Pokemon - Evil Reborn

Chapter 32 - Promise Hanging by a Thread

When I woke up, I found myself in a bed. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to get used to the light shining on the ceiling. The pillow felt soft, and the puffy white covers were warm and silky. Even without moving, I could tell that my wounds had been covered. With a yawn, I lifted the covers and looked down. There was a bandage running across the back of my shoulders that snaked across the front of my chest. The scratches on my arms were already fading. There were a couple of platers on my legs around the knees where I had scraped them, and places where I had been burnt felt cool. Presumably gel had been rubbed in to stop infection.

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around. The room wasn't very big, but it wasn't terribly small, either. The walls were cream coloured, and the floor was carpeted the same way. Against the far wall opposite the bed was a desk with several drawers, and a standard television set was at the centre, its screen black and empty. There was a wardrobe to the left, and a very short corridor led to the door. On the right, in the corner, were two glass doors with plastic white rims. They led out onto the balcony. The curtains were drawn, but I could tell that it was night time. And then, in the other corner on the right, the wall jutted forward a little bit, and I could just make out a door handle from where I was laying. The bathroom? It must have been. Finally, directly to my right was a bedside table. On it was a glass of water and a packet of headache tablets, next to my pyjamas.

I gently swung my legs over the side and leant over the table. I took two tablets – as the packet instructed – and swallowed them with water. The charred shirt I had been wearing was gone, but I was still wearing my tracksuit bottoms. They were ruined too, and I could see the plasters and burns through the holes, but at least I had something to wear. I changed into the pyjamas and sat back on the bed. Looking at it, I saw that it was a double bed, though the second set of pillows were seemingly untouched. Where was I?

Just then, the balcony doors opened, and the curtains were gently pushed aside. Nelly stepped inside, sliding the doors shut behind her. She was also in her pyjamas, her purple nightgown fitting loosely around her frame. She spotted me and smiled. "Oh, you're up... How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right, I think..." I replied, looking down at my watch. It was quarter to eleven at night. Nelly seemed tired, but it was more than that. Something hung in her eyes that tried to tell me something. "What happened...?" I asked.

Nelly stayed standing, leaning against the wall as she told me what had happened after I fell unconscious. "It was kind of strange, really... The airships flew away not too long afterwards. Nobody knows where they went." She began.

"That is strange." I agreed. "Why would Tobi just leave all of a sudden...?"

I thought back to what had been said before I blacked out. Then I shivered, remembering what Neira had told me. "That girl, Neira... She said she was pregnant..." I frowned. Nelly's eyes shifted away for moment. "Is it true? Is that... Even possible?" I wondered.

"Anyway," Nelly changed the subject. "We brought you here. We're at a hotel, one of the best in Castelia City, apparently... Everyone else is here too, they're staying in other rooms. A doctor came to visit you up here. He bandaged you up and left a cream to rub onto your burns." She pointed at the bedside table. A small grey tub was poking out from behind the dormant lamp.

"Did you...?"

"I put the cream on a few hours ago." Nelly nodded. "The doctor said you needed to sleep, and putting it on the burns too early might sting you and wake you up."

"Well, I... Thank you." I smiled. "How much does all of this cost?"

"Nothing. The hotel let us stay here for free, on account of how we 'drove Tobi away'... The medicine also cost nothing. I think the people understand just how big of an issue all of this is."