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Chapter 13 - The Extra Lowest Point
Another… couple of hours passed by, he thought. Charon filled the time by glancing around the room, and he knew anyone else who saw him would make it seem like he was bored, staring off into space.
However, he couldn’t help but still watch the lingering souls drifting about… his collar barely lit with Ghost Type energy as his body itched.
Spirits always lingered in places they departed, hospitals and medical wards chief among them. Some go adrift in the world. However, there were usually no Ghost Type Pokémon near hospitals… or at least, not ones humans had found.
Despite souls being on a different plane, Ghost Types tended to follow the idea of ‘territory’, avoiding active human locations considered… ‘off-limits’. Yes, there were outliers, there always are, but that means some places, like places of healing, would be… crowded.
He couldn’t do his kind’s duty at the moment, not this time… he had to stay here. No matter how much it continued to grow and itch at his being.
“Chaaron…? A-Are you—” William’s quiet, sudden voice dragged him from his thoughts, and then a series of dry coughing that followed made Charon shoot forward and gently rub William’s back. The noise must have awakened Ronin, as he shot up from his sleep and looked around for a moment, before turning to William and letting out a concerned noise. Viridi continued to vibrate on William's chest while staring up at him, even as he started shifting upwards so he wasn’t on his back.
“F-Fhuak… gha… dry… ish… there water…?” William questioned with a disgruntled look, before going into a light coughing fit again. Charon glanced around and frowned as there didn’t seem to be any sink… gently connecting to William once more.
‘I don’t see any sink to get water, no… the Clefable said to call the doctor in by pressing the… top button?’
‘clefable when was there a clefable?’ William questioned while turning to Ronin and giving him a gentle pet and a comforting smile the best he could to ease the Water Type’s worries, though his verbal “I’m o-ohkay Ronin…” came off still raspy, only calming Ronin down slightly.
‘When you were still incoherent from the medicine; she’s the doctor’s partner.’’ Charon clarified, before pausing, glancing at Viridi, who was looking at him directly with an impressively direct stare… best to mention it now.
‘She… also mentioned the doctor wanted to do some tests because of your lack of Aura…’
William froze at that, Charon picking up on his hesitation at ‘tests’… but his ward waited to continue, not making any hasty conclusions which prompted the Typhlosion to continue. ‘The healing medicine they had is heavily based on Aura. So that’s why they had to use so much medicine on you… and they’re worried about other side effects of Type Energy on you.’
William’s face contoured as he weighted it back and forth, Charon feeling the building anxiety clash with the hard logic. ‘i know weve been really lucky thus far with only the confusion incident but fuck that’s just more points of access for people to question things’
‘...I know, but I’d rather have concrete information in case this does happen again… what would happen if you were paralyzed by a Thunder Wave?’ Charon pushed the question out, William freezing and wincing as he thought about it.
‘my heart would probably explode fuck yeah youre right lets do the tests…’ William sighed and looked around for a moment, his eyes catching… what looked like a tethered remote wrapped around the arm of the bed.
After untangling it, William’s eyes glanced over the buttons on it before pressing the topmost one. It glowed, but William ignored it and sighed as he set it back down before slumping in his bed. ‘dammit… i knew that having no aura would be a red flag but fuck’
“Are you okay…?” Ronin asked quietly. William smiled and shifted to give him a hug.
“Y-Yeah… I’m o-okay… you w-were so brave…” William said aloud, his voice clipped and scratchy because of dryness. Charon grumbling and hoping that the doctor brought water… but William glanced at the two, before glancing at the clock on the wall and wincing. “You two need rest… C-Charon, can you grab their Poké Balls sh-so they can rh-rest for now…?”
“N-No! I can stay until you get out…!” Ronin attempted to protest, but William shifted to hug the young Starter Pokémon to comfort him, gently stroking his head with a thumb.
“I’ll h-hold your Poké Ball for a bit… but you and Charon still need to rest… you too Viridi.” William said with a slight side eye. Viridi’s antennae twitched as she vibrated.
“Viridi go into green ball. Viridi let humans look over Hive Leader.” She chittered before scuttling over to William’s bag… impressively leaping across the bed to the chair. She paused for a moment before turning around to look up at Charon. “Big Fire Type. Is Charon name or job?”
Charon snorted and crossed his arms. “It’s my name given to me by my ward. My job is to help guide him, which is why he named me that.”
Viridi chittered, her eyes unmoving as she stared up. “Viridi understands. Charon open bag. Viridi need green ball. Hive Leader command.”
“Alright, fine, bossy bug…” Charon grumbled, rolling his eyes while reaching forward to zip the bag open.
“Viridi not bossy bug. Viridi is comfrey bugg.” She said before turning right back around and crawling in. The inside of it shifted before she crawled out with a green Nest Ball between her mandibles, with other capsules spilling out of the sides as she crawled out. She placed it on the chair before nudging it around and headbutting the button, her body turning red in a flash before vanishing into the Nest Ball.
‘...is this technically the procurement or theft of government assets the rangers gave us that so —’ Charon ignored his ward’s inane rambling, glancing over at some of the other Poké Balls before he noticed the plain, red one that belonged to Ronin. He grabbed it, along with Viridi’s, before turning to the Water Type. Ronin turned his head away from the hug to glance over at Charon, who returned it with a gentle gaze. “I’ll make sure he’s okay, don’t worry… you need some rest to make sure you can protect him as well.”
That finally prompted Ronin to give in. The Water Type nodded before looking up at William, who gave him another hug. “I’ll be r-rhigh here… get some rest, okay…?”
Ronin nodded as Charon handed William both of the Poké Balls, William holding his out for Ronin to press himself… who hesitated for a bit before finally pressing it, leaving only the two of them in the room.
William remained silent for most of it, except for the occasional shuffle to adjust his position in bed, or a heavy breath the rose and sank with his chest. Charon could tell his soul was processing everything finally… the drugs almost entirely worn off, but the exhaustion remained like constantly building weight. ‘i wonder how rare having limited aura actually is… i know that you said that it’s odd for a soul as old as mine to have no aura but you must have seen some people with less than usual in Hisui’’ William posed, glancing at Charon who rumbled slightly and rubbed his chin as he thought back, pausing as he frowned as he realized he didn’t know himself.
‘I had fully evolved in Hisui, but… there were other things I was more concerned about,’ Charon communicated, William wincing but nodding in understanding.
‘...I’ll have to ask lena later to ask arthur she or him probably have seen more instances of low aura.’ William’s mention of the Ranger made Charon scowl, but thankfully his face wasn’t facing his ward to show it. Sadly, William still detected the change in Charon.
‘Charon whats wrong? She clearly has experience with aura to some degree as you mentioned arthur sharing his sight with her and shes probably a professional about first aid so makes sense that some aura related deficiency case this crazy world probably had she might know’
‘Oh, I don’t think she’s much of a professional, no matter what her fairy boss says.’ Charon said, doing his best to hide the growl in his throat even as he just thought about her, but his ward had spent years around him on top of being connected via their soul link must have been enough for William to narrow his eyes at him.
‘lenas a top ranger charon yes she just became one suddenly and had this mess of a human being thrown in her care but she’s doing her best’
“And what kind of Top Ranger puts a kid under their care in the hospital a couple days after meeting them? What kind of Top Ranger doesn’t understand the danger of poisoning? What kind of Top Ranger can’t recognize when a Pokémon is aiming to kill anything in their path? What kind of Top Ranger is she?” Charon couldn’t help but say aloud with a burning voice, crossing his arms and looking at William with a fixed stare. It confused him why his ward wasn’t seeing the same as he was… and instead, he looked almost… taken aback at Charon’s words.
William’s soul link went quiet for a few moments before bubbling up in anger in a way that surprised Charon. ‘and who are we to judge? if it werent for lena id be dead on the forest floor dying of poison. if it werent for lena we wouldnt be able to try and stop team plasma. if it werent for lena id still be hiding from everyone trying to sneak out every day just trying to find you. if it werent for lena i wouldnt have been able to meet ronin or viridi technically. if youre gonna get mad at her then at least fucking acknowledge our mistakes that night!’
Charon had to pull all the strength of Arceus Almighty to not vaporize everything around him in a fiery, emotional rage. On the other side, William’s link tried to soothe him down and simmer the heat, but he didn’t budge on his position as his eyebrows furrowed with a stern look forming.
‘look Charon. we werent blameless either. we didnt even tell her what we were doing before we started running off. we didnt communicate during the fight at all like we should have or knew how too. lena made a lot of mistakes, not discussing how to communicate or calling for backup was one of than, but we made those same mistakes.’
With a deep breath, William cut off his rant and squeezed the covers tight for a moment, centering himself before continuing. ‘i knew that was i did was dumb, but… i panicked, dont blame lena for my mistake of running off. i got poisoned, and as morbid as it is, it’s better for us to know the worst case now.’
‘were alive, were safe, and were gonna get better and improve. thats all we can do.’ Taking a deep breath, he turned back to the Hisuian Typhlosion and fixed him with a stare. ‘im not going to make you like her or anything but you need to at least make up with her to a neutral level. not now while youre angry but sooner rather than later. That's an order.’
The two continued to stare down at each other. Time froze for a moment before a few knocks at the door finally broke the tension and caused both of their heads to snap to it.
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Despite feeling like she got hit with a Giga Impact, and weighed down by a Steelix, Lena pushed herself up to the sound of her Fine Styler ringing on the bedside table, her vision too clouded by sleep to see the caller ID as she picked up.
“Ranger Lena speaking?” She found her mouth moving on autopilot, her other hand wiping her eyes as she tried to swallow to get rid of the dryness in her mouth.
“Ah, I apologize if I woke you. This is the resident nurse at the Castilia Pokémon Center. Arthur and Rina are both ready to be picked up. We’ve performed a full detox for them, and made sure they got the rest needed.”
Lena still felt her shoulders relax at hearing her partners were okay, but it didn’t relieve as much stress as she expected. “No, no, it’s fine, thank you for the wake-up call… anything I need to keep in mind?”
A hum was audible over the speakers before the nurse responded. “Arthur may feel a tad sore because of the excessive Poison Stings used against him, but he has no symptoms of poisoning whatsoever because of his Steel typing. Rina had lingering toxins when she came in, but she’s showing no further signs of poisoning. If she feels weak or tired, some Pecha Berries added to her diet today and tomorrow will flush out any phantom symptoms.
Lena blinked, doing her best to commit the nurse’s words to memory… but just sighed, giving up when she tripped over her own thoughts. “Thank you, I’ll come down to grab them in a bit… I just, uh… need some time to wake up.”
“Of course, they’ll be ready for you.”
Lena said a formal ‘thank you and goodbye’, before hanging up. As she did, it defaulted to showing the home screen of the Fine Styler, with the time in the corner showing 7:34 PM.
‘Shit.’ She navigated to her call function on her Styler, glancing through the menus to see if any notifications had come through she had missed while she was asleep.
No new voicemails, no missed calls.
No updates.
Her head rolled back, hitting the backboard of the bed with a faint ‘thud’ as she took a stabilizing breath. Her thoughts swayed back and forth like a Spinda that had used Teeter Dance.
‘The standard Ranger operating procedure dictates that wild Pokémon must be —’
‘What good is the procedure when you can’t even keep one kid from being —’
‘If you didn’t follow it, they may have become more aggressive —’
‘We might have had the momentum in the battle and that might have prevented —’
‘Following the procedure was the right thing to do, there was nothing you could have done, your actions had no impact on the outcome, that's what they said last time —’
“And I still didn’t fucking save them at Victory Road, and I didn’t save William here.” Lena hissed out involuntarily as the memory resurfaced, making her close her eyes again and take another deep breath… her body still felt like it was sinking into the headboard of the bed after she exhaled.
Most of her thoughts went quiet after this… but her mind still replayed everything at Pinwheel Forest like a scratched CD skipping without control. The helicopter ride… hearing the medical responder’s voices raise as they attempted to stabilize William… asking her questions she stumbled through as she looked through his medical record she hadn’t had the chance to review from Clare hurriedly to them… and then sitting in the waiting room, anxious as she could do nothing but ruminate on her thoughts.
And, like a phantom in her ear, Erma’s words returned to her.
“You realize that this weakens the case of allowing William to go on a Journey, correct? Both the League and especially the International Police are going to poke whatever hole they want from this.”
Interpol may try to use this instance as a reason she can’t be trusted, and try to replace her with one of their ‘agents’, who would go Twins knows what behind closed doors.
“What are you going to do about this, Lena Winifred?”
…She’ll need to review his medical file in finer detail. Everything. She’ll need to ask the doctor for every aspect that may or may not have an effect. And then, she’ll need to tailor her report to the League, Interpol, and the Ranger Union carefully, and specifically, to not give Interpol more of a pull…
“What are you going to do about this to make this right?”
William… didn’t know about the procedure she was trying to follow. They were on two different mental tracks, and that was her fault. She got too focused on the 'now' and didn’t call for backup.
She caused him to get poisoned, because she didn’t tell him what she was doing, and didn’t pay attention to him, that’s why he ran off on his own.
She was treating the situation like she had before, she lost the forest for the trees, and that’s what led him to get hurt…
She… needed to communicate better. She wasn’t just traveling along on his Journey; she had to teach him. Just because he was good academically doesn’t mean he can read minds.
She failed as a guide, and guardian, and as a mentor.
‘No wonder Charon hates me for not doing my job…’
Before Lena could ruminate more, her Fine Styler rang again, making her jump slightly, as she looked at the display. She didn’t recognize the number, and it was calling her direct line… a slightly hesitant expression formed on her face as she pressed the answer button. “Ranger Lena Winifred speaking… u-uh… may I ask who this is?”
“This is Dr. Eirin Yagokoro. We spoke this morning concerning your own… lack of rest.”
Lena felt herself about to ask a question, but the doctor beat her to it. “William is fine, in fact, he’s how I got your number…” At this, Lena couldn’t help but swallow, interrupting whatever Yagokoro was about to say next.
“I-Is he okay? Is he still poisoned?”
“Yes, he’s conscious. The Beedrill poison is almost entirely flushed out of his system. Now we just have the medicine we gave him to worry about, along with some other details…” Worry started to bubble up a at her tone, but Yagokoro just let out a mutter under her breath that Lena couldn’t discern over the phone. “The bottom line is that he’s awake and more cognizant than before, and as I promised, you may come visit him now —”
“I’ll be over in ten minutes.” The words flew from Lena’s mouth before she processed her own sentence, and she quickly leaped out of bed. The energy and exhaustion from before now replaced by adrenaline and… a goal.
Hopefully, it’ll keep her going for what she’ll have to do tonight.
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The next couple of minutes were a flurry, but Rina and Arthur were next to her as she all but ran to the children’s hospital. Her clothes hastily thrown on, she was sure she had almost lost her hat twice as she navigated the still busy Castelia City streets as she kept pulling it down over her head.
True to her word, however, she arrived at the hospital in less than ten minutes. After confirming her ID at the receptionist and getting a visitor sticker, they hurried to the elevator to bring them to the correct floor. Every second between the elevator beeps felt like it dragged longer… and longer…
Lena couldn’t help but feel a sudden anxiety build up in her as she watched the elevator number tick up, her left leg bouncing slightly…
What would William say to her now?
Would he be upset? Angry? He has every right to be…
Would he want a different Ranger—
‘Lena.’ Arthur’s voice gently snapped through to her from his Aura, making Lena’s leg tapping against the elevator floor stop as she glanced at Arthur, who was giving her a pointed, but concerned side-eye. ‘We aren’t in the room yet… we’ll take everything one step at a time, and me and Rina will be here for you every step of the way.’
A deep breath left Lena as she nodded, just barely. The ‘ding’ of the elevator drew her attention away before she could properly respond, forcing her to step out onto her floor as a doctor and nurse were looking to get in.
She continued to walk down the hall, her eyes flicking over to the waiting room where a new family was waiting, but she just as quickly turned away to continue walking down the hall, seeing William’s room and standing in front of it for a moment…
The door was closed, but the handle showed green, meaning it wasn’t locked, but voices inside clearly suggested that William was talking to… someone, most likely the doctor. Lena reached forward, about to knock, but hesitated for only a second. Squeezing her hand for a moment as she steeled herself.
‘Dammit Lena. Get yourself together. You were just here hours before. He’s fine, he’s alive. Just knock on the door.’
She rapped her knuckle gently twice on the door before gently turning the handle and pushing it open, poking her head inside.
William had fewer wires and IV drips connected to him and was drinking water from a plastic cup in his right hand as he continued to lie on the bed. He had turned to the door as she opened it, his face shifting across a couple of different expressions; surprise and relief, mixed with awkwardness and… almost shyness? No… trepidation.
Not… the worst emotions that could have been on his face. On the flip side, Charon stared at her with an indiscernible expression, his arms crossed as he then turned away.
She… could accept that, but she was distracted by Dr. Yagokoro, who was standing and holding a clipboard with her Clefable, Yomi holding a tray with… a couple empty cups of water on it at this point. “Ah, Ranger Lena. Come in, close the door, please.”
After shuffling in with Arthur and Rina just behind her, she made sure the door clicked shut before walking forward, William looking up at her with the same odd mix of emotions, but Lena could see that a Poké Ball and… Nest Ball was in his other hand not holding the cup. He was slowly and gently rubbing them as if they were a comforting object. She assumed one was Ronin’s Poké Ball, but the other… most likely the Venipede’s.
Before the passing thought could distract her if that counted as the procurement or theft of government assets, she opened her mouth to say something, anything. The words she had thought about, sat on and tried to perfectly crafted and prepared to say to William repeatedly suddenly vanished from her memory, and the first word she could come up with exited her mouth instead. “Hey…”
William gave his awkward smile as he usually did, just nodding and swallowing. “H-Hey…”
Another awkward silence followed, as it was clear neither of the two humans knew what to say for a moment, before William just sighed and began speaking first. “I’m sorry for us fucking up at Pinwheel Forest.”
The apology shook Lena like an Earthquake making her physically flinch and look in surprise. Apparently it surprised Charon as well, as he whipped his head around, only to be met with the strikingly stern side-eye of William.
Whatever was said between them didn’t matter as Lena interjected first, incredulousness staining her tone. “I-I — for what? I was the one who didn’t see the situation as it was, and was following Ranger procedure too close to where I let you get hurt —”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Yes, but we’re the ones who ran off without telling you what happened, and also we got in the way of what you were plannin—”
“B-But I didn’t even tell you what I was doing, I just said ‘defend yourself’ and —”
“And that was a mistake, yes.” He said once again, cutting her off, before continuing on. “But both of us were tired. It was past midnight… I think, pretty sure — we were running on fumes and stress either way, and the hecticness of the situation was too much for two people…. My team's actions of running off, not telling you what Charon sensed, and then me running over to Viridi’s parent to see if…” William grimaced, but shook his head before he spoke again.
“We both fucked up. This isn’t about who screwed up more. We both did.” He said with finality, but Lena still couldn’t help but feel a heavy knot in her chest…
“You’re a kid, you shouldn’t — It’s not your responsibility to clean up an adult mess.” She tried to say, trying to take responsibility for her failure. William’s face in response contorted into… not a grimace, not a scowl, but something… uncomfortable, like he didn’t know how to respond, almost seeming to shrink into himself.
Dr. Yagokoro seemed to find now a good time to interject. “It seems like you two have a bit to discuss later…” She started, grabbing a clipboard from a Clefable (What was her name… Yami? Y-something…) that Lena just noticed was in the room next to her as well. “However, there are a couple of things I need to go over with you both now that you’re here.”
Lena couldn’t help but glance at William one last time before turning to the doctor, taking a breath, and nodding. “Yes, I’m sorry…”
Dr. Yagokoro hummed for a moment, before glancing down at the clipboard once, then back up at the two of them. “For now, William’s body is stable, and the toxins inside should be all but flushed out… he will have some weakness in his left arm and shoulder for about a week, but that should calm with time. However, we still need the primary cause for this, which I think we have narrowed down…”
“That being…?” Out of the corner of her eye Lena saw that William frowned, as if he was already expecting the answer.
“His Aura, or lack thereof.”
A frown found itself on her face as she glanced over at William, but he didn’t respond verbally, only grimacing as Dr. Yagokoro continued. “There’s been few documented cases of someone with such a low Aura, most people could go their whole lives without hearing the term, but for someone who is a Trainer… especially traveling with a Lucario… I’m sure you’ve seen his lack of one Ranger Lena, judging by your reaction.”
“Yes… it was… concerning.” Lena said, her eyes darting to William again. He noticeably didn’t look in her direction.
“Well, William is stable, despite that, and will be medically fit to leave tomorrow morning, but I want to ask if you’d be alright with allowing me to do some tests. Hypoauraemia is the closest case I could find to relate to young William here, but even though the medical techniques we performed had limited success, we had to brute force his body to respond the way it needed to recover with traditional medicine…”
Lena blinked, her tongue feeling twisted before she could even begin speaking, but Dr. Yagokoro must have noticed her expression. “Ah, I apologize… I forget not everyone is familiar with my research sometimes.” She straightened her posture a bit, and Lena couldn’t help but notice the off-white lab coat she was wearing. At a glance, it looked white, but upon closer inspection, the white color was tinted slightly blue and red on opposing sides, as if it had been thrown in the washing machine on hot with a bunch of other clothes.
“I may do a lot of primary care, but I prefer to think of myself as a medical researcher first — treating patients is more of a byproduct in the pursuit of science.” She did a dramatic bow, with a rolling hand wave. “To introduce myself formally, my name is Dr. Eirin Yagokoro, and I’m a world-renowned researcher into Aura and its effects on both people and Pokémon. Hypoauraemia is a term I... what’s the Unovan term.. ‘coined’ myself. It refers to a lack of Aura-creating proteins in the bloodstream.” She pushed her glasses up further onto her face.
“Are we sure Erma knows her…? Even Erma’s Aura isn’t… this chaotic.”
“Floa-ZeEehl.” (She smells of fae. She’s definitely one of Erma’s… fae people.)
‘Where did she meet such a mad psycho doctor then? ...This lady’s practically snorting Fairy Dust... Her fae aura is sickening to be around....’ Lena quietly agreed while wrinkling her nose.
Eirin chuckled to herself, but quickly calmed down and looked back down at her clipboard. “In any case, William’s lack of aura proteins is certainly a unique scenario to study, and I believe it would be an excellent case study for my research. To study how Aura interacts with a body that lacks many of the intrinsic immunities that the LU224 antibodies produce is unprecedented and I can’t help but—”
“This is... great... and all, but what about William’s condition? Is he getting better? Is this going to happen again?” Lena cut in, not hiding her obvious discomfort with Dr. Yagokoro treating William more like a test subject than a patient.
“Ah, yes... William’s condition. He is stable and recovering, thankfully. I would hate to lose such a fascinating subject so early. But, if you are asking for a diagnosis, we extracted a little less than 5 milliliters of Beedrill venom from William’s bloodstream, which is within the bottom 10th percentile of typical Beedrill stings that lead to hospitalizations. I believe that the lack of LU224 and GA159 is causing his body to react abnormally with Aura and Type Energy. In commoner’s terms, his body appears incapable of properly processing chemical reactions that use any Type Energy or Aura, good or bad. Combined with his young age, it likely caused the poison to have such a dramatic adverse effect.”
Eirin pushed her slipping glasses further up on her face, clearing her throat and taking her first breath in her explanation before continuing.
“In any case, I want to do a small round of tests similar to…" Humming slightly, Yagokoro debated the right analogy with herself before speaking. “Similar to… an allergy test on William here to measure his Aura. In return, I’m already working on a treatment plan for William for general injuries, and I’ll work on some emergency auric medicine at my lab. My plan is to develop something similar to an epinephrine pen for allergic reactions or insulin injections for diabetics, but I need to make sure his body won’t react incorrectly. He has already given his consent, but considering you are serving in loco parentis I’d like to ask for your permission as well.”
“I mean, I don’t want something like this to happen again, so yeah—”
“Good! Now, leave. I have tests to do.”
“—I guess it’s— wait, what?”
“Please leave the room. You’re interfering with my research.” Eirin slowly walked towards Lena and her Pokémon to coax them out the door.
“But wait I just got here what—”
“I need to do some tests concerning his Aura, and I cannot have any outlying data points interfering, and I only know how to filter myself and Yomi out of my results from decades of practice.” Dr. Eirin said as she started to push them out the door.
“U-Uh, wait— where should I go— I still need to write my report and response for —”
“If you need privacy to write that, there’s a break room with a Ranger Union certified laptop courtesy of the Bit— I’m sorry, Erma, two doors down. The room is supposed to be for hospital staff only, but no one objected when ‘The Brain of the Moon’ needed a private breakroom to research a case.” Dr. Yagokoro said, not holding back another chuckle that almost seemed to echo Erma in such a way that made Lena and Arthur shiver…
Even so, Dr. Yagokoro continued to gently lead Lena and her team out until they were pushed out of the door, leaving her awkwardly standing in the hallway with a mix of emotions…
“Floaat…ZEeell…?” (I guess that… went better than expected…?) Rina started, glancing back at the room with a mixed expression herself… Lena mirrored her action and worked her jaw.
“I… I don’t... know yet, honestly…” She murmured, before glancing down the hallway and starting for it, her head turning back to William’s room for a moment, hesitating before finally walking down the hall. Her eyes darted over the room labels. Before just as Yagokoro said, two rooms down was a room labeled `Break`... and a sticky note was on the door written in Johtonian.
This room... reserved for Dr. Yagokoro... incident. Please use the room on... as a...
“I’ve spent too much time in Unova, I’m getting rusty…” Lena muttered.
Arthur squinted at the sticky note. “No, I think it's because her handwriting is atrocious.”
Lena pushed the door open to look around as Rina and Arthur followed behind.
The breakroom Dr. Yagokoro reserved was even more spartan than most Pokémon Centers had, which was saying something as most Pokémon Centers didn’t even have a fridge in their break rooms.
It had two vending machines, a couple tables with matching chairs that looked like it was bought from a generic box store, with a bowl of berries and other fruit shifted into the corner as if no one wanted to touch it, and a couch that had its feet sinking to the sides. One table had a Devon Corp laptop with Ranger Union stickers sitting there taunting her with the report she needed to write.
Thankfully, it had a working coffee machine and a cabinet stocked with enough coffee to last a single night of a long hospital shift. Or probably only half with how tired she, Arthur, and Lena were now.
And was that a small vial of peppermint fragrance? What was that doing there?
Rina immediately flopped herself down on the sofa and Arthur slowly lumbered himself over to the coffee machine. The smell of cheap coffee beans perked her up a little, giving her a small reprieve from the long night she was in for.
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The words on the screen swam incomprehensibly on the page, the words colliding in her mind like a Whirlwind, making her forget what she just typed. Losing her spot, and with her vision blurring and watering, Lena blinked. She raised a hand to rub her eyes and sat back in her chair.
Looking away from the computer screen made the whole room around her turn an ugly, ghostly shade of yellow, with the UI ribbon still floating around at the top of her vision.
“Don’t sit too close to the computer, Lena. You’ll burn your eyes out.”
Arthur’s mocking voice broke her out of her stupor. Sending him an annoyed look, she forced herself to stand up. “You write the damn report then...”
The fruit bowl from earlier was essentially empty. Only Wiki and Cheri Berries remained, and apples sat at the bottom of the bowl like an ironic statement. Rina looked over with Pecha juice running down her mouth in embarrassment.
“Float-Zeeel… Float…” (Sorry, I was hungry... ) Rina said, still taking up residence on the couch in the corner to rest. Both of them refused to return to their Poké Balls to fully sleep despite Lena’s repeated offers and saying this would take a bit.
Shaking her head, Lena waved her off. “No, it’s fine, don’t worry… we can get dinner after we talk to William again tonight when Dr. Lunatic is done with… whatever she’s doing.” She shifted her attention back to the coffee machine as it started to make the… third, or fourth cup of the night. Maybe fifth. It had been running nonstop for Twins knew how long.
“I’m not sure she'll be done anytime soon… it looks like she’s still just… getting information from Charon… William seemed to have fallen asleep. They’re just… talking.” Arthur said, leaning against the wall like before, eyes closed in an almost meditative state.
“Still…? Have you…” Lena hesitated, knowing what she was about to ask Arthur… “... Can you go down the hall and see what they’re saying?”
One of Arthur’s red eyes opened to look at Lena, conflict and hesitation in his gaze. She knew he could feel why she was asking this. Her own worry, fear of the unknown, and wanting to know if… there was anything she needed to do better to keep him safe.
In turn, however, she could feel how asking him to do that made him feel. “Lena… that would be a breach of trust. And the doctor, however much of a lunatic she may be, said that she needs William alone to get accurate measurements. You want him to get better, right?”
“Well, Charon’s still with her… he didn’t seem to come up in that conversation.”
“Charon is a special case; those two have a unique connection. I am sure the doctor is fully aware of that.”
(Zelele. Float.) “Even more of a reason for Doctor Crazy to study him.” Rina snarked.
“I know, but I… I want… need information to keep him safe. I can’t… I can’t mess up again. Even if… there were outside factors. I can’t mess up again like this… and I want to make sure she isn’t… doing anything too crazy.” Lena’s tone unwavering, but heavy with emotion and… almost a desperate twinge to it as Arthur briefly looked away and shook his head.
“Lena… I understand that you’re worried. I am as well, but is breaking whatever trust you have left when you’re already in hot water with Charon worth it? Let alone… how William would feel.”
“You can blame me, they can blame me all they want. I just… please. Arthur, this is… it’s important.” Lena asked, her tone not backing down, understanding how much of an ask this was… knowing she was in the wrong, but…
She had to know something at this point. She couldn’t… she couldn’t wait anymore. Something that Rina must have similarly felt. “Float-ZEEeel. FLo-Zel! Loatzel!” (Arthur, I know it’s a breach of trust. But we shouldn't be kept out of the medical loop either during tests. Lena has a right to be worried and know what’s going on too! Especially if she’s acting as ‘loco parentis’!)
Hearing and feeling both his partner's worries… their genuine concern, broken Arthur down enough as he grunted. “...Okay.”
A wave of overwhelming relief came from Lena as Arthur shifted away from the wall and pushed the door open before heading down the hall. Rina shifted over to Lena by the coffee machine and placed a paw on her shoulder, the Aura link between each other holding strong as Lena covered one of her ears to... hopefully cut back on any ‘feedback’...
Without direct contact with Arthur, sharing senses was always heavily disorienting at best… or a massive sensory overload if they tried all the senses at once that prompted a killer headache to rival one from a Ranger Union afterparty. Though, the smell of freshly brewed coffee would probably help stave it off…
Lena focused on the phantom sounds that Arthur was heading now… the gentle steps from him down the wall, the faint noise of heart monitors in a couple rooms over… and then the noise of muffle speaking behind the door. Thankfully, being a Lucario, he could… ‘overhear’ the conversation easier than any human would be able to through the hospital doors.
“...The fact that William has had no issues up to now is quite astounding to me… his vaccines appear up to date, but… no documented side effects… has he ever gotten a cold or fever while at the foster house?”
“Typhlosh. Phlosion-Typh…” (A couple times… but he would take whatever cabinet medicine he was offered and would shake it off after a couple days… even if it didn’t work or not.)
There was a sound of walking back and forth, possibly from the Doctor pacing in thought.
“You wouldn’t happen to know what kinds of medicines he was taking, would you whether they were Aura based or biologically based? ..... Ah, you’re right, that was a foolish question. Still, that does make things harder, as I can’t establish a link between them... He doesn’t appear to have any Aura whatsoever, and based on what we’ve observed, standard treatments like Pecha Slurry are ineffective, whereas dialysis and liberal use of Beedrill antivenom were. Albeit, the amount we had to use was quite abnormal; I’d estimate in the 90th percentile or more..... Perhaps a medicine I already use for Hypoauremiacs could work?”
There was a humming noise from the Doctor.
“Perhaps I’m approaching this from the wrong direction. Tell me, have you observed any… oddities, with your link with him?”
Silence followed Eirin’s question, Lena unable to stop herself from tapping her finger impatiently on her mug… twitching… though that may have been the coffee she was still sipping.
Finally, Charon spoke. “Phlosion… Typhlos-Sion. Fhlosion…” (There was… an incident when I was hit with… Confusion from a Water Pulse. It was feeding back into him until I cut the link…)
Realization hit Lena. ‘So that’s what… caused that panic attack... but why didn’t he admit to it sooner than?’
A feeling of hesitation came from Rina… ‘Maybe… he was worried about what having… no Aura meant?’
Confusion, frustration, and doubt rose in Lena. ‘Why would it though…? He’s smart, so he should have known it was an issue than…’
‘Shush! I’m trying to focus…!’ Arthur snapped.
“— concerning, but if he doesn’t intend to use you for Gym Battles, it shouldn’t be… too much of a concern… though I wonder if you were frozen or paralyzed… is it only a phantom sensation? Is his body processing it incorrectly?”
Before she could continue, a sudden, long, rumbling noise sounded in the room. Lena paused for a moment… before realizing that it was a yawn from Charon.
“Ah, yes, I suppose it is late…” Eirin started, her own sigh echoing in the room. “I suppose you need to get your own rest. William certainly needed it as well…”
A grumble left Charon, grunting before he spoke. “I’m not sleeping until my ward is well. I was up long nights in the war. I’ll do it again.”
An almost overwhelming wave of confusion wracked Lena on all sides from both Rina and Arthur, her own emotion was identical. ‘War? Arthur, did I hear that right?’
‘Yes… I… that may explain a couple things…’ Arthur trailed off, compilation echoing around the link from all sides, but an air of uncertainty hanging above.
‘He is… old... Perhaps he was in the Indigo Civil War? He could have taken part in that…’ Rina mused, prompting Lena to tilt her head back and forth as she considered it.
‘No, he was from Hisui, remember? I don’t think they brought in any mercenaries. And he was in Unova for ages. Remember his comment on Virizion?’
‘Maybe the Great War then?’ Rina asked.
‘No, too recent…’
‘Then that only leaves...’
‘...the Zdarovan Retaliation...’ Lena finished.
The link went dead silent, despite everyone’s thoughts racing like a Ponyta or Rapidash that had just used Agility. Lena’s mouth felt dry, and despite not physically speaking, struggled to get her words together.
‘I… Arthur, your… pack, it was around since then… right?’
Arthur’s side had a mix of emotions swirling about, but acknowledgment was the primary one.
‘Yes… it was a very… brutal time. It’s why Lucario or Riolu are seldom seen in Sinnoh…’
‘Uh… I hate to interrupt, but… why isn’t Charon or Eirin speaking?’
Rina’s comment snapped Lena and Arthur back out of their uncomfortable musing, and that’s when they finally registered the sound of impending footsteps near the door Arthur was in front of.
In an instant, Arthur was leaping down the hall just short of Extreme Speed, shoving the break room door open but then grabbing it carefully so it wouldn’t slam against the wall before pushing it close. Rina was leaping over tables before she flopped back down on the couch, trying to seem like she was exhausted and dozing off. Meanwhile, Lena tried to act naturally by going through the automatic motions of making another cup, awkwardly shifting her bag around and reaching in to find the bottle of Moo-Moo Milk she had been using as creamer.
While rummaging around, the impending sound of approaching footsteps got closer, but not from the link. This was followed by the door swinging open with a forceful push; Lena still jumped in surprise despite expecting it as the room notably got warmer and heavy footsteps followed.
“Tylolo.” (Oh. It’s you.)
Despite the panic from before, Lena couldn’t help but wince at Charon’s stare, which was fixed directly at her. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that he looked further into her soul, as he let out a frustrated huff as he walked towards the bowl that Lena had explored earlier, shifting over to it and picking through it.
“Phlo. Sion. Tylophlosion-Lolsion?” (No Chesto Berries. Of course. What kind of ‘children’s hospital’ did you bring William to that can’t even supply a bowl of fruit?)
“The closest one I could get him to.” Lena retorted with the slightest bit of heat, but her voice came out more tired than frustrated. Her words, or maybe her tone, must have made a point, as Charon only chuffed in response.
Lena stole a glance at the Typhlosion, but Charon didn’t notice or care as he instead grumbled over to the couch and sat down next to Rina. The poor legs of it slid out even more, with the base nearly touching the floor because of his weight.
There was tension in the air from multiple angles, Lena glancing over at Arthur who was leaning against the wall… and to Rina who was awkwardly on the couch next to the enormous Typhlosion… a silent conclusion reached by all of them.
‘Just act normal, don’t think about it...’ Lena thought to herself as she looked up and down at Charon. His eyes had just the faintest touch of visible bags under them, something that almost seemed to blend into the natural eyeliner-like appearance of his species. The Ranger did mental math in her head… slowly realizing that Charon had been awake for over thirty-six hours.
‘I don’t blame him though… I tried to stay awake too…’ Lena thought before she glanced over at the coffee machine… her fingers tapping on the counter for a moment as she deliberated, before pushing it aside. She might be on his shitlist, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t at least try.
Shifting her cup to the side, she grabbed a clean one from the cabinet and grabbed the most potent pod of coffee she could find hidden in the back behind all the other containers. Turning the temperature up after she put it into the machine, she waited for the cycle to begin once more…
The moment of silence, only broken by the hum of the machine and the dripping of the new cup, offered Lena a second to think… her mind running back over Charon’s last words to her in the waiting room…
“I made a promise to William to protect him…”
“Either help me do that, or stay out of my way.”
‘I’m trying my best… just… if I can’t help William, at least let me help you do the job.’ She thought of her hand on her arm, the machine finally finishing its new brew with steam rising from the oily-black surface of the mug. She almost added milk and sugar on reflex… but paused. Wasn’t there something about how Sassy Pokemon usually prefer a bitter taste?
Turning around, she grabbed the extra cup and walked over to Charon, placing it on the table in front of him gently. The clink of the ceramic made him shift his head upwards to it, his eyes following her arm back to her face, which she hoped didn’t convey the wrong emotion. “Here.”
The old Typhlosion rumbled. “Phlo... Typho.” (Why are you handing me bug pesticide? A Chesto Berry works just as fine....)
“I tried looking, but I couldn’t find any either. But... I think you’ll like this.”
“Tyty. Phoo.” (I’ve drunk coffee before. Too sweet. Hate it.)
“Well, I didn’t add any milk, cream, or sugar. Found a nice, rich, black roast. Just try it for me. I think you’ll feel better.”
Charon stared at her for a solid minute before he snorted in annoyance, but took the cup anyway. He looked at the cup in disgust, but reluctantly took a sip.
He did a double take for a moment, looking at the cup with a surprised expression before taking another tentative sip… staring at the cup again with a surprised expression.
... And then proceeded to chug the rest in two mighty gulps without any hesitation.
Lena was barely able to hide the smirk on her face as Charon let out a satisfied sigh, and held the cup in both his paws. “...Typhlosion!” (“Almighty Sinnoh… where was this in Hisui…?”) He half-joked and half-whined before glancing at Lena.
An awkward silence followed.
It dragged on for a moment.
Then two.
Then even longer.
Lena darted her eyes around from side to side, unable to look Charon in the eye, as Charon stared into the dark abyss of the coffee cup in frustration.
“Ty... Lo?” (...Would you be able… to make another cup?)
Lena mutely nodded, taking the mug from Charon and moved to go through the motions again while the Alpha Pokémon stood up and followed her. The Typhlosion stopped next to her, towering above… Arthur and Rina behind them were attentive, watching carefully out of worry but… still not stepping in fully.
“Ppphhhoo. Lolo.” (William told me to apologize to you.)
Lena’s hand froze as she pressed the button on the machine to start it, her voice gone as she turned up to face Charon. He was looking forward towards the wall instead, not meeting her own eyes.
“Sionlolo. Typholo. Tyty.” (I won’t… apologize for what I’ve said, however. And you still need to earn my trust that William will be safe under your eyes when I can’t help.)
Lena sighed heavily, and her voice weak. “I...”
“Ty... Typhotypho. Sionlo...” (But… I spoke with The Fairy Boss of yours, and William too, and I’m realizing that... I wasn’t blameless either.)
Lena, Arthur, and Rina all looked over in shock. “Wha—.”
“Tylopho. Phlosion-Typh Tyty.... ” (I still stand by my... view of the original situation, and I still think you were wrong to take those Beedrill alive in the first place. If it were up to me... during Hisui, I would have just roasted them and moved on. But...)
Charon seemed to age decades, weighed on by heavy emotions. “Sionloty. Typho... Typhlosion Ty.” (William named me Charon for a reason. I made a promise to him to be better, and not to be who I used to be. And if that means I have to learn what this ‘Ranger’ nonsense is, then so be it. My idiot grandson is going to keep getting into trouble anyway, so I might as well have someone else to monitor him. Just... do better about not getting him hurt again. You and I made mistakes, and we need to learn from them.)
The coffee machine finished up just as Charon did; the Typhlosion turned, grabbed the mug, and took a sip… Lena just nodded while taking one of her own breaths to soothe her nerves. “...Okay. I… I will. We will. I’ll teach… William and you about procedures, and calls to keep him safe… we’ll train Ronin and that… Venipede too, to make sure they’re able to protect him too.”
Charon grunted in an agreeing way, taking another heavy ‘sip’... which was more a deep gulp of the mug, making him swallow air. With a surprised noise, he pulled the mug away and cleared his throat to hide a cough.
He stared at the mug for a moment, grumbling “...alpha discrimination…” under his breath as he turned around to face the coffee machine. He froze at the sight of it, looking at it with the eyes of a Geodude encountering an electric light for the first time. He placed the mug underneath the machine, waiting for a moment before carefully raising a paw forward… poking the power button on the machine, making the light turn off with a chime.
Silence followed until Charon turned to Lena with a deadpan tone. “Ty...Typhloosion?” (“...How do you use this damn thing?”)
For the first time in more than a day, Lena smiled and laughed.
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Beta Editors/Readers:
David “TheBlizWiz” R
Garmfild