It's Still Raining

No, no doctors!

It was Ringo.

"What was that?!" She looked down and saw Arle on the ground. "ARLE!" She got down and checked her pulse, which was normal. "Oh god....." She shook her a bit, trying to wake her up, but she wouldn't.

That was when Ringo resorted to picking her up and holding her before going home.

As she walked home, she looked at her, noticing that her eyes were starting to open.

"Don't worry Arle. You're going to my house. Amitie's there if you want to see her. I can't wait for our Puyo Puyo tournament!"

"Puyo Puyo tournament....? I have to attend....! This is important....! This is urgent....!"

"Not until you go to the doctor first. Puyo battling and neglecting a doctor's visit can be dangerous. I've heard many stories of people who are hurt and/or sick, and yet chose to battle at the tournament anyway."

"I've battled when I was sick before. What's concerning you about those stories?" Arle scratched her head.

"These people either got even more hurt and/or sick, passed out and ended up in the hospital, or died either in the middle of the battle, on the way or while in the hospital."

Ringo looked up, thinking about all those stories of all those people, especially the ones about the individuals who died. She then looked back at Arle, now giving her a sad and worried expression.

"I really don't want to lose you, so to conclude this, you really need to go to the doctor. They'll figure out what's wrong, and you may even get a prescription if your problems can be treated with medicine."

"I've only been fainting and vomiting. It's not that serious."

"I wouldn't say that if I were you. One time, I was so sick that I vomited for about 5 days after eating one of my creations. Yeah, I'm not gonna make recipes like that again. I even gave MYSELF food poisoning, so I can't sue anybody if it was my courtesy."

"Hm, true."

"Going back to the topic, maybe we can talk to Amitie and ask for her opinion on this? Because this really is getting serious...."

"We can do that."

Ringo smiled and picked Arle up. They then started walking towards Amitie's house, with Carbuncle following them.

It was the same route that Ringo always took when going to her house, but she was usually alone when walking there, and due to her carrying Arle, the route felt slower and longer, especially since Arle was relatively heavy for Ringo's strength.

As they walked, the sky became grey, and little sprinkles of water fell from it. Arle was mesmerized by this, forming a slight grin on her face as the sprinkles dropped on them.

Ringo smiled at her friend's slight grin, but she still felt worried. She felt that Arle might faint again, and she really didn't like thinking about this.

What if it really was serious like she originally thought?

She shook her head a bit and tried to get her mind on something else. Maybe thinking about physics might work, or Puyo battling, or that show she binge watched multiple times before she got bored of it. Of course, none of those thoughts worked. The thought of her friend potentially fainting, or even worse, dying, kept plaguing her brain.

Eventually, they reached the physics expert's house. Arle was on Ringo's shoulder, her eyes closed. She opened the door, revealing Amitie.

"Hi Ringo! Hi A- What's going on with Arle?!"

"Hello Amitie. I need your help. Well, WE need your help. Arle here has been fainting a lot lately. When I went to her house yesterday to check on her curry, I saw that she had fainted on the floor! And now she thinks curry makes her sick! And did I mention that she's been vomiting a lot?!" Ringo set Arle onto the couch. As she predicted, she had already fainted.

"Hmm.... Yep, this looks and sounds serious. If she repeatedly faints, and the fainting is accompanied with vomiting, I feel like she should visit a doctor..... I'm not good with this medical stuff, so yeah, definitely take her to one." Amitie looked down at Arle, who had regained consciousness.

"No! No, doctors!" Arle sat up. "No doctors!" She grabbed a pillow that was on the couch. "I DON'T NEED A DOCTOR! I'LL BE FINE!" She started rocking herself. "Besides, medical bills are expensive! How many times do I have to say this?! I'M TOO POOR FOR THAT!" She threw the pillow and ran out of Amitie's house, trying to get away from the whole 'doctor' thing.

She ended up in a forest, catching her breath. "Well...." She started talking to herself. "At least I don't have to go to the doctor..... Hey, I can practice my spells here!" She stretched a bit and started walking deeper into the forest.

She eventually found a spot where she could practice her spells. The area wasn't huge, but it was good enough for her. She circled her hand a bit, keeping an eye on some random stack of Puyos. After circling them for about 23 seconds, her hand started producing small pecks of fire. Then, she had an idea. She took her other hand out and circled that one too. As she did this, her Braindumbed spell was forming. After several more circles, she was ready to perform the spell.

Braindumbed!

That made her hands produce waves of hypnosis, which flew over to the Puyos, hypnotizing them.

"Haha! That was fun! Hmmm... What should I do next?" She looked up, thinking about what spell she should perform next. As she thought, she looked up, taking note on the tree leaves that fell from the wind flowing through.

"Oh, I know!" She grabbed one of the leaves and burnt it with its Fire spell. "Ohohohohoh-! Oh man! Why didn't I do this sooner?" She asked herself. She then started planning her next spell.

But as she thought, she started having another headache. Around 2 minutes later, she lost consciousness again.

Meanwhile, Carbuncle was following Arle's scent, and Ringo and Amitie were following him. "Have you found her yet??" Amitie asked, feeling worried.

"Gu." Carbuncle shook his head and kept going. "Gugu? Gugu!"

Arle regained consciousness around 11 seconds later, looking around. She heard Carbuncle's 'gu's, which made her ears twitched a bit. "Carby......?" She didn't feel well enough to get up, so she lied there.

Eventually, Carbuncle arrived. He hopped over to her and huddled up to her. She hugged him, still not feeling well.

Ringo and Amitie walked over to them. "ARLE!" Amitie ran over to her. "THERE YOU ARE! I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" She immediately hugged her, nuzzling her. Ringo then followed suit, joining in on the hug. After awhile, the girls separated.

"Why did you run off like that, Arle?! We thought you were gonna faint! Oh wait, you already fainted. Anyway, you could've died!" Rongo paused. "Wait, could you have? Eh, I won't question it."

"Because uhh......" Arle tried to come up with a lie, but she couldn't think of one that she would know that both girls would be able to buy.

"Whatever lie you were planning, we won't buy it. Or at least, I won't. Arle, what you were doing is potentially dangerous. You wanted to participate in a Puyo Puyo battle when you weren't feeling well, and now you're wanting to get away from going to a doctor. This could be serious! You could be living with a brain tumor, a cancerous one! You could be dying without knowing! Or.... I don't know! Some other fatal disease might be killing you! I don't want to lose you this way!" Ringo grabbed Carbuncle and hugged him tightly.

Amitie nodded. "Ringo's right. I don't want to lose you either! Especially this way! I don't want you to have some sort of deadly illness! I DON'T WANT THAT! I DON'T WANT YOU GONE! I DON'T WANT YOU LEAVE THIS WAY! I LOVE YOU, ARLE! I REALLY DO!" She immediately hugged Arle again, crying on her shoulder.

Arle rubbed Amitie's back, trying to comfort her. "I don't want to die this way, either...... I love you too......." She looked at Ringo. "Same goes to you, Ringo. I love you too...."

Ringo smiled, blushing a bit. "So, what's your verdict? Will you go or not go see a doctor?"