked very young. He had dark, short hair, and he had nice, light grey, almost silver-colored eyes. "What do you want?" she asked him.

"Simple. I have a friend who wants to see you, but I believe that I've made that clear already."

She thought for a moment. "Who are you?"

"Well…" he started. He leaned against the side of the doorframe. "That's not important, but it is important that you see my friend. Surely it'll make you feel better."

She didn't believe him. She didn't have a reason not to, but she had learned her lesson when it came to believing someone automatically.

"Why should I trust you?" she said.

"You don't need to." he said. "I'll leave that decision to your own accord. If you want me to leave you be and come back when you're well I can."

"I'd appreciate it." she muttered. She just wanted to rest.

"Very well." he said. "I'll come back later."

He started moving out of the doorway when he quickly moved back.

"And this… 'problem'… you were talking about…"

"What about it?" she moaned. She was sick of talking to him already.

"I insist my friend knows about it. They can help you."

"Leave me alone…" she muttered as she set her head down.

"So be it." he said plainly. "Good luck at getting well!"

It was then that he had left.

What was that about? Does he have a problem or something?

She closed her eyes and thought about it. Who was this guy? Who was his friend? She had enough questions on her mind already, but now she was even more confused than before.

She tried to clear her mind. She had way too many questions and problems on her mind and she knew that she couldn't take care of them at that moment.

She then heard footsteps coming down the hallway yet again, almost certain that is was Kristie.

And she was right. Kristie walked into the room, holding a small tray of food.

"Here you go." she said as she came into the room before setting the tray down on the small table next to the bed.

The swampert lifted her head yet again, looking towards Kristie.

"It's there for when you're ready." she said. "If there's anything else you need, give me a holler."

"Thanks." the Swampert said, forgetting that she couldn't understand her.

"You're welcome." she replied.

The Swampert thought about it, coming to the conclusion that she simply had been working at a hospital for a while, growing accustomed to some speech patterns of those like herself. She knew that Kristie couldn't actually understand her, not like that weird guy that showed up a moment ago.

She watched as Kristie left the room, before she looked over to the tray the had left.

I AM kind of hungry… maybe I'll have just a little…

"I told you, she wants to be left alone. We'll see her when she's doing better."

The ninetales was persistent. She didn't want to wait to see her friend. She was worried about what had happened to the poor swampert.

"Is there anything we can do?" she asked intently.

"Wait." Silver told her. "There will be time."

"But we've been waiting for hours!" she said. "What if she's acting that way because she's worried about me?"

Silver looked at her, an utterly confused expression on his face. "Why would she be worried about you?"

"Don't worry about it." she said. "Just know that it's a possibility, I know how she is."

If I remember correctly, at least…

"Well, if she's not in the mood, she's not in the mood." Silver sat down in one of the lobby chairs. "I'm not the kind of guy to force someone to change their mind like that."

The ninetales let out a sigh. "She's hurt. Physically, yes, but I'm afraid even more so emotionally. That's just how she is. She doesn't show much emotion, but it gets to her. It's like watching someone break down from the inside out. It's one of the saddest things I've ever seen, and I've seen it before."

She set her head down on top of her front paws as she sat there on the floor.

"Way back, nearly… 12 years ago, our trainer used to be a great guy, he really was. He wasn't good at coming up with names, yet refused to not give us any, so he would say that he'd give us names when he thought of good ones, but he never really did, so we remained nameless, so we just call each other by what Pokémon we are. He refused to tell us his own name because of this, but now it seems more like a stunt to get power, but anyways…"

She cleared her throat.

"We didn't ever know why, but our trainer always had a thing for water types. He seemed to enjoy training them the most, and he was good at it. He liked to get the ones that trainers like to call 'starters'. Swampert was the first, Feraligatr was the second. I came in after those two to help with balance apparently, but I honestly don't get how the team still worked, but, anyways, he raised both of them from the start, from mudkip and totodile. It was that time about 12 years ago that he got the third, Froakie. Since he was so much younger than the other two, they would help him train, and did well at it. They both took him under their wings, and quickly grew attached to him. They often found themselves taking turns every few days and bringing him out with just one of them and having one on one time with him, they loved him so much. But it was one day that Swampert took him out on their own like that that changed everything…"

Spark and Silver were both looking at the ground beneath them, but were listening intently.

The ninetales let out a sigh before continuing. "I don't remember that much, but I remember that… I… uh…"

She paused once again. "I'm sorry, it's still kind of hard, even for me…"

They both nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well, Swampert and Froakie both went out together on a day in the summer. It was nice and hot, and it felt nice to be outside, or, to me, at least... Well, they were out for an unusually long time, as we all took note, and at one point we began to worry. It had been a few hours before Swampert returned, and she looked absolutely miserable. The first and only thing she said to us was 'Froakie's dead.' It sent chills through all of us, and nothing was said between us for a week, I swear. It deeply affected all of us, but we all know it got to Swampert more than anyone else."

They were all silent.

"It was just… the look in her eyes, when she first showed up… as long as I've lived, I've never seen someone as miserable and distressed as that. I still feel bad for her, no one should ever have to go through that, you know?"

"Sometimes, there's nothing you can really do." Silver said. "Everyone mourns loss in their own way."

"The reason she left was because our trainer was talking about it…"

"Wait, what?" Silver said.

"He brought it up and started blaming her for it, it was too much for her to handle. She out right left."

"Why would he do that, though?" Silver insisted. "That's just wrong."
"Just like you said, everyone mourns loss in their own way."

Silver was still for a moment before slowly nodding. Spark stayed quiet, seemingly tired.

"Just the other day he came after me for some reason and pulled out a gun. He shot at me and hit my leg, and I ran for it. I saw her as I ran, and I knew, deep down, she wasn't going to let him get away with it."

Her eyes looked down towards the floor. "That's all I know..."

Silver seemed to be in thought. "Do you think…"

The ninetales looked up to him.

"Do you think that's how she was hurt?" he asked. "Do you think he stabbed her?"

"What reason would he have?" she objected. "He knows how dangerous he can be with them. He refuses to use them against anyone."

Silver slowly nodded in understanding. "Was anyone else there?"

"No."

"Well, alright…" Silver admittedly felt that he, too, was eager to talk to this swampert again. He felt that this new information would help him communicate with her better.

Silence filled the air.

It had grown dark outside, but the pitiable swampert couldn't find it in her to rest. She almost felt like there was no point; she knew her mind wouldn't let her free from the stress, even in her sleep. She wanted an escape, but was unable to find one. She felt miserable, simply lying on the plain white mattress, her body motionless save the rise and fall of her chest from her slow, rhythmic breathing. She tried her best to see the positives, how she was able to have eaten, and was given shelter and care, but felt that she would rather give said things in opposition to receiving them.

Staring at the ceiling, she felt nothing but melancholy. She was cornered. As bad as she wanted to be free of the feeling, it refused to loosen its grasp. Misery consumed her every thought. It scared her, the idea of her being overpowered.

As the light had been shut off moments before, her eyes had easily adjusted to the darkness.

Reflecting on the events on her mind, her mind led her to the man that had visited earlier, the one who had understood her speech. Staying on the thought, she felt a spark of hope as she realized that he could be her saving grace, assuming he was telling the truth. She didn't want to trust him, but she was desperate. He probably knew that, though… But he might be able to help…

The thoughts clashed against each other, as she was unable to decide what was right.

Searching for a legitimate reason to choose one over the other, she heard footsteps coming towards the room again, as this was something she had quickly learned to grow accustomed to. An unrecognizable man entered the room. Taking a small glance at him, she noticed that he was wearing slightly different clothes than the nurses did, but she could tell by the basic white color scheme that he worked at the facility. He looked slightly different than the others, but she didn't take much note of it.

"Hello there, I'm Dr. Furst, how are you doing?" the man said. His accent resembled German heritage, as she recognized it.

She remained still, watching the ceiling.

"I'm only in here to check on you. Feeling any pain, need anything, have any questions?" the doctor asked her. "Don't be afraid to tell me."

She sighed. "How long am I going to be here?" she said it almost as a demand than a question.

"If we're lucky, we'll be able to get you out tomorrow, but we'll have to make sure there aren't any problems if we decide to."

She merely dismissed the fact that he, too, could understand her speech. She didn't know if he was trained or if he was magic or what, but she just didn't care at this point.

"Is there any way I'll be getting out tonight?"

"Probably not." he answered. "But if we're lucky enough, you just might. You've been healing remarkably well, after all."

She said nothing. They were quiet for a moment as she considered asking for him to get the man from earlier. She thought on it, but couldn't decide.

"Anything else you need?" he asked.

She was quiet for a moment more. "Well…"

"Go ahead." he said. "You're fine."

"There's this guy that came by earlier… dark hair, silver eyes… if you could get him for me, I'd appreciate it."

He was still, his eyes moving to the ceiling, slightly to the right, as he seemed to be in thought. "Yeah, sure." he said once he assured he knew who she was talking about. He turned around and left the room.

Motionless, she waited. It took but a few minutes for the man she was looking for to appear.

"Need something?" she heard the unmistakable voice from the doorway once again.

"Who was this… friend… you were talking about?" she stated.

"Ah," he said. "You want to see them?"

I better not regret this.

"Yeah, why not?" she muttered almost sarcastically. She tried her best to reassure herself that this was the only option she had.

He was motionless, trying to speak, but nothing came out. He appeared utterly surprised.

"Go get them before I change my mind." she said. She didn't want to deal with him.

He was still for only a moment more before he nodded with a thumbs up with both of his hands before moving out of the room.

Waiting in suspense, the swampert felt that she had made a wrong move yet again. She kept doubting herself, feeling that every move she made was wrong.

Waiting for the sound of another human's footsteps, it never came. She soon found herself listening to a soft clicking noise, almost like paws on the tile floor. She did nothing but listen, her head still rested on the small pillow, watching the ceiling. She didn't know what to think of the paw sounds. One could argue that they had a different type of shoes, but the pattern told her that whoever it may be was quadrupedal.

As the noise's volume grew, so did her curiosity. She couldn't think of who - or what - it could be.

As the sound reached just outside the door the sound stopped. She listened as she heard nothing for a moment.

"Okay…" she heard a soft voice. She felt that the voice was familiar, but she couldn't think of why.

She heard a few more paw steps as whoever it was had entered the room.

"Hey, Swampert." she knew the voice. "Long time, no see."

She slowly lifted her head, her eyes leading to the voice's host. She froze in shock as she immediately recognized who it was.

"Ninetales-" she said, practically choking on her words. She felt a rush of emotion flow through her, but she couldn't do so much as begin to fathom how any of this made sense. "It's you?"

"Very much so." the ninetales said back with a smile. "Good to see you."

The swampert tried to speak, but nothing came out but small noises. She was admittedly happy to see her old friend.

"How did you-? Who was-? Where did you-?" she struggled to speak properly.

"It's hard to explain, just… try and calm yourself down." she said. "You need to relax, Silver simply agreed that it'd be good for me to come see you. It was my idea to come here, after all."

"Who is…" the swampert started before realizing that Silver was the name of the man that had come before.

"Again, it's hard to explain." the ninetales told her. "Just try to clear your mind."

The swampert set her head back down, looking to the ceiling. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She took in the fact that the ninetales was still alive, holding back tears as the ninetales moved towards the side of the bed and jumped up on her hind legs, propping herself up on the side of the mattress with her front legs.

Her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched the swampert. "You okay?" the ninetales asked.

"Yeah." she muttered after sniffling. Her eyes started to well up. She fought herself to make sure she didn't start crying, but seeing her made her emotional. She let out a small cough before sniffling once again.

"I'm sorry." she muttered.

"No, it's okay, you're fine." the ninetales didn't know what to think. The swampert wasn't the one to cry. She had only seen it from her once before, but never out of happiness. It was a drastic change of pace, but it wasn't exactly a bad change.

The swampert turned to the ninetales. "I'm glad you're okay." she stated assertively as a few tears ran down her face.

"Me? I was worried about you!" she chuckled. The swampert said nothing, her only acknowledgement being a small smile.

"I'm such a mess…" the swampert said. "Why am I crying?"

"Don't worry about it, it's okay to cry." the ninetales reassured her. "We all have those moments."

"I know, it's just…" she cleared her throat. "I hate crying, you know that."

"Don't worry, I know." she told her friend. "I don't either, trust me."

The swampert grunted in inconvenience as she wiped her eyes. She didn't mind water at all, she just didn't like the tears.

"There's a box of tissues on the table there." the ninetales told her, nodding her head towards the table on the other side of the bed.

The swampert looked and saw the box before grabbing a tissue and using it respectively. "Thanks…" she muttered as she wiped her eyes.

"You're fine." the ninetales chuckled, reassuring her once again.

The swampert looked to her after throwing the tissue away in a trashcan she found underneath the table.

"So what happened?" the swampert asked. "What was he after you for?"

"Hmm?" the ninetales took a moment to recall what she was speaking of, but quickly caught on. "Oh… I… don't know… I guess he was mad."

The swampert wasn't happy with the answer she was given and wanted more information. "What for? Something happen?"

"No, it's just…" she was quiet for a moment. "I guess he was thinking about you, is all."

The swampert shook her head as she knew that if he missed her, he wouldn't have pulled what he did. "That's not true, I know that."

"It's all I could think of." the ninetales replied. "He really did miss you."

"Look." the swampert lifted her left arm and pointed to her side where her wound lived. "He did that to me. He did that. If he really, truly missed me, would he really do that?"

"I couldn't tell you." the ninetales was softly shaking her head, her eyes looking downward. "Have you ever been able to tell what goes through his head before?"

The swampert said nothing, as everything she was told was true. She let out a soft sigh.

"Let's just… change the topic." the ninetales seemed uncomfortable with the conversation. "That guy Silver helped me out. He's pretty nice."

"Okay…" the swampert didn't know what to say. "He seems annoying to me."

The ninetales looked to her. "Sorry you see him that way… he must have bothered you because of me. I was really desperate to be able to talk to you, I'm sorry."

"You're fine, it's just… I should have listened, but…" the swampert didn't know how to start. "I just feel that I can't really trust anyone anymore."

"You can trust me." the ninetales said.

"I know." she responded. "That's why I'm… glad to see you."

The ninetales nodded. "Well, you can trust me when I say you can trust Silver."

They were both quiet. The swampert didn't want to accept Silver as trustworthy, but as the ninetales said, it was her fault that he seemed annoying to her. She simply decided that she would see how things would play out.

"So why'd you want to see me so bad?" the swampert said it without really thinking about it. She didn't mean to ask, it just came out.

"How could I not?" the response came quickly. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

The swampert took in the answer. Despite her efforts, she started getting emotional again. She was her best friend?

The swampert did nothing but nod. "Thank you…" she muttered before turning to look at the ninetales. "I… I needed that…"

The ninetales nodded with a smirk. "You deserved it, I suppose."

The swampert let out a soft chuckle. She didn't know what to say.

"So." the ninetales started. "What do you say… you come with us?"

The swampert perked up. "What?"

"You'll be better off with us, you know." the ninetales explained.

She simply couldn't decide. Should she? What other choice did she have? She'd be with the ninetales, after all. She didn't want to accept someone else's help, but she just might have to. The fact that it was the ninetales asking her specifically made it hard to say no.

"Sure." she said, feeling almost as if she would regret it yet again.

The ninetales was surprised by her quick acceptance. She was fixing on saying something about it, but she stopped herself, as she knew it could lead to her changing her mind. She knew how she was.

"Cool." she muttered, thinking about how it was much easier to convince her than she thought. All she had to do now was to convince Silver.

"Know when you'll be good to go?" the ninetales was excited to have the swampert join them.

"The doctor came in earlier." she said. "Said I should be out tomorrow, tonight if we're lucky…"

The ninetales was happy to hear this. "Alright." she said. "I'm gonna be back."

"M'kay…" the swampert muttered, rather confused with her suddenly leaving. "You'll be back right?"

"Of course!" the ninetales soon left the room, leaving the swampert alone once again, letting he reflect on her thoughts more.

"Silver!"

The teenager lifted his head as he saw the ninetales coming towards him.

"I've gotten her to open up." she said. "She'll be nicer to you."

Silver was still for a moment. "Cool!"

"Also," she said. "Would you be okay if she came with us? You know, when she's let out of here?"

Silver was still. "Huh?"

"Sudden, I know…" she said. "But would it be okay? I asked her and she said she was okay with it."

Silver was still confused. "You asked her what, now?"

"Well?" she said. "Please?"

Silver sighed. "I'll think about it."

The ninetales calmed herself down rather quickly. "Okay."

Silver stood up, Spark and the ninetales both watching.

"Well." he said. "Shall we?"

The ninetales stepped back a little. "Sure. You up to come, Spark?"

Spark sat up and stretched. "Sure…" he muttered, before hopping off of the chair he was on.

The three started making their way out of the lobby.