Pokémon: Outcast of Comb Island (Ch5)

[previous: http://pastebin.com/m2X5zrVK]


Chapter 5
Elixir


	The nurse manning the counter of Costa Town’s Pokémon Center leaned back in her chair and let out yet another long sigh. It had been another boring day, with few clients coming in for healing and little other work to be done.

	In an attempt to distract herself, she looked at the few trainers mulling about, hoping in vain that one would suddenly come up to her with something to talk about. She looked at the mart to her left and the café on her right, styled after those in Alolan Pokémon Centers. The employees tending them seemed as bored as the nurse. As he looked around the Pokémon Center, her wandering eyes happened to turn towards the windows at the front of the building; they offered a view to the plaza and the big Vespiquen statue in its center, though the rainstorm that had just begun recently covered the windows with water and made it difficult to see very much outside. At least the quiet sound of the falling rain was able to partially drown out the annoying music playing on a loop from the speakers set in the walls of the center. That tune was combining with the boredom to slowly drive her mad.

	The nurse leaned forward and drummed her fingers on the counter in exasperation as the upbeat tune continued to drill into her brain. She wished that something out of the ordinary would happen to distract her and make the day more interesting.

	As if on cue, the door to the Pokémon Center flew open, and in stepped a Scyther dripping with rainwater and holding a Quick Ball in its jaws. The nurse stood up from her chair and looked at the loose Pokémon in surprise, along with the rest of the patrons of the center, as it quickly walked over to the counter.

	“Can I help you?” she asked as it approached. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at its scythes, worried that it might attack her. After all, its trainer—assuming it had one—was nowhere to be seen. Had it escaped, she wondered, or was it a wild Pokémon? And why had it entered the Pokémon Center? And most importantly, why was it holding a Poké Ball in its mouth?

	The Scyther did not respond to any of her questions, asked or unasked, though she had not expected it to reply to. Instead, the Pokémon simply walked up to the counter and dropped the Quick Ball onto it. As the ball bounced a few times and came to a rest, the nurse finally realized what was happening. Or at least, she thought she did.

	“You want me to heal this Pokémon?” she asked, pointing at the ball.

	In reply, the Scyther nodded, and the nurse quickly took the ball and plugged it into the old healing machine against the wall behind the counter, happy to have something to do at last. She looked over at the screen beside the machine that displayed the information about the inhabitants of the balls placed on it, and saw that it contained a female Combee. While skimming the details about the Pokémon, the nurse gasped as she saw that the Combee was near death, in a very critical condition. The image of the Pokémon displayed by the machine depicted a huge gash across her left and bottom faces, diagonally between their eyes. She had clearly taken a serious attack and barely avoided getting outright killed by it. Considering the severity of the wound, the nurse feared that the machine (being a rather outdated model) might not be able to heal the Combee.

	Nonetheless, she waited until the machine finished its job and let out that familiar chime indicating it was finished, a tune she had heard countless times before. By then, the details on the screen had changed to indicate that the Combee was no longer in a critical condition, although a few notes indicated that she was not fully healed either. Specifically, she appeared to be unconscious, and potentially in a coma. Even so, the machine could not heal her any further, and so the nurse had to accept what it had done, though she made a mental note to explain the situation to the Combee’s trainer whenever he or she arrived.

	Now that the Combee had been healed as much as possible with the center’s machine, she took the ball and turned to the Scyther, who was still standing there and watching the Quick Ball expectantly.

	“I assume this is your trainer’s Pokémon?” the nurse asked it. “Did your trainer send you here to get this Pokémon healed?”

	The Scyther nodded in response to both questions, and the nurse continued: “Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll hold onto the ball for now. It might be safer that way, instead of having you hold it in your mouth.”

	Thankfully, the Pokémon did not argue with her. It instead began to wander around the room, earning several worried looks from the patrons, who feared its scythes just like the nurse did. But she believed that it meant no harm, to the extent that she trusted it to walk around. Besides, watching the loose Pokémon walk about was interesting enough to take her mind off her lack of anything to do. At least for a little while. The novelty soon wore off, and the nurse resumed drumming her fingers on the counter in boredom, wondering when the Scyther’s trainer would come back.

	As if on cue, the door to the Pokémon Center flew open, and in stepped a man wearing a yellow raincoat with a Weavile at his side. The man took off his hood, revealing his long blond hair and a rather worried expression which matched that of his Weavile, and he and his Pokémon quickly glanced around the room as if looking for something or someone. They soon spotted the Scyther, who waved a scythe at them, and the sight of the Pokémon seemed to put the man and his Weavile at ease. As the Weavile walked over and began to talk with the Scyther, the man approached the nurse. Upon seeing the Quick Ball resting on the counter, he pointed at it and regarded the nurse with a concerned expression.

	“Did my Scyther bring that ball in?” he asked.

	“If that’s your Scyther walking around,” the nurse replied, “then yes.”

	“Is she okay?” asked the trainer. “The Combee, I mean. We were doing some training out in the wilds and she got hit by a Leavanny. I wasn’t even sure if she survived it, but I recalled her and gave the ball to my Scyther to bring her here and get her healed.”

	The nurse nodded slowly and said, “She’s mostly okay. According to the machine, she took a lot of damage and was in a critical condition, but the machine was able to bring her out of it. However, she’s not fully healed. You’ll need to finish the healing using other methods.”

	The man took on a somewhat conflicted expression, and crossed his arms before giving the nurse a weak smile. “Well, if she’s not critical anymore, then that’s good,” he said. “Not sure why your machine couldn’t heal her fully, though.”

	“It’s an older model,” the nurse explained, “and combined with how badly your Combee was hurt, the machine just couldn’t heal her all the way. In order to get her back to normal, you should use other remedies. There’s information on that sort of thing here at the center, or you could research it yourself elsewhere.”

	“I think I’ll look into that myself,” said the man. He felt annoyed that the center was unable to return his Combee to full health, and that made him less inclined to stay there. He preferred to get back to his hotel room and get moving on the required research by himself. He thanked the nurse for her help, called for his Scyther and Weavile, took the Quick Ball that held the Combee, and left the Pokémon Center.

	As the nurse watched the three of them go, she felt a sense of déjà vu. She thought she remembered that man coming into the center with a Weavile, a Scyther, and a heavily wounded Combee just yesterday. She leaned back in her chair again and wondered what that man was doing with that Combee to get her into such a wounded state twice. Though it worried her, she found that it helped distract her from the boring day. And so she spent quite some time pondering it and imagining different scenarios, and it helped her stave off boredom for a bit.

	But she still could not ignore that blasted music.


***


	Back in his hotel room in Costa Town, Vincent sat down heavily on the chair at his desk and shook his head. Weavile and Scyther came in after him and kept quiet as their trainer mulled over recent events. Weavile sat on his bed, while Scyther went to the window and looked outside at the falling rain. It was coming quite heavily by now. Vincent was glad to be out of it.

	His thoughts returned to the Combee, and he moved over to his bed and took her ball from his belt. He clicked its button, and CIS4 materialized on the bed next to Weavile. Vincent and Weavile looked down at the fallen Pokémon as she lay there, still unconscious, with a large scar diagonally bisecting her left and lower faces. Though it looked gruesome, the wound had closed up due to the machine at the Center and was no longer a threat. Vincent silently thanked whoever had designed such a machine, then returned to his chair at his desk. His mind swam with ideas and questions about what to do next. He finally settled on one idea, and to that end, he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and made a call to someone he had not spoken with since that morning: Susie, from the Bayview Institute.

	After a few seconds, he heard her monotone and tired voice say, “Hello?”

	“Susie? It’s me, Vince.”

	“Hey. How’s it going?”

	“Not so good. CIS4—that Combee I caught yesterday—just took a pretty vicious attack. I had to bring her back here to Costa and get her healed, and she still isn’t back to normal.”

	Susie finally showed some emotion in her voice: a slight hint of surprise. “Oh no. Is she okay?”

	“She’s badly hurt, and she’s unconscious, but she isn’t about to die.”

	“Well, that’s better than it could have been. But how did that happen in the first place?”

	Vincent paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “Remember what we’ve talked about regarding letting my Pokémon get knocked out in combat for research purposes?”

	“Don’t tell me,” Susie said. “You underestimated her resilience, huh?”

	“I did. I let her take a hit, thinking she’d be fine, but...” Vincent trailed off as he turned to look at the comatose Combee on his bed. Weavile had adjusted her position to sit cross-legged and face CIS4. She had her arms crossed and was staring intently down at the Combee to watch her shallow breathing. Vincent thought Weavile looked quite sad, more so than he had seen her in a long time. Her ears drooped and she wore a frown.

	“But obviously that didn’t work out,” Susie finished his last sentence for him.

	“Yeah,” said Vincent as he turned his attention away from Weavile. “Obviously.”

	“I see. But so long as she isn’t about to die, that’s good.”

	A long silence followed. Vincent kept looking at CIS4, searching for any signs of consciousness returning to her. He noticed that Weavile had stopped looking at the Combee and instead begun to look out the window, while Scyther still stood by the window and continued to watch the rain as well.

	“Well, what are you going to do now?” said Susie to break the silence. “Can you do the data collection and elixir injection with her now, while she’s unconscious?”

	“I think that might count as a contraindication,” Vincent said. “It might be safer to wait and do it later, when she’s regained her strength. She’s weak now, so she might get hurt more than she would otherwise, even though she’s unconscious right now.”

	“How weak is she?”

	“She could be worse, but she’s not completely healed, and possibly not in shape for the procedure. See, the machine at the Pokémon Center didn’t heal her fully—the nurse said it’s too old for that.”

	“That’s unfortunate.”

	“Tell me about it. I feel like I should wait until she recovers more before doing what I have to do with her.”

	“You have a point there, but still, you don’t have much time left,” said Susie, sounding annoyed. “You’ve only got a day or two left before you need to come back to Safobay.”

	“But there are still a lot of things to take care of here,” said Vincent, “and it’ll take some time to do them. For example, there’s the hemolymph extraction and the Rare Elixir injection. Plus, I thought you guys wanted me to evolve her. And I haven’t gotten around to that yet.”

	“We do want you to evolve her,” said Susie. “It would be best if you finished that goal before you came back.”

	“And there’s one other thing too that makes me want to stay here. But, come to think of it, I never mentioned it to you.”

	“What is it?”

	“I heard a rumor earlier today, before setting off to train CIS4, about something called an Amber Castle.”

	“Never heard of it.”

	“That’s not surprising. Apparently, they’re really rare, but there’s also said to be one here on Comb Island. I wanted to investigate, but then CIS4 got hurt.”

	“Okay, but what’s so special about Amber Castles? And what are they, anyway?”

	“Basically, they’re big underground structures built by large groups of Combee that are led by a Vespiquen,” Vincent replied, recalling what the bartender had told him earlier that same day. “At least, according to the rumors I heard. If I could find one and study it, or at least mark its location, it could help us understand Combee and Vespiquen better, which would be really good for the Institute.”

	“That definitely sounds like it could help us. So, you want to stay on Comb Island for a bit longer, then?”

	“If it’s possible, yeah. With all that unfinished business in mind, I really don’t think I should leave the island so soon. Is there any chance I could stay here longer?”

	“Maybe,” said Susie after a pause. “It all depends.”

	“On what?”

	“You could always apply for an extension, and I could see if the suits think it’s okay. Of course, the longer you spend on the island, the more money you put on your expense account, and I think the Institute would rather not have to spend much more money on this assignment of yours.”

	“So you think I won’t get the extension?”

	“I never said that. Since you still need to conduct research on your Combee, turn her into a Vespiquen, and look into those Amber Castles you’re talking about, I’ll bet the Institute won’t make you come back so soon. I doubt they’d be happy about it, but maybe they’ll agree to let you stay longer than a few days more.”

	“Thanks, Susie,” said Vincent with a sigh of relief. “When do you think you’ll talk with the suits?”

	“I’m busy now, so it might take until tomorrow before I can contact them and get a response. For now, try to get as much done as possible, because even with an extension, you’ll only have a few days left on Comb Island. You can’t stay there forever. You need to get that Combee back to good health and finish your job as soon as possible. You said that you have to finish healing her yourself, right?”

	“That’s right. The machine here didn’t get her back to normal, but it did get her out of her critical condition.”

	“In that case, if you can think of any way to make her heal faster, do it.”

	“I’ve been trying to think of ways to do that. The nurse told me I’d have to look into it myself, but I haven’t had a chance to research, and nothing’s come to mind.”

	As soon as he said that, a memory popped up into the forefront of his head. “Actually,” he said slowly, “I think I just figured out what to do. I might know someone who can help.”

	“Who?”

	“Remember that guy I met with during my last assignment, when I went to Faluspar Town?”

	“Maybe. Are you talking about... wait, what was his name again?”

	“He called himself ‘Euclid’,” said Vincent. He heard a quiet growl from somewhere behind him, and looked back to see Weavile was looking up and had her ears perked and her eyes widened slightly. Vincent knew why: she and Euclid had befriended one another last time, and she probably was happy to hear that he would be involved in this current mission too. Vincent turned his attention back to the phone, and to Susie on the other end. “Euclid was the one who got the Institute to send me out and do that last mission in the first place, remember? I’m surprised you forgot him, considering he’s got such a weird name.”

	“Oh, I remember him now,” said Susie. “At least, I remember his voice. I never saw him—he just called us and told us to send you over.”

	“Well, I think he could help. I’ll call him.”

	“You do that. Meanwhile, I’ll go relay your request for an extension, and I’ll bring up that Amber Castle thing you mentioned. It sounds interesting enough that you’ll probably get that extension so you can have time to look into it, if you ask me.”

	Susie and Vincent said their goodbyes, then Vincent dialed the number he had received from Euclid when they last met. As he did, he heard movement from behind, and saw that Weavile had jumped off the bed and was making her way to Vincent’s side. The researcher set the phone on his desk and turned on the speakerphone so both he and Weavile could speak with Euclid. It rang for quite some time, but finally, Euclid responded.

	“Hello?” His slightly deep voice was noticeably raspy, a contrast to the smoothness Vincent remembered it having. “Do you need something?”

	“Hey, Euclid, this is Vincent,” said the researcher, who was immediately followed by Weavile giving a series of growls and barks. “And Weavile too, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

	A short chuckle, followed by a shorter bought of coughing, came in response. “Well, hello to both of you!” Euclid said once he had stopped coughing. “Nice to hear from you again. Still on Comb Island, I assume?”

	“Yeah, I’m still here doing research. But why are you coughing? Are you sick or something?”

	“No. Not sick. I’m in Shattercone Crater right now, helping out some Institute guys with researching this Minior shower. It’s usually a dusty place, but there’s a lot more crud in the air now. These impacts are kicking stuff up. But anyway, I’m sure you didn’t call me to hear my dulcet tones—slightly less dulcet at the moment,” he added with another cough. “Need my help, I guess?”

	“How did you know?” Vincent asked.

	“There are only two reasons you’d call me: you need help and advice, or you want to have a conversation. And since you’re on the job now, you probably wouldn’t spend time calling me just to talk for talking’s sake. You need my help. Right?”

	“Actually, yes. I need some advice.”

	“Ask away.”

	“See, I caught a Combee recently. I named her CIS4—Comb Island Specimen 4—and I’ve been trying to go out and do some training and testing with her, but she just took a pretty nasty attack during our last outing. She’s alive and healed, but comatose. How do I get her back to normal?”

	“Take her to a Center, obviously.”

	“You think I didn’t do that already?”

	“Well, you said she was comatose. Unless she’s a Komala, the Center really should have fixed that.”

	“Yeah, but this town doesn’t have a good Center. It’s really outdated. The nurse told me its machine couldn’t heal my Combee fully.”

	Euclid muttered something under his breath. “That’s bad. Shouldn’t be allowed, really. Well, you did say she’s alive, so we’ve got that, at least. But you want to heal her the rest of the way, then?”

	“Yeah, and I was hoping you could help me figure out how to wake her up safely. I need her awake as soon as possible, but without causing any more problems. To do that, the nurse told me I’d have to use some other kind of remedy besides the Pokémon Center’s machine, and I figured I’d call you, since I know you’re good with herbal remedies and stuff like that.”

	“That’s no lie,” said Euclid. “I’ve learned enough about medicine in my time and my travels that I think I can help you. And I know that Comb Island is a pretty untamed place. There have to be lots of plants there that could be used for medicine. Is there some kind of apothecary or herbalist in town?”

	“I think so,” said Vincent.

	“Good! Run over there and call me back when you arrive. Then I’ll tell you what you need. Hopefully, they’ll have the kind of mixture I’m thinking of already prepared. It’d suck if you had to mix it yourself. But first: hey, Weavile, you still there?”

	Weavile barked in response.

	“Alright, listen. Stay with that Combee while Vince is gone. Someone has to watch her, and I think you would be good.”

	“You mean I shouldn’t just recall CIS4?” Vincent asked him.

	“No, fresh air would do her good. Her wounds won’t get worse when she’s in a Poké Ball, but they also don’t get better. So you should keep her out. Help her heal.”

	Vincent nodded. “Okay, I’ll take Scyther with me. Weavile, stay back and watch over CIS4. I shouldn’t be gone long. Euclid, thanks for your help. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

	Vincent hung up, donned his yellow raincoat, and prepared to set off. He recalled Scyther and returned the ball to his belt, then took one last look at CIS4. Weavile had returned to the bed and was watching the Combee as well. Vincent let out a long sigh, then turned away.

	“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he left.


***


	With a raincoat soaking wet and a backpack containing just what he needed, Vincent walked into his hotel room in higher spirits than he had left them. The first thing he noticed was a loud snoring from his bedroom. Upon entering it, he spotted the source: Weavile lying sprawled out on her back atop the bed and snoring loudly, the still comatose body of CIS4 near her. Vincent smirked at the scene. It was tough to tell which of the two Pokémon was more unconscious.

	“Honey, I’m home!” Vincent shouted. In response, Weavile yelped and jumped up in surprise, her claws glowing dimly as she readied an attack. But as soon as she saw Vincent, she calmed down and took a few deep breaths to compose herself.

	“Sorry I scared you,” Vincent said as he took off his backpack and leaned it up against his bed. “Did you think somebody broke in?”

	Weavile shrugged, sat back down on the bed, and looked down at the still unresponsive form of CIS4. Vincent felt glad that Weavile had not rolled over onto the Combee in her sleep.

	“Anyway, we got lucky,” Vincent said to his Pokémon. “The herbalist had just the mixture we needed, already prepared. Apparently it’s actually a major sort of remedy, so they always have some of it in stock. Unfortunately, it was pretty expensive, but I think it’ll be worth it.”

	Vincent grabbed the chair at his desk and pulled it over to the side of the bed where CIS4’s unresponsive body lay, then sat down and reached into his backpack. “Plus, I took the chance to get some general medicine,” he told Weavile. “Your basic painkilling and healing stuff. After what happened with that Leavanny, I’d like to have some strong medicine to deal with injuries and treat them in the field. Potions don’t always cut it, so I figured I’d buy some of these too.”

	He took out one of the herbs of which he spoke and handed it to Weavile. She carefully took it in her claws and looked it over while Vincent continued to rummage through his backpack for the medicine that Euclid had directed him towards earlier. He finally found it and took it out: a small plastic bottle filled with the mixed extracts of various herbs, specifically designed to help Pokémon out of comas and deep unconsciousness. Or so the label, and Euclid, had said. He placed this on the nightstand beside the bed, took off the cap, and drew a few drops of the liquid into the cap’s built-in pipette. While Weavile watched, he carefully opened CIS4’s lower mouth and dispensed a few drops of the medicine.

	For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then CIS4 began to stir. Her breathing quickened, her six eyes fluttered open, and she finally saw Vincent again. He looked at her with a broad smile. A far fainter one appeared on CIS4’s lower mouth, and it persisted even after she closed all her eyes again and slipped back into a much shallower unconsciousness, after meeting Vincent’s gaze for just a few seconds. Weavile cocked her head to the side as CIS4 fell asleep. To her, it appeared as though the medicine had not done much. She looked over at her trainer, who was still smiling down at the Combee. He let out a sigh of relief before glancing over at Weavile.

	“It woke her up,” he said. “Just for a bit, but I can tell that she’s not comatose anymore. This medicine really did snap her out of it.”

	Indeed, the Combee was no longer in as bad a condition as she had been. Her breathing, though slow, was not as shallow and hard to notice as it had been before, and the small smile on her lower mouth showed that she felt better too. Vincent considered the medicine a success. He grabbed his phone and called Euclid again to inform him of his progress.

	“Hello?” said Euclid in a voice still raspy.

	“It worked,” Vincent told him.

	He heard Euclid exhale a sigh of relief, which triggered a few more coughs before he finally composed himself and said, “Good. I was worried it might not work. Then I’d have to figure out a backup plan. And I hate having to use backup plans. But how is she now, exactly? Sleeping or fully awake?”

	“She woke up for a few seconds, then fell asleep again.”

	“That’s okay. Nothing to worry about. It’ll take time for her to get fully back to normal. She’ll get better, though—that medicine helped her a lot. Just let her rest for now, and wait a bit, and she’ll heal up fully.”

	The two men fell silent as Vincent watched the sleeping Combee. Euclid finally said something more, and Vincent’s smile faded when he heard what the trainer had to say.

	“Y’know, Vince,” Euclid began, “you never did tell me how this all happened. You just said your Combee got hit by a strong attack. Did she get hit because you wanted to make her unconscious for your research?”

	After a pause, Vincent said, “Why would you guess that?”

	“Not the first time it’s happened,” Euclid replied. “Back in Faluspar Town, when we last met, you did the same stuff. You said you hated doing it then, so I’d be a bit surprised if that’s what happened here.”

	“I do hate it!” Vincent snapped. “But the Institute makes me, so I can’t refuse. And besides, they’ve got a point. It’s efficient because it prevents the Pokémon from feeling the pain of the process, and it’s cheaper and easier than using drugs to knock them out. Less risky, too, because there’s no chance of overdose or underdose. And there’s no risk of them freaking out and attacking me when I stick needles into them or whatever.”

	“Yeah, that’s all the same stuff you said last mission,” Euclid said. “And it’s a good argument. But you still disliked it then, and it seems like you haven’t changed your opinion of it: even though it’s supposed to be for the greater good, it’s something you wish you didn’t have to do, right? Sounds like it to me.”

	“Exactly. It’s the best way to go about this, and it’s for a good cause, but it’s still unfortunate that I have to do it. And you can see what it can lead to. CIS4 almost died out there. She’s alive and recovering now, but still, that was a pretty harrowing time until she woke up a minute ago. To be honest, it scared me. I don’t want her to die. Especially not as my own fault.”

	“Believe me, nobody wants to be the reason for somebody else dying,” Euclid said quietly. Another silence lasted for a while. Eventually, Euclid continued: “See, the thing is, sometimes we need to do things we don’t want to do. Sacrifices, big or small. But if those things can help others, then they should be made. Everyone hates to be the one to have to make them, but that doesn’t mean you should shirk it.”

	“I’m not arguing that,” Vincent said. “But still, I wish there was some way around this. I just wonder if there was some way I could do what I need to without knocking her out.”

	“Who said you couldn’t?” asked Euclid.

	“The Institute,” Vincent replied quickly. “They want me to make sure all Pokémon are unconscious before doing my research.”

	“Yeah, but is research really the kind that needs her to be knocked out?”

	“I can’t give all the details,” Vincent said, remembering that the Rare Elixir was meant to be kept secret, “but I can tell you that she will feel pain if she’s conscious.”

	“So that’s why you’ve been trying so hard to ensure she’s knocked out? Mainly so that she’s not able to feel it?”

	“Exactly. That’s usually the protocol in all cases, really. And like I said, letting them get knocked out in combat is the easiest and safest way to make them unconscious.” He looked back at the sleeping form of CIS4 and sighed. “Even though, clearly, sometimes it turns out to not be very safe.”

	“Well, then it sounds like there really isn’t a way to do it without knocking her out first,” Euclid said. “At least, no way that prevents her from getting hurt. But come to think of it, if you can’t figure out a way to safely knock her out first, then maybe you should keep her conscious. It’d be easier. Definitely easier than trying to knock her out beforehand to prevent her from being hurt. Plus, no risk of overdoing it and getting her killed in battle, or using medication instead and giving her an overdose.”

	Vincent put a hand to his forehead and sighed. “Look, taking the samples while she’s awake is the easiest way to do it, but that would cause her pain.”

	“Hey, like I said: sometimes we need to do what we don’t want to do. For the greater good. That’s what’s most important.”

	Vincent did not reply, and took time to ponder what his next move should be. Knocking CIS4 out could only be done viably through battle, and not only had that proven unsuccessful so far, but she was also in no shape to fight at the moment. Vincent balked at the idea of doing the extraction and injection while CIS4 was conscious, but he also thought that Euclid had a point. Maybe it was the only way.

	“Vince,” Euclid said suddenly, “tell me: does she trust you?”

	“Trust me?”

	“You heard me. Trust. Does the Combee trust you?”

	Vincent hesitated to answer. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

	“If she trusts you,” said Euclid, “then this whole thing will go a lot more smoothly. Because if someone trusts you enough, they’ll suffer for you. Trust is a powerful thing. If she trusts you not to hurt her with your research, then you don’t need to fret over it. You don’t want to hurt her. And if she trusts you, she’ll know that. She won’t be afraid. She won’t struggle. She won’t hate you for it. She’ll get hurt, but she’ll get through it. And all this will go a lot easier than you’re afraid it will.”

	Vincent watched CIS4 for a bit, wondering if the wild Pokémon he had caught just yesterday could actually trust him with her safety by now. If only he could communicate with her, then all doubt would fall away. That idea got him thinking that Euclid might be able to help again, but before he could continue their conversation, he heard Euclid shout in surprise, shortly followed by what sounded like an explosion.

	“Euclid?” Vincent asked. “Are you okay?”

	A fit of coughing came through the phone in reply. Shortly thereafter, Euclid said, “Yeah, I’m okay. A Minior just landed really close by, and its ejecta just rained down on me, but I’m fine. I’m gonna go check it out. Listen, it was good to hear from you again. Good luck with that Combee, and don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. Gotta go.”

	Euclid hung up before Vincent could say goodbye. The researcher looked at the phone for a bit before returning it to his pocket and taking another look at CIS4. Euclid had helped him get her closer to recovery, but she clearly was not back to normal. It could be a matter of days until she fully healed. Unless Vincent’s request for an extended stay on Comb Island was accepted, he might have to abandon the Combee here without evolving her or getting the data he wanted from her.

	Like Susie had said, the best thing to do was get moving on whatever things he could take care of for the time being. So he went to his desk and opened his laptop, and began to look over the data he had collected thus far while he wondered how best to spend the remainder of his time on Comb Island.


***


	CIS4 awoke alone. She thought so, at least. She was so groggy that she couldn’t really sense anything around her, but she knew that she was lying on something very soft, and she had a vague sense of being in an enclosed yet roomy space. Still, she had to take some time before her mind cleared and enabled her to examine her surroundings. She was confused about where she was until she thought back to shortly after being caught by the human, after which he had brought her to this very place. With that memory, she knew where she was, and she felt much safer, though the lack of anybody in the area still concerned her.

	She began to buzz her wings in an attempt to lift off the soft surface and investigate her surroundings, but she felt far too weak to move, and so she just lay there. She started to wonder if Taranza had been right, and the human had indeed abandoned her. She still considered such a thing preposterous, but before she had a chance to give it much thought, she heard something moving around. She strained to look in its direction, and started as she spotted Weavile peek over the edge of the surface she lay on.

	“Good,” she said. “You’re awake. How’d you sleep?”

	“Okay, I think,” CIS4 replied as she beat her wings some more, but she again met with no success.

	Having noticed her weakness, Weavile hopped onto the raised surface and sat down beside CIS4. She leaned over in order to look at her and allow the Combee to see her too without moving.

	“What happened?” CIS4 asked. “I remember that Leavanny, and I remember getting attacked. And then I think I saw the human’s face, but I’m not sure about that.”

	“That all happened yesterday,” Weavile said. “You’ve been out cold since then. You didn’t even wake up when the boss moved you back to your little blanket pile for the night, and same thing when he put you back on the bed after he woke up. Anyway, he ain’t here now. This morning, he took Scyther to go exploring.”

	“He left us both behind?”

	“Yeah, but I don’t mind. He said we could keep each other company—and he also wanted me to watch you and make sure you’re okay.”

	CIS4 took that to support her belief that the human truly did care about her. Another strike against Taranza’s speech earlier.

	“And besides,” Weavile continued, “being here and doing nothing too important gives me time to practice this.”

	Weavile lifted something she had been holding in her claws just out of CIS4’s sight, and CIS4 marveled at the object. It was made of wood, but carved into a shape that she did not recognize. It was rounded with what looked like small wings on the sides, some featherlike protrusions on the bottom, a large crest on the top, and a bird’s beak. Various diamond-shaped markings were carved into its surface in an interesting pattern.

	“What is that?” CIS4 asked.

	“Wood carving,” Weavile explained. “This one’s not completed yet, but it’s close. It’s based off a Pokémon called Tapu Koko. It shows up in Alolan myth, but I’ve never seen it. Only found out about it recently.”

	“I’ve never heard of it either. How did you learn about it?”

	“A human called Euclid—a friend of the boss—told me about it and its three buddies last time we met. He gave me some pictures of them, and suggested I try carving little statues of them out of wood. It’s been a good way to pass the time.”

	“I think it looks really nice,” said CIS4. “I don’t know how accurate it is, but still, I like it.”

	Weavile smiled in response. “Thanks. I’ve been carving since I was young, but my early attempts ain’t nothing but firewood. I’ve gotten better over the years, though. Even the boss thinks I do a good job. But he hates having to clean up the shavings. He also never lets me carve on a bed, so I should go put this back on the floor.”

	Once Weavile put the statue away and got back on the bed, CIS4 asked her fellow Pokémon another question: “You have your wood carving to spend time with, but what can I do?”

	Weavile sat cross-legged over CIS4, and shrugged. “Rest, I guess. Or we can talk. Ain’t much you can do without hands, as far as I know.”

	CIS4 sighed and closed her eyes. “This is going to be a long day,” she said.

	“It’s already more than halfway over,” said Weavile. “You slept through a lot of it.”

	“Really?”

	“Yeah—that attack you took was pretty bad. Bad enough that you need to sleep to recover your energy. Luckily, you’ve been doing plenty of that.”

	“But now that I’m awake, what can I do besides talk with you?”

	“I’ve got just one idea: the boss left his laptop behind, and he said I could turn it on and try to videochat with the Euclid guy. The boss told me how to do it. But I’d rather not, because I’ve never done it before and I know Euclid’s busy. Plus, the boss would get real mad if I broke his laptop with my claws, so it may not be worth the risk.”

	“Um, I have two questions.”

	“What?”

	“What’s a laptop? And what’s a videochat?”

	Weavile stared at the Combee for a few moments, then smirked. “Oh. Right. You’ve spent your whole life wild—you don’t know about any of this sort of stuff. Well, looks like we just found another thing to pass the time—I can explain those things to you. It’d definitely kill time.”

	As Weavile spoke, she looked over at the clock on wall behind her. Though CIS4 couldn’t see it (and wouldn’t understand it, as clocks were another thing she had never known about while she was wild), Weavile could read the time and see that the day was still far from over, and her trainer would not return for a while.

	“And we’ve definitely got a lot of time to kill,” she muttered.


***


	When CIS4 awoke again, the human was still nowhere to be seen. But this time, she was much less groggy and soon got her bearings. She sensed the presence of Weavile nearby and called her name. The Sharp Claw Pokémon leapt onto the bed in response. The impact bounced CIS4 into the air, and she landed on the mattress with a grunt.

	“Whoops,” said Weavile, stifling a laugh. “Are you hurt?”

	“Not really,” CIS4 replied. “Just don’t do that again, please.”

	“Got it. Anyway, what’d you call me for?”

	“I was wondering: what time is it? And also, where’s the human?”

	“It’s about midday,” Weavile said, “and as for the boss: you fell asleep before he came back last night, and by now he’s already left again.”

	“I missed him?” CIS4 asked with a sigh and a frown. “That’s too bad. I wanted to see him again. But, wait—you said it’s midday. Did a whole day already pass?”

	“Time flies,” Weavile said. “Especially when you sleep through most of it, like you. Seems like you’re still pretty weak, considering how much you’ve been sleeping. Luckily, the boss told me he doesn’t think you’re in any danger.”

	“Really?”

	“Yeah, really. Which is good. From what we can tell, you’ll recover soon. That’s why he ain’t staying here with you all the time—he knows you’re doing fine for the most part, so he thinks he can leave you here while he does his work.”

	“What kind of work?”

	“Right now, he’s outside studying Pokémon and looking for something special. I think he called it an Amber Castle or something.”

	CIS4’s six eyes widened. If she had been strong enough, she would have flown right up to Weavile’s face and stared at her in the eyes in shock. “Amber Castle?” she said, trying to keep from stammering. “There’s one of those here?”

	“According to rumors,” Weavile said quickly. “It might not even exist, but he said he’s looking for one. But why’s it got you all riled up?”

	“Because they’re only made by the strongest of Combee warlords, after they evolve into Vespiquen. And the only warlord on the island who’s that strong is... her.”

	Weavile cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Her?”

	“My rival,” CIS4 muttered. “The crimson-marked warlord. She must be the one with the castle. But does that mean she already evolved? Taranza did mention she was about to, but she hadn’t when we last met. Did she really build a castle that fast?”

	Weavile held up a hand and said, “Okay, hold on: who’s Taranza? And who’s the crimson-marked warlord? Never heard those names before.”

	CIS4 would have replied, but then she heard a tapping from the direction of the window. Weavile heard it as well, and perked her ears up and looked over there, while CIS4 tried her best to do the same despite being immobile. They were both able to see its cause: hovering outside the room, on the other side of the window, was an orange-eyed Ledyba.

	“Taranza!” cried the Combee.

	“So that’s Taranza?” said Weavile as she crossed her arms and eyed the Ledyba. “Speak of the devil, as the humans say.”

	Taranza tapped on the glass a bit more, and Weavile looked down at CIS4. “Should I open the window?” she asked. “Seems like he wants in. Or at least, he wants to talk.”

	“Don’t let him in,” CIS4 said, remembering Taranza’s threat from the last time they met. Due to the presence of Weavile, she doubted that he would make good on that threat right now, but she did not want to take any chances.

	“Fine, I’ll just open the window enough to hear him,” said Weavile. “I still want to see what he’s here for.” She hopped off the bed and, after a bit of struggling, managed to unlock and open the window slightly. “What do you want?” she asked Taranza.

	“I have come here to speak to the outcast,” he replied in a more sibilant tone than usual. “Clearly, you do not want me to enter this place, and I understand that. She and I parted on bad terms. It is only right that she should be wary. But I do not need to come inside to say my piece. I only wanted to remind her of what we last spoke about, and see if she had changed her mind.”

	“About what?” asked Weavile.

	“Our ultimatum,” said Taranza. “She must leave the human or die.”

	Weavile looked back at CIS4 with a frown. “Alright, apparently something significant’s been going on without me knowing. When did you two make this deal?”

	“It’s not a deal,” said CIS4 sternly, raising her voice so Taranza could hear. “I’m not leaving the human, Taranza, no matter how much you want me to. Without him, I’m just an outcast. I can’t leave him.”

	Taranza shook his head and sighed. “Very well. You refuse to leave the human as I request. In that case, I can say no more to you. However, I do have one question: how did you receive that scar?”

	“Scar?” asked CIS4.

	“Oh, yeah,” said Weavile sheepishly, “I probably should’ve mentioned that. I never thought about it, but you haven’t had a chance to see it yet. See, when that Leavanny attacked you, it left a pretty big cut on your face—or faces, I guess.”

	“What?” CIS4 cried. “How big is it? Will it start hurting? It’s not hurting now, but will it?”

	“It just looks pretty bad,” Weavile said, “but you survived it, and it won’t cause you any more pain. You’ll be fine.”

	“This island truly is dangerous,” said Taranza. “That scar is impressive, I must admit. You are stronger than I thought to have survived that.”

	“She probably wouldn’t have made it on her own,” said Weavile. “Humans helped her survive it.”

	Taranza grimaced as Weavile spoke. “So, humans have saved you?” he asked CIS4. “Well, I suppose they are not bad constantly. But I still hold that, overall, they cannot be trusted. Individuals may have helped you, but humans in general are still a threat, for the same reasons I put forth earlier. And if you continue to cooperate with them, I suggest you watch your back.”

	With that ominous line, he flew away. Weavile watched him go, then shut the window and returned to the bed. She sat down beside CIS4 and hunched over the immobile Combee with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

	“Okay, what’s the deal with that guy?” she asked. “Sounds like you’re in a lot of trouble with him.”

	“He wants me to leave because he’s afraid the human will use me to use me as part of something bad,” CIS4 explained. “He doesn’t trust humans. He told me that he was caught by one at some point, and after spending time among humans, he came to dislike and distrust them. He thinks they’re too alien and powerful to trust, so he wants humans and Pokémon to remain separate.”

	Weavile did not fully listen to CIS4. As soon as the Combee had said “trust”, her ears perked up and her mind began to wander. Weavile remembered what Vincent and Euclid had talked about when they spoke last. She remembered that the two humans had spoken about trust, and whether the Combee trusted Vincent. Weavile found she wanted to know too.

	“Speaking of trust,” Weavile asked CIS4, “do you trust the boss?”

	CIS4 frowned and averted her gaze. “I’m not sure. I mean, he hasn’t hurt me. He’s healed me when I was badly hurt, and he helped me when that Leavanny attacked me. Plus, he’s made me more than an outcast, and I’m thankful for that. It seems clear that he wants to help me.”

	“So, you trust him?”

	“I’m not sure if I’d trust him completely. After all, he’s put me at risk sometimes. He did send me into battle a few times against really bad odds, and there were some times when he refused to heal me when I needed it. Almost like he wanted me to faint.”

	Weavile did not tell the CIS4 that her guess was spot-on. She did not know how the Combee would react—whether she would consider it a betrayal on the human’s part, or if she would understand that it was done in an attempt to benefit humans and Pokémon at large.

	“Because of that,” CIS4 continued, “I’m not sure if I’d put all my trust in him. He’s caused me pain, even though he’s also helped me a lot. I trust him enough to stay with him for now, though.”

	“At least we’ve got that,” Weavile said. Then, to change the subject: “Anyway, I wonder how that Ledyba found this place. And also how long he was waiting outside that window before tapping on it. Hovering out there, watching us... that gives me the chills. And that’s saying a lot considering I’m an Ice-type.”

	“I guess he sent a Combee to follow the human and report where he went after what happened with the Leavanny,” CIS4 said. “That’s the most likely answer, I think. He’s the advisor to the crimson-marked Combee I mentioned before, so he’s in charge of lots of Combee. And I’d be surprised if he just so happened to come here right when we spoke about him. He probably was waiting out there for a bit, and we never saw him.”

	Weavile nodded and looked out the window again, but the Ledyba was nowhere to be seen. “Do you think he’ll make good on that threat of his?” she asked.

	“Probably,” replied the Combee.

	Weavile shook her head. “Well, we can’t let that happen. Sounds like he’s got a twisted view of humans, and I also don’t think he’s bluffing. But if he shows up again, I’ll do my best to stop him. We’re on the same team now, CIS4. We have to look out for each other.”

	CIS4 smiled up at Weavile. “Thank you,” she said. She was glad that Weavile wanted to help her. She only hoped that the human truly wanted to help her too.


***


	The rest of the day passed quietly and uneventfully, save for a rainstorm that began near the start of the evening. Either due to the sound of this falling rain, or due to her having regained her strength by now, CIS4 managed to remain awake until Vincent returned after night fell. He entered his rented lodgings and took off his dripping raincoat, then entered his bedroom and released Scyther from the Poké Ball on his belt. The insect stretched a bit before hurrying over to the window to watch the rain outside. Meanwhile, Vincent went over to Weavile, who still sat beside CIS4 on the bed and watched her trainer enter the room. He greeted Weavile and scratched behind her ear, and she grinned widely and purred until he stopped.

	“Good to see you’ve both been doing okay without me,” he said. “And it’s good to finally get to see you awake again, CIS4. You look a lot better. By tomorrow you should really be close to healed again.”

	As he spoke to his Pokémon and looked her over, he thought about whether or not she appeared healthy enough to perform the extraction and injection without making her unconscious first. After what Susie and Euclid had said to him, he thought that it truly would be best to do the samples without trying to make her faint. Though that was the protocol, and was implemented to prevent risk to the researcher, he knew that such risks were really only there if the Pokémon was wild. There would be no risk if the Pokémon trusted the human.

	The time had come to see if CIS4 did.

	Vincent motioned for Weavile to get off the bed, and then he sat down in her place beside CIS4 while Weavile sat down on the floor at the foot of the bed and resumed her woodcarving. The Combee looked up at the human, who was sitting with his feet on the floor and his eyes staring at nothing. After a short while, he looked down at CIS4 and spoke.

	“CIS4, there’s one part of my research that I’ve been wanting to do with you ever since I caught you. But I never got the chance. Now that you’re safe and conscious, and mostly healthy again, I think I might be able to do it. But there’s one problem, and I wanted to tell you about it before we progress any further.”

	CIS4’s gaze turned wary as she wondered what the human could mean by a “problem” existing here.

	“I told you back when I first caught you that I wanted to conduct research on you,” Vincent continued. “At the time, I only said that I needed to observe you and make notes, and use my Silph Scanner to get data from you. But there were two other things I needed to do, and both of them had the potential to cause you pain.”

	That got a response from the Combee. Her six eyes all widened and she gasped as she realized that the human might be planning to hurt her.

	“But don’t freak out,” Vincent said as he saw the Combee start to worry. “I’ll tell you what I have to do, so you know exactly what I’m talking about. First, I have to extract some of your hemolymph, but the syringe I use for it can be a bit forceful, so it could hurt a bit. It shouldn’t be too bad, though.”

	CIS4 settled down slightly. She was still worried that the human was planning to hurt her—had he wanted this all along? Was he actually cruel, or was this all part of what he spoke of in the past, when he claimed his research on her would aid humans and Pokémon? Either way, he said now that this extraction of which he spoke would not hurt her too badly. But in that case, what else could the human be planning that would hurt her enough to make him call it a “problem”?

	“What might be worse than the syringe is the Rare Elixir,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “It’s a mixture of chemicals that makes Pokémon stronger, but it apparently also hurts for a bit after injection, so it would be best if you were unconscious for that so you don’t feel the pain. And believe me, I really don’t want to hurt you. In fact, I’ve been intending to only do these two parts of my research while you were unconscious, but I don’t have any medication that can make you unconscious, so I’ve had to try to use other means.”

	CIS4 had no idea what he was referring to, but what he said next made her understand.

	“This is why I’ve been putting you into difficult fights. Not because I wanted you to prove yourself, or even because I believed that you could win. Partially, it was to observe how you fought and to let you gain experience, but I also was hoping that you would faint at some point and stay unconscious long enough for me to do what I needed to do. That way I wouldn’t have to do it while you were awake, which would give you even more pain.”

	The Combee looked up at the human in surprise. Things fell into place at last. It sounded like he had been planning to harm her and betray her this whole time. By putting her into hard fights, he was trying to sabotage her for the purposes of his own research. Despite his insistence that he meant her no harm, he still was planning to do something that could hurt her, and that made her feel something between anger and disgust. Still, he claimed that he had wanted to make sure she was unconscious so she would feel no pain, so perhaps he did mean well in the end.

	“At least,” he said, “doing it while you weren’t awake was the plan. I wanted to knock you out so you wouldn’t feel pain. But after all the trouble I had executing that plan, and after the incident with the Leavanny, I’ve decided that it’s too difficult and risky to try to make you faint. I think that I need to do this while you’re awake, even though that will cause you pain.”

	Or perhaps he did not mean well in the end, CIS4 thought, based on what he just said. Had all his kindness been a lie to keep her from fleeing until he could do this to her?

	“But believe me,” he continued, “I’m only doing this because it will benefit people and Pokémon. Do you remember when I told you that after I caught you? My research will help people better understand Pokémon, so that we can help them, and help humans too.”

	Taranza’s words returned to the Combee. The Ledyba thought that the human could use his information to harm Pokémon, or that other humans would. But the human’s words also returned to her, and she recalled that he indeed claimed that he only wanted to use his research to aid both his kind and hers. Perhaps he truly was well-intentioned, and he actually meant her no harm. Still, she did not know if she could trust him, especially not now that she knew he had been trying to sabotage her all this time.

	The human and the Pokémon met each other’s gaze. Vincent was the one to look away first.

	“There’s a reason I’m telling you all this,” he said slowly. “I want to know how you feel about this, and how you feel about me. What I mean is this: do you trust me?”

	Trust?

	“Do you believe that I don’t want to hurt you, and I’m only doing this for the benefit of others, and I’ll do my best to cause as little pain as possible? Because that’s what my intention is. This process will hurt you, but I’ll try to make it hurt as little as possible. I just want you to know that. I want you to trust me, because that would make this whole thing easier for both of us.”

	Trust.

	She still did not know how to feel about it. Taranza’s speeches back in the forest and the field told her not to trust the human. He might not truly care about her safety, and he might just see her as a piece of data. The fact that he had been intentionally trying to sabotage her up to this point made her more inclined to think of him that way.

	And yet she also acknowledged that he had yet to harm her out of any cruelty. He had never hurt her himself. She had only suffered as a result of being put into uneven fights against wild Pokémon. And even then, those fights were all an effort to make her faint so that the human could do what he had to without causing her extra harm—instead of making her fight and then doing the painful part of his research later, he wanted to combine them so that only one of the parts would hurt her. Plus, as he said, putting her into fights acted as a way to obtain information about how she fought, and to help her gain experience and get ever closer to evolution. She understood that he was trying to be efficient and yet also do all he could to reduce the amount of pain she had to feel. The incident with the Leavanny was simply an error on his part.

	She wavered back and forth as she wondered how to use all this information. She felt like a researcher herself as she tried to figure out whether the researcher could be trusted not to harm her.

	The human gave her time to think. Eventually he said, “So, have you decided if you trust me yet? Buzz once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’.”

	She did nothing for a few seconds more. Then, she buzzed once and fell silent.

	Vincent smiled at her. “Thank you,” he said. “That means a lot. One of the reasons it’s protocol to knock out Pokémon before doing this sort of research is because wild Pokémon don’t often trust humans. That lack of trust causes the Pokémon to resist and fight the human if they’re still conscious, so it’s better to ensure that they’re unconscious. But if you trust me, then it will be easier for me to do it while you’re conscious. Though that by itself won’t reduce the pain, I’ll try my best to cause you as little of it as possible.”

	Vincent got up off the bed and called for Weavile. The Pokémon came to his side and stood there as the researcher went to his backpack and took out the syringe box that contained the Rare Elixir. He also grabbed the chair from his desk and moved it over to the bed so he could sit beside it. By now, Scyther had turned away from the window and was watching his trainer and his fellow bug, and Weavile had walked over to Scyther and crossed her arms as she leaned up against the wall beside the window. The two of them looked on as Vincent opened up the case of syringes, took out an empty one, and put the case on the nightstand beside the bed. With his thumb, he pressed the button on one end of his chosen syringe and watched as its hypodermic needle emerged from the other end and retraced as soon as he let go. Confident that it was in working condition, Vincent sat down and turned to CIS4.

	“I think this’ll be easier if I hold you,” he said. “That way I can keep you steady while I use this first syringe. It’s empty. It’ll stick out a needle and draw out some of your hemolymph, and that will be all. Then we’ll do the Rare Elixir if you still feel up for it.”

	CIS4 did not like the idea of being held and restrained, but then she remembered the incident a few days ago with the Ariados in the forest. She recalled how the human had held her in his arms back then to keep her safe from the wild Pokémon. Nothing bad had happened in that case, so she felt more inclined to allow the human to hold her now. She did not move as Vincent set the syringe on the bed beside CIS4, then reached for her and picked her up with both hands. He hugged her, facing him, to his chest, with his left arm horizontal across her back and the other free, then grabbed the syringe with his free hand.

	“You bugs have hemolymph while we humans have blood,” he said. “And while we have hearts, you have dorsal vessels. In the case of a Combee like you, it’s a tube running along the top side of your abdomen. That’s what we humans call the part of you protruding out the back of your bottom segment.”

	Vincent spoke partially to explain the upcoming process to the Combee, and partially to give her something to listen to and distract her from any fear she might be feeling. As he talked, he felt along the top of her fuzzy abdomen with a finger to seek her pulse. CIS4 twitched and wriggled a bit as he did, uncomfortable with the human running a finger along her, but he soon stopped after locating the beat of the dorsal vessel. He frowned as he noticed that it seemed very rapid. CIS4 was clearly scared, but that just gave him more reason to get the process over with quicker. And so, without another word, he touched one end of the syringe to her abdomen and hit the button.

	CIS4 buzzed and squirmed as the needle stuck into her, but Vincent just held her tighter and prevented her from moving except for beating her wings. After a second or two, Vincent released the button and let the needle withdraw from CIS4’s abdomen, and then he loosened his grip on the Pokémon and called Weavile over again. She ran over from Scyther’s side, and Vincent gave her the syringe and had her put it on his desk for the time being.

	“And can you get the Rare Elixir for me?” he asked her. “It’s the blue syringe in that case over there, but be gentle with it.” As he waited for Weavile to retrieve the other syringe, he turned his attention back to CIS4, whom he was still hugging. “Are you feeling okay? Buzz once for ‘yes’, twice for ‘no’, like before.”

	CIS4 quietly buzzed once.

	“Well, I’m glad you’re not feeling too bad,” he said. “Really, hypodermic needles like the one I just used aren’t meant to cause pain. They usually hurt a negligible amount. I’ve had plenty of them stuck into me to get medicine and vaccines and whatnot in the past. These ones are a bit more forceful due to the way that they stick out the needle at the push of a button, and that’s where pretty much all the pain comes from.”

	Vincent glanced over at Weavile, who was now standing beside him and gingerly holding the Rare Elixir in her claws. Vincent took it from her and examined it. It seemed undamaged and ready to inject.

	“Alright, now it’s time for the Rare Elixir,” said Vincent. “My research requires I see how you react to it and if it works to help you get stronger. So, like I told you before: this could hurt, but in the end you’ll get stronger and I’ll get good information from it.”

	Vincent tightened his hold on the Combee and moved the syringe to her abdomen as he prepared to inject the liquid directly into her dorsal vessel. The Pokémon remained silent and quietly hoped that her trust was not misplaced.

	“Here we go,” he said, and then he pushed the button. The needle poked into CIS4’s abdomen again and injected the Rare Elixir into her. For a few moments, long enough for Vincent to inject the whole elixir and then remove the needle, she felt nothing besides the small pain of the needle sticking into her.

	Then she began to burn.

	CIS4 started to buzz and squirm again, and Vincent put the syringe on the bed and brought up his other arm to hold her tighter and prevent her from wriggling out of his grip and falling down.

	“It’s okay,” he repeated over and over. “Just hold on. It’ll end soon.”

	CIS4 found it very hard to believe him. A burning sensation quickly spread from the point of injection, and soon her whole body was wracked in a searing pain. She screamed, rendered only as an ear-piercing buzz to Vincent. Even Weavile did not understand the cries of her fellow Pokémon. In this time of distress, she had reverted to using her own insect dialect instead of the language of all Pokémon. But Scyther, her fellow bug, understood. He would remember it, and later translate it for Weavile. As he would tell her then, almost all of the coherent words amongst her screams formed one thing: a request. She was begging Vincent, of all people, to help her.

	Nobody kept track of how long CIS4 suffered. But she gradually quieted down, and her screams and buzzes soon grew almost silent, and were replaced by a sound like quiet crying. Vincent held her tightly and slowly rocked back and forth in his chair beside the bed.

	“I can’t apologize enough,” he whispered. “But it’s all over now. You made it through. And I’m very thankful you decided to go along with me. You’ve been a huge help—the hemolymph I extracted from you will give some good data when analyzed, and the elixir should make you stronger. Plus, now we know more about how it works and how it can be improved. I’ll record how you reacted to the injection, and tomorrow we can go battling and see how it affects you. But for now, we’ve done enough.”

	Vincent lowered one arm, keeping the other up to maintain a firm grip on CIS4, and took Scyther’s Poké Ball off his belt. The bug noticed him lift the ball up, and nodded at Vincent before allowing his trainer to recall him so he could rest. Meanwhile, Weavile went back to the foot of the bed and resumed her woodcarving, while Vincent continued to hold the quietly crying Combee and rock back and forth.

	For a while, the only sounds in the room were the scraping and scratching of Weavile’s claws on her tapu carving, the heavy rain outside, and the crying of CIS4 that gradually grew quieter until it faded away. By then, Vincent noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms.

	“I promise,” he said to the sleeping Combee, “you’ll never feel that pain again.”


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