Always Audacity

Chapter V - Bedside Manners

Hmm… you have been with him for a while. He's alive, I can assure you of that and no, he's not brain dead. He is in capable hands.

Well. As close as can be to hands anyway.

So he is human. Or rather he used to be before he was turned into this Scorbunny. If he is here… then something terrible must be on the horizon. It can't be a mere coincidence.

Is that why you are here? To look over him? To witness this dark event? Or perhaps you are just drawn to this Pokémon…

To this human...

...

…I must withdraw, less my presence gets sensed. You don't get too close either.

But do keep an eye on him, will you?

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

H-Hi?

"You can? Great! Listen… I don't have much time…"

"Oh no… listen to me! You need to save…"

What? I… I can't hear you…

"Please! All of this… it needs saving…"

Save… save what… I can't…

"…Sam!"

Sam's eyes fluttered open, that voice… where…

His vision blurred for a moment, then cleared to reveal the wooden ceiling above him. A gentle warmth pulsed across his body, almost like waves running up alongside him. H-Huh? Am… am I dead?

He slowly raised his hands up, only instead to see those white rabbit paws drift into view instead. I… I'm still a Scorbunny.

Moaning softly, he began to push himself upright, soaking in that pink… wait, what?

He looked round himself to find himself on a fluffy bed, his body glowing a soft pink that throbbed and pulsed every second. Every pulse warming him up… strengthening him.

Standing alongside the bed was what looked like a white horse, only it also possessed a massive mane coloured… cyan and pink? So fluffy it was it almost looked like candy floss. And it had a violet horn too that stretched a good way out of its head. Blue eyes were focused on him as the pink energy flowed around them too. A Unicorn? Wait a minute… it looks like a Rapidash but… I thought it was half on fire… wait… a variant… I think it's a variant.

Blinking once, the pink light faded away from the Rapidash and just a second after that, he looked down to find the pink pulse vanishing into the ether around him. He immediately patted his chest and his head, finding that his ribs no longer ached and he couldn't feel the sticky warmth that was blood on his skull. They… healed me? I'm alive? So…

He turned to face the Rapidash, that warmth still pulsing inside him despite the power fading away and flashed a friendly grin. "Hey… thanks for-"

The Rapidash's eyes flashed, "What did you think this all was, a free get out of jail service!?"

The warmth immediately vanished as Sam slid away from the horse Pokémon, eyes widening. "W-what? I was just saying tha-"

The horse merely rolled their eyes, "Hmph! Kids these days, thinking they can run off into the wilderness and try and be heroes." She snorted in a raspy voice, "Pah! They think twice once they've had a few bones broken and are left hanging from a tree! Or wrapped in some bug's web! Heal Pulses aren't as easy as some idiots say they are!"

"O-Oi!" Sam snapped, initial shock fading away as he narrowed his eyes, "I'm not a kid!"

Puffing, the Rapidash raised a hoof and jabbed him in the chest. Not enough to hurt, but he still winced and recoiled from the strike. "I don't care if you are two or thirty, you're still only a little Scorbunny! Thinking you could play ball with a Swampert? Did you know just how much blood I had to clean up from that!? You're lucky I wasn't there, or I might have jus-!"

"Rebecca!"

The Rapidash, Rebecca, jerked her head to one side, revealing the wooden room beyond. A clinic to the look of it, judging by what seemed to be medical cabinets loaded with berries and glass jars.

The Blaziken was leaning against a desk in the room, arms crossed with his head tilted to one side. A single brow was raised, "I think he's got the point."

Sighing, Rebecca turned back to face him. "Just don't go running off out there too soon, I don't need to be collecting bits of you out of a fissure."

With an irritated flick of her mane, she marched away and through another door way.

Sam let out a puff of air, unclenching his little paws. "Geez… talk about bedside manners."

The fire bird had watched the horse leave, but his head now swivelled back towards him. "She's just stressed." He explained, narrowing his cool eyes. "Rebecca didn't even want to be a nurse, but the last one went off to the mainland."

Tilting his own head, Sam could only frown. "Why do it then?"

"Because no one is as good as her with healing moves… as she did volunteer."

"Oh… okay… that kinda makes sense..."

"She isn't trying to punish you if that's what you are worried about. In fact, she's more worried than angry." The Blaziken pushed himself off the table, towering over the Scorbunny. "How are you feeling?"

Sam rubbed the back of his head, still trying to feel for a scar or a mark… but there was nothing. "Better than new… I guess?"

The bigger fire type approached, arms still crossed, "I didn't catch your name."

He responded instantly, "Sam."

"Rex." The Blaziken introduced himself, returning a nod, "Alright Sam, what were you doing out in the middle of Little Forest with a team of criminals?"

"Whoa hey!" Sam barked, flinching, "I had nothing to do with those guys! That Swampert was about to kill me! Just like he did with…"

Eyes widening, he scrambled back up to his feet even as his head started to spin from the movement. "What about the other guys! Those they attacked, you can use that Heal Pulse thingy and-"

"They're gone." Rex interrupted him, his tone chilling. "They were long dead before we got there."

"B-But…"

He couldn't say another word though. He saw them lying there with all that blood and broken bone. He doubted anyone was going to come back from that, no matter what they were. He plopped back down onto the bed, hands squeezing together. "I don't know who everyone was there… one minute I was just walking through the woods the next…" Sighing, he shook his head. "Look, I'm not a murderer I just… walked into it all."

"You saw the bandits kill those Pokémon?"

"No… I arrived too late. I just thought they were guys arguing before I saw…" he clamped his mouth shut, flicking his gaze away.

Rex didn't reply at first, but he could see a grey hand reach over and lean into the bed's cover. "You're safe now. Understand?"

Hesitating, Sam slowly nodded before finally fixing his gaze back on the Blaziken, the chill in his eyes now gone. "But what were you doing out there anyway? You aren't on any records."

"Oh, in the woods? I was-"

He stopped himself short, his buckteeth dig into his lip. What could he say? He doubted the 'I got lost and hungover' story would hold. Ugh! What can I say? That I just woke up in the middle of a forest thinking I was human and yet I've been turned into a Scorbunny? He'll think I'm mad!

Sam could sense his foot tapping away, come on mate think… there has to be something I can say…

"I-I…"

"Go on."

The Scorbunny's mouth hung ajar, a word on the tip of his tongue… before he finally closed it and shook his head. "I don't remember."

"Hmm?" Rex tilted his head over, beak clicking. "You remember nothing?"

"Yeah… I just found myself wondering those woods… maybe I got hit on the back of the head or got affected by some move…"

"Like a Confuse Ray?"

"Yeah… I don't know. Could be?" shaking his head, Sam rose back up to his feet. "Maybe it'll come back to me, but all I've been drawing are blanks."

Come on Come on… don't try and dig deeper… please…

Rex looked down on him, a claw on one hand scratching just underneath his chin, as if processing what information Sam could give.

Then, at last, he nodded. "Fair enough. I believe you. Just make sure you keep a low profile, understood?"

"Y-Yes sir." Sam replied, relaxing a touch.

"Stretch your legs for a moment, then when you're ready come on outside. I'll show you around town.". With that, Rex pulled away from the bed and turned to depart. "W-Wait!" Sam exclaimed, reaching after him, catching the Blaziken's attention. "Thanks… for helping me back there."

The bigger Mon glanced back, "Just doing a day's work, but your welcome. I'll just be outside."

He watched him walk on out, and slumped back onto the bed, gazing up at the ceiling. It wasn't an ideal story, just flat out saying he didn't know how he got to that Forest, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. No point in confusing people with more human… err… stuff…

Sam rubbed the back of his head, trying to still work out where the original wound was from the tree. Nothing. That Healing Pulse must have just been that good.

I'm going to have to tell someone eventually. Sam mused, slowly lowering himself to the ground. But let's get a lay of the land first. I know I'm in… what, some kind of Pokémon world? The more I know about the place, the better. And hey, maybe I can learn something about myself in the meantime.

Brushing himself down, the former human took in a breath, steadied himself… and strolled out of the room.

Well… here goes nothing.

…

Where the hell's the exit?