Fury and Confusion (A Pokemon Fanfiction)

Chapter Two

Shadows danced around her. Warm blood mixed with cool sand. The darkness around her moved and she batted against it, arms flailing pathetically. The lights of Iki Town in the distance burned into her eyes.

Her heart thrummed as the shapes closed in, long tendrils threatening her from the dark. She couldn't escape, so she closed her eyes instead.

"...is her injury..." the rest of the words faded in and out. She opened her eyes at the familiar voice.

Professor Kukui kneeled over her, moonlight lighting his face. He was tearing off his labcoat and looking Lillie up and down desperately. His expression was dark – for some reason this brought a profound sense of regret to her.

"Don't be..." Lillie stretched a bloody hand up, stroking his face, "...you're too..."

Her breath failed her. Kukui shushed her, pressing her hand back down gently. Another shape was beside him, smaller, more agitated. Kukui motioned to it and the thing bit hard into his labcoat, tearing it into two pieces.

"But..." Lillie struggled to talk. She reached at him again.

The professor pressed half the torn lab coat into her bleeding thigh. Pain shot through her. She arced her back, mouth open in a silent scream, before slumping back into the sand. She whimpered, tears in her eyes, her vision foggy but her mind suddenly clear.

There were other shapes in the darkness now too. Kahuna Hala rushed past her, shouting into the night and something scattered away.

"What in god's name were you doing down here?" Professor Kukui tied the lab coat tight around her wound. Red was already seeping through.

"I was..." Her throat clenched up. She felt warm despite how cold the night air felt against her bare skin. "I was looking for..."

Professor Kukui lifted her dress. She weakly batted at him, a shocked gasp escaping her lips.

"You can't–"

He ignored her protests as he tied the other half of his lab coat tight around her upper thigh. The cloth pressed painfully deep against her skin. The redness in the bandaging above her wound slowed. Lillie looked up at him, her head swimming, as he lowered her dress again. She struggled to sit up but the professor ushered her back down again.

"Relax, Lillie," he said. "Don't try to move. You've lost a lot of blood."

"Yes, open the gate and..." a voice in the background faded in and out. "...going to need to take her to..." Her focus was fading. "...is keeping the Bagon away."

The professor leaned over her, staring at something in the dark.

"Rockruff," the professor gestured into the dark, "fetch that for me."

The small shape from earlier quickly and silently bounded around her, digging its nose into the sand and returning. He turned an object over slowly in his hands. The waves crashed closer, just barely wetting the bandages on Lillie's right foot. The lights in the distance were glowing brighter now and danced to rhythms Lillie couldn't hear.

"Where did you get this?" Professor Kukui squinted, his voice barely a whisper.

Lillie saw the wrinkles in his face and wondered if she'd ever tell him what she really thought of him. He looked down at her with a concern she'd never seen before. He was so pretty. She reached up at him again and tried to smile. So pretty.