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To answer a commenter on my last chapter of why in fact, Missile evolved so quickly is because he was a Weedle. Weedle evolve at level 7 and when he was caught, he was roughly level 5 or 6. So it's not just a random thing I had to throw in to save the plot (heaven forbid).

...What? Soft grass, the softest wind?

I looked around. The sky was a faded blue. No clouds made it seem as if there was no motion, save for the gust and slight trickle of the stream.

Huh?

What happened-?

Flashes came back causing me to stumble to my feet, and cringe at the sharp pain that followed.

Meowth's sneak attack.

Gold covering two Meowth

Missile evolving

Preparing that attack

Failing

Missile saving us

Blackness

My mind frantically worked to knit these events together into something that made sense.

I was in my Pokeball, not in my own head, or else everything wouldn't be hurting right now. So what happened?

I stared at a side of my enclosure and was surprised when that part of the wall faded to transparency. I walked up to it, noticing another floating orb the same size as mine about a foot away from mine. It was almost completely blacked out but I could notice a dark figure sleeping curled up and the far wall.

It must be Gold's Pokeball!

Exhausted or lazy, I wasn't completely sure, I decided to go back to sleep after my shocking discovery and curled back up again and returned to the soft patch of grass. Ten seconds after I stopped staring at Gold's Pokeball, the transparency vanished and gave way to the calming faded blue.

And I gave way to sleep.

THE POKEMON CENTER (2 hours later)

Sam busied himself by clenching and unclenching his fists and running his hand through his hair as he watched the chansey clock tick time away. He leaned back against the plush bench and for the hundredth time, checked to see if the in-treatment sign had disappeared.

After finding their Pokemon in the state they were in, Rae and him had rushed to the next town, and arrived half an hour ago.

Gold had finished his medical treatment ten minutes ago and was resting. Sam had only been able to peek his head in for a minute before Nurse Joy gently led him away again, explaining he needed rest but that he would be able to come back in soon. Gold was alright. His beloved eevee wasn't so lucky though.

Long ragged lacerations across her tiny back. Nova... what happened?

Sam inhaled a sharp breath to prevent himself from crying in frustration, Nova and him had barely known each other for a week yet he felt his organs were tearing at themselves in anticipation of seeing her. How could that be?

"Sam..." Rae, who was sitting next to him holding her Cleffa, put a hand on his shoulder. Igglybuff had been returned to her a few minutes ago and was resting in her Pokeball. "Nova will be fine, she and Gold protected my Pokemon from those Meowth. Thank you."

Sam managed a tiny smile. "You can thank them when they wake up." Then his smile faded. "Why do you say they were Meowth?"

"That's easy," Rae explained, leaning back against the wall. "Some scientists say that Pokemon have an average IQ of 80 while a humans' is 100. Pokemon are strong, loyal, and have good instincts while us humans are good with crafting strategies in tough situations as well as being the glue in a Pokemon team. It's said to be the reason Pokemon and humans joined together in the first place.

"But I don't actually believe most of that, which is why I'm trying to train these Pokemon. I think Pokemon are a lot smarter than they're given credit for. For example, a Cleffa communicates by saying variations of 'cleffa' and a Pikachu communicates with 'pikachu' yet they can not only understand each other, but they can understand us perfectly. This leads me to believe that their method of communication is much more advanced and efficient than ours.

"There are also Pokemon known for their intelligence such as Cleffa. That's why I taught Cleffa some ways to communicate with me."

Flashback

"Cleffa, identify the attackers," Rae urged, kneeling down to her frazzled, crying young Pokemon. Rae felt sick to her stomach seeing Sam's Pokemon in their current condition. Sam was stroking Nova and soothing the unconscious Pokemon while the barely conscious Gold in his lap. She'd recalled Igglybuff when she'd seen her half-conscious condition and Azurill was trembling, eyes constantly trained on bushes across the clearing.

"Please " Rae continued. Cleffa took a deep breath and took action.

"Cle Fa-fa. Fa-fa-fa."

"What does that mean?" Sam asked, clueless to her point.

"I can communicate with Cleffa. I taught her the entire Pokedex. The number and corresponding Pokemon. 'Cle' means five and 'fa' means one. What Cleffa told me translates to 'five one-one. one-one-one' which means 'five two-which is fifty-two, three,'" she drew a breath, "Pokemon #52 in the Pokedex is Meowth. And there were three of them."

"That's amazing," Sam said, astounded, definitely understanding how Rae's method of police Pokemon could benefit police work.

"Thanks, I-" Rae blushed.

The operation doors opened and Nurse Joy came out, somehow managing to look completely composed and professional while exhausted. Sam was up in a second. Rae followed him over to Nurse Joy, who smiled reassuringly at them.

"I began treatment on both your sandshrew and your eevee. She's beautiful, the way." Joy began. Sam nodded impatiently.

"Your sandshrew was bruised and thoroughly exhausted but he'll be fine after a good night's rest. Your eevee suffered more extensive damage including three long lacerations. Whoever you were battling against, they clearly weren't trained well enough for. They're considerably over-exerted." Nurse Joy admonished.

"Where are they?" Sam said, not bothering to defend himself.

"They're resting in Room Four." Sam and Rae started to hurry in that direction when Nurse Joy held out her hand to stop them. The two trainers stopped in their tracks, startled by the gentle nurse's action.

"I would encourage you to be more cautious in the future. People here don't like to talk about it, but Kanto isn't as safe as it used to be." She was quiet for a second before she returned her cheery smile. "Sorry about that. Please go on ahead." She said, gesturing to Room Four.

"Oh, r-right." Sam nodded, hurrying off, wondering what she had meant.

Sam burst through the door. Two small hospital beds were side by side with a bench positioned on either side. Gold was sprawled on his back, sleeping with his mouth slightly ajar. He had been given a light sedative to ensure that he didn't move too much before his bruises had time to start to heal.

Nova was lying on her side, her entire back wrapped in a bandage and a tiny IV and heart monitor around her bed.

Sam patted Gold's back with a sad smile and whispered a 'get well' before taking a seat near Nova's bed. Rae took a seat near Gold. She silently released Azurill who, along with Cleffa, came over to Nova and started brushing their little paws through her tangled mane in a sign of gratitude.

'Why didn't she come to find me? Did they not believe I could protect them?' Sam couldn't help but think as he watched his faithful Pokemon sleep.

NIGHT (11 PM)

The world came into focus again. Ugh, everything felt distorted and I felt nauseous, I had to stop waking up this way. I noticed I was in a dark medical room.

The Pokemon Center? I looked around.

Gold, he was pretty banged up but he looked fine now.

Sam, thank goodness. I felt guilty for all the stress we inadvertently put him through.

Rae, sleeping soundly, leaning against the wall.

I shifted off her sore back a little more. I had extra weight on her for some reason. Three almost simultaneous yawns choruses from the proximity of my nape, which I realized, to my delight, was perfectly groomed.

I smiled. "Good morning, little guys," I ignored my raspy voice and focused on the cute Pokemon rubbing their eyes.

When the two Pokemon saw that I was awake, they looked at me with strangely teary, wide eyes.

"Bwaaaaa!" Sobbed Azurill while Cleffa sniffled loudly.

"Wait! Wait! Don't cry!" I was shocked at their tears. This was the second time I had seen tears on anyone else. The first being my brothers' when we were separated. After a few uneven gasps, the Pokemon were able to calm down enough to retain tears.

"Is Igglybuff alright?" I asked. They nodded. "Then tell me, what's the matter?" I soothed while trying to assess the situation. Sam was sleeping next to us, clearly alive as was everyone else. Even Missile was asleep soundly in the corner, snug in his Kakuna shell, unless Missile was the shell, in which case...never mind.

"You...you..." Azurill began choppily.

"You're hurt!" Cleffa blurted out, either fanning her face of flailing her arms. It was really quite hard to tell when one's arms were an inch long. "You got hurt saving us!"

Oh. They had been scared for my sake.

"We're a team. We help each other out. That's what a team does." It felt good to say that. I felt I officially belonged now. "You guys will be in charge of taking care of everyone until Gold and I are on our feet again. Can you promise me you'll protect Sam and Rae?" I was getting tired again but I needed to get my point across.

A chorus of 'I promise' echoed in my head as I adjusted my position again and fell asleep.

TWO DAYS LATER

I raked my paws at the grass in sheer frustration and boredom as I watched Sam train with Missile and Gold. Sam found an old sparring glove in the Pokemon Center and was helping Gold on his punches. Gold was almost completely healed. Missile was aiming poison stings at a target on a tree and practiced harden. Every once and a while Sam would come over and toss a small rock at him to test Missile's armor (practically rock-solid, as usual).

Rae was training with her Pokemon by having him trail a ratatta (ugh!) They were currently confronting it and with a well-combined attack, the purple Pokemon fainted.

Everyone was doing their hardest to train except me.

Maybe healed enough for a little training though.

I rose to my feet a bit stiffly, not having moved much in the last two days. I took the opportunity to stretch back each of my legs and made my way over to Sam and Gold.

"Nova? What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I want to train," I replied. Of course, Sam didn't understand my words but my intent was clear.

Sam shook his head and kneeled down. "I'm sorry Nova maybe later. You're still-" Sam was cut off by Gold stepping between them, pulling on his tiny red boxing gloves.

"You're finally ready then? About damn time."

I swallowed nervously. Battles with Gold were never easy and I wasn't at my best. I positioned myself in a battle pose I had adapted. Using it even helped calm me and raise my confidence.

I lowered my head close to the ground and put on paw in front of my face while the other was bent underneath my chest. My back legs were tensed and slightly less bent and my tail lashed impatiently behind me.

Sam got angry, which almost shocked me out of my battle stance. "Fine, Nova! You just got out of Urgent Care, it's not my fault if you hurt yourself again!" His eyes were misty.

"I'm sorry Sam" I said to him, now feeling guilty and selfish but needing to battle to prove myself all the same. I was his starter and it wouldn't do if I kept getting defeated like this by wild Pokemon. It reminded me too much of my first battles in Viridian forest.

Rae, hearing the commotion came over with her three Pokemon in tow.

"You shouldn't try to fight with your Pokemon's will. It's what defines them, trust me, working against your Pokemon is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Your eevee is just trying to become strong for you. Trust her." She consoled him, leading him away from us as we faced off. "Let's just watch. Your sandshrew won't go out of his way to hurt her."

I made eye contact with Gold. This would be my third battle with him. I had to be very careful not to aggravate my injury though. That could mean an instant loss.

In a second, the battle began.

Gold charged at me with his fist poised to deliver a strong punch. I dipped underneath him, using my smaller size to my advantage. Now at his side, I hesitated, unsure what to do, taking enough time for Gold to slam me and I half-tumbled away. Gold gave me sufficient time to get back up.

"Ya know we're tied, right?" Gold drawled easily, waiting for me to show signs of attacking him.

I realized he was talking about the first battle when I won and the second where he won.

"Yeah," I said before charging. I feinted a tackle and instead hit him with a scratch. And he hit me with a sound punch in the chest. We both stumbled back. I shook my head to counter the hit as he brought his gloved fist to his face and checked the pink scratch for blood.

He narrowed his eyes and spoke with a suspicious tone. "You didn't unsheathe your claws."

"Personal preference," I told him, trying to act indifferent. If there was anything Gold would dislike, it would probably be someone going half-heartedly into a fight with him. He studied me for a second. With a shiver of panic, I realized he knew not wanting to injure him was only one reason. The other was that I didn't want to make someone go through what I had very recently gone through. It still hurt.

It wasn't like that would stop me though. Not a chance.

I charged at him with a strong tackle. Unprepared, wasn't able to put up defenses. I felt a millisecond of pure satisfaction.

Then the recoil of the attack.

My spine curled upon impact. I let out a huff of air and toppled onto the downed Gold. I lay there for a second collecting my breath. Ow ow ow ow.

Gold collected himself first and somehow managed to pull himself to a sitting position while I was still on top of him. I was now sprawled across his lap, teeth gritted through a stupid spasm of pain.

Gold's ear twitched irritably. "Get offa me, Rusty." Gold grouched, trying to push me off. I let out a squeal of pain and screwed my eyes closed and gave a low whine as he gave me another tiny nudge just to make sure I couldn't possibly be rolled off of him. Sam ran up to us and gently scooped me into his arms.

"You did great, Nova. You're so much stronger," Sam praised, scratching me behind the ear and he adjusted me in his arms as to not strain my back. Lately, my back's been more trouble than it's worth. Wait, that's not true.

"Rae, I'm gonna bring Nova back to the Pokemon Center, can you watch Gold and Missile for me?" Rae nodded.

"Hey, Gold." I began and Sam stopped moving away so I could talk. He's so great.

"Eh?"

"For the record, I won." I told him, a smile crossing my face.

"Pff. Not a chance, Rusty." Gold snorted. How mature. The smile fell from my face and a scowl took its place, totally ruining the mood.

"You better watch your back, Ground-type."

Now it was Gold's turn to scowl. His type was a sore spot for him because he couldn't dig or really do anything a regular ground type could for some reason he absolutely refused to explain to me. "Oi! Rusty, in case you haven't noticed, my back's made of brick."

Dang, he's good.

I childishly decided to stick out my tongue at him. Woah. Getting foggy again.

Oh no, do not black out with your tongue sticking out. No. Come on Nova, just put your tongue back before you black-

Damn.

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