Getting Assulted... [1/2 Training Post]

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

What a place to train, the Citadel. It had everything Hitomi needed; obstacles, atmosphere, and targets. It might not have been the safest place to train; the area also had people and Pokemon just asking to get in the way of a wayward Lick attack, but she did not seem to mind, and neither did her two ghost types.

Baku, though a recent addition to the team, was trying her hardest to put the much younger than her Spike to sleep...

She just did not realize she still had the Hypnosis attack learned...

"Back in my day, when I was a young sprite, there were none of these 'cellphones' like Ms. Takeshi travels around with... nor were there these 'Battle Leagues.' Training was merely something we did to pass the time!"

Spike had already settled down and was ready to take a little nap, but found it hard, what with the rather hard rapping on his head stopping him from doing so and all. He drowsily stared up at his trainer, who stood next to him, foot tapping expectantly with a rolled up newspaper in her hand.

"Spike," she began, "Baku can't train unless you're awake..."

"But she's going to put me to sleep anyways... what's it matter how she does it?"

Of course, Baku would have listened in on the conversation if it were not for the fact that she was conversing with herself as it was.

"And another thing, what's with this more than five hundred Pokemon in the world? Back in my day, I was unique! You had to go hunt for one of me in old haunted houses or something! Kids these days just expect a Ghastly to pop up any old place!"

Neither girl nor dog were listening, however, as their attentions were turned towards the large machine that was hovering towards them, a large, toothy grin on it's orange face.

"Hitomi-chan!" the machine shouted, coins spitting from its mouth at every word, "Hitomi-chan, I found a cellphone!"

The young trainer was unsure whether this was funny or sad; it had taken the poor Rotom a few times to catch on that a cellphone was a person-operated machine that usually had a screen that lit up and everything.

What Hitomi did not expect was to have to explain to the poor Pokemon that a cellphone could fit in a pocket, unlike the slot machine the electric ghost had decided to possess.

What a disaster this training was turning out to be. First her Arcanine just plain refused, then her Ghastly was just having a hard time shutting up and concentrating, and now...

"Abby," Hitomi said, voice adopting a patient mother tone, "Where did you find that?"

"Someone was operating it!" the Rotom stated happily, artfully dodging the question, "They sounded really really angry when I possessed it and took it from them, but I showed them, yes I did! A nice little Thundershock to their behind!"

"Abby... that's not a ce-"

"I think it's broken Hitomi-chan... I keep having to spit out these weird coins... these look like monies though... should we take them?"

"No!"

"... But you said we were... what's the words you used earlier... oh yeah! We were 'strapped for monies.' Can't we use some of this?"

"No... we would be stealing from the Casino."

"I didn't take it from the Casino!"

"Oh? Where did you take it from?"

The small Rotom thought for a few moments before hanging her large 'head' down in shame.

".... Alright, fine, I stole it from the Casino... but I'll give it back! I'll give the broken cellphone back!"

"It's not a cellphone Abby," Hitomi stated after a moment. Abby's two large eyes blinked in confusion a few times.

"It's not?"

"No Abby, it's a slot machine... you've seen me operate one of these at the Casino all the time."

"....... Oh."

Hitomi shook her head, a half grin on her face. She was still not sure how to take her Pokemon's inability to determine what a cellphone looked like, or her other Pokemon's inability to use the right attack, or an attack at all...

"Go to sleep little puppy!"

Hitomi glanced over at her Arcanine, who looked rather drowsy... and was getting closer to her proximity than she thought he was before. So close in fact that she barely noticed him actually asleep until it was much too late and she found herself squished by a large mass of dog Pokemon.

"Ugh.... good job Baku... you managed a Hypnosis... now wake him up..."

Baku stared down at her trainer, a large frown on her face/body.

"I did not learn how to 'wake him up,'" she explained, "Why not ask Abby to do so? She seems to be the type who would know how to do that..."

Hitomi groaned. Abby would have no idea how to 'wake a Pokemon up,' which usually translated into the move 'Wake Up Slap,' but, of course, Abby was so helpful, that she had to try, right?

"I'll help you Hitomi-chan!"

A small wave of numbness was what she felt next, as if she had licked the end of a nine volt battery. It was not enough to do anything to her, but she blinked a few times and looked back at the Rotom, who was still comfortably possessing a slot machine.

".... That didn't help Abby," Hitomi grumbled in annoyance. Abby looked downward, many small coins spilling from her slightly open mouth.

"I'm sorry," she said sadly.

"Don't worry about it... just push him off or some-GAH!"

"I'M NOT SLEEPIN'! NOPE! NO SILLY GHASTLY CAN PUT ME TO SLEEP!"

The weight shifted off of Hitomi, as Spike shot upwards and lunged at the Ghastly; only managing so far as to slam into the ground behind her. She turned around, expression angry.

"How DARE you, you lousy mongrel?" she demanded, "Lunge at me like that with your dirty paws! You should be shot for such rude behavior!"

"BAKU!" Hitomi shouted angrily, "That is uncalled for!"

"Neither was his display of un-gentlemanly behavior!"

"Baku, he's barely old enough to count how many paws he has."

The Ghost type Pokemon stared angrily at her trainer, but snorted, passing both Hitomi and the slot machine, out of the alley they were inhabiting.

"I will be at home," were the words she stated as she passed.

Hitomi grunted. What luck they were all having today.

She turned towards Abby, who was removing her own form from that of the slot machine's, and smiled halfheartedly.

"Well... let's forget her and get some ice cream or something... I'll even let you possess the ice cream machine and freak the employees out..."

Abby grinned; freaking people out was what she did best, after all! She happily began floating around her trainer, thinking about all the things she could have done to scare ice cream employees out of their minds.

"There she is!"

Both Hitomi and Abby whirled around to face out towards the street, their expressions filled with pure fear, and, if one did not know any better, they would say that both Hitomi and Abby had been trainer and Pokemon for years...

"Gimmie back mah jackpot!"

Hitomi's scared look turned into a slightly perplexed one, though Abby's kept to her face, as if it was permanently transfixed to that spot. Both trainer and Pokemon had less in common, though now they could see their accuser.

He looked like quite the thug, if Hitomi were to classify him. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, with black leather pants, and he looked to be carrying five tons of metal on his person. There was also a lot of scruff to his beard/moustache combination. In all honesty, he looked like he was far from the happy-go-lucky man Hitomi would have rather expected...

But, instead of being incredibly scared of him, as a normal person like her should have been, she smirked.

"What, is that your only source of income for the next year old man?" she asked, voice full of sarcasm. The man's beedy eyes narrowed.

"Repeat dat again?"

"You heard me," Hitomi continued, "... Or did you? Are you deaf as well as dirt poor, so much in fact that you have to go picking on a small Pokemon? A Pokemon that, may I add, has absolutely no use for money on her own?"

"Nope! Hitomi-chan needs it more than I do!"

What possessed Abby to pipe up like that? Why!? Hitomi groaned inwardly. This was not going to end well... especially if he liked beating up on little girls who happened to have venom for a voice...

Or he had a Pokemon

"You an' yer lil'... whatever she is better smarten up if ye know what's good fer you..."

Hitomi blinked.

"What's good for me? Old man, you sound worse than my grandpa..."

"Why I ou-"

"And my friend here is a Rotom."

"That's it y'little bi-"

He did not get much more out, as Spike leapt over his trainer and between the two of them, hackles raised and teeth bared.

"Leave her alone you sorry excuse for a Magneton," he warned angrily, crouching low. The man was taken aback by this, but did not seem scared in the slightest.

"Oh no..." Hitomi whispered lightly, watching as the man reached over for one of his Pokeballs and a smile appeared on his beady-eyed face.

"What's wrong Hitomi-chan?" Abby asked, "If he really wants the money... he can always make monies from the metal on his body..."

Before Hitomi could even bother making peace with the man, the Pokeball was released, and a large, four armed, greyish-brown, ball-Pokemon stepped forth. Its eyes were as beady as the man's, but it looked a little more weathered than the man did...

Which did not bode well for Spike, who thought the creature was more of a glorified chew-toy than an adversary.

He proved the thought by lunging forward, grabbing a hold of one of the creature's four arms, and crunching down upon it with an extreme force. Immediately, he regretted the action, and, though he did do some damage to the Graveler, it seemed that the creature had some form of ace up its sleeve in the form of a well placed Toxic attack.

"Spike, back off!" Hitomi called out.

"What, yer lil' dog can't take the heat?" the man answered, watching as Spike slowly backed away from his opponent, looking a bit on the sickly side. He did not have much to counter a Pokemon like this. Crunch would have been his only option, but if the Graveler was using attacks that poisoned, it was a good chance that it also had some form of countering move for a whole lot of things...

But he had to protect Hitomi. If he failed that, she and Abby would have been next, and he did not want that to happen...

What he did have, however, was a way to get them out, if he could get back to them...

Though, it looked as if that Graveler was not going to budge... or let down any assault. It was moving towards him, slowly, but not slowly enough.

Spike growled again.

"Don't do anything Spike!" Hitomi called again, "Just get back here!"

He did not have time to listen to her, regardless of how faithful he was to her words. He knew she was more concerned with his well-being, and would have rather died herself than see him hurt anymore than he needed to be. She would have blamed this all on herself when they got out of this one.

Which he was going to make happen, whether she blamed herself or not.

He crouched down a little lower, ready to strike the Graveler, when he realized that the Pokemon was just not there anymore.

Instead, there was a large hole where he last saw the Pokemon.

He growled loudly, pawing at the ground but finding that extremely useless. There were very few ways to counter a good Dig attack, and he found, in the past, that alleys were the least efficient places to do evade or counter one in. They did not have enough space, and, unless you were lucky, they usually did not have anything that could help...

And he was far from able to fly.

These were incredibly simple things he should have seen coming. How many battles had he been in with Hitomi? Even against things like a Dugtrio or something like that. At least he knew what he was doing, and it was not like his opponent's trainer was going to hurt his when they were done.

No. This was much different.

"Get back here!" Hitomi attempted again, but found this effort extremely futile, as Spike just stared around at the ground, trying to find out where the Graveler was going to pop up next. He could play this game! It was like playing Whack-A-Diglett! You just had to Aerial Ace the right spot...

The next thing he saw was black, as the Graveler came shooting out of the ground, making short work of the fire dog Pokemon, sending Spike flying into the nearby wall.

Hitomi ran over to him the moment he hit the wall; she was not going to stand for her Pokemon getting smashed to bits because she insulted some old man biker dude. She put a hand on her Pokemon's flank, and sighed deeply after a moment; he was breathing, but probably needed some medical attention.

Her eyes shot over towards the man, who was laughing along with his Graveler at the triumph they had just achieved.

"What a laugh!" the man said, "Ah've seen better pups out of their eggs fight better than that sorry excuse of a thing!"

"You are a cruel old man," Hitomi spat, "And a coward, picking on things you know you can beat... and in a dishonorable battlefield..."

"Serves y'right for callin' me old! I'm fifty six! I ain' hittin' old till I die!"

Hitomi stood up and faced the man, as if daring him to do something more. Abby watched on, afraid of what might happen. She did not know what to do... should she have gone to get someone? There was no way Hitomi could take this evil man on, but neither could she! She was only a small Rotom...

But if she hid in that slot machine again...

"Spike had nothing to do with me calling you old. If you have a problem, you take it up with me," she replied angrily, eyes filled with everything but tears. The man's smile faded as he stared at the girl, eyes narrow and beady as ever.

"Fine lass... have it yer way... Crags... beat her up..."

Now that was far from what Hitomi meant. She could at least stand a chance against some fifty six year old man, but a Graveler? She had no chance at all...

The Graveler looked much bigger the closer it got, and much more sinister than it needed to be.

"You coward!" she managed, though her voice cracked in fear, "You can't fight a girl yourself? You gotta send your Pokemon out after her?"

The man was either not there or not listening. Regardless, Hitomi could not see the outcome of her words as a fist came crashing into her gut.

Sure, she should have known better than to put down some old biker man, but he could have totally gone to another slot machine and gotten a jackpot that way...

If he was that worried about it, why did he not just ask nicely? She would have returned the money... accidents happened...

Of course, she could not explain any of this to the man, as she was currently having her ass handed to her by a rather angry, large Graveler, though it seemed the Pokemon was pulling punches.

Maybe he did not want to kill her or something, who knew...

A series of punches from his arms and to random points on her body (they were so fast she could not tell which was what... she would find out later when it started to hurt again) ended in a knockout blow to her chest that knocked the wind out of her and sent her into a wall, very efficiently knocking her out.

And now she was helpless to whatever it was they wanted to do...

[Devin]

Sometimes Devin wished that just once he could walk home without being distracted by a screaming woman, a pick pocketing child, or a street Pokemon battle. But of course, this was the Pits, where encountering crime was nearly inevitable. Devin usually ignored the usual run of the mill stuff. And anyways, his reputation was such that thugs usually waited to commence the beating until after he was out of earshot. Curse Devin and his blasted soft spot for the helpless ones. Of course, this time the distraction just happened to be the first of the three. Devin could never pass by a damsel in distress.

Devin turned from his route with a sigh. Time to bash some faces.

Wait…didn’t he know that scream? Oh shit, what had that girl gotten herself into this time?

His outward appearance didn’t change, although Devin’s strides did get faster, even if he would have never admitted it afterwards. His guide stick (never called a cane, not over Devin’s dead body) tapped before him, guiding him around piles of debris. For once none of his Pokemon were fluttering about. It was an unusually hot day so all of them had retreated into their Pokeballs.

It was too hot to be dealing with this. If only it wasn’t so difficult to find good waitresses in this place. You’d think there would be more like Hitomi in the whole of Nada Citadel but no, if there was one thing he found interesting about the girl, it was that she was unique.

Devin strode forward until his stick encountered something soft and squishy. He bent down, ignoring the thug’s shouted order to get up and go away (go away you blind freak, but Devin really didn’t listen to that part). A little bit of feeling around (no free feel for Devin, again, not his lucky day) and Devin found a pulse. Good, she was alive at least. Now for the thug he heard approaching. Along with a…Rock type? Nothing else could be that heavy and loud. The muddy smell and grunted “Graveler” were also pretty good clues.

“Do you really want to start something?” Devin asked without turning his head, one hand fingering the Pokeballs clipped to his belt.

The thug shouted more insults, something about the girl stealing something from him and the casino. Devin wasn’t too worried about the specifics. All he cared about was keeping some thug from raping his waitress. Said thug seemed to not recognize Devin, which pretty much marked him as an outsider. Either that or one of those guys who spent their whole lives drunk or high. Either way, Devin recognized this kind of thug. Stuck in a roid-rage haze nearly 24/7, hitting people to affirm his worthless existence. The only people who would notice the thug would be his victims, or the whores he paid whenever he got his paycheck. Even this human interaction was never anything more than hate or disgust. Devin pitied the thug, just slightly.

Well, he would have, if this thug hadn't chosen Hitomi as his target.

Now, which Pokemon to use…yes, Maffy hadn’t gotten any airing recently “Mafdet, attack” Devin ordered shortly, releasing his Nibuncia with quick, short movements.

Maffy burst from her ball, already prepped for battle because of Devin’s use of her full name.

Devin also released Illusion from her Pokeball, with orders to find Hitomi’s other Pokemon and protect them from the backlash. When Maffy got into it, she really got into it.

The sounds of Maffy’s…punishment filled the alley as Devin released yet another Pokemon, this time Zephyr the Flygon. He set Hitomi’s unconscious body on the Flygon’s back, trying not to jar any injuries he knew she would have.

He mounted behind Hitomi, keeping her steady. From the muffled sound of air imploding, too faint for most to hear, Illusion had already teleported any other Pokemon back to his place.

"Maffy, you finished?" he called.

A slight weight settled on his back, claws slightly gripping his shirt as Maffy rested her back paws on Zeph, her front on Devin, so she could peer over his should and inspect Hitomi.

"Yeah, that fucker isn't going anywhere. I think I might have accidentily gone too far down and sent his blasted Graveler into the freakin' sewers, so he might not get his Pokemon back any time soon" Maffy replied.

An Earthquake had sent the Pokemon down into the ground, opening a split in the already broken pavement. It was testament to Maffy's skill that Devin, a mere couple of yards away, hadn't even felt the ground shift. A Waterfall had taken care of the thug. Maffy had utilized a nearby fire hydrant, rather than physically touch the malodorous man. He was currently groaning against the wall at the end of the alley in a trash heap. The thug would be ok, but, knowing the Pits, when he woke up he'd most likely be minus his jacket, money, and shoes. Serve him right.

Zeph took off, trying her hardest to not jar her passengers. She could carry two easily enough-neither Devin nor Hitomi were very heavy at all, although it was a little crowded on her back.

The strange quarter landed on the fire escape that was Devin's customary entrance with a slight clatter. Maffy jumped off silently and shouldered open the door Illusion had thoughtfully propped open on her way in. Devin took Hitomi and felt a tail wrap around his waist as Zeph tugged him through the door.

He set her on the couch and then went about feeling for any broken bones. Devin didn't worry about Hitomi's Pokemon. He could hear Illusion dealing with them in the spare bedroom. Pokemon could deal with Pokemon, humans with humans.

"Get the first aid kit-" the words weren't even out of his mouth before Maffy was there, nudging the kit into his hand.

He should let the boys out, but he decided not to. It was kind of nice to just spend some time with the girls, without Cerb or Shade around offering comments. With Hitomi in this condition, Devin bet that Shade at least would have some quip about Devin copping a quick feel in his strictly medical examination. Devin wanted Hitomi to have at least a chance of defending herself.

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

She had no clue where she was when she next awoke, but she was pretty sure it was not the alley. Alleys were usually dirty, low lit things that smelled nasty, and did not have ceilings. This was far from an alley.

It was nicer, and it smelled less like an alley... and this was so not a hard ground she was sitting on...

On the other hand, it was rather dark, and she had no idea what was going on. Was she taken back to this strange man's apartment? No, the man who attacked her before could not have had any interest after he knocked her into submission... his apartment was in no way remotely related to this in smell... though she sorely wished she could see what was going on...

She could sure as hell feel something going on though... and whatever it was had a hand and was crawling where she normally thought was a bad, bad place that no hand should have gone... unless they were doing a breast examination, but she highly doubted that one.

Who was this then, if this was not the guy who attacked her? It would make complete sense that it was, but he really did not seem that clean, and seemed a little more smelly...

Who knows how long she was out? There was no way she was out so long that someone else had a chance to pick her up, was she? There was no way of her knowing that.... She felt more hung over and pained than raped though, maybe she was lucky?

Wait! Then why was she getting felt up? This made absolutely no sense! She needed to keep her cool though... there was no way of knowing who this was at all...

Of course, she had not moved this whole time, she was careful of that. All that happened was maybe a change in her breathing, but she had no clue how smart this person was, whoever this person was...

After a moment or so of thought, she quickly moved her not owchie hand towards her belt, and threw a Pokeball at where she thought her groper was. If at nothing else, the electric seals on Thomas's Pokeball would light the room momentarily.... so that she could see who it was...

If she was lucky enough, she could probably hit him in the face... or her, or whoever...

"Eek! Get away pervert!" she shouted angrily, about as soon as she threw the ball, and probably would have gotten up and started to scurry away if it were not for any immense pain she was feeling right now...

And then the [rather empty] Pokeball lit the room for a split second, and Hitomi blinked a few times...

"...... I didn't think you liked me like that..."

[Devin]

Devin was not completely oblivious to Hitomi’s return to consciousness. Ok, so he was a little out of the loop, concentrating as he was on feeling for broken bones. He thought he felt something in one of her hands, but before he could be sure, a hard object impacted with his head.

It felt like a Pokeball.

It felt a lot like a Pokeball (don’t ask how he knows what a Pokeball to the head feels like. Just don’t. Suffice it to say it involved a scieintist who brooked no nonsense from anyone, especially not a moody teenaged Devin). In fact, judging by the sounds Devin managed to hear around the bells ringing in his ears, it was a Pokeball with seals.

He imagined he saw a few flashes of light when the Pokeball impacted (he savored them briefly, but the experience was ruined by the splitting headache that accompanied them). Wait…speaking of lights…he probably hadn’t turned them on when he came in. Nope, he really didn’t think so.

Devin stood to go light the darkened room for the seeing people and had to stop and clutch at his head for a moment until the roaring stopped. If that woman had given him a concussion…dizzy spells were absolutely no fun.

Well, at least that told Devin that Hitomi was just fine. Just fine.

Devin ignored Hitomi’s comment about his feeling for her and walked over to turn on the lights. “Thank you Devin for saving my life!” he pitched his voice high, mimicking Hitomi’s voice surprisingly well.

He continued in his normal voice “Not a problem Hitomi. I would never stand by and watch someone rape an employee of mine.”

High pitched again “ I mean it Devin, thank you so much!”

Normal voice “No really, I know you’re thankful. I mean, it’s not like you tried to attack me for saving you or anything. Or accuse me of rape.” Grumble grumble grumble.

Devin grabbed the first aid kit from the coffee table in front of the couch and sat on the table in its place. He took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. A headache was definitely beginning to rear its ugly head behind his left temple. It felt like the Pokeball had driven the arm of his sunglasses right into the side of his head. Yep, there would surely be a bruise there later.

“You have a very good arm Hitomi” Devin groused, folding his sunglasses and laying them on the table beside him. “I take it that your arm is fine? Is there anywhere that hurts?” Devin was all business, no sign of the pain he was feeling besides a slight tightening around his eyes, now revealed by his lack of eyewear.

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

What was she supposed to think, what with someone feeling around like that?

"You know, your mocking would be more justified if you had turned the lights on before I woke up," she pointed out, "It's not my fault that you have night vision..."

And if one was really listening, one would have heard the cries of Arceus as Hitomi yet again let any hints escape her brain on why Devin might have done that...

It was good no one was really listening.

She grumbled angrily and tried to sit up, but found that task hard, as her stomach just did not want her to move in an upwards direction.

"Yeah..." she mumbled, "Everywhere else... it's just bruises though... my leg might have a minor sprain... I'd have to sit up to check it out but..."

She looked down at her stomach, lifting her shirt up to assess the damage.

"But it looks like there's a Graveler-fist sized welt on my lower stomach, so you'll have to give me a second to check it out."

It did not take her very long to realize that there was a first aid kit nearby, and she began to check the rest of her body for any signs of bleeding, or anything worse than just a really bad bruise.

"I didn't hit you too hard with that Pokeball, did I?" she asked curiously, though her good arm was examining her other one; there seemed to be a large issue she liked to call pain on her other side.

"I can examine that when I'm done with me... there's a pretty big mark on your forehead... I don't think I gave you a concussion, but we can never be too sure..."

In a few moments, she struggled to sit up, which she managed with great difficulty, and gave Devin's forehead an examining doctor look.

"... You wanna lean a little closer so I can take a better look?"

[Devin]

Night vision…Devin very nearly snorted at Hitomi’s words. Did she still not know he was blind? Usually he did something really obvious, like walk into a chair, or read something in Braille, or use his talking computer, but somehow Hitomi always managed to not be there when he walked in the door to work with his guide stick, or not notice that letters addressed to him were in Braille. Just when he thought for sure she had learned that he was blind, Hitomi went and mentioned something like night vision. Many times he very nearly just went right out and said ‘I’m blind, you’re unobservant’ but he always stopped himself. Now it had become more like a game. How long will it take for Hitomi to figure it out? Devin liked games. He also like challenges. Now, Hitomi wasn’t very observant person, obviously, so it wasn’t really that much of a challenge to keep his blindness on the down-low.

Even his Pokemon helped. A little nudge here to put something right in his hand, Illusion dealt with even more of the paperwork so Devin didn’t have to print it in Braille, Cerb and Shade did a bit more unobtrusive guiding; even Riko was helping out by distracting Hitomi at all the right times.

Devin quietly helped Hitomi sit up, but kept his head well away from her hands. She wasn’t a doctor, and Devin was understandably a bit cautious about letting just about anyone near his head.

Let’s see, her leg, her stomach, and something Devin couldn’t quite tell exactly what Hitomi was checking out-not actually too bad considering Hitomi had gotten pummeled by a Graveler.

Devin moved to her feet to feel both ankles for breaks and swelling, as Hitomi hadn’t specified which leg was hurting. He paused before beginning, a question had raised a hand and danced around in his mind. “I thought you said your Pokemon could hold their own in a fight? Maffy says that Graveler wasn’t too strong of an opponent” Another thought jumped up and down on the first thought “Wait...do none of your Pokemon know any water or grass moves? How in the world did you survive the war?”

He was getting agitated, his voice was rising and it was making his head hurt. Devin grimaced and put a hand to his head. He should have thought of this before, after he heard her team. “We need to take you fishing or something” Devin mumbled. There, that volume was a bit easier for his headache.

Maybe Hitomi should…no, she wasn’t getting anywhere near his head. She was the one who threw the Pokeball after all. The splitting pain in his head, coming out of nowhere-reminded him too much of the injury that had blinded him in the first place. True, before it had been some kind of electric attack and this time it was a Pokeball, and it had hurt a lot more with the electric attack, but still, his head hurt! Devin unconsciously pouted a bit. Why did people keep going for his head? Was there a big bullseye on it?

Anyways, no time for flashbacks. Devin rode out another wave of pain that swept through his head. That throbbing behind his eyes was seriously unwelcome. Hitomi’s current predicament and injuries were headache enough.

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

She would have been offended if there was not any pain for her to worry about, nevermind the fact that he too was in some form of pain... Whether he wanted her to look at it or not was not factoring into the equation just yet.

But she still had to answer his questions, or else he would rag on her consistently until he got an answer, and she would much rather skip that step right now. His head was not the only one that was pounding.

"Just Compact," she admitted, "... And it only works when she's around."

The Graveler would have been less of an opponent if it did not seem to have the obvious strength versus all of her other Pokemon. What other choice did she have though? Without a water type Pokemon, she had very little control over what to do when faced with that sort of problem. She never thought about that until now. She must have gotten incredibly lucky during the war, evading all those ground Pokemon.

But she would not dwell on that thought, seeing as that was probably a horrible idea to think about.

She did, however, notice that he was having head issues. Whether it was just a major headache or a minor concussion was beyond her, but she could not check him if he did not get any closer...

She was a doctor, after all.

"Devin... let me take a look at your head," she said, softly, but in a stern, motherly tone, "C'mon, I put that welt there... at least let me examine it..."

She was hesitant to tell him that she was trained in that sort of thing, after all. He just had to trust her. After all, she was trusting him with her body, and she was pretty sure the only training he had was whatever he had with this sort of thing was whatever the Pits allowed him to have... which could not have been that much at all.

Well, it might have been, considering the Pits and the ability they seemed to have in attracting those with large fists and short tempers.

".... Devin," she said, after a long sigh, "... Don't worry about me... these aren't life threatening injuries... maybe a sprain, I told you already... Let me at least find out whether your's is just a big headache or not..."

[Devin]

Oh great, here come the excuses. Devin would just love to hear why Hitomi was wandering around Nada Citadel without her whole team with her. Any Remoor native who had been through the war always kept their full fighting team with them at all times. Or maybe that was just Devin’s paranoia. Yeah, probably just his paranoia. Peace was hard to get used to. Especially with the rough and tumble atmosphere of the Pits. Let’s just say Devin’s reflexes are even keener now than they were during the war.

“Again I say, you’re going fishing” Devin grumbled.

Look at his head…did Devin have to make his reluctance any more obvious? He did have to stop himself from automatically obeying that motherly tone…sounded so much like Shey. Sometimes it seemed like Shey was the older one, the way she was always trying to take care of everyone.

“As far as I know Hitomi, you’re not a doctor. I have more experience with head injuries than I’d like to. I think I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself” Devin snapped. So maybe he was getting a little pissy, but Hitomi was quite trying on the nerves.

“It’s just a headache’ Devin mumbled, suddenly tired of protesting as another wave of dizziness swept through him. He sat on the ground hard, leaning against the sofa as the floor bucked and his stomach swirled. Why did this always happen to him? He was supposed to be the one to save Hitomi. She was the hurt one, not him.

“Stupid women and their stupid ungrateful reflexes” he grumbled “Always happens to me.”

Devin tried to clear his mind, searching for something to distract Hitomi while he regained his equilibrium. A muffled noise from the other room made Devin remember something. “Heh, Hitomi, surprised you haven’t asked about your Pokemon yet.” Indeed, Devin was getting a little concerned. Maffy or Illusion should have been in to report about Hitomi’s Pokemon’s condition already. It had been a good ten minutes. Or maybe only 5? Time moved weirdly when your head hurt.

Devin refused to admit that he might have a teensie-tiny little bit of a concussion. He really didn’t want to go through all the tests…

He tried to get up again, but stopped abruptly as the pounding took on a banshee-like wail. He tried to disguise the terminated movement as him merely shifting his position with limited success.

Hmm…another thought shoved its way through to the forefront of Devin’s mind. Hitomi said she might have a sprain… “Think there’s an Ace Bandage or something in the kit. Can you wrap it yourself or do you need help? I’m pretty good at it” being blind meant you missed lots of curbs, or stairs, or suddenly appearing potholes. Many twisted ankles.

One more thing. Devin fumbled at his belt for a Pokeball. He had all 6 of his Pokeballs lined up neatly at his belt, just in case anything happened while he was walking home. His walked his fingers along the neat row. The boys were still sitting tight, Maffy, Illusion, and Zeph were out with Hitomi’s Pokemon, there, last one and youngest.

A flick of the wrist and Riko joined the girls+Devin party. The unhappily still-Snorunt took a second to survey the situation, puffed herself up to tell Devin all about her dismay at being woken up from a very good nap, blowing it all out in a rush of frosty air when she noticed his less-than comfortable expression.

“Sno?” Riko inquired. She didn’t know the right words for a situation like this. She padded up to Devin and put a hand on his knee, peering at the large welt on his head.

But, injured as he was, Devin was still quite fluent in Snorunt-ese. “I’m fine Riko, Hitomi here mistook me for a Pokemon and tried to catch me” he stated, trying to sound reassuring.

Riko was not convinced “Dev!” She scolded, shaking one little fist. Somehow, she managed to match Hitomi’s motherly tone almost exactly.

Stupid women…Devin would have shook his head if he didn’t think it wouldn’t fall off or something. Instead, he tried another distraction technique. “Hey Riko, Hitomi’s hurt and needs some ice. So make with the frosty thing for me, ok?” Yes, give her another job instead of worrying over him.

Riko was still unconvinced, but Devin had brought Hitomi’s pain to Riko’s attention. The Snorunt looked uncertainly at Hitomi “To-mama hurt?” Riko gurgled out “Sno?” She could be a portable ice pack quite easily.

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

Hitomi was not convinced of Devin's 'not concussion-y' condition. As a matter of fact, the way he was reacting to standing up and all, she was far from happy with it, and she was not going to have someone die because of something she caused, not if she could help it. That was not how a doctor worked!

"Devin," she scolded angrily, sliding down next to him best she could. Of course, there was much more pain than she wanted there to be, but she could bare it. A sprain and a few bruises were easily fixed with some bandages, resting, and icing for twenty minutes every hour. A concussion, on the other hand, was something she was not going to let by her doctor-ly hands.

Not one bit.

After setting herself down gingerly next to him, she attempted to lean in and give his welt a good look.

".... I am a doctor," she admitted, "I'll show you my creds the moment I find out that welt is not going to be the death of you."

She paused at the thought of her Pokemon, but shook her head.

"I'm not worried about them. The only two that were present were Spike and Abby... they can both take care of themselves..."

And she was pretty sure that if Devin had to ask that, it meant that the Pokemon were safe... if she knew Devin any better. She knew if the circumstances were flipped she would have made sure his Pokemon were alright too.

She might not have been trained specifically in dealing with Pokemon injuries, but they were not that far apart, now were they? A sprain on a Pokemon and a sprain on a human being were just... maybe a certain radius difference when patching it up, but muscle structure was similar...

Now she was off in 'ramble-thought' mode. She really needed to get out of that mode sometimes. Maybe she just needed to get out more.

"Devin, would you just let-"

As Riko was released from her Pokeball, Hitomi stopped her fussing. Riko would tag team Devin with her, and, despite the fact that she wanted to get to see what was wrong with Devin, she knew better than to think a tag team-nag duo would work on him.

She smiled happily at Riko, patting her on the head.

"Just a little Riko. I would appreciate some ice," she said sweetly, pointing at one of her ankles, "A bad man decided it was a good idea to beat up on women..."

She returned her attentions to Devin and gave him a pointed look.

".... Well? You gonna let me look or what?"

[Devin]

Devin made a face as Hitomi slid down next to him on the floor. Not because his head hurt (it was pounding), but because she sounded like his mother. Pushy women…good in some respects (not something he would ever connect with Hitomi), but it most respect women always shoved their noses into other people’s business. It wasn’t his fault that he got vertigo really bad. Not having a visual anchor sucked. A lot. It sucked like one of those long crossword puzzle words Devin didn’t feel like trying to remember at the present time.

Well, it looked like Devin wasn’t going to get out of being ‘inspected’ this time. Stupid women and their stupid need to shove their stupid noses in everyone’s stupid business even if it didn’t involve stupid them. Even if she was a doctor-

What? Hitomi was a doctor? Devin’s head whipped around so fast he nearly added whiplash to the growing list of injuries he and Hitomi had accrued. “A doctor? With the shiny certificate and everything?” he grumbled. He thought Hitomi was a bit too young to be a doctor…but then again, who was Devin to talk. He was the one who graduated really early. He could have gone to college, but no, young Devin didn’t think college was ‘cool’ enough. Anyways, first he had had no money (living on the streets was not conducive to school work), then Pravus provided some education (how to dismantle a bomb for instance), then there was the war (trying not to lose your head doesn’t leave much time for learning), then there was the injury and the recovery. So it was understandable that Devin hadn’t exactly had time for all that extra learning. He read a lot, which left him with an eclectic set of knowledge, but not anything like a certificate or official sign that he was smart. He could talk circles around many so called doctors, but still people thought he was somehow stupid because he worked as a bartender and came from Hicksville.

“I don’t like many doctors” Devin ground out. The only one he trusted was Doc Nox, and he didn’t think Nia would be making house calls for some measly headache. Especially since she had been avoiding him for a while…but that was neither here nor there nor relevant. He supposed he could trust Hitomi, but she was still the one who should be getting taken care of, not him. Devin wasn’t the one who had been pummeld by a Graveler after all (been there, done that, got the T-Shirt and broken ribs).

Strangely the question of whether Hitomi was a human doctor or a Pokemon doctor never crossed his mind.

Devin just nodded slightly when Hitomi brushed off his concern for her Pokemon. It was good to know that she had that kind of confidence in her Pokemon. In a war one couldn’t stop to make sure their teammates were ok after every bump or bruise. A trainer had to trust their teammate to be able to take care of themselves.

Which Devin obviously couldn’t do with Hitomi if she got beat up by a pot-bellied drunken lout.

Luckily Riko seemed to have distracted Hito-no wait, Hitomi was back on target again. Stupid stubborn woman.

Riko chirped a response to Hitomi and set about her job. She fired off a Powder Snow…and practically buried both of Hitomi’s legs in a great pile of snow.

Devin felt the cold wetness against his leg and jerked back. He could guess what had happened. “Riko…” Devin grumbled, but not meanly. “You’ve got to work on that control. I told you the downside of all those Rare Candies you ate.” Riko had jumped in strength and had kind of lost control of her strength. What was once just a cool breeze was now more like a few dozen snowballs to the face. But he was working with her on that. Obviously not fast enough; Devin hoped that he didn’t have too big of a mess to clean up once he got Hitomi home safely.

Riko muttered a “Sorry” and tottered off to get the little snow shovel Devin had bought her for times like this.

Devin turned his attention back to Hitomi. That woman wasn’t going to give up, was she?

“After Riko cleans up you can take a look” Devin relented. Maybe he could distract her while Riko cleaned up.

But knowing Hitomi, that was a long shot to say the least.

[Hitomi ~ M.D.~]

Hitomi was not aware that Devin had any former schooling. As far as she knew, no one in Remoor was educated past the normal 'Pokemon Trainer' level, and that was why Pravus decided that it was time to overhaul Remoor, tear it up with some obscene war, and leave everyone else in the wreckage. Clearly Pravus was having a good old time in their little huge building filled with experimentation and evil things.

Clearly Hitomi was not one to take sides, but if she were, Pravus would not be the side she took anytime soon.

However, she brought her attention back to Devin and his question. Oh dear. Shiny certificate? She kept forgetting she did not have one of those; reading all that information from a book and then practicing it during the war made her qualified enough, right?

She only smiled and nodded hesitantly at the question, not that that would do her any good anyways, but she did not know he was without eyesight. That would have been much too easy.

"Well you're going to have to get used to me... you hired me..."

She kept giving him cursory glances to make sure he was not suffering anything more than maybe a minor concussion. She was still under the impression that she did not hit that hard with a Pokeball, seals or not.

After a few moments, however, she had other things to deal with. Jumping at the ... rather large pile of snow, she stared at it a moment before shaking her head.

"Oh Riko," she muttered, shifting her legs so that she got enough of it on her sore ankle, but not enough to make the rest of her freeze. It was clear she was at least attempting to be nice, as she did not want to upset poor Riko; her Dawn Stone was being held from her the poor thing, and Hitomi did not want to make that any worse than it had to be.

"Fine. But I'm holding you to it," she muttered grumpily, then thought back a moment.

"Did you mention something about fishing?"

It was a random question, but she was rather curious. Why was fishing even being brought up? It was not like either of them had no food. Not that Magikarp or Feebas made a good meal anyways; they were both tough as rocks. Maybe a nice Remoraid? She would not know, she never had one.

"What, you taking me out for sushi or something?"