Chapter 7 – Friends Til the End
Kouki, Hikari and the two Pokémon, Chimchar and Abra, slowly crept through the dark cave. It was pitch black and no-one could see anything, that’s where Abra came in... the little fox-like Pokémon blinked his small eyes and created a blinding flash, which lit the whole cave. Kouki and Hikari smiled at the new found light, they started scanning the cave... looking for any signs of Jun.
“Do you see anything?” asked Hikari, as she continued to scan the area. She stopped for a second and turned to Kouki, waiting for his response. The teenage boy noticed Hikari staring at him and he slowly shook his head, “Where could he be?” questioned Hikari, going back to searching, “Jun!” she called loudly, which sent an echo through the cave.
Off in the distance, carried by the echo, came a suddenly yell, “What was that?” asked Kouki, stopping suddenly and turning to Hikari. He waited for an answer, but Hikari just stood there... silent. “Hikari?” he asked, wondering if she had heard him the first time.
“Quiet!” returned Hikari abruptly, raising a finger to Kouki, “Just listen...” she continued on to say. Abra and Chimchar moved towards the noise, they were now at the head of the pack as everyone waited for the voice to talk again.
“Hikari?” called the voice quietly, although... because of the echo, it sounded a lot louder, “Is that you?” asked the voice again. Soon it became clear to everyone that the voice was owned by none other than Jun.
“Jun!” yelled Hikari happily; as a wave of relief washed over her, “Are you ok?” she asked, settling down to see if Jun was alright. A few seconds past and there was no response, Hikari begun to get worried again... until Jun broke the silence.
“I’ve been better,” called Jun sarcastically, Hikari finally knew that he was alright. Jun may be a bit reckless, but even when he’s in trouble you can always count on him for a joke. Kouki, Hikari, Chimchar and their new partner, Abra, followed the sound of Jun’s voice and soon found him sitting against the wall of a long rocky corridor. “It’s about time you guys showed up!” he exclaimed with a smile, it seemed he was no longer angry at Kouki or Hikari.
Jun was in pretty bad shape, there was a gash on his right leg... which showed that he must have tripped while running through the cave. Kouki, being the good friend he is, offered Jun a hand... which, after hesitating for a second, the injured boy accepted with a smile. “You gave us quite a scare,” pointed out Kouki, putting Jun’s arm around his neck and smiling warmly.
“Yeah...” he muttered, scratching his own neck with his free hand, “I’m really sorry about that...” Suddenly, something within Jun’s messenger bag began to move... to Kouki and Hikari’s surprise, a small green Pokémon appeared. “Oh,” said Jun quickly, realising that he had forgotten about Budew, “This is Budew,” he said with a smile, “I met him earlier today and he decided that he wanted to come with me.”
Hikari squealed with excitement, she practically leapt forward and grabbed Budew in her arms, “It’s so cute!” she exclaimed, squeezing the poor Grass-type Pokémon... who was begin to look like it didn’t enjoy all this attention.
Jun laughed reluctantly at Hikari’s actions, he didn’t want to admit to Kouki and Hikari why he had run off in the first place... so, he tried to change the subject, “What do you guys say we get out of this cave?”
Kouki nodded eagerly, “I’m with you buddy!” he said quickly, starting to make his way through the cave... helping Jun every step of the way. Chimchar and Abra started marching after their trainers proudly; yes... it appeared that Abra was now an official member of Kouki’s Pokémon team. Hikari suddenly noticed everyone walking away; she grasped Budew tightly and briskly caught up to her friends. The trio’s Pokémon Journey had started off a little bumpy, but here’s hoping its smooth sailing from now on!
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Kouki and Jun burst through the doors of the Pokémon Centre, followed by Chimchar and Abra... who were followed by Hikari, holding Budew in her arms. So many people and Pokémon charging into the Pokémon Centre at this hour must have been enough to scare the young nurse, that was standing behind the front counter, half to death. Amidst all the ruckus the nurse managed to quickly grab a hold of the situation.
“Good evening,” she greeted politely, smiling warmly with a tilt of her head, “I’m Nurse Joy of Oreburgh City. How may I help you?” Kouki helped Jun over to the front counter, where he nearly collapsed if not for his good friend holding him up. “Oh dear...” said Nurse Joy, looking at Jun’s state, “What’ happened to him?”
Kouki stopped to catch his breath, in that time Chimchar, Abra, Hikari and Budew managed to reach the two boys and the front counter. “He tripped... in the cave... just outside the City,” replied Kouki, still tired after the long trek through the darkness to reach the Pokémon Centre.
The young nurse leaned over the counter and saw the gash on Jun’s leg; it had left a trail of blood all through the Pokémon Centre and needed to be treated quickly. “How badly does it hurt?” asked the nurse, looking up at Jun while still leaning over... which was giving the teenage boy a perfect view down the front of her dress.
“Uhm...” he mumbled, trying to find the words that weren’t coming to him, “Oh, it’s not that bad,” he lied, too enticed by the young woman to think of anything better to say, and anyways... he wanted to come off as a tough guy on his first impression.
Nurse Joy thought for a second, “I don’t usually work on humans, but in this case I’ll be willing to make an exception,” she said with a nod, before turning to Kouki and Hikari, “Would you like me to take your Pokémon while I’m at it?” she asked with a smile.
Kouki glanced at Hikari, who nodded back to him, “That would be wonderful,” he said, as if relieved to have so much weight taken off his shoulders. Kouki and Hikari handed over their Poké Ball’s and let Chimchar, Abra and Budew go with the nurse.
The young woman, Jun and the three Pokémon disappeared into the emergency room; “You can grab a room if you’d like!” called the nurse from behind the closed doors. Hikari ran behind the counter quickly and grabbed a key that was hanging on the wall, she was excited to finally have somewhere civilized to stay. Kouki and Hikari ran to the stairs and thundered up them as fast as they could.
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Half an hour later Kouki and Hikari were getting ready for bed, the clock was nearing ten-thirty and it had been a rough day. Sleep was the best thing they could think of right now, despite the fact that they had already had a good nap back in Jubilife. I guess the ordeal with Jun must have tired them out... a lot.
There were three beds in the room, one beside the door and two right beside each other on the other side of the room... these two had already been claimed by Kouki and Hikari, you could tell because half the contents of each of their bags was sprawled out on top of them.
Kouki grabbed what he was going to sleep in and made his way over to the bathroom, which to his dismay was already being occupied by Hikari, “Open up!” he demanded, banging his free hand against the door loudly. The door open slowly and Hikari wandered out, she was dressed in a long shirt that could have passed as a dress on her... it was grey and orange and had the number eighteen written on it in big letters.
“No need to panic...” she said quietly, stepping closer to Kouki, “I’m all done...” Hikari walked passed Kouki and over to her bed, which was the one closest to the bathroom. Kouki followed the girl with his eyes and suddenly burst out laughing, which caused Hikari to turn to him and send a look that was asking, “What’s so funny?” straight towards him.
Kouki calmed down and wiped a tear from his eye, “Nice shirt!” he said sarcastically, “Where’d ya get it?” The boy had been laughing so much he had dropped his clothes on the ground, but he didn’t mind... he was too fascinated by why Hikari would be wearing something like that.
Hikari stamped her foot, “For your information, Jun gave it to me,” she replied, answering the boy’s stupid question. She took a big step forward and continued, “The reason I’m wearing it is so that you can’t see what I’ve got on under it...” she whispered to the boy, who had finally stopped laughing.
“And...” began Kouki, “What do you have on under it?” he asked, letting his curious mind get the better of him. He bent down and picked up his clothes before looking over at Hikari and waiting for an answer to his “perverted” question.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out...” she said, turning away and going back to what she was about to do before she was interrupted by Kouki’s laughing. Suddenly something inside her clicked and she wished she hadn’t replied to Kouki’s question like that.
Kouki started to think up a good come-back, before replying with, “Is that an invitation?” he asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow at Hikari. He took a few steps backwards, feeling the cold tiles of the bathroom as he got ready to jump in and close the door before Hikari could think of a come-back.
Hikari stopped what she was doing abruptly to respond to Kouki, but by the time she did... he was already safely in the bathroom getting changed. She scoffed, “Boy’s are disgusting...” she muttered, referring to Kouki’s last “question”.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Jun came limping into the room, “I checked every other room before I found you!” he exclaimed, carrying on like a baby. Chimchar, Abra and Budew slowly walked into the room... they looked very tired and were ready for bed. “Oh,” began Jun, remembering something important, “The nurse says she’ll bring up our Poké Ball’s later on.”
Jun was suddenly ambushed by Hikari and embraced into a tight hug, the teenage boy didn’t object... he accepted the hug and returned it warmly. “I’m glad you’re alright...” she said sweetly, looking down at his, now bandaged, leg, “So, do you think they’ll let you keep it?” she asked jokingly.
Jun laughed, “I don’t know,” he said, pretending to sound worried, “What if I wake up and they’ve taken my leg!” He and Hikari laughed along at his joke and went back to what they were doing. Jun began to unpack and Hikari did the opposite, she packed up.
“Kouki’s in the bathroom,” pointed out Hikari, not even looking up from her packing, “He should be out in a second. She finished with her bag and dropped it on the ground, she then jumped into bed and got under the covers, “I don’t know about you, but I’m pooped...”
Jun laughed and walked over to the bathroom, just as Kouki was coming out, “It’s all yours,” he said, allowing Jun to pass him and make his way into the bathroom. Hikari watched as Kouki walked across the room, he didn’t have a shirt on and so it was one of the first times she had gotten to see his body. Kouki noticed that Hikari was looking at him, “You like what you see?” he asked with a laugh.
Hikari blushed a bright red, “Shut up!” she replied, rolling over and pulling the covers over her head. She might have not admitted it, but she did think Kouki had a good body... not that she liked him more than a friend or anything, right?
NOTE: Any spelling/grammar errors are unintentional, if you see one please tell me.
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