FicWad

Though Ōpūnui’s anger and harsh words still whirled around in my mind, along with the painful realization of my own awful actions towards the Pidgeot of my late husband’s, I still tried vainly to sound happy as I called out to my battle partner. I stopped my sentence short though when I saw the condition Burnet was in.

The woman’s normally tanned skin was nearly as pale as her white hair. As I rushed closer, I was shocked to notice dark circles under her eyes, indicating the sleeplessness of the Professor too. Her breath came in short rasps as she worked to pull air into her overworked lungs.

How could you have missed this? I questioned myself.

“What is this?” My voice sounded incredulous as I drew near. The young Professor had had a similar attack like this before, when we were sprinting to my sister’s house on the day Sashi was kidnapped. She had not told me what was going on then, and I had foolishly not brought it up since, but clearly, it was something serious.

“Sit down, Miku,” Ōpūnui said, all emotions from earlier swept away as he expertly moved on to his long-time profession as a medical doctor. He looked her up and down carefully, scanning her clothing for something, then asked “Where’s your medicine?”

“It’s in the house,” Mel answered after a very brief pause that I recognized as a flash of her using her Psychic powers to probe the mind of the ailing woman. I could tell she was mentally ready to run towards the house, but the close proximity of two of her Pokémon also told me that she was frozen from her own exhaustion.

She’s still recovering from the long flight here yesterday. And I can’t imagine she got much sleep last night with everything going on.

“Mel, tell me where it is.” I snapped at the taller woman, but another shout from the direction of the house stopped me in place.

“Mommy!” My daughter was yelling.

Now I froze, horror seizing my body, making my feet feel as though cemented to the earth. She sounded utterly terrified.

Was that how Kai sounded as his ship went down? The sudden question dawned, further rooting me to the spot. Were people unable to react then too? Terror freezing them to the deck as their doom swallowed them?

We were told the storm that hit his vessel last year came without warning. None of the radar systems picked up the squall before it had built to such terrible strength. The Captain never even had a chance to send out a distress signal. One moment, they were cruising through the ocean and the next, the ship and all it’s crew were lost at sea. Forever locked to the bottom of the ocean.

An uncommon curse slipping from Ōpūnui’s mouth took me by surprise as he exclaimed, “Māhoe, get to the house. Take him with you,” He threw out a PokeBall and released his Meganium from earlier, telling it swiftly what to do.

The flash of light from it didn’t pull my mind from my terror, but it did force my body into action. I sprinted off in the direction of the home, fear for my daughter pushing me forward.

“Anya, stop,” a sudden command from Mel came both physically from her mouth and echoed psychically from her mind. It was accompanied by the terrifying feeling of a foreign mind entering mine, pulling at the edges of my conscious to force me to do the will of the power barer.

Just as I was about to crest the top of the rocky slope, my whole self was seized, as well as the large green Pokémon beside me, forcing our bodies down to the ground. We both slammed painfully into the rocky path. Gashes opened up along my exposed arms and legs from the force of the pull.

She’s dragged me off my feet with that accursed power of her’s! Why in the name of Darkrai would she do that? I thought, the beginnings of an uncontrollable panic setting alight in my brain. I need to get to my daughter. Something awful is happening to her, but here I am stuck to the ground like a useless log. Why has she done this?

As if in response to my mind’s question, a flash of cloven hooves pounded the rocks where my head would have been and one of Mel’s Pokémon came galloping towards the other humans, clearing the wall in a single bound and taking no notice of my downed form. I tried scrambling to my feet in vain but continued to be held still Psychically as a flurry of Mel’s other Pokémon came rushing down to the beach as well.

My heart pounded in my chest, my breath caught painfully in my throat. The sound of rushing fluid filled my head, and a thousand emotions, thoughts, and memories engulfed my mind as I watched the shadows of the fleeting Pokémon on the rocks before me slide away, completely worthless in my state.

I can’t move! My daughter is in danger and I’m stuck to the ground by a Psychic! This is just like when I was a child! I couldn’t do anything then either! How am I meant to protect my family if I am always thwarted from doing so by these kinds of people? My breath caught in my throat, panic searing through me like a hot knife. I struggled more desperately against the force, straining my myself and squirming anxiously. I felt the power slip slightly and pushed harder, flexing every muscle in my body.

Suddenly I felt a snap, and the power holding me down vanished, releasing my body. I jumped to my feet and stole a swift glance at the gathering crowd, only to pause. There were three children on the beach now. They were the kids from the house.

I dashed towards them, now unhindered by anything, and scooped my daughter off of the yellow and brown Pokémon she had been riding on, skidding to a halt in bewildered trepidation, scanning her all over for any sign of injury. Mel reached her hand to me and Himiko, but I lifted onto one leg and kicked it away furiously, trying hard to injure the being before me that could have caused possible harm to my child.

“Don’t touch her!” I screamed, now running on pure instinct and adrenaline, unable to calm the fear rushing over my mind.

“Snap out of it Māhoe! We don’t have time for you to have a meltdown,” Ōpūnui said with a commanding tone. “Let Gomez see Himiko.”

“Silence Ori. You aren’t doing anything to help by yelling at her.” Though her words were hard, she spoke with a careful tone. She was standing so close to me still, that I could feel her power rush past me as she quieted his protest.

I flinched as she turned back to me, “I’m not going to hurt her.” Mel soothed, sounding far kinder than my old mentor had, her voice flipping instantly to gentility. The switch in their attitudes stood out in stark contrast, further fueling my confusion. The female doctor held up both her hands, indicating their emptiness with a flick of her head, then said “Look, I won’t even touch her. I just need to have that medicine.”

I shifted my eyes to the three-year-old tucked stiffly in my arms and saw a tiny pill bottle in her hands. The child reached out without being told and dropped it into Mel’s outstretched palm, the Psychic moving cautiously closer and reaching out with her undamaged right hand to clumsily catch it. The green-eyed woman then silently walked back to the group and handed the bottle over to the male doctor.

My legs gave way underneath me and I sank to the ground as my body began shaking uncontrollably. I could hear a wheezing sound, but I couldn’t recognize where it was coming from. The world sounded muffled and distant. I watched in wide-eyed silence as Ōpūnui administered the medicine and Mel went around checking Faline and Lei for injuries.

Even as she moved, and the form of my daughter struggled uncomfortably in my arms, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the crying child of Burnet’s. Lei had calmed down from a baby’s wail to just a few whimpers as his small gray eyes watched his two family members, mother and grandfather, before him. He was held securely by the Psychic fox Pokemon of Mel’s. The child was far too young to know what was going on. All he knew to do was yell and allow his emotions to be made known by the sound of his cries.

I’m just as bad as that baby. The idea dawned. I was useless just now. I’m supposed to be a Doctor, and I knew I had to do something. Arceus, I even knew what had to be done. There’s something wrong with Burnet’s heart. How could I have missed this? It’s obvious she’s not been getting adequate sleep. I saw that plainly when she met me on the beach. Plus, even a healthy person would be at greater risk of falling sick under all this stress. I thought furiously.

Even after all the hard work I’ve put in to controlling my emotions, I allowed myself to fall into this state. But what was I supposed to do? My daughter could have been hurt. Or worse, she could have been attacked and I could have lost her forever too. I can’t let this happen to my family. Too much has happened already. And I’ve just been useless throughout the whole thing. If I were stronger. If I could just get over my insecurities, maybe I could-but I can’t. I’m worthless as a wife. I’ve failed as a sister and a doctor. I nearly lost my daughter-

“Anya. Listen to my voice. Come to me,” Mel said, a careful hand placed on my shoulder to pull my mind around. “We’re heading back to the house. Doctor Ōpūnui needs to run to the hospital and Burnet has to rest.” My eyes focused on her calm green ones as she continued, her voice taking on a soothing quality, almost sounding like a cadence. “I think you should get a bit more sleep too. Come on. This way. Watch yourself on that step there. Very good. Just keep following me.” She went on, speaking with the softness of a mother.

~~~

When my mind finally returned fully, we were already in the house. I was seated on the couch, a blanket set carefully over my shoulders. Faline and Himiko sat on the other side of the seat, silent and unmoving, still too shocked by the sudden events to want to play. The soothing voice of Mel had slid away and instead, I heard the much deeper voice of my old mentor.

“It doesn’t appear to be broken, but I’m still concerned. That’s a lot of swelling for a simple sprain. I’ll have to borrow my colleagues Luxray and X-ray machine to be certain. Though, I may just call the hospital and see if she can bring them down. I don’t really feel comfortable leaving at the moment.”

“Doctor Ōpūnui, I’ll be just fine. I don’t believe there’s much damage either.” The voice of Mel said respectfully, but Anya could here the fib as clearly as if she had announced it as a lie. Her voice was strained in pain and exhaustion. “I bet you the bruise will look far worse than the actual injury.” She tried chuckling.

Shuffling from the kitchen sounded, but I couldn’t bring myself to move, so I merely listened to the wisened Doctors converse softly. “Here we are. I knew they would have ice.” The older woman said with attempted optimism.

There was a long pause as continued shuffling came, and a few more cupboards opened as Doctor Gomez searched quietly for something else.

“It’s been a couple of years since she’s had an episode that bad.” Ōpūnui said, his voice shaking with the force of his sigh, sounding terribly worried and distraught. “And I know I wasn’t much help in the situation. I only made things worse.”

“What else could you have done?” Mel asked softly, the sound of a chair moving gently over the hardwood floor indicating the woman sitting down.

“I shouldn’t have lost my temper for starters. I know that can exasperate her condition.”

“What happened isn’t your fault. Everyone makes mistakes. And with everything’s that’s been happening, it’s no wonder tensions are high.”

“You don’t understand. I should have known something like this was going to happen. I know her well enough. She’s practically like a daughter to me.”

“You can’t beat yourself up for not predicting the future.” The Psychic answered soothingly.

Ōpūnui let out a small huff. “I’m surprised it took so long, honestly. Especially with what happened to her husband.”

“She’s got more control over herself than you realize. I don’t think you give her quite enough credit for how far she’s come.”

“Yes, and I know that usually comes with age, but I still worry she’ll get hurt one of these days.”

Now Mel let out a sigh. “I can understand why. But there are some things she needs to learn on her own.”

“This would all be so much easier if Kai were here to help calm her-“ His words cut off suddenly and a small pause followed.

“Anya, I know you can hear us,” Mel said gently.

A scooting of a chair and quickly approaching feet followed, then Ōpūnui was in front of me, kneeling on the ground. “How do you feel?”

There was a small chirp by my ear, and I realized with a jolt that the old Doctor’s Comfey was by my head, and his Meganium was laying next to the couch, letting off a sweet, soothing scent from its petals.

Had they been talking about me?

“Where’s Burnet?” I finally forced myself to say.

“She’s resting in her room. She’ll be alright.” He said.

“But her heart-“

“It wasn’t a bad attack. She’s just not had enough sleep lately, and has been under a fair amount of stress. Besides, her medicine works quickly and very well.”

“But she-“ I stumbled, trying to find my words, “And you! Don’t you need to get to the hospital?“ I switched, remembering Mel’s comments from earlier.

“Anya, she’s fine and the hospital can wait. It’s you I’m worried about. May I give you an exam, please?” He nearly begged. “I want to be certain you aren’t badly injured.” His eyes moved to the wounds on my arms and legs.

“I-” again I stumbled on my words, but this time, he allowed me to continue. “There’s only a couple of scrapes and bruises. I can tend to them myself.” My voice sounded hollow.

“Are you sure? It’d be no trouble for me. Or Doctor Gomez could look you over too, if you’d prefer.” He paused and looked at me, worry burning in his gray eyes. A silence stretched out between us as minutes ticked by, the realization of his previous words with Mel striking me in shock.

He thinks of me more as family than just another colleague.

Finally, I choked out, “I’m sorry, Ori. I had been doing so well. I truly haven’t had any breakdowns like this for such a long time. Even after Kai-” but I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Ōpūnui placed a comforting hand on my knee but did not interrupt as I looked for more words.

Finally, my thoughts broke and I allowed my questions to spill out. “How do you continue moving forward as if your wife was still here? And you Mel, what about Mohan? I just can’t understand how you two keep going. It’s already been a year. Why does it still hurt so bad? Then Sashi and Kabir-” I broke off. “And I thought Himiko was-”

“Alright. That's enough. You don’t have to say anything more.” He quieted me, a look of pained understanding flashing in his eyes, as he pulled me in for a hug that felt like it came from my own father. His voice broke as he whispered, “I know.”