“Omigosh, it’s so good to finally meet you! I know Kaitlyn’s told me all about you and everything, but it’s just not the same over a phone, you know?”
When Kaitlyn had said she might have an idea, Cassie thought to herself, she didn’t quite expect this. Then again, given that Kayley was excitedly holding both of her hands and shaking them up and down like an overeager kid with a jump rope while Orion looked on in amusement from afar, she was pretty sure this would’ve been the last thing she could’ve expected.
With Skarmory not wanting to go into a Poke Ball even temporarily and the bird being much too large for them to physically haul the entire distance between here and Oreburgh - still a few hours away at a normal walking pace - Kaitlyn’s idea had been rather simple. She’d called up her sister to see if she was back in Sinnoh yet, since Delilah would be more than strong and large enough to make the relatively short flight to the nearby city’s Pokemon Center with Skarmory in tow. Fortunately, Kayley had been just a quick jaunt away in Veilstone at the time, shopping at the department store when Kaitlyn’s call had come in. It was a simple matter for her to finish up her shopping and jet over to where Kaitlyn had marked their location, and the pseudo-legendary was currently checking out her intended cargo with a careful eye under Kaitlyn’s watchful gaze. Skarmory had been more than a bit shocked and put on edge by the arrival of the fully-evolved Dragon, but when both Kaitlyn and Delilah herself made it clear that said Pokemon was going to help them get it some care, the metallic avian had relaxed considerably.
Kaitlyn had managed to stabilize Skarmory’s messed-up wing for transport as best she could with what she had on hand, fashioning a crude splint of sorts from spare bandages, a bit of rope, and some sturdy branches Delilah had been kind enough to provide from the nearby forest. Kayley had also provided a spare spray bottle of Potion to treat some of the more minor wounds, but Kaitlyn didn’t want to try and do anything to the bird’s wing herself, preferring to leave that up to professionals given its importance.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Kayley,” Cassie finally said after regaining her composure, plastering a smile on her face that was just a bit too wide to be entirely genuine. “I just hate that we finally meet because of something like this, you know?”
“Ah, that’s not a problem,” Kayley said with a grin. “Kaitlyn knows that I’m great with taking care of Pokemon, even if they aren’t cute little babies like mine!”
Cassie eyed Delilah for a moment with an amused look, noticing just how much more imposing the six-foot tall Dragon was in person even from a distance. Never in a million years would she have ever called a Garchomp ‘baby,’ but Kayley clearly didn’t have any compunction against it. Cassie would have expected a Dragon like Delilah to be prideful, arrogant, even bordering on uncontrollable, but Kayley’s starter seemed as gentle as the Fidough she’d worked in the shop with.
“Babies...right.”
“Delilah hasn’t been a ‘baby’ for like...five years now,” Kaitlyn said, walking back over and poking her sister in the shoulder.
“She’ll be my baby forever!” Kayley protested, jokingly pouting as she turned to Kaitlyn with an outstretched, accusingly pointing hand. “Besides, it’s not like you don’t baby Astrid!”
“Astrid is two feet tall and both can and will fit in my arms,” Kaitlyn deadpanned. “When you can pick up Delilah, we’ll talk.”
“I don’t need to pick up Delilah for cuddles,” Kayley retorted, sticking her tongue out at Kaitlyn playfully. Delilah snorted from nearby before growling something in their direction as she started to lumber over towards the gathered trainers. “He’s ready to go, ‘Lilah?” Kayley asked, earning a nod from her starter to confirm.
“We’ll be along as soon as we can to check on him,” Kaitlyn said, already regathering her pack and making sure she had everything packed up again. “Thanks for taking him over for us.”
“Anytime, sis,” Kayley beamed, giving her sister a thumbs-up before heading towards Delilah. Cassie finally got to take a close look at what the Dragon-type was wearing as she leaned down to let Kayley onto her back, noticing that it seemed to be some kind of riding saddle or harness - almost like what a horse might wear, she thought as Kayley began to mount Delilah and lock herself into the harness with some thick straps. She’d clearly done it a lot from how quickly she went through the motions, and in barely a minute Delilah was hunched and lumbering over towards her imminent cargo, Kayley hanging off the Dragon’s back at a near forty-five degree angle at points and looking much like a kid on a theme park ride.
“I’ll see you in Oreburgh!” she yelled, waving frantically as Delilah gathered up the injured Pokemon into her arms with surprising care. “Bye byeeeee!”
Kayley’s voice trailed off into the distance as Delilah’s powerful legs coiled before bounding upwards, taking off into the sky and quickly heading over the rocky plateaus towards the nearby city with trainer and Pokemon in tow.
“In and out like a hurricane...” Kaitlyn said, sighing and shaking her head despite the grin that crossed her face. “She’ll never change.”
“I’m just glad she was able to come out here,” Cassie replied, fidgeting as she tried to untwist a strap and get her backpack back on properly. “Do you think Skarmory’s gonna be okay?”
“I think so, but I’m no doctor by a long shot,” the Steel specialist replied, shrugging as they both started to head back down the trail with their entourage of team members. “That wing didn’t look great, but Pokemon Centers can work some real magic. I don’t think we have to worry too much, but I want to make sure it’s okay just as much as you do.”
“Are you going to ask it to come with you?”
“Probably,” Kaitlyn admitted. “I really would like to have it as a teammate, but I won’t say anything if it just wants to leave and head back to its flock. Though...” Kaitlyn looked over at Cassie as they walked, trying to also keep one eye on the road to make sure she didn’t stumble into anything. “While we’re on the subject...how did you do that?”
“Do what?” Cassie blinked, confused as to what Kaitlyn was talking about.
“How did you get that Skarmory to calm down and let us help it?” she clarified. “You saw what it did when I tried to calm it down. How’d you manage it?”
There was a look of genuine curiosity on Kaitlyn’s face that Cassie didn’t think she’d ever seen before, like Kaitlyn was trying to make sense of something that didn’t seem to fit into her worldview, but she honestly didn’t have any clue what Kaitlyn was asking. She hadn’t done anything special...had she?
“I...don’t think I did anything special?” she finally said, brows scrunching up in confusion. “All I did was try to talk to it, like you did. Maybe it finally realized we weren’t trying to hurt it since both of us tried to help?”
“Maybe...” Kaitlyn murmured, though she still wasn’t entirely convinced. It was plausible, but Skarmory had gone from downright hostile to more or less entirely calm in the span of a minute or two when Cassie was talking to it. She couldn’t help but think that Cassie had done something she hadn’t, but the Steel-type trainer couldn’t figure it out for the life of her as she thought about the encounter. Maybe it had just liked Cassie more than her, she considered. She mentally shrugged, tossing aside the thoughts for another time. Right now, they needed to get to Oreburgh as soon as they could to make sure the metal bird was going to make a recovery.
“So, is that what you were talking about before?”
Unbeknownst to Kaitlyn, Astrid had been wondering the exact same thing that she had been, and had immediately gone to Orion looking for answers the moment that the situation seemed to be under control. The puppy Pokemon gave a chuffing noise that could’ve passed for the verbal equivalent of a shrug as he looked over at the tiny Steel-type.
“Maybe? You’re talking about the Skarmory, right?” he asked, wanting to make sure they were talking about the same thing. Astrid nodded.
“Yeah - you said a while back that she just felt comfortable to be around. Paulos said the same thing...I think. It’s hard to tell with that bird.”
“You’re telling me,” the Growlithe muttered, shaking his head. “Yeah, it’s...it’s just strange. It’s like being around her just makes me feel peaceful. I can’t really describe it any other way.”
“My flock brother speaks truth,” Paulos chimed in, descending from his spot just above them to land carefully on Orion’s back - making sure not to dig his talons in this time. “Our fair trainer is one who exudes serenity. Paulos is not surprised that one would feel at ease in her presence.”
“That Skarmory attacked us like...two minutes before she walked over to it,” Astrid said skeptically, still not willing to believe Cassie could just...make a Pokemon feel more calm around her, despite what she’d seen for herself just a few minutes prior. “And it barely even lifted a wing to her. The way you make it sound, it’s like she’s some disciple of Arceus or something.”
“We’re not saying that,” Orion interjected before Paulos could get wound up. “She’s just...kind. She doesn’t want to see any Pokemon hurt. She probably would’ve tried to talk down those Gabite if they hadn’t attacked us so fast.”
“Do you think that would’ve worked?” the Mawile countered. Orion’s ears flattened a bit as he considered it for a moment before shaking his head.
“Not really.” He sighed, doing his best to keep walking straight and keep up while having Paulos’ weight on his back - it made for strangely good training, he mused. “Look - it’s not anything magic, okay? She just really loves Pokemon. You didn’t get to see her at the shelter -”
He bit the sentence off, stifling the line of thought. That wasn’t something he wanted to think about right now.
“Sorry,” Astrid apologized, realizing she’d touched a sore spot for the Fire-type.
“It’s...okay,” Orion said with a sigh. He felt a lot better about his place in the world now that he was with Cassie and away from the shelter, but he couldn’t help but drift back to bad memories sometimes no matter how good the people at Rosewood had treated him. “I mean it, though. I don’t think it’s anything with Aura, or anything like that. I really just think she’s good at talking to Pokemon and understanding how they feel.” He put on the best smile he could manage, looking back at Astrid. “She helped me, after all.”
“Fine, fine,” Astrid said, shaking her head. “I get it. Maybe it was just a stroke of luck after all.”
It was after eleven when Cassie and Kaitlyn finally stumbled their way into the Oreburgh City Pokemon Center, exhausted and sore from the pace they’d set to try and make it into town as soon as they could. Cassie hadn’t even gotten the enjoyment of finally seeing a new town with how tired she was, and she wanted nothing more than to find a good bed and collapse for a few hours.
“Hi - my name is Kaitlyn Rayne. My sister Kayley brought in an injured Skarmory earlier today,” Kaitlyn said, fighting to keep the fatigue out of her voice for just a few more minutes as she spoke to the attending nurse at the counter. “Do you know how it’s doing?”
“Rayne...” the man at the counter murmured, typing into the computer in front of him as he tried to pull up any Pokemon under the name. “You’re his trainer, I take it?”
“No, actually,” she replied. “It’s a wild Pokemon that was injured while we happened to be nearby. I wanted to bring it in since its wing looked like it was in pretty bad shape.”
The man nodded politely - trainers bringing in wild Pokemon was definitely an uncommon occurrence, but he remembered seeing the Steel-type earlier in the day. A soft chime came from the machine as he finally located the entry, and he skimmed it over for a moment before properly returning his attention to Kaitlyn. “It looks like they did some minor surgery on him earlier, but he’s in recovery now. His left wing had multiple fractures along with a good amount of bruising, but they were able to set everything without any major issues.”
“That’s a relief,” Cassie murmured from nearby. The Center lobby was practically deserted so late at night, and even without trying to listen in on the conversation up at the desk she could hear everything that they were saying with relative ease.
“If you want to see him, I’d suggest waiting until the morning,” the nurse stated. “We’re going to take another look at him then to see how his wing is looking, and we’ll figure out whether to release him or not after that.”
Kaitlyn nodded, just relieved to know that Kayley’s help had come through for them. “I’ll do that, then. Do you have any rooms available downstairs for the night?”
“I think we do,” the man replied, checking the computer again for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, we have a few left. Do you and your friend want a room together, or separate rooms?”
“Separate, please,” Kaitlyn said, giving Cassie’s name and causing the nurse to turn back to the computer one last time before reaching down under the desk and handing Kaitlyn a pair of retrieved card keys a few seconds later. A swift ‘thank you’ to the desk nurse later, Kaitlyn was on her way towards the escalator down, joined by Cassie a few seconds later. She had been hesitant to leave the comfortable sofa after so long on her feet, but an actual bed sounded heavenly.
“So, we’ll get to see him in the morning, I guess,” Cassie said, fighting back a yawn that threatened to escape. Kaitlyn wasn’t able to fight back her own yawn even as she nodded, and she rubbed one eye to clear it again as they walked.
“I’m glad Kayley got him here so quickly,” she said. “I need to let her know how things are before I go to bed.” She handed Cassie one of the card keys as they walked, looking around for her own room in the hallway. “Here - I figured you might want your own room. Should be right beside mine.”
“Thanks,” she said with a quick nod, glancing at the room number before starting to check the plaques beside the doors to see where they were. Fortunately, they were only another turn down the hall away from their own rooms, and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief as they finally found their doors on opposite sides of the hall.
“I’m gonna get some sleep,” she told Kaitlyn, punctuated by another deep yawn. “Night, Kaitlyn.”
“Night, Cassie,” the older blond replied, watching as the door shut behind her companion. Even hours later, her mind was still wandering back to what Cassie might have done differently than she had earlier that day, but her body was demanding sleep at an ever-increasing pace that was rapidly becoming impossible to ignore. She shuffled into her own room and let the door swing shut behind her, slinging the pack off her back and placing her Poke Ball belt on the small desk within the room before flopping into the nearby bed to get some well-deserved shut-eye.
Mars wasn’t a particular fan of Oreburgh City. The air was constantly filled with the faint scent of metal from the furnaces and forges used in the local ore mining and metalworking trades, giving the city’s atmosphere an almost musty feel to her. There was nothing acrid or dangerous about the smell, and it was faint enough that most people didn’t mind it at all, but the Team Galactic Commander couldn’t help but notice it acutely every time she was in the area. Besides that, it always felt like there was dust in the air from the nearby mines, and just thinking about it made her want to sneeze even now. Thankfully, she and her current associate were on their way out of the city towards greener pastures - literally greener, in this case. Floaroma Town, just a short jaunt north of neighboring Jubilife City, was known region-wide for their cultivated flower gardens and vibrant meadows full of richly-colored flora. The hills and fields around the town would be positively brimming with fragrance and budding flowers with the onset of spring, and despite her dreams of a new world, the beautiful environs in and around the town were something Mars would hate to see disappear.
They’d sent some of their grunts on ahead to the west to meet up later, staggering the traffic of their members so as to try and avoid suspicion as much as possible. From what they knew, the League still seemed to be struggling to keep up with their activities, though the Champion was becoming more wary with each passing week. Recruitment was proceeding well; there were many people across the region who were eager and willing to assist with their goal of making a new and better world for all. Their numbers rose by the day, though the more inept of their grunts were swiftly detained by law enforcement on the daily. That too was acceptable in their boss’ eyes, as it served to draw attention away from their more...competent forces. Even so, they were careful to keep their crimes minor in nature, things like small-time robbery, breaking and entering, or simple fraud. Nothing too violent, as they didn’t want the League to upgrade them as a major threat and bring down more forces than they were prepared to handle. They wanted to remain a nuisance at worst, forgettable at best.
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Mars shifted the baseball cap on her head, pulling it down to block the morning sun rising higher into the sky as she glanced at her partner. She’d changed out of her Galactic uniform into something more innocuous, a light gray jacket paired with a white skirt and gray leggings as well as her normal white boots. Beside her, Europa was in slightly more formal clothing, opting for a polo shirt and slacks to go with a simple pair of black flats, and she carried a briefcase along with her at her side. It held some documents that they were going to use to bluff their way inside the Valley Windworks, their next target of choice. While they could simply force their way inside if needed, getting inside without confrontation would make everything much easier in the long run. Floaroma Town’s nearby power generation station supplied a large amount of power to the entire western side of the region, supplied by massive wind turbines that stretched upwards hundreds of feet. Mars had been there once when she was younger, having taken a tour of the facilities in the past, and she had been greatly interested in the processes that kept the homes and businesses of western Sinnoh supplied with power. Now, she was going to make sure that power went to an even more worthy purpose.
“Any word from the advance force?” Mars asked Europa, causing the brown-haired woman to take out her phone and begin checking messages.
“Of the twelve who went ahead of us, nine have checked in and are awaiting us in Jubilife,” Europa reported. “The remaining three have not replied as of yet.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t cause any trouble before we get there,” Mars muttered. “Twelve people and us isn’t a lot to take over the Windworks with if we have to take full control the hard way.”
“There are other grunts in the city that we can call upon if we need,” Europa said. “Did the boss give you permission to use the forces in Jubilife?”
“He did, though I’d like to avoid it,” the red-haired Commander replied. “Hopefully, those documents will give us the opportunity to get what we’re after without a fight.”
Europa pushed the glasses up on her face, a simple pair of black frames and normal glass lenses that did nothing to correct vision issues and everything to muddy any potential identifying characteristics. “They will. The stamps are all League-official, courtesy of our insider. By the time they realize anything is wrong, we will have what we need.” She spoke with the utmost confidence, not a hint of doubt in her mind that their plan would go off without a hitch. A part of Mars envied that kind of confidence, but she didn’t make her Commander position by ignoring potential flaws and not planning ahead for problems. Complacency was what got you in trouble, and Cyrus wanted no mistakes - his desire for a new world demanded nothing less than perfection.
They turned in front of a large building with a nearly all-glass facade, a sign proclaiming ‘Oreburgh Transit Center’ looming large over the clear panes of the entrance. Mars fished around in her pocket for a moment as they walked before retrieving a bus ticket that she quickly handed to Europa, the rumble of powerful engines belonging to buses sweeping in and out of a nearby driveway accompanying them as they headed for the doors. Walking the entire distance to Jubilife and further still to the Windworks wasn’t practical, and she would’ve preferred to fly on a Pokemon instead of taking a bus for the simple reason of swiftness, but there weren’t any available for her to use at present. Without a Pokemon of her own capable of the task, she had to resort to more mundane methods of transportation, and the bus terminal that traveled to and from the nearby city was as good an option as any. It would still take them a few hours to arrive, but that would give them time to plan for any contingencies they might have to resort to in the meantime.
The bus terminal was rather busy already even despite the early morning time, likely since it was an early Friday morning, and people seemed eager to get on with their days so that they could finish work and enjoy their weekend. Mars could see dozens of trainers and businessmen milling about, coming and going through the doors leading out towards the waiting areas, and the desk up front had a steady trickle of traffic as people checked in for their trips. It wasn’t loud, but there was a steady stream of background conversations blurring into an unintelligible haze of noise around her as they walked through the lobby. She and Europa joined one of the lines at the counter hastily, watching patiently as the trio of employees behind the counter worked through their customers slowly and surely. It took several minutes before they were finally able to make it to the front, and the pair of women approached the counter at long last as Mars fished out her own bus pass.
“Good morning, ladies,” the man helping them said, dressed in the uniform of a Sinnoh Transportation Authority employee. “Do you have your tickets with you?”
Mars took Europa’s from beside her before handing both to the attendant, who looked them over for a moment before typing the information into the computer to double-check it. “Looks like...one-way from here to Jubilife Transit, correct?”
“That’s right,” Mars said politely.
“Can I get your IDs as well?”
Mars reached into her other pocket and fished out a small wallet there, snapping it open and retrieving the fake ID she’d been given to use for the time being as Europa handed a similar ID over to the attendant. She wasn’t worried about their IDs being discovered as counterfeit; Saturn was a perfectionist, and had gone to great lengths to make sure that the IDs were essentially flawless to anything but the most in-depth inspections. The attendant looked them over just long enough to confirm that they matched the people in front of him before handing them back over to the pair of women.
“You’re all set - you’ll be leaving from zone six at eight A.M.,” the attendant said, pointing out the door leading to the appropriate waiting area. “Thanks for choosing Oreburgh Transit, and have a safe trip.”
“Enjoy your day,” Europa said as they turned to head towards the door, adjusting her grip on her suitcase again before glancing at her wristwatch. Only seven forty-one, which gave them a bit of a wait yet. She looked around the lobby for a few seconds before spying a vending machine that looked like it had cold food, and she made a quick detour towards it with Mars in tow. Neither of them had eaten anything more than a quick snack for breakfast from the hotel lobby before checking out, and she dug around in the pocket of her slacks for some loose change as she tried to decide what to get.
“Still no word from the rest?” Mars asked, folding her arms as she waited on her companion. Europa shook her head, dropping the few coins in and pressing one of the buttons on the machine to set it whirring to life.
“Not yet. Hopefully, they have not met with any delays.”
Mars let out an annoyed ‘tch’ under her breath as Europa retrieved a pair of sandwiches, passing one along to her and starting to head towards the door to zone six once again. “Let’s just hope they didn’t do something stupid and get arrested,” she muttered, pushing open the door with her free hand and stepping through to the outside.
“That is a distinct possibility, given the current investigations by regional law enforcement,” Europa commented in an equally quiet voice as they strolled towards a series of covered benches near one of the loading zones. “Once we are aboard, I will check the local records for any signs of their capture.”
“Good. The last thing I want is to be losing forces before we even get started.”
Kaitlyn stepped back into the lobby of the Pokemon Center the next morning with a slight bit of nervousness, something she wasn’t entirely used to feeling were she being honest with herself. The last time she remembered feeling truly nervous was before her match with Fantina last season, given the Gym Leader’s reputation as a punishing battle for aspiring Champions-to-be. Even during the battle in Wayward Cave, she had been upset, angry, any number of things...but not nervous. Kaitlyn tried to be level-headed in every situation she found herself in, trying to emulate the physical prowess of her chosen type speciality with an equivalent amount of mental fortitude. It worked most of the time, though Kayley would often tell her that she was too serious and needed to let her emotions out of the box more.
Cassie and Orion were right behind her, both of whom had been quite vocal in telling her that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, but that did little to soothe her mood. The pitter-patter of Astrid’s steps beside her was at least somewhat of a comfort, but she still warred with herself as she headed towards the desk. A young red-haired woman looked to be manning the desk this morning instead of the man she’d seen last night - Rina, according to the pinned nametag on her uniform - and she gave a cheery smile as Kaitlyn approached.
“Good morning,” Rina greeted, looking between Kaitlyn and Cassie. “What can I help you with this morning?”
“I’m Kaitlyn Rayne - my sister Kayley brought in a Skarmory for treatment yesterday. I wanted to know if I could see it, if it’s awake.”
“I can check for you, if you’ll give me a minute,” Rina replied, quickly starting to look up the information. “That would be...the wild Skarmory with the fractured wing, correct?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Chansey, could you please go down to 137 for me?” Rina asked, turning to look at the round, pink Pokemon at the counter with her.
“Chan!”
The smaller Pokemon nodded happily and toddled off through the doorway beside the counter, headed down the hallway towards the patient rooms as Rina turned back to Kaitlyn. “Chansey should be back in just a few minutes. If you’ll have a seat, I’ll call you back up as soon as she’s back.”
“Thank you,” Kaitlyn said, quickly nodding and turning to head towards the small lounge area off to the side of the entranceway. Unlike Eterna, whose Pokemon Centers were decorated in vibrant shades of red and green, the interior of Oreburgh’s looked to pay homage to its Rock-type specialty with rich red and slate gray hues in its coloration. The general appearance was very similar to those of Eterna, with televisions, sofas, and chairs set up in a sort of small waiting room and lounge, though in lieu of an abundance of potted plants and horticultural murals there instead appeared to be a multitude of paintings and pictures lining the walls that were related to the city’s mining industry. She found an open seat on one of the sofas, dropping onto the comfortable seating with Cassie following suit a moment later, and Astrid crawled into her lap with practiced ease as Orion took a seat beside Cassie’s legs.
“You okay?” Cassie asked, frowning as she looked at Kaitlyn. “You look worried.”
For a moment, Kaitlyn thought about lying and just saying that she was fine, not wanting to bother Cassie with her own troubles. She usually hated talking about her feelings, even with her sister, no matter how many times Kayley told her not to keep her emotions bottled up. There was genuine concern in Cassie’s eyes, though, and she knew that Cassie would probably see right through the excuse in a heartbeat anyway.
“I am,” she said quietly, staring down at Astrid instead of turning to face her friend. “I know they said that Skarmory would be okay, but I can’t help but worry.”
“Yeah...I feel like that too,” Cassie agreed with a soft nod. “Kayley got him here fast, though. And you heard what the nurse said last night - they didn’t have any major issues when they fixed his wing.”
Try as she might, Kaitlyn couldn’t bring herself to say what was really bothering her. Instead, she just nodded politely, busying herself with carefully checking the inside of Astrid’s false jaw for any issues with the teeth there to distract herself from her thoughts. She knew full well how sharp those teeth were, having been on the wrong end of them a few times by accident. Astrid didn’t seem to mind much, nor did she flinch as Kaitlyn gently looked over the almost-crocodilian jaw, long since used to her trainer’s regular check-ups on her health.
Cassie left Kaitlyn to her ministrations on Astrid, though she was still worried about her friend. She was still worried about Skarmory too, but she just knew that seeing the bird in better health would cheer Kaitlyn up, so she tried not to stress too much over her friend’s mood for the moment. Thankfully, it only took a short time before she saw the Chansey in a nurse’s cap walk back into the lobby to report to Rina, stubby arms waving as it spoke to the nurse.
“Miss Rayne?” Rina called, causing Kaitlyn to pause and Astrid to hop off of her trainer’s lap. “Chansey says that you can go back now. She’ll show you to Skarmory’s room.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Kaitlyn said, waiting for Chansey to step back out from behind the desk before falling in behind the waist-high pink Pokemon. The pair of girls and Pokemon slowly followed Chansey through the door into the hallway, noticing another nurse’s desk further down the hall as well as a couple of other nurses and Pokemon from the Chansey line all engrossed in their work. Their guide Pokemon led them down the hall past two other branches before turning into another hallway with a sign on the wall labeled ‘130 - 139,’ moving surprisingly quickly on its stubby legs before it stopped in front of the door labeled ‘137.’ Kaitlyn and Cassie both offered thanks to the nurse Pokemon as it wandered away to other duties, and Kaitlyn hesitated for just a moment before pushing the door open and stepping into the room.
Cassie didn’t really know what she expected to find beyond the door as she and Kaitlyn entered. Pokemon Centers in the games were rather simple affairs, not much more than the lobby area and some multiplayer services on a secondary floor in the early generations. It was a great surprise to her, then, to see something which was an odd mix of a normal hospital room and something very specific to the avian Pokemon. Instead of a normal hospital bed, Skarmory sat atop a rounded bed that was clearly supposed to mimic a nest, soft cushioning giving it a comfortable resting place with plenty of space to stretch its uninjured wing. The injured wing was bound in white material, either a cast or thick bandages; Cassie couldn’t see it clearly enough at the moment in the fluorescent lighting to tell which one. He seemed to be comfortable and was alert and staring directly at all four of them as they entered the room, each of them making sure to stay a short distance away to give the Pokemon space. It might be calm for now, but the Pokemon was still wild.
“Hey, Skarmory,” Kaitlyn said, awkwardly trying to break the silence. “I’m glad to see you’re doing okay. Sorry if Delilah was a little rough getting you here.”
The Steel-type chirped out something low, a gentle shake of its head getting enough of the message across. Kaitlyn was relieved to know that Delilah’s rapid transport hadn’t aggravated any of its injuries too much, and she took a seat in one of the chairs in the room as Cassie took the other.
“The nurse told me last night that they were going to take another look at your wing and figure out whether you were okay to leave after that,” Kaitlyn explained, unsure of whether one of the Chansey nurses had said as much yet. “We wanted to come by and see how you were, in case you were able to leave today.”
‘And we didn’t get to see you off’ was the unspoken part of Kaitlyn’s sentence, but Skarmory seemed to pick up on that part easily enough.
“Kaitlyn was worried about you all evening after her sister brought you here,” Cassie said, running a hand through Orion’s fur as he sat beside the chair, tail wagging slowly. “I’m sorry that Staraptor hurt you...I know that most of your flock seemed to make it out okay, at least.”
Skarmory tilted its head just faintly at Cassie’s words, glancing down at Kaitlyn’s Mawile. “Strange that these two care so much about a wild Pokemon,” he muttered, eyes flickering between both of the human trainers. “Most think of nothing but themselves and those they train.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Astrid countered, putting tiny hands on her hips.
“And yet, you were out searching for one of my kind, were you not?” Skarmory jeered. “I am under no illusions as to the difficulty of finding a Pokemon such as myself. Trainers will come from all around to find something they perceive as ‘rare’ - your trainer is certainly no exception.”
“That’s not -”
“She certainly wished to place me in a Poke Ball, did she not?”
“She was trying to help, dummy,” Orion cut in, eyes blazing fiercely in defense of his trainer’s friend. “What, do you think two girls their size are gonna haul you all the way to Oreburgh themselves? How else were they going to take you?”
“And Kaitlyn even said she’d release you as soon as you were at the Center,” Astrid added, a bit annoyed at the bird’s attitude.
“They could have simply left me there to tend to my own wounds,” Skarmory replied haughtily. “Pokemon get hurt in the wild all the time. It’s simply nature taking its course.”
“You can’t sit there and tell me that you’d be okay losing the use of that wing,” Astrid countered with a frown. “I saw that hit - how many bones did it break? That’s not something that heals well without treatment.”
Cassie and Kaitlyn looked at each other, neither one willing to interrupt and both unsure as to what exactly the three Pokemon were discussing. Whatever it was, Astrid was a little riled up from the tone of her voice, Kaitlyn thought. Skarmory didn’t say anything in the face of Astrid’s statement, instead huffing airily and retreating further into the confines of the makeshift nest.
“Cassie doesn’t even train Steel-types,” Orion said after a moment, “and she was just as worried about you as Kaitlyn was. How do you explain that, huh?”
The Steel bird’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t say anything to the Growlithe before him. He had noticed that while the older trainer had been more cautious of him, careful and hesitant in her approach, the other girl had possessed no such fear. It could have all simply been an act to get close enough, make him lower his guard so that they could capture him and spirit him away from his flock and home regardless of their words.
Why, then, had he felt so relaxed around her?
“I’m sorry about what happened out there,” Kaitlyn began, seeing a lull in the conversation happening between the three Pokemon. “And I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t looking for a Skarmory to join my team, because I was - I still am.”
“Of course,” he replied sardonically, ignoring the irritated look that Astrid shot him from below the bed.
“I’d love to have you along, if you’re interested, but the choice is yours,” she said, standing up again from the chair. “Right now, I just want to make sure you get well enough to fly again, no matter whether you want to stay or go. Hopefully, the nurses will be able to see how you’re healing soon.”
“We need to get something to eat, but we’ll come back and check on you in a little while, okay?” Cassie said, also standing as she saw Kaitlyn preparing to leave. “Do you want us to bring anything back for you?”
The metal bird quickly shook his head - there was nothing he wanted or needed right now. His flock had left him behind, and he already found himself faced with a debt to this trainer. He didn’t want to add to that any more than necessary, not until he had decided what to do.
“Then we’ll get going and let you rest,” Kaitlyn said. “Come on, Astrid.”
“We’ll see you later, okay?” Cassie said, waving as she held the door for Growlithe before following the Fire-type out and leaving Skarmory alone with his thoughts.
The Steel avian shifted in the makeshift nest, metallic feathers grating against one another as he tried to sink lower into the fabric to relax. No matter how much he desired to leave, to simply be rid of this place and return to his favored nesting grounds, his sense of honor warred with him over the idea. He had accepted no offer, agreed to no bargain, but the two girls had clearly gone to lengths to save him from any...undesirable situations in the wilds. That same sense of honor demanded he repay them in kind, to give something of himself in order to make good such a debt. Still, they knew nothing of that. He could simply leave and be free, return to the wilds no matter their desires.
But his damnable honor would never let him rest if he did, he knew. A debt incurred, a debt repaid - the mantra he’d lived by, sworn on, vowed to uphold. Inconvenient at the best of times, yes, but his conscience could rest free of guilt and shame because of it.
He had time to think, however; the nurses had told him that he would not be leaving for another day or two yet while they ensured that there would be no complications with his wing’s recovery. Such a conundrum, he mused as he lay his head down on the bed. The last thing he wanted was to be tied down to a trainer, yet he felt honor-bound to repay the kindness. Perhaps sleep would grant him the answers he sought, he thought as he closed his eyes amidst the gentle beeping of the medical machinery around him.