Inyssa felt like she'd been stabbed in the stomach with a lightning bolt.

Waking came as a jolt, like that of falling backwards on a chair. Her eyelids moved tentatively. she parted her lips to breathe, and soon regretted it. Not only was her mouth full of wet sand but her teeth were made of broken glass. As far as she could tell, anyway.

"Hgh…"

She moved her arms and legs a few inches, not noticing any pain. Slowly, she wormed her way up the bed and fully opened her eyes. White and pastel blue as far as she could see, which wasn't much. Probably a hospital room, judging by the acidic smell of disinfectants and cheap perfume.

A pair of bored eyes stared at her from the sill of the door. An old man with moon-silver hair, wearing a white lab coat.

"Had yourself a nice nap?" he asked, voice like the creak of wind. "Hope it was enough to calm your nerves. How are you feeling?"

She opened her mouth to speak, and the pain in her jaw like needles stabbing into her almost made her eyes water.

"Where… am I?"

He walked towards her, each step resounding like a gong inside her head, and sat on a stool next to her bed. He took a small flashlight from his pocket and shone it at her eyes, getting a low growl as a response.

"Maylene's disciples brought you here a few hours ago," he said while studying her face. "You were an annoying little shit, let me tell you. Wouldn't stop complaining and yelling about your friend, so I told my Venomoth to use Sleep Powder on you."

Three things came to mind. First, a slight indignation at his blunt, yet casual insult. Second, that she didn't think doctors were allowed to talk like that to patients, and third that as soon as he said those words memories came rushing back at her. Mars, Barry and Shadi. Maylene and her Lucario, and her immobile body being carried by…

She tried to speak, but the man raised his palm at her, eyebrows knit.

"Don't start again," he warned her. "Your friend's in one of the other rooms, and he's perfectly fine aside from some bruising. And before you ask, no, you can't go visit him until your guardian gives permission."

Inyssa narrowed her eyes. Guardian? What did he mean by guardian? Before she could ask, the man grazed her lower jaw, and the sudden pain almost made her punch him in the face.

"You got hit pretty hard," he said, lips forming a thin line. "Not hard enough to break bones, but barely. You've got some nasty bruises on your stomach and lower jaw, and it won't be long before they start swelling." He moved her head with his fingers, staring intently at the wound. "I already prescribed some mild painkillers with your guardian's permission. Hopefully they'll dull the pain until it becomes more bearable."

She placed her hand on top of her left cheek and winced at the immediate pain. That's when she noticed she was wearing only her plain white shirt, and swiftly noticed her coat, hat, scarf and belt hanging from a coat rack next to the door.

Her Pokemon…

Part of her wanted to release them and apologize like Maylene had told her to do, but guilt and pain combined made a good argument against it.

"Alright, I'm going to need you to wait here," the man said, startling her. "Your guardian said to alert her when you woke up. Don't try to escape or I'll tie your arms and legs to the bed."

She scowled at him. Her throat was so dry it was killing her. "Uh…yeah. Make sure to bring the heaviest restraints," she said. "Also some water."

Soon she was left alone with that disgusting citric smell and the gleam of her Pokeballs taunting her. Her mind was a strange haze, a bunch of stupid clouds and cotton and other things of similar consistency clogging the gears of her brain. She tried moving her fingers, and experienced the horrible feeling of tiny crawling things running under her skin towards her arm and the rest of her body. It brought bad memories with it, memories of the last time she'd woken up in a hospital bed with a sense of shame and disappointment.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Gah!"

She turned towards the voice so fast she felt dizzy, setting her eyes on the curtain separating her from the other bed in the room. Callused fingers grabbed the edge of it and pulled it aside.

Maylene smiled from the other bed. The first thing she noticed was the band-aid over her cheek, and the second was that she wasn't wearing her usual clothes. Unlike Inyssa, she wore a typical hospital gown and there was a metal pole holding a plastic bag next to her, with a translucent cable connected to her wrist.

Her eyes widened as she looked lower. Everything from her hips to just under her breasts was covered by a thick layer of bandages, over which was placed a bag full of ice.

The Gym Leader noticed her watching, and let out a laugh. "Looks bad, doesn't it? I'd like to say it's was Mars' doing, but it was my own stupidity," she said. "But hey, at least ribs heal, right?"

Inyssa parted her dry lips and asked. "W-what happened to you?"

Maylene gave her a swift and concise explanation of her fight against Mars, right up until when the Association forces arrived. Her mouth hung open as she heard it, not believing her ears.

Just like that? The voice whined inside her head. She was defeated so easily?

"…and while they restrained her, that Frontier Brain Palmer took care of the rest of the grunts in the city," she concluded, taking a deep breath. "Quite the ordeal, really."

Quite the ordeal was about as simple of a statement as one could make about the situation, but she figured it was just Maylene's way of putting it. She tried to say something funny or somewhat crude to alleviate the topic, but the words that came out surprised even her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down. "This all my fault. Mars and those guys were after me."

Maylene stared at her for a few seconds and broke into laughter. It didn't last long, mainly because the pain in her stomach and also due to her sudden coughing fit.

"You must be joking!" she said. "Inyssa, your only mistake was facing that bastard alone. You chose to fight, didn't give in to their demands and boldly looked at death square in the face. You did the right thing."

She swallowed hard, the Gym Leader's words turning her cheeks red.

"But I gave up," she argued. "And I endangered a ton of people just for being here."

Maylene dismissed her with a wave of the hand. "You don't need to worry about the people of this town, we're a tough bunch. And besides, no one actually died." She seemed chipper as she delivered the news. "As for your first point; you might've done some stupid things, but no one can blame you for that. People react weirdly to the risk of death."

Inyssa bit her lower lip. "I didn't do anything, I just stood there while Mars beat me."

"You think too much, that's your problem." Maylene decided, letting her head rest on the soft pillow. "You can't overthink a fight after it's over. Trust me, it's a waste of time."

Hers was a simplistic way to think about it, but she couldn't help but find it endearing nonetheless. Despite being an amazing fighter and trainer, not to mention the one who'd saved her life, one could tell she was quite young.

"In any case, you should talk to your Pokemon before they come back." Maylene gestured towards the belt at the other side of the room. "I told you to apologize to them, didn't I?"

Oh, fuck me.

She nervously glanced over at the coat rack, and after gathering her courage she tried to get off the bed. The pain was intense, every step she took feeling like someone were hammering a nail through her bellybutton. She noticed not only her belt but also her Pokétch hanging from one of its holsters. Hao's sleepy face met her as the screen turned on. The ghost Pokemon winked and smiled, but didn't speak since Maylene was still in the room

He gestured towards the big, red 1 over the icon of her message app. Above it was written the name of its sender: Percy.

Perplexed, she pressed the button, which opened a white screen with the message she'd been sent:

We saw what happened in the news.

Tell me when you'll be coming to Pastoria; Reiko wants to talk to you about the woman who attacked you.

PS from Reiko: We're so glad you two are okay! Pizzas are on us next time we meet.

She shook her head, bewildered. What could Reiko possibly have to tell her about Mars? As far as she knew neither her nor Percy knew about Team Galactic.

It was something to think about later, though.

Her Pokeballs had a pleasant, yet sad weight on her hands. She stared for a bit before releasing her partners in a four way explosion of light that momentarily blinded her.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She couldn't even get a word in before Steven lunged at her. His talons strongly grabbed at her elbow, wings enveloping her just below the chin. The Staravia let out strong chirps of relief and happiness at the sight of his trainer, and she even noticed his eyes water slightly. She cleaned her cheek with her free sleeve and spoke as soon as she collected herself.

"Hey there, missed me?" she asked, her voice somewhat low and nasal.

Steven noticed he was smothering and let go of her, flapping his wings down to the ground. There she could see the rest of her team; Bret and Kuro looked at her incredulous while Shadi…

She gulped, lower lip trembling. There was no denying the clear joy in the Kricketune's face, but it was mixed with something far more heavy. Anger and betrayal looked at her from behind those soft green eyes. Her mustache twitched ever so slightly, the hairs at the end somewhat disheveled. Thick bandages covered the wound on her chest.

"I'm sorry…" she said without thinking, out of fear alone. She couldn't bear the thought of her own Pokemon being mad at her, not after…

"I… realize that I might have not, like… made the right decision?" She formed an awkward, lopsided smile. "You wanted to fight Mars and… to protect me, I guess. But you can't blame me for wanting to protect you too!"

Judging by the angry gleam in their eyes, it sure looked like they could. The weight of their gazes started tugging down at her shoulders, and she wasn't in the best condition to endure them.

"She would've killed you," she added, tone unsure. "You didn't deserve to get hurt because of me being stupid. This wasn't your fight and…" Her voice trailed off. "And…"

Hindsight hit her in the face like a hammer, or perhaps that was just her pained jaw. The attack in the Windworks, the first time she fought Orion and Pyxis, the incident in Eterna City, and… that night she'd found Shadi collapsed against the door of the Pokemon Center. She hadn't exactly been giving a good example of what she was preaching, had she?

Well, if adding hypocrite to the pile of apt defects she had would keep her friends safe, then she had no problem with it. She'd been called worse, and not without reason.

"I hope you can understand why I did what I did," she said, dropping her shoulders. "That's… all I'm asking. I'm sorry."

It was an empty apology, and she was sure everyone in the room knew it. She wouldn't promise to do things differently next time -the golden rule when apologizing to a friend, as far as she was concerned- because she knew it was a bold faced lie and her Pokemon deserved better than that.

Maybe it was just her anxiety, but she could physically feel the disappointment coming from Shadi and Maylene. She bit her lip and looked down, ignoring the feeling.

You'll thank me some day, she thought to herself as she raised their Pokeballs.

"So… please try to rest for now. We'll talk more later."

Her eyes weren't on them as their bodies turned to light and returned to their balls. Sighing, she clipped them back on her belt and put it around her waist. It felt a lot heavier than before.

"You can go ahead and scold me," she said, adjusting the belt. "I know you're dying to."

Maylene looked at her with what she imagined a sigh looked like as a facial expression.

"I'm not your nanny. You ain't gotta to follow my advice if you don't want to," she said. "You're making things worse for yourself by assuming everyone's mad at you all the time, and then acting like it's their fault."

"You mean I shouldn't assume everyone's as much a bitter prick as I am?" She formed a smile that didn't extend to her eyes. "Now where's the fun in that?"

Whether due to frustration of simply not caring, the Gym Leader leaned back into her bed and ignored her. Fortunately the footsteps approaching from the nearby corridor didn't give her time to feel bad about it.

Sarah entered through the door, and Inyssa suddenly understood what the doctor had meant by guardian. She noticed the lines on the woman's face had deepened, along with the dark grey bags under her eyes. The doctor walked behind her, holding something in his hands. Heavy, sinister looking rubber belts with shining steel shackles. She gasped, and the sudden rush of adrenaline made her feel even dizzier.

"I was being sarcastic about the restraints!" she yelled, putting both hands in front of her.

The doctor raised one eyebrow, amused. "I wasn't taught sarcasm in medical school. I was however taught how to use these things; very comprehensibly too."

"Dear Synn above…" she whispered, shaking her head. "Did I punch you before you put me to sleep or something?"

"You kicked me in the groin," he said bitterly. "Accidentally, of course."

She lowered her head, heat rising to her face. "O-oh… I'm sorry."

"No need to. I was joking before, I brought these just in case." He placed the restraints on top of a nearby table. "I also brought your guardian."

As if on cue, Sarah stood up straight and nodded. A half drawn smile could be seen on her face, product of the argument between the doctor and Inyssa. A smile so weak and fickle a gust of wind would've extinguished it, but it made her happy nonetheless. If anyone in the entire goddamned world deserved to smile like that, it was Sarah.

"How are you feeling, Inyssa?" she asked, voice thin. "Do you need anything?"

Her words hit hard. She didn't know why, or how, but something about the unbridled relief clear in her tone tugged at the inside of Inyssa's chest. She gulped and pretended to scratch her nose as she looked away.

"I'm great," she said nonchalantly. "How about you and Barry?"

Her expression darkened for a moment. "He's fine, mostly unharmed. Palmer is with him right now."

She took notice of the fact she didn't say anything about herself, nor did she mention how Barry was emotionally. Doubt started forming a knot in her throat until she willed it away.

"Can I talk to him?"

A sudden pause. Sarah shifted uncomfortably in place, unconsciously hugging herself in what she must've thought was her crossing her arms.

"Yes, you can," she said. "But I wanted to talk to you about something, first."

It took the doctor a couple seconds to get the hint.

"Oh, yeah." He straightened his tie, letting out a fake cough. "I'll go have a smoke outside in the meantime. Call me if you need someone restrained."

Sarah shook his hand absentmindedly. "Thank you, Lumos."

He walked out with a lazy sort of tiredness, leaving her alone with Sarah and Maylene.

"Well, I can't move," said the second, closing the curtain separating them once more. "But pretend I'm not here."

Sarah urged her to sit on the bed, which, while incredibly painful, did ease some of the dizziness. The woman sat at her side, fingers interlaced with each other, resting on her thighs.

"I'm… torn, Inyssa," she confessed, and for a second her firm posture seemed to shake. "On one hand I want to tell you how proud I am of you. But on the other…"

"I almost died," she interrupted. "Which you're generally not cool with."

Sarah laughed, a wonderful sound that died barely a few moments later. The woman put a hand on Inyssa's shoulder, which ironically made it feel less heavy.

"I haven't told your mother about this. I fear she might… relapse into her old habits, if she knew." She pronounced the word carefully. "But I can't keep these things hidden for long. The attack on Veilstone is all over the news, and if people weren't aware of Team Galactic before then they certainly are now."

Inyssa raised her legs to the bed and hugged her knees, shame as clear on her expression as if it'd been written with a marker.

"Rumors have already started circulating, and some of them…" Sarah bit her lip. "Some of them are about you. People know it was you who tried to stop Team Galactic back in Floaroma. There's footage of all of us waking up together after the Eterna incident. Not to speak of your televised fight against Fantina…" She started fidgeting with the fabric of her own sleeves, nervously. "What I'm trying to say is that… people might get the wrong idea."

"In… what way?" she asked. "What are they saying about me?"

"That doesn't matter." Sarah said curtly. "The problem is, some trainers might want to follow your example. I can't have hundreds of reckless teenagers running around the region trying to do vigilante justice." She shook her head, tone full of irritation. "Don't get me wrong, what you two did was brave. But instead of fighting you should have gone back to the Pokemon Center and tried to contact us. At the very least form a group of trainers big enough to make fighting Team Galactic safer."

In any other situation, Inyssa would've complained and argued about how Sarah was being unfair and that all she wanted to do was help, but she couldn't. The exhaustion written on the woman's face coupled with the intense shame she was feeling prevented from talking back.

"You can take a break from all of this." Sarah softened her expression, her fingers tightening over her shoulder. "We captured Mars, and the rest of Galactic is soon to follow. This isn't your burden to bear."

She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off with a stern look.

"No, you can't go see her," she stated. "It won't do you any good."

"Just once, please?" she asked, imitating Barry's Poochyena eyes. "One visit to punch her in the face. It'll be quick."

"Absolutely not. You need to let go," she said. "Living well is the best kind of revenge."

She laughed. "Yeah, well, that sucks for me then."

Sarah's refusal remained absolute, and Inyssa had to accept she wouldn't be able to change her mind. So much for figuring out how Mars knew her sister.

It was worth a shot, I guess.

"That's okay," she lied. "I'll let you handle her."

After a few seconds of silence Sarah stood up, slowly. She looked nervous about something as her hand dug into her pocket.

"I would love to take your word, Inyssa. But if I know you about as half as well as I think I do…" She took it out and showed her closed palm to her. "I'm sorry, but I need to guarantee you two will be safe from now on."

She uncurled her fingers, revealing a round, small device. It looked like the lens of a very tiny camera, with a blinking red light in the middle of it.

"These are tracking devices. You'll both attach them to your clothes so I can check where you are at all times," she said. "The bump in the middle is an emergency button that will send a beacon to both me and Palmer. I suggest you put them somewhere hidden but accessible."

Inyssa stared at disbelief at the small artifacts, unsure if Sarah was kidding or not.

"I am not going to…"

Sarah frowned, and all incentive to talk back evaporated. A strong shiver ran through her spine.

"You and Barry will have these on at all times, or I will revoke your trainer license this instant," she ordered, eyes like that of a Braviary. "This isn't negotiable. I should have you stuck here like the rest of the town will be, but I'm giving you the opportunity to continue with your journey. I can easily take that privilege away."

Inyssa gulped. Sarah was barely taller than her and she looked ready to die from exhaustion, but even then she gave off the vibe of a ruthless Ursaring. The seriousness of her statement was almost palpable.

Without another word of complaint she nodded, and Sarah attached one of the devices to the back of her coat's lapel.

"So… the town will be locked down?" she asked, still somewhat shaken. "Just like Eterna?"

Sarah nodded. "It won't be for long, but we need to make a full sweep of the area. The Champion will also pass by to investigate."

A wave of excitement washed over her, until she remembered she wouldn't be in Veilstone to meet her. Part of her wanted to be locked in, but she couldn't justify halting their journey just for that.

Still, have things really gotten so serious as for the Champion to appear?

"Then…" She had a sudden realization and turned to Maylene. "I'm not gonna have my Gym Battle?"

For the first time the girl acknowledged them, showing her face through the crack in the curtains.

"I'll be out of commission for a few weeks." She smiled meekly. "But you can come back after you beat Sunnyshore's Gym. That way we can have an all out battle with our best Pokemon."

She really liked the sound of that. While it was disappointing that she would walk away from Veilstone without a badge, it wasn't like their journey had been completely fruitless.

"I'll keep training like you taught me to," she assured her. "Thank you."

Her statement had been entirely sincere, even if small drops of sarcasm had been mixed here and there. Sarah knew this, as did Maylene who simply let herself fall into the bed once again.

Now she only had one thing to take care of.

"Can I go see Barry now?" she turned to Sarah, pleading.

She replied only after a few moments. "Yes... but I need to tell you something first." She pointed at the door. "Come with me."

They walked towards the corridor at the other side, and Inyssa wished she'd brought her shoes. The floor was incredibly cold and slippery.

Sarah stopped after only seconds of walking, and sighed. She turned to Inyssa with an ominous frown, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You have to promise me you won't blame yourself for this."

Those words alone were enough to set the webs of her mind on fire.

"Wh-" She stammered, eyes wide open. "You told me he was…!"

"Barry is okay," Sarah hurried to say. "It's… it's not that."

She put a hand over her face and rubbed her eyelids. "It's… well, something happened to one of his Pokemon."