The comfort that comes with hurt

Elrond appeared floating sedately behind carrying two pokeballs looking rather lackluster. Bandages curled around his form in various places, a rather thick one was placed around his right ear near the tip which was shorter than before. Surge pushed off the wall and easily grabbed the Alolan Raichu, "You're not supposed to be flying that often especially given your injury, Elrond."

Elrond's left ear twitched a bit and he peered at Surge slowly, "You weren't there to pick Smaug, Balto, and I up. I didn't wish for us to linger in the pokemon center much longer even if it meant staying with those still there. I...I need to be with her. WE need to be with her."

Tears were forming in the Alolan Raichu's eye's sending a pang of hurt through Surge's heart, Surge felt for Elrond and the rest of them. Being unable to do anything for their trainer as she was held and used a leverage against them, it had to of stung especially when she had to hurt herself in order to be free and allow them to do their job. He carefully opened the door to Vali's room and brought Elrond to her bed, "Just remember to be careful of her left side and right arm, you guys won't be allowed out of your pokeballs if her injuries are disturbed."

"We understand," Elrond moved carefully over to Vali's neck and snuggled into her, "Thank you, Surge. If it wasn't for you...We...I..."

Surge's eyes burned as Elrond began to cry and curl as tightly against Vali's shoulder as his wounded body would allow, "I understand. You made sure I got to her though, Elrond. You and Celina. It's thanks to you," He walked over and laid his hand on Elrond's back, "She'll be okay, Elrond. She'll recover and be our brightly burning flame again. Nothing will put her out, you know that."

Elrond stayed silent and Surge said nothing else as he rubbed Elrond's back for a few moments. Eventually, he set Smaug and Balto's pokeballs on the bedside table before reaching into his pockets. He added Litleo and Seel's pokeballs to the pile before doing the same with Litwick's. Aragorn's followed with Houndour's shortly after and he left the room after rubbing Elrond's back again. Blaine was looking into the room when he shut the door. The older gym leader spoke as they both looked into the room, "Delia figured out that the League was involved. She's angry, but more worried than anything else. She'll be arriving with the two boys in a couple of days once she can get things settled in Pallet Town."

They both watched as Litwick, Aragorn, Houndour, Litleo, Seel, and Balto were released. Of the group released, Aragorn, Houndour, and Balto all showed signs that they'd been hurt during the scrimmage with the Poachers pokemon. Aragorn's right ear was torn slightly. Houndour was bandaged on her back left paw, but it was rather light. Balto was missing fur on his chest and right side with the skin being a rather vivid reddish pink color. Even without showing any sign of being hurt, it was obvious there'd been a change in Litwick. She was huddling close to her pack members and looking around the room in suspicion. Seeing all this, Surge felt a pang go through him at the innocence lost to this group, "They're not going to be the same after this. With how close they came to losing the kid, it'll have jump-started certain instincts in some and inspired other ones in the rest."

"A time of realization has come for them. One that often comes too late for all of us. One that usually costs us something dear," Blaine added rather solemnly with a shake of his head, "Vali too will change some though how much will not be known until she awakens,"

"It'll be a couple days to a week before the docs are okay with her waking up even with how quick she can heal," Surge just wanted her awake and better.

Ash would admit to being a bit slow when it came to some things, but even he knew something was going on with his mom. It was almost like those days his mom had been hiding the fact his dad had sent that package home only worse. He knew it wasn't a package from his dad since Red had written a month ago and sent a small package meaning it had to be something else. It wasn't Sirius getting hurt because his mom had talk to the man last night and everything had seemed fine. He couldn't understand it and Gary didn't know either especially since the same thing seemed to be going on with Professor Oak. So he decided to ask his mom when he went home after Pokemon summer camp, he walked into the house and found his mother getting off of the phone.

"Mom," Ash called out as he put down his bag.

"Ash," Delia offered him a weird smile, "Sweetie, I'm glad that you came home right away from Summer Camp. I just got off the phone with Sirius and he'll be here soon. We'll be heading over to the Lab in a bit,"

"Why?" Ash didn't mind going over to Professor Oak's lab since it was a lot of fun but this was really unusual.

Delia's smile slipped into a frown and she let out a sigh, "Ash, honey, I'm going to be frank since you're getting to be old enough that I don't need to sugar coat things as much," She got onto her knees and looked him in the eyes as she laid her hands onto his shoulders, "Vali's been hurt, Ash."

Ash's heart stopped and his mind went almost completely blank, "W-what?!"

"She got into a training accident while out with Blaine and Surge on League Business," Delia told him as Pidgey let out a distraught squawk, "She's currently in Vermilion city hospital. She got seriously hurt. I'm not going to say how exactly is happened, but right now she's in a medically induced Coma. It means that the doctors put her into a deep sleep to ensure her body can heal some of the damage. But they're going to let her out of that sleep soon enough, we're heading to Vermilion to be there when she's awake and take care of her pokemon in the meantime,"

"V-vali?" Ash's eye's burned, "She's hurt? I-i didn't even tell her I was sorry for how I acted when she left,"

"I know, Sweetheart," Delia hugged him gently making sure not to disturb Pidgey, "You'll get the chance when she wakes up,"

Ash started sobbing softly and hugged his mother tightly as he realized how close he'd come to never having talked to his sister again. To the last thing he'd said to her being, "If you leave again, I'll hate you forever!"

Ash held his mother even tighter as he vowed to be more careful with his words especially when it came to his sister. If he almost lost her this time, the next time might be for real and that only made him sob harder.

Aragorn cuddled close to Vali keeping a careful eye on the Nurse as they changed out the IV bags. He didn't like his mother/sister being unconscious and hurt with another human in the room especially after the bedlam that had unfolded with that nasty blue haired human's pokemon. He didn't like knowing that she'd be in this state for awhile longer though with hope her injuries would heal quickly. Flicking his bandaged ear towards Elrond, he listened as the elder pokemon said, "She won't wake up sooner even if you grumble at the nurses, Aragorn."

"I know that, Elrond," Aragorn sighed softly and closed his eyes as he carefully nuzzled closer while feeling Houndour do the same to him, "I just feel useless sitting here. Now that I can finally battle and train alongside you all, I should be able to protect her. I should have been able to stop that man," He peeled back his lips and bared his fangs at the thought of the nasty blue haired human, "And yet, he managed to wound Vali TWICE! First with that damned Weavile then that knife when she was getting free of his clutches, I could do nothing to keep those things from happening," He flicked his left tail in irritation and easily ignored the slight twinge in his tailbone that was likely another tail beginning to form, "I was practically useless in the battle. All I've got to show for it is my torn right ear,"

"You still managed to keep them from killing Houndour and harming Litwick," Elrond pointed out with a slight sigh prompting Aragorn to open his eyes to peer at the elder pokemon, "Aragorn, you are young. Among our pack, you are the eldest of the youngest members and the most trained of them. For someone so young, you've progressed faster than most and it's a thing to feel pride about. The situation we were in was abnormal as hell and we all paid the price for it. All of us will need to train more to ensure we won't be caught off guard again especially if we want to ensure Vali won't end up in this state again. It isn't all on you, Aragorn,"

The bitter tone caused Aragorn to pull himself back from his self loathing and see just how ragged the Alolan Raichu really was. A glance towards Balto showed the same signs and he felt shame tear through him. Bowing his head, Aragorn murmured, "I realize that now. I just..."

"I know, Aragorn," Elrond sighed deeply and shook his head before freezing a bit as his paw reached up to touch that one bandaged ear that was shorter now, "Trust me, I know. All of us do," Elrond looked towards Balto and nodded, "As you wish, Balto,"

Aragorn looked towards Balto as well and suddenly heard his Alpha's mental voice, "Little King, the foe we just encountered was one of many that we will face in the future. Our Vali, our sister, will forever be in danger due to what she is and what path she treads. A war is coming in the future and we will be apart of it due to our bond with Vali," Aragorn looked towards their trainer in shock and concern, "Not even she knows exactly why this is or what the details are, they will become clear in time. All I know, Little King, is that she needs us to watch over her and be by her side. The battle we just had will only be the beginning. We must train harder, but with that, we cannot over do it."

"Do you understand what we're trying to say, Aragorn?" Elrond asked earning a nod.

"I think so," Aragorn looked back towards Balto, "I need to prepare myself for the future, but I can't overdo it. While I couldn't protect Vali, I can't beat myself up over it since I'm so young and inexperienced. With the future ahead of us, I'll get more chances to protect her when I'm stronger and for now, I need to focus on reaching that level, right?"

"Right," Balto nodded to him and settled down a bit more easily though his eyes immediately went to Vali's face, "We all need to reach a higher level,"

Aragorn nodded as he settled down a bit more easily. Houndour let out a soft whine and he turned his head to nuzzle her. He snorted a bit when she gave him a confused look. The younger pokemon was still a bit too young to understand everything that was going on around her save for the fact Vali was hurt and they all needed to rest. It reminded him of the days when he was that young though Vali hadn't been seriously injured while he was so young. With a slight mental sigh as he yawned softly, he slowly began to fall asleep hoping that Vali would awaken soon.