Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 3: Desperation
*Lara!* Farah yelled, tearing at the fallen rocks. She was still weak from the battle, still feeling the aftereffects of the powerful attack she had unleashed. Underneath the rocks, her sister must lay, but alive or dead? She had seen her just before her final strike, clutched in the coils of the Onix they had been battling. If Lara had been able to free herself from the wild pokémon's grasp, then there might be a chance, but...
Momentarily paralyzed by the shock of the moment, Chris recovered himself and started trying to help Farah. But he had no better luck than she at moving the heavy pieces of broken rock. The stones were much too heavy for a human being to move. Alone, that is.
Chris plucked two of the poké balls from his belt and released the pokémon within. "Douglas, Liam, help us out, here!" he ordered. Douglas, his Luxray, and Liam, his Garchomp, instantly went to Farah's side and began to help her. Liam used his powerful arms to lift refrigerator-sized boulders from the pile of rubble, and Douglas's strong forepaws pushed piles of loose earth and smaller rocks out of the way. Chris helped too, moving the bits of stone that he could manage to budge.
*Lara, can you hear me?* Farah called, over the noise of the two male pokémon tossing rocks aside. She could hear no answer from inside. Either Lara was buried too deep to hear or she was in no state to answer. Tucking her fears deep inside of her and out of the way, Farah continued to work into the collapse.
Soon, they got deep enough into the pile that they found the wild Onix. When Liam touched it, the pokémon did not move. It appeared to be dead. Even the tough-skinned rock snake had been unable to withstand the crush of the collapsing cavern wall. Chris began to despair of finding Lara alive.
"Hang on, Lara," he muttered. "Don't you die on me." His pokémon continued clearing out the fallen rock. Twenty minutes had passed since the cave-in. More and more of the dead Onix was revealed as the debris was removed. Presently they had the tail and most of the rest of its body uncovered.
Farah climbed up on top of the rocky corpse and began poking around at all the crevices in the craggy segments of the Onix. She called her twin sister's name several times, and still received no answer. Reaching the middle of the fallen beast's tail, which was coiled like a length of rope, she called once more.
From underneath, she thought she heard something.
*Stop!* she said, looking at Liam, Douglas, and Chris. *Stop digging! Listen!* The two pokémon halted their efforts, and Chris followed suit when he saw what they were doing. Farah put her head against the dead Onix. *Lara!*
Then they all heard it. The noise was faint and muffled, but it was definitely there. A scratching sound was coming from inside the coils of the wild pokémon. A scratching sound that sounded just like a set of claws scraping against rock.
*In here!* Farah screamed, her voice frantic. She put her hands underneath the topmost coil, straining to lift the rock, which was twice the size of her body. *She's in here! Help me!*
"Farah, calm down!" Chris said. "You're going to hurt yourself!" He motioned to Liam and Douglas, and the pokémon followed him to where Farah was. "Get this stuff out of the way!" His Garchomp wedged his hands below the Onix's body and slowly but steadily began to lift the heavy corpse. Douglas got his back underneath and held it, giving Liam the chance to crawl under and push from the other side. All of a sudden, the Onix's body flopped over itself, leaving a circular hole in the middle.
Chris climbed up to peer into the hole, with Farah hot on his heels. Inside, lying on the dirt floor, was Lara. It looked as though, when the Onix had fallen and been killed by the falling rock, it had relaxed its hold on the Weavile just enough to create a pocket in the coils of its body, involuntarily sparing her from being crushed by the cave-in. The trainer jumped down into the hole, landing beside Lara. He lifted her head up, cradling her in his lap. She stirred slightly. She looked a real mess. Her left eye was swollen shut, and her right eye was half-closed. There were cuts all over her body, and her lip seemed to be split. But she was breathing, and as he held her she appeared to regain consciousness.
A thump sounded beside Chris, and he looked to see that Farah had joined him. She touched her sister's face.
*Lara, can you hear me?* Farah choked. *Are you alright?*
Lara coughed once, and weakly groaned with pain. *T...took you...long enough...,* she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Chris picked her up. "Come on, girl," he said. "I'll get you out of here." He handed her up to Liam's waiting arms. The Garchomp took her from him, keeping the Weavile's body as still as possible. Chris climbed back up. "Let's get outside. We need to take her to a Pokémon Center fast."
Walking at a fast pace, sometimes to the level of a run, Chris and Farah made it back to Pewter City in about six hours. Before leaving the mountains, the trainer had paused only long enough to gather up his belongings. The tents he had left behind; it would have taken too much time to deconstruct them. The trip back had been quiet, the only sounds being their breathing as they powered through their exhaustion. Farah was subdued, numb really, as they'd hurried through the forest.
Upon arrival in the city, they went straight to the Pokémon Center. The facility was nearly empty, with only a few trainers lingering about in the evening hours. The nurse on station at the main service desk saw them come in, and saw Lara in Chris's arms. She rushed up, concern obvious on her face.
"What on earth happened?" she asked. She put a hand out to feel Lara's pulse. "She looks like she went through a meat grinder."
"Cave-in," Chris gasped, still catching his breath. "In the mountain."
The nurse beckoned him along. "Bring her here." Chris followed the nurse into the back of the center, where the urgent care rooms were located. She lifted a duty phone from the wall, and spoke a few hurried words into it. Several other nurses soon joined them, and led Chris and Farah into an empty room. The nurses ordered Chris to put Lara on the bed, and he did so, stepping back to let them work. They attached a heart monitor to the Weavile, and inserted an oxygen tube into her nose.
One of the nurses ushered Chris and Farah out of the room. "Please let us handle this," she said. "One of us will be out to update you soon."
Chris took Farah out of the urgent care area, reluctant though she was to leave her sister. They went back out into the waiting room and sat down on a bench, with their backs against a window. He could feel the harsh eyes of the trainers who happened to be in the center upon him. He knew what they were thinking. No trainer should ever allow his or her pokémon to arrive at the state Lara was in. He ignored them as best as he could.
Farah, quiet from the moment they had emerged from the cave back into the daylight, finally started to cry again. She was sad, scared, and tired, and couldn't hold it back anymore. She buried her face in Chris's side and just cried.
He put an arm around her, trying to comfort her. Chris knew she had to be feeling guilty about what had happened to Lara. It had been her eagerness to attack that had set in motion the events that led to the cave collapsing.
"You couldn't have known what was going to happen, Farah," he said quietly. He squeezed her shoulder. "It's not your fault."
Farah didn't hear him. Lara didn't want to fight that Onix, she thought. She only fought because I attacked first. If I hadn't been so stupid, she'd fine right now. She choked out a sob, shaking her head.
Several hours passed as they waited for news of Lara's condition. Outside, the evening transitioned from dusk to nighttime. The trainers who had been in the Pokémon Center when Chris arrived filtered out until he and Farah were alone. As she tired, Farah's crying slacked off a little. Chris allowed his mind to replay the events of the day, second-guessing everything he had done and looking for a way he could have prevented what had happened to Lara.
He knew that he could have called them back into their poké balls to keep them from fighting, but then what would he have looked like? The whole point of retreating to the mountains had been to learn how to let his pokémon do things independently. Keeping them from taking the initiative in a fight would have defeated the purpose of what he had been working for. He had to let them decide for themselves what they could handle.
But what if it turned out to cost Lara her life? Was it still worth it? Chris had the answer to that question in less time than it took to form the thought: No, absolutely not. Still, that brought him back to the very thing he had told Farah. Neither of them could have known, nor even have anticipated, what had happened back inside the mountain. All this kind of thinking would do would cripple him, keep him from matching his potential as a Pokémon Trainer. And he knew he couldn't have that. He refused to allow himself to be the kind of trainer that he had been only weeks earlier.
Even so, perhaps this was a sign. Maybe he needed to scale back a bit. He had been asking for a lot from Lara and Farah when he had set out this morning, looking for the most powerful opponent he could find. He might have been expecting too much of himself so early in his new start. It had been scarcely three weeks since he had begun his new philosophy on training pokémon, after all. Maybe he had simply overshot his abilities as of right now. Putting his ambitions in Kanto on hold for a while suddenly seemed like a good idea. Not abandoning them, as he had been ready to do when he had lost to Brock, but simply postponing them until he was really ready. Yes, maybe that was best...
At long last, one of the nurses emerged from the back of the Pokémon Center, bringing Chris's mind away from his self-analyzing. She approached him and he stood up.
"How is she?" he asked, trying to keep the strain and stress of the day out of his voice. "How bad is it?"
The nurse shook her head. "Her life doesn't appear to be in danger anymore," she said. "But she's been through a lot. What exactly happened to her?" Chris explained in more detail what had gone on inside Mt. Moon. "Well, that would do it. She doesn't have any broken bones, but she has a concussion and some of those cuts were pretty deep. She lost enough blood to make a transfusion necessary. You're lucky we had the right blood on hand to give her, we don't get many pokémon of her kind here in Kanto."
Chris gave a heavy sigh. "Is she going to be okay?"
The nurse shrugged. "We've done what we can. It's up to her, now. She's stable, at least."
Hearing what the nurse was saying, Farah began to cry harder once more. The nurse looked at her with concern.
"Is she all right? She doesn't look hurt very badly."
"She's her sister," Chris explained. He didn't elaborate any further. The nurse didn't need to know the particulars.
"Oh, I see." The nurse looked sympathetic. "It would probably be best if she didn't hang around here much longer. She needs to get cleaned up, and we won't know anything for certain until the morning anyway. Tonight will be crucial. Come back in the morning and we'll probably be able to tell you for sure how this is going to turn out."
Chris breathed in slowly. "Thanks," he said. "We could definitely use some sleep." He watched the nurse return to the urgent care area, and then turned back to Farah. "Farah, let's go. They'll take good care of Lara here. Don't worry. It's going to be all right."
Unconvinced, but realizing that nothing more could be done by them, Farah collected herself and got up from the bench. They walked out of the Pokémon Center and into the Pewter City night.
Chris and Farah returned to the hotel they had been staying at before traveling to the mountains. Luckily enough, the hotel had some vacancies left and the concierge even offered him the suite he had previously occupied, which Chris gladly accepted. Once they made it to the rooms, he guided Farah to the bathroom in her half of the suite so she could clean herself up. She was still in shock, and didn't seem to be operating under her own power. While she was occupied in there, he went back to his side of the suite and got into the shower. The hot water cascaded over his bare skin, loosening the dirt from his body and washing away at least a little bit of the stress he was feeling.
When he had dried himself off and changed into some fresh things, Chris got a glass of water from the tap and sat down in one of the armchairs in his room. He put his head back against the soft cushions and rubbed his temples. The headache that had been his companion since leaving Mt. Moon was starting to ebb away. Reality started to sink in as it had been unable to do thus far. Lara was hurt bad. The blame ultimately fell on him, because he was the trainer and it was his responsibility to keep his pokémon safe.
"Dammit," he muttered to himself. "I hope Lara's okay."
Chris got up from the chair and went to the door separating the two rooms. He peeked in to check on Farah. The light was on in the bathroom, and he could hear water running. She must still be cleaning up. No small wonder. She had come out of the mountain pretty scuffed up, too, though of course nowhere near as bad as Lara. He went back to the chair. Presently, he heard the water shut off and the faint *click* of the bathroom door opening. A few minutes later, the door between the rooms creaked open and Farah came in, still looking a bit damp from washing herself. Soundlessly, she approached Chris and climbed into his lap, hugging him tight. She rocked gently, her shoulders shaking every now and then with a little cry of anguish. It was heartbreaking. Saying nothing, Chris held Farah, cuddling her like he had used to when the girls were young Sneasels. The familiar feeling comforted both of them, bringing them back to a time when they didn't have so many worries.
"Everything's going to turn out all right," Chris told her, even though he knew he couldn't say for sure. "You'll see. It'll all work out." He scratched behind Farah's ears. She relaxed just a little, although he could feel the tension still contained in her body.
After a little while, Chris stood up, carrying Farah with him. He took her into her room and put her on the bed. She seemed reluctant to let him go, but he gently pushed her and she allowed herself to be deposited on top of the covers. He understood her hesitation. She had not slept without her sister present for...well, ever since the twins had been in his keeping, at least. Farah didn't seem to want him to go.
"I'm right over there," he assured her. "If you need anything, just come wake me up. I'll be there." He scratched her head one more time, and then crossed back over to his room. Weariness suddenly washing over him, he stripped to his underwear and crawled under the covers of his own bed. Despite the worry that he still felt in his mind, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Although she had drifted off to an uneasy sleep a short time after Chris had left her, Farah awoke scarcely two hours later. Her head spun with worry and guilt. It was her fault that her sister was in the Pokémon Center, she was sure of it. Her trainer had not convinced her otherwise.
She looked around the dark room and shivered. The room wasn't large, but right now it seemed huge and scary. More than anything else, she longed for her sister to be sleeping beside her. Since they had been born, they had never been apart for any appreciable amount of time. Farah was used to having Lara there to keep her company and make her feel safe. If Lara...died, she didn't know what she would do. She didn't think she could cope if that happened. Almost nobody made her feel like she did when she was with Lara.
In fact, Farah suddenly thought, the only one who I've ever really felt at ease around other than Lara is Chris. It was true. The only one who had ever come close to being like a surrogate for her sister was her trainer. Whenever, for one reason or another, Lara and Farah had been separated, Chris had always been with her. A few times at home, and that night...which seemed to have happened so long ago. And that one other time, while we were camping at the foot of the mountain...
For some reason, that line of thought made Farah feel confused. Or perhaps it was giving her some clarity that she did not want to acknowledge. She rolled over. The bed was still as empty as she felt inside. Farah sat up, the covers sliding off of her. She turned her eyes towards the door separating her room from Chris's. The light was off. He was probably asleep. That made her hesitate. She knew he was tired. But he had said she could wake him if she needed anything. She knew that if she didn't try she would not be able to make it through the night.
Whatever, she told herself. I doubt I could feel any worse than I already do. Farah slid off of the bed. She walked to the door and slipped through, déj� vu tugging at her brain. As she had predicted, Chris was lying in bed, sleeping. She crept up to the side he was on. He didn't stir. The Weavile reached out, one claw extended, and tentatively poked him in the face. His nose twitched a few times, and then he sneezed, jolting himself awake and startling Farah.
Chris blinked several times, looking as though he had no idea where he was or what was going on. "Farah?" he mumbled groggily. He rubbed his eyes and willed himself to awareness. "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"
Farah shook her head.
Chris arranged his face into an understanding expression. "Tough trying to sleep alone, huh?"
Farah nodded.
"You want to sleep here for tonight?" Another nod. "Okay, hop on up. Plenty of room." He slid over, making a space for her.
Relieved, Farah climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable under the covers. This was better. It didn't feel so empty with another person nearby. She made a small purr of gratitude. Chris smiled and ruffled the fur on top of her head. Farah snuggled into the soft pillow, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
At about nine o'clock the next morning, Chris drifted awake to find that Farah was pressed up against him, fast asleep. Bemused, he sat up a little bit, careful not to disturb her. They must have rolled together sometime in the night. He eased his way off of the bed and retreated into the bathroom to start the day. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. When he emerged from the bathroom, Farah was just waking up.
"Morning," he greeted her. "Sleep all right?"
Farah nodded noiselessly.
"Well, I need to get dressed," he said, "and then we can go and see how Lara's doing, okay?" His Weavile nodded again, vigorously. He went to his bags and pulled out some clean clothing. Chris turned back to the bed, and saw that Farah had not moved from the bed. "Farah?"
Her eyes flicked up to meet his.
"A little privacy, please?"
Farah clapped a hand over her mouth, as though she had just realized what she was doing. Looking a bit embarrassed, she hastened into the adjoining room, closing the door behind her.
Chris shook his head and changed into the clean clothes. Then he went into Farah's side of the suite. "Ready to go?" She was out in the hallway outside the room in an instant, waiting for him to catch up. He followed her out and locked the door behind him.
They both went down to the hotel lobby and exited the building. The sky outside was cloudy, and a low rumble of thunder in the distance announced the threat of rain. Due probably to the threatening weather, the streets of Pewter City were sparsely populated. A few people here and there offered morning greetings as Chris and Farah passed them, but they didn't run across many people. That was probably for the best; Farah was nearly dragging Chris by the hand, anxious to quickly arrive at their destination. After a short walk from the hotel, they made it to the Pokémon Center's entrance.
Upon entering the building, Chris made straight for the service desk. The nurse on call there looked up as he approached.
"Welcome back," she said.
"Hit me with it," Chris said. "Good news or bad news?" He crossed his fingers behind his back.
The nurse smiled. "Good news, I'm pleased to say," she said. "Your Weavile is responding well to our treatment and is already on the mend." She leaned over the desk to speak to Farah. "Your sister is going to be just fine, dear."
Chris let out the breath he had been holding. "Can we see her?"
"I'll take you right now." The nurse placed a "Be Right Back" sign on top of the desk and took Chris and Farah through the door leading to the urgent care area. When they got to the room that Lara had been taken to the night before, they saw that she was conscious and sitting up with her head propped on a pillow. Several parts of her body were wrapped in bandages. Her left eye, her torso, and most of her legs were covered in white cotton. With a strangled cry, Farah fairly charged at her sister, jumping on the bed.
*Hey!* Lara hissed. *That hurts. Don't jostle the bed!*
"Easy, Farah, easy!" Chris said. "She's not healed quite yet."
Holding back a little, Farah contented herself with sitting beside Lara. *Sister, I was so worried about you,* she said, tears in her eyes.
Giving them a little space, Chris stood with the nurse at the door. "How long will Lara have to stay here?" he asked.
"Two weeks, give or take a few days," the nurse answered. "And she'll have to take it easy for a week or so after that. She's a strong one. A lot of pokémon who came here in her condition would have died."
"Yeah." Chris looked at the sisters. "Thank you. Farah would have been devastated if she hadn't made it, to say the least."
"Well, she got lucky. Try to be more careful how you train them from now on." The nurse stepped back into the hallway. "I'll give you some time to visit. Someone will be around in a bit to check up on her." She left, heading back towards the front of the Pokémon Center.
Chris pulled up a chair that was sitting against the wall to the side of the bed. "So, how are you feeling, Lara? You had us pretty scared for a while."
Lara made a face and stuck her tongue out. *Is he serious?* she asked her sister. *How do I look like I feel?*
"Cheeky as always, I see," Chris said. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that your face might stick like that?" He reached out and tweaked her ear.
Farah hugged her sister tight, though remaining aware of her wounds. *I'm so happy you're going to be okay," she whispered. *I thought I was going to lose you.*
*Okay, geeze,* Lara said. *You guys aren't getting rid of me that easily.* Something caught her nose. She sniffed at her sister. *You smell different.*
Her twin looked up, startled. *What do you mean?*
*You usually smell...kind of like me and you mixed together.* Lara sniffed again. *But today...it's different.*
*You went through a lot yesterday. I'm sure you're just imagining things.*
Lara looked at Chris. She waved towards the door.
"What is it, Lara?" her trainer inquired.
Lara waved again, more insistently this time.
"Do you...want me to leave?" He watched as Lara nodded. Confused, he got up from his seat. "Well...okay, if that's what you want. I'll be right down the hall, if either of you needs me..." He walked out of the room.
Once she was satisfied that Chris was really gone, Lara looked back to her sister. *You smell like him,* she said. Her tone was observant, rather than accusing, which was disconcerting to Farah.
*I...well...that is...* Farah fumbled with her words for a moment. *I got lonely last night, and I slept in the bed with him. That's all.*
*That's all?*
*Yes,* Farah said. *I just...I'm used to sleeping with you, you know? I couldn't sleep alone.*
Lara looked thoughtful. *That doesn't really explain why you have his scent on you. You'd have to be really, really close to him for that to happen.*
Looking uncomfortable, Farah shifted on the bed. *Well, I think sometime during the night...I pressed up against him. Just because I needed to feel someone against me.*
*Mm-hm...* Lara put a hand on Farah's face. *Sister, I know I promised to drop the subject, but I'm going to ask you this question again and I want you to answer me honestly.*
Farah looked apprehensive. *Y...yes?*
Lara held her gaze with her one unbandaged eye. She had an intense look on her face, a suspicious expression that still carried the impression that she knew more than she was letting on. Farah was beginning to feel trapped, like the walls of the room were closing in on her and there was no way out. She wanted desperately to run out of the room, but she remained rooted to the spot, unable to make her legs move. Lara opened her mouth.
*Do you love him?*Chapter End Notes:Oh, again with the suspense. To be continued...
I'm starting to feel burnt out on this story. It's going on the back burner for a bit so I can refresh and get back to my main General Havoc series. But don't despair, I'm most definitely not giving up on this one.
Keep your eyes peeled..