Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

56: Slipped

You need to return to camp.

Mewtwo's voice was weary. Wearier than she had ever heard before in all her years of knowing him. Elise knew that his reasoning was right, but a part of her rebelled at the thought of cowering away.

The view of the burning forest beneath them made Elise's stomach churn as they flew overhead. In the fight, none of them had noticed how much worse the situation at hand had gotten.

Elise, do you hear me? Elise!

I'm sorry, Mewtwo...

Her curt response made him flinch away, his presence withdrawing from her mind and leaving her with silence. Even Blaziken had no thoughts to say, a small blessing to her pounding head even though Elise was greatly burdened by the quietness. So the girl kept herself busy trying to handle the situation at hand. She carefully split a Chansey egg in half and gave each half to Midoriya and Kota. "You two, eat this. It's good for you."

Midoriya took it from her with wary eyes. "W-What is it?"

"It's a Chansey egg. Very nutritious so hopefully it might help you feel better after all that."

"You should eat it then, Wing!"

Elise gave Midoriya's other arm a pointed look. It was bruised and purple, hanging limply ever since he dealt that final blow against Muscular. Though her body was no doubt beaten up from the fight, she could still move all her limbs and hide the extent of damage that wrecked her torso under her shirt. He had the grace to look cowed and quietly ate his half of the egg. Seeing Midoriya doing that, Kota took a bite of his own, then quickly scarfed down the rest. Satisfied, Elise stuck her head over the side of the Charizard. Seeing the forest path used as the route for the test of courage open up beneath her, Elise quickly patted the Pokémon.

"Charizard put me down! I need to go look for the others."

It grumbled worriedly, but began to tilt down and landed on the floor solidly. The jarring thud made her stomach roil but Elise pushed it down.

Midoriya was not one to be left out as he told her, "Let me come with you too!"

She looked at him, seeing nothing but determination in his gaze. Knowing she would not be able to stop him, Elise nodded and grunted an affirmation. "Let's go then."

"What are you doing?!?" Kota yelled from the top of the Charizard as both Elise and Midoriya slid off of it. "You're gonna die out there!"

She turned and reached up, offering the Charizard's Pokéball to him. "Kota, remember when you asked me why I would be a hero, even if I could die?"

His stricken, teary face stared back at her, confusion morphing his expression.

Elise gave him a smile and gently pressed the Pokéball into his hands, withdrawing hers once she was confident that he had a grip on it. "I'm a hero because of those that I care about. I don't mind doing it for them."

She took a step back, away from Kota as he suddenly lunged for her, though Charizard huffed and moved its wing up to block him. "Stop it!"

"It'll be fine. Don't you worry Kota."

"You can help us," Midoriya said, stepping up and taking Elise's place. "The forest has been set on fire. With that, we'd be trapped no matter what. We need that quirk of yours. Save us, the way you did earlier. Can you do that?"

There was a gleam of tears in Kota's eyes as he looked back at them. He gave them the smallest of nods.

"Charizard, help fly Kota over the fires to put them out, please. Quickly do that and return to the camp center. Keep both of yourself safe!"