The moment Yun blinked the forest disappeared and the familiar layout of the Pokémon center greeted her. However it was not that familiar, this was not Jubilife's center.
"We are in Oreburgh city." The psychic provided. "Their center is better equipped for severe Pokémon injuries."
Yun felt her worry hit her tenfold at those words but before she could voice her concerns a panicked voice rang through the room.
"Dear Arceus, what happened!" The nurse behind the desk came rushing towards her. Several trainers were still in the center enjoying a drink and playing card games, they all turned to look at her and Yun saw their faces going white.
She looked down and considered what a sight she was standing in the middle of the center's lounge dripping blood on the floor. Her glove was soaked by it and it had splattered across her shirt and face during her struggle with the monstrous Pokémon.
Feeling very drained all of the sudden she barely heard the psychic explaining the situation to the nurse as she examined Yun's arm.
"My Pokémon..." She mumbled. "please help my Pokémon."
The nurse didn't seem to hear her as she pushed Yun along towards the clinic. At the same time the psychic's voice rang through her head again, making it spin.
"I must leave now to assist my partner. You are in capable ha-" The last part of his sentence faded away as her vision turned black.
When Yun woke up she was alone in a recovery room and her arm was covered in small white band aids. It took her a notably long time to puzzle together why she was in there. The monster, the ranger, her Pokémon, it all sluggishly passed through her mind.
A nurse passed by to check on her.
She smiled when she saw Yun. "Oh good you're awake. How are you feeling?"
Yun frowned while attempting to figure out how exactly she felt. "Weird." She eventually managed.
"That's probably the anesthetic you're feeling." She said sympathetically. "Some of your wounds needed stitches, which we would use local anesthetics for but we couldn't risk you waking up during the middle off it..." She trailed off.
It was silent for a moment as the nurse assessed her with a critical eye.
"Are you nauseous? Do you feel any pain?"
"No." There was a throbbing in her arm but it felt distant.
The nurse seemed satisfied with that and turned to leave but there was something itching at the back of Yun's mind.
"My Pokémon!" She said hurriedly.
"Your Pokémon?" The nurse echoed.
Yun tried to formulate a coherent reply as fast as possible. "Yes, I had a Skorupi and a Fletchling with me. Do you know what happened to them?"
The nurse shook her head. "No, but I'll see if I can find them for you." Then she smiled soothingly at Yun.
"Thank you."
And with that she was left alone to her own thoughts. She was mostly anxious about the aftermath of her stupid off-route trip. On top off her worry for her Pokémon she wondered about the ranger and hoped she and her team were alright. She didn't even know her name.
It felt like hours until the nurse showed up, though in reality it was probably a lot shorter. Yun's heart nearly stopped when she saw she held only one Pokéball.
"Your Skorupi isn't ready to be returned to you yet but your youngest had only been knocked out. He should be alright now."
Even though she was grateful to be taking Tenno out of her hands, her guilt overshadowed most of her relief.
"Will Reign- my Skorupi, be alright?"
"Of course!" The nurse reassured. "Most bugs heal marvelously well. At this point it's more of a matter of making sure he heals right if you still want to raise him competitively."
The image of Reign's claw twisted the wrong way flashed through her mind.
"Okay." She mumbled.
Soon after that she was moved to a room of the center, she got to stay the night for free. After changing in her nightwear and throwing her shirt and ruined glove away, she laid in bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't stop replaying the previous events in her mind to the point where it was driving her insane.
With a deep sigh she sat up straight and turned on the lamp next to her. A sudden thought had her reaching for Tenno's Pokéball to release him. She hadn't seen or talked to him since the incident.
The moment he was released she was barraged by a flurry of feathers while Tenno chirped high notes in rapid succession. She fell back by surprise and in an instant Tenno settled down on her chest possessively.
It dawned on her then. "Oh, you were worried too." She petted the little bird, this time with her gloves off and she had been right, he was very soft.
"Reign is still being treated." She stated.
His responding note was both soft and sad.
"Yeah..."
She dozed off like that, with the lamp on and her Pokémon on her chest./
"There you are!" An upbeat voice boomed through the room.
Yun nearly fell out of her bed in fright while Tenno squawked and actually fell down before flying up and charging towards the offender.
"Eh-whoa get off!" The girl who had barged in her room swatted at the furious bird before dodging out of the way.
The red and black uniform the girl was wearing ringed a bell in Yun's head. The first thing to cross her mind was that she must be the ranger that saved her, the second was that she was sure she had locked the door the night before. Then she noticed Desmond hovering in the corner of the room.
The ranger ran around trying to shake off the tiny bird and shouted. "Ack, little girl, call your Pokémon back!"
She took a moment to rub the sleep out of her eyes with her good hand before saying. "Tenno, it's alright. They helped us out yesterday."
With a final peck to the ranger's head, the bird returned to Yun's shoulder and huffed. She used her good hand to stroke his chin in thanks.
"Oh thank Arceus, that's a feisty one." The ranger gave her a thumbs up. "I came to see if you're alright but you had already left the clinic. Good thing Desmond is really good at finding people."
Yun turned to look at Desmond and wondered how he did that. He greeted her with a wave of his hand.
"What Pokémon is he?" She couldn't help but wonder.
"People call my kind Beheeyem." He provided himself.
It was silent for a second as Yun wondered about all the things she wanted to say as she had never really been good with words.
"I'm Yun, Yun Kazama."
After she got up from the bed she bowed. "Thank you for all your help." It was intended for both of them but it was the ranger who nonchalantly shrugged.
"Nah, don't worry about it. Just don't go running around off route again, kay."
"I won't." She nearly whispered. At this point she wasn't even sure whether she would ever even venture on route again.
The ranger nodded. "How is your Skorupi doing?"
She hung her head. "I-I don't know, I didn't get to see him."
"Well that's rubbish, let's go find him right now!"
She barely got to change before the ranger dragged her off to the clinic. The head nurse and the ranger exchanged some quick words before they were allowed to follow one of the nurses through the clinic.
"Oh Reign, I'm so sorry."
At first she didn't even recognize him. They had covered him almost completely in white plaster to make sure his shell healed right but his eyes were uncovered and his good claw wiggled excitedly when he saw her. She used her gloved hand to hold on to his claw and a sudden feeling overwhelmed her.
"I don't w-want to be a trainer anymore!" She sobbed.
"Ru!"
The ranger awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Oh come on kid, you don't mean that."
"I don't know." She blubbered. All she really knew is that she never wanted to see her Pokémon hurt like this again.
"I do." The ranger said. "You and your scorpion are way to cool to quit." It sounded like she was talking to a toddler but Yun calmed down anyway.
The ranger continued. "I mean seriously, almost all the girls I've met started with something stupid and cute like a Buneary or a Skitty, at least you chose power over looks. Just wait till he evolves."
Yun's face reddened but she didn't have the guts to tell the ranger she hadn't really wanted a Skorupi, especially not in front of Reign. It did manage to make her stop crying. She looked down uncertain.
"Come on, you'll feel better after some breakfast. My treat."
She looked up to the ranger in surprise. Why would she go to such lengths to cheer up some stupid kid who got her Pokémon hurt by misbehaving? After everything the ranger did for her, she couldn't say no but that didn't stop her from trying to pay for breakfast herself. She should be the one who treated the other but the ranger would have none of it.
After making sure Reign knew she was coming back for him as soon as possible they sat down in the diner attached to the center and ordered themselves breakfast. It was cheaper for trainers and that managed to make Yun feel less bad about being treated.
"What's your name?" Yun asked halfway through her breakfast, sounding much like the awkward child she was.
"Chihiro, I know, classic, doesn't fit me at all." She stuck out her tongue.
She nodded sagely. "Sounds like an old person." It wasn't lost on Yun that she had forgone to mention her last name but it didn't matter. She would call the girl whatever she wanted after all her help.
It made the ranger bark out a laugh. "That's right." Then her posture straightened and the mood instantly turned more serious. "Are you going to challenge Roark?"
Yun knew she didn't actually want to know whether she'd be taking on the gym or not. This was about making sure Yun was going to stay a trainer. "I don't know." Her voice turned sullen and she put down her chopsticks. "I want to go home." She added softly.
Chihiro shook her head. "Don't do this kid. When you've fallen off a Rapidash you need to climb back on immediately otherwise fear will be setting in and it won't leave you. Training is the same."
"I'm just unlucky, it's not fair!" She burst out, "All the other kids go off route and they don't get attacked." Then she crossed her arms, sulking.
To her surprise Chihiro started grinning. "Let me tell you a secret."
Curiously, Yun leaned in.
"We all had that one moment of insane bad luck as trainers. So yours has passed, don't worry about it."
Yun knitted her brows skeptically.
Catching on to Yun's expression, Chihiro held up her hands in defense. "No I mean it, ask any older trainer. They'll all have a story like yours."
"Even you?" All rangers had been trainers at some point.
She nodded and puzzled Yun by pulling up her pants leg. Something metal-like shined underneath it and it took her a few moments to recognize it as a prosthetic.
"You lost your leg?" Yun asked in horror.
"Yep, all the way up here." The ranger pointed at a spot well above the knee, appealing Yun with how little leg she had left.
Almost afraid to know, she asked. "How?"
The older girl grinned. "I wanted a Gyarados but didn't want to waste my time on a Magikarp. But here's the catch, I only had Nelly and Chomper. Oh, and Nelly can't swim, I figured that out the hard way."
While she didn't elaborate further it didn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what happened next. Yun winced. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." She shrugged, smile still in place. "A ranger came to my rescue and it made me decide what I wanted to become when I was older. Desmond, a rare psychic, met me and decided he wanted to follow me for reasons I still don't get and I actually got my dream job now, despite a missing leg. I've been nothing but lucky since."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Her smile became strained, "Of course it took years of recovery and I had to quit my training journey..." she paused for a moment and dropped her smile entirely, "So please don't quit on me, kid.
Yun looked into her eyes, they had something pleading in them.
"Okay, I'll try." She sighed.
Chihiro got her smile back instantly and said. "Great, my shift is three more days and then I'm on leave for a week. Stay in Oreburgh until then, okay? I'll help you train."
"Okay." She repeated.
Chihiro gave her an approving look and then stood. "Cool, now I have to go off and save more kids like you. Nurse Joy should have my Pokémon healed by now."
"Wait, one more thing!"
The ranger halted and Yun gathered the courage to ask a burning question. "What happened to the monster? Did you catch it?"
The older girl grimaced. "No, it escaped."
Yun felt a shiver go down her spine. It was still out there.
"Sorry kid. Apparently, it's a rare kind of Pokémon from Unova that disguise themselves with illusions. Once it figured that it couldn't win, it hid itself and ran."
"What now?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Stick to the route." The ranger's tone made it sound like a joke but Yun knew that wasn't a suggestion. "Don't worry, a team of excellent trackers is on it. They'll have it in no time."
While she had no way of knowing for sure, something told her they wouldn't.
Desmond appeared literally out of no where, and turned to his ranger. "The captain wishes to speak with you."
"Ugh, again?" But despite her apparent reluctance she pulled out her phone right away and walked off with a wave to Yun.
The psychic remained on the same spot he appeared in and Yun turned back to her breakfast, not knowing what to say. She let her mind wonder to the rest of Chihiro's Pokémon. They were all kind of cool and their teamwork had been awe inspiring. Not naive enough to believe all of her other problems had disappeared over night, she still had to somehow get her Pokémon to get along. Preferably soon. That aside, she was never chasing Shinx again so she tried to remember what else birds were weak to.
A voice cut across her train of thought. "It is the way of the psychic to not involve ourselves in other's their thoughts, so for this I apologize."
Yun swirled her head towards Desmond in surprise.
"If I may offer some advice in compensation. The type of your second member might not be the issue."
Curious now, she turned herself fully to the psychic. "It's not?"
"I'm afraid the issue lies with you."
Yun frowned but before she could comment he continued. "You favor your second while he is both younger and weaker, this offsets the balance in your team. It messes with the natural hierarchy."
"I do not favor Tenno." She countered incredulously.
The psychic said nothing instead several scenes popped before her eyes involuntarily.
"Reign, meet your new teammate." She saw her Skorupi on the ground and then was somehow very aware of her bird, on her shoulder. Then the image changed to her petting Tenno but before she could focus on that the image changed again. "Stay over there Reign." She shooed away her starter after she had fallen.
"Oh..." She felt sort of violated for having a psychic rummage through her memories but the feeling was overridden by embarrassment.
Then without further comment or ceremony, Desmond blinked out of the room. Yun barely noticed, lost in thought.
AN: Yun is such an awkward kid xD It was pretty late here when I posted this so sorry if there are any errors. Please let me know if there are