Heart of Steel [Pokémon Fanfiction]

12| Crossing Paths

"... ven... St... ven... Steven? Steven?"

   My return to conciousness was not a pleasant one. The voice I heard sounded like nails on a chalkboard and it added another stab of pain to my already aching head. As my senses returned to me, numerous aches and pains throughout my body began making their presence known, and it almost made me wish I were still unconscious.

"Steven?"

While irritating, the voice sounded so familiar. Along with it, I heard a droning, rhythmic beeping. Wait, where am I? I slowly opened my eyes, wincing at the light that stung them, and struggled to sit up. I could tell by how the sound echoed that I must have been indoors.

"He's awake!" the voice squealed joyfully. It was horribly grating and I clutched my head in my hands, feeling like it was about to break apart at any second from the intense pain. I didn't remember hitting my head, why did it hurt so much? I felt a slight tug in my left wrist when I had moved my arm, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw an IV stuck deep into my skin.

   "C-could you please not do that?" I asked in a pain-filled tone, gritting my teeth in an attempt to not cry out. What's going on? Where is this? Why am I here? The questions filled my mind and only seemed to increase in number the more I became more aware of my surroundings.

   "I'm sorry!" the person responded. Who the voice belonged to then registered with me and I recognized it within an instant.

   "It's fine, Winona. I know you didn't mean to do it," I said. I lifted my head and tried to smile at the bright eyed twelve year-old standing next to me. A look of relief crossed her face and she returned my smile.

   Like I had thought, I was indoors in what looked like a hospital room. I was laying in the room's only bed and other than the standard furniture and equipment that a hospital room normally contained, there was nothing else.

   "It's good to see you're back with us again." I looked away from Winona to see Wallace standing on the other side of the room. He was leaning against the wall and when I met his gaze, he gave me an easy smile. "You were out for quite a while," he said.

   "Um, where is this exactly?" I asked.

   "We're in Dewford's Pokémon Center," Wallace responded. "If you're worried about your father being called, I said you wouldn't have wanted him to be contacted. Luckily, the nurse seemed to buy it. I'll be back in a second, I'm going to tell her you're awake." He stepped away from the wall and left the room.

"Thank you," I said. I was more than thankful knowing that Wallace acknowledged the fact that I didn't want dad to know where I was. I then realized that it was only Winona and I in the room. "Where's Meteor?" I asked, alarmed.