Marnie’s eyes dropped to Jun’s right arm, and for the first time since he’d met her, her expression visibly tightened.
“What happened to your arm?” “Looks worse than it is.” Jun glanced toward the holes the poacher had used to escape.
“That stadium worker was a poacher.
I ran into him back in Dappled Grove, and apparently he followed me all the way here.
He was after Ralts.” That explanation did nothing to calm her.
If the poacher wanted Ralts, then disabling Ralts should have been his first priority.
Pokémon didn’t suddenly become helpless just because their Trainer was taken out of the fight.
Yet Jun was the one bleeding.
Marnie stared at him for another second before her voice sharpened.
“Do you actually understand what being a Trainer means?” Jun blinked.
“We’re human, Jun.
Most of us can’t take attacks the way Pokémon can.” She tightened one arm around Morpeko, clearly trying to keep her temper under control.
“That’s why they’re the ones battling.
Something a Pokémon can walk away from could put you in a hospital—or kill you.” Ralts immediately stepped between them.
“Ra-ru!” She glared up at Marnie, clearly offended on Jun’s behalf.
The annoying part was that she seemed to agree with every word Marnie had said.
If someone had to get hurt, Ralts would obviously rather take the hit herself.
That didn’t mean Marnie was allowed to yell at her Trainer.
Marnie looked down at her without backing off.
“And if he’s so determined to protect you from everything, maybe he shouldn’t let you battle at all.” Jun stared at her.
She was genuinely angry.
Before he could decide how to answer, hurried footsteps filled the corridor.
“What happened here?” “There’s blood!” “Get a doctor!” Stadium staff flooded into the area, stopping short at the broken wall, the holes in the floor, and Jun’s mangled sleeve.
Frostleaf Stadium kept medical personnel on-site for injured Pokémon during tournament days, so help arrived quickly.
Unfortunately for Jun, the first familiar pink-haired face through the crowd belonged to Nurse Joy.
She took one look at him.
Then at his arm.
Her expression changed immediately.
“You again?” Several staff members exchanged confused looks.
Nurse Joy was usually the picture of patience, yet she was already pointing at Jun like he’d committed some personal offense.
“Why are you injured this time?” Jun opened his mouth.
Marnie sighed.
“Maybe treat him first.” That was probably the only reason Jun escaped being scolded by two people simultaneously in the middle of the corridor.
A short while later, Jun was sitting on an examination bed in the stadium infirmary while Nurse Joy cleaned the wound.
Marnie stood nearby with Morpeko in her arms, saying nothing but somehow maintaining enough pressure on the room that Jun felt as though the lecture had merely been postponed.
“I’ve been certified for five years,” Nurse Joy muttered as she arranged her supplies.
“Do you know how many Trainers I’ve personally had to patch up in that time?” Jun suspected the correct answer wouldn’t help him.
“Not many,” she continued.
“Pokémon Center.
Pokémon.
It’s right there in the name.” She gave him an exasperated look.
“Then you show up yesterday with a bite wound, and today you come back with an even worse one.
If I see you like this again tomorrow, I’m banning you from my Pokémon Center.” She obviously wasn’t serious about the ban.
The concern behind the threat was harder to miss.
Nurse Joy picked up a disinfectant and continued more quietly.
“Caring about your Pokémon is good.
But if something happens to you, what do you think happens to Ralts?
You’re not the only one who gets to worry about someone.” Jun glanced toward the small white table beside them.
Ralts had appointed herself Nurse Joy’s assistant and was currently sorting through the medical kit with intense concentration.
“Ra?” “Anesthetic spray, please.” Ralts immediately found it and carried it over.
A female Indeedee standing in the middle of the infirmary watched this happen with increasing confusion.
She had apparently accompanied Nurse Joy specifically to help with treatment, only for Ralts to steal every available job before she could do anything.
“Dee…?” Jun almost felt sorry for her.
Nurse Joy sprayed his arm and began preparing to stitch the deeper part of the wound.
“This is considerably worse than yesterday.” Jun waited until she was focused before attempting a defense.
“You know sometimes your body moves before you have time to think—” Marnie’s eyes snapped toward him.
Jun wisely stopped talking.
Nurse Joy looked satisfied.
“Good.
You’re learning.” The stadium announcement system crackled to life before she could begin stitching.
“ID one hundred fourteen, Jun, and ID one hundred fifteen, Marnie, please report to Field One for the championship match.” Jun looked toward the speaker.
“No.” Nurse Joy hadn’t even looked up.
Marnie nodded in agreement.
“We’ll forfeit.
It’s only a festival tournament.” Jun couldn’t accept that quite so easily.
If he’d been competing alone, withdrawing would’ve been annoying but understandable.
This was a team event, though, and Marnie had made it all the way to the final with him.
Giving up solely because he’d gotten himself injured would mean dragging her out with him.
There was also the prize money.
Jun looked toward Ralts.
She noticed immediately.
“Ra?” “Would you be okay with Marnie commanding you for the final?” Ralts turned toward Marnie.
Marnie stared back.
After a moment, Ralts gave a firm nod.
“Ral.” It wasn’t exactly standard tournament procedure, but stadium officials already knew Jun had been attacked inside the competitors’ area.
Considering the circumstances, allowing his registered Pokémon to compete under his partner’s commands seemed like the sort of exception they could probably arrange.
Marnie still looked unconvinced.
“What if the poacher comes back?” “Dee!” Indeedee’s entire demeanor changed.
With Ralts leaving, she finally had a job.
She marched forward and struck several poses that were presumably intended to demonstrate overwhelming combat prowess.
The effect was somewhat undermined by the fact that she looked adorable doing every single one of them.
Jun understood the message anyway.
If the poacher came back, Indeedee intended to handle it.
Marnie considered the Pokémon, then Jun’s injured arm, and finally Ralts.
She clearly didn’t like leaving him behind, but forfeiting after reaching the final didn’t sit particularly well with her either.
At last, she picked Morpeko up properly.
“Fine.” She gave Jun a small, confident nod.
“We’ll be back soon.” Marnie reached the door before abruptly stopping.
She turned around and extended one hand toward him.
“Phone.” Jun looked at her palm.
“My phone?” “Yes.” He handed it over.
Marnie set Morpeko down and took out her own phone, tapping through both devices for a few moments.
While she worked, Morpeko dug through its pouch, found a seed, and gave it a quick electric roasting before offering it to Jun.
“Moru~” Jun accepted it with his left hand.
“Thanks.” Apparently Morpeko believed one electrically toasted seed was sufficient treatment for blood loss.
Jun rubbed its head anyway.
Once Marnie finished, she returned his phone.
“If anything happens, message me immediately.” Jun looked down at the screen.
She had saved her number.
Her profile picture was a close-up of Morpeko clutching a pale seed, with what looked like a forest somewhere in the background.
That was unexpectedly cute.
Jun glanced up, but Marnie was already picking Morpeko up again.
Maybe getting bitten hadn’t been a complete loss after all.
He immediately decided that was an incredibly stupid way to think about it.
The stadium had increased security after the attack anyway, and several staff members were already searching for the poacher.
Jun was probably safer here than anywhere else in town.
Marnie left with Morpeko and Ralts, heading toward the championship match.
Having grown up around a Gym, she had far more battle experience than most Trainers her age.
Commanding two Pokémon simultaneously wouldn’t be effortless, but Jun wasn’t particularly worried about her handling it.
Nurse Joy watched the door close behind them before returning to his arm with an amused smile.
“Being young looks fun.” Jun ignored that completely and let her finish stitching the wound.
With nothing else to occupy him, his thoughts returned to the attack.
Ralts being Shiny was always going to attract attention.
One poacher had failed, but that didn’t mean another wouldn’t appear eventually, especially now that her existence was public.
He hated the idea of constantly wondering who might be watching them.
The obvious solution was strength.
Nobody casually targeted Trainers whose teams could crush them.
Champions like Leon carried Pokémon such as Charizard and Dragapult, while other famous Trainers openly owned rare and even Shiny Pokémon without spending every day fending off thieves.
Jun wasn’t anywhere near that level.
He could try to skip the slow process by capturing already powerful wild Pokémon, treating them as bodyguards while Ralts developed at her own pace, but that idea didn’t sit right with him.
Pokémon weren’t equipment he could collect simply because he needed more firepower.
Besides, with his current team, catching something genuinely powerful wasn’t exactly realistic.
For now, there was no shortcut.
He and Ralts would simply have to get stronger.
Nurse Joy tied off the fresh bandage just as movement outside the window caught her attention.
She paused and looked past Jun toward the snowy road beyond the stadium, where large brown figures were beginning to appear in the distance.
Her expression softened.
“The Kangaskhan are here.” Jun followed her gaze.
More and more of the herd emerged through the falling snow, slowly making their way toward Frostleaf Town.
Nurse Joy smiled.
“The Frostleaf Festival has officially begun.” [End of chapter]