Take me home

AN: The scond chapter! not as dark as the last one guys, I promise.

---

“Get her in here, now!”

“Chansey, Prep the difib incase she goes under. “

“Ok, lift her onto the table, on my go. One, two, three go.”

“Quickly, get her hooked up to the monitors! “

“Ok, she’s all connected. Vitals are below fourteen percent and slowly dropping. Someone hand me an autoinjecter of epinephrine, 4 milligrams. “

“How’s the brain activity in there guys? Anything happening?”

“We are seeing a lot of residual psychokinetic residue around the parietal lobe, but large amounts are haemorrhaging due to the wound to the right sensory receptor, serotonin levels are falling!”

“Vitals at nine percent! Blood pressure is Fifty over Thirty five!”

“I need Norepinephrine! Now damn it now!”

“It’s not working, blood pressure still falling!”

“SOMEBODY CLAMP THAT RECEPTOR!!”

“---”

“Ok, right sensory receptor clamped. Norepinephrine is taking effect. Vitals at 11 percent and steadily rising. That was a close one. Vitals at 13 percent. 15 percent.”

“I see a lot of open wounds. Somebody get me an autoinjecter of Histamine”

“Guys, serotonin levels are still steadily falling, if we don’t hurry up an- SHIT! Serotonin levels have plummeted! I’m getting almost no brain activity! “

“Heart rate and body core temperature are dropping”
“Ok, everyone stand back. Everyone clear?”

“CLEAR.”

*****

....sens.... ...mped. ...nephrin..... 11 perc...

Voices. Kirlia could hear them below sound, muffled as if she were underwater.

“w- who’s there?” she called out into the darkness. There was nothing all around, and the silence was utterly deafening. She felt slight tugs and prods on her body, as if tendrils of the darkness were reaching out to her.
How did she get here? What was going on? She strained hard to remember the last thing she could. She tried and tried for what felt like hours with nothing coming to her, making her feel depressed and scared in this cold, black void.

“...en wounds... ... aut.....er... stam...... “

The voices! There they were again!

“Who are you!? W-whats going on?” Still no reply. This was beginning to scare her more and more. She tried reaching out with her mind and found several life forces, but none of them clear enough to discern from the environment.

“What’s happening? Why can’t I focus?” She thought aloud. Her limbs felt as though they weighed as much as a graveller. Why couldn’t she move? Was this another galactic experiment? What happened before she was –

Suddenly, there was a high pitched squeal followed by a large shock. Her body seized up, jarring all of her senses at once, almost like her very life force had suddenly skipped. With the skip, memories came flashing back to her. She instantly remembered the dark man yelling at her for not bonding with his boss. It wasn’t her fault, she tried to explain. He plans on doing terrible things, my bond won’t sync up with his!

This returned her a heavy smack to the face. Not realising she had said it in poketongue, she had made the dark man angry. As he led her by her hair, hurting her, she struggled to find the human words so that she could tell him, and he would let her go.

Unfortunately this only caused her more abuse. She was forced to live through the whole incident again, every time one of those large jarring jolts swept through the darkness into her, the dark man hit her.
“Why is he hitting me, I just want him to go away, please leave me alonedonttouchmetherepleasestopit
hurtsgoawaygoawaygoawaygoawygoawygetoutleavemealone STOPITGETAWAYFROMME !!!!”

Her right arm threw itself up and she clawed the dark mans eye straight out of his face.

She watched in horror as he fell backwards crying and thrashing around agony. The dim lit room peeling away from her vision, she saw only her own blood stained hands, and far off a high pitched screaming noise slowly drilling into her ears...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

“She’s gone, doctor”

“Stand back”

“Sir, I said she is gone”

“GET BACK I SAID”

Pulling out a hand lung inflator, he began pumping breath into the tiny body on the table

“Nurse! Start compressions!”

“Doctor”

“Ok, that should be enough, everybody clear”

“CLEAR”

--TTTTTHOUMP--

Straight away, the doctor returned to the lung inflator.” Keep those compressions constant”

“Doctor, she is gone!”

The doctor spun around almost knocking the nurse into the wall behind her. His eyes misting up his thin glasses.

“This little thing has suffered something no one should have to suffer through, and half the marks on her body are months old. She was obviously somewhere terrible for the majority of her life, and I am not going to let her leave this world without experiencing the happiness it can offer!”

“Everyone clear!” He said, grabbing the paddles one more time, shooting the nurse a disgusted look before turning around to the body on the table.

“CLEAR”


Kirlia heard the voices again, this time clearer. She almost thought she could see light too. What was happening?

--TTTTTHOUMP!--

With a start, the kirlia’s senses all rushed back into her mind. All of them being pain.

“She’s back!”

Vitals increasing. 15 percent. 23 percent and climbing”

“Ok, she seems to be holding steady. Nurse, call two Blissies in here and have them initiate a double soft boiled. We aren’t out of the woods yet -” The doctor turned to the nurse who had questioned him earlier.

“Why don’t you tell one of your colleagues on your way out of this hospital to get me a full restore so I can repair the stab wounds on this right arm?”

The nurse, taken aback by this pulled her hands to her chest, defensively. “B-but...”

The doctor leans in close enough to see herself in the reflection of his glasses, and says in a voice dripping with malice and disgust.

“Get the fuck out of my hospital”

The other doctors and nurses in the room all gasped and stopped what they were doing, looking up at the doctor ordering the nurse out. Not one of them had ever heard him swear in the 15 years he had worked here.

---

Simon was sitting in the waiting room of the Pokémon centre, mulling his thoughts over quietly. At his feet, Gems was enjoying her chocolate bar he had remembered to get her, being quiet as not to disturb his thoughts.
What the hell had just happened? He glanced at his watch and saw that he had been waiting for the better part of an hour for any word on how she was doing.

“Chu!” called Gems from his feet, pulling at his still bloodied trousers. She had finished her little treat and wanted to see how he was doing.

“Hey girl” Simon said softly, his voice cracking a bit for sitting in silence with a dry throat, reminding him that he needed a drink. “Finished your chocolate all up, have you? You always get it all over yourself, show me your hands.”

Gems backed up a couple of steps, holding her arms out to him. Unsurprisingly, chocolate covered her mouth and her front paws. Simon gave a quiet chuckle and ruffled the top of her head. “Damn you’re a messy eater. I should have slash show you how to eat properly. In fact – “Simon stood up and took the second pokeball off his belt “I should probably let him out. Poor guy’s been stuffed in his ball all day, bet he is itching to get out”
Simon made his way to the double doors; peering down the hallway they had taken the Kirlia a short while ago. Silence. They must have been a few rooms deep.

“C’mon girl lets head outside for a smoke” he called, tapping his thigh. Gemma followed him out slowly, her sensitive hearing picking up the sound of nonsensical medical techno babble.

Stepping away from the door, Simon released his other team mate in dim flash of red light, filling immediate area in a soft, crimson glow. A small Sneasel turned to face him, giving a grunt of thanks.

“Here you go bro” Simon said as he offered a stick of jerky to the small dark type. Its eyes wide with excitement, it took the treat from his trainer. Something good must have happened today.

Simon eased himself to the ground and leaned his back against the wall of the Pokémon centre. Summer was ending, and while not an uncomfortable heat, the cool bricks felt good as the trainer leant back against them.

Lazily, he fished a small tin out of his pocket and removed a cigarette.

“Gems” He called her away from slash who was enjoying his treat “Little help girl”.

The electric Pokémon nodded as he brought the cigarette to his lips and gave the tip a small enough jolt just to light it.

Inhaling deeply, Simon let the euphoria unwind his situation a little. He still couldn’t get the images of the limp young girl out of his mind, haunting him with flashes of imagery every time he closed his eyes. The smell of her blood wafting off of his clothing and into his nostrils didn’t help very much either, but the cigarette smoke soon stopped that.

[So what’s with the treats today Gems?] the Sneasel said around the last mouthful of his jerky. [You win a big battle or something?]

[No, no it’s nothing like that] she spoke back to him [it’s actually a little depressing]
He gulped down the last of his treat, and began licking his paws [Well it can’t have been that bad if boss isn’t to shaken up by it. And we got some treats out of it too, so -]

[You’re an idiot!] she snapped at him, interrupting him [Simon IS upset, but he just isn’t showing it]

Slash stopped and looked up at his trainer. His eyes were closed as he exhaled a large breath of smoke, opening them to watch it dance and twist around in the warm summer air.

[Hmm. He does seem a little quiet] Slash said still looking up at him. Simon noticed this and fished a second smoke out of his tin, and began to light it with the lit end of his own. Once it was burning enough to stay lit, he passed it down to his Sneasel.

“Here you go mate. Sorry I forgot about you for a second there”

“Easle, snease!” slash said, taking the offered cigarette with his claws and taking a small drag.

[Ahhh, that’s better] Sneasel said after thanking his trainer. [So what’s goin’ on then? What did I miss? Boss had the ball set so that I couldn’t see what was going on]

[Probably because we were trying to catch an Abra earlier, and he didn’t want you shooting out of your ball to scare it away]

[Pffft, psychic types] Slash growled, taking another draw of his smoke [always trying to peek inside your mind and find out your darkest secrets just to sate their own curiosity]

[Urgh, I’m sick of your prejudices] Gems said, annoyed at her team mates closed mindedness. [I would keep those opinions to myself from now on]

The Sneasel shocked on hits mouthful of smoke [y-you what? Youse caught the Abra?!? Where is it!]
[Well we caught it but.. It’s no longer here. Simon caught it only so he could trade it.]

[Heh, good.] slash leant back against the wall, taking another draw of his cigarette. [psychics are nothing but trouble, and we don’t need one stinking up our team. So who is our new team mate?

Gems waited until he began to exhale, smiling [It’s a Kirlia]

Again, Sneasel began coughing and spluttering, the smoke catching in his throat. “Easy mate, don’t draw back too hard” Simon said, patting his pack softly.

[A-a Kirlia?! w-why would the boss want something as frail as that on our team? Is she here? Now?]

[Well, actually, there was a..... Complication] Gemma said, staring at the ground. [Hence the blood all over Simons clothing]

Slash turned and looked to his master’s outfit, and he was surprised to notice that he was indeed covered in dark red splotches all over. He also noticed him lighting a second smoke with the dying butt of his first.

[Wow, boss must really be shook up to be smoking as much as he is now ] the Sneasel turned back to the Raichu [that isn’t his blood is it?]

[No] answered Gemma [When Kirlia came through the machine, her ball opened and she was... damaged]
This made the Sneasel raise one of its eyebrows in interest [Damaged? How badly?]

[Badly. In fact, they have been in there for over an hour now]

Sneasel took one last drag of his smoke before flicking it away and holding his breath in to increase the euphoric high he was getting. [wow, that’s pretty long. Can’t say I care too much though]

[You’re cruelty on this matter is not appreciated, Slash!] the Raichu’s cheeks sparked. [You didn’t see the condition this poor girl was in! She was bleeding from everywhere! She was mutilated beyond recognition! If it wasn’t for her scent, I wouldn’t have been able to recognise what she was!]

[Well then she is a terrible fighter] Sneasel sorted, unnerved by the Raichu’s display of aggression
Raichu was about to open her mouth again to scream something when a nurse ran out of the Pokémon centre, crying into her hands.

“Uh oh, let’s go guys” Simon said, getting to his feet and throwing his cigarette away “that better not have anything to do with Kirlia”

---

“Ok, the worst of its over” the doctor said happily, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose let’s go ahead and get her into a ball so we can put her into the incu-"

The kirlia’s eyes snapped open, blinded by the bright lights in her face.

“Doctor, she’s awake!” cried one of the nurses, moving over to restrain her

[W-what’s going on, where am I?] her eyes darting around the room, quickly adjusting the environment.

White coats.She was surrounded by people in white coats.

[NO! NO GET AWAY!] she cried out, throwing a psychic attack at the doctor. Everyone in the room jumped away from the table as one of the machines fell to the floor, utensils and fluids spilling everywhere.

“Kirlia, you need to calm down, we are doctors, we are here to help!” the man in the glasses cried, racing back over to the table.

[NO MORE TESTS LEAVE ME ALONE IT HURTS!!] She cried, throwing another psychic attack at the doctor which missed him completely.

The doctor grabbed her by the chest and pushed her back down “NURSE, BRING ME A SEDITIVE, QUICKLY!”

[NO NO NO! NO! NO!] The small girl screamed, thrashing her limbs about.

“Here, ssshh, it’s alright!” the doctor called over her screams trying to calm her. Panicking, she initiated a teleport outside of the room. With nothing to hold down on the table, the doctor fell forwards onto it, the Kirlia slamming into the wall at the far end of the operating theatre.

[w-w-why here? I didn’t want to go here!] she yelled, teleporting again before anyone could get over to her, and hitting the ceiling before falling onto the doctor who was getting up from her table.

“Quick, get her before she hurts herself!” He called out to his colleagues who where rushing at her with sedatives.

[What did you do? Why can’t I control where to go?!] she cried at them, throwing everything she had into separate psychic attacks striking everything around the room, causing them all to once again take cover from the medical debris showering down around them.

Quickly moving off the doctor and towards the now open ER doors, she began running.

[I need to get out, I hate this place, how do I get out?!]

She turned a corner and saw a man who wasn’t dressed in a white coat, with a Raichu and...

A dark type.

Frozen to the spot out of fear, she locked eyes with the Sneasel. Sensing the raw dark energy flowing off of him.
[Wow Gems, you weren’t kidding] Sneasel said to his teammate. [She is really banged up]

[Don’t scare her, idiot!] she whispered back at him, not looking away from the terrified creature in front of them.

[S-s-s-stay back!] Kirlia stammered at the Sneasel, a hand in front of her face glowing with electricity

“Kirlia, stop what you’re doing, it’s me, your trainer!” called Simon “You’re in a Pokémon centre, you are hurt.”

Kirlia couldn’t hear him. She could only hear the blood pumping in her ears not sure of how to get around the dark type in front of her.

[He won’t hurt you sweetie] Gems called. [We won’t hurt you]

[n-n-n-n-no- no! I won’t go back! I don’t want to go back there! Don’t take me back please!] she begged, tears running down her cheeks.

[Look, doll] slash said calmly as he confidently strode up to her. [The boss here – oof!-]

He was cut short by the kirlia’s thunder punch dropping him to the floor, leaving him wheezing for air as she jumped over him and out the door.

“Kirlia no, stop!” Simon called out, picking up slash from the ground and chasing after her. “Gems, quick attack towards her, don’t hurt her!”

Gemma vanished from sight, appearing at the door then at the foot of the stairs leading up to the Pokémon centre.

“You alright mate?” Simon asked slash who was coughing and holding his stomach.

[yeah I’m alright, she just caught me by surprise]

“Sneasel, snee snees”

“I’ll take that as a yes” Simon said, putting him on the ground near Gemma. “Where is she gemz?” his eyes darting around the road to the west leading to the fields he caught the Abra this afternoon.

She sniffed the air gingerly, trying to get a lock on the Kirlia.

[Hmm, I can’t really tell. She’s teleporting all over the..... Hang on.]

Gemma stopped and pointed at the field down the road.

“Thought so. Ok guys here’s what we are going to do. Slash, I am going to have to have you sit this one out buddy. It looks as though she might see you as a threat, and we need to be able to talk her down gently. Not trying to make you feel bad bro, but you might honestly do more bad than good.”

[Fine by me] he replied as he rubbed his sore stomach. She gave him quite a hit. [Disgusting psychic type, I hope she gets eaten by a pack of Poochyena]

Gemma shot an angry glare at Slash, making him cower slightly before he let himself back inside his ball.

“Ok Gems, we need to treat this situation delicately. Her wounds are going to be nowhere near healed yet, and I’m going to need you to try to talk her down a bit. Just use your quick attack to catch up to her, and then try to let her know we aren’t going to hurt her.”

"Chu!" replied Gemma, shooting off toward the fields in a glowing orange blur.

“Wish I could move as fast as that” Simon said, pulling his pokenav out of his pocket and selecting the phone App as he headed off in the same direction his Raichu had.

“I hope she doesn’t hurt herself”
---

The city passed in a blur of lights and shapes. No longer caring where she was going, Kirlia was randomly teleporting in the same direction. It wouldn’t have mattered if she knew where she was going anyway, as she couldn’t focus on a target clearly enough to teleport to its location. As long as she was moving away from the white coats, she was happy.

After what seemed like hours, she finally appeared in a small clearing along the outskirts of the city. Her breathing staggered, her energy drained. She had used too many teleports in too quick a succession and was now completely fatigued. Quickly looking around her environment, she noticed a large rock towards the edge of the clearing and ran over to it, somewhat clumsily.

[I can’t even hold my body up like I normally do] she gasped, leaning her back against the rock, confident that she wasn’t followed. It wouldn’t take her long to get her energy back.

The pain was still wracking her body, forcing winces and hisses out of her at random intervals. She slowed her breathing, trying to control it. If she wasn’t careful and they found her under this rock out of breath, then she wouldn’t have the power needed for any more teleporting.

---

Gemma was a streak of gold tearing through the road out of the city. She was strong, and had more than enough dexterity to throw herself from one quick attack into another, but she was nearing the fields which meant large open land. She was running out of buildings and objects to launch herself from.

[Damnit] she thought aloud [I can’t quick attack properly out here if there’s nothing to bounce off.]

Stopping where the Route met the edge of the city, she raised herself to her hind legs and began sniffing the air again. Nothing.

[She couldn’t have gotten too far away, she is still weak.] Gemma said to herself, looking around.

There it was. Just faintly, but her powerful hearing picked it up nonetheless. A teleport. Roughly in front of her, through the trees and into the clearing where they had caught the Abra hours ago.

Breaking into a full run using her agility, she ran towards the source of the noise, hoping she had enough time before the young girl managed to teleport away again.

[This is worse than chasing that damn Abra]

---

[Owwww!]

Kirlia took her hand off her left arm, which hung uselessly at her side. She had dashed off before the doctors had time to set the bones back into position, and the pain was starting to remind her exactly how bad a shape she was in.

She leaned back into the rock and stared up at the night sky. A warm breeze swept through the clearing, making the long grass sway, the last hint of summer tickling her nose.

[Wow...] Kirlia muttered, her breathing returning to a less staggered pace, a faint memory niggling at the back of her mind. [I’d forgotten how beautiful the sky was at night.]

She didn’t have much time to appreciate the view though, as a large Raichu burst into the clearing, a few leaves and twigs flying into the air behind her as she broke through the underbrush.

[Kirlia? Are you here? Please, come out!]

Her breath caught in her throat - [How did she find me? I must have teleported at least 30 times!]

Gemma was out of breath. Agility took its toll on a Pokémon, and she had held it a little longer than she should have, making her legs ache slightly at the over exertion.

[Kirlia, please. I don’t want to hurt you, I only want to help.] Gemma began walking slowly into the clearing.

She had heard the teleport here definitely, and she could smell the Kirlia as though she was on top of her. The smell of chemicals from the surgery burning her nose.

[G-go away!] Kirlia cried meekly, standing out shyly from behind the rock, but making sure it was between the both of them. [I don’t want to go back there, I don’t want to be hurt anymore!] Her power had returned enough to perform a few more emergency teleports if needed.

[Kirlia, I’m not going anywhere] Gemma said, noticing as she stepped out slightly from the rock. She couldn’t help but look at the poor thing as its arm hung limply at her side, several previous wounds having opened back up after pushing herself so hard to escape. [Kirlia, you need to listen to me, we only want to help you get better]

[You’re lying! They only want to do more terrible things to me...] her voice trailed off as she began to build power around herself. One wrong move and she would teleport as far away as she could, which, even with her inability to lock onto where to jump to would mean hundreds of metres in any given direction. That would place more than enough distance between her and her and the electric Pokémon.

[Kilria sweetie, I swear, we are only trying to help] Gemma took a small step toward her, saddening as she watched the poor thing shaking like a leaf with fear. [I don’t know what happened to you before you came to be with us, but we only want to help. Just please come back with my human and -]

[No one wants to help me!] she cried back at the Raichu [Every human I have ever met only wants to hurt me, or... or... touch.....] She tried to blink back the tears so that the intimidating electric type wouldn’t be able to see her signs of weakness. She was scared and didn’t want to show it.

[Your wrong! My human is kind and gentle! He cares for us, all of us! Even you!] She took another step, trying her hardest to exert an air of submission to the Kirlia. [He doesn’t abuse us the same way your last humans did, he treats us as his friends!]

[Now I know you’re lying] Kirlia scoffed. [The men in white suits may have trained you into tricking escaped Pokémon into returning, but it won’t work on me] She began to change her energy from a teleport into something else. [No human cares what happens to any Pokémon! They only use us as tools!]

Gemma had run out of things to say. Obviously she wasn’t getting through to the poor thing, and whatever mental damage had befallen her in the past had become so far ingrained that she was refusing to listen to reason.

[I really want to help you, Kirlia. But if you don-]

“Gemma! Kirlia!”

They both turned to see Simon tearing through the underbrush the same way Gemma had entered, foliage covering most of his upper body.

[Wha -]

The small lapse in Kirlia’s concentration released all of her psychic energy at once. With nothing to aim at, it flew out directly in front of her and struck the Raichu hard sending her flying backwards at an incredible speed, slamming her hard enough into the cliff face behind her.

“Gemma no!” cried Simon as he rushed right passed a now exhausted Kirlia.

[W-why isn’t he attacking me?] she thought to herself, breathing heavily again. That attack had completely
drained her, and it was going to take a while before she was able to teleport away from him.

Simon slid himself to the ground alongside the injured Raichu, and began to cradle her in his arms. Kirlia could only watch the events in front of her unfold.

“Gemma, Sweetie? Open your eyes, come on” Simon whispered quietly to her as he felt clumsily for her pulse. It was there, but weak. His eyes growing wide. “Shit, shit, shit. Come on girl, you need to hold on. I will get you back to the centre as fast as I can.”

The Raichu didn’t respond as he drew her pokeball out. Holding her to his chest one last time, he recalled her in a dim flash of red light and set the pokeball into stasis mode. At least this way her wounds won’t be getting any worse.

[I – I don’t...] Kirlia couldn’t believe her eyes. Why was this human caring so much for his Pokémon? Every human she had ever met abused their Pokémon, demanding loyalty out of fear. Could the Raichu have been telling the truth?

She didn’t have much time to think about it, as the human had got up and began walking quickly towards her.

Completely spending her power reserves had drained her to the point where she could only stumble backwards, raising an arm above her head in defence. She waited for the trashing she had become so accustomed to receiving.
But it never came.

“We were only trying to help” Simon said sadly. She lowered her arm slightly, locking eyes with the trainer’s, seeing an emotion she had never seen on a humans face before.

Sadness.

“Here” Simon said quietly as he took a pokeball off his belt. “You obviously don’t trust us enough to help you, then I don’t want to make the effort to. Not after what you did to my friend.”

She watched as he fiddled with the pokeball in his hands, a pale blue light emanating from it and fading just as quickly as it came.

He tossed it to the ground directly in front of her, making the young girl bring her arm back up over her face a second time. She slowly lowered it after hearing the sound of grass crushing underfoot as he walked away from her.

“You’re free now.” Simons said with his back to the injured Pokémon. “You don’t want help, then fine. I’m not going to drag you kicking and screaming back to the Pokémon centre to get you healed up.”

Kirlia was stunned. What had just happened? Did he just release her? Was she free? Why was this human different from the others?

“Have fun out here with those injuries” he said hurt running deep in his voice.

The reality of the situation dawned quickly on the young Kirlia. She was very aware of the wounds covering her entire body now, and even though nothing was life threatening at the moment, there is no way she would be able to hold her own should she be attacked by a hungry predator.

Closing her eyes tightly, she made a decision. Oh how she hoped this was the right one to make...

“...W....wait!...”

Simon stopped and looked around. Where did that come from?

“..Wait ... help...please, help...”

There it was again! Was somebody lost out here? After quickly surveying the clearing, his vision fell to the heavily breathing Kirlia against the rock. Surely it couldn’t have been her.

“Help.. Please...”

It was the young Kirlia.

Simon stumbled back away from her, completely shocked at seeing the small Pokémon speak to him “W-what’s going on? W-why can you t-talk?”

“Bad men... from before you... they make me to... to talk human...” The Kirlia struggled with the words. She always found speaking to humans difficult to do, the way they move their mouths was so strange to her.

“Bad men, bad men... The person you were with before? He taught you how to talk?” Simon couldn’t believe it. He was having a conversation with his Pokémon.

“...n-no, not t-teach...” She stammered “m-make me t-to talk. If... if not talk, then ouch.”
Simon looked at her, confused. “What do you mean, ouch?”

Unsure of the words to explain, she pointed at one of the larger wounds on her body, then to her left arm.
“They hit.” She said, her voice cracking slightly. “...ouch”

Simon took a few small steps towards the small girl and knelt down to her level. She had somebody torture her for not learning how to speak like a person? Simon began to understand her apprehension towards him and everyone around him.

“I understand” He said quietly. “Kirlia, I’m not like those bad men. Most people aren’t. You were just unlucky to have met them that’s all.“

Kirlia didn’t seem too convinced by this “H-how does I know you not bad man?”

Simon slowly reached his hand out towards the nervous Pokémon, with his palm facing up. Expectantly, she shied away.

“Kirlia, if I was going to hurt you, I would have done it by now” He tried to say in the kindest voice he could muster. “Please, see for yourself.”

She was trapped. If this human was lying, she didn’t have the energy to get away. She had no other option.
Carefully, she reached out with her right hand, cringing as she laid it into the calloused palm of the trainer in front of her.

[Please don’t be a bad man...]

Her eyes snapped open. The moment their hands touched, she felt a rush of feelings and emotions rush into her mind. Worry, fear for her safety and the injured Raichu on his belt, concern for her natural fear of dark types making him hide his Sneasel away so she wouldn’t have to deal with it. She couldn’t believe it. This person wasn’t a bad man at all! He genuinely cared about his Pokémon – including her – as though they were friends.
Equals.

She took a step back, lifting her hand off of his.

“You see?” Simon said as he withdrew his hand and rested it on his knee. “I only want to help”

Kirlia looked up at him, tears slowly beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

“...Safe?” She said to him, almost in a whisper

His reply startled her, and would she have had the energy to, she would have teleported away as he swept her up into his arms, holding her close to his chest.

“Yes, safe. No more bad men, ok?”
Having never been held like this before, she began to weep uncontrollably, overwhelmed with the generosity of the trainer holding her. She was finally free from all the pain and horrible people she had to endure over the last several months. She could feel his care for her wellbeing sweeping over her. Never before had she experienced anything like it. This human made her feel protected, and genuinely meant it too. There was no ulterior motive, nothing he wanted form her.

Her cries went from whimpering to heaving, as she buried herself into his chest.

“T-t-thank y-you” She cried in between sobs.

Simon didn’t say anything. Even if he had wanted to, there were no words in his mind. All he could do was hold her crying body closer to his, his hand rubbing along her back, trying to settle her down.

[So this is what it feels like to be protected, to feel safe] Kirlia thought, her cries slowly becoming weak whimpers as she continued to bury her wet face deeper into Simons jacket. As warm as the human was making her feel, she gave a little shiver as a cool breeze swept through the clearing. A shiver that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hey” Simon said softly, pulling her away from his chest. Her hair had fallen around her face, and was matted from her tears. Her eyes puffy and red from crying, still a little swollen from the beating she received only hours earlier. “I need to head back and get Gemma fixed up. Are you going to come with me?”

Kirlia brought a hand to her eyes and rubbed them, wincing as she pushed a little too hard and hurt the fresh bruises lying just under the skin. She nodded and meekly said “yes” almost in a squeak.

“Ok, but you might want to hold on. I want to get there as fast as possible so I am going to run. Let me know if you start to hurt anywhere, ok?”

“no, stay”

Simon paused mid step. “What’s wrong? Does it hurt?”

“No hurt” She said softly, reaching up and placing a hand on his forehead. She had just enough energy for this.

“Where is place to go?”

“Where?” Simon said aloud, thinking of where the Pokémon centre was. “It isn’t too far, just down this road. It will only take us about 5 min - ”

---

Simon awoke in a daze, his head pounding. His eyes slowly adjusting to the strange new environment, vastly contrasting the clearing on the outskirts of town he was in barely a second ago.

“.......Hello?” He tried calling out for somebody, his voice coming out as a dry rasp, barely audible to even himself.

Looking around a second time, he began to recognise his surroundings. The crisp white sheets and smell of disinfectant obvious indicators that he was in some sort of hospital. What had happened? How did he get here?
Clearing his throat, which resulted in his headache going from a mild dull ache to a horrible stabbing sensation, he tried again.

“..H..hello...? Is somebody there? Anybody?”

“Oh!” came a small voice at the foot of his bed. “You are wake!”

Painfully, Simon craned his neck down towards his feet, surprised to see Kirlia climbing onto his bed.
“Kirlia...” He cringed. Talking hurt his brain.

“You been sleep long time!” She gushed, crawling over his sore, stiff body, stopping her face inches above his own, her face suddenly growing serious. “still ouch?”

“Yeah” he said, attempting to slide into a sitting position so that he could get out from under her. “Yeah, still ouch. What happened? Why am I in here? Where are your wounds?”

Kirlia didn’t say anything; instead she closed her eyes and put her lips to his forehead. “shoosh quiet” she whispered. “I take some ouch.”

With that, she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead; the dull ache in his head slowly starting to fade, being replaced by a warm, pleasant feeling.

“Kirlia, what are you doing?” Simon asked, his head no longer pounding as he spoke. He noticed the grimace of pain on her face as she pulled away, sitting on his chest
.
“Share ouch” She said, trying to smile over his pain in her head. “Am sorry, I make you ouch, so I share you ouch, make you ouch feel good”

“Wait, you took my pain away? What happened? We were in the field, then... then I woke up here” Simon was confused. What did she mean she hurt him?

“I make you ouch, am sorry” she said, lowering her head and resting it on his chest. “You say need to get to place fast, I touch you mind to find where place go, I te... Te..” She began to struggle with the last word.
“You teleported us to the Pokémon centre to get us here faster?” Simon said, a more than a little touched at the effort she put in to move them both almost a full kilometre.

“Mmm. Tel... Tepolort” She giggled. The word felt strange for her to say in his language. “Did bad, come place high off ground, fall up. You ouch on head.”

What? Fell up?

“Oh, when you brought us here, we were upside down? And I landed on my head... right?”

“Mmm“ she said a second time, burying her face into his chest. “Am sorry, very sorry”

Simon laughed quietly. He could only imagine the look on the poor nurse’s face as a human teleported upside down into the lobby of the Pokémon centre.

“It’s ok, I’m just glad you finally decided to trust me” His hand absentmindedly stroking her hair

“no one ever want to nice me before” She sighed, contently nuzzling his chest.

“Well, their loss” He said softly. His attention was brought to the top of her head as he felt his fingers scrape across some gauze.

“Kirlia, what’s this?” He asked, pushing her into a sitting position with one hand, the other remaining on the gauze wrap previously hidden under her hair. He looked her over, noticing that all the wounds she had when her first got her were now gone.

All except the gauze wrapping over her right sensory fin.

“bad man make ouch here” she said, placing her hand atop her head. “Nice lady make all ouch go away, except here still ouch. Nurse very sad, say can’t fix, too broked. Have hard trouble to uh... [focus on something] without you help”

Simon didn’t understand. “I think you messed that up a bit there, you can’t Kir - Kirlia without my help?”

“no, no” She struggled, looking for the words, failing to find the proper translation.

[Should just show him what I mean then]

“here, see” she said, pointing to his pokeballs sitting on the nightstand to his right. In his daze, he had forgotten to get Gemma help! She was still in stasis, but she needed medical attention right away!

“Gemma needs to be healed” He told her, sitting up and reaching for the balls next to him. “Can you get the nurse?”

“No, no” Kirlia said, shaking her head, her hair bouncing around as she did so. “I tell nice lady, she fix yesterday. You sleep for long time, two moons you sleep. She fix!”

“Oh” Simon said, surprised. Two days he was out, eh? Must have been a pretty big fall. “So what were you pointing to the balls for?”

“shoosh and see” she said, turning her head to look at them. Simon saw her eyes shift to a light purple, and jumped slightly as the door on the other side of the room slammed shut. Kirlia closed her eyes, hanging her head.
“Bad man make ouch here” Her hand slowly returning to her damaged fin “Unable to make power work good”
Simon still didn’t understand. “I don’t get it, how am I supposed to help?”

Kirlia, a little impatiently, grabbed his head and turned it towards the balls on the table. “You look, think of ball there, ball!”

Unsure of what she was getting at, he decided to play along. He looked directly at Gemma’s pokeball, feeling a slender hand rest on his forehead. “Kirlia I don’t -”

“Shoosh, ball!” she said, almost in a whisper.

Simon moved his eyes back to the ball and concentrated on it. He heard the tell tale hum of a small psychic wave filling the room, and watched the ball shakily float up off the table.

Suddenly it dawned on him. That’s why she had asked him where the Pokémon centre was when they were in the field. She was using his neural waves as a means to focus her power. No wonder she kept touching his forehead.
Simon couldn’t help but smile. “I think I get it now. You need me to concentrate on what you want to use your power on, right? “

She eased the ball back onto the table, and took her hand off of his head. “Mmm!” she answered, happily. “Need you to help make work. Bad man stop power, but can still do with you help”

Simon’s eyes widened with excitement “Does that mean I can use your powers when you are touching me?” He always wondered what it would be like to have telekinesis, moving things without touching them, flipping cars at people, etc

“No, silly can’t do” she giggled. “You only look, I do power”

“Oh” Simon answered, resting back into his pillow. “I was thinking how fun it would be to be able to do the things you can do.”

A loud knock came from the other side of the door, startling them both.

“Come in” Simon called out. He was feeling much better after Kirlia had eased his throbbing head.

A slightly older man walked in wearing a white coat, a pair of thin glasses sitting on the bridge of his distinguished nose. Simon felt Kirlia shrink back into his chest as he walked in.

[White coat man. I don’t like white coat]

“Ah, you’re awake I see” The older gent said as he pulled a chair over to the side of Simon’s bed. Remembering the last few days, he removed his coat and placed it on the back of the chair, before sitting down. “It’s alright Kirlia, the coat is gone now.”

Slowly, she raised her face from Simon’s chest. Surely enough, the white coat was out of sight, her fear fading as she gave the doctor a happy chirp.

“Yeah, woke up a little while ago” Simon replied, lifting Kirlia so that he could sit with his back against the wall. She squirmed in his hold for a bit before he let her settle on his lap. “Kirlia tells me that I was out for two days”

“Indeed you were.” The doctor stifled a smile, remembering the sight of a trainer falling from the ceiling and landing on his head. “You were lucky you didn’t cripple yourself. That was a very dangerous thing to do”
Kirlia blushed at this, and looked away as Simon simply gave a small chuckle. “Well at least I didn’t land on anything important.”

“Evidently” the doctor replied, sitting forwards and feeling the base of Simon’s neck. “Things seem to have healed quite nicely actually. You should be well enough to leave in an hour I should say”

“Wow, that’s good to hear. I was hoping I wouldn’t be stuck in here for any longer than I need to be” His hand returning to Kirlia’s head. “Oh right. I wanted to ask you about this”

The doctor looked to where his hand was resting on top of the young Pokémon’s head, her eyes closed, resting back into his chest. “Yes... That was actually the reason I came to see you” the doctor stated.

Simon nodded “That’s good, because I wanted to know why it hasn’t been repaired.”

“Quite simply, because it can’t be repaired” the doctor said bluntly. “The sensory fins are a very sensitive network ingrained deep into the central nervous system. I’m afraid we can’t just inject it with a full restore and expect it to heal.”

Simon looked down at the Kirlia, who was busying herself with the hem of her dress like skin. She seemed fascinated by the fact that if she pushed it down, it would spring back up into its original position, giggling softly.

“So what can we do?”

“Well I had a bit of an idea while you were out for the last two days” the doctor answered, a bit of a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “See, the right sensory fin on Kirlia’s head is what she uses to allow her to focus and concentrate on a target, be it an enemy in battle, or a simple object in the environment she wishes to manipulate. Without it, she has basically lost her mental ‘depth perception’ if you will. Without it, her abilities are uncontrollable, dangerous to herself and others. When she teleported you both in, I couldn’t believe that she did it, it made no sense.” The doctor closed his eyes.

“I couldn’t figure it out until we were doing a CAT scan, to check for any internal damage, when you returned some unexpected results.”

Simon’s colour paled sharply. “What kind of results? I-it isn’t a tumour or anything, right?”

The doctor reached back into his coat and pulled a series of scan images out of one of the pockets. “To be honest, that was our first assumption yes, but after we cleaned the images up...” He handed the images to Simon.
Simon didn’t know the first thing about reading a brain scan, but the image staring back at him was as easy to understand as could possibly be. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“I – is that a... a...”

In the centre of his frontal lobe right where Kirlia first laid her hand on his head, was a small dark blemish.
A small hand print shaped blemish.

“You see” The doctor started “After you came in, we hurried you off to get scanned and treated, and I took your Kirlia out to finish what we had been doing before she ran off.” His hand rubbing at his exposed forearm, which was covered in small healed cuts. “After calming her down and letting her understand I wasn’t going to hurt her, she told me what had happened.”

“Doctor, why is there a hand print on my brain!” Simon asked, a little panicked.

“Try to understand” the doctor continued “Because of her injuries, she was unable to weave the emotional bond psychic types form with their trainers. She had to mentally reach inside your mind, and tear the image out by force.” The doctor leant back into his seat, his arms crossed. “In doing so, she left a trace of herself behind.”
“No, that can’t be” Simon said, having trouble taking it all in. “she touched my hand before, so I could show her that I had no negative feelings towards her, why didn’t anything happen then?”

The doctor simply shook his head “Reading the emotions of people is something they can do without having to dive inside your psyche, even with her wounds at the time, she could have easily picked up on your intentions.”

Simon looked down at the young girl on his lap, she had drifted off to sleep somewhere along their conversation.
“So...what does this mean then?” Simon asked, unsure of what to make of anything at the moment.

“I wasn’t so sure myself, so I had to consult a friend of mine, a professor from Kanto. This isn’t the only case he has seen.” The doctor placed the images back into his coat pocket, and pulled a small purple stone from one of the other pockets.

“What’s that for?” Simon asked. Today was getting stranger and stranger.

“My colleague sent this to me through the item inventory yesterday morning, and told me that you would need it.” He handed the smooth purple stone to Simon. It felt almost weightless, yet very dense.

“This” the doctor went on “Is a section of a special stone called a mind plate. After leaving trace amounts of herself on your mind, she formed an instant mental bond with you.”

Simon’s eyes widened. “But ... her injury... you said that would prevent her from making any kind of mental connection...”

“Ordinarily yes” The doctor cut in “However, because of the trace of herself she left embedded, she now has ingrained a part of herself into you. This would be rather harmless and of no issue without that stone however” He motioned towards the stone in Simons hand. “As long as you are within the immediate area of that stone, you are capable of utilising your bond more powerfully than any other psychic Pokémon would have with its trainer, under normal circumstances.”

“I don’t understand” Simon said, turning to the doctor who had begun to stand out of his chair “Why would you go to such trouble to help us like this?”

A look of sadness washed over the doctor’s face, but was gone in an instant.

“I understand how strong the bond between a person and their Pokémon can be.” He stood up out of the chair, picking up his coat and began to put it back on. “Somebody with a case as unique as yours deserves a little extra attention.”

Simon wasn’t sure what to say. This doctor had gone beyond simply helping him, and given Kirlia a chance at a somewhat normal life.

“Thankyou for all your help, doctor. I don’t know how we would have been able to cope without your help. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, ju –“

The doctor raised his hand, silencing the young man. “Like I said, yours is a unique case, and I wanted to make sure that the young one had a fighting chance at a good life.”

The doctor started towards the door, pausing before leaving the room.

“Take care of her, young man. Her species form rather strong mental bonds with their trainer, and can die of heartache if mistreated or abandoned. I hope you are prepared for what the future holds for you two.”
Simon looked down at her curled up in his lap, the grimace on her face letting him know she was obviously having a dream she wasn’t particularly enjoying.

“I am, don’t worry” Simon answered as he looked back up at the doctor and finding himself alone with his new Kirlia.

The doctor had begun walking down the hallway upon hearing Simon reply to his warning, shaking his head.
“No” the doctor said quietly, pulling out his phone and calling his house as he walked towards the exit of the Pokémon centre. “You have no idea.”


-----------------------------
End of Chapter 2

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Wow, that was fun, wasn't it? Bet you were glad that this episode was a bit brighter and happoer then the last. :)

I welcome comments, and engourage reviews, so please feel free to sate my ego by telling me what you thought :3