Chapter 7

"Easy, shhhhh."

A voice wove its gentle way into the darkness I found myself suspended within. I was incapable of reacting to it much less process anything about it.

"Rairrrrr!"

Whatever was going on, Raikou would protect me. I didn't doubt that.

I could rest.

It was the warmth that I noticed first when I woke up. One half of me was pleasantly warm while the other was far too cold for comfort. Whatever I was lying on was very cool as well.

The second priority was the pain. It wasn't that unbearable. It was mostly centered in my gut area and just below my ribs, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.

I moaned slightly and got an unexpected sheet of sandpaper scraped across my face, or at least it felt like sandpaper.

"Ugh! Hey!" I reflexively tried to sit up to get away from the rough thing attacking my face. The dull pain in my stomach flared up and made me gasp before I fell back down on my back. "Owww."

"Rar! … rrmmmm …"

The moan sounded dejected and sorrowful as though it had realised it had done something wrong.

I opened my eyes to a pair of red ones gazing at me in deep concern. They looked reproachful, almost like they were expecting to be reprimanded.

"Hey you," I said gently as I managed to lift my right arm enough to scratch under its chin. "Glad to see you're okay."

The Raikou closed its eyes and rumbled deeply in its chest. I could feel the sound as it vibrated through the Pokémon's throat.

"It made sure you were protected as well," said a young female voice. "Your Raikou wouldn't let me near you until I could prove I was trustworthy."

I involuntarily jerked back in surprise and stared over at the figure sitting beside a crackling fire. I winced as the pain returned.

"If you keep doing that you're never going to heal you idiot!" she yelped at me. Within moments I felt strong hands pushing me back onto the ground. "Now lie still until I tell you you are well enough to move!"

I glared up at this young girl in suspicion. I estimated her age to be a couple years younger than myself.

"Oh quit glaring at me like that!" she grumbled as she rolled her blue eyes. "You're the stupid idiot who took that Herdier's Take Down attack. You're lucky it didn't sever your spine! I didn't have to drag you all this way to this little cave to hide you and that Raikou of yours from the search party that returned to the spot of your battle. Not only do you clearly know NOTHING about Pokémon but your Raikou refuses to return to the Master Ball you caught it with! It pops out every time I try! And I wonder why I even bother trying to help. You're better off bumbling on your way through whatever Team Plasma throws at you. Mother told me I wasn't supposed to spy on people for a reason, but after what you did to keep your Raikou safe, I couldn't leave you on your own."

I sat in somewhat stunned silence as I tried to absorb everything she was telling me. The Raikou beside me didn't look too concerned as it lay its head on my lap.

I held up a hand. "Hold on! What happened?"

She buried her fingers into her strawberry-blonde hair as she held her head in frustration. "I did it again." She exhaled swiftly and flicked her fingers out of her hair. "Mother keeps telling me I need to start with the beginning of the story instead of jumping everywhere."

"Then start with your name," I said slowly.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "It's Joleen. Joleen Joy. I feel like an idiot for not getting that out of the way first. I don't even know who you are except that you're …" She trailed off as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Never mind. What is your name?"

"Chris," I mumbled softly. She leaned in to hear me. "Juniper."

"The professor's son?" she exclaimed in excitement. "This gets better and better."

"What does?" I asked quickly. "Why would my mother be important?"

"Oh nothing," she replied as she refused to make eye contact. "I'm not supposed to say anything I'm not supposed to have heard."

I raised both eyebrows at her. She glared at me defiantly.

"Fine," I said softly and ended our staring contest first to look down at the Raikou. "I hope you'll tell me if it is important. How did you know I had a battle with Team Plasma? Or even that I caught Raikou with a Master Ball?"

"You know," she said while shrugging. "About that. People just never look up."

I stared at her. The fire beside us popped and she glanced at it.

"I was in one of the trees minding my own business until you pulled out that Master Ball and let out the Raikou," she said without looking at me. "I watched the whole battle."

"And you didn't think I could use some help at all?" I demanded. "I will shamefully admit that I know nothing about Pokémon! You clearly know more than I do. I grew up with the notion that all Pokémon had been moved out of Unova to somewhere where Team Plasma could keep them out of the temptation of the general public."

I winced and had to stop my rant as I tried to sit up and caused more pain within my torso. Raikou growled softly beside me.

"I needed to see if you were up to the challenge," she replied defensively. "You needed to form a heartfelt bond with your Raikou first and battling is one of the ways to help with that. By defending it, you showed it that despite the fact that you were scared, you were willing to do anything to help it. You have begun the long journey of having a friend you can trust with your life."

I was about to retort when I made eye contact with Raikou and saw that strange light. I realized it was trusting adoration. In the heat of battle I was unable to figure out what it was, but now I knew without a doubt that Raikou was starting to trust me more than it did before when my mother and I were bandaging it up. This was deeper.

Speaking of, "What happened to the bandages Raikou had on?"

"Oh, that," replied Joleen rolling her eyes as though it was an obvious answer. "It doesn't need them. Your Raikou has the Volt Absorb ability. It's super rare for a Raikou to have that one; most commonly found among Jolteon, Chinchou, Lanturn, Thundurus and rarely on Pachirisu. Of course, I don't have a Pokédex so I can't give you the exact specifics on everything."

My stunned silence must have answered itself.

"It heals Pokémon with that ability who gets hit by Electric attacks. That's why Raikou immediately got stronger after that Herdier used Thunder Fang on it. The attack which should have done a ton of damage ended up giving your Raikou the energy it needed to defeat its opponent."

"Oh," I muttered. "Why do you keep using 'your' in front of Raikou?"

Joleen stared at me with leveled eyebrows. "Really? You're the one who caught it. It belongs to you."

"I didn't mean to catch it!" I yelled and had to suppress another wince of pain which I was sure filtered into my voice anyways as I continued on. "It was hurt and it was the only thing I could do to help it. I couldn't let Team Plasma get their hands on it so they could hurt it more. It was put it into the Ball and possibly hurt it that way or just leave it there and do nothing. I had to do something."

I buried my face in my hands. "I never wanted to catch it."

"Rair."

I felt her hand settle on my shoulder before I glanced up at her.

"I know you're frustrated," she said softly. "But from what I've seen, tears rarely ever solve anything. By all means, let all the frustration come out, but once it is spent, that's when you need to sit back and figure out what you need to do next."

I sniffed and wiped a hand across my face. "I need to meet my Grandpa in Accumula Town. My mother told me I was supposed to meet him there."

"Alright," she replied with a grim and worried smile. "You know that the Pokéballs don't actually hurt the Pokémon, right? That was a fabrication by Team Plasma. Pokéballs allow trainers to open the hearts of the Pokémon they wish to make friends with. That's how they are supposed to be used. Pokémon do not get hurt by Pokéballs unless the trainer decides to mistreat them."

I glanced at her. "How do you know that for sure?"

"One, look at your Raikou. It's your friend after all. Does it look like Raikou is in pain after being in that Master Ball? Two, my mother was, well is, a registered Pokémon Nurse and she would know best. She's technically not supposed to be a nurse anymore since Team Plasma dismissed her of her job after their King found the idea of a Pokémon Nurse disgusting. She still operates in secret whenever she comes across an ailing Pokémon. Three, I think Infernape can tell you that himself."

She scrambled to the opposite side of the little cave we were in and retrieved a small pink purse which looked closer to a miniature duffle bag from where it had been sitting next to my own bag. She pulled out a red and white ball looking very much like the ones my mother had given to me.

"Come out Infernape," she said while throwing the ball into the air.

There was a flash of white light and the heat within the cave went up a few degrees. Standing beside her was a large monkey on fire. It came up to her shoulder in height and was mostly brown and white in colouration with some gold on its knees, wrists, chest and shoulders. Its hands and feet were a dark blue colour and its entire brow was red. The top of its head was in full flame, but that didn't seem to bother Joleen. Its yellow and blue eyes radiated the same kind of intelligence that Raikou had.

"Ferrrrrnape!"

"Chris," she said with a smile as she placed a small hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. "Meet my closest friend, Infernape."