FicWad

Much to her chagrin, Mel was brought back to the hospital under the heavy request from Doctor Nikol, but with the building still on lockdown, we were unable to visit her. Even still, it would have been no good to do so. The Doctors had kept her under a heavy sleep, with the use of Pokémon, to better help her recover during the first several days.

Athini and Myron had reluctantly canceled their hotel reservations to stay in Kabir’s guest bedroom, leaving Himiko and me to sleep on the couch. I wasn’t too worried about this. I can sleep anywhere without issue. I credit that to my years of schooling to become a doctor.

When they weren’t sleeping or eating a quick meal, the two were charging off with the police or Kahuna Hala, investigating the backyard and talking to the locals. In the rare cases when they were at the house without a lead to check out, they were pouring over newspaper clippings and printed articles from journals.

Kabir and I would join them periodically, along with Burnet and Kukui, when they weren’t both off trying to do their own jobs, but the two Pokémon the Kanekans used for air transport were nearly too fast for even Breeze, my Pidgeot, to keep up with. It was somewhat difficult to follow them at times too, as Myron would take charge of all the talking while Athini remained utterly silent, her small Rotom Dex floating by her head and recording the interactions.

Usually, my best friend and I stayed at his home, hunting for more leads to give them.

I had also started helping Kabir care for the many Pokémon. He was now in charge of not only his own seven and Sashi’s six but all of his mother’s as well. Either way, he made it a point to ensure everyone had ample time outside of the ball every day, having me do the same with my three, though Squall and Dangle had only been in their balls the one time after I caught them.

The Cutiefly was so small that letting it flit around my daughter’s head all the time didn’t seem much of a deal. Squall had expressed a loathing for the device, as Kabir told me when I tried to put it in one day when I wanted to run an errand in town. I still struggled to keep Breeze out of its ball though.

“It’s important to let them run around,” Kabir informed me one day while we watched Himiko play with the Pokémon in the backyard. “They can grow untrusting of a Trainer if they’re left cooped up all the time. Or,” he indicated my Pidgeot as it nervously eyed the large group from beside me, clicking its strong beak and fluffing out its feathers to shake itself. “they may become anxious at being outside of them.”

I had silently cursed myself once more for causing so much damage to the Pokémon my deceased husband had cared so deeply for.

The blind man also helped me learn to battle, carefully instructing me on the best times to use items or certain moves. I knew well enough when to apply offense or defense, but now I had to learn about physical or specials in attack and defense. Plus, all of my Pokémon had certain moves they could use that the others couldn’t. I often found myself mixing them up in mock runs with Squall against one of his own. I was better now than I had been before, but I knew I was no where near the strength of him or his sister.

After nearly two weeks of this, we received a call from the hospital, telling us Mel was well on the way to recovery. She sounded much more like herself and nearly begged to be let out right then and there.

“I can’t stand being locked up like this.” She complained good-naturedly over the phone. “I’m not allowed to leave my room because of the flu that’s going around and I miss my Pokémon. Cat isn’t bad company, nor are the nurses, but if I have to shove Doctor Nikol’s mind out of mine one more time, I might rip my hair out.”

I couldn’t hold back a guffaw of laughter. I knew what she meant. That man seemed to think that just because he was Psychic, he was allowed to look into anyone’s thoughts and memories whenever he pleased. Thankfully, she came home that very same evening, her hair fully intact.

In celebration of her release, and to try and make me more comfortable, Kabir had bought two more beds, having them set up in the two vacant rooms of his home. Well, he says it was to help Mel and me, but I think he wanted a bit more of the house cleared up. With the two of us in a room again, the living area wasn’t constantly occupied. I appreciated the privacy though and it gave me somewhere to retreat to when Athini and I were butting heads or when I was simply getting annoyed with the presence of others.

The return of Mel was greeted with a small get-together of the household occupants, the neighbors, Kukui and Burnet, as well as Doctor Ōpūnui. Even with so many people present, it’d been quiet and we had all retreated early.

I’m not normally a morning person, but the next day came and Himiko refused to allow me to sleep for any longer, no matter how much I pleaded with her. With a few mumbled curses at my loss of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed. After a quick prep for the day, I made my way downstairs to fix Himiko and myself a cup of tea.

As I clambered down the last steps, I found Athini was already up and sitting on a couch, looking out the window at an empty backyard. The Pokemon she had caught the night Mel went back to the hospital floated serenely by her side. I eyed it suspiciously, not sure how the woman could so easily trust a beast that had worked with the enemy. She said it wasn’t the fault of the Encopic, but I had my doubts.

She turned her head my way when she heard my footsteps and quietly greeted me. “There’s coffee on the counter.” The blue orb vanished from my view with a distinct pop.

“I don’t do well with caffeine,” I mumbled, still trying to pull myself from the dullness of sleep. My daughter wandered over to her with a small squeak of happiness. Though Athini and I seemed to get on each other's nerves more often than not, the three-year-old had no trouble making friends with the tall blonde.

I found the two watching a pair of bird Pokémon pecking at the ground outside. Himiko was telling her about something Dangle did yesterday while the older woman silently nodded her head. My daughter had crawled into Athini’s lap, and the woman had set her mug down. She was brushing through the child’s thin blonde hair with her fingers, preparing to put it up in some way.

“Really?” She asked softly as the girl described a scene while I sat across from them. Athini looked over to me with a grin. “I miss when mine were this little.”

“Riley and Felix, correct?” I queried, recalling her two children. After a confirming nod, I continued. “How old are they now?”

“Riley is seventeen and Felix just turned sixteen a few weeks ago.” She accepted a small hair tie from me to set in my daughter’s locks. I unconsciously ran my fingers across the one I had found of Sashi’s on my wrist, plucking at the bead. The Professor noticed and furrowed her brow but moved the topic along. “Isn’t Himiko’s birthday coming up soon?”

“In a couple of days, yes.” I bit back a pang of sadness as I remembered her birthday from last year. I had just lost Kai then.

Athini stared at me, a bit too hard and I shifted uncomfortably under her yellow gaze. She blinked and seemed to realize what she was doing with a small shake of her head. “I really am sorry about what happened to Kai.” She spoke carefully.

A prickle of annoyance ran up my spine as I responded. “Stay out of my head.”

“You know I can’t control it very well.”

“Try harder.” I retorted through pursed lips.

She sighed with her eyes closed, shaking her head slowly.

Squall had wandered down with Himiko and me earlier, taking up a spot next to me and falling back asleep. He shifted uncomfortably and leaned against my side, shoving his nose against my stomach. I ignored the touch and took another sip of my tea silently allowing his head to rest on my lap.

Athini let out a small chuckle.

“What?” I questioned distrustfully.

“You never even let Pokémon touch you as a kid and just look at you now. You have three. One of whom you leave out at all times and that rarely leaves your side.”

“Kabir says he doesn’t like being in the ball.” I defended myself.

She just giggled again.

I was ready to respond once more when a sudden sound made us both pause. It was a short, cut-off scream from upstairs followed by sputtering coughs and pained wheezing breaths, so loud we could hear it even in the living room. My heart lurched at the noise.

“Myron,” Athini said, her voice dropping to a whisper. She moved Himiko off her lap gently, the child’s hair only half finished. We sprinted up the stairs together, me allowing her to lead the way. I ran into my bedroom, yanking my Go Bag off the floor, and bolted into the hallway. Mel poked her head out of the room she was staying in with alarm in her green eyes. Kabir followed behind as we made our way into the room.

The man wasn’t even awake as he gasped for breath under the covers. He convulsed and squirmed like he wasn’t able to suck breath in, his arms flailing like a drowning man.

Athini had grabbed him by the shoulders to try and shake him awake, but he remained unresponsive, his face nearly as red as his hair and darkening fast. “What’s happening?” Athini pleaded to me, her yellow eyes wide with panic.

“Move,” I had to roughly shove her out of the way. Kabir located her arm and pulled her close, keeping her from returning back to her husband’s side. “I’ve seen this before. The same thing happened to Sashi. Mel, see if you can wake him up.” I pulled out a few instruments, but couldn’t do much while the man thrashed about.

The Psychic closed her eyes and after a short pause, Myron gasped more freely, drawing in lungfuls of air. He lay in a sweating heap on the bed, his eyes wide open, still edged in panic.

“Myron,” I called, moving up to him and setting myself to work. “You’re alright. You’re at Kabir’s house in a bed. There’s no danger around.” I soothed as I listened to his pounding heart and checked his lungs for any sound of fluid.