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Chapter 2 Rough Start

I visited the Center every day. After school, that is, mom made that clear. While she was unaware that I had been trying to runaway that night, she was still upset that I had gone into the forest at night on my own. Still...what I had done had softened the argument to a cautioning. Not that it really mattered to me at the time, what any kind of punishment I would get. What I had ended up doing was more important than what could have happened to me.

Life nearly went back to normal, but with the added event of my stops to see the Pokemon I had saved. I started becoming a regular to Joy and Chansey, much to their delight...and detriment when they were overworked. Still, regardless of whatever was going on, they'd let me look in on the Salandit.

For the first few days, he was still unconscious, simply laying on the table. Some kids might get bored with the prospect of a Pokemon that didn't do anything, but it was fine for me. Simply watching over him and seeing him alive and breathing was enough.

On occasion, I would help out Chansey or Joy with nutrient drips, new bandages, and diaper changes (which helped confirm Joy's knowledge that he was, indeed, a boy heh). The Salandit might have not known, or cared, for me pitching in, but it didn't matter, I wanted to do it.

Being near him was...comforting to me. A living testament that someone with few thoughts to a future like myself could actually make a difference, even if it was just one life. It made me feel...happy.

Then...he woke up....

---

School for me was nearing it's end, which I took as something as both positive and negative. The positive was obvious, being able to do pretty much anything I wanted with the additional benefits of finishing my education. Negative, in that I won't have a structure to support my daily routine. Though, to be honest, I guess I'm leaning more toward the positive, especially right now.

After school, I made my way to the Pokemon Center, eager to see the Salandit again. He probably has quite a soaked diaper to be changed by now, and he may be healed enough for a few bandages to come off. Either way, I could help him out.

At first, things seemed normal enough, till I got into the hall near the rear of the Center where a group of nurses, Joy and Chansey included, had converged. They all looked a little...concerned about something and seemed to be trying to find some consensus on the matter. I had thought to ask them about what was going on, but was finding myself starting to pass by them instead. I guess I didn't want to interrupt them or something. Still, I was noticed going by Joy, which I suppose was a good thing, considering what they were discussing had to do with me. Well, not directly.

"Oh! You're...back to see the Salandit aren't you?" Joy asked me, putting on a rather hesitant smile.

"Umm, yeah?" I replied, thinking that was obvious. Then I noticed her look to the other nurses, who seemed like they wanted to say something. They didn't though, deciding, rather abruptly, to dump it on Joy's hands. I think she pouted at them for their lack of support, especially when they turned and started off, waving thoughts of good will toward her...though she felt it was half-hearted at best.

"Well, you see," Joy started, looking to me again. "He...woke up."

"He's awake!?" I exclaimed, eyes wide. All this time I've only ever seen him asleep or medicated in something akin to a coma. The fact that the Pokemon was on it's feet was something I had been looking forward to...

"Well, yes," Joy confirmed, and her hesitation made my jolly mood dip quite a bit. I would think SHE would be happy about a sick Pokemon getting better.

"Is...there something wrong?" I asked, concerned now myself that there may have been complications.

"...in a way," she admitted, moving arms to look at a chart she had had under a shoulder. "He is out of intensive care, but not fully recovered just yet. Still, he kind of...woke up rather abruptly."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We didn't expect him to be at this stage yet, and when we had undid the safety straps to get him changed, he suddenly woke up," Joy explained, hugging the chart to her chest. "For a Wild Pokemon in his position, I understand the shock of not knowing where he was or what was going on but...well..."

"What? What happened?" I asked, suddenly just as concerned as she was.

"He got...volatile," Joy explained, having thought on the right choice of word for a few seconds. "For a Pokemon of his type, Fire and Poison, things may have gotten dangerous. Thankfully, me and Chansey were able to lock down the room without injury."

"I-injury?" I asked, looking between her and the egg Pokemon to make sure that was true. Joy was clearly a little beside herself of whatever the experience had been, which was understandable, but she seemed ok. Chansey seemed the same, smiling at me as if to make me feel better about the news.

"Yes, so unfortunately, I don't think you can visit today," Joy told me, abruptly getting my attention at the denial of visitation. "We had to lock the room to prevent any spreading fires or poisonous gas. So far, it hasn't been too much damage, as it's all contained to the room, and no poison alarms have gone off. So, we have to wait until he tires himself out and we can get him some anesthetic and back under control."

"Oh," I sighed, looking to the ground. Wow. I mean, I understand, I guess. Waking up in a strange place, maybe not ever remembering how you got there, diapered up with whirring machines all over the place. No wonder he may have freaked out.

"I'm sorry..."

"Huh? Oh, it's in no way your fault, why should you...?"

I blinked, looking up at Joy as she stared at me with slight confusion. I was confused myself. I didn't know WHY I apologized on the Salandit's behalf. Was it because I was the one who brought him here? Maybe, if I was playing the blame game, that'd make sense. But, whatever the reason, it felt right.

"Well," Joy started up, seeing me lost in thought. "I'm sorry you can't visit today. It only happened an hour or so ago, so I understand it's sudden, but someone could get hurt."

"...Ok."

I didn't speak for several long seconds, thinking of how to take this. The Pokemon I had saved had just woken up. It was good news. He was alive and moving about. But, he had panicked and started attacking things. Thankfully, nobody got hurt...that would have been a lot for me to take in. But, it also meant I couldn't see him.

Joy patted me on the shoulder and Chansey gave me a kind of hug I didn't decide to feel before heading off to conduct other business. Apparently, they were assured the Pokemon couldn't leave the locked-down room, which made sense I guess. There were other things that needed to be attended to, and with the slight chaos, things may have gotten backed up. They'd leave the room closed for now, so nobody would get hurt, till the Salandit tired itself out.

She said...I could get hurt? He...wouldn't hurt me would he?

I looked back down the hall, finding it empty for the moment. Then I found myself walking it, and eventually starring at the door leading to the room I knew the Salandit must be in. I've been coming to it day after day, but even if I didn't remember the exact room, the caution 'do not enter' sign, with a Fire symbol (but no Poison one) glowing on it, certainly confirmed it was the right one.

I looked up and down the hall, seeing nobody around. Guess they all vacated for now as an added precaution. Maybe if someone was there, I may not have done what I did, but in the end, it all worked out for the best. That, of course, didn't mean that what happened next was easy...
I checked the hall again, then looked at the keypad next to the door, the words "Locked Down" blaring red on the screen. I reached a hand over, then started punching in numbers. I didn't do it randomly, though. I knew the code. Well, for just this door that is.

Funny enough, I learned it a few days ago accidentally, when me and Chansey had come back with supplies to restock the room. I had nearly tripped carrying more than I thought I could handle, and when Chansey came over to help me, her thick hand had poked against the keypad's lock-down button. Naturally we had to get INTO the room, and instead of going to get Joy, Chansey told me the code, ironically making stacks of Poke-Poof diapers to indicate the numbers to press. It was an incident just between the two of us, so Joy didn't know...

---

Maybe it was fate then. The code hadn't been changed, and with the last button press, the lock-down turned off. I entered the room swiftly, instead of with caution, closing the door behind me, and pressing the lock-down button again. I wanted that to be the forefront in my thoughts as I entered the room. If I was making a mistake, I didn't want the Pokemon getting lose into the rest of the Center...

I turned and observed the room, instantly feeling a little uncertain about my decision. From the sign outside, there was no poison in the room...but there was definitely some damage. A few monitors were overturned onto the floor, one with a broken screen, bundles of wires splayed all over the place, thankfully none cut. There were scratch marks on a lot of the machines too, though they were a little hard to see. Guess the little guy didn't have much strength behind slashes. A case of Poke-Poofs was overturned, along with a bunch of flung wipes and a bottle of powder that had caused a miniature snowy mound since spilling out.

There were small scorch marks on the floor, as well as the walls, a lot of them. But, they must have been near the start of the chaos, because I wasn't smelling any flames, and the smoke must have been filtered by the vents already.

There was no sign of the Salandit, however, which concerned me. Then again, maybe he was hiding somewhere. He wasn't that big, and there were still plenty of places he could be hiding behind. I had been standing where I was for nearly a minute now, and he hadn't chosen to show himself. Whether that was a good or bad thing, I didn't know. At the very least he didn't jump out and start attacking me right at the---

"Huh?"

Nope, there was something else, laying face-up rather elegantly on the floor near the middle of the room. I walked over, cautiously looking around as I did so, before crouching down and looking down at the thing. It was a Poke-Poof Center diaper, and guessing from it's extra-poofiness and the bluish tint of it's interior had, quite a wet one at that. Since the innards were facing upward, I could smell the wet powder from it, confirming my suspicions that this definitely had to be the Salandit's.

Joy said they were trying to change him right? Guess he may have woken up when they untaped him and he slipped out of his diaper. What it was doing in the middle of the floor like this was a mystery to me, though it would have been thrown against the wall or in a heap or something. It may have been a weird thing to think about, but honestly, it was the right direction, and I should have inquired further. Smart I may have been, but I would get smarter. Later I'd look back on the moment and realize...heh...my future-Pokemon was smart too.

Unknowingly to me, something was watching me from behind. Two purplish, crescent slits slowly revealed themselves in the dark. Not from behind anything, though, but from UNDER something. Behind me was the operating table, where I usually found the Salandit sleeping on while the Center treated him. I didn't give it much thought, aside from the undone straps layered on it, and certainly not for the amount of space under it that could occupy, say, a Pokemon about two feet in length?

Without a diaper on, I couldn't hear the Salandit as he, quite horror-movie-like, dripped from under the table. His hands clenched around the support-work as he slowly lowered his foot tips to the floor, flattening them first before letting go and getting down on all fours near silently. I didn't notice him studying me for a moment, about as long as I was studying the diaper he had taken off. I had picked it up by the waistband, noting how soaked it was, which made sense, as I quickly learned he was quite a little super soaker heh heh.

Starring at the back of me quickly grew boring, though, and he started making his way toward me. Unfortunately for him, his claw tips tapped against the floor tiles, which was easy to set apart from the noise of the machines nearby. I stiffened, realizing for the first time that the Salandit had somehow gotten behind me. That was the only reason I could think of for the clicking noise. It had only happened once, which meant the Salandit may have figured it had made a bad move. Not that he was the only one, because I had chosen to look back.

As soon as we met eyes, we both stopped any other action. He stayed on all fours a few feet away, starring at me with his slitted eyes rather intensely. I stayed crouching, sagging diaper in hands, looking wide-eyed at him.

I was ambivalent in feeling about seeing him. First thought was that I was happy to see he truely was up and about, moving around. He was getting better, which was really good news. But, I was also a little worried as to the realization that...I had no idea how to proceed from here. All I could do was just stare and wait for some kind of opening.

He was focusing on me right now, black pupils shifting ever so slightly as if to note any and every feature of me. As he did so, I suddenly started to wonder...did he recognize me? I know he was unconscious or drifting barely from it on my visits, but he did look at me that very first time in the forest. Could he be trying to discern if I was the same person?

I decided to try and take advantage of that theory...

"H-hey there," I said, as softly as I could, and without moving anything other than my mouth. His body flexed at the words, a primal response to any sound after a degree of silence. "I...I'm glad you're ok," I added, honestly. He didn't seem to care about my opinion at the moment, not dropping his focused stare. Maybe I should be a bit more direct?

"Do...you remember me? In the forest?" I asked, trying to keep my breathing under control. He was a Wild Pokemon after all, and I didn't know what he could do if he decided I was some kind of threat.

There was a slight twist to his head at the mention. Slight acknowledgement, but that seemed to be all. I gritted me teeth, but wisely did it behind my lips so he didn't take it as some kind of challenge. Whether he remembered me or not, or cared, was still uncertain to me. Maybe I should try for something more recent.

"I-I...I kept coming to see you, to make sure you were ok," I told him, my tense expression softening as I remembered seeing him so vulnerable. "Helped you with those bandages---"

The Salandit's eyes darted to it's arm, then it's chest, before returning to me. Those were places where he had to be bandaged up. He remembered that!

"Y-yeah those! They made you better right?" I asked, though he didn't seem to respond to that. "I-I also helped get those medicine bags for you. The tube thingy---" I told him, though I couldn't gesture toward the IV drip nearby. but, he decided to glance that direction on his own. He guessed that's what I was talking about. Good! Maybe he's getting that I helped him!

"R-right! I helped with the stuff that made you feel better! Oh, right, I also uhh...helped change your diapers," I added, pulling up the diaper sagging from my finger tips so that he could see what I was talking about. That, and the guess that he actually didn't know WHAT a diaper was, given he was a Wild Pokemon and all.

As soon as I made the motions, the Salandit's body tightened, as if readying to act, but then it focused on what I was trying to show in my hands. His mouth twitched and eyes widened at the sight of the sagging garment that, I imagine, he KNEW he had been wearing a short time ago.

I was about to remark about how much he had wet the thing, assuming a little humor might lower the tension of things, but I quickly realized I may have made a mistake. His eyes shifted to me, and the edges of his mouth opened as he growled, flattening a little more against the floor. What did I do?!

Then I realized something rather...well, weird. But it made sense in a primal way, I suppose. Some Pokemon tend to, well, 'mark' their territory in a rather gross way. Not that that was a problem here in Berryton as, for obvious reasons, any kind of 'marking' goes right into their diapers.

But...I guess tame Pokemon may not think the same way. As far as the Salandit may have been concerned, the fact that he had wet the diaper, it was the same as MARKING it. Which meant...as far as he was concerned, I was holding onto HIS property!

"SALAND!"

He leaped at me! Or at least a feet feet, before scampering along the floor toward me. I figured primal instinct was rushing it's way toward me, and there wasn't much I could do against it. I got up as quickly as I could and tried to run. I still had the Salandit's diaper clenched by the waistband in one hand, like my other hand was. Even if I let go of the thing, I still violated something in his eyes, so I didn't waste the energy to open my hand.

I didn't get far though. I tripped over a few fallen wires and crashed to the floor beside a Center supply cart, with some of it's drawers open revealing changing supplies inside. I quickly flipped during my fall, with the support of my free hand, to turn onto my back. It hurt, but I'd rather be witness to whatever was going to happen next as I looked toward the Salandit.

Almost like a snake Pokemon, he shifted left and right across the floor rather quickly before he got to the wires. Unfortunately for him, too, he had not taken them into account. Due to his smaller size , he was a little more susceptible to getting caught in them.

"S...SAL! AND!"

He started twisting in the wires, getting his tail and feet wrapped in a few of them. I watched, a bit entranced that I had just gotten lucky. With him trapped like that, I could just get up and get out of the room. That was probably the best option but...I didn't take it. I kept watching, as if the longer I did so would help justify what I ended up doing. When I noticed the Salandit's orange markings starting to flare up, I realized that maybe what I decided to do actually may have averted a LITERAL explosive finale to the days events.

Figuring that, somehow, that flames came from the Salandit's markings, and guessing that heat plus electric wires was not a good pairing, I sprang into action. I quickly got up onto my knees, letting go of the Salandit's wet diaper for the moment as I reached over to the lengths of the wires nearest to me. The Salandit was flailing too much where he was, and getting that close didn't seem like a wise idea.

It wasn't too hard to spot which wires that were causing the most trouble, and as luck would have it, a set of the extension cord ends were nearby. All I had to do was unplug them, unfortunately unplugging whatever machines were currently on, and the Salandit would be given even more leeway to get out.

So...I did it. I reached over, pulling the plugs, hearing some whirring noises ceasing. The wires and cables near the Salandit slackened, and suddenly his feral movements were causing them to whip and slide along the floor, freeing himself from the entanglement. However, even freed, he was still somewhat angry about being detracted from his initial pursuit.

"SAL---AND!" he growled, looking up at the ceiling and bellowing a growl, tongue waving as the markings on his back started to flare up. A burst of flame started undulating down his tail.

"Whoa! Whoa! It's ok! D-don't do that---!" I start to call over, reaching toward his direction, my other hand supporting me in a kind of crawl position, given I had to reach a bit for that last cable. I only realized till AFTER I said something, that speaking was probably going to remind the Salandit of what it WAS he was initially pursuing.

"Saaaaaaaaallll."

It did. I was frozen, ironically, as the Salandit started walking toward me, instead of going on all fours, flames spitting from his tail markings. He was still mad...and I had JUST helped him out too! Did he not notice? I didn't exactly make it crystal clear, I was just messing with the wires on the side as he was thrashing about. Given he was probably coming off meds too probably didn't help...ugh...this was difficult to get right and now I may have made a grave mistake. I probably couldn't get away without getting hurt here...

The Salandit continued to approach my nearly-prone form, and I could feel the growing heat from it's flames. I had to do SOMETHING...but WHAT!?