The venusaur galloped down the street with a speed Blanche never suspected he was capable of. Every bound lifted Blanche from their seat and made their stomach flip. They gripped the venusaur's foliage with white knuckles and had no choice but to trust the venusaur would keep Spark secure, because it took all their might just to keep themself onboard. Water sprayed away from the thundering pokémon's steps in wing-like arches. Even the crack of lightning striking a nearby building top failed to impede the venusaur.
Though the rain slanted into Blanche's face and turned their vision blurry, they could see the wide doors of the emergency entrance a mere block away. There even appeared to be several people at the door, drawn to the sight of a venusaur barreling through flood waters with two human companions in tow.
"That's it, Venusaur!" Blanched shouted over the chaos of wind and water and the pokémon's earth-shaking steps. "You're amazing! AHH!"
They nearly lost their hold on the vines, and once they had a better hold, they started to laugh like they'd gone mad. Blanche wished Spark could see this. A venusaur sprinting like a rapidash, the spectators watching in awe from the hospital, Blanche's own crazed laughter, all against the backdrop of the biggest storm this little town had ever seen. Maybe Spark had finally succeeded in driving them truly crazy.
Ahead, the doors to the hospital opened. They were ready for their arrival, and the gesture seemed to spur the venusaur even faster. Blanche chanced a look at Spark, but he remained as slack as before, but safely contained in the venusaur's vines. Still, the rough motion of their mount couldn't be good for him in his fragile state. Even if the venusaur could have achieved this pace all the way from the lab, it would have been too brutal a ride for Spark. But Blanche had to take the chance now.
The venusaur slowed as they approached the overhang of the emergency entrance, but Blanche feared it was still too fast. The pokémon angled himself broadside and slid the last several yards, sending up a great wall of water that crashed through the open doors of the hospital.
"I'm sorry!" Blanche yelled to the drenched nurses inside as the venusaur finally stopped moving.
The venusaur hunkered down, and Blanche could feel the quickness of his breath beneath them. They slid from his back and landed in swirling water that reached their knees. They tried not to think of the untold contaminants that coursed through that filthy water as they slogged through it to the venusaur's other side. The pokémon was already lowering Spark onto a gurney manned by several nurses in soaked scrubs. As soon as he was released from the venusaur's bind, the group whisked him inside, and Blanche hurried after, grateful for the slant upward that kept the high water out of the hospital proper.
The inside of the hospital was dark except for a few red emergency lights that Blanche supposed ran on independent power. The floor was slick under Blanche's boots, and they found themself tripping and sliding in their attempt to follow Spark down a dim hallway. A hand reached out to stop them.
"What happened?" the doctor asked.
Blanche fought for their breath before answering her. "He was struck by debris. Large laceration across his back. Hypovolemic shock."
The doctor – a tall woman, with dark, tightly curled hair and serious brown eyes – scribbled something on a clipboard. She examined her note, nodded once, then rushed down the hall without another word.
Blanche yanked off their boots and cast them aside, determined to follow without slipping and busting their head open. More hands appeared to hold them back as they tried to pursue the gurney.
"I'm sorry, Team Leader," said the owner of one of the pairs of hands. "You need to stay here."
Blanche flashed the sharpest glare they could manage at their captors, but none of them balked. They recognize the face of the person who'd addressed them. He was a trainer for Willow's lab in his spare time, a recent recruit for Team Mystic. Blanche stopped struggling and tried their best to look professional, despite their surely bedraggled appearance.
"I… uh, yes, of course," Blanche said. Hospital protocol. They should have known better, but they'd been so swept up in the excitement.
The Team Mystic nurse smiled and wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "I've never seen a venusaur run like that! He's really something else. Looks like he got Spark here just in time. What was that idiot doing out in the storm? Following his instincts?" He laughed at his own joke.
"He's not an idiot," Blanche said, and turned on their heel for the entrance.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything…"
Blanche ignored him and, disregarding their lack of boots, waded back out into the emergency bay. The large overhang was tall and broad enough for their venusaur to fit comfortably, more or less safe from the continuing downpour, even if he had to sit in a foot or two of water. His mouth hung open as he panted, his giant tongue hanging almost comically to the side. He blinked slowly at Blanche as they approached and put a hand on his head.
"Thank you," they said. "Are you all right?"
The venusaur closed his eyes and pushed against Blanche's hand. A warmth spread in Blanche's chest and they stroked his smooth head.
"You really are something else," they murmured.
Spark's words resonated in their head. There's more.
"Resolute," Blanche stated.
The venusaur opened his eyes to give Blanche an inquisitive look.
"How's that for a nickname? If you want a nickname, of course. I just, ah, thought it described you adequately," Blanche explained. "But, you know, it's only if you want it."
The venusaur leaned hard into Blanche, and they worried they might have irritated him. But his eyes seemed to sparkle with a light they'd never noticed, and his low grumble sounded decidedly content. Blanche sighed, and it felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted from their back.
"Thank you, Resolute. I brought your pokéball. Are you ready for a little rest?"
Resolute dipped his head in consent, and Blanche plucked his pokéball from their belt to return him. Once he was within the ball, they held it before their face. The pokéball reflected a distorted version of Blanche's head, but they could see their tangled hair and tired eyes clearly in it. They smirked at themself, and walked back inside the hospital.
§
Blanche spent the night curled in a waiting room chair, despite being offered a bed by several members of hospital staff. Outside, the storm gradually quieted, and at dawn, the sun made a brief appearance through the curtain of clouds. But it wasn't long before the rain returned, though with less violence.
The nurses assured Blanche every time they asked that Spark was stable, but was not permitted visitors. So Blanche spent the day pacing the hospital, trying to find ways to be useful. By mid-morning, their communicator had a signal, and a precise zap from a hospital pikachu gave it the juice for Blanche to call the professor and update him on the situation.
By the evening, the rain was a pitiful sprinkle, and Candela arrived at the hospital with a case of electric, flying, and fire pokémon. She spent the night sprawled across several chairs next to Blanche.
All the while, Spark slept.
The next dawn was bright and calm, and the fire and flying pokémon set to work drying the hospital basement while the electric types traded off with the staff pokémon to power the generators. To Blanche's relief, only a few residents of the town appeared at the hospital with storm-related wounds. A twisted ankle from slipping on a watery front porch, the start of a nasty cold from all the wet weather.
Through the windows, Blanche watched other pokémon and people working together to clear the streets and repair damaged powerlines. Bellsprouts and oddishes soaked up the excess rainwater, pidgeottos and fearows summoned controlled dust-devils to gather up trash. Crews of electricians replaced ruined utility poles while citizens righted uprooted trees.
In the late afternoon, power returned to the hospital, and a nurse arrived to tell Blanche and Candela that they could see Spark at last.
Blanche entered his room, expecting him to still be asleep, or at least in the bed. Instead, he was standing in front of the window, his back to them, hands pressed to the glass like a kid in front of a candy store. The gap in the back of his hospital gown exposed his bandaged spine, and a little something more.
"Spark!" Candela clasped her hands over her eyes. "Damn it, I thought we were gonna have some kind of somber reunion, but instead you greet us with that?"
Spark, seemingly oblivious to Candela's complaint, turned and spread his arms, an enormous smile spreading across his face. "You guys! You're here!"
"Of course we're here, you id-" Candela stopped herself. "Oh, I forgot. Blanche is taking a stand on the 'I' word."
"In the first place, it's ableist. Secondly, its colloquial usage would serve as an inaccurate label for you," Blanche said, looking everywhere in the room except at Spark's flimsy gown.
Candela rolled her eyes back until her eyelashes fluttered. Still an overgrown child, after everything. "Anyway, as I was saying, of course we're here. How are you feeling? Shouldn't you not be wandering around your room like this?"
Spark grinned sheepishly and reached to scratch behind his head, but the motion must have tugged at his stitches, because he winced and returned his hand to his side. "Yeah, well, this is about as far as I've gotten. I just woke up about an hour ago. Feeling a little queasy, honestly. But also like I could eat anything that gets too close to my mouth."
"So, pretty much back to normal then?" Candela teased.
Spark laughed. "I guess so. In fact, Dr. Davies is working on my discharge paperwork as we speak."
Blanche swiftly appraised his condition. Dark circles lingered under his eyes and his cheeks looked hollow. Though he was standing, he leaned against the windowsill for support. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Trust me, I'll feel much better when I'm back at the lab," Spark said.
Candela plonked herself down at the end of Spark's bed and kicked her feet over the footboard. "Maybe you haven't heard, but the lab is kind of in shambles."
His face fell. "Yeah, I know. But I want to see it for myself." His blue eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, is the hatchery OK?"
"The Professor assures me that it's safe. The main foyer has some broken glass and much of the equipment is ruined, but the rest of the lab is fine," Blanche told him.
"Thank Zapdos," Spark whispered. He startled Blanche by suddenly shaking the gloom away with a cheerful clap of his hands. "Whelp! I'm about ready to climb out the window if-"
"If what?" interrupted the doctor Blanche had spoken with the first night as she entered the room. She smiled knowingly at Spark before passing a packet of paperwork to Blanche. "I know you're eager to go home, Spark. But are you sure wouldn't rather spend another night with us? Just to be safe?"
"Thanks, Dr. Davies, but nah," Spark dismissed with a lazy swipe of his hand. "I think I'll be safe enough with Blanche. I'm sure they'll fret over me plenty."
"We'll see," Blanche said dryly, thumbing through the pages of documentation. Much of it was handwritten, thanks to the power outage, including a set of aftercare instructions.
Dr. Davies shrugged. "I can't argue with that." She turned to Blanche and Candela. "Now, did either of you bring a change of clothes for him? I'm afraid the set he came in aren't salvageable."
Blanche and Candela exchanged blank looks.
A mischievous expression crinkled Dr. Davies' nose. "Let's see what I can come up with from the lost and found."
§
Clothed in baggy sweatpants and an oversized pink shirt decorated with a smiling jigglypuff, Spark stood with Blanche in front of the hospital and soaked in some much-missed rays of sunlight. He'd staunchly refused a wheelchair, to Dr. Davies' obvious chagrin, but kept a hand on Blanche's shoulder, just in case.
Candela prepped Flicker to pull a rickshaw by fastening a harness around the ponyta's barrel. Flicker fidgeted, disliking the damp ground, but more or less eager to help where he could. Every so often, Candela cursed under her breath as the straps failed to line up the way she thought they should.
Blanche waited a few minutes to speak, not wanting to disturb Spark's appreciation of the sunlight. "Are you really going to be all right?"
"Of course," Spark said. "I mean, I've definitely felt better, but all things considered…"
"No, I mean, more than that," Blanche said, fighting to find the right phrasing. "You said some things during the storm. Do you remember? You wanted me to turn around and go back to the lab, but if I would have done that…"
Spark's smile faded, ever so slightly. "I didn't mean that, you know. I was just scared and behaving irrationally, like you said."
Blanche wasn't convinced. "Spark…"
"That thing you said about colonialism was sweet, by the way," he said, in a graceless change of subject.
Blanche racked their brain to figure out what he meant. "What? Oh, no, colloquialisms. It's when a word has gained a common usage that differs from its original…"
They trailed off, recognizing the impish glint in Spark's eye. The heat of shame rose in their cheeks.
"Right. You're not unintelligent," they said.
Spark chuckled and squeezed Blanche's shoulder.
"I had a surprise for you, but now I'm not sure I want to share it with you," Blanche said, recovering their cool.
Spark immediately perked up. "What? No fair! Come on, Blanche, don't be like that."
Blanche sniffed. "Fine, but you don't deserve it. I named my venusaur."
"Tell me!"
Blanche held him in suspense for a few seconds. "His name is Resolute." When Spark didn't respond right away, Blanche clumsily continued. "I'm not very good at this. I haven't named a pokémon before, so I hope it isn't silly."
"Blanche, that's a wonderful name! That's perfect!" Spark exclaimed.
"You think so?"
Spark beamed. "Absolutely."
Candela kicked the wheel of the rickshaw and stomped up to Blanche and Spark. "Well, it might collapse or break off from Flicker and go tumbling down a hill, but it's what we have, so yippee," she grumbled.
"Wait! Before you go!"
Dr. Davies walked hand-in-hand with a little girl who had the same tight, dark curls of hair as the doctor did. A tubby meowth in a pink collar waddled beside the child, purring. The little girl let go of Dr. Davies' – her mother, Blanche realized – hand and approached Spark. She wore the biggest gap-toothed grin Blanche had ever seen.
"Thank you for saving Muffin!" the child squeaked.
"Thanks for saving me," Spark replied. He leaned like he meant to bend down to the girl's height, but Blanche knew he couldn't risk it with his back. "I heard you left me flowers. That really helped!"
"And a card!" the girl added, handing him a construction paper creation that was all scribbles and stickers.
"Thank you so much," said Spark, and his lip started to tremble. He cried over the littlest things. Even knowing that, Blanche felt tears welling in their own eyes, and they had to look away.
"Hannah and I will keep Muffin somewhere safe the next time a storm comes through town," Dr. Davies said. "And then maybe you won't have to pull ridiculous stunts chasing a runaway pokémon, right?"
"It made for a great adventure, though," Spark argued.
"I better not see you back here for a while, OK?" Dr. Davies said as her child returned to her side.
"Sure thing, Doc," Spark said.
"If we're done being disgustingly sappy, we should get going. Willow is blowing up my communicator wondering where we are," Candela said.
Spark waved goodbye to Hannah and her mother and allowed Blanche to help boost him into the rickshaw. He kept his face turned away from the Davies so they wouldn't see him grimace. Before Blanche could pester him about it, he gave a small thumbs-up to confirm he was fine.
The rickshaw started down the street, Blanche and Candela flanking it.
"I could get used to this kind of royal transportation," Spark commented.
Candela scoffed. "Don't know what kind of royals ride around in splintery pieces of junk like this, but still, don't let it get to your head."
Blanche wondered at how he could be so lighthearted after everything. After almost dying, after saying what he'd said about himself not being needed. He was just as chipper as ever. He waved at the people working in the streets, and they waved merrily back, as if he were some kind of fairytale princess sitting in a chariot.
Blanche felt they'd uncovered something heavy, something dark inside Spark that they were not meant to see.
Spark caught them staring. "Everything OK, Blanche?"
Blanche did their best to push the doubt to the back of their mind. He was here, and alive, and overflowing with sunshine. There was so much to do, so much to think about, but at least there was Spark.
"Yes," they said. "Everything is OK. It's all going to be OK.
Author's Note (do we get into trouble for doing these? I don't know stuff): Thank you for the wonderful responses to my story! I'm all giddy and whatnot. I've written, like, half a fanfic in my life, and it was real weird. Not that this isn't real weird. This is probably real weird. Anyway, thank you for reading, and I'm working on more stories in the same timeline with these dudes. I want to explore what's going on with Spark's head, and give Candela more than just a cursory, spitfire personality, and keep developing Blanche's relationship with pokémon. I hope you'll enjoy those stories too!
9/26/2016 Update: I did in fact continue to write in the same timeline! Check out my page for a short feel-good Candela story and then a much larger, ongoing adventure with higher stakes and a bit of an Indiana Jones feel. Thanks for reading!