Ch. 27 The Impatient Patient

            When Vye woke up the next morning, she was in a room she didn’t recognize. She looked around lazily at it. It was a small room with a single door and window. It was rather plain yet still homey somehow. She couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed to explore to figure out where she was. She oddly wasn’t that concerned when she realized she had no idea where she currently was or how she had gotten there. She saw her back pack sitting on a small table in a corner of the room. Pebb was on a small pillow next to it, also resting. Farr was on the floor next to the bed Vye was in.

            After laying there for a while, she saw Kidd come up to her. Kidd said something wouldn’t have been able to understand even if she was thinking clearly, and then Kidd ran off as if in a hurry. Vye just continued to lay there with her head in a fog.

            She did start to piece together what might have been happening. She remembered that she and her Pokémon had been traveling through the Reflection Cave. Diancie had pulled Vye into the mirror. Vye couldn’t really be sure of much of what happened after that. She remembered feeling trapped and like she couldn’t move. She felt sleepy but still somehow aware that her Pokémon were fighting Diancie. At some point something pushed her back out of the mirror.

            Vye could remember knowing that her Pokémon were hurt and she needed to help them. She remembered Pebb had evolved and they left the cave. Everything after that was even fuzzier. The sun had been going down when they got out of the cave, and it was dark by the time they got to wherever they were going. Vye could vaguely remember wanting to just get to a hotel to get some sleep but someone talked her out of it. She couldn’t remember who it was or why she went along with it. But seeing how the room she was currently in didn’t resemble a hotel in any way, she must have lost the argument.

            Vye decided she had probably been too tired to argue and was currently too tired to worry about it. She had just woken up but all she wanted to do was go back to sleep.

            After a little while, Kidd came back into the room, this time with Lukk and a girl Vye didn’t recognize at first. Took her a moment to put together that it was the girl from the night before that had come to Reflection Cave. If Vye had bothered to ask her for her name, she couldn’t remember it.

            “How are you feeling?” The girl asked her.

            Vye coughed. “Tired,” she managed to answer. She managed to sit up with some effort. Kidd and Lukk were watching her with worry. “Who are you again? Where am I?”

            The girl smiled. “Don’t remember?” She asked. “My name is Korrina. We’re at my grandfather’s house.”

            Vye coughed again. She wiped her forehead a bit. Her skin was damp with sweat but she felt cold. She shivered a bit before clutching the blanket and pulling it up to her shoulders.

            “My grandfather called one of his friends,” Korrina went on. “A doctor. He agreed to do a house call to come check you out.”

            “I’m okay,” Vye said gruffly.

            ~No you’re not,~ Lukk insisted firmly.

            “I don’t think so,” Korrina commented, unknowingly agreeing with Lukk. “You seem like you have quite the fever.”

            “I just need rest,” Vye argued. “I’ll be fine so don’t worry about it.”

            “Better safe than sorry,” Korrina maintained, waving a finger at her. “Don’t you worry. It’s no trouble at all.”

            Korrina then glanced at Kidd and Lukk. “I have to be going to the gym,” she mentioned. “The doctor should be here soon so keep an eye on your trainer for me while I’m gone.”

            Lukk and Kidd both nodded to her. Vye looked over at her.

            “Gym?” She asked.

            Korrina faced Vye again. She smiled and put a hand on top of her head sheepishly. “Oh yeah,” she admitted. “I’m kinda the Shalour City Gym Leader…”

            Vye gave her a dull glare. “You’re a gym leader?” She repeated.

            “Yeah, but I don’t need to be there all day,” she went on. “I’ll be back later.”

            Vye pushed the blanket off and started to put her feet on the floor to get up.

            “Well, time to go,” she said.

            When Vye tried to stand up, Kidd and Lukk both quickly put one arm in front of her and their free hand on one of her shoulders.

            ~We can’t leave,~ Lukk argued.

            Korrina raised her hands, motioning for Vye to stay put. “No, no!” She defended. “This is nothing to worry about! You’re not a bother, honest!”

            “Not that you know of,” Vye grumbled.

            “There’s plenty of room here and you shouldn’t be alone in your condition,” Korrina added. “Please stay.”

            Vye didn’t argue and wasn’t trying to get up anymore, so Korrina seemed to take that as her answer. She waved and started heading out of the room.

            “I better get going,” she said. “I’ll see you later!”

            With that, Korrina left the room. Once she was out of sight, Vye started to stand up again. Kidd and Lukk tried to hold her back.

            “We need to go,” Vye persisted, weakly pushing against them. Kidd and Lukk were trying to be careful but were able to keep her in place with little effort.

            ~And why do we need to do that?~ Lukk inquired. ~You’re not strong enough to go anywhere. They’re even having some doctor come look at you here. That’s what we need.~

            “No,” Vye argued, “we need to get out of here. We can’t stay in a house with a gym leader.”

            ~Why not?~ Lukk asked.

            Vye sat back down so Kidd and Lukk released her. She looked at Lukk seriously.

            “Mewtwo is in Kalos,” she pointed out. “He could show up any time without warning. He can’t just show up to a gym leader’s home! That will not go over well!”

            ~And you don’t think Mewtwo knows he should not be seen,~ Lukk observed snidely, folding his arms at her.

            Vye sat there quietly for a moment. “Doesn’t matter,” she continued. “It’s too risky.”

            ~And it’s too risky to leave in your condition,~ Lukk stated. ~If Mewtwo does come looking for you, I’ll be able to sense it. I’ll warn him if necessary. For now we have a safe, warm place for you to get well again.~

            Vye seemed to want to keep urging for them to leave but she started coughing again. She took a moment to try to get it under control and then started shivering again.  Kidd started tugging on the blanket to put it over Vye again.

            ~Please lie back down,~ Lukk suggested. ~You must rest.~

            Vye found herself too tired to keep arguing. She laid back down in the bed and clutched the blanket around her to try to get warm again.

            In her mind, Vye thought she was just taking a moment to figure out her next argument and next course of action. She didn’t even realize she fell back to sleep. She wasn’t aware of how long she slept before Lukk woke her up again. It had felt like no time at all. But when she opened her eyes, there were two new men in the room she hadn’t seen before. Both were older and had graying hair. One was wearing a suit and carrying a black bag while the other was wearing more casual clothing. He had long bushy eyebrows and the only hair he had other than that on his head was a thin strip across the top.

            ~The doctor is here to see you,~ Lukk told her.

            The man in the suit opened his bag and started to dig around for something. Vye slowly sat up and put her feet back on the floor.

            The man with the long eyebrows nodded to Vye and put a hand on his chest.

            “It’s nice to get a chance to meet you,” he introduced. “I’m Korrina’s grandfather. Call me Gurkinn. And this is Dr. Paulson.”

            “Thank you for letting us stay the night,” Vye managed to say, sounding a bit gruff and weak. “We won’t be staying long.”

            “Don’t worry about it,” Gurkinn assured her. “Stay as long as you need. Let’s get you checked out.”

            Vye put a hand to her head for a moment, but then looked back over at Gurkinn.

            “Thank you for letting us stay the night,” she repeated. “We won’t be staying long.”

            Lukk and Gurkinn gave her a puzzled look. She seemed confused at their confusion.

            “Did I not say thank you?” Vye asked. “Or did I forget the part where we should be leaving soon? Because I do want to thank you for letting us stay the night, but we won’t be staying long.”

            “I think she’s a little confused,” Gurkinn noticed.

            “Noted,” Dr. Paulson said.

            Dr. Paulson was getting a thermometer ready to check her temperature. Vye shook her head.

            “We really don’t need to stay,” Vye said. “I can take care of myself.”

            “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Dr. Paulson interjected, chuckling a little. “Open your mouth for me.”

            Vye did open her mouth so she could argue some more, but Dr. Paulson instead just popped the thermometer into it. He put one hand under her chin and forced her mouth closed.

            “No talking until it’s done,” he commented playfully as if on to what Vye was ready to say.

            Vye grunted in annoyance but allowed the rest of the examination to take place. He checked her blood pressure and asked about her symptoms. He looked down her throat with a flashlight and also checked her ears. Whenever Vye wouldn’t answer a question to his satisfaction, Lukk would chime in with the answer. Interestingly, Dr. Paulson seemed able to hear him but Gurkinn could not.

            “It doesn’t seem to be much to worry about,” Dr. Paulson mentioned as he started packing his things again. “There’s been a bug going around and you’ve seem to have caught it.” He glanced over at her. “That’s quite the fever though. You seem to have to worse than most. Probably because of stress.”

            ~Stress?~ Lukk inquired.

            “It can mess with the immune system,” Dr. Paulson added. “Whether it’s from something going on in your life or just from your travels is something you’ll need to figure out.” He smiled calmly. “This is your body’s way of making you take it easy for a while so I suggest you take advantage of that.”

            The doctor then started writing something on a pad. He tore off the paper and held it up to her.

            “This prescription is for an antibiotic,” he said. “It’ll help you, but other than that, you need rest, rest, and more rest.”

            Vye took the prescription and lazily looked it over. He put the pad back in his bag and closed it up.

            “I’ll come back and check on you in a few days,” he went on. He looked over at Gurkinn. “Do let me know if you need anything else in the meantime.”

            “No problem,” Gurkinn smiled. “Thank you for the help.”

            “Yeah, thanks,” Vye grumbled as politely as she could muster.

            “I’ll show you out,” Gurkinn offered, waving a hand to the door.

            “Yeah, thanks,” Vye said again.

            Dr. Paulson just smiled and followed Gurkinn out of the room. Lukk sat on the bed next to Vye.

            ~Still think we should leave?~ he asked.

            “Of course we should,” Vye insisted. “I don’t think you understand how bad it’ll be for everyone if Mewtwo is found out. I always put as much space between me and the league as possible. That’s how I kept this a secret for all these years. I can’t stay in the same house as a gym leader!”

            ~This ‘gym leader’ saved us from Diancie,~ Lukk pointed out. ~And then she made sure that we got out of there safely. They provided a place for you to rest and brought in that doctor to look after you. She has only tried to help.~

            Vye looked at him seriously. “All the more reason to not risk something going wrong,” she said. “Even if she tries to understand the situation and even if she were to try and keep the secret, on the chance that we’re caught, she’ll be dragged into the whole mess with me. I can’t ask her to risk her career and possibly freedom over me.”

            Lukk took a moment to consider it. Then he looked back at her.

            ~You are assuming the worst will happen,~ he observed. ~Maybe that Doctor was right about you being stressed. Stop worrying that simply being here will lead the league to Mewtwo. Maybe you can’t trust this trainer with your secret. But I know you trust yourself to keep it.~

            Lukk held up a paw. ~Now trust us,~ he told her. ~We know how important it is that your secret be kept. Trust us to keep it. Trust Mewtwo to be cautious. Trust that you’ve done a good enough job training your Pokémon to be able to take care of you like you have them. Trust that they can make good decisions too.~

            Vye studied him quietly briefly. “We’d be just as fine in a hotel, you know,” she persisted.

            ~Yes, I know,~ he nodded. Then he shrugged. ~But even you said you’ve had to distance yourself from the league because of what you’re hiding. I’d imagine that is also true for Lysandre. Stay here and he’ll stay away. Can you say that about a hotel?~

            Vye thought about that. She had no way of knowing if Lysandre was still tracking her. If he was, maybe knowing she was in contact with someone like Korrina would hold him off for a while. At least it was a better chance than if she was out on her own.

            “I suppose it’s worth a shot,” Vye surrendered. “Fine, we’ll stay.”

            Lukk smiled. He stood back up.

            ~You haven’t eaten yet,~ he pointed out. ~Would you like me to get you something?~

            Vye shook her head. “I just want to sleep,” she admitted.

            ~All right,~ he stated. He took the prescription Dr. Paulson had given her. ~I’ll see what I can do to get this for you. We’ll see if you can stomach some food later.~

            Vye started climbing back into bed, already closing her eyes.

            “There’s money in my bag,” she yawned.

            ~I’ll take care of it,~ he promised. ~Rest well, Vye.~

            Vye gave no sign that she could still hear him. She rolled onto her side, ready to get more sleep. For the time being she let herself forget about Lysandre and the league. All she wanted was some sleep and that’s what she was going to get.