The sun finally rose and the rest of the group awoke to find Infernape, Lopunny and Sceptile already awake.
"How's Gardevoir?" Aggron asked.
"We are going to need to go to a hospital." Sceptile determined. Drapion stepped towards Gardevoir and analyzed her.
"I agree, there is a very real possibility of internal bleeding or something being ruptured if she's unconscious like this," he concluded. Sceptile was surprised,
"You're a doctor?" he questioned. Drapion nodded,
"I graduated from medical school for pharmaceutical studies and worked as a first responder so I have some experience." he said. Sceptile let Drapion get close to the psychic type. He placed his claws on her arm, examining her blood flow, he took his other hand and placed it on Gardevoir's neck, on her carotid vein. He quickly picked up on her heartbeat and released his grip,
"Her heartbeats low. There's nothing we can do to help without proper medical equipment." Drapion explained. Garchomp looked very worried, which the poison type noticed,
"Don't worry, if we hurry, it will be like your yearly check up." He said sympathetically. The dragon type smiled as she picked Gardevoir and they began to find a hospital.
As they made their journey, Lopunny looked over at Infernape and noticed he was visibly shaken by something. Lopunny stepped closer to him and held his hand. Infernape quietly gasped but smiled once he saw who it was.
"What's wrong?" She whispered to him. Infernape looked down towards the floor and mumbled,
"Not here, can we talk alone once we get a chance?" Lopunny nodded and the two separated. There was no way Lopunny could know what Infernape was thinking, but she had some ideas.
Gengar made a trail of gasoline right up to where Trevenant was standing,
"Jeez," said Trevenant, "you could've splashed me, asshole." Gengar laughed,
"Oh come on, I wouldn't do that. Or would I?" he joked as he waved the canister in front of the grass type.
"Just light the damn thing already!" Trevenant yelled. Gengar lit a match and threw it into the petrol. The fire engulfed the warehouse as Trevenant and Gengar watched. In the orange light, Gengar reminisced about his time in the Phantom Corp, specifically his time training with Donquixote.
A younger Gengar was thrown into the ground, pain rocketing through him. He struggled to get back up as he met with that faceless figure,
"Get up." Donquixote demanded, "You won't get any stronger if you give up."
"I'm not. It's just hard to be motivated when you keep kicking my ass!" Gengar snapped. Don smacked the ghost type across the face,
"Trials and tribulations are needed to grow. If you cannot handle that, then I made a mistake saving you." Don said calmly. Gengar stared daggers into the statue and ran towards him, his hand was shrouded in ghostly energy. Don was visibly disappointed and just reached his hand out to stop Gengar.
An explosion of ghostly energy blasted him in his face, Gengar was sent back from the force. His plan worked, he used himself as a distraction as he sent another shadow ball into the floor and out into Donquixote. Don chuckled as the smoke cleared, Gengar was in shock, there wasn't even a scratch on him. To the ghosts surprise however, Don applauded him,
"That's what I want to see. That was quite intelligent Gengar. How about I buy you a dinner? Whatever you like." Don offered. Gengar grinned,
"Oh come on, I'm not twelve. Can I get a large chicken tendie meal."
"Of course," Don said, "Before we finished, let me just give some advice. Whatever happened before now will only make you weaker. By remembering the past, you open your to making rash decisions."
Gengar snapped out of his flashback as Trevenant smacked him over the head,
"Come on, before the cops come," he ordered. A Kadabra held out his hands behind them. Gengar and Trevenant grabbed their hand and they teleported back to Don's Mansion.
The group were now growing more desperate. Without a signal, they couldn't use their WristOn's to find a location. They were stuck in some random field. What's more is that Gardevoir seemed to be showing symptoms of hypothermia. Her temperature had dropped and she had now begun shivering. Infernape briefly burst into flames before the fire was absorbed and he glowed dimly. He then carried Gardevoir on his back, hoping to at least stall for time until they got to the hospital. They began to run much faster to hurry and find someone, anyone to help.
"Damn it! How far away is the nearest town!?" Aggron growled in frustration, "At this point, It would've been easier to stay in Tetrador and pray no one found us."
"Regardless, we have to hurry." Garchomp pointed out. Infernape nodded and he shot up into the sky with Gardevoir in hand. He burst forward as fast as he could, hoping and praying that there was a hospital anywhere. He looked to his left, nothing. He looked to his right, nothing. He looked straight ahead, nothing. All that was around him was empty fields. Suddenly, he felt his momentum slow down. He looked back and to his terror, he was out of fire. Infernape began to descend rapidly, he tried desperately to turn his flames on again but he couldn't. He held Gardevoir above him to hopefully protect her from the impact. The ground got closer and closer and Infernape closed his eyes.
He felt himself stop and he opened his eyes. He was mere centimeters from the ground. He screamed in panic before he lightly fell onto the ground. He felt Gardevoir land on top of him,
"I-I couldn't...let you die." she shivered. Infernape was shocked to see that Gardevoir was conscious. He stood up and tried again to use any sort of fire. Try as he might, Infernape could not produce even an ember. He wasn't going to give up, he lifted Gardevoir onto his back and began to run. The cold winter air was biting. They ran for what felt like hours. His run slowly turned into a jog, then to a walk, then to a trot. Finally he collapsed as the cold sapped him of his energy. He tripped desperately to crawl but couldn't.
"I'm sorry... Gardevoir." he panted, "I couldn't make it." Gardevoir rolled off of him and lay down next to him,
"You don't have to apologize. I should." she insisted. Infernape was surprised,
"What do you mean?" Gardevoir looked over to look into his eyes,
"I should've told you earlier but... I am going to join the Senshi, for real this time." said Gardevoir. Infernape's eyes widened,
"Why?" asked Infernape. Gardevoir then sighed,
"I originally joined this quest to redeem myself. Cleanse myself of sin, if you will. It was gonna be one and done. Once the cult was dealt with, I'd live on with my life. But after all this time, I have discovered something about myself."
"What is it?" asked Infernape.
"I want to save people. That's why I didn't tell you. You were going to be mad at me because of what I did to you. Not that I blame you." lamented Gardevoir. Infernape frowned and patted Gardevoir on the shoulder,
"Gardevoir, I know I can be petty but I..." he paused. He paused for far too long. Gardevoir couldn't look him in the eyes. She stared down at the floor silently. Finally, Infernape said,
"Don't let me hold you back."
"Who are you?" A voice called out. Infernape and Gardevoir looked up and saw a Vileplume. Infernape looked over to him,
"Help us, she's hypothermic and I'm out of fire." pleaded Infernape. The Vileplume nodded and took Gardevoir and Infernape onto his back and carried them off.
He led them towards his farmhouse and entered. He placed them down on the couch, Infernape on the left and Gardevoir and the right. An Unfezant then flew into the room,
"W-who are they?!" she asked worriedly. Infernape waved this off,
"We're dying, what's up?" he jested. The Unfezant flew into the kitchen and grabbed a first aid kit as the Vileplume came back,
"Alright, I've called the ambulance. They should be here any minute." he said, "I have to ask, what are doing in these parts?"
"Long story short. Gardevoir was attacked and she's now hypothermic and I'm out of fire." Infernape explained. The couple nodded as the siren of an ambulance rang out.
"That was fast." Gardevoir pointed out. The Vileplume just smiled,
"That's modern technology for ya."
Infernape and Gardevoir were taken to the hospital. It was comparatively small compared to the other hospitals they've been to but they couldn't complain. Infernape had received medication to boost his flame production. Gardevoir was taken in for a check up by the doctors. Infernape was standing up in the waiting room when the others burst through the door.
"FERNY!" Lopunny yelled as she ran towards Infernape. Infernape jumped in surprise before he began to yell back,
"WAIT NO! STOP!" Lopunny hugged the fire type before jumping off of him,
"OW OW OW!" she screamed.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" cried Infernape. This the rabbit confused so Infernape explained started to explain,
"I ran out of fire so they gave me some medication to make me produce more," he explained. Sceptile decided to provide more insight,
"Fire types have an unique organ system called the Combustive System. Essentially, they have an organ in their lower back that uses chemicals to continuously create fire." he elaborated.
"I guess since I was spreading fire throughout my body, I ran out much quicker." mused Infernape. Infernape then gestured for Lopunny to follow him and she obliged.
Infernape and Lopunny stepped outside of the hospital, the dead grass smoked underneath the fire type's feet.
"What did you want to talk about?" Lopunny asked. Infernape hugged myself,
"Donquixote reminded me of what I did earlier. I... I killed Pangoro." whimpered Infernape, "I killed someone. I don't know how it slipped my mind but I killed him." Lopunny tilted her head in confusion,
"But he was a mafia boss." she pointed out.
"Does it matter? I'm not going to decide whose lives are worth more than others." he said. Lopunny knew that there was something bothering him but she'd never imagine this. She ran up and hugged him, ignoring the pain.
"Lopunny! You're burning up!" Infernape panicked.
"I don't care. You need it. But it still hurts so I'm gonna stop now" she said before backing away.
Elsewhere.
"You want me to call off the search?" asked Donquixote. On his WristOn, Dreadnought was talking to Donquxiote in the swamps of Tetrador. Around him lay blood from a few unfortunate souls.
"Yes, Don."
"I hope you understand that this isn't something that I can just undo. That group had found out about our organization. We are not ready to reveal ourselves." said Donquixote worriedly.
"I have it on good authority that they will not tell a soul. I confronted them last night, and one of them told me something interesting."
"..."
"Ah, I see. I'll let Vida know immediately. The search is old, my friend, but if the need ever arises then I expect to clean up this mess. You haven't let me down before, Marcus."
"And I never intend to."
