Leilani's leg was shaking incessantly as she nervously waited inside Fall City Hospital's waiting room. Lunick had been in surgery for three hours and still no update was given about his condition. She didn't need an expert to tell her he had lost a copious amount of blood by the time they arrived at the hospital. How could she let this happen? She wasn't focused at all throughout the entire mission and it may have costed Lunick his life.

Murph, Percy, Freddie, Iyori, and Lind also waited in the waiting room, all with their heads bowed wearing solemn looks. Minun rested on the bench beside Leilani, curled up in little ball but also shaking. The little guy hadn't slept since they arrived. She couldn't even bring herself to comfort him, she was so ashamed. And then there was Solana. It wasn't until Murph and Freddie insisted she contact Solana in the last hour, that she relented and ultimately told her he was in the hospital. She couldn't bring herself to tell her why until she'd arrive. She had wanted to wait until she had gotten an update on his condition, hopefully to give her some positive news, but they'd been waiting for so long. She had no right to keep this from her any longer.

She could feel Alejandro's weighty hand rubbing her back, a touch that was supposed to be soothing but was repulsive coming from him. He must've gotten sweet satisfaction in knowing Lunick was laid up in here fighting for his life. He was the only barrier stopping him from beating on her constantly. At least he couldn't take solace in causing the injuries himself.

The hospital's double doors parted as Solana and Plusle ran inside. Fervently scanning the room, her eyes landed on Leilani, and she rushed to her.

"Leilani!"

Leilani weakly stood up.

"What happened?!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes

Leilani's tears hadn't stopped since the moment Lunick collapsed.

"I'm so sorry, Solana." She squeaked.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"He was trying to protect me. I froze up, I-I couldn't move. He pushed me out the way and he –"

"He what? What happened to Lunick?" Solana impatiently interjected.

Leilani choked. "He took a bullet for me, Solana. Lunick's been shot."

Solana's eyes went wide as Plusle's paws flew to her mouth.

"I'm so sorry. Solana. I'm so sorry." She rrepeated.

Solana covered her mouth with her hands as tears streamed down her face.

"We didn't know the suspect was armed. It wasn't in the report –"

"But we've dealt with armed perps before. We know what to do when a weapon is drawn. We know how to disarm."

"I froze, Solana. I didn't draw my weapon like Lunick."

"What do you mean you froze?!" she fussed. "You let him get shot?!"

"No!" she answered quickly. "H-He was protecting me. The gunman was aiming at me. He had his weapon drawn but he didn't take the shot because he didn't want to risk the perp discharging his."

Solana shook his head. "Why didn't you leave? Run away?"

"I froze."

"Disarm him? If Lunick had his weapon drawn too, you should have been able to disarm him!"

"I froze, Solana! I'm sorry!" Leilani sobbed. "I don't know what happened. I just froze. And because the perp saw that, he shot at me. But Lunick was already moving to push me out the way. He must've noticed I wasn't okay and –"

"No," Solana continued to shake her head. "No. No, Leil."

Leil reached out and held Solana by her arms.

"I'm sorry, Sole! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

Solana just kept shaking her head and looked away from her.

The double doors to the hospital slid apart again as Lunick's parents rushed through, running up to Solana.

"Solana, we got your message," said Lou, Lunick's father.

"What happened to my baby?" his mother Elvera cried.

Solana turned away from Leilani, breaking out of her grasp as she steeled herself to face his parents.

"Lunick's been shot."

"WHAT?!" Elvera cried.

Lou brought his hands up and gripped his wife firmly by her shoulders.

"What happened, Solana?" he asked calmy.

"He was shot on a mission."

"Oh Jesus!" his mother cried. She pointed an accusatory finger at Solana. "How could you let this happen?!"

"Vera," her husband warned.

"I wasn't there, ma'am." Solan replied, shakily.

"Why the hell not?!" she spat out. "You're his partner, aren't you?! You're supposed to look out for one another! How could you let my baby get shot?! Don't you love him at all?!"

"Vera, enough," Lou said, squeezing her shoulders. "Don't blame, Solana. She's as upset as we are."

"Where were you?! Why weren't you there?!" she continued.

Solana couldn't fight the tears that continued to rush from her eyes.

"I'm on sick leave."

"What the hell are you so sick with that you can't be there for your partner?! Your so-called boyfriend?! I knew it! I knew you were no good for him!"

"Vera, stop it!" Lou scolded.

She flexed her hands angrily. "I knew this would happen! It was only a matter of time before he'd be killed by one of those crazies! How could we let him take on such a dangerous job?"

"Lunick is a fighter. He'll come out of this, Vera."

"My baby. My poor baby," she sobbed as she cried into her husband's chest.

A male doctor with feathery blue hair in a white lab coat walked into the waiting area holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Those here for Lunick Kaneko?"

"Here," Solana called as she waved him over to them.

He walked over to them and the other rangers stood up and surrounded them.

"I'm Dr. Jared Joy, the chief surgeon here at the hospital. Sorry to see you again under these circumstances, Solana."

"What's the prognosis doctor?" asked Lou.

Dr. Joy sighed. "Because of his excessive blood loss and lack of oxygen, Mr. Kaneko had gone into cardiac arrest –"

"Oh God!" his mother cried.

Dr. Joy continued. "He was resuscitated but remains in a constant vegetative state or coma. We are unable to determine the amount of possible brain damage at this time. He could have mild impairment or a devastating brain injury and even brainstem death. Despite accounting for only 2% of body weight, the brain receives 15–20% of total cardiac output to maintain tissue homeostasis. Brain tissue viability strongly depends on consistent supply of oxygen and energy substrates, namely glucose, and cessation of cerebral blood flow results in an immediate interruption of brain activity. Thankfully, he was only in cardiac arrest for less than five minutes and revived after a combination of CPR and shocks administered from an automatic defibrillator, so his chances of survival are higher. But notwithstanding he will need extensive rehabilitative therapy should he regain consciousness." He flipped a page on his clipboard. "Additionally, he's sustained both visceral and vascular injuries from the gunshot. The bullet entered through his small bowel, continued through his colon, liver, left kidney, and stomach before exiting through his upper back, 3 inches away from his spine. We were able to repair damage to his colon, small bowel, and liver, but we had to remove part of his stomach and the ruptured kidney."

He folded the page back over and looked back up at the distressed friends and family in front of him.

"I want to emphasize, a deeper coma alone does not necessarily mean a slimmer chance of recovery. Similarly, a milder coma does not indicate a higher chance of recovery. The most common cause of death for a person in a vegetative state is secondary infection, such as pneumonia, which can occur in patients who lie still for extended periods. Right now, we are focused on stabilizing Mr. Kaneko through the use of intubation and intravenous fluids. We'll be running a CT scan and MRI soon to better access any cerebral damage. But you may see him now in the interim. He is out of surgery and remains in intensive care."

Solana stepped forward before she was pushed back roughly by Lunick's mother.

"You do not get to see him yet for your negligence," she spat. She turned back around to face the doctor. "I'm his mother. Take me to my baby, please."

"Yes, ma'am. Follow me."

Elvera started following behind Dr. Joy just as Lou rubbed Solana's back and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Just give her time, Solana. She's just emotional right now."

She nodded vigorously. "Yeah, Mr. Kaneko."

"When we leave, please go on and see him. We won't keep you from seeing him, I promise."

Again, she nodded, forcing a strained smile on her face through teary eyes.

Lou squeezed her shoulder firmly before joining his wife in seeing their son.

Solana trembled as she watched them head to the elevators to get to the intensive care unit.

"Solana," Leilani squeaked as she reached out to touch her but she immediately backed away and held her hands up.

"Don't." she said firmly.

Freddie moved a sleeping Niema from his lap over on the bench next to him and walked up to them both. He reached for her as well. "Solana –"

"Don't touch me, Freddie. Nobody touch me." She said through gritted teeth as she turned around and headed for the hospital's double doors. Plusle hastily followed behind her.

"Solana!" Leilani cried as she tried to follow behind her, only to be pulled back by Freddie.

"Let her go, Leilani. She needs time to herself to process this."

Alejandro saddled up behind Leilani and squeezed her shoulders as she watched her best friend leave until she was out of sight. Overcome with emotion, she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands as she sobbed heavily.

Bill made no efforts to lift his head from his folded arms, even when he heard the metal sliding doors part, alerting him that his captor had returned. He was experiencing so much heavy-headedness from the build up of stress, depression and insomnia he'd been having for months since his kidnapping. He knew his cortisol levels were well beyond average levels and that he was going through adrenal fatigue, with his intermittent crashing throughout the days, the amount of brain fog he was experiencing, and his need to overuse caffeine and other stimulants just to keep himself going. With any luck, the strain would become too much and his body would give out, ending this infernal suffering and the suffering he was forced to inflict on many pokémon. He had poured his life into performing experiments for the betterment and advancement of pokémon, but now, his research and development was being used to mutate and corrupt the pokémon of this region. It sickened him. He didn't deserve to see his beloved pokémon again, let alone live after the horrendous atrocities he was coerced to commit.

He heard her heels clap against the steel alloy floor as she neared him.

"What's the latest update, Mr. Sonezaki?" he heard her ask from behind.

Without raising his head, he responded, "No changes have been observed in this lifeform. The pokémon remains in a constant palsied state. It is unable to regenerate any part of its body and has sustained critical damage. The crystal in its chest which contains its brain switches between silent brain activity to high beta high arousal activity constantly."

The woman walked over to the stasis chamber that contained the Deoxys that was captured. "I'm disappointed, Bill. All these months analyzing this pokémon and you've yet to make any progress?"

"Unless you want to risk this pokémon going berserk and wrecking this place like Mewtwo did on New Island and killing us in the destruction, I cannot disturb its torpid state."

She placed her gloved hand on the glass tank, eyeing the deoxyribonucleic acid pokémon intently.

"I want its DNA extracted. Though it wasn't apart of my original plan, I am certain this pokémon will help me achieve greater heights in my vision. All of its genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth and reproduction, I want all of it."

Bill finally but weakly lifted his head.

"Deoxys is quite literally a mutated space virus embodied as a pokémon. Its genetic makeup is the definition of unstable. Messing with it in any way in extremely volatile."

The villainess was unmoved. "Evulse as much of its genetic code as you possibly can and inject it into the next set of subjects we've collected."

Bill growled. "You are making me perform horrific gene-splicing experiments that make pokémon intensely vicious, extremely powerful, and gain an insatiable bloodlust! You're insane! Just what lengths are you willing to go through to achieve this senseless vision of yours? At what cost? What all does this world have to lose for you to accomplish your sick goal?!"

"Everything." She answered sternly before finally looking away from the statis tank and turning around to face Bill. "I am willing to sacrifice everything to make my dream a reality. Pokémon are nothing but pawns meant to be used for our own purposes."

"Pokémon are sentient creatures! I cannot keep doing this to them! Torturing them! It's inhumane! It's sadistic! I will not continue hurting them in such a way!"

"You can and you will. Unless you really don't want to see your precious pokémon again. I have no problem adding them to our list of test subjects."

Bill slammed his hands on his work desk. "Just where is your humanity, lady?! How can you be so unfeeling and heartless?!"

She closed her eyes as she started to walk to the lab's entrance. "I don't waste energy on such mindless things as emotions. Morality is subjective. The human heart is weak and so are pokémon by nature. If I am to fulfill my dream I must cast aside such frivolities and hone and maximize the abilities of the most powerful pokémon in existence, thereby creating a new omnipotent beast. No one will keep me from manifesting my vision."

"You're wrong." Bill sneered. "Morality is relative, not subjective. Add up the positives and negatives of one's intent and circumstances and see where it ends up on the spectrum of greatest good versus greatest bad. What you're doing, no matter what the circumstances is evil. There is no greater good in this scenario."

She stopped at the entrance just as the metal doors parted. "As I said, I care not for how this impacts this wretched society. I will do whatever it takes to obtain the pokémon of my dreams. My agent should be arriving with the perfect candidate soon. Cull the weaker pokémon who cannot handle the fusions, extract all the pertinent DNA from that abomination and impregnate the test subjects. If I have to repeat myself again, the consequences will be dire, Mr. Sonezaki."

And with that final word, the villainess left the room.

Expelling an infuriated scream, Bill shoved the various documents that were on his desk and they scattered about the room as he collapsed to his knees and his head fell into his hands once more.

Leilani hung her head, hunched over with her head buried in her hands as she sat in the longue on the fourth floor in front of the doors that lead to the intensive care unit.

"Here," she heard a voice utter. She lifted her head up slightly to see that Murph was standing in front of her, holding two paper cups with lids, one outstretched towards her. "I brought you some coffee. Four sugars with three creams. That's how you like it, right?"

Leilani slowly sat up and took the cup from him. "Thank you." She said softly.

Murph sat down beside her.

"You know, nobody blames you for this, Leilani."

"Solana blames me." She replied quietly, still looking down.

"No, she doesn't. She's just emotional right now, still trying to process what's happened. She probably feels a sense of guilt not being able to protect Lunick."

"I was his partner on this mission. It was my job to protect him and have his back like he had mine…But I failed…And Lunick may die because of me."

Murph placed a hand on Leilani's right thigh.

"You can't think like that, Leilani. We all know the dangers of being a Pokémon Ranger."

"But it wasn't unavoidable. Lunick got shot because I just stood there and froze like an idiot. I don't even know what happened. I completely dissociated."

"Sounds to me like you had an acute stress response."

"But that can't happen on missions. We're supposed to respond to threats, not be inactive. That very thing is what costs people their lives. What may have costed Lunick his."

Murph shook his head. "The freeze response is a reaction to a threat, Leilani. Reactive immobility or attentive immobility isn't a conscious decision. It's an automatic response, just like flight-or-fight. But you know what I'm also hearing you describe? An overactive trauma response. Yes, you were up against a real threat. But field rangers have the combat training to diffuse and disarm to the point where it becomes second nature. So, ordinarily, even though this situation would faze a regular citizen, it wouldn't bother us rangers and the perceived threat would not have that great of an effect to trigger hyperarousal. You know what this tells me? That you had a severe stress response because you have PTSD."

Leilani tensed as she gripped her coffee cup harder.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about, Murphy."

"Yeah, you do," he said plainly as he took a large gulp of his now lukewarm coffee. "You were hiding it well for a while, but it's taken a toll on you. Drained the life out of you…Makeup can't conceal everything."

Leilani's eyes squinted slightly. "…Lunick told you?…"

"He didn't have to. I saw the change in you, Leilani. I saw how afraid you were of him when he showed up in the Olive Jungle on our mission. I see the physical, mental, and emotional bruises he's left on you…I've seen your joy just completely vanish these past months."

"Does Percy know?"

"He hasn't said anything to me about it, but I'm sure he has his suspicions."

Leilani rested the coffee cup down on the rectangular accent table in front of them and clasped her hands together as she rested her forehead against them.

"I brought this on myself." She whispered.

"I don't know what nonsense he's told you to make you believe that, but you don't deserve to go through any of this. Nobody does."

Leilani could feel the tears welling in her eyes again.

"I moved way too fast with him. I knew he was being forward in the beginning. I knew he was pushing it, but I just wanted to revel in the fact that somebody was actually expressing interest in me. I ignored every warning sign that flashed in front of my face."

"That doesn't mean you deserve to be abused."

Leilani dropped her hands in her lap and turned to face Murph. "I don't know what to do, Murphy. I'm scared. And to make matters worse, I got Lunick involved. And now…he might –"

"Shh, Leilani." Murph rested down his cup as well and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Remember what I said, we can't think like that. We don't know what will happen with Lunick."

"Even if he does regain consciousness, he may have permeant brain damage. He may never be able to work again. He may even be an invalid. I may very well have screwed up his entire life."

"Leilani! I said stop thinking that way," he squeezed her shoulders. "You do not need to bear anymore of this burden. It is not your fault what happened to Lunick. He was the one who reacted impulsively. He was the one who decided to push you out of the way and take the bullet. There were other ways this could have been handled, other ways he could have saved you and all this could have been avoided. Whichever way this goes, this was Lunick's decision. It is not your fault."

Leilani lowered her head again, just to have Murph place his hand under her chin and bring her back up to face him.

"Let's just focus on pouring our energy into being here for Solana. She needs us banded together more than ever now. Meanwhile, I'll take over from Lunick in walking you home and to the base from now on."

Leilani shook her head vigorously. "No, Murphy! You can't!"

"I've already decided, Leilani. Truthfully, if I had known a while back that this was happening, I would have intervened a long time ago."

"What about Aria?"

Murph's eyes hardened. "What about her? It's not like she'll care either way. She's been ignoring me. Besides, this has nothing to do with her. This is my decision."

"But Murphy…"

"I don't want you to live in fear. I hate that you even had to endure this for so long on your own in the first place. Not anymore. I'm going to take care of you, Leilani. I promise."

Leilani exhaled heavily as she crumpled into Murph's arms and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close to him, resting his chin on the top of her head as he fought to contain tears of his own.

Solana tentatively opened the door to Lunick's room. His parents didn't leave until half past ten, so she wasn't able to see him until now. Even though she didn't qualify to stay overnight since she wasn't family and visiting hours were long over, Dr. Joy made an exception for her, believing he was indebted to the rangers for all their help and service over the years. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to do this, probably only once or twice before they had to start enforcing the rules again.

As she, Plusle, and Minun stepped inside, she observed the room. Because of the severity of his injuries and risk of infection, he had a private room to himself. The bedside cardiac monitor showed his heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. He was also wearing a benchtop pulse oximetry on his right index finger to measure the oxygen saturation of his blood. An endotracheal tube was passed through his mouth and larynx into his trachea to mechanically ventilate his lungs. Two cannulas were connected to a single intravenous line that was inserted into Lunick's left forearm while three intravenous bags containing lactated ringers, dextrose, and morphine hung from the silver rolling stand beside the bed. A Foley catheter was also attached to him. His gown was open because of the 12-lead monitoring from the cardiac monitor, with the electrodes placed on his shoulders, chest, and the lower quadrants of his abdomen. The opened gown also revealed the many sutured incisions and markings on his abdomen from his extensive surgery.

Solana covered her mouth with one hand as she looked over her boyfriend's injured body and the many medical instruments he was connected to. She cupped the left side of his face with her right hand, careful not to disturb the intubation. Tears flowed from her eyes as she watched him.

He wasn't moving. He couldn't breathe on his own and was stuck in a prolonged state of unconsciousness for God knows how long.

"Oh, Lunick," She cried quietly as she sat down in the chair that was pulled beside him. Minun and Plusle jumped on the bed. Minun crawled up to the left side of his human's face and nuzzled him while Plusle stayed close to Solana.

"Mai Mai…" his Partner Pokémon cried sadly.

Solana buried her face in her hands briefly before looking back up at her comatose partner.

"I'm so sorry, Lunick," she cried. "This is all my fault. If I wasn't so stupid to forget to take my pills, you wouldn't have had to go on that mission with Leilani."

She ran her hand over his right arm lightly and then clasped his hand in hers.

"You gotta beat this, Lunick. You gotta survive…I can't live without you…I try to act brave; I try my best to toughen it out…But I'm not as resilient as I put on…I can't put on a brave face anymore. I need you, Lunick…You're strong, I know you are…Please don't leave me yet…Please…"

She brought his limp hand up and pressed it into her forehead.

Her phone started vibrating in her jacket pocket. She reached in with her right hand and pulled it out, still holding Lunick's hand with her left. She looked at the caller ID. It was her mother.

Pressing the answer button, she brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she croaked.

Celine knew the instant her daughter picked up the phone that something was terribly wrong.

"Solana, honey. I got your message. What happened, dear? Why are you crying?"

"It's Lunick, Mom."

"What's wrong with Lunick?"

"He's…He's been shot, Mommy…" she teared.

She hadn't called her that since she was a child, so she knew she must have been terribly distressed.

"Oh, honey."

"He's in a coma, Mommy…I'm scared I'm gonna lose him."

"Solana…From everything you've told me, Lunick is a very tough and resilient young man…I know he may have suffered grievous injuries but that doesn't mean he won't pull through…"

"I don't know, Mom. He's never been hurt this bad," she let go of Lunick's hand and held her forehead, "…And the worst part is, this could have all been prevented if I wasn't so stupid! I wasn't even with him when he was shot. I was at home…I'm supposed to be his partner and I couldn't even protect him!"

"No, Solana, don't you start blaming yourself. You both knew how risky being a Pokémon Ranger was going to be. You're both aware of the dangers. You can't be with each other 24/7. I'm sure Lunick wouldn't want you blaming yourself for any of this."

"His mother blames me. And she's right…Even if we weren't together, I'm still supposed to be there for Lunick. We're supposed to have each other's back."

"Solana, stop this. If that woman blames you, then she's an even bigger fool. But she's most likely speaking from a place of despair, scared she'll lose her only child. What have the doctors said about his condition?"

Solana sniffled. "Nothing much. They're still running tests, trying to stabilize him. They had to remove some of his organs because he was so badly injured…He went into cardiac arrest, Mom! He could have severe brain damage! My Lunick may be lost to me forever!"

"Honey, please, you will drive yourself sick thinking like that."

"I don't know what to do, Mom!" she cried. "I feel completely helpless! Powerless! I can't live without, Lunick. I need him! I need him so much! I know it's selfish, but I don't really care. I hate this so much! I just want him back! I wanna see him smile, hear his laugh. I want him to hold me and tell me everything's going to be okay…What do I do when my biggest and best support is not here anymore? How am I supposed to keep going without him?"

"You will get through this, Solana. You will. We don't know how this will end. I know it feels like the world is falling apart all around you right now, but this just happened, Solana. His recovery is still in the early stages. I know it's incredibly overwhelming, baby, but don't run to the worst-case scenario yet. Do you want your father and I to come up there to be with you?"

Solana wiped her tears away as she stared back at Lunick's placid face.

"No…I don't want the first time you both meet Lunick to be like this…"

"This isn't about that, honey. It's about making sure you are okay and being there to support you."

"No, Mom. This is really hard, but I don't want either of you seeing me or Lunick like this. Just talking to you on the phone is enough."

"Okay, honey. If you are absolutely sure…Keep me updated on how Lunick is doing, please, okay? And you too for that matter."

"Yes, Mom…If I hear anything new tomorrow I will let you know. Good night."

"Good night, sweetie. Please try to get some rest."

Solana disconnected the call and rested her phone on the side of the bed as she continued to stare at Lunick's battered body. She reached for his hand again and brought it up to her cheek.

"Please, wake up, Lunick…Please wake up…"

A/N: Last update of 2022! I'll try to keep the ball rolling with the updates. I had been working on a Christmas-centered fic involving Solana and Lunick and their kids but I didn't get to finish it in time for the holidays. I may still upload it whenever I do get the chance to complete it. In the meantime, Happy New Year everyone! I'm endeavoring and making a concerted effort to transition from a time of just surviving to thriving in the new year! Here's to a better, more fruitful, and productive year for us all!

Always Do Everything with Love!

Please don't forget to review!

XyKPfan