Pokémon The Divine Truth: The Fight for What Matters

Chapter 17

They soon arrived at the Pokémon Center in Mashimo, riding atop Iris' Salamence. The four of them followed closely behind Iris as she carried Ceres inside, and immediately a crowd of trainers formed around her, trying to see what had happened to Ceres. Several identical nurses rushed in with a stretcher, cleaving through the crowd, to roll Ceres into a private examination room.

"We'll be right back, lady Iris; we'll bring our best Audino as soon as we can," one of the nurses said before closing the door quietly.

Iris's eyes quickly darted to the four of them, causing Kori and Hiro to flinch. She then looked down toward Leo's injured arm and said, "Explain what happened at the ruins; neither of you should have been injured this badly."

"There was this really strange group of people at the ruins that Ceres said were called the Evangelists! At first, we ran into a few in the jungle, but she took care of them pretty easily, and when we got to the ruins, we ran into one dressed in all white and then..." Kori said, stopping himself at the end.

"The one in white was strong... much stronger than any of the others," Haru added.

"Ceres told us to run and to find our way to the spring while she fought the one in a while by herself. The ruins were overrun with Evangelists, and thankfully none of the other members seemed to be anywhere near that strong," Hiro said.

Iris paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts and trying to put pieces together in her head before saying, "I will send a group of soldiers to investigate the ruins once I know Ceres is okay. You have my thanks for notifying me as quickly as you did."

"You can't! What if they're still there?" Kori asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Even better for me if that is the case; me and my group will not be caught by surprise like you were with Ceres."

It wasn't long after their conversation the nurse walked back into the room with three Audino close behind her. The nurse and the Audino quickly examined Ceres' body, with an increasingly worried look on her face as she continued.

"Well... she has several broken ribs and deep stab wounds in her abdomen. There is some internal bleeding and a couple of superficial cuts all over as well. She is surprisingly stable and thankful; most of the bleeding has already stopped, and because she is blessed, she will heal much faster than a normal person, in addition to being physically sturdy like most strong trainers," the nurse explained.

"Wait, you know about being blessed?" Hiro asked.

The nurse nodded and said, "Not every nurse does, but a select few like myself know. Since Ceres' body can handle the side effects of being healed and we'll be using multiple Audino, we can begin that process right away. Unfortunately, that will not help with her unconscious state, so I'm unsure when she'll wake up."

"Thank you, nurse Joy. When you get the chance, please look at the boy's arm," Iris said, pointing at Leo.

Nurse Joy and one of the Audino walked to Leo.

"May I examine your arm, sir?"

"Of course, m'lady," Leo said happily, holding out his arm.

Nurse Joy began examining his arm, asking questions about pain or numbness.

"Luckily, you all came here not too long after this accident, and we can save this arm with no problem. You also seem fairly healthy; otherwise, we can begin healing you right away as well."

Audino began raising its arms and emitting a pink light that encapsulated Leo's arm. Slowly, the color in his arm began to return, and Leo began slowly moving his fingers. After a few minutes, the light dissipated, Audino lowered its hands, and Leo's arm looked completely back to normal.