Lady had nearly given up on waking Luca, and was now sobbing uncontrollably while laying on Luca. She heard Umbreon talking to someone and turned her head just in time to see Lucario kneel down next to Felix. She growled menacingly, but she had nothing left. No energy, no will, she was entirely drained, and all she could do was continue crying as she watched Lucario vanish with her beloved trainer.

Umbreon wouldn’t admit it at the time, but watching Lucario take Felix away was killing him. He only hoped he had made the right choice in trusting Lucario…

Another thing Umbreon hadn’t realized, or just wasn’t letting on about, was the severity of his wounds. They weren’t bleeding profusely but they were still serious and with how many of them he had sustained it was a miracle he was still standing.

Leo was distraught now. Umbreon had stopped him from defending his father and simply let this stranger, who had attacked them in the first place, take Felix away. Leo couldn’t understand why Umbreon had let this happen and why he had been forced to look away, and by his own uncle no less!

After about half an hour of waiting Luca finally began to wake up. Umbreon was still trying to comfort Leo, telling him everything was going to be fine, but after what Leo had seen he wasn’t sure he could trust Umbreon any more and ended up falling asleep while crying in Lady’s fur.

Lady had lain down, rested her head on Luca’s back and cried herself to sleep, but woke up quickly when Luca began to stir. Luca groaned and slowly got up into a sitting position, holding her head the whole time. She looked around and realized they were still in the forest. She immediately snapped the rest of the way into consciousness and looked for her opponents, of which, two were lying on the ground with the grunt but the Lucario was gone.

Once Lady woke up Leo soon did the same, and when he saw his mother was awake he ran to her as fast as he could. He threw himself at her wrapping her in a hug and through his tears began frantically trying to tell her what had happened. Luckily he went to fast for any of his words to be understood and he was so broken up that many of them were distorted anyway. She hugged him tight, thankful he was alright, and stroked his back while trying to calm him down when she realized something. Leo was supposed to be with Felix… Where was he? She turned to see that Lady was in tears behind her not saying a word which was uncharacteristic of her. Then she spotted Umbreon who tried to explain, both what had happened, and the harder part of why he had trusted Lucario.

“YOU WHAT!?!?” Luca said angrily as Umbreon finished his explanation. Umbreon knew this would happen, Luca and Felix were mates after all and they were indescribably close to each other, but she hadn’t seen Lucario after the fight and Umbreon truly believed he had changed. With Lady’s help Umbreon managed to calm Luca down, mainly by reminding her that since she was awake they could go see Felix.

Luca was worried sick as they started towards town, but her anger and other emotions allowed her not to show her sadness in excess.

Lady on the other hand was heartbroken; she was still sniffling the entire way to the pokemon center and practically dragged her tails the whole way.

Leo had fallen asleep in Luca’s arms shortly after Umbreon’s explanation, his fur crusted from his tears.

Lastly, Umbreon felt horrible, both the girls didn’t seem to trust him any more, which they were justified not to, but he had hoped they would at least be a bit more understanding. He led the small group to the edge of town where Lucario suddenly appeared in front of them. Still heartbroken Lady just looked away from him as new tears began falling from her eyes. Luca held Leo tight, not wanting to lose anyone else from her family, and yelled at Lucario “So help me if Felix isn’t at that center!... I swear I’ll kill you!!” Umbreon heard this and shrunk; somehow he knew that went for him as well.

Lucario could tell Luca was serious and that she was protecting the Riolu in her arms, which he had gathered was her son, so he calmly said “Please, I only want to help… Your trainer is at the center… I think it best if you four are with him… Please… follow me.”

Lucario had seen Luca use wave guidance in their fight, which surprised and amazed him. As a child he had been told of the Lucario who could use the wave guidance ability and they were revered among his community. Until he met Luca he thought it was only a legend, but now that he had actually seen it he couldn’t help but regard Luca as a form of royalty… This only served to make him feel worse about the fight itself, let alone about how he had obviously hurt her.

Reluctantly Luca and Lady followed Lucario. Umbreon was in front of the girls, but behind Lucario, and had his head hung the whole way. His mind kept racing trying to convince himself of several things, one that he had done the right thing, two that his wounds weren’t as severe as they now felt, and three that the girls, and Leo, still cared what happened to him. All of this left him with one heavy emotional burden to carry.

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Many trainers saw the group of five walking blatantly through town. The first Lucario looked fairly beat up as did the Ninetails, but the Umbreon looked horrid. The trainers noticed how beat up Umbreon was and figured the group had been through enough without them trying to capture the rare pokemon walking past. Let alone the one nearly pristine Lucario was holding a Riolu, which most of the trainers thought that if they even dared try and separate the two they would end up looking like the Umbreon.
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They finally reached the pokemon center and Lucario walked up to Nurse Joy. She noticed him and knew that the others must be Felix’s missing pokemon.

Luca immediately ran up to the nurse and with a scared tone asked if Felix would be alright. Nurse Joy was a bit surprised that she could understand Luca, but soon remembered her from the night before and calmed her down by saying, “He’s alright for now, but he’s resting at the moment.”

As Umbreon came close to hear his trainer’s condition he finally succumbed to his wounds. He weakly walked towards Nurse Joy making it only about three feet away before collapsing, unable to convince himself to ignore his wounds any longer. Lady was still mad at him, but she also still cared greatly for him. She watched him fall and ran to his side, whimpering and nuzzling him, afraid that she was going to loose two of the ones she loved.

Nurse Joy realized Umbreon was hurt and quickly called for a stretcher, which a Chansey brought out in no time. She took Umbreon into the back room and allowed the others to follow her knowing that they too needed some medical attention, and that they wanted to see their trainer. Luca was also concerned about Umbreon; despite her contempt for what he had done she did still consider him a close friend and wouldn’t want anything to happen to him. She stayed with Umbreon until Nurse Joy began working on him, then she stayed out of the way.

Lady on the other hand was right next to Nurse Joy wanting to be with Umbreon through this and not wanting to loose him.

Soon after she let the nurse get to work on Umbreon Luca took a look around, and there, on the other side of the room lay Felix. She rushed over to him and gently set Leo down on an empty bed next to her before turning her full attention to her mate. Seeing him like he was she couldn’t help but start to cry. He had an oxygen mask on and nearly his entire body was wrapped in bandages some of which were slightly pink from his still lightly bleeding wounds. She laid her head on the bed next to him and was finally able to let her feelings out. She continued crying until she felt something on her shoulder…
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Nurse Joy had told Lucario he was welcome to visit Felix in the ER any time, but with his real companions in there he was reluctant to take that offer. He stayed in the lobby for a while until he saw Luca next to her trainer. Seeing her so broken up was to much for him to bear so he quietly entered and made his way over to her, thinking that since Umbreon was unconscious and the Ninetails was concerned for the Umbreon the coast was pretty clear for him to finally get to talk to Luca alone. He hesitated a little, unsure whether he should disturb her, but softly put his paw on her shoulder so as not to completely surprise her.
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Still sniffling Luca turned to see who it was, thinking that it would either be Lady or the nurse. When she saw it was Lucario she quickly brushed his paw off of her and stood up to face him. Getting a mad look on her face mixed with her pain and sorrow. She still had tears in her eyes but managed the strength to suppress them to say “Why are you still here?! Haven’t you put us through enough already?!” Lucario only stood there with his head hung. He regarded her as royalty because of her abilities, and the fact that he hurt her was tearing him apart, let alone because of all this he could barely bring himself to even speak to her. Lucario stayed silent for a short while, unable to look at Luca. His eyes began to waver and a tear hit the ground as he finally managed to say “I…I’m sorry…”

Luca saw this and even though she was still mad as hell at Lucario her compassionate side got the better of her. She lowered her guard and the anger left her expression. She turned back to Felix and said as calm and bravely as she could, “I can’t talk to you right now… I appreciate your apology, but I have too much to deal with at the moment… If you stay I’ll talk with you later…” Lucario was glad that she at least acknowledged him but what she said didn’t make him feel much better.

Meanwhile Lady helped Nurse Joy tend to Umbreon. She understood why Luca had rushed to Felix and she felt a bit bad about not rushing over herself, but she didn’t want to lose Umbreon as well. Luckily with Lady’s help Nurse Joy finished in record time and Umbreon was well on his way to a full recovery. Joy thanked Lady for her help and gave her a pat on the head before saying “Let’s go see how your trainer’s doing. Okay?” Lady got a tear in her eye, but gave Joy’s hand a lick to show she agreed.

Lady turned to head over to Felix and saw Lucario standing near Luca. As he turned away Lady rushed in front of him and growled, her tails writhing ready to fight…

Lucario hadn’t expected Lady to suddenly confront him. He took a step back from the fox in surprise, but never gave any sign that he intended to resist her. When the initial shock wore off he stood still with his head still hung, waiting for her to either attack him or question him, neither of which did he plan to defend himself in. Lady soon realized he meant no immediate harm and relaxed enough to cautiously walk past him.

Lady didn’t sit by Felix’s bed; instead she jumped up on the bed Luca had placed Leo on. She laid down placing her tails close to Leo, but was careful not to disturb him as she lay her head down close to Luca and in such a way that she could still see Felix clearly. Luca had stopped crying when Lucario startled her and now that she had she found herself emotion locked again.

Nurse Joy had watched the little confrontation between Lady and Lucario. She would have interrupted if it escalated, but since it didn’t she felt it best to forget about it. Joy slowly walked over to join the two girls at their trainer’s bed, and placed a hand on Luca’s shoulder as she began. Luca looked up at Nurse Joy at first, but after a few sentences she turned back to watch Felix.

“Your trainer is very lucky. What ever he was hit with was very serious and to be honest I’m surprised he faired this well... He has multiple fractured ribs and several broken. He has burns over most of his upper body, but most of them are only minor first degree and will heal in a few days. His open wounds are very serious and if Lucario hadn’t gotten him here when he did your trainer would have bled to death… I had to give him stitches to close the wounds which will take some time and care to heal. Also he suffered some impact trauma which would have killed him if he had been hit just a little harder… The good news is that he’s stable now, but he will have to stay here so I can make sure he really is alright… Will you five be ok staying here or would you prefer I contact his family and send you home?”

Luca listened but never looked from Felix until Joy had finished. When she did Luca turned to say “Our home is with Felix… Leo and I won’t leave him, but if the others want to we can send them to be with Felix’s parents.” Lady heard Luca say this and was hurt that Luca thought she might want to leave, that is until she realized that Luca was just being polite and not speaking for everyone.

Just as Nurse Joy was about to ask Lady what she wanted Felix groaned…
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My mind raced as I started regaining consciousness. I hadn’t quite realized that if I was thinking, I was still alive. I slowly opened my eyes to see what I could. I felt something holding my left arm, but couldn’t see what it was at first. After a few seconds my vision adjusted to the light and I saw I was looking at Luca. She had tears in her eyes but a fairly happy look on her face. “Lu…ca…” I managed as I tried to sit up to talk with her but a blinding pain caused me to wince and stay where I was. Luca quickly grabbed my hand and told me to stay still and that every thing was fine, but I could hear the extreme worry and sadness in her voice. As I listened to her I looked around a little more. I realized I must be at the pokemon center, but I couldn’t figure out how I had gotten here, but started to remember the day’s events. I continued to look around and saw Leo on the bed next to me, and a sense of dread hit me when I realized he wasn’t moving. “Leo...” I managed as I tried to roll towards him, but again a stabbing pain prevented me from getting anywhere.

This time Luca stood up to put her paw caringly on my face and fill me in a bit more, since she realized I wasn’t going to be still if I kept noticing things. She explained that Lucario had brought me here which came as quite a shock, but she also said she’d explain that later. She told me she was fine and so were Lady and Leo. As if on cue Lady gave a yip to show me she was alright, but the look on her face was anything but happy. Luca then told me that Umbreon was pretty beat up, but he would be just fine after some rest. Hearing all this was a lot to take in at the moment, but I was glad it was all good news. I gripped her paw as best I could with my hand and thanked her weakly, then managed to say “Take care of everyone… ok?”

Luca was about to cry and I squeezed a little harder with my hand to comfort her in the only way I could as she answered “I will.” With that I felt like I just couldn’t stay awake any more and passed out on the bed.
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Luca panicked at first, but Nurse Joy managed to comfort her, “He’s alright, he just needs some rest… Just saying that much probably took all the energy he had.”
Feeling a little better Luca let go of Felix’s hand and turned to ask if they could have a room for the night. Nurse Joy quickly turned to look at a window and realized it had gotten rather late; in fact it was nearly sunset. Once she came to terms with the time Joy gladly agreed to give Luca a room, but insisted on checking her and the others out before they retired for the night, and after tending to their minor wounds Joy prepared a room.

Luca requested a room with two beds which Lady couldn’t figure out a reason for until Luca asked Lucario to stay with them for a while. Lady’s jaw about hit the ground when she heard this, “How could Luca want him to stay!” She thought to herself, but soon realized why Luca was doing this. Luca knew that Felix would probably want to talk with Lucario, and if he left they would never know how he felt or why he had done all of this. Lady still didn’t want to even look at Lucario, but she grudgingly promised herself to tolerate him…

“Lucario would you stay with us for a while… until Felix is feeling better?” Lucario was very surprised when Luca offered to have him stay with them, but he heard many tones in her voice, the dominant one was anger even though she was trying her hardest not to show it.

Without turning to face her Lucario started to answer. “I … I couldn’t…” Knowing how she must feel Lucario tried to decline, but Luca cut him off. “Felix will probably want to talk with you… When he’s up to it that is… By the way do you have a name…? We’ve just been calling you Lucario. That can’t be your real name, I’m sorry we didn’t ask earlier.” As she said all of this Luca managed to calm herself, which was reflected in her tone. As she finished speaking her anger was either forgotten or well hidden.

Lucario couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He still didn’t turn towards Luca but gave her an answer since she asked and since he felt he couldn’t deny a request from her. “My old clan called me Kail… But if you prefer Lucario I’ve gotten used to that as well.” Kail said in a saddened voice, unable to grasp why this female Lucario would even bother with him after what he did to her.

“Kail it is then… My name’s Luca… I got a room for us and the others… here’s your key.” Luca said in the same tone she had finished with before. Kail turned when she finished, but only to take the key Luca was handing him. He couldn’t help but be confused as to why she was being so nice…

As he took the key Kail spared a look at Luca’s face hopping to get some answers. The look he observed made him want to jump off a bridge, she was so beautiful, yet she had such a sad expression that it hurt to look at her. Kail looked at the key he had been given as Luca turned to leave; he began to think that if he could explain himself to Felix he might be able to get his apology across to the others, and maybe to Luca. With this in mind Kail realized he hadn’t given Luca an answer yet, “Luca…” he said in a tone that pleaded to be heard. “…I’ll stay until Felix is well enough to leave…” After saying that little bit Kail hung his head and shut his eyes tight as he continued. “…and please believe me when I say I’m sorry for all this…”

Luca could tell by his tone that he really did feel bad about what happened, and he was at least willing to try and explain himself, but she couldn’t find it in her to forgive him, and turned to head to their room only managing to respond with a fairly cold “Okay.”

Luca carried Leo to the room while Lady stayed at their side. Kail followed a short distance behind, not wanting to impose on, or bother the two ladies. Lady claimed a bed and curled up, still trying to put her worries about Felix and Umbreon out of her mind.

Amazingly enough Leo was still sleeping, so Luca gently set him down with Lady where Lady covered him with her tails and settled down to try and get some sleep. Luca told Kail the other bed was his and thanked him for staying before she got into bed with Lady and Leo.

Kail couldn’t help but feel worse for being treated this way. He had been part of a wild group of Lucario before he was captured by Darkrai, and even then he hadn’t been treated anywhere near this nicely. In fact during his time with Darkrai he had only been fed to keep up his strength and many times he had been tortured so that he would stop disobeying his trainers. Let alone he was rarely allowed out of his ball, which had to be reinforced so that he couldn’t get out when ever he wanted.

Before he took Luca’s offer and got into the bed he thanked her for being so kind to him. He half expected her response, and with a regretful look he turned and tried to get some sleep himself.

Luca heard Kail thank her but still couldn’t bring herself to speak with him. She only rolled over pulling the covers tight over her body as tears began to flow down her cheek once again. She knew Felix would want her to be nice to Kail and at least give him a chance, but without Felix actually with her to help she was finding it extremely difficult.

Luca lay there in the bed for two hours, unable to get any sleep. All she could think about was Felix, which was less comforting that it sounds. After the third hour of not being able to sleep she carefully got out of the bed and made her way to the ER. A Chansey was running the night shift while Nurse Joy got some sleep. Chansey saw Luca, but knew of her situation so with a kind look she allowed Luca to be with her trainer (as far as the Chansey knew). Luca gave the Chansey a thankful look and entered the ER. She pulled a chair up next to Felix’s bed and settled in beside him. She soon fell asleep with tears still in her eyes as she leaned on Felix’s bed wanting to be as close as possible to him.

The next morning began rather chaotically. Lady slowly opened her eyes and saw Leo wrapped in her tails. She didn’t want to disturb him so she closed her eyes for a while without looking around.

Meanwhile, in the ER Umbreon also woke up. He sat up with a start, wondering what was going on. When he remembered he was in the pokemon center he relaxed, but looked around to see if anyone else was with him. He gasped to himself when he saw Luca with Felix on the other side of the room. He hadn’t been awake to hear of Felix’s condition, but figured if Leo and Lady weren’t here Felix wasn’t in any immediate danger.

After taking in his surroundings Umbreon realized he was wrapped in bandages, which confused him at first because he felt perfectly fine. Still he knew Nurse Joy always had a reason for her treatments and decided to take it easy to start. He jumped down from his bed and walked over to Luca. He saw she was still sleeping, and also realized she had been crying. Umbreon rubbed against Luca’s leg affectionately to wake her, it worked, and she soon stirred and rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. She saw Umbreon sitting at her feet and instantly knelt down to give him a hug, telling him how glad she was that he was ok. Umbreon could tell Luca had a lot on her mind and nuzzled in her embrace to show her he was just as glad to see that she was alright, and to see she did still care what happened to him.

When she released him he solemnly looked over towards Felix and asked how he was. Luca also looked towards Felix and began explaining things to Umbreon. “Nurse Joy says he’ll be fine, but it’s going to take six weeks before he can leave… Umbreon I just don’t know how I’m going to do this! Felix was always the one to take care of us; I don’t know if I can… do what he does for us...”

Luca started to get upset again, but Umbreon managed to calm her down. “Luca! It’s alright. You don’t have to worry about doing everything… Lady and I know what to do, we can help as well. I know this is going to be hard, but please try and hang on. We’ll take care of each other, and Felix, and he’ll be back with us in no time. Alright?”

The best part about Luca’s abilities was that she could communicate with humans, while still retaining her normal pokemon abilities which allowed her to understand other pokemon. Luca was on the verge of crying when Umbreon started talking, and with a sniffle she answered him “Ok… Thanks Umbreon!” Luca then rubbed Umbreon’s head in a place she knew he liked and stood up before taking one last look over Felix, trying to convince herself that he really would be ok. She soon turned and started walking with Umbreon back up to the room.

Along the way she told him that Kail would be staying with them. “Really? I know I trusted him to bring Felix here, but…” Umbreon responded in a surprised and unsure voice, but Luca cut him off and explained why she thought it would be best. Umbreon agreed, which was easier for him since Kail had come through with his promise to bring Felix to the center, but still couldn’t believe after all that happened Luca would be the one to convince Kail to stay… Unfortunately Luca hadn’t convinced Lady that Kail staying was for the best and while Umbreon was comforting Luca, Leo had woken up…

Since Lady didn’t want to disturb Leo she hadn’t moved, not even to look around the room. When Leo began to stir Lady could feel him stretching and opened her eyes. Now that she didn’t have to worry about disturbing Leo she took a look around, which is when she realized, Luca was gone! She spun her head around again, wondering if Luca had simply gone into the bathroom, but no one save her, Leo, and Kail… were in the room. Kail was sitting on the side of his bed farthest from Lady and wouldn’t turn to look. He just seemed to be there sadly thinking to himself, but this didn’t stop Lady from speaking.

“What have you done with Luca!?” She barked at Kail who suddenly looked around the room and realized Luca wasn’t there. Leo had gained full consciousness when Lady started looking around and when he saw Kail he clenched Lady’s fur in an attempt to get her to protect him. Now that Lady thought something was wrong she obliged and had brought her tails around to shield him.

“I… I didn’t do anything… I don’t know where she went.” Kail frantically tried to explain with fear in his voice a she turned back towards Lady. The crazy Ninetails actually frightened him, he knew he had deeply hurt her by injuring her trainer and Umbreon, and with that kind of motivation he knew she would do pretty much anything to him.

Lady didn’t believe a word of Kail’s claim and as he finished she growled at him which only served to scare Leo more. Once Lady realized this she stopped growling, but continued to glare at Kail.

A tense moment passed before Luca opened the door. Lady spun her head to see who else would dare intrude but saw Luca in the door which allowed her to relax. Leo looked over as well and when he saw his mother he ran to the edge of the bed and leapt towards her. Luca smiled and caught Leo in mid flight, happy that he was finally awake. As Leo left Lady’s side Lady looked down at something she noticed moving lower to the ground, soon after, she realized it was Umbreon. At that moment Lady forgot all about Kail and jumped off the bed to be with Umbreon, leaving Leo as the only one still thinking about Kail. He frantically tried to explain what had just happened to Luca, but she only caught half of it. Luca managed to calm Leo down and got him to stop freaking out.

When Kail saw the little reunion he couldn’t help but feel happy for them. “At least Umbreon is doing better already.” He thought to himself, before turning back around to leave them alone. “I just wish I could feel better about what I’ve done over the past few months…” He again thought to himself.

Once Luca calmed Leo down she offered for Kail to join them for some breakfast. This time Luca’s voice didn’t have that hidden angry tone. In fact Kail almost thought she sounded more happy than serious, though despite Luca’s best attempts there was still a hint of contempt and sadness in her voice. Leo still tried to oppose, but Luca assured him that everything was fine, and that she would explain it to him a bit later.

Meanwhile, through Lady’s affections (i.e. tongue baths, nuzzlings, and the like) Umbreon was able to convince her to ease up on Kail. She still didn’t like the idea of having Kail stay with them, but she agreed not to jump to conclusions and back off, which didn’t necessarily mean she would be nice to him, but it was good enough for Umbreon and Luca.

Kail lowered his head further at Luca’s offer, as if he had been hit with an insult, which is what it felt like to him. Luca gave one last encouraging word to Leo and set him on Lady’s back so they could head downstairs for some food while she talked with Kail for a bit. When they had left and she saw that Leo was still worried, but knew his mother knew what she was doing. Luca gave Leo a smile as they rounded the corner then she closed the door and went over to Kail. “I’m sorry about Lady. I didn’t have the chance to talk with her before and…” Luca began, but Kail franticly interrupted her unable to stand it any longer. “Why are you apologizing!?... I’m the one who hurt you, yet you’ve treated me so well!! I know how you must feel about me! Why are you treating me like this… it’s… it’s torture!!! I nearly killed your trainer and you give me a nice bed, you feed me, you treat me like your equal… why!?...”

He trailed off after his rant as he looked up at Luca. She hadn’t moved and was only looking back at him, not with an angry or pained expression like she really didn’t want to be their, but rather with an oddly understanding and caring look. “Feel any better?” She asked him with a tone that matched her expression.

“NO!!! How can you bring yourself to be so nice to me!?” When Kail finished his demand Luca sat down next to him on the bed. He was surprised by this and leaned away from her as she sat, still unsure of her intentions. Luca didn’t look at him as she sat down, and stared at the floor as she began. “Your right about how I feel… in a way…, but I can’t ignore what Felix would want me to do… He wouldn’t want me to treat you badly… of course he also wouldn’t want you to feel bad about how I’m treating you.” She turned to look at Kail before continuing. “Please, just try to relax. I just want you to talk with Felix when he’s up to it. I promise we won’t do anything to hurt you and we’re not trying to make you feel bad… I’m going to join the others; I hope you’ll at least come get something to eat.” As she finished Luca stood up and began making her way downstairs leaving Kail alone to think.

“I just don’t know how she can stand to be so nice to me… I hurt her!... But she sounded so sincere. They aren’t trying to punish me or hurt me… I guess all I can do is help them in any way I can…” Kail thought of a way he could help the ones he had hurt, but it only depressed him more. “…I suppose I should just stay out of the way… That’d probably be the best help…” After his little self speech Kail felt a little better, but still couldn’t clear his conscience, though he knew that would take far longer than just one day to accomplish.

Once he collected himself enough Kail made his way downstairs where Nurse Joy gave him some food. The others were finishing up and Kail knew Leo was still wary him so he found a place to himself to eat. He did this not only to avoid raising tensions with Felix’s partners, but also because he didn’t feel worthy to be with them. They were so loyal and caring; they had treated him so graciously despite what he had done. In Kail’s mind comparing himself to them was like comparing Darkrai to Arceus in terms of virtue.

When they had finished eating Luca asked Leo if he would like to see his dad. Leo’s eyes got wide and he realized he had almost forgotten about Felix. As tears began to gather in his eyes he shook his head yes and Luca picked him up to carry him to the ER with Umbreon and Lady following close behind. Nurse Joy noticed the small party going back to be with their trainer, and since she was doing nothing at the moment she got up to follow them.

When they reached the bed Leo buried his face in Luca’s shoulder and started crying. Seeing his dad like this was too much at first, but Luca rubbed his back and explained everything to him. Through the whole explanation Leo looked up at his mothers face. He had stopped crying so he could hear, but still had tears in his eyes. When Luca finished Leo looked back to Felix, this time silently praying to himself “Please get better soon dad…” Luca sat down in the chair she had slept in and as she did Nurse Joy walked over.

“He’s doing better today…” Joy started soft and caring so as not to startle the group, but still give them a bit of good news. “…and he seems to be a bit more relaxed…” She added looking more at Luca than anyone else and after a long pause she added “Have you four decided if anyone’s going to go stay with Felix’s parents?” Lady and Umbreon looked up at Luca, but Leo continued watching Felix. Luca looked at Umbreon and Lady then to Nurse Joy to reply “I think all of us are staying no matter what, but if you don’t mind… Would you help me send Felix’s Shinx, Tarzan, home?” Nurse Joy smile and agreed, then left the group alone for the time being.

After a short time Luca set Leo down next to Felix. She told him not to disturb his dad and not to touch his father’s chest. Leo understood and was trying to be brave so he nodded at his mother’s instruction as she turned to pick up Tarzan’s ball from the table next to Felix’s bed. With the ball in hand she went to find Nurse Joy.

Luca knew Felix’s home phone number by heart now, but she had never actually used the machine. After two tries to dial the number she began to get frustrated, but the third time she got the hang of it.

Felix’s mother answered the phone and quickly asked, “Where’s Felix?” when she only saw Luca standing there. When she asked this she realized Luca got a sad expression, which only served to worry Felix’s mother more. Luca began to speak at the video phone, but her abilities couldn’t be transferred through the lines. After the first sentence Felix’s mother interrupted Luca and told her of the problem. Still a bit frustrated Luca had Nurse Joy come over to translate.

Nurse Joy began by explaining Felix’s condition, which hit his mother like a ton of bricks. By the end of the explanation she was crying and couldn’t continue, but she managed to get one request out to Luca, “Take care of him Luca… please.” Luca frantically promised she would which Nurse Joy translated, although inadvertently leaving out the obvious emotion behind the response.

Ashley took over after her mother could no longer continue. This time Nurse Joy cut to the chase and asked if she could send Tarzan home. Ashley agreed and said she would call from a pokemon center when she got there. Luca tried to thank her, again forgetting about the technology barrier, but Nurse Joy managed to translate for her in time. Ashley gave Luca a smile and replied “No problem Luca… just… take care.” then hung up.

A while later Ashley called from the pokemon center and Nurse Joy transferred Tarzan over. Luca was there as well and before Ashley hung up she wished Luca luck. Luca thanked her and went back to be with the others.
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I blinked in the bright lights once again. When my mind cleared I remembered I had passed out while talking with Luca, I frantically looked around hoping she was nearby, but when I turned my head I found Leo next to me. “Hey buddy… you alright?” I managed to say in a fairly hoarse voice. He tried his hardest not to cry, but I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. Though slightly painful I could still move my arm, so I reached up and rested my hand between his ears as I said as best I could. “It’s alright… I know how you feel… Just do me a favor k?... Take care of you mom for me.” Hearing this he nodded with his wavering eyes then couldn’t help himself anymore and hugged my neck. It hurt quite a bit, but I didn’t want to tell him. I just kept my hand on the back of his head and rubbed him gently to comfort him. I knew despite how tough he acted, my son was really broken up about my injuries.

Lady and Umbreon both sat next to me patiently, they knew Leo needed the attention more than they did and I was grateful they understood. However before I could thank them or even acknowledge them I felt myself blacking out again… This was going to be really annoying… for a while…
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Unknown to Luca Felix had woken up for a short time, and managed to comfort Leo. However she walked through the doors to see her son hugging her injured mate, which only worried her. “Leo, no! You’ll hurt…” Luca began, but was interrupted when Lady brought her tails up to interfere.
“Don’t worry, he’s alright. Felix woke up for a little bit that’s all.” Lady said in an attempt to calm Luca and to stop her from yelling at her son for something she would just as easily have done.

Upon hearing his mothers voice Leo realized what he had done and quickly released his dad, hoping that he hadn’t cause Felix to black out again. He began to get frantic when he thought of this, but Luca managed to calm him putting her paw on his tiny shoulder.
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Kail watched as Luca sent one of Felix’s pokeballs through a transporter. He knew Felix had one pokemon that he hadn’t seen so figured that was it. As Luca entered the ER again he figured he should probably see how they were doing. He got up and went to the ER. Just to make sure he wouldn’t walk in on something he looked through the window and waited until the little bit of activity died down before he entered. The others didn’t hear him enter, and the last thing he wanted to do was surprise them so he stopped just out of reach of Lady’s tails and solemnly asked “How is he?”

Lady only ignored Kail, and Umbreon hung his head slightly. He didn’t want to answer for fear that the others might think he was favoring Kail and distrust him again. Leo only shot a contempt filled glare Kail’s way, but Luca answered although she didn’t turn to face him. “I think he’ll be fine. It’s just going to take a while though.”

Kail understood their reactions, and really couldn’t blame them. After Luca gave him an answer he replied “I’m glad he’s alright and for what it’s worth… I’m sorry… and I mean that…” He turned to leave while adding the last part, and as he began walking he heard a response from the one person he never expected it from. Lady had quietly said “Thank you.” though still with mixed emotions in her voice. Even so Kail found it comforting, and left to return to the room, eased of just a little more of his burden.
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Things continued in much the same way for the next six weeks. I drifted in and out of consciousness for the first week, but slowly came back into normal sleeping schedule. However, I remained bed ridden for the first four weeks. During my extended stay Lady, Umbreon, Luca and Leo took shifts being with me. I noticed that Lady and Umbreon were still cross with Kail, so I asked them to go easy on him. I didn’t know his whole story, but something told me he had a rough time with Darkrai and that my injuries weren’t the only things bothering him.

Leo continued to help Luca in any way possible while still trying to be brave for me. I occasionally got him alone with me, which is when he often lost his composure and begged me to get better soon. I did what I could for him and always managed to calm him down and give him a sense of responsibility by asking him to do something for me. Mostly by asking him to take care of his mother which he knew was very important to me. I also spent a lot of time with Luca, and though Leo was with her most of the time, after the little guy fell asleep Luca often came to talk to me alone.

I could tell she was still having a hard time, and I knew she must be overwhelmed trying to take care of everyone. Little did she know it was just as hard on me. I had to watch as my friends and family took care of each other, and me, while I was completely unable to help Let alone I couldn’t hold Luca close to me, like I truly wanted to due to my wounds. Thankfully, once I no longer needed oxygen I could kiss my mate, which though it sounds like an insignificant action gave us both a great deal of comfort.
I could see that Luca was the most hospitable towards Kail and unknown to me when he got her alone he managed to tell her how he revered her. Luca was flattered to say the least, she never saw herself as a legend, but then again she had forgotten that not all Lucario could use wave guidance.

Eventually I managed to convince Luca to translate for me to have a conversation with Kail. He wasn’t sure he wanted Luca in the room, but knew that I wouldn’t be able to understand him any other way. During the time I had he managed to explain his entire past with Darkrai and also how he felt about Luca, which brought up a jealous feeling I never knew I had. Luca only blushed lightly at the comment, but she had heard it before, this was the first time I had learned of it...

After he told me how he felt about Luca I somewhat understood why he was so upset that he had hurt her, of course he didn’t know the whole story between us and hadn’t figured out I was her mate. If he had, he probably would have just killed himself outright to save her the trouble.

As it turns out Kail had been part of a wild clan of Lucario before Darkrai captured him in an ambush. The others of his clan managed to escape, but he was already locked in a ball. Over the next few months of his captivity he tried his best to defy Darkrai and get them to release him, but nothing worked and for every defiance he was severely punished, many times he was beaten nearly to death!

He kept trying to apologize to me for the things he had done, but oddly enough I already understood his situation. Brave as he was, he was being threatened with death, and though he did what he was told, he did so only to a bare minimum. Darkrai eventually thought he was simply weak so they ignored his subtle defiance.

Before he met me Kail hadn’t been ordered to kill someone, which is why he hesitated at every command to do so from the grunt, he knew there was no way to “barely” kill someone. Still he also knew the consequences if he disobeyed and tried to fire weak enough attacks while still trying to make it seem like he was following orders, which actually explained why I was still alive.

Kail had held back all that he could from his last attack in an attempt to give me the chance to save Luca after she was hit, he never expected me to take the blast for her, but since he had held back it was just enough to not kill me, even though there was an equal chance that it could have if my internal injuries had been slightly different.

By the end of his explanation Kail was crying lightly and horribly depressed, unable to keep his feelings locked up any longer. He kept saying he was a horrible person to do such things and that we should have just killed him, but I really felt for the guy, and technically owed him my life. He had sacrificed everything short of his own life to avoid doing serious harm to others. It was pure luck… on his part… that he ran across us and was finally able to break free by the coincidence of his pokeball breaking when the grunt fell. Still nothing I said could console him.

I could tell Luca was still upset with Kail and I wasn’t sure whether that would ever go away, but I was impressed at how well she handled the situation. She never once lost her temper. In fact she actually tried to convince Kail that she forgave him. He listened to her for a while and her words seemed to ease him, but I could tell he felt Luca was hiding something from him, and suspected he knew it was her contempt.

I also tried my hand and managed to convince him to stay with us after I was healed, just so I could make sure he was alright. I wasn’t about to let him leave us if his past with Darkrai was still haunting him. It could be disastrous for whomever he met, let alone for Kail himself. Plus it seemed as if he really did want to stay with us, but something in his mind simply wouldn’t let him stay with us permanently.

After our conversation Kail seemed much happier. He wasn’t quite as withdrawn and tried to help out a bit more, but the others weren’t quite as willing to forgive him as I was now that I knew and understood him. Umbreon was more willing to trust him than the others because Kail had kept his promise to bring me to the center, but Umbreon couldn’t bring himself to forget what Kail had done. Lady was nicer to him as well, but as was the situation with Umbreon she couldn’t forgive his actions.

Luca on the other hand seemed very conflicted. I knew she wouldn’t have forgiven Kail this quickly, yet she was the one being so nice to him. I suspected she thought it’s what I would want, but I could tell she couldn’t put her heart into it. Also Luca seemed much more withdrawn now. Even when she was with me I felt something different from her, something was on her mind that I couldn’t get out of her. Of course realizing this didn’t help my condition. I constantly worried about Luca and truly hoped she was alright emotionally, since hoping was the only thing I could do seeing as she wouldn’t tell me what was really bothering her and I was stuck in a bed. Whenever I thought about all of this I cursed Darkrai again and again. I had finally managed to give Luca the world she and I wanted and made her so happy, and they had to go and ruin it…
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During the last two weeks of my healing time I was able to get up and walk around a bit. My legs hadn’t been critically hurt, in truth they were only burned about as bad as a sun burn, but before this point moving that much would have reopened my chest wounds. I was still very sore and needed Luca’s help most of the time to get around, but Nurse Joy wanted me to begin using my muscles again so I would actually be able to walk when I was released.

Luca was very happy when I was allowed to get up. Although for the first few days she did nothing but worry and stay with me all the time to make sure I wouldn’t fall, which I secretly enjoyed. Of course I was just as happy to be up and about. Sitting on that bed all day was horribly boring and not being able to interact with my companions on the level I wanted to was mind numbingly painful. So it came as no surprise to Nurse Joy when the first thing I did after I got out of the bed was wrap Luca in a tight embrace, almost crying because I had wanted to do it for so long. Luca was surprised by this at first and didn’t know whether it was alright to hold me since Joy was still treating my wounds. I’ll admit it hurt quite a bit, but it was well worth the pain to hold the one I loved again.
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When my healing time was finally over everyone gathered around me to leave. Kail also came a little closer, but remained about three feet away from us so that in his mind he wasn’t imposing. Nurse Joy gave me a few last reminders to finish up my treatments, and cheerfully asked Luca to make sure I followed through. Luca smiled as she hugged my arm tighter and agreed, simply happy we were leaving. I lifted Leo onto my shoulders which he really enjoyed since I hadn’t been strong enough to do it until now. Once I had Leo comfortable I bent down to give Lady and Umbreon a bit of attention, which they too happily enjoyed. I still wasn’t sure what to do about Kail though. He had agreed to come with us for a while so I could make sure he was alright, but to tell the truth I was actually still a bit afraid of him. I knew he meant well now, but there was that ever so small feeling that wouldn’t leave my mind.

We turned and waved to Nurse Joy, and as we left I motioned kindly for Kail to join us. When I did so he got a surprised look in his eyes then walked a bit faster to catch up to us and walk about two feet to Luca’s right. Luca noticed, but didn’t react to him and continued to nuzzle my arm as we walked through the doors and headed towards my home town.