The PokéGames (A Pokémon/Hunger Games Crossover Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12: The Fall

She let go of the button, and the tingling feeling slowly began to subside. She did the same for my hand. When the tingling ebbed away, so did the pain.

"Go ahead and move it around a little."

I sat up and did as I was told, flexing my fingers, then hesitantly rotating my wrist, and working my way up to bending and straightening my elbow, and shaking my whole arm out.

"Any pain?" The nurse asked.

"No," I replied truthfully, surprised by that fact. "Maybe a little sore, at most. I didn't know bones could feel sore."

"That's perfectly normal," she replied, "the cells around the fractures are just overworked after being stimulated into dividing and growing at a pace much, much faster than normal. That feeling will subside in about an hour, once the new cells are fully developed. Try not to use that arm for at least an hour and a half, though."

"Wow," I had no clue that technology could actually manipulate the body into healing itself without ever coming into contact with the injury. It was amazing.

"Any more pain?" The nurse asked me. I wiggled around, taking a mental inventory of my body parts.

"No, I don't think so."

"Well, if you feel any aches pop up, just come on in and let me know, we'll fix you up."

"Thanks, uh, what's your name?"

"Nurse Janice, Janice Joy. You can call me Jan," she replied with a smile.

"Thanks Jan!" I said as I slid off of the table.

"You'd better get back to that boy of yours, hon. Jamie and Jessica are probably out in the next room making a fuss over him, but I bet he's too much of a hero to let them treat him too much."

I blushed deeply when she referred to Dylan as "that boy of yours," as if he were mine in some sense of the word. I mean, we just met this morning, and sure, we had been training together, but that doesn't mean that he's mine.

"Okay," I responded.

"Take care!" Jan called as I stepped out of the door and into a slightly larger room.

This room had a desk and a few chairs, as well as doors leading off to hallways with many more doors lining the walls. Dylan was sitting casually in a chair in the middle of the room. The two nurses were perched on the chairs on either side of his, leaning over the armrests and fussing over him, just like Jan had said.

"Oh, come on now, let me take a look. You must be a little bruised up, huh?" The nurse on his right crooned at him in a sticky sweet voice as she reached for the hem of his shirt and attempted to pull it up. Before she could get very far, Dylan plucked it away from her and pulled it back down.

"No, I'm really all right. No need to worry about me. Shouldn't you be looking after-" his eyes flicked to the door, which I was now standing in front of. "Beth! Hey, are you ok?" He stood up, and I walked over to him. I kept my eyes trained on my arm as I experimentally bent it some more.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Great, actually. I don't have any pain at all."

"That's so great." And all of a sudden he was very, very close to me. His arms wrapped lightly around me, and I froze, my thoughts disintegrating into a string of "what?!"

"Get me out of here now. I can't take another second!" He whispered only half-jokingly. And then his arms were gone, and his hand was on my shoulder, half guiding, half pushing me through the door. I heard a complaint rise from the two nurses, but the sound got cut off as the door slammed shut behind us.

Dylan’s hand dropped from my shoulder as soon as the door was closed. Well that, whatever it was, was sudden and... brief. I could still feel heat lingering in my cheeks from the two-second hug, and I tried to will the blush away.

“Um, I think it’s lunchtime... there isn’t anyone around here.” Dylan pointed out, his speech halting a little.

“Oh. Yeah.” I replied lamely. I could literally feel the awkward in the air.

“So... walk you to the elevator?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn to look at me. Moving my head as little as possible, I met his gaze for a second.

“Sure.” We began walking across the room to the elevator doors on the opposite wall. I never noticed how big this room was; it took forever to walk across.

After a minute of silence, we had reached the elevators. Dylan turned to me and started to speak, his face an odd mixture of emotions.

“I’m sorry Beth, I... I didn’t mean to make it seem like you had to... you know... I didn’t realize-”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I climbed the pole because I wanted to, not because I felt like I had to. I didn’t even realize how high up I had gotten, until I did, and then I guess I panicked a little...or a lot. It’s not your fault.”

There was a pause when we were both silent, a breath.

“I’m really glad you’re okay.” Dylan admitted. His hand lifted a little, but then paused, and dropped back to his side. The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and we stepped inside. I pushed the buttons for our floors, and the doors slid closed. We remained silent for a few moments as we stared at the doors in front of us. I felt so aware of him next to me, but I didn’t know what to do or say or think. My brain flashed backward through all of the events that just happened... the past 30 minutes were a blur. I was so confused about so many of the things that had just occurred. I found my brain centering on two things: the hug... and the nurses in the waiting room. I decided that if I was looking for answers, I might as well ask.

“What did that nurse mean when she said you must be ‘bruised up?’ You didn’t fall...”

“Oh, that... was nothing. I think she was just making an excuse to try to get me to take off my shirt. I bet she has a thing for shirtless guys or something.” The humor in his voice was strained. I was still staring at the door, even though part of me really wanted to stare at Dylan while he was talking.

“Okayy...” I said, still kind of confused.

“Don’t worry about it. ‘Salright.” He brushed it off casually, and we descended into silence once more.

The doors slid open with another ding, and I recognised my floor.

“This is me. See you later?” I dared a glimpse up at him, and he smiled at me.

“Definitely.”

I stepped out of the elevator, and turned around just in time to see him wave as the doors slid shut.

I let out a breath that I hadn’t even been aware I was holding. My body was hot all over, and a little sweaty even though I hadn’t even been moving around since the obstacle course like a half an hour ago, not to mention my mess of a brain, and my emotions were everywhere because I wanted to scream and curse and smile like an idiot all at once and I didn’t know which one was the right one to do, if any. Oh man oh man oh man.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them and began walking slowly to my room. I must still have had adrenaline or endorphins or some other crazy chemicals running through my veins from the fall, because I felt like I was going crazy.