Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

72: What's the Prognosis, Doc?

"Hello, dear," Mentor greeted warmly as he hugged her. He pulled back with his hands on her shoulders to scan her over. "Have you been eating well? Sleeping well? You look tired."

Elise pursed her lips, ducking her head at his admonishing words.

"She's been hard at work catching up to her classmates," Aizawa said as he and Recovery Girl caught up to them. "Good afternoon, this is Recovery Girl, our school's nurse."

Mentor dipped his head. "And a good afternoon to you both. It will only be me today. Lucas could not accompany me because he's taking over my duties at the lab."

"I see," Aizawa said. "Well, Doctor Kagayaki had already been notified of our arrival so he should be waiting."

As predicted, a familiar pink-haired doctor was waiting in the receiving room when they entered. He spotted the party and immediately made a beeline for the group.

"Good afternoon," he greeted, leading them away deeper into the hospital to an office room. "Everything's set up for today. I will bring Recovery Girl with us for a consultation but I'd like to ask you two gentlemen to wait here until everything is finished."

He directed Elise and Recovery Girl into another room. What followed was a mind-numbing series of tests and evaluations, various samples being taken. She didn't know if the on-edge feelings came from her or Mewtwo, who had long-retreated into the back of her mind, closing off from the sights and sounds of something that was too close to unpleasant memories. Recovery Girl kept up with the doctor the entire time, the two discussing amongst themselves as the results came in. Though they no doubt tried to hide it from her, Elise's sharp eyes picked out the shift of their shoulders, the creases on their brows and she knew it was nothing good.

Eventually, the examination concluded, Doctor Kagayaki gathering up all the paperwork with a flick of his wrist and turning to her. "Everything's done now. Let's get going so Recovery Girl and I can go over everything with you all, alright?"

Elise nodded, hopping off the table as she resisted the urge to clear her throat, numb from the laryngoscopy that was done a few minutes earlier. The one positive was that it numbed everything there, including the ache that accompanied her these days. All too soon, she found herself back in the office from before, Doctor Kagayaki taking a seat behind his table as Elise took a seat next to Mentor on the opposite side of him while the two heroes took up a third edge.

The doctor took a moment to organize his papers, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Test results from today aligned with what I saw on the files you sent me, Recovery Girl. Wing-chan, you've said your quirk threshold decreased recently, correct?"

Fiddling with the pen in her hand, she nodded. 'I noticed a pattern where I would have drawbacks much quicker when trying to work with the new aspects of my quirk.'

"Yes, we have a theory for that. Evolutionarily, our bodies have adapted to handle only the stress of one quirk and nothing more. Anything above that would put the human system into overdrive to compensate for handling more. For yourself, most of the results are abnormally high, showing your body going through increased strain. What Recovery Girl proposed to me—and what I now believe to be true—is that the recent developments in your quirks are the cause for this."

"The... The Quirk Awakening I've been told about also plays a part, correct?" Mentor asked tentatively.

Doctor Kagayaki sighed. "Indeed. While there are virtually no studies on the effects of a person wielding multiple quirks due to how unheard it is, we can infer based on current research that having two quirks on top of an Awakening requires higher operation levels. This, in turn, is putting pressure on Wing-chan's body to accommodate it."