*Would you believe I almost forgot to update? *sadness* ... I was too busy watching epic wi-fi Pokemon battles... And working on a Nuzlocke... And homework... and just being a nerd that can't concentrate on any one thing for more than five minutes at a time. :P So, here's the next chapter! :D Hope you guys enjoy! Review replies at the end. ;)*
Chapter 3
"What are you talking about, sweetie?" asked Ruby's mom, fretfully rubbing his head. "Stop joking around, it isn't funny. We've worried enough for a day."
His silence filled them all with disbelief as the truth sunk in. He wasn't kidding. He wasn't lying. He wasn't just messing with their heads. He was being dead serious.
"Ruby..." Even Norman was shocked beyond words, unable to find something to say. He settled for just answering his son's question, feeling pain wrench deep inside him. "Yes, Ruby is your name."
"Ruby, do ya recognize me?" asked Sapphire frantically, desperation and fear seizing her and filling her with a chill deeper than Sheer Cold. "Don't ya remember me? Yer best friend? Sapphire?"
"No... I don't remember seeing any of you ever before." He looked over beside the bed, where Zuzu was crouched, staring at its trainer with a worried expression. "Is that a Pokemon? What kind is it? I've never seen anything like it before."
"This is Zuzu," said Sapphire, finding it suddenly hard to speak, walking over to the Swampert, which was growing increasingly panicked. "He's your Swampert. You've owned him for the past five years, ever since he was a Mudkip. He's the Tough component of your Dream Team, show him all the ribbons you two won together, Zuzu!"
The blue water Pokemon turned around and flashed its dark gray back fin, lined with the yellow ribbon that signaled victory in a tough contest, waving the tail as if it would help Ruby recognize the awards better. But the boy's expression remained clueless.
"My... Pokemon?" he repeated, sounding dumbfounded. "I know this Pokemon as much as I know you."
Sapphire felt as if her heart was breaking in two. She'd been preparing herself for a Ruby depressed at being deprived the chance to enter one of the most important competitions of his life, but instead, she'd been given a Ruby who couldn't remember his own name. His Pokemon. His parents. And even her.
And his words, they were true. Ruby was as close with each and every one of his six Pokemon as he was with her, understanding her as well as he could tell exactly when his Pokemon required the daily belly scratches and back rubs. But this Ruby was talking about nothingness. Nothingness that had suddenly taken the place of everything.
Zuzu looked stunned, as if he had been paralyzed by a Stun Spore attack, but he still frantically shook his tail and growled desperately, looking like an abandoned puppy. He looked ready to jump onto Ruby and faun, even though he was a little big for something that.
Norman hit the button to call the nurse, fist slamming into it with enough force to dent it. Ruby flinched at the sight of the bent metal, looking frightened at his father's strength. Ruby didn't look sixteen anymore- with the loss of everything that made him Ruby, the trademark arrogance, obsession over beauty (the Ruby she knew would have immediately freaked at the sight of Zuzu. The Swampert's legs were all encrusted with a layer of dried mud, something that Ruby would never ever ignore or place under anything other than immediate importance.), and the essence that was harder to describe, like how she imagined how it would have been when he woke up.
He would have groaned, perhaps adding on a couple extra for dramatic flair, looking up at all of them and asking, "Why the heck are you two here?" to his parents, a general "What happened?", perhaps an "Ow", and last but not least, a devastated shriek at the sight of Zuzu's dirtied skin, with a "What happened to Zuzu's precious skin? I spent hours trying to get all the forest muck off him a few days ago and now look at him!"
He would have complained quite a bit and probably could have gone on for a while before noticing his concussion, as he would have ranted on and on about the dirt covering Zuzu's flippers and fins, refusing to let anyone to interrupt him, even to answer his question. When he was distracted with grooming his Pokemon, he wouldn't realize the stinging pain in his head until the job was complete, most likely ignoring doctors that they called into the room, too concerned with cleaning his Swampert to care.
"Agh," hissed Ruby, clapping a hand to his forehead in pain, closing his eyed. "My head... it hurts."
"The nurse is coming, sweetheart," assured his mom, wrapping her arms around him as a show of familiarity, as if motherly affection could bring back his memories. "Do you think you need painkillers?"
"I... I don't know," replied Ruby, opening one eye to reveal a slit of rose, lying back down. "How bad does it have to hurt?"
"If you think you need them, you should get them," explained his mom, appearing to be on the verge of tears. "You probably should."
"I'm here. What is it you need?" asked a nurse, entering the room with a Chansey by her side, catching a glimpse of the Swampert in the corner, scrutinizing the muddy footprints in the ground. "I'm sorry, but could you return that Swampert? We would like the hospital floor to remain clean."
"My son has lost his memory. Please go get a doctor here, pronto," said Norman, eyes flashing dangerously along with his voice.
It took the nurse a second to process his words, but she smartly replied with an "Of course!" and exited the room quickly, her pink Pokemon running swiftly behind her.
"Are you my dad then?" asked Ruby in confusion, his tone interlaced with his pain. "Why can't I remember you?" The hurt in his voice was deep and more penetrating than his hisses of agony from the concussion, like a desperate cry for help. "Why can't I remember anything?" He sounded... scared.
"It's not yer fault," said Sapphire, making sure he didn't place any blame upon himself. "You hit your head hard against a rock... And... I guess you forgot everything."
"How did I hit my head? Am
I clumsy? Did I trip? When did that happen? Tell me." It was like a child's command, sounding almost ridiculous and obvious, but to the speaker, extremely important and serious.
"Yer not clumsy," started Sapphire, feeling so strange, having to tell Ruby about himself. "Yer movements are always graceful and elegant, like yer Pokemon. Beautiful." She paused, realizing she had just called Ruby 'beautiful' straight to his face and she immediately blushed, instantly feeling embarrassment at having said it so directly.
But Ruby didn't seem to notice, or didn't know why there was red spreading over his cheeks like someone had knocked over a bucket of red paint, repeating the word, "Beautiful." It just didn't carry the same weight as his usual "Beautiful!" filled with unmatched enthusiasm and pride, and a touch of dreaminess.
"And ya love that word. Ya love saying it and using it. Ya use it on yer Pokemon all da time." Sapphire closed her eyes, thinking of all the times Ruby had exclaimed that word at the top of his lungs, eyes sparkling, his Pokemon showing off its shining coat with pride beside him. "All of yer Pokemon. Not just Zuzu. Nana, Coco, Popo, Ruru, and Mimi, especially Mimi."
"Who's Mimi?" he piped, curious. "What kind of Pokemon is it?"
Sapphire mentally measured the dimensions of the hospital room, ten feet tall, a little more than fifteen feet across and about the same for the width. With the added medical equipment, she highly doubted the huge almost dragon-like Milotic would be able to fit in such a confined space.
"There's not enough room for her to come out of her Pokeball. But ya can look at her." Sapphire quickly took Mimi out of the still-damp bag, carefully placing the Pokeball holding the beautiful Pokemon in Ruby's hands. "Isn't she pretty?"
"Yeah, I guess." His almost indifferent answer felt like a punch to her gut, and she decided to try a different angle.
"Ruby, what do ya think makes a Pokemon beautiful?" She remembered how he'd told her of Mimi's evolution (though he hadn't mentioned their confession on Mirage Island even the two events were barely hours apart) with a glowing smile, holding tightly to Mimi's neck, cuddling it every few sentences of his touching tale.
"I don't know. Does beauty really matter for Pokemon? They're supposed to be strong, aren't they? So they can battle and win." He observed the Milotic, turning the Pokeball around and examining Mimi, keeping one hand on his head to try and hold back some of the pain. "Is this Pokemon strong?"
Sapphire's mouth hung open. What had happened to him? To say beauty didn't matter and yet he mentioned strength in battling... She'd always thought of memory loss as something where a person had no idea of who they were but at least resembled their missing persona, but she didn't know this Ruby in the slightest. Who are you? she thought.
Before she could answer Ruby's question, the doctor entered panting, the Chansey right behind him. "He woke up? And you say his memory's missing?" said the doctor.
"Yes," confirmed Norman, a man of few words as always.
"Look, sweetheart, the doctor's here. You can get some painkillers now," said his mom, who was keeping her voice steady with effort.
Ruby nodded numbly, not really sure what to say. He looked at the doctor curiously, with scrutinizing eyes.
"I think we should examine his head injury now," said the doctor, looking at Ruby. "We would have done it last night, but there were more serious freak accidents that required immediate attention. That rain caused mudslides and flooding, and we didn't think his concussion could possibly result in memory loss." He doctor thought for a moment, and then said, "Let me perform a quick test. Is that okay with you, Ruby?"
"It's fine..." he replied uncomfortably, wishing the pain in his head would disappear already.
"What's 1+1," asked the doctor, holding up one finger on each hand as if to help him visualize.
"2?" Ruby sounded exasperated, something the Sapphire was finally able to recognize. Not everything had changed at the very least. "Why?"
"Read the letters here." He pointed to an eye chart on the wall, motioning for Ruby to get closer to read as the boy was squinting. "Don't strain your eyes though. You'll make the concussion worse."
"P. O. K. E..." Ruby's head started protesting in pain, and he grunted, on which the doctor gently pried him away.
"Okay. Ruby's only lost his memories, but not any necessary skills. In a worst case scenario, he'd still be able to live a normal life. I think he may be able to recover his memories though," answered the doctor before Sapphire and Ruby's mom could ask the question. "Don't go too hard on him though. I'm going to take Ruby to an examination room and better check his condition as a whole. You three can wait here for him. It won't be long. Come along, Ruby."
The boy obediently followed, and the door closed behind him, leaving the solemn trio, well, quartet if you counted Zuzu who was technically supposed to be in his Pokeball, behind.
"Why would Ruby say stuff about strength in Pokemon battling?" asked Sapphire aloud. "He hates battling."
"That's how Ruby was when he was a kid," said Norman, recalling the feisty tot Ruby had been, headstrong and always raring for a battle. "But he grew to hate how powerful he was. This Ruby is like his former self."
*Review Reply Time! :D
Kimiko Heroux: Yeah, I decided I might as well just get it over with, since I figured building up drama for a couple of chapters wasn't going to do me any good. :3 I hope I can continue the good air. ;D
FighterGirl14: I'm glad you said that, even though I was one day late. *sigh* Stupid ff . net, crashing on me... Thanks for the encouragement! ;D I will update in a week, so stay tuned!
paintersmurffan12: We'll see about other Dexholders... :3 *hint* *hint* Thanks for the review!
See you all next week! :D*