Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Hollie looked like she had seen better days-

‘Well, she had, obviously,’ Virah sarcastically retorted to her own thoughts as she checked the pulse of the grimacing Machop, Virah closed her eyes and felt for the beat of Hollie’s heart, casually noting that it was no different from the heart rate of her species after a good fight.

Virah sighed in relief and let herself relax, “you’re fine,” she said in reassurance to the Pokemon, who smiled weakly. Hollie’s expression then slowly turned into a shaky grin, and she called out her name only to wince and stop halfway through, “don’t talk, I’m... guessing your lungs are in pain right now?”

Virah tried to remember what happened to Hollie- or rather, what kind of attack she had taken from the Raticate and noted that it was a direct strike to her side via the rodent’s tail, which was empowered by Frustration and if the way that grunt treated his Pokemon is to go by... yeah- that Frustration was powerful.

She let out a sigh in worry, “Hollie... I- we need to straighten your back,” she shook her head, “wait- wait no, we need to-” a hand- no, a paw was placed on her shoulder and she saw Kitten walk up to her with a reassuring smile, “right, I’m... I need to calm down,”

Virah looked upwards at Jet, “come here,” she gestured for her Pokemon to come and when the Zubat flew down, she ordered him to open his mouth, “okay, you seem fine enough, but you need to spit out all the residue from the Houndour’s blood,”

Jet sat still as she poured water on his mouth and started wiping it with a towel, and when his gums as well as his four fangs were devoid of the Houndour’s blood, she closed his mouth and waited for his saliva to naturally be produced again, and as she did, she faced Kitten and Nitro.

“You two... Nitro, lift Hollie up with String Shot and make sure that she’s in a position where we can straighten her back,” her Beedrill did so and Virah tried not to wince from the way Hollie grunted in pain as she was carried by Nitro’s hastily created hammock of webbing, “okay, that’s... good enough,”

Virah turned back to Jet, “go and bite her, I want you to numb down her back using your saliva, and remember, don’t suck her blood but... if you feel a blood clot, then it’s fine,”

“Zubat!” Her Pokemon flew up and buried his fangs in Hollie’s back, causing the Machop to wince and let out a cry of pain for a brief moment.

Virah closed her eyes, and counted down seconds until she was sure Jet’s venom would have taken effect and numbed down Hollie’s pain, when she finished, she opened her eyes and let out a sigh, “okay, I- I will be fine so Nitro, Kitten, I want you both to twist her back in place,”

Virah closed her eyes again and waited for the inevitable crunch to echo out and she flinched when it did and she thought her reaction was much, much worse compared to Hollie’s silent grit of her teeth. When she checked on the Machop again, Virah noted that she was sweating a lot and decided to hasten the procedure.

“Nitro, drop her- gently! Drop her gently!” Virah quickly said, earning a scoff from her starter and she got the impression that he was thinking something along the lines of ‘like I’d do anything less,’

Before heeding her commands, Nitro did the smart thing and spat out a ball of string towards the ground that turned into a flat bed of white that, thanks to her Pokemon’s mastery of his String Shot, was only slightly sticky. It was also soft and foamy and when Hollie’s back landed on it, she let out a contented sigh followed by a smile.

“That sounds stupid,” Whitney retorted, “why would they attack us?”

“Maybe we’re the perfect distraction against the rangers?” Virah suggested, “and if they have to protect us then it’s easier for them to... take down the rangers,”

“I’d like to believe you but wasn’t he wounded when he first came here?” Whitney pointed towards the criminal they had captured and Virah faced him, her eyes went over to the grunt;s patched up side and she nodded.

“Good point,” the poison specialist said in consideration, “they were running from something,”

“Smart kids,” the criminal replied, “yeah, we were, from a bunch of Jennies and Rangers- you all must have seen it... or maybe not since you’re in this forest,” the criminal explained before drawling on hesitantly, “why are you here anyways?”

“The ranger’s exam? Duh?” Whitney answered as if it was obvious. Her answer was followed by Grene scolding her for telling their enemy that there are other students here like them, causing the pinkette to wince, “yeah... I just realized, sorry about that,”

“Wasn’t the exam a month from now?” The criminal rebuked, he sounded confused, “wasn’t it?”

“No?” Virah answered before she realized something- the memory of the wormhole flashed and she narrowed her eyes, it- it couldn’t be right?

Virah stared at the grunt, “... did you escape from a burning building?”

“What gave you that clue? The Houndour I ordered to set things on fire or the fact that my sides have been burnt?!” The Rocket Grunt exclaimed, “for someone so smart you’re pretty stupid aren’t you?”

“That raid happened a month ago,” Virah dropped the metaphorical Electrode.

The Rocket Grunt laughed, “uhuh!” The criminal nodded, “sure kid,”

“Whether you believe me or not, I’m telling the truth,” Virah said, now sure that the grunt in front of them came from the same building she had taken a detour from all those weeks ago, which, for some reason, had caused this guy to jump forward in time instead of going to another area like the one that she saw back then.

Virah considered that thought and realized just what kind of information she was holding- and... maybe by telling those rangers about what she knew- which was sensitive enough for Team Rocket to want to hear about it no matter what, - may have caused her to put a target behind her back...

Virah closed her eyes, she hoped that nothing happened because of what she did...