Chapter 17

Disclaimer: We do not own Pokemon. We only own the plot and OCs. Video game characters' personalities are loosely based off their video game counterparts. Please support pokemon by buying their merchandise or watching the movies/anime. Hope you guys are enjoying the new Pokemon X and Y game coming out when this chapter is updated (it's still August for us as this is being typed).

Cianwood City

Silver awoke to a loud snap of thunder. His room's window was wide open with his rival staring out to the water with a strong gaze, his eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. His face was dark and the flashes of lightning created stark contrasting shadowing. The sight was foreign to the silver eyed trainer, who had hardly ever seen his best friend with such a serious look. Rain pummeled the building, the sounds of pitter patter echoed through the halls. Gold's hands tightened into a fist just as he noticed the red head push aside his blankets.

"Eh? What's up Silv?" The Johto champion asked just as two more bolts of lightning struck the raging sea.

His expression immediately softened at the sight of his half-asleep rival, who gained about two more cowlicks on the sides of his head from tossing and rolling around on his pillow in his sleep. Silver could have easily mistaken the image he had just seen, but a sharp, nagging feeling erupted from the pit of his stomach. He dragged himself off his bed and stumbled to the window. His eyes scanned the horizon and settled on the dark shadows of the Whirl Islands; he stuck his head out of the window without thinking and ignored the water drizzling into the room.

"Um, Silver?" Gold poked his head into friend's view. His focus stuck to the islands, unable to actually see the raven haired teen trying to get his attention. "Hello? Earth to Silver? Come in Silver, do you read me?" He stared at the opened window, "Shouldn't you be inside and not getting drenched with this crazy weather?" Silver ignored him.

"He's screaming," Silver's eyes grew wide as he suddenly spun around, grabbed his gear and bolted out of the room. He was already out of the Pokemon Center when Gold called out his name through the open window.

"Tch, what is he thinking going out in this storm?" The Johto champion asked himself as he looked back up. A spark caught his eye as he was about to go drag his rival back in. "What is that..?"

A mix of blue and red clashed, creating miniscule fireworks at one of the islands off to the distance. The light lit up enough to show the rain continuing to pour down the ocean. Cries echoed across the roaring storm that could easily be mistaken for thunder. Lightning struck the skies, emitting red light and electricity. He squinted his eyes to see through the heavy rain as he heard a faint roar, a cry of a pokemon.

Whirl Islands

"Hey! We are not here to fight you!" A hunter screeched through the heavy downpour. Her Eevee was poking out of her buttoned up coat while her hands tangled themselves securely into a large brown canine's fur. Her pokemon leaped to his left, dodging a blast of Hydro Pump. Strong jet of water shot out of the legendary pokemon's mouth and was hurled at the girl and her pokemon.

He isn't going to listen to you! The legendary fire dog shouted to his rider.

The ground was slippery and unstable from the rain, turning the ground into a giant pool of muddy sand. Satsuki and her pokemon had to be careful to avoid the possible chances of stumbling into a quicksand ditch while running away from the guardian of the sea. Boulders and rocks glistened as the water slid right off of their surfaces. The whirlpools around them roared into their ears. When Mantine dropped Satsuki at the island, the ray pokemon swam through the whirlpools like it was nothing. After exploring a few of the islands in search of the legendary pokemon, it became clear where Lugia lived when the guardian of the sea flew out of one of the caves in rage. The legendary pokemon seemed to have good senses of intruders. Mantine was now out of sight the moment it saw that the island's inhabitant was not in a good mood.

"I still have to try, don't I?" Satsuki yelled back. Whenever possible, she avoided getting into a pokemon battle with the legendaries. Not only does it cause more injuries to herself and her pokemon, it also injures the legendary and leaves a strong feeling of distrust. The trainer prefered talking to the pokemon to see if it is rational enough to just listen to her, though those incidents are rare.

Why are you here? The mystical psychic hybrid bellowed, its voice shook into the steampunk trainer's core. Her blood ran thin as the legendary flew steadily above them. You dare challenge me in my own domain?

"Li-like I said!" Satsuki stuttered. "I'm not here to fight you!"

Lies! It roared, keeping a safe distance away from the girl. The pokemon flew high in the sky, too far to be reached by even the far ranged attacks. Its wings were stretched out and made the rain clouds above it rain even harder. Trainers like you have come in search of me for the past decades. How are you any different?

"Entei, move!" She screamed as she noticed a large ball of energy swirl from the guardian's mouth.

They skid to the opposite side of the island right as Aeroblast pierced through the large rock they were just on. Boulder fragment scattered about and fell into one of the whirlpools. Satsuki looked behind her back at the whirlpool nervously and cautiously edged away from the island's shore. The attack appeared as a bright beam of light shot down at the tiny island. It was shocking that the island was still in one piece from the abuse of the weather and pokemon battles that took place on it.

Let me attack already! The fire dog raged. We won't get anywhere if we keep running. The volcano pokemon jumped aside from the rocks and shot out flames to block Lugia's Hydro Pump. Steam formed between the two legendary pokemon's attacks and made both of them back off from the other to avoid an open attack.

"His ability is making you tire more easily than usual," the trainer argued. "You're already panting and that's not a good sign." Entei was running with a heavy breathing pace; it dragged its heavy legs and slowed down to allow Satsuki to access the battle situation. His fire attacks were weaker than usual and were lackluster.

That Rain Dance is slowing me down, Entei grunted. You would be slow too if you had all this fur to carry all the time. Its brown fur was matted with water and made the pokemon, who usually walked with dignity, resemble a very tall human sized mop. The legendary pokemon quickly shook off the water as much as he could in the current weather and puff up his body to get out more water.

"Lugia!" A voice from called from the water. Satsuki snapped her head towards the sound to see a red haired trainer riding on a giant blue alligator pokemon. The water pokemon was roughly two in a half meters tall and had red spikes on its body with "pockets" on its arms and legs. Feraligatr had a set of sharp teeth between its jaws and was very fast in the water.

"Why is he here?" She grit her teeth as Entei bounced away from another Hydro Pump. She tugged on the Volcano pokemon to get his attention, "New plan, avoid Lugia's attacks while we battle him."

Is that really a good idea? He asked as he dug his claws into the earth to avoid sliding off the cliff's edge.

"I'm not expecting you to beat him, I already know that he can murder us," she answered.

How reassuring…

"We need to stop Lugia from being able to attack more while we survive this battle. If I remember correctly, Hydro Pump and Aeroblast can only be used a limited amount of times…" She muttered to himself.

"You okay, Feraligatr?" The redhead turned his head to his starter pokemon.

"Feral...gatr…" I'm...fine… His pokemon responded to his concern trainer. Feraligatr looked weary from the long swim across Route 40 and 41. Once out of the water, the pokemon was slow on its fours and didn't have fast response timing compared to the rest of his team. The water type pokemon didn't know the move Whirlpool, so it had to risk takingly swim through the strong currents and struggle to keep its trainer safe from the dangerous whirlpools.

"You need to rest," the dark clad teenager said and took out a pokeball to return the water pokemon back into its pokeball. "We'll need your strength for later." Feraligatr gave a long sigh, but returned to the capture capsule in a red beam of light. The trainer attached Feraligatr's pokeball to his belt before taking out another red ball, "Weavile, go use dig!"

The pokeball bounced to the wet ground and red light bursted out of the container. A weasel like pokemon hopped out of the pokeball with its sharp claws extended out. It was purple and stood on its two feet. It wore a red crown on its head a red collar around its neck; Weavile had two red tails. Each of the feline pokemon's paws had three claws and it was standing in a fighting position. The pokemon cried its name and flexed its legs in preparation to attack.

Satsuki's heart practically stopped as the dark type hybrid stretched its arms, showing off each of its long, razor sharp claws on each paw. Fear twisted her guts into a swirling mess, her eyes, though wide and staring at an invisible ghost of where the pokemon once stood, failed to notice it digging into the earth. Already hearing its trainer's command, the ice type pokemon leaped into the air before falling back down and used its sharp claws to dig its way down into the already muddy sand. Weavile disappeared from view where neither Entei or its trainer knew where the pokemon was aiming for.

The Volcano pokemon growled as it leaped away, realizing that Satsuki is unable to respond. Entei did not expect the trainer to choose an ice pokemon of all types, especially since it was common knowledge that fire types were effective against ice types. However, the legendary pokemon guessed that Weavile's trainer may have chosen the ice type for its speed. Weavile are very fast and attack quickly when unexpected. The fire type legendary glared at the ground around it, looking for signs of when the pokemon would strike. Weavile's trainer stood a far distance away from Entei and Satsuki. There was caution in his eyes; one eye was focused on the sky, where Lugia was. Lugia was still roaring in between the storm clouds, but seemed slightly more focused. Could it be? Was Lugia communicating with someone?

"Vee…" Satsuki, it's alright… The evolution pokemon pawed at his trainer's face.

He noticed her hands shivering, whether it was from the cold winds or from her nightmares, he couldn't tell. His eyes darted around, trying to predict where the ice pokemon would emerge. Weavile was good at what it did: being quiet and sneaking around. They were designed to be good predators and were quick on their feet, that's for sure.

Satsuki, snap out of it! Before the trainer could respond, Entei leaped into the air with the girl on his back. The girl shook her head and blinked her eyes before snapping her head up to see a giant ball of air torpedoing towards them.

Without warning, Satsuki whipped off her belt, with all her pokeballs, and shoved it to Elliot. She then slid off her jacket, with the normal type still in it, and wrapped it around the legendary dog's neck. The Eevee squealed in surprise but didn't have the time to push it back when his trainer kicked her pokemon away, forcing them to veer another direction while she alone stood in the way of the elemental missile. The redhead trainer's eyes widened at the sight and shouted to Lugia, but it was too late. Aeroblast hit its mark, propelling the trainer towards the ground. The pressure made it hard for her to breath as she passed out midway while she hurled towards the earth.

"Lugia, soften the fall!" Silver panicked. Lugia glared down at the fallen trainer, but flapped his wings to create a small breeze of wind to slow down the fall. At perhaps a meter away from the ground, the hunter fell down into the mud with short black hair messily wiped all over the face. He whipped around, but realized that the Entei and the Eevee were nowhere to be found.

Route 41

"Was that an Aeroblast?" A trainer asked his companions. Gold rode on his senior's Lapras along with Mirei. Although the sea monster pokemon was smaller than Gyarados in comparison, Lapras had a wider shell and was capable of holding three trainers on its back.

"Why would Silver have Lugia use Aeroblast?" Green called out as he tried to see what was going on at the island. He caught sight of a strong current of air hurling down at the tiny island they were heading to. The air current was blue colored and stood out in the dark stormy sea. Gyarados' height gave his trainer an advantage, but it was difficult to really see anything in the downpour. "I'm pretty sure that he is more rational than that. That move can kill…"

"But why did Silver run off on his own?" Chiharu questioned as they surfed closer to shore. "I don't see him as an impulsive kind of guy." She was riding on Green's Gyarados with its trainer. The blue haired trainer asked, "Don't you know him, Green?"

"Then you don't know him at all," Gold chuckled darkly with his eyes gazing at some far away memory while Chiharu only became more confused.

"I... met him when you did," the gym leader admitted to the girl's question. "I only heard a few stories of him from Gold. Red never met him either."

Both Green and Chiharu were sitting on Gyarados, where both of them were drenched with water from the rainstorm. Gold, Red, and Mirei were soaked as well. All of them were wearing raincoats they brought along in preparation for the typical summer's rain. They had to wrap their electronic devices in plastic bags and store them in their pockets. Although many of the devices were waterproof, it was preferable to keep them as dry as possible. Rain was fairly common in this region at this time of the year, especially at night. Although it was normally dangerous to swim out to the sea during a rainstorm, some of their pokemon had a move that could protect them from the dangerous thunder threatening to tumble down towards them. The Kanto champion choked back a cough, trying to pass it off as him clearing his throat. His Lapras yawned, surfing through the wild waters as if it was as calm as a lake on a clear sunny day. The weather on Mount Silver was more harsh than this rainstorm, and it was boring the shelled pokemon.

Red gave the water hybrid a pat as he whispered, "Sorry for waking you up so early."

They quietly docked at the suddenly still island. Luckily for them, Gyarados and Lapras were strong enough to withstand the strong whirlpool and swam through them with no trouble. While the two Kanto trainers recalled their pokemon, Gold immediately sprinted up the muddy pathway to find his rival shaking a fallen trainer. Lugia was perched next to them, happy that Silver is there, but wary of the other person. Gold noticed that Silver was holding onto an Ultra Ball in one hand. Whether it was from the cold sea air or because he was shaken by the fallen trainer, Silver's hands were shaking.

"Silver," The Johto champion breathed out, shocked at the sight. "What did you..?"

"He shoved his pokemon away from the blast radius of an Aeroblast, but they were in the air," he answered as he checked the unknown trainer's pulse. "His pokemon got away, and he's still alive."

"That was a bit of an overkill though," he sighed before taking a good look at the person. His eyes widened as he asked, "Wait, isn't this the-"

"Yeah, it's the hunter," his rival interrupted just as the rest of the gang caught up. Chiharu drew a breath of relief, glad to see that the hunter was a guy and not Satsuki, while Mirei snapped her head towards her friend with her eyes screaming 'I told you so'.

"Did you kill him?" Green stared at the still figure as Gold shook his head.

"His arm!" Chiharu gasped as she noticed the hunter's left arm had blood gushing out, staining the dirty white long sleeved shirt. The mark was reopened with the red liquid flowing out of the scar's black cracks. Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she looked at the rest of the person's body where other scars have reopened. Several places looked like they have reopened multiple times, the same place where she was bleeding that night. The state of this person...

And his wrist, Gold thought to himself as he noticed thin, chain like cuts on his left wrist. The same place that the Mystic Water had dug into the thief's skin. "This is the same guy from the lab Silv…"

"What about his arm?" Mirei asked, unable to understand why her friend is panicking.

"We kinda want this guy alive," Green snarked.

The gym leader threw his backpack off his back and opened the bag to take out an item capsule. The capsule resembled a pokeball, but the top and bottom side of the ball was transparent. Green opened the capsule to reveal a white plastic box enlarged to its actual size. He opened the box and took out a few bandages and a bottle of alcohol. He inspected the hunter's body and opened the packet of bandages to wrap around the bleeding areas with care, tight enough to stop the blood from flowing further. It wasn't much, but it was better than letting the poor fellow bleed to death.

"How else will we be able to ask him about the legendaries?" Red added as he knelt next to his friend to help him out.

Gold turned around and noticed Chiharu staring at the bloody wound. "Are you okay?" he asked her, his expression unreadable.

"My… My friend had her arm cut up like that…" She stuttered.

"It's not her," Mirei answered firmly. "That's a guy. Satsuki is obviously not a guy. It's not her."

But this guy is really thin… Is he really a guy? The Johto champion asked himself just as Green finished putting away his first aid kit.

"He should be okay for now," the gym leader said, still checking for more possible cuts or wounds. "We still need to take him to the hospital, some of his injuries look old and aren't healing properly." He turned around and looked up at his friends. "The rain finally stopped, so it should be alright to fly back to Cianwoods."

"What's this?" Silver asked, pulling down the hunter's collar.

A black choker with metallic studs was wrapped around the base of his neck. It resembled one of those collars punks loved to wear to rock concerts or belonged to those too rich trainers who would give it to their pokemon like Granbull. The accessory looked tight, like as if it hadn't been taken off for years and looked like it would soon threaten to choke him if he was to breath in too much. He poked at choker only to have his hand grabbed by the owner. Silver snapped back while the hunter haphazardly slid backwards, trying to get as far from the group as possible. He ended up lurching forward, coughing out some blood in the process. A silver Dusk Ball carved pendant slid out of the trainer's shirt, a dark sapphire gem gleamed at its center. The center of the ball had fine gold lining with the circles of the ball carved in.

"It is her?" Chiharu's voice grew more soft and quiet than it already was.

The blue haired trainer instinctively touched her own pendant, a silver Premier Ball that had fine gold lining where the top and bottom of the ball meet; the pokeball's button had an amethyst. Her hair was tied into a ponytail again because Gold knocked her and Mirei's room at two in the morning and they had little time to be prepared. Mirei's hair was simple and easy to do. The brunette girl was quick to pack her stuff compared to Chiharu and was already at the door when Chiharu grabbed her bag.

The hunter snapped his head to her voice, hazel eyes wide open. He clumsily got to his feet, completely disorientated as the world spun around in his vision.

"H-hey, take it easy!" Gold chantised. "You just got hit by an Aeroblast. You should be happy that you're still alive."

"I should have died a long time ago," the blood drenched trainer growled, though his voice wavered from the obvious pain he is in. His face was coated with a layer of mud, so it was hard to see if he was embarrassed by the sudden appearance of multiple trainers.

"Wait… You survived an Aeroblast, but you're suicidal?" Gold tilted his head to one side. "Dude, how unlucky."

"Gold, don't encourage it…" Red warned, shaking his head to the lack of care his fellow champion uses with his words. His Pikachu was sitting on his backpack and glared at the younger trainer, who didn't seem to understand the atmosphere of the situation.

"What are you planning?" Green questioned. He took a step towards the hunter as he took a step back. The pendant clanged against the buttons on his shirt. Noticing it, he quickly slid it back into his shirt. He continued to slowly walk backwards while Green approached. "What do you want to do with all the legendary pokemon?"

"It's none of your concern," he answered. Adrenaline dulled the pain that shot up from his arm as he instinctively grabbed at the area.

"Wait, why does he have the same pendant as Satsuki?" Mirei didn't appear to see the connections and poked her head towards where the injured hunter was. She had her hand wrapped around her own pendant, which was similar to Chiharu and Satsuki's but it had a heart carved into the top of the ball and had a ruby gem at the ball's button. All of the pendants were the size of the first joint of the thumb.

At a mention of that name, he whipped around bolted for the cliff. For an injured person, he ran surprisingly fast, dragging his tired limbs with him without looking back to see if he was still being pursued. There was an alarmed look in his eyes; it was difficult to see what color it was from that angle. Red sprinted towards the runaway and dived at his legs, tripping him when he was only a meter away from the edge. The person had his arms reached out towards the cliff's edge with desperation. Red's Pikachu leaped off his trainer's backpack and ran over to the injured trainer in case his trainer needed it.

"Nice Red!" Green called out as he rushed in to help restrain the trainer. Before Green could even touch him, Red sudden snapped his hands away, like as if he touched a burning hot rod. The hunter began choking out more blood than he had earlier, his fingers trying to pry off the choker.

"Don't touch him!" Red snapped at his friend, who was just about to help the hunter. Green stared at his rival in shock. Before the gym leader could say anything, he felt static emit from the injured trainer. The electricity tickled the surface of his skin and made Green immediately take his hand away in response to the sudden prickly sensation.

"Wait, what's going on?" Silver asked just as Red stopped him from getting too close.

The injured person's body suddenly grew stiff with his muscles tightened, as if expecting something. His arms were still reached out to the cliff's edge and used his nails to claw himself towards the edge. He panted, out of breath, and didn't seem to hear the yelling from the people behind him. Without warning, he threw himself off the cliff. Silver closed his eyes and wait for the sound of the person plunging into the water; the sound never made it to his ears. The redhead snapped his eyes open and walked carefully over the edge of the cliff to look down. Silver abruptly stepped back when he realized that the person had his hands still clinging onto the cliff, but had his body against the side of it. What was he doing?

"Is he trying to not fall into the ocean?" Gold speculated. An idea clicked in the back of his head as he ran towards his rival and the Kanto trainers.

The injured trainer grinded his teeth together, forcing himself from making a single sound. His hands were turning red from hanging onto the cliff's edge with his bony fingers. The Johto trainer foolishly ignored Red's warning and grabbed both of the trainer's wrist. The moment his hands came into contact of the injured trainer, Gold fell on his back while at the same time dragging the surprisingly light weighted person along with him. Gold shouted out in surprise at the shock, but still stubbornly held on the person. The injured trainer flew over his head and flop onto the hard stony surface of the cliff.

"I told you not to touch him!" Red shouted at his junior. His Pikachu stared at the two shocked trainers and went over to the injured trainer to inspect him.

"I'm sorry senpai!" Gold cried out after he finally let go of the hunter. "I happen to know this island well, and it appears to be that he is trying to get away, but at the same time, not injure the water pokemon with electricity! Directly under him is the ocean, he couldn't hold on forever!" He ignored the nasty shock and rubbed his hands together; he spotted a few burns on his palms, but quickly hid them to not worry his friends.

"I guess that's one explanation," Mirei sighed. "How are we going to get him back to Cianwood City if he is a burning battery pack?"

The girl spotted the sun that was starting to rise above the horizon. It was no longer raining and the rain clouds have drifted away as quickly as they came a few hours ago. The sky was dark and had slight shades of oranges and yellows struck against the pale blue background. Rough sea currents still rushed to the island's edge, but was somewhat calmer with Lugia's temperament under control. The legendary pokemon itself was sitting quietly next to Silver, who was still staring at Gold's theory.

"You act like you know this guy," Silver said.

"Just a guess," Gold shrugged. "Not everyone can be that bad, right? Dude doesn't seem to be mean to his pokemon." He recalled the hunter being very concern of his pokemon's well being, even the legendary pokemon that was always with him.

"And some people who treat their pokemon nicely treat people worse," Green commented, thinking of a few cases he have encountered on his journey several years ago.

"Hey, and it looks like Lugia is unharmed too," Gold added just as the hunter went still. Hesitantly, Gold placed two fingers at the trainer's artery. His pulse was weak, but he wasn't getting shocked anymore. He turned to Mirei, "He's no longer a running battery if it makes you feel better…"

"Where are his pokemon?" Red asked the red haired trainer.

"Like I said earlier, right before Aeroblast hit him and his pokemon, he shoved them out of the blast radius. They ran off before the dust cleared." Silver reported.

"Hey, more evidence that this guy doesn't want to hurt pokemon," the Johto champion perked up while Green gave him an odd glare.

"Anyhow," the gym leader said as he picked the unconscious suspect off the ground. He immediately noticed how light the teenager was, much less than a young man of his age should be. "We still need to take him to the hospital. He's pretty much completely unresponsive now…"

Cianwood Hospital

"What on earth happened to this child?" A tall pink haired woman, who appeared to be somewhere in her mid thirties, was dressed in blue scrubs while glaring at the group of trainers. She had her hair tied into a high bun and wore green colored gloves while holding a pen attached to a clipboard.

"I'm sorry ma'am," the Kanto gym leader shrunk from the nurse. While his friends took up the chairs, he leaned against the white walls of the waiting room. "Most of the injuries were already there, we didn't know of them-"

"Do you really expect me to believe that this child was running around with over twenty cuts, bruises, and burns all over her body?" Her voice jumped an octave. "Not only that, we can't even remove that studded choker, nothing cuts it!"

All of the hunter's belongings were folded neatly into a pile, all cleaned and sterilized. Not wanting to be unable to question the suspect or lose the privilege of holding onto his items, Green had conveniently forgot to mention that this person is possibly a criminal. His pendant and a small water drop shaped charm laid on top of it. Before the rest of the gang noticed it, Gold slipped the pokemon item into his jacket pocket just before the catcher picked up his pendant to examine it. Chiharu opened her mouth to voice what she just saw, but then thought briefly about it and silenced herself. She gave Gold a quick glance and allowed him to hold onto the pendent with some reluctance.

"What is that choker made of?" Chiharu demanded to know. With the injuries the person had, the catcher easily overlooked the odd accessory wore around the neck. The choker was easy to be seen as a mere fashion statement, but something about it was off. It looked like it was made of some sort of plastic material.

"You don't know what it's made of?" The nurse gave the group a stern look but explained it anyway when it was clear that the trainers were just as shocked as she was. "This collar is made of the same material as the Pokegear. It's designed to be durable and can withstand major damage and wear."

"Pokegear?" Red asked.

"But what I don't understand, is why does she have such an accessory around her neck?" The nurse was thoroughly dumbfounded. "I don't think anyone would voluntarily want to wear something like that without a hook or a buckle. In a year or two, it will end up strangling her."

"She?" Mirei's voice shocked the group. Ever since they have arrived to the hospital and talked to the nurse, she had been quiet the whole time and hardly made a sound. With the sudden sound of her voice, the group jumped and stared at the brunette girl and realized that she had caught a small detail they have overlooked while being too absorbed with the general picture.

"Yes, she! What have you been hearing this whole time?" The medical personal chantised. "The material of that collar can only be destroyed or weakened by certain chemicals and heat at dangerous temperatures." she continued with some concern, "I'm afraid with even our highest technology, it would be impossible to take it off without causing major injuries to her body."

"So she is a girl…" The Johto champion breathed out almost silently. Silver turned his head slightly to his rival's direction, but Gold pretended that he hadn't said a word.

"Doesn't that mean..?" Chiharu's eyes widened as she gripped the pendant more tightly.

"Don't say it!" Mirei snapped before her childhood friend could finish the sentence, "That still doesn't mean anything! This is a big mistake! It's not her!" She saw the pendant Chiharu held onto and added, "Anyone could have that same pendant she has!"

"Jewelry is only sold for a certain amount of time," the catcher grew annoyed at Mirei's denial. "What are the chances of someone we met a few times have the same jewelry because she bought it around the same time as us? Plus, don't you remember that our pendants were custom made?"

"A tall girl with black hair and hazel eyes," Green leaned his head back, hitting the wall with a soft thud. "Communicates with pokemon well and takes extra precautions, even sacrificing herself, to keep her pokemon from harm. That matches our description pretty damn well."

"You're going to have to take your conversation elsewhere," the nurse said firmly and closed her eyes. "It will take at least a day for the procedure to be done and at least a week or so for her to start getting used to eating." The girl was fairly thin, too thin to be considered healthy for someone her height. Her bone structure was possibly weak as well from the lack of calcium according to the data acquired from the doctors.

"Let me go!" Someone screamed from the emergency room. A loud crash echoed from behind the doors right as a teenager burst right out, wrestling with several doctors along the way. She wore a white hospital gown the nurses had managed to get her into while she was unconscious. "Don't touch me! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"What's wrong?" The nurse asked one of the doctors who rushed out of the room.

"She is still unconscious, her body is reacting on its own," he answered frantically while he filled a syringe with sedatives.

"LET ME GO!" The patient screeched, "Dad! Don't leave me! Mom! Dad! Why! Don't leave me! Leave me alone!" She weakly pulled one of the doctor's arms along with her's. "Don't touch me!" Her already short hair was messily whipped over her face so that it was difficult to see the look of despair in her eyes. Her face was all red and she had one of her arms reached out towards her to an invisible person, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"H-hey, calm down!" Gold stopped her from traveling farther away from the waiting room.

"Stay back!" The nurse pushed the Johto trainer away from the hallway, "Let the professionals deal with this!"

"I shouldn't have asked you to come!" She sobbed, "I shouldn't have brought you with me! I should have left you with the others!" She made a few inaudible sounds that made it sound like she choked on her own saliva and gagged. Drool was dripping from the bottom of her chin along with her tears. Her words were a mix of crying and screaming.

"What is she talking about?" Silver snapped at the two village girls, who were both stark pale from the sight. Mirei held back a breath, too scared to breath as if doing so would acknowledge that this was reality. Her friend had her hand clenched into a ball of fist and couldn't look away from the screaming patient. Silver stepped out to pull Gold back, who was starting to walk towards the patient.

"I shouldn't have let him in!" The girl gasped for air while taking in exaggerated deep breaths, sucking in the air. "I should have let him get lost! It's my fault! I shouldn't have done that! It's my fault! The fire, put out the fire! Hurry, hurry, please stop the fire!" She started to bat her hands in front of her as if attempting to fan out an imaginary fire.

"Sedate her already!" One of the doctors who was trying to pin her down yelled out. "She is only going to injure herself more!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She cried out repeated like they were the only words left in the world. "Don't hurt them, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The hospital patient threw herself out of the doctors' grasps and flung herself under a table, repeating the apology over and over to a non-existing person in front of her. She had herself curled up, her fingers tangled in her own hair as she refused to look up from her knees. The girl stopped struggling and was reduced to simply crying in the little ball she wrapped herself in. She was tall for her age and gender, but she looked tiny from the state she was in.

The doctors approached the girl slowly and grabbed her by both of her arms. She squeaked from the sudden human contact and continued to tug each arm away from the doctors' direction. When the health professionals managed to keep her still long enough, a nurse took out one arm of the girl and quickly located where her blood vessels were. The nurse automatically took out an alcohol bottle and dabbed a cotton ball before she rubbed it onto the patient's skin arm. There was no response when alcohol left a slight burning sensation on the skin. She didn't resist when the doctor injected the sedative into her veins.

"She isn't conscious?" Gold repeated what the doctor had said earlier. His eyes darted back and forth from each medical personnel as they all avoided his gaze. His voice turned harsh. "She subconsciously reacted this way? What would cause her to react like this?"

"No one likes the hospital," Mirei said, thinking of her own experience of the hospital five years ago. She didn't like being locked up in a small room with nowhere to go and nowhere to look at outside the window. It was almost as bad as staying at home, unable to go outside from the threats of the outside world being dangerous.

"If you were passed out, would you subconsciously act this way?" He snapped.

"Gold,you're taking this a little too personally," Silver warned, holding him back. "What's you're problem?"

"Nothing," Gold answered. He shrugged off his rival's grasp as he stared off to the ground. His eyes slid to the side and saw the doctors and nurses leading the sedated teenager to one of the rooms within the hallway. The completely unconscious patient was placed onto a wheeled stretcher and was rolled away from the shocked group.

"That kind of reaction may be symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," the nurse said and flipped a page from her clipboard to add a note. "I'll have the specialities check on her brain scans and see if we can pick up anything from them."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gold snarled, annoyed that the health professional was talking so calmly about the situation like she was just another patient.

"To respond so ill to the hospital and being touched can be signs of some kind of mental disorder," the nurse explained with a frown. Part of her job included keeping a calm composure when talking to the patient or the patient's friends and family. She had grown used to the panic people often displayed in these type of situations. "We'll look at her brain scans because unless she is willing to cooperate with us, it's unlikely we'll get anything out of her when she is conscious again."

Some trainers have visited the hospital and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of a pokemon attack or because of an accident they have gotten into during their pokemon journey. Trainers with PTSD were commonly older, often in their teens or in their younger adult years. Those trainers would often freeze at the sight of the species that attacked them or developed a phobia for specific things that were related to the incident. The nurse pondered if it was possible that the patient's stress could be from child abuse. Entrance into the hospital from child abuse wasn't as common as the other causes of injuries, but it still occurred. The brain scans should show if anything was out of the ordinary concerning of the patient's mental health.

"I doubt she's mental," he muttered, only heard by his best friend.

"What should we do now?" Chiharu asked and checked her Pokegear for the time.

It was mid morning now, but a yawn threatened to come out of her mouth. She only had a few hours of sleep at most, but her stomach was growling at the same time from staying up so for so long. A nap sounded so nice right now, after spending the night surfing through a storm, but it didn't feel right to be resting when the injured person turned out to be her childhood friend. Chiharu turned her head to look at Mirei, who was still staring at where Satsuki once was. The brunette girl's face turned white and she was mouthing a few words Chiharu couldn't recognize. Mirei's pale hands were still clutching the pendent she wore around her neck with desperation as if it was the means of her survival.

"We were placing the IV Drip to numb her pain before we started checking for infections on her wounds when she instinctively jerked away," a doctor said as he wiped off his forehead with a handkerchief. "She wasn't fully awake, but she started to struggle when we approached her."

"She probably won't be conscious for another day," Silver said to the group of trainers. "We should take today as a day to rest and be prepared to ask her questions when she's ready." The redhead had dark bags under his eyes and put his hand over his mouth. "I think some of us could use some sleep."

"Satsuki…" Mirei uttered.

"There's nothing we can do now but wait," Red told her and pat his Pikachu on the back.

"The nurse will tell us if something comes up," Green added and gave the nurse a weary look. "Let's leave this place before she gets mad again…"

Author Notes: Compared to original version of this scene, I would say the revision had more details and the scene of Satsuki screaming out things was rewritten so that they would sound more desperate. The Lugia fight was very short because of Lugia's small movepool and how much effort is required to use those moves. To be fair, Satsuki's team is fairly low leveled with the exception of Entei. She wouldn't have lasted long if it wasn't for Entei. Question of the chapter: Do you have a phobia of some kind? To be honest...we're not too sure when chapter 18 will be updated.

We'll try to update it on December 28 and start regularly updating once every other week, but there are no guarantees due to finals and the holidays coming up. Thank you for your patience for the past month for this chapter to update.

"LunarAbyss": Sigh, I think I had a little too much fun with this chapter... What twisted people we are.

"RainSonata": I'm glad we got this chapter down the night before school started. Even with school coming back, we'll still work on the chapters. Chapters will still be uploaded once a week.