There for You

Growing Up

Blurred vision. Heavy breathing. Numb limbs. The broken pieces of her heart pounding hard...

There were voices. Distant voices. They seemed to be calling her name, but they only sounded like faded echoes.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her back. This shocked her and her head suddenly shot up.

"Chikorita? Sweetie?"

Audino and Chansey were finally back.

"Are you okay, hon?" Chansey asked. "How's he doing?"

Why can't I wake up from this nightmare?!

"He's... he's..."

She couldn't stop herself from blubbering.

A wave of fear came across Audino's face. But it only lasted for a brief moment, and then she smiled gently.

"Let me see if I can find a heartbeat."

"But... he stopped breathing ages ago..."

"Honey, I think you forget: I have good ears. It's how I could tell you were still alive after that fire, after all."

She leaned down and listened for a few moments.

"You know what..." she began.

"What? Can you hear anything?!"

"...I think I can." She smiled cheerfully. "It's very, very faint, but he's still breathing. He's still in there."

"HE IS?!" Chikorita shot up. "What do we do then? Do you have that medicine?"

"It took us a while to find, but we have it!"

Chansey pulled out a vial from the bag.

"What is that?"

"It was left here generations ago," Audino began. "It's said to be from the human world. It's called Max Revive. We don't know exactly how it got here, but we always kept it stored away in case of emergencies. It's believed to be far more powerful than reviver seeds."

"And you think it can bring him back?"

"I have a good feeling. But I'm going to need your help, Chikorita. Okay?"

"Of course. I'll do anything."

Audino poured the medicine into a new syringe and injected it. They waited for a few moments, but there was still nothing happening.

"Okay Chikorita, I need you to start talking now."

"Talking?"

"Yes. Talk to him. I'm convinced that if there's anything in this world that'll get him to wake up, it's the sound of your voice."

Her heart started pounding fast. She walked up to his bedside again and tried to form words.

"...Father? Nuzleaf? It's me... Chikorita. Your kiddo. Can you hear me?"

She looked back at the nurses.

"That's good! Keep going!"

"...I, um... I really want you to be okay. I want to talk to you again. I want to keep sharing stories with you, and joking around with you, and going on adventures, and..." she started to tear up again. "...I just really want to see you again. Please wake up... for me?"

There was still no reaction. She was starting to lose hope.

When...

"GAH!"

She screamed in shock as she was suddenly grabbed from behind. She couldn't even tell who is was, but she was being roughly dragged backwards and couldn't break free.