Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rising Spirits

Chapter 1, Part 7 - Recuperation

"Can it, nurse! I have to go in there, I have to see if he's okay!" With a sharp gasp, Trevor instantly recognized the other voice's assertive tone as distinctly Aiden's.

"You're not even supposed to be here," Holly's voice loudly stated, "You were supposed to be recovering in the poison wing before you snuck out and forced me to chase you around! Now, get from this door before I call the police!"

"Outta my way!"

The wooden door of the hospital room violently slammed open, as Aiden unceremoniously barged into the room. Trevor couldn't help but recoil slightly upon seeing how disheveled the Scorbunny looked as she began weakly limping forwards. Her breathing quivered harshly as she painfully clutched at the gauze wrapped around her chest and torso. Her ears were completely limp, lifelessly dangling behind her drooping head; her normally bright, yellow eyes sagged from the massive shadows which hung from underneath.

Despite her pitiful state, she immediately launched herself towards Trevor on sight and nearly tackled him from his bed with a constricting hug. Tears flowed uncontrollably from her swollen, red eyes. "I'M SORRYYYY!" she screamed, "YOU GOT DRAGGED INTO THIS MESS BECAUSE OF MEEE! ALL BECAUSE I'M SO SELFIIIIISH!" Trevor felt as if his bones would snap from the overwhelming pressure of her constricting embrace.

"Get away from him!" Holly furiously demanded as she rushed towards Aiden forcefully pried her away. "Can't you see he needs time to recuperate?! Unbelievable! In all my years of nursing, I've never met anyone so willing to barge into a hospital room like an absolute maniac!"

Trevor stared at Aiden, puffy eyed with tears flowing down her tired-looking face. She gave a weak cough and a sniffle as she stared guiltily towards the floor.

"Nurse," Trevor asked tentatively, "...Could you please leave us alone for a brief moment?"

Holly was taken aback by the sudden request. "What?!" she scolded, "Absolutely not! You need to be resting, and your reckless partner still needs more treatment for her poison affliction! Leaving you two alone would be completely irresponsible- "

"Please," Aiden pleaded, "It won't be for too long. I just want to talk with Trevor about some stuff. I'll go back to my bed afterwards with no complaints."

Holly scowled at the two for a few seconds, then released an indignant scoff and stormed towards the room's exit. "I'll give you five minutes and that's it," she growled, "After that, you two are going straight to your beds and are going to stay there until further notice, understand?!"

The pair nodded in unison, prompting Holly to exit the room and shut the door behind her.

Aiden immediately began speaking at a rapid pace, only pausing to let out an occasional harsh cough. "Sorry if I surprised you, I just had to make sure that you were okay. I don't think I would ever be able to forgive myself if you weren't." Her eyes turned glossy with barely-suppressed tears. "It's my fault that you got hurt. I was so focused on becoming an explorer so much, I nearly killed you by dragging you into this business even when you outright said you had no experience! What was I thinking, pushing you into harm's way so needlessly?!"

Aiden sat down and leaned against the giant bed stationed on Trevor's left side, both feet planted on the floor and hands huddled around her knees. "My folks back at home were all right. Everyone who's ever rejected an invitation to team with me were all right. I can't be in an explorer team, not when I never listen to anyone but myself out of selfishness. I... should've known that this was a bad idea from the start. I mean, what good is an explorer that isn't able to protect their teammates when they're in trouble? What good is any team with someone like me as leader?!"

As Aiden began to bury her head in her messy, tearstained paws, Trevor silently grabbed the newspaper he had received earlier and handed it to her. He managed to catch the Scorbunny's eyes brightening subtly before she dismissively tossed the paper aside. "So what?" was all Aiden could bring herself to mutter.

"We did this together, didn't we?" Trevor responded, "We weren't even an official team, yet we managed to help take down this notorious group. We helped to make the world a little brighter!"

"So what if we did?" Aiden retorted sadly, "It doesn't change the fact that I was inconsiderate and selfish."

Trevor's heart pounded with unexpected fervor. "Hey, I'm not exactly blameless here either! You've done so much for me, yet I nowhere near strong enough to do anything to repay you. You depended on me to fulfill your dream, yet I've been nothing but a burden thus far! That's been the story of my entire life; I've always feel like I'm nothing but a burden." Trevor gave a brief pause, his voice beginning to tremble. "Being in your team... it's been the first time where I've felt like I could make something of myself, you know? I guess I was also selfish in that respect: I stayed silent and recklessly threw my own life away, made you worry tirelessly, just for the chance to piggyback on your dream. For a chance to belong in something for a change."

Trevor stared upwards to collect himself before facing Aiden with a determined countenance. "I'm tired of holding others back with how useless I am. I'll do what I could never do as a human in striving to be better, rather than just... moping around. I'll make myself into a teammate that you can be proud of, one who'll be competent enough to not get in anyone's way. Please, Aiden, don't give up on your dream because of me!"

As Trevor finished his emotion-filled plea, Holly promptly burst into the room and firmly called out towards both him and Aiden. "Time's up, you two! Aiden needs to return to her bed right away and you..." she said sharply while pointing directly at Trevor, "...need to lay back down and get some rest! Now come on, let's get moving!"

Despite her weak state, Aiden managed to stand and give Trevor one final, tender hug before allowing Holly to accompany her outside. As she was being escorted towards the exit, exhaustively leaning on Holly's shoulder, Aiden let out a wide, toothy grin.

"Treph!" she shouted, "Give me the word, and I'll help you train to become the best explorer anyone's ever seen! And I'll strive to become the most supportive teammate you can ever have!"

And with those final words, Trevor now found himself alone in the hospital room once again. The pale light which cracked through the windows turned to orange as the sun began its descent into the horizon. As Trevor sunk back into his mattress, fully exhausted both physically and mentally, he allowed himself to drift off, smiling as he imagined the myriad of life-changing adventures to come.

END OF CHAPTER 1