Ethan sat by his lonesome in the lobby of Eterna City’s pokemon center as he waited for all of his pokemon and the Steelix to be taken care of and have a check-up. Many of his pokemon were simply having a go in their much more advanced Healing Machine just in case there happened to be some simple scrapes and bruises from their short but intense battle. Steelix was awaiting the approval of an official to oversee its release for care.
Ethan had told the Nurses that he in no way, shape, nor form was able to make sure the Steelix behaved during its treatment. For now, it was locked within the wall mount in their main room, waiting.
“Mr. Reed?”
Ethan rose in his seat, abandoning his slouch as one of the many aids of the center called out to him. “Nurse Joyce Joy is on the line.” She held up the end of her corded landline, situated right behind the countertop for the receptionists.
Ethan got out of the seat, wincing at how sore he felt after his stint in Wayward Cave. His back was coated in whelps and bruises from the starting collapse, but it wasn’t anything a little time wouldn’t solve. He was mainly just… tired. He took the phone from the woman with a smile as she left to give him some privacy. Nobody else was at the pokemon center, and it made the main lobby feel larger than it actually was.
“Ethan? Ethan, what happened?” Joyce’s voice rang with worry with a mix of confusion from the other end.
“Long story short, I was an idiot and walked inside the entrance before it collapsed. Got pulled into delving by Ash Ketchum, Dawn, and Gym Leader Brock. We had some disagreements.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he leaned against the counter. “We found a massive Steelix trapped beneath rubble. The other three continued onwards as I stayed to help… Stuff happened, a battle ensued, and Smeargle teleported me back to the city so we could visit the pokemon center. He can’t teleport back to the camp. So, I think and hope my time helping is over.”
Without any pause to truly think about what he said, Joyce spoke. “I’m sure we can send an Alakazam to come pick—”
“I hope my time helping is over, Joyce.” Ethan cut her off tiredly, and something in his tone must have finally hit home with her.
There was an awkward pause for only a second before she spoke again. “I understand. I’ll let Champion Cynthia know. She will probably call to ask some questions regarding the interior of the cave among other things.”
As he breathed in to respond, she continued with a softness he didn’t expect. “I’m glad you’re safe, Ethan.”
Considering he was just about to ask about how to sign up for therapy and some recommendations on therapists… He felt a little off kilter at the sudden heartfelt(?) concern. “Me too.” He followed up lamely.
An hour passed as Ethan talked to many officials and Cynthia about what transpired in Wayward Cave. They wanted to know which direction he went, what pokemon were about and how they looked, if he saw any other trainers, about the Steelix, about the stability of the cave… They wanted to know everything, and he didn’t always have the answers. He’d just hung up the phone for his hopefully final call of the day when the doors swung open and a nurse escorted Gloom out into the lobby.
Ethan immediately surged forward as his eyes scanned over his grassy friend. “You alright?” He wrapped Gloom in a hug, much to the nurses’ surprise. She had a fancy looking facemask and a pair of thick pink gloves over her hands—probably for her protection against Gloom’s species. “Is he alright?”
“Your Gloom fainted due to running out of energy and suffered no long lasting damage. We had one of our assistant pokemon talk with Gloom about him not being registered.”
Ethan hadn’t thought about the complications regarding Gloom’s registration. As he’d been caught during the emergency, they hadn’t actually registered him as his pokemon yet. “With his obvious consent, we’ve gone ahead and filed him under you. I’ll just need you to sign some papers. As you do so, I’ll grab your other pokemon.”
He nodded as he returned his gaze to Gloom to double check the nurses work. She didn’t seem to mind. “You’ll need to stay here at the pokemon center until we can sort out the placement and treatment of the Steelix you brought.”
She flashed him a kind smile with a nod of respect. “It was very good for you to bring her here for treatment after your battle.” The nurse then walked behind the counter and grabbed a slip of some sort—prepared for a purpose. She wrote on it for a moment, then handed it over towards him. “Bring this to the Pokemart and you will be compensated for your expense for your pokeball.”
Like an afterthought, he grabbed the compensation slip into his coat and gave Gloom a final pat. Gloom looked a little tired, but to be fair, they all were probably a little tired.
Today was a long day.
After filling out his registration paperwork, a separate nurse handed Ethan all of his pokeballs. Without fanfare, he let them all out and checked them over. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the nurses at the pokemon center, he just needed to see them with his own eyes to truly have their safety sink in. They all greeted him with happiness, but it was clear those that fought had lost a bit of pep in their step. Smeargle and Chatot were the only lively ones of the bunch.
Once sure they were all okay, Ethan recalled the bigger of his bunch and left towards the rooms the Pokemon Center had for traveling trainers to rent. As there was hardly anyone in the city traveling due to the bridge incident, many were open and available. As he inserted his trainer Id into the doorway, unlocking the door, Ethan felt a blast of warm air billow outwards from the entryway. He walked into the pleasing warmth blasting from the heater fixed onto the wall as Chatot, Pachirisu, Gloom, and Smeargle blasted forward into the warm room, latching onto the heat with reckless abandon.
Gloom sat his butt down right in front of the heater and Chatot fluttered to sit on his head to be as close to the heat as possible. Pachirisu immediately scrunched up the covers, which had been very cleanly situated on the bed, into a fortress of fluff to hide in. Smeargle, the calmest of the bunch, jumped onto the bed exhausted and happy to rest after the trials of the day.
Ethan felt the tension leave his body as he started up a warm shower. He stood under the warm running water for what must have been fifteen minutes, letting it run down his body as he just relaxed and decompressed. He rested his head on the tile wall, eyes closed as he faintly listened to his pokemon chatter over the sound of running water.
“What a day…” He murmured before finding the will to step out of his warm shower into the air of the bathroom. After drying off, he tied up his hair and rejoined his pokemon in the main room.
Nothing had really changed from his time relaxing. The small tube-television in the room, which looked straight from the 90’s, was on and playing some movie he’d obviously never seen nor heard of and his pokemon sat around watching. Gloom was the only one not watching, as he was sleeping by the heater, drool pooling at the corners of his mouth in a steady rhythm.
Ethan didn’t disturb them and laid down on the bed, scooting Pachirisu over with his leg to move his entranced pokemon…
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*Knock**Knock Knock*…………..*KNOCK* *KNOCK*With a startle, Ethan jerked away. With a groan because of his soreness, he rolled out of bed, careful not to disturb any of his passed out pokemon littered around the room. It felt like he’d been hit by a truck by how stiff he was. Maybe those falling rocks had done more damage than he’d originally imagined.
The television was the only sound beyond the gentle breathing of his passed out pokemon as he gingerly made his way to the door.
*Knock Knock*
Ethan inched open the door and peeked out through the crack, finding—
“Hello, Ethan. Might I come in?” Looker asked calmly, dressed in his normal formal ware.
With a sigh, he opened the door fully and let the agent in. He wasn't wearing a shirt, as he’d gotten out of the shower and had instantly laid down, but Looker didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Ethan was about to close the door when a small yip stilled his hand. Following in after Looker, was a small Growlithe. It checked the room with a discerning eye as it entered the main room.
Looker stepped over Chatot, who had taken one of the blankets from his bed and made a nest on the floor, and sat on the bed as he looked around the room. His gaze landed on each of his pokemon, then landed on Ethan as he joined him on the bed. “You should get your back looked at.”
Looking over his shoulder, Ethan spotted the nasty purple splotches marring his skin from nasty bruises. It was no wonder he felt like he’d been hit by a truck. “Probably.”
“So,” Looker began as his Growlithe sat on the floor like a pup with true training. “I brought some guys over to contain the Steelix while it gets looked at. Figured I could speed some things along for you.”
Ethan gave the man a suspicious squint. “Thank you?”
“While they take care of that…” Looker added, causing Ethan to groan. “I’m going to need you to fill me in on everything that happened in the cave. Leave no detail out.”
“Looker, I’ve told at least four different officials and Cynthia what I know already. Can’t you just ask them?” He complained. He deserved a little bit of complaining, in his opinion.
“They were asking regarding the rescue operations. I am asking because we have reason to believe there may have been foul play.” Looker withdrew a pen and paper from his dapper jacket and prepared to write. “Where exactly did you find this injured Steelix? Explain its injuries when you found it and everything you remember.”
“Foul play?”
Looker nodded, but his calm face never changed. “I’m afraid so.”