Pokèmon: Blood Red

Cave Story

Blaziken lifted his arms in the thick darkness, generating flickering flames from his wrists and feet. The damp cave was illuminated, shadows dancing across the craggy walls. The cave was more of a tunnel than a cave, with one entrance, one exit, and one crescent shaped path in between.
Kaylee helped the boy up from the ground, holding his arm. He let out a feeble cough. Kaylee began to walk towards Jaden, but sensing her approach, he stood up on his own, still facing the wall. Kaylee stopped. "Jaden," she said softly, "I was worried-"
"How did it feel?" Jaden asked abruptly, cutting Kaylee off.
"Ex--cuse me?" She said, confused by his odd question.
"How did it feel," he repeated in verbatim, "to sit safe and sound in this cave-"
"Jaden..." She interrupted.
"While dozens of people and pokemon die out there." He continued. Kaylee stood still. The cave stood still.
"Jaden," she started, "you don't understand-"
"I do understand," he interrupted, turning towards Kaylee, "I understand that when someone dies, they don't come back. When someone dies, everything they worked for in life is taken away." He heard the infant's cry play over and over again deep in his mind. "Or they don't even get a chance to..." He looked straight into Kaylee's distraught eyes, and he began to feel remorse for the things he had said to her. Her eyes felt pain, the same pain as his, but they also showed something his didn't: caring.
"Jaden," she continued for the last time, "we tried to help you, to follow you, but Blaziken wouldn't let us." Blaziken stood behind them, along with Bonnie and Camerupt, standing guard in case any infected tried to attack from within the cave. He turned his head slightly at the mention of his name. "Blaziken brought us here, and told us to stay. Then he went back out there to find you. To save YOU, Jaden." She still looked him directly in the eyes, though at an angle, as she was slightly shorter than him.
"Maybe he shouldn't have," Jaden said solemnly, turning his focus towards the shadowed cab floor, "he could've saved that-" Kaylee slapped Jaden across the face, the clap echoing throughout the cave. Jaden stood paralyzed and confused.
"I don't want to hear any more pity from you," she barked, her eyes no longer distraught, but sizzling with anger. "Blaziken just risked his life to save you, and you saved his!" She pointed towards the boy, who blushed from being the sudden center of attention. "So stop acting like your life doesn't mean anything, and start acting like the Jaden I know!" She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, dropping her anger. "I'm sorry," she said, now softly, eyes pointed away, "I thought that would work... but I guess that's not really me either..."
Jaden began to laugh quietly, still looking at the ground. His laugh grew louder and more pronounced, until it formed a hearty laugh of relief. Kaylee looked at his face once again, and he was smiling. She began to giggle as well, her face gleaming again.
Jaden finally caught his breath. "Thanks Kaylee," he said, still letting a few chuckles escape, "that really helped." He gained his composure, "I should be sorry, that whole pity party thing isn't really me at all!" He said enthusiastically, rubbing his hair through his beanie. "Kaylee, your the best."
"Pshh, noooooo" she said modestly, blushing from the compliment and directing her eyes to the side. They both gave another chuckle, then Jaden turned his attention to the boy who stood quietly observing.
"I'm really sorry about the way I was acting," Jaden said with a smile, slightly embarrassed, "I didn't even introduce myself." He walked over to him, extending his arm. The boy looked down at Jaden's outstretched hand. "Hey, I'm Jaden," he said with vibrant energy, "and I'm going to be the strongest trainer in Hoenn!" The boy nodded slightly to himself and grabbed Jaden's hand.
"Hello," he said tentatively, gathering his breath, "I'm Wally... and I'm going to be the strongest trainer in Hoenn too!" His eyes lit up with surprising confidence, and then gave an inquisitive squint "Oh wait, there can't be two bests..." His eyes illuminated once more "Then maybe when you become the strongest, I'll just have to beat you!"
"Sounds like a challenge!" Jaden said, beaming with anticipation.
"It's like they forget what's going on outside" Kaylee said quietly to herself, smiling. She marveled at their bottomless enthusiasm. Wally's face suddenly turned red In embarrassment.
"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, closing his eyes and halfway bowing to Jaden, still grasping his hand, "I forgot to thank you and your Blaziken for saving me! You really didn't have to!" He continued to bow and face the ground with his eyes closed. Jaden stared for a second, perplexed by Wally's display. He let the breath escape from his nose.
"Hey, don't worry about it," he assured him, "actually, I forgot to thank Blaziken myself..." Blaziken turned his head towards Jaden and raised his right hand. He gave Jaden a thumbs up and winked his eye. "Thanks buddy, really" he said in return, "I don't know what I'd do without you." Blaziken attempted a smile with his beaked mouth, then returned to his position.
Wally let go of Jaden's hand, standing up again with a sigh of relief. He let out a frail cough at the tail end of his sigh, bending back over and covering his mouth with his arm. He lifted his eyes to see 3 more pairs starring back at him questioningly, "I'm sorry... did I... do something?" he asked uneasily, confused by the plethora of eyes that studied him.
"You weren't bitten by any chance, were you?" the nurse suddenly inquired rather insensitively.
"Huh?" Wally asked, confused about the correlation between being bitten and coughing.
"It's just that we saw someone earlier who started coughing after he was bitten," Kaylee inputted sensitively, "and he turned into one of... those..."
"Oh, no!" Wally said reassuringly, understanding their concern and and waving his hands in front of him, "I haven't been bitten or anything, I promise!" The whole room let out a long sigh of relief, releasing the tension built up in the atmosphere. "Yeah," he said, holding his arm, "it's just that I've kinda been sick all my life... that's why I'm so frail and clumsy, I guess."
"Hey, don't say that..." Jaden began to say.
"No it's ok," Wally surprisingly interrupted, "I've come to terms with my... disabilities." He stepped back cautiously and proceeded to take a seat on the cave floor, dirtying his white pants even more. "When I was an infant, I was deathly ill, but doctors couldn't never identify what exactly I had." The others now sat as well, engrossed in his story. "They tried a bunch of different treatments on me, and at some point, one of them must have worked. I was cured after only 4 days, but ironically, the treatments left me permanently weak. I couldn't run, I couldn't play... I could hardly even get out of bed." Wally let out a quiet cough, followed by a few more smaller ones. "I've gotten a whole lot better though, now!" He said, smiling, "And in two days, I'll be 13, so I can get my first -" he cut himself off, realizing the magnitude of the situation they had all found themselves in the midst of. The cave lay silent, as soft drips of collected water dripping from the stalagmites fell into a soothing rhythm, not breaking the silence, but complimenting it. Even the pokémon sat silent on the floor, because if there were any threats to combat, they would have revealed themselves already.
"Oh, my" the nurse said, directing the attention towards herself, "I've been so rude, I haven't even introduced myself." Everyone in the cave shuffled their bodies and rotated themselves to face the new speaker. "Hi," she said gleefully, as is meeting for the first time "I'm Nurse Joy, but you can call me Courtney!"

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Disclaimer: This is not the Courtney from team magma (for anyone who may have thought) ha-ha. Just a new Character

Thanks for reading :D