Chapter Seven: Hidden Memories Uncovered

After an hour, Keita was finally released from surgery. The worst injuries in the end were a severely broken arm and three broken ribs. He'd needed a blood transfusion, and his cuts had to be stitched up. He was going to be in pain for a while, but he wasn't in any danger. He looked around the room and saw most of his friends there. Two were absent.

"Thank goodness you're alright, Keita," Tetsuya commented after noticing Keita was awake.

"Alright isn't how I'd describe it, but I'm alive," Keita replied softly.

"Endou's on his way, if you're looking for him," Kaoru assured him.

"I'm glad. Where's Tracey?"

Shunsuke was holding Marill. He'd been in charge of comforting the little mouse Pokemon after she'd seen her trainer being sedated and taken to another room. "He had to be sedated, he's in another room at the moment."

"Sedated?"

Omi frowned. "Itou-kun...Tracey's memories returned."

"Oh no...he shouldn't have to relive that."

"Keita!" Kazuki's voice could be heard calling. He hurried into the room and saw almost everyone was gathered around the bed. Keita was awake, but bandaged up from head to toe. "Keita...thank goodness, you're alright..." he whispered as he approached the bed. He noted which of Keita's hands wasn't bandaged and so he held that gently in his own larger ones. "Thank goodness...when Tracey told me what happened, I swear, my heart stopped. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner..."

"It's alright, Kazuki." Keita smiled reassuringly for Kazuki's sake. His smile quickly faded. "He remembered."

Kazuki scanned the room again and saw Tracey was absent. "Tracey recalled that time?"

"Yes." That was Kaoru who answered. "He went into such shock, he'd had to be sedated. He's resting in another room at the moment."

"What the hell are you all talking about?" Tetsuya demanded again. "Tell us!"

"It would be best if we all knew about what happened in the past. We can help," Kouji added.

Kazuki nodded. "It would help if you all knew. What I'm about to tell you can be very upsetting at times." He looked over to Takuto. "Iwai-san, you should sit down as I tell you this."

"It's really that bad?" Shunsuke asked. He heard Marill let out tiny whimpers, so he started to pat her head, hoping to bring comfort to her.

Kazuki nodded. "This was when we were still children, that summer Keita and I became firm friends."

Keita had climbed up a tree. "Come on, Kazu-nii!" he called as he sat on a branch.

"Be careful, Keita," the older boy warned as he too ascended the tree. He was glad Keita had chosen to sit on a thick limb.

"Hurry, you can see a lot from here!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" Kazuki had soon caught up to Keita and sat on another branch, just in case his weight strained the branch Keita was sitting on. "You really can see a lot from up here, huh?"

"Yeah! There's your house, Kazu-nii!" the redhead pointed out.

"I see it, and look! There's Jin-san!"

"Do you have more lessons today?"

"No, this time, he's just coming for a visit. We should try to see him before he leaves."

"Okay!" Keita kept looking around and saw something strange. "Kazu-nii, someone's lying on the ground over there."

"Where?"

Keita pointed to where he saw the silhouette. "Over there."

Kazuki had a look in the direction Keita was pointing. "I don't know of many other kids around here though..."

"Are they asleep?"

I hope so... Kazuki started to descend the tree. "Come on, Keita, something doesn't feel right."

Keita followed after Kazuki carefully, not wanting to fall out of the tree.

The two boys found another boy lying on the ground, and he certainly wasn't sleeping. Kazuki bit his bottom lip as he moved closer and examined him carefully. "He's alive, but badly hurt. Keita, stay here with him, I'll get Jin-san!"

Keita nodded. "Be careful, Kazu-nii!"

Kazuki nodded and ran towards his house, hoping he hadn't missed Matsuoka Jin's visit.

Keita sat near the boy and waited. "Don't worry, Kazu-nii will be here in no time, and he'll bring help."

The other boy didn't appear to stir. He just continued lying there.

Keita noticed the boy was bleeding from his head. He knew that was not a good thing. He took off his jacket and pressed it to his head. "This should stop the bleeding."

In a matter of minutes, Kazuki and Jin had arrived. "He's right here, Jin-san!" Kazuki exclaimed.

Jin's eyes narrowed as he knelt next to the unconscious boy. He looked over to Keita. "Thank you for helping slow his bleeding, young man. I'll take it from here." He waited until the redhead had backed away. "Both of you, go back to Kazuki's house. Prepare somewhere for this child to rest comfortably. I'll bring him back after tending to the worst of his injuries."

Kazuki nodded. He took Keita's hand. "Come on." He saw worry in the smaller boy's large, blue eyes. "It's alright, Jin-san will look after him."

"Okay, Kazu-nii." He ran with Kazuki back to the house while Jin tended to the child.

The boy awoke after two hours. He looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Wh-where am I?" he whispered.

"Oh good, you're awake," Jin stated, relief in his tone. "You had us quite worried for a while there, young man."

"What happened?"

"That's what I was hoping you could tell us. How could you have received such serious injuries?"

The boy thought about it, but then shut his eyes tightly. "No...no, they'll find me and get me again! No!"

Jin decided not to push the child into telling anything more. "Alright, we can talk about it later. You must calm down."

It took a few minutes, but the boy did calm down. "Who are you?"

"My name is Matsuoka Jin. I treated your injuries."

"Are you a doctor?"

"Well, I'm still studying, but I will be. I'm Kazuki's tutor."

"Kazuki? Who's that?"

"He's one of the young men who found you. It's a good thing they did, you could've been in severe trouble if they hadn't."

The boy nodded.

"Do you remember your name?"

"Tracey. Tracey Sketchit."

"Good, I'm glad you didn't develop amnesia after everything." He saw two curious and concerned boys peer into the room. "It's alright, he's awake now. You can come in and see him, but not for too long."

Keita stepped in first. He couldn't believe it, the child was about the same age as him. "Are you okay?"

Tracey shook his head.

"But, you will be, right, Jin-san?" Kazuki asked his tutor as he too entered the room.

"Yes, as long as he has lots of rest and doesn't do anything to aggravate his injuries," Jin replied. "I'll go speak with your parents and see if I can get in touch with Tracey's family. He will have to stay here until he's physically fit to move again."

"Of course." Kazuki watched his tutor leave the room. He turned to the young boy in the bed. "I'm glad you're awake."

"Who are you?" Tracey asked.

"My name is Kazuki, and this is Keita. Keita found you lying in the forest."

"Oh. My name is Tracey."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Tracey smiled slightly. "Thank you for finding me. The doctor said if you hadn't, I would be in trouble."

"Well, he's not a doctor yet, but he's right."

"You were badly hurt. What happened?" Keita asked.

Tracey started to tremble as he started to recall what had happened again. "No...no, they'll find me...they'll come after me and find me! They'll..."

"Tracey, calm down. You're safe here. Nobody can hurt you ever again," Kazuki tried to reassure.

Keita looked down. "I'm sorry."

Kazuki shook his head. "It's not your fault, Keita. Something really scary happened to Tracey and it upsets him." He tried piecing together what he had heard, but so far, nothing.

Tracey eventually did calm down again. His eyes were still wide, though, and he looked like he was about to start crying. But, all that escaped were hitched breaths.

Jin entered the room. "It's time for Tracey to get some rest. I'll stay here and keep an eye on him."

The boys nodded, told Tracey they'd see him when he woke up, and then left the room.

"We later learned that Tracey had been attacked by a group of teenagers. It took weeks for him to tell us every detail because each time he tried, he'd begin to have a fit. We couldn't upset him too much, but even then, the trauma was almost too much. There were nights he couldn't sleep because of the memories. A couple of months later, he was finally able to go back to his parents. His physical state had improved greatly. Emotionally, though, was another story. We next saw him at the trial for those boys and helped them get locked away for what they had done. I learned, over time, all of Tracey's memories of that time had been blocked, including meeting us."

"After I'd been attacked, that must've triggered the full-extent of those memories," Keita added.

Marill was crying, not even patting, scratching and cooing could soothe her. She had no idea something like that had happened to her trainer, and what was worse was that she wasn't there to protect him.

"So, that's what happened..." Shunsuke whispered softly. "It's no wonder Tracey started freaking out the way he did."

Hideaki turned to the others. "Let's go. Itou-kun and Endou-kun need some time to themselves."

"Could you please leave Marill here? I'll be seeing Tracey soon, and I can take her with me," Kazuki requested.

Shunsuke nodded and handed him the weeping mouse. "Hopefully, you can calm her." He followed the others out of the room.

Kazuki waited until everyone had left before he dropped his calm composure. "Oh, Keita, I'm so sorry. If I hadn't gone to those meetings, then..."

"It's not your fault," Keita reassured. "Do you blame Tracey for this?"

"Of course not. Do you?"

"No. I had a chance to tell him that we shouldn't go into town today after Shichijo-san and Saionji-san warned me about those guys. But, I never did."

"Keita..."

"Kazuki, I'm sorry you had to come back to this..."

"Don't be. The only ones who should feel sorry are the..." he trailed off, not wanting to become too angry. "They hurt Tracey those years ago, and they've done the same to you. I will never forgive them."

Marill was still weeping through the conversation. "Marill ma...marill rill marill...rill..." Tracey...I wasn't able to save you...I'm sorry...

"Hey, Kazuki?"

"Yes, Keita?"

"I think I'm going to rest for a bit. You should see Tracey."

"I will." He rose from his seat and bent over, giving Keita a very tender kiss on his right cheek, as his lips had been split. "I love you, Keita."

"I love you too, Kazuki. I'll see you when I wake up."

"Of course."

Keita relaxed into the pillows and closed his eyes.

Kazuki watched him doze off before leaving the room, Marill in his arms.

He finally found Tracey's room. He could see the Watcher was still asleep because of the sedatives. He sat down by the bed and waited.

After ten minutes, Tracey finally opened his eyes. He looked around dazedly, unable to quite comprehend where he was at the present time.

"Tracey, you're awake."

He turned towards the voice. "Kazuki?"

"Yes." He smiled reassuringly. "Keita's alright."

"What was the worst of it?" He started to recall what happened.

"A severely broken arm, three broken ribs, stitches on his left cheek, bottom lip and on his forehead. He's awake, but he is in pain at the moment. The doctors are giving him painkillers for them."

"I see. I'm glad he's awake..."

"Tracey, I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened, and I never will. You're not at fault."

"But...the ones who attacked Keita...they...they were the ones who attacked me..."

"Yes, they were, and they are the ones at fault. We will find them and have them returned to detainment."

"Do you really not hold even a sliver of blame towards me?"

"I do not hold any blame, no matter how slight. You didn't know about this. Your memories had been blocked."

"They're returning..."

"Yes. You experienced a fit earlier as your memories returned, so you had to be sedated. Tracey, what else do you remember of that time?"

"I..." he paused. There was something else about that time. "I remember two boys helped me. After the doctor looked after me, it was the two boys who helped me. They would sit with me every night when I woke from nightmares."

"The doctor was my tutor Jin-san. The boys were myself and Keita. But, like you, Keita couldn't remember much about that summer, so not even he realised he was reuniting with an old friend."

"We met in the past?"

"Yes. I wish it had been in better circumstances though."

Tracey smiled slightly. "I can't believe I forgot my friends."

"Speaking of friends..." Kazuki picked Marill up and sat her on the bed. "She has been very worried about you."

Marill saw her trainer was awake. She jumped into his arms and nuzzled him, still crying. "Marill ma...marill...marill rill marill...rill..." Tracey...I couldn't...protect you...I'm sorry...

Tracey held her close. "It's alright, Marill. You can't let it upset you, it was before we met. Before we realised my father was sick, we went on a holiday...we came here to Japan."

Marill's sobs eased slightly. "Marill rill rillma marill ma rill." Even so I should've been there to save you.

Kazuki looked at the little mouse. "She heard me telling everyone else. Everyone wants to help. Now that they know what's happening, they're able to protect you and Keita." He looked down at his lap. "It was personal, but they had to know."

"I know. But..."

Kazuki looked up again.

"How do they know they are to protect me?"

Kazuki inhaled deeply. "This is a secret only a few know about. The only ones who do are Keita, Jin-san, Saionji-san, Shichijo-san, Niwa-san and Nakajima-san."

"You can trust me with it. I never share secrets."

"I know I can trust you. I know from meeting you those years ago, and from the time we've spent together over the last month. Tracey, I'm really the Chairman of Bell Liberty Gakuen, and my real name is Suzubushi Kazuki. Endou is my mother's maiden name. I'd been hoping to find you again after hearing word of that gang being released, and I did. I found information about a young man working for the famous researcher Professor Oak. When I realised it was you, I arranged for a Platinum Paper to be sent to you, so you would come here."

"But, what if I hadn't realised the importance of it?"

"You would have. Everyone knows what it means to receive a Platinum Paper. I'd arranged for you to come for protection."

"Protection?"

"Yes. But, to keep that hidden, I also claimed your art, research and observation skills make you a worthy student, which they truly do."

"Wasn't I safe in Pallet Town?"

"No. That gang would scour the entire world to find you. In the school grounds, you were more than safe."

"But, then I left the school grounds...and Keita..."

"As I said, I don't hold any blame towards you, and I never will. Now that you know what's happened, I'm sure you will take care. Neither Keita nor I want to see you in that same state ever again. You're one of our dearest friends."

"Kazuki..."

"I'm glad I found you again, Tracey, and I know Keita is too." He reached over and started to pat Marill. "It looks like she's calmed down now."

"Yeah." He looked down at Marill. "She's asleep." He looked back to Kazuki. "I'm glad I came to Bell Liberty. I was reunited with you and Keita without realising it, and I've made more friends." His expression grew serious. "Do any of them hold any blame?"

"No. They were unhappy about being left out of the loop on what was happening, but none of them blames you for what happened today."

"I'm glad. I only hope that nothing will change after...after Keita was..."

"It's alright, Tracey. Keita will be alright. He's resting for now, but he's not in danger anymore." He could see tears welling in the Watcher's eyes. "Tracey..."

"I wish Keita had never gone through what I did...he didn't deserve it..." he whispered as a couple of tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Neither did you."

Tracey closed his eyes and allowed his tears to fall silently, the only sounds he'd made were hitched breaths.

Kazuki stayed there, making sure Tracey was alright. He knew Keita was still resting.

Tracey wiped his eyes a moment later. "You should get back to Keita. He'd love to see you when he wakes up."

"I did tell him I'd be there when he woke. Will you be alright, Tracey?"

The Watcher nodded. "I'll be alright now."

Kazuki didn't believe him, not after having that fit that resulted in having him sedated. "I'll tell the others you're awake and have them come in to keep you company."

"Okay." Tracey watched as Kazuki left the room. "Kazuki!"

"Yes?"

"Please tell Keita that I'm glad he's going to be alright...and that I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect him..."

Kazuki nodded. "Of course, Tracey." He then left the room.

Tracey looked down to the sleeping Pokemon in his arms. Something tells me life at Bell Liberty is never going to be the same again...

Keita/Tracey: HAMU-HAMU HEAVEN!

Tracey, still a chibified hamster, was walking through Bell Liberty Forest, hoping to find what he's searching for. He had determination burning brightly in his eyes.

Tetsuya saw him from the little fishing hole. Yes, he too was in chibified-hamster form. "Oi, Tracey-hamu!"

Tracey turned to the fishing hole and spotted the Student Council President. "Hello, Tetsuya-hamu!" He approached the taller hamster.

"You seem determined today, what's up-hamu?"

"I'm just continuing my search for the perfect thing to sketch-hamu."

"Any luck-hamu?"

"Still not yet-hamu. But, I'm not going to give up-hamu!"

"That's the spirit-hamu!" Tetsuya turned to his fishing pole and brightened. He'd just had an idea. "How about if I catch a large fish-hamu? You could sketch that-hamu."

"That's a fine idea-hamu. But, only if it's a special fish-hamu."

"Sure-hamu!" Tetsuya managed to catch four shoes, three tyres, two rubber ducks and a partridge in a pear tree from the Christmas concert the previous year.

Tracey was sweatdropping as he tapped that same blackboard with that same baton.

Tetsuya jumped up, not appearing to mind his fishing hadn't gone well. "Now that everyone knows what's going on, we're able to protect Keita-hamu and Tracey-hamu. But, what will happen when that gang appears in the hospital-hamu? Next time in Newest Student At BL Gakuen: A Brawl In The Hospital. Be sure to show your own fighting spirit-hamu!" Tetsuya raised a fist in the air, a smile on his face, fierce determination in his eyes.