Chapter 141

Ambulance Not Needed

Pokémon List:

Luna (Kirlia)

Fay (Riolu)

Midna (Zorua)

Paul did in fact know first aid and he took it very seriously.

"Sit down." He held me by my arm and practically dragged me towards a big mossy boulder that stuck out of the ground and placed me against it. Curious but not saying anything, my Pokémon followed.

Paul's brow dipped, like he was deeply troubled by my presence. He slung his backpack off his shoulder and knelt down next to me.

I started to feel a strange combination of lightheadedness and boredom. It was really aggravating how I had to rely on someone else to help me, especially if that someone was Paul. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I rather not rely on someone who I lost to in a Pokémon battle.

"The cut isn't too deep," Paul said. He said it in a way that was again very stern and almost accusatory. "Didn't they cover WildAid in your trainer exam?"

"I uh, didn't go through these, what did you call it? WildAid?" I gave him a quizzically confused look. It sounded like it was expected or mandatory for trainers to know it. Looker kind of fast tracked me through the process. Maybe that was kind of irresponsible of him, or maybe he assumed I already went through it?

It's been a while since I last saw him, I wonder if everything was going alright with him.

"Are you kidding me?" His dark eyes bore into me. "How are you even a Pokémon trainer?"

I shrugged. "I am a special kind of trainer."

"I see, so your parents paid for the license?"

"What? No! I received my license after going through some extraordinary circumstances that involved some really dangerous stuff."

I was hoping to either look cool and imposing, or to gain sympathy points. But it didn't work. Instead I got that disappointed look again.

"So you don't know the basics of simply treating a wound." Paul cast his eyes skyward. "Well you're in luck because I took the exam, like every trainer should. You do realize that there are people who die in the wild because they don't know how to treat themselves or their fellow trainers?"

"I survived so far," I muttered.

{Not because of a lack of trying.} Luna teleported herself between Paul and me. {This is the first time I have heard of such a thing!} Luna turned around. {You're telling me we could've been prepared for a scenario in which he got severely injured?}

Fay made a move to follow but Midna pulled her back by her tail. She whispered something into Fay's ear and then grinned. The two came closer but made no move to rescue me. Instead they seemed to be set on enjoying the show.

Paul's scowl deepend. Or maybe it just transitioned from one kind of annoyance to another one, this guy was a master of being disappointed. "Your Kirlia has evolved as well."

"Pokémon tend to do that, yeah."

{I want to know all about this WildAid thing!} Luna looked up at Paul, unflinching.

Paul smirked a little. His eyes softened, he leaned back a little and tugged a lock of hair behind his ear. "It seems your Pokémon also has more sense than you. I can show you how to patch up a simple wound."

{I want to see what you're doing!} Luna moved closer to me. {And I want to make sure you don't make it worse.}

Paul wasn't intimidated by Luna's glare. He just nodded resolutely. "I assure you, I don't make mistakes but you can watch, it would be good if at least someone here knew the basics."

I was looking away for a second, focusing on the way the grass blades swung back and forth, but I could vaguely feel 2 glares coming my direction.

Paul opened his backpack and retrieved some items from it. He started explaining what they were but I found it rather forgettable. Bandages, Distilled Saltwater, Healing Spray, Anti- Wait they have healing spray in this world? Why even bother with anything?

"Are you even paying attention?" Paul's words sharply cut through my moment of quiet pondering.

{He's not.} Luna gave me a disappointed look. Unlike with Paul, hers looked very adorable.

"I mean, kinda passing out here from the pain." I wasn't passing out but my arm did still hurt a lot.

"Good, because I fully expect you to memorize these steps and take the full exam as soon as possible. This can save your life."

"I will, pinky promise." I tried raising my pinky but it hurt too much.

In truth, I never bothered asking exactly how Chelsea and Hylla fixed my arm, I kind of just took it for granted and it happened while I wasn't conscious.

{It's again your left arm,} Luna sighed wistfully. {As long as we can keep it to only your left arm being damaged.} She gave me a concerned look.

"I don't plan on running into trouble."

"Ha!" Midna suddenly laughed.

Paul's head whipped around but he only saw Fay and Midna innocently looking in any direction that wasn't ours. Shaking his head, and unable to locate where the laugh came from, Paul turned to me again.

"Okay so what exactly happened?" Paul was still taking stuff out of his backpack. At this point he was just trying to show off how well prepared he was. Show off. Though I guess it would be useful to learn this stuff eventually.

I explained, "That stupid Swellow attacked. Some time ago I happened to be near it while Snatchers came around. Ever since that moment he's been stalking me. I thought I'd lost him after Alamos but nope."

I was hoping for him to recognize those names and acknowledge how adventurous my life was, and that I usually don't lose to Swellow but instead he just rubbed his nose and sent another deadly volley of disappointment my way.

"Sounds like you should probably solve that problem."

"I would be able to if the stupid Swellow didn't go for hit and run tactics," I complained.

"If you'd gotten it you would've been 3000 Pokédollars richer," Paul remarked, "hold still, this might sting."

"Huh, 3000?" That was quite a lot for a random ass Swellow.

"Quite high for an E-level threat, was ranked as urgent. Less than an hour ago, I thought it was a good opportunity to get a quick buck. Instead I am dealing with you."

"My knight in shining armour," I sarcastically sang, loud enough so he could clearly hear it.

A small smile played on Paul's lips before he turned to Luna. "Okay, first with this kind of scratch wound you want to clean the surface area like this." A water-like substance was poured onto the wound. I expected it to sting like alcohol but it didn't feel much like anything.

Paul moved around the bottle across the length of my arm and even twisted my wrist to ensure that all of my arm was soaked properly.

Luna watched the process, wide eyed and astonished. If she had a notebook I'm sure she would've been taking notes.

My arm began to look better. Dust, clots of blood and tiny sand particles got washed away and the magic water even caused the fleshy flaps of skin to look less gross to look at.

When the bottle was empty Paul took out a towel and began to dip my arm. This stung more, and I wanted to do it myself, but then Paul passed the towel to Luna and let her dab my wet arm and she looked so happy with it, I couldn't bring myself to intervene.

Fay and Midna subtly moved closer to inspect the improv surgery. Midna remained silent but Fay was talking animatedly to Luna, trying to understand what she was doing, something Luna did in fact not know.

{It doesn't hurt right? I am not picking up any emotions but if you're masking them!} Luna sternly sent a psychic signal of discontent.

I sighed, "no it genuinely doesn't hurt. It just itches a lot."

Paul warned me. "Don't scratch it, or it will get worse."

"Yeah, I figured that out Sherlock."

He ignored my remark and pulled out a spray. "This might sting a bit more, but it's important." He then began to explain it to Luna who listened to the whole spiel.

Basically it was some kind of regeneration spray that worked for surface wounds. Something about stimulating cell growth, though it was beyond me how I didn't develop cancer spontaneously.

It wouldn't mend broken ribs or fix gaping wounds but for small stuff it was the to-go-to solution. It probably was safe…most likely.

He began to spray it and although not noteworthy, it did sting quite a bit and I involuntarily twitched my other arm. I let out a muffled hiss and gritted my teeth.

It felt like they were rubbing ketchup on the wound and it began to feel like that part of my body had caught fire.

Midna nestled up against me and in a rare display of empathy she rubbed her head against my other arm and tried to provide me with a bit of comfort.

"Why can't we heal him with Aura?" Fay asked Paul. Luna kindly translated it. "I've heard Frosslas did it."

"WildAid is there for scenarios where a trainer is injured in the wild, that means no Pokémon or technology accessible to them. If you want to know about other forms of healing I am afraid that's beyond my scope."

I could really use some of that. Fay gave me a dejected look and shrugged.

{No pain no gain, you're in great pain so you're making great gains.} Luna smiled encouragingly. She looked at Paul. {Where can you buy this…human regeneration spray?}

"In basically every Pokémon Center or Poké mart. I am surprised your trainer doesn't have one of those."

I grimaced. "Yeah yeah, I'll buy like 100 or something, in all flavors even, when I get the chance."

{I wasn't saying anything.} Luna said innocently.

After a minute of 5, or maybe 10, the sensation began to slow down and the biting feeling of acid made way for a dull pleasant numbness.

It felt weird, still but it didn't hurt.

Finally, Paul finished it off by wrapping my arm in a bandage. There wasn't anything spectacular about that, in fact I was sure I could've done it, probably.

He did take great care to explain to me how to do it. Luna and Fay both watched it but I failed to memorize the exact way it had to be cut and folded. I guess it was going to be one of those things you'd memorize only after being able to do a couple times.

I should probably look into learning it, though if my Pokémon could do it in my stead I may not have to.

Like she could read my thoughts, which to an extent she could, Luna turned around and narrowed her eyes at me.

Whoopsie.

Paul let go of my arm. "And that should be it. It was a minor injury so this should be enough work, though you should check with someone more qualified if it doesn't heal properly within a week." He didn't smile or express any visible emotion when he said it, but I could feel he was proud of his work.

I experimentally tested out moving my left arm and it indeed worked fine. It still felt really strange to move it, like it wasn't my own limb.

Paul offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet. My arm felt nice but the dizziness wasn't instantly cured so it did feel funny.

"Here take this," he shoved a granola bar into my right hand. "This should also be good for recovery. It contains a high grade berry paste."

I lied, "I already ate."

The granola bar didn't look appetizing at all.

"It's not to be enjoyed. Your body is burning through a lot of material quickly to heal your injury, you definitely want to eat something."

I took the bar and nabbed at it, rather awkwardly while Paul looked. The bar tasted awful, like mud turned into grainy paste and then solidified into the world's worst chocolate.

Maybe they made it taste awful on purpose so people wouldn't be tempted to eat their emergency stash? I heard the military used to do something like that with their rations.

"That Swellow really must be a high level then, or maybe have some special traits if it slipped past your three Pokémon." Paul theorized out loud, "A Pokémon like that would be need to be ambushed."

"It's really fast so it wasn't a fair fight!" Fay complained. Sadly Paul didn't hear Fay's legit counter point.

"I don't think you'll be able to catch it. It's really really fast."

"You said it was stalking you right? Like it has a vendetta or something?"

"You'd be surprised how many times that actually happens."

"What?"

"Nevermind that." I finished the granola bar and chewed away the last bits.

I shook my arm a few times. The dizziness was waning and I felt pretty good, though tired. I estimated that if we didn't stop, we'd be able to reach Hearthome before nightfall and then I could get a good sleep.

"Okay well that does feel a lot better," I admitted. "How much do I owe you?"

"Don't be ludicrous." Paul huffed. "I wouldn't want anyone to stumble around like that." He paused at the end of his sentence and raised his finger to his mouth, as if he was thinking. "Actually…Were you headed for Hearthome Gym as well?"

"Yes, going for my third badge." I decided not to count Sabrina's badge.

"You're only at your third?" Paul scowled.

I felt slightly offended. "I'm not rushing things and also get into a lot of side quests." I pointed at my arm when Paul's scowl deepend.

"How far are you?" I asked.

"I am going for my fifth," Paul smiled confidently. "I am a little bit less focused on 'side quests'."

"I like side quests," Midna suddenly said.

Paul's eyes widened and his head turned around. He looked at Midna who was basking in his shocked expression.

Seeing his shocked look was something I too would enjoy a lot. Paul's gaze drifted towards me and demanded an explanation.

"Yeah she can talk, don't mind her." I scratched my hair. "A result of another side quest."

"Only one of your three Pokémon have evolved." Paul noticed, wisely ignoring the fact Midna could talk.

Luna beamed. {Only the best one.}

"I uh, I am also taking it slow." Fay huffed undignified.

"Actually, there's something you could do to repay me," Paul suddenly said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Last battle we fought was a while ago but I found it unsatisfactory. I want to challenge you again." Paul fished a Pokéball out of his pocket. His voice hardened. "I want to see how much stronger I've gotten, or you for that matter."

He quickly sent a glance at my team. "If I recall correctly you have a very unconventional way of battling, I want to see it again."

Suddenly, and without even wanting it, I felt my mouth part into a grin. I tried to control myself but I was really happy with this turn of events. Seems like I got to feel good about myself after all.

"I thought you'd never ask."

A/N Heya. So yeah just a bit of a relaxed chapter again. Some character stuff. Not an awful lot to share today, things are kinda chill.

As always thanks to the beta readers FaxFao and Moffintheratqueen and Creutzev.

See you later.

-CaptainMoonShine-