When Lightning Strikes

Past: Hurt

Reeda jerked awake, shaking in a cold sweat. She'd had that dream before. When she was small her parents punished her by going out into the desert alone, without anything to defend her. Arti managed to find her outside the Ruins of Abundance, crying and telling him there was a scary pokemon in there. They left quickly, sneaking over to Boro's place.

It was something that had always haunted her.

"So," a voice said, "you're up... about time."

Reeda jerked around to see Guzma. He was in a chair, legs over one of the arms and his own arms crossed. Looking around, she realized she was in Guzma's room, the place littered with bottles and covered in spray paint. A corner of the room was dedicated to a growing chest of Buggium Z, and she was on Guzma's giant bed. She pulled the blankets around herself.

Guzma held something up to the light. "Is this yours?"

Reeda realized it was the Razor Claw. "Give that back."

"After you explain yourself."

"I don't need to. I want you to give that back to me. My brother—"

"So he started you on it, didn't he?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Reeda shouted at him. "And you don't know anything about me or my brother! Just give me his Razor Claw back!"

Guzma glared at Reeda, then stormed over and pulled an arm out of the blankets. "I'm talkin' about this, kid." He moved her arm so she could see it. "The grunts are shocked stiff that you've been doing this. I need to know just what the hell you've been up to and why you've been up to it."

Reeda jerked her hand back, slapping him across the face. She stuffed her arm back into the blankets. Guzma was stunned for a few moments, but he turned his head back to Reeda, eyes wide with anger. "You wanna try and smash me down kid?" He got in her face. "After everyone here worryin' and carin' for you, are you really gonna try to beat everyone down? Is that it?!" He was shouting.

Reeda stumbled back to the opposite end of the bed, terrified.

Guzma stared at her, out of breath. In an instant, he was pulling at his hair. "Guzma, what's wrong with you?!" He bent his head down, hands still gripping his hair, growling and shaking. He jerked his head up, scowling and grinding his teeth. "What's wrong with you?! Huh?! What's wrong with you?!"

Guzma was still shaking, short of breath and temper. Reeda was still frozen to the other side of the bed. They remained like that for a long time until Guzma snapped again. He grabbed the blankets on Reeda and pulled them off, ripping them to shreds. "No one on Team Skull hides secrets from everyone, not even your boy!" He roared. "Remember who brought you here? Remember?! I pulled you outta that shack because of that dumb kahuna and how he knew about you runnin' off like a Growlithe with its tail between its legs—that and you kept beating my grunts that I sent out there! And this is how you pay back your boy?!"

"I didn't run off like that!" Reeda screamed at him. "You don't know me or what I've been through! You didn't have to see your brother get hurt or time when you could go back home and not have bruises the next day! You didn't have to deal with any of that!" Tears started to stream down Reeda's face, and even though she was still screaming her voice started to crack. "I had live with that for SIXTEEN FUCKING YEAR OF MY ARCEUS DAMNED LIFE! I HAD TO SEE MY PARENTS KILL MY BROTHER! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR EXCUSE?!"

They were silent for a very long time, watching each other. Reeda broke the tension, staring down at her hands and knees. She gripped the scars on them, tears still streaming down. "How can you even understand...? I never had anything accept Arti... he... he was everything to me... and they... they..."

Guzma stood there, watching Reeda cry. After a while, he got on the bed slipped his arms under hers, holding her tight as they kneeled there on the bed. Reeda stopped crying at this, not sure what to do. The boss had always seemed like such a hard ass all the time and now...

"Reeda," Guzma whispered. "I still don't get why you're harming yourself, but think about your bro... did he ever want you to do that to yourself?"

'I wanted you to have someone who could protect you.'

Reeda remembered the last time she and Arti had been together. When she had gotten Squeak as a small Pichu... how Arti told her he hadn't been feeling well...

'I don't want you to feel alone if something happens...'

Squeak and Fang... both of them were her brother's pokemon. They'd been there to keep Reeda safe and fought their hardest when they were all desperate. They had tried to stop Reeda from her harming herself. Squeak had tried to help her make a friend—and he did help her make one. Fang didn't want to chill the inside of her coat but he did. Squeak tried to wake her up...

'I don't want you to feel alone...'

"... I don't deserve to be a trainer, boss." Reeda sniffed. "I used my pokemon to survive and I always fight with them over things to keep people from finding out about my scars... I know they're just trying to help but... I don't want to go back, boss... everything there was so horrible and... I couldn't take it any more... I don't want to go back there, Guzma... I don't want to go back..."

Guzma gave her a soft squeeze, not saying anything. Reeda cried even more, remembering Arti and Pidg and everyone on Team Skull that wanted to know her more and make her feel at home. She remembered the day Arti and Fang first became friends and how Boro gave him a pokeball so that way they'd always be together. She remembered Arti's grave and how she hadn't visited it for almost two years.

Reeda cried... and cried... until she'd fallen asleep, exhausted. At first, Guzma didn't know what to do, but then he decided to lay her back down on the bed. After covering her in the shredded blanket, he laid down next to her. He watched over Reeda—not touching her.

Then, very quietly, he started to cry himself.