Story Notes:
I will try and keep a chapter word count of around 1,000 but this will fluxuate depending on my mood. I would also like to warn people that I am dyslexic so please ignore any bad grammer or obvious mistakes you see, my spell checker should catch most of them but the most glaring ones have a habit of falling through the netDisclaimer: I do not own pokemon or any of the realted characters however I do own all of my OC's so mitts off unless you have my permissionNote: This story is also posted at Fanfiction.net, do not report this as stolen it is my story I am just posting it in two places to get a larger reader base.I would also like to inform readers that although this story has got several warnings it starts very light maybe Pg13ish but it does however get much darker as the plot progresses
Chapter 22
As they were walking along Holly suddenly threw herself to the ground with a screech, Ember gave her an unimpressed glare "Vuuuul piix vulllll pix?" she asked
Simon turned around to see what had happened "I'm sure she didn't mean to trip up" Simon replied to Ember "Why would she throw herself to the floor?"
Ember sighed and shook her head Holly stuck out her tongue at Ember "Hah, I win" she hissed so only Ember could hear, Ember glared at Holly and gave her a small but painful nip on the back causing her to wince in pain "I'll get you for that" she hissed as Simon approached.
"Are you going to get up or stay on the floor all day" Simon asked
"Oh right" Holly mumbled a little disappointed pushing herself up "Alright then lets go"
Simon smiled and nodded turning back around; Ember quickly fell into her usual place at Simon's heel whilst once again Holly was lagging behind. As they walked Simon began filling Nuri in on his personal history, behind them Holly listened intently but Simon's quiet voice made it difficult for her to pick up everything he was saying, she was hearing snippets but they made little or no sense to her. Nuri blushed heavily when she heard Simon describe how he rescued her it threw the rescue into a new light and she found herself admiring him more for it, Simon's story came to a close and they continued walking just content to be in each others company, meanwhile behind them Holly was trying to piece together what had been said maybe there was something she could use. She quickly caught up with Simon putting on an extra burst of speed "What did you say your dad's name was again?"
"Archie, why?" Simon replied confused
"Well" Holly said "What do you know about him?"
"Not much" Simon sighed "He liked sailing and he loved my mum. But that's all I know"
Holly shook her head "No way, no way"
"What!?" Simon demanded exasperated
"Hey you're a trainer aren't you?" a third voice called out
Simon spun around forgetting about Holly "Yeah, why?" he asked eying up the new arrival; he was about his age maybe slightly older, his blonde hair sat in an untidy mess on his head and his brown eyes seemed to smile.
"I was hoping for a battle" he laughed "Oh and my name is Greg"
Simon smiled and deposited his bag at the side of the road next to Holly "Mine's Simon" he looked down at his Pokemon "Anyone want to fight?" he asked
Ember nodded and stepped forward, she had some pent up anger anyway and she figured she might as well use it constructively, "Vuuuul pix"
Simon smiled at Ember and stood up "Okay then. Bring it on!"
Greg nodded "I choose you Aurora" he tossed a Pokeball in the air and a Vaporeon emerged in a flash of light
Simon cringed at the appearance of a water type but wasn't particularly surprised "Ember be careful alright"
Ember nodded and gave a reassuring "vuuuul" before turning her attention entirely to her opponent
"Aurora use quick attack" Aurora responded to the command by dashing towards Ember her legs working overtime to accelerate her above her usual running speed
"Try a dodge then counter" Simon called out, Ember tensed up as the Vaporeon shot at her. At the last second she dove to a side but she misjudged Aurora's speed and the attack still clipped her side, shaking off the minor injury Ember turned to face her opponent and launched a flamethrower attack "Aurora defend with mist and counter with water gun" Aurora nodded and quickly the surrounding area was cloaked with a thick mist, Ember's flamethrower caused a small area to appear to be glowing but otherwise had no discernable effect. A blast of water seemed to come from nowhere and hit Ember in the side, she squealed with pain and shot a jet of flame in the direction the attack came from "Acid armour finish this" Greg's voice could be heard over the roar of flames.
"What's he doing?" Simon wondered "Acid armour isn't an aggressive attack, but" he muttered "the arena is full of mist and mist is just water droplets" a revelation struck, Aurora had blended herself with the mist she could effectively teleport anywhere within the cloud "Ember get out of there now!" Simon shouted scared for his friend's health, inside the cloud Ember was finding this easier said than done every time she tried to escape a blast of water would pass in front of her face and prevent her escape "Hydro pump now whilst she can't see you" the command scared Simon he knew he had to do something soon
"Ember fire spin quickly! Evaporate the mist" me called in a flash of inspiration, inside the fog bank Ember concentrated as a spiralling pillar of fire formed around her and smug grin appeared on he face as the hissing of the newly formed steam filled the air, Simon smiled in relief as he saw the flaming vortex breach the top of the fog bank and the mist began to recede leaving behind Aurora standing on the far side of the arena facing Ember. Ember dropped the attack needing a second to recover, the second never came, the moment she dropped the attack Aurora let fly with her hydro pump the incredible surge of pressurised water blasted Ember off her feet and carried her backwards into a tree Simon winced at the sickening crunch that reached his ears when Ember impacted the tree praying that was the sound of wood breaking not bones. Ember fell forward onto the ground with a feeble cry leaving a massive splintered hole in the tree "You win" Simon called out running towards Ember he carefully picked her up and inspected her, she was completely soaked and he could make out a multitude of bloody gnashes on her back from the impact with the tree and he imagined she would have at least a dozen splinters lodged in her back too, she was unconscious but considering her current condition Simon thought that was probably for the best.
"Is she going to be okay?" Greg asked tentatively
"Vaaap ooooreon vap?" Aurora echoed his statement
"She'll be fine" Simon finally declared "Good match" he turned around to face Greg and held out his hand
Greg clasped Simon's hand and they shook "I hope we meet again sometime"
"Me too" Simon smiled "Of course next time we'll win" he smiled
Greg laughed as they broke their handshake "We'll just have to see about that won't we" he pulled Aurora's pokeball off his belt "Aurora return great job girl" the Vaporeon disappeared back inside it's ball with a happy trill "Well this is goodbye for now I guess" Greg said smiling
"Yeah" Simon agreed "Well see you around I guess. Bye" after saying his goodbyes he turned his attention solely over to his injured friend "Phoenix, Nuri" he called out "Can you two get me a towel and my berry case please"
Nuri and Phoenix both nodded even though Simon wasn't looking in their direction and went over to Simon's bag a rummaged around looking for the items Simon had requested "Quiiil avaaa quil?" Phoenix asked her voice slightly muffled by the towel in her mouth
"Hmm" Simon thought about it as he gently stroked Ember's head "Ah yes I also need the med-kit thanks for reminding me"
Phoenix nodded dumping the towel next to Simon "Quiil avaa" she said before heading back for the med-kit
Simon glanced over his shoulder and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Nuri struggling with his berry case; it was almost as large as she was! "I guess you didn't really plan ahead did you" he laughed
Nuri dropped the case briefly "Eeev veeee eev" she agreed shaking her head slightly
Simon laughed again wincing "Swap with Phoenix she's big enough to carry the berry case and you can bring the med-kit"
Nuri nodded and dropped the berry case on the floor before trotting back over to the bag to get the med-kit from Phoenix, Phoenix went over and picked up the berry case shooting Simon a dirty look, Simon laughed again a small twitch again betraying the pain it caused "I know it's heavier but Nuri's still a kit"
With all the tools he required set out in front of him Simon set about trying to help Ember, he opened the med-kit and pulled out a small pair of tweezers and a small white cloth. Using the cloth he wiped the blood off Ember's back, inspecting it once it was clean he saw four large splinters sticking into her at odd angles along with at least six small gnashes that were slowly oozing blood, wincing at the size of the splinters embedded in his friend he carefully reached forward with the tweezers to extract them. The first three came out with no problems leaving small puncture wounds in their wake but the fourth was proving to be more difficult to remove it had gone in almost parallel to her body and Simon knew that just yanking splinters like that out is one of the most painful things you can do, he settled for carefully wiggling it backwards easing it out of Ember's back.
"How much longer is this going to take" Holly whined from the side of the road
Simon snapped back "As long as it takes!" whilst Phoenix and Nuri both shot her dirty looks, Simon turned back to Ember and finally managed to remove the last splinter throwing it to a side he quickly clicked open his berry case and pulled out a handful of Oran berries and his pestle of mortar from it's pocket in the lid of the case placing the berries in the pestle he began to grind them up into a thick blue paste. With the paste the right consistency he put it to a side and picked up the towel he had asked for, he lovingly dried Ember off making sure not to apply too much pressure when he got to her back tossing the now blood stained and filthy towel aside he began gently applying the Oran paste to Ember's back with his fingers.
"What's that for?" Holly piped up
Simon smiled a little; at least it was a sensible question this time, "It works like an antiseptic and a coagulant"
"Huh?" Holly asked a little lost
Simon sighed and resumed administering the paste "It kills germs and helps the blood clot" he explained again in simple English
"Oh" Holly replied nodding slowly to show she accepted his explanation
Simon finished administering the paste and reached back into the med-kit pulling out a roll and bandages "Nuri come over here please" he called out after unrolling a decent length of the bandage, Nuri trotted over curious over what Simon wanted from her. "Nuri use scratch to cut this please" Simon asked holding the bandage taunt in front of him Nuri nodded and used her sharp claws to neatly cut the length of bandage "Thanks" Simon said turning back to Ember. He quickly bound the bandage around her midsection a tied it at the top so she would be unable to take it off herself "Okay time to wake her up" he said
"Quiiil ava Quiil avaaa?" Phoenix asked curious
"Well" Simon explained "I normally wake her by splashing her with water but considering the circumstance that would be cruel"
"Eeev veeee vee?" Nuri asked
"Well this time I'll use the Muk extract" Simon said "You may want to hold your breath" he added as an afterthought pulling a small metal case out of the med-kit he took a deep breath then took the lid off and help the deep purple substance under Ember's nose. Ember woke with a start and recoiled from the stench crying out in pain at the sudden movement, Simon smiled and quickly closed the lid of the extract throwing everything back into his bag he quickly shouldered it then went back over to Ember and scooped her up.
"Vuuul pix" Ember managed to whisper
Simon frowned "I'm sorry? What are you sorry for?" he looked down and his expression softened, Ember was sleeping in his arms turning to the rest of his group he spoke up "Come on guys we're going to have to make good time if we want to get to Sandgem tomorrow" with that said he turned around and started walking shifting Ember's weight so he could carry her more easily while still giving her a comfortable sleeping position.
Simon turned around to see what had happened "I'm sure she didn't mean to trip up" Simon replied to Ember "Why would she throw herself to the floor?"
Ember sighed and shook her head Holly stuck out her tongue at Ember "Hah, I win" she hissed so only Ember could hear, Ember glared at Holly and gave her a small but painful nip on the back causing her to wince in pain "I'll get you for that" she hissed as Simon approached.
"Are you going to get up or stay on the floor all day" Simon asked
"Oh right" Holly mumbled a little disappointed pushing herself up "Alright then lets go"
Simon smiled and nodded turning back around; Ember quickly fell into her usual place at Simon's heel whilst once again Holly was lagging behind. As they walked Simon began filling Nuri in on his personal history, behind them Holly listened intently but Simon's quiet voice made it difficult for her to pick up everything he was saying, she was hearing snippets but they made little or no sense to her. Nuri blushed heavily when she heard Simon describe how he rescued her it threw the rescue into a new light and she found herself admiring him more for it, Simon's story came to a close and they continued walking just content to be in each others company, meanwhile behind them Holly was trying to piece together what had been said maybe there was something she could use. She quickly caught up with Simon putting on an extra burst of speed "What did you say your dad's name was again?"
"Archie, why?" Simon replied confused
"Well" Holly said "What do you know about him?"
"Not much" Simon sighed "He liked sailing and he loved my mum. But that's all I know"
Holly shook her head "No way, no way"
"What!?" Simon demanded exasperated
"Hey you're a trainer aren't you?" a third voice called out
Simon spun around forgetting about Holly "Yeah, why?" he asked eying up the new arrival; he was about his age maybe slightly older, his blonde hair sat in an untidy mess on his head and his brown eyes seemed to smile.
"I was hoping for a battle" he laughed "Oh and my name is Greg"
Simon smiled and deposited his bag at the side of the road next to Holly "Mine's Simon" he looked down at his Pokemon "Anyone want to fight?" he asked
Ember nodded and stepped forward, she had some pent up anger anyway and she figured she might as well use it constructively, "Vuuuul pix"
Simon smiled at Ember and stood up "Okay then. Bring it on!"
Greg nodded "I choose you Aurora" he tossed a Pokeball in the air and a Vaporeon emerged in a flash of light
Simon cringed at the appearance of a water type but wasn't particularly surprised "Ember be careful alright"
Ember nodded and gave a reassuring "vuuuul" before turning her attention entirely to her opponent
"Aurora use quick attack" Aurora responded to the command by dashing towards Ember her legs working overtime to accelerate her above her usual running speed
"Try a dodge then counter" Simon called out, Ember tensed up as the Vaporeon shot at her. At the last second she dove to a side but she misjudged Aurora's speed and the attack still clipped her side, shaking off the minor injury Ember turned to face her opponent and launched a flamethrower attack "Aurora defend with mist and counter with water gun" Aurora nodded and quickly the surrounding area was cloaked with a thick mist, Ember's flamethrower caused a small area to appear to be glowing but otherwise had no discernable effect. A blast of water seemed to come from nowhere and hit Ember in the side, she squealed with pain and shot a jet of flame in the direction the attack came from "Acid armour finish this" Greg's voice could be heard over the roar of flames.
"What's he doing?" Simon wondered "Acid armour isn't an aggressive attack, but" he muttered "the arena is full of mist and mist is just water droplets" a revelation struck, Aurora had blended herself with the mist she could effectively teleport anywhere within the cloud "Ember get out of there now!" Simon shouted scared for his friend's health, inside the cloud Ember was finding this easier said than done every time she tried to escape a blast of water would pass in front of her face and prevent her escape "Hydro pump now whilst she can't see you" the command scared Simon he knew he had to do something soon
"Ember fire spin quickly! Evaporate the mist" me called in a flash of inspiration, inside the fog bank Ember concentrated as a spiralling pillar of fire formed around her and smug grin appeared on he face as the hissing of the newly formed steam filled the air, Simon smiled in relief as he saw the flaming vortex breach the top of the fog bank and the mist began to recede leaving behind Aurora standing on the far side of the arena facing Ember. Ember dropped the attack needing a second to recover, the second never came, the moment she dropped the attack Aurora let fly with her hydro pump the incredible surge of pressurised water blasted Ember off her feet and carried her backwards into a tree Simon winced at the sickening crunch that reached his ears when Ember impacted the tree praying that was the sound of wood breaking not bones. Ember fell forward onto the ground with a feeble cry leaving a massive splintered hole in the tree "You win" Simon called out running towards Ember he carefully picked her up and inspected her, she was completely soaked and he could make out a multitude of bloody gnashes on her back from the impact with the tree and he imagined she would have at least a dozen splinters lodged in her back too, she was unconscious but considering her current condition Simon thought that was probably for the best.
"Is she going to be okay?" Greg asked tentatively
"Vaaap ooooreon vap?" Aurora echoed his statement
"She'll be fine" Simon finally declared "Good match" he turned around to face Greg and held out his hand
Greg clasped Simon's hand and they shook "I hope we meet again sometime"
"Me too" Simon smiled "Of course next time we'll win" he smiled
Greg laughed as they broke their handshake "We'll just have to see about that won't we" he pulled Aurora's pokeball off his belt "Aurora return great job girl" the Vaporeon disappeared back inside it's ball with a happy trill "Well this is goodbye for now I guess" Greg said smiling
"Yeah" Simon agreed "Well see you around I guess. Bye" after saying his goodbyes he turned his attention solely over to his injured friend "Phoenix, Nuri" he called out "Can you two get me a towel and my berry case please"
Nuri and Phoenix both nodded even though Simon wasn't looking in their direction and went over to Simon's bag a rummaged around looking for the items Simon had requested "Quiiil avaaa quil?" Phoenix asked her voice slightly muffled by the towel in her mouth
"Hmm" Simon thought about it as he gently stroked Ember's head "Ah yes I also need the med-kit thanks for reminding me"
Phoenix nodded dumping the towel next to Simon "Quiil avaa" she said before heading back for the med-kit
Simon glanced over his shoulder and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Nuri struggling with his berry case; it was almost as large as she was! "I guess you didn't really plan ahead did you" he laughed
Nuri dropped the case briefly "Eeev veeee eev" she agreed shaking her head slightly
Simon laughed again wincing "Swap with Phoenix she's big enough to carry the berry case and you can bring the med-kit"
Nuri nodded and dropped the berry case on the floor before trotting back over to the bag to get the med-kit from Phoenix, Phoenix went over and picked up the berry case shooting Simon a dirty look, Simon laughed again a small twitch again betraying the pain it caused "I know it's heavier but Nuri's still a kit"
With all the tools he required set out in front of him Simon set about trying to help Ember, he opened the med-kit and pulled out a small pair of tweezers and a small white cloth. Using the cloth he wiped the blood off Ember's back, inspecting it once it was clean he saw four large splinters sticking into her at odd angles along with at least six small gnashes that were slowly oozing blood, wincing at the size of the splinters embedded in his friend he carefully reached forward with the tweezers to extract them. The first three came out with no problems leaving small puncture wounds in their wake but the fourth was proving to be more difficult to remove it had gone in almost parallel to her body and Simon knew that just yanking splinters like that out is one of the most painful things you can do, he settled for carefully wiggling it backwards easing it out of Ember's back.
"How much longer is this going to take" Holly whined from the side of the road
Simon snapped back "As long as it takes!" whilst Phoenix and Nuri both shot her dirty looks, Simon turned back to Ember and finally managed to remove the last splinter throwing it to a side he quickly clicked open his berry case and pulled out a handful of Oran berries and his pestle of mortar from it's pocket in the lid of the case placing the berries in the pestle he began to grind them up into a thick blue paste. With the paste the right consistency he put it to a side and picked up the towel he had asked for, he lovingly dried Ember off making sure not to apply too much pressure when he got to her back tossing the now blood stained and filthy towel aside he began gently applying the Oran paste to Ember's back with his fingers.
"What's that for?" Holly piped up
Simon smiled a little; at least it was a sensible question this time, "It works like an antiseptic and a coagulant"
"Huh?" Holly asked a little lost
Simon sighed and resumed administering the paste "It kills germs and helps the blood clot" he explained again in simple English
"Oh" Holly replied nodding slowly to show she accepted his explanation
Simon finished administering the paste and reached back into the med-kit pulling out a roll and bandages "Nuri come over here please" he called out after unrolling a decent length of the bandage, Nuri trotted over curious over what Simon wanted from her. "Nuri use scratch to cut this please" Simon asked holding the bandage taunt in front of him Nuri nodded and used her sharp claws to neatly cut the length of bandage "Thanks" Simon said turning back to Ember. He quickly bound the bandage around her midsection a tied it at the top so she would be unable to take it off herself "Okay time to wake her up" he said
"Quiiil ava Quiil avaaa?" Phoenix asked curious
"Well" Simon explained "I normally wake her by splashing her with water but considering the circumstance that would be cruel"
"Eeev veeee vee?" Nuri asked
"Well this time I'll use the Muk extract" Simon said "You may want to hold your breath" he added as an afterthought pulling a small metal case out of the med-kit he took a deep breath then took the lid off and help the deep purple substance under Ember's nose. Ember woke with a start and recoiled from the stench crying out in pain at the sudden movement, Simon smiled and quickly closed the lid of the extract throwing everything back into his bag he quickly shouldered it then went back over to Ember and scooped her up.
"Vuuul pix" Ember managed to whisper
Simon frowned "I'm sorry? What are you sorry for?" he looked down and his expression softened, Ember was sleeping in his arms turning to the rest of his group he spoke up "Come on guys we're going to have to make good time if we want to get to Sandgem tomorrow" with that said he turned around and started walking shifting Ember's weight so he could carry her more easily while still giving her a comfortable sleeping position.