"Hello!?" Dan shouted into the room. "Anyone here? I'm here to challenge the gym leader!"

He was anxious, and sure he'd lose, but, it was worth a shot.

The gym seemed deserted of any human life. All Dan could see when he looked around were flowers and crops, and the glass roof above let sunlight shine down on all the plants. This wasn't just a gym. It was a green house.

That still begged the question, where was everyone? The doors were open, so someone had to be here, right?

That's when a young woman, maybe 19 years old peaked around a small tree. In her hand, she held a thick book. "Dad's not in right now, but he should be back soon. Just relax. What's your name?"

"Dan, my names Dan." He said, looking towards the floor. He was tense as all hell, not sure if he, or his Pokémon would be ready?

"Might I ask,What's your name?" He asked.
…
(The dots are where she would respond)

"Not to sound rude, but, how long until he's here?" He asked, now looking towards the young woman.

"Dan, my names Dan." He said, looking towards the floor. He was tense as all hell, not sure if he, or his Pokémon would be ready?

"Might I ask,What's your name?" He asked.

"My name is Eshe." The young lady replied with a courteous smile. Then there was a long awkward silence between the two of them.

"Not to sound rude, but, how long until he's here?" He asked, now looking towards the young woman.

Eshe shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure, but soon. He left to get some fertilizer about thirty minutes ago." Another silence settled between the two of them. Not wanting to make it anymore awkward than it already was, Eshe sighed and retreated behind the tree with her book.

Dan had to wait another five minutes before someone else came through the door. It was Jomo himself. He was pushing a wheel barrel full of bags of manure. "Hello there!" He said as he continued to push the wheel barrel. "Are you here for a challenge?"

Moments after Jomo walked through the door, his eldest daughter Mbali followed. She carried a basket of flowers. She gave Dan a polite smile but otherwise didn't speak.

Dan answered Jomo's question as he set down his wheel barrel. "I see. Well, you've come at a perfect time. In order to challenge this gym, you're going to have to help me first. Lucky for you, I have just the job." Jomo pointed to the wheel barrel full of stinky bags. "Please, help me set these bags around the arena. After that, we can have our battle."

Dan sighed as he raised a hand of protest, he didn't want to do this. He wanted to battle, get his badge and leave, but arguing would just make it much longer.

"Fine." Dan said as he grabbed a bag.

"These smell like shit." He said quietly to himself

"Be careful! You don't want what's in those bags on your clothing." Jomo said.

With two people as opposed to one working, the work got relatively quick, but not quick enough.

"Damn those feel like rocks, after awhile." He said as he walked up to Jomo "Can we battle now?" Dan said
"Yea, yea. First things first. How many badges do you have?" Jomo said

"This would be the first one."
"First. Got it. Okay. You ready? It'll be a 3-on-3. League rules."

"As ready as I'll ever be." Dan said as he picked three Pokémon out, Twiggy, Rat, and Exeggcute.

And thus the battle had started.

Dan grabbed onto Twiggy's ball, but, he refused to throw it out. Only mouthing another 'I'm sorry, I wont get you hurt again.' Instead he threw out Exeggcute, as Jomo threw out Cubone, a cute dyno-looking Pokémon with a skull on its head.

Exeggcute was the only one Dan could look in the eye. He didn't know how bad of a trainer he belonged to. Yet.

"Okay, use Stun spore!" Dan said, as the egg-cluster Pokémon let out a flurry of Yellow dust. It had hit and paralyzed the Cubone.

Cubone retaliated with a headbutt before seizing up due to the spore.

"Now, use Hypnosis!" Dan screamed, while though Exeggcute tried to Hypnotize his opponent to fall asleep, it didn't work."

"Hey! You know you cant paralyze and have a Pokémon sleep at the same time!" Jomo said, as Dan cursed himself out
"Damn it, I should've know that. What am I doing?" He said, as he ordered his Pokémon to use confusion injuring the Cubone greatly.

Cubone had caught a break in his paralyzation and hit Exeggcute with another headbutt, not doing much damage.

With one more Confusion Cubone went down.

"Got him! Nice!" Dan said, as Jomo threw out his next Pokémon, a Sandshrew.

Before the Sandshrew got a chance to strike he was put to sleep by another Hypnosis.

"Now! While he's asleep, use confusion!" Dan said. It hurt Sandshrew, but woke him up, Allowing him to use a swift.

With one more Confusion, Sandshrew feinted.

"Exeggcute 2, Jomo 0" Dan said, confidently, but Dan knew he couldn't get cocky. That's what got Twiggy hurt.

Phampy was the last one. Dan withdrew his Exeggcute, as it had suffered damage from its last two battles.

"Let's see what you can do Raticate." Dan said as he threw out the Rat. Rat gave him a side look, one Dan hated but one they gave ever since the museum, a cold look.

Only with a small combo of Super Fangs and crunch's, and Rat had already won.

"You trained them well! Well then!" Jomo said as he withdrew a feinted Phamphy, and grabbed a box of medals. "With your victory, I present to you the EARTH BADGE" Jomo said as he handed it to Dan.

Dan didn't say anything, he just looked at the badge and saw something he didn't deserve.

After a quick farewell, Dan left and headed back to the Pokecenter to get his Pokémon healed, and seclude himself yet again.

Indigo's face fell with disappointment. Was this what battles fell down to, all the time? Just type advantage? There had to have been some other component he was missing. Type could be an upper-hand but that wasn't all it boiled down to, was it? The thoughts circled around in his head a few times as when gently lifted Hawka from the ground. She let out a stifled grunt in an attempt to push down any indication she was in pain.

"You did good." Indigo fluffed her crest feathers. "Next time." The newly fledged Combusken disappeared in a flash of red Indy withdrew her.

Standing up, he walked over to Margo. "Good job. You got what you wanted."

Margo glared, scrunching up her freckled nose. "What I wanted? Ugh. You really don't get anything, Indigo Rose!"

Indy rolled his eyes. "What are you? My mom? Just call me Indy, sheesh."

"Fine then, Indy," she stretched out his name. "This battle wasn't about winning, you know. It was to prove a point. Your poor Burmy--"

Indy cringed, trying to speak. "Look, I know-"

"You abandoned him! Just because he was ugly! Don't you get that? And now that bratty kid has your Hero! How could you think ugly pokemon weren't valuable? Why--"

"If you'd just let me-"

"--And see how I beat you with Crowne?! DON'T YOU SEE MY POINT- You're not even saying anything!"

Indy exhaled. No, because you wouldn't freakin' let me. Margo, look, I get it. Believe me, no one gets it more than I do." He slunk to the ground, sitting cross-legged and feeling overwhelmed. "I regret what happened. Everyday. And I have to tell my pokemon we're gonna get Hero back." His voice was just on the cusp of cracking. "You don't think I know what I've done?" Letting out a ragged breath, he ran his fingers through his hair. "But I'm trying. I'm trying everyday. I have to apologize to Hero, at least. Whether he comes back or not... Whether my pokemon stick around, that's up to them."

Margo stared, quiet for a moment. Indy did truly look like he had learned his lesson.

"There's only so much yelling's gonna do." Indigo gave a wry, slight smile along with his eye roll.

"Well, that's fair... But I don't think you've completely learned your lesson. I guess you have improved with your Magnemite though."

"How would you know?" Indy asked incredulously. Not to mention he was irritated by how well Margo could read him. He did still think Magnemite was ugly, after all. And he couldn't help but wish Hawka hadn't evolved into something so different from her previous stage. True, he wasn't going to be abandoning them anytime soon, but he wasn't happy with the way his pokemon looked. It absolutely killed him that Margo could tell this, and that he hadn't been able to embrace his new ideal goals.

It was infuriating.

"I come from a family of breeders, of course I'm good at reading Pokemon and trainer bonds," Margo gave an eyeroll, as if this should be common knowledge at this point.

"Alright, so you know everything. Great. Cool. Are we done now?" Indy asked, exasperated.

"No, not yet. I want to know what's up with Dan," Margo said, changing the subject.

Indigo shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, he doesn't really open up and it's harder to talk to him now. He's been acting weird since Kanto."

"If ONLY you guys had called the police that day instead of fighting like morons," Margo snapped, still hurt by the events of Pewter.

Indigo had just about had it with her sarcasm. "Yeah, alright, sure call the police when they challenge you to a battle right there. You don't think that's what I wanted to do? You think I wanted to battle them? I just wanted to get out of there! The guy challenged me and I couldn't do anything! What if he had just used his Mr. Mime to like, kill all of us at once?" Indigo shuddered. "I didn't do it because I wanted to, Margo. I know your Pokemon got super hurt that day, and I should have apologized sooner, but I was just trying to protect all of us! Cripes, okay, give me some credit? I'm trying." The words came out in a burst of emotion that Indy had been otherwise keeping shut out. He had wanted to be calm during their conversation but Margo got under his skin.

She blinked quickly, surprised by Indy's sudden out burst. She was even more surprised by the tinge of guilt she felt for being so upset with the boys for not just calling the police--they were all kids and acted on impulse, the boys moreso than herself, but reckless kids nonetheless. Expression softening, Margo's eyes turned gentle. "Indy..." She sighed, looking up. "I'm sorry too." It was easy to be mad at Indigo Rose, wasn't it? She thought. It was easy to be mad at Indigo instead of herself and her own problems. Maybe she should take tonight as an opportunity to apologize to Dan as well for placing just as much blame on him as she had on Indigo for her pokemon getting hurt.

Indy blinked. "Um... alright. That's... fine." He hadn't expected an apology.

"But we need to figure out what's wrong with Dan," Margo pressed.

He nodded. "I just... I don't know how. I'm not, like, great at talking about... stuff. I dunno."

"Well, let's both try and connect with him tonight. We can have dinner together and just talk. There's a lot we need to talk about instead of just ignoring it, you know? And you may not be good at talking but I can keep a great conversation with anyone, so." Margo flipped her hair and put her hands on her hips in a power pose. While she might not have looked it, Margaret was feeling the tiniest bit of self-loathing prickling her skin. The idea of talking to the boys about the events at Pewter was making her realize that she may have overreacted about their role in harming her pokemon--after all, the thief had told her she could just let him be on his way. She had just as much opportunity to just call the cops instead of battling as any of them.

Indy snorted. "Bet. Alright, well after that I can challenge the gym leader. Or... The head coordinator lady or whatever."

Margo pumped her fist in the air, momentarily forgetting their emotional breakthrough. "Oooh, how exciting. I need to train too! Say, don't forget to text Dan. Let's meet at 5:30 ish at the center?"

Indigo nodded, sending the text to Dan and hoping for the best.

Dan had tried to sleep after getting back to his room, but couldn't. He started feeling sick, as he did back in Pewter but unlike last time, he knew it wasn't because of the Mime, that was just the start. His mind flashed back to his talk with his Dad and Mom, he knew it was only a matter of time.

He struggled with his breath as his chest tightened up, it felt like someone was both squeezing and punching at the same time. It was exurciating pain, much worse than in Pewter, but it faded just as quickly.

Dan laid down, his stomach hurt now and his appetite was gone, but it was manageable.
Dan stifled his tears, not wanting to seem like a baby to the air in his room as he heard a text come into his Pokedex.

It was from Indy, some meet-up. Dan texted back Sure, he'd wanted to tell Indy and get it all out through text but he couldn't, nobody needed to know, much less his best friend.

Dan spent the rest of his afternoon looking at his Poke balls, wondering if Rat and Twiggy would ever stop looking at him like he was some sort of sadist.

When it was just about time to go and meet with his friends Dan packed everything except his Pokémon, this would be the first time in awhile that he didn't bring atleast Twiggy with him, hooked to his bag for all to see.

Indigo and Margo were waiting for Dan. "Hey dude, what's up? How was your day?" Indy started off. It was best to be casual at first, he thought, and then after everyone got comfortable, they could segue into what was bothering Dan. Hopefully.

"Hey guys," Dan said, trying to seem as upbeat as usual. "Uhm, boring honestly. I got a badge but..." Dan dug in his bag, grabbing the badge case and showing Indy and Margo. "It was really, easy. The Exeggcute Mom gave me is really tough. Mainly stuff that paralyzes and puts pokemon to sleep, but it has something called confusion, I think, that's really good." He said, putting his badge case back, he needed to seem more normal. He didn't need his friends worrying about him, he could handle it alone.

Margo was happily standing around with Indy as they waited for Dan outside of the Pokemon center, her hands clasped behind her back. She beamed at Dan as he joined the two of them. The teenager gaped at her friend as he answered Indy, looking at his new badge with sparkles in her eyes.

"But? But nothing! That's really awesome!" Margo interrupted Dan for only a moment, giving a sheepish smile afterwards and letting him finish. After hesitating for another second, the girl looked between Indy and Dan before giving Indy a small nudge with her foot.

"Easy or not, that's still really great that you got a badge today! I wish we had known you were going to challenge the gym today, we could've come to cheer you on." Another quick glance in Indy's direction, as if expecting him to exemplify her point.

"Yeah, don't sell yourself short," Indy agreed. "And Margo's right. You should have told us. Oh well, next time." He wasn't sure what to add on until Margo nuddged his foot.

"Oh, that's right. Margo won against me today, beginner's luck," an attempt to be lighthearted and joking, though the loss still did sting some. "It was rad, both of our pokemon evolved mid battle just when we thought we had beaten each other. Hawka's a Combusken now. She's totally different." Could Margo read him? He hoped not. "Not bad different! Just... Changed. Actually, we should show you."

In a flash of light the ramnunctious Combusken appeared, poised in a battle stance with her claws out and extended. Realizing there was no battle, she relaxed her stance considerably. Hawka eyed Margo warily. It seemed she was still very much sour about her battle earlier.

"Always raring to go," Indy shrugged sheepishly. "Margo, why don't you show Crowne?" It was important to be light and casual.

Margo raised an eyebrow, her face betraying her thoughts about Indy's comment. "Different?" She murmured under her breath, but he quickly clarified, the teen giving a curt nod. Well... he was trying, she supposed.

Watching Hawka being released, the teen smiled, momentarily forgetting Indigo's shallowness. The Combusken seemed like it didn't really like Margo, looking at her with a sort of disdain. She tried not to let it get to her, mouthing a quick sorry to the pokemon before following Indy's lead and releasing Crowne.

The Wartortle came out with his usual tenacity, his eyes set on the Combusken. Normally Crowne was always ready for a battle, but it seemed like he was looking at Hawka with a sort of... admiration? Instead of his normal confrontational attitude, the Wartortle shied away from the other pokemon, almost bashful.

"See, they both look pretty cool, huh? Not that they weren't cool before! But... stronger and cooler, that's all!" Margo laughed cheerily, looking at Crowne like a mother who just watched her kindergardener graduate. Crowne reciprocated her look of love, moving to her leg and cuddling up to her.

Dan nodded at his friends "I'll remember next time, I didn't plan it, it just happened. Anyways be glad you guys didn't go, he had me lug some gross-smelling bags."

When the two showed their new Pokémon, Dan smirked "Nice guys. Guess I have to pick up the pace with training to stay ahead both in the cool and strength factor." He said, reaching for a Poke ball that wasn't there.

"I heard evolution means your Pokémon trust you. I wonder when Grotle's gonna evolve again." He said as he thought If he ever trust me again. Dan's eyed his own shoes quickly waving off sadness, and making sure his body stays in check, he was glad his friends made the effort to talk to him tonight, but, what happened earlier could happen at any time.

On top of that, seeing Crowne cuddle up, the love the Pokémon showed its trainer had made Dan feel worse and worse, reminding him

They don't like you anymore. They don't trust you. The sadness Dan had just waved off visibly returning in force.

Indigo let out an exhale as Hawka crossed her arms haughtily. In the back of his mind, he wondered why she seemed much more aggressive than usual. Was it evolution? Or was it something else? But those thoughts were brushed aside as he saw Dan's crestfallen expression.

"Look, there's no easy way to say this but you have been like... really off for the past ten days, like ever since Pewter. You didn't talk on the boat ride, you keep going off on your own, you barely include us in anything anymore." He sighed, exchanging a glance with Margo before continuing.

"I don't... I don't mean to like, blame you. But it seems like there's something wrong and we just want to help. We all went through the same thing at Pewter, you know. If there's anyone who could understand, it would be us."

So much for keeping it light and casual, Indy thought. But he didn't want to beat around the bushes forever. Confrontation wasn't usually his style, but it had been nearly two weeks. He couldn't just brush it off anymore.

Margo was happy that Dan seemingly joined in their excitement, the teen crouching down to return her pokemon's affection. She caught his subconscious movement, apparently trying to grab for his pokemon that wasn't there. She quirked her mouth, just now realizing that Dan didn't have any pokeballs on his person. 'He always has his pokemon, doesn't he? Don't we all?' She was confused for half a second, now looking towards Indy and counting his pokeballs. She, indeed, was not crazy, and Dan must've left his pokemon back in his room or something.

Listening to Indy speak, Margo nodded along in agreement, straightening to look at Dan with a similar concerned expression, her eyesbrows knitted together. "Really, Dan. There's nothing you'll tell us that we won't understand..." She paused for a moment before quickly adding, "Or at least that we won't try to understand!" She hoped her words were as encouraging as Indy's, but she might actually have him beat in her eloquence.

Perhaps it was the friendship that Indy and Dan shared that made it easier for him to try to get Dan to open up to him versus Margo trying to get him to open up. She hoped that maybe this conversation could improve their friendship--she felt like she had recently gotten through to Indy and grown from it, maybe this could be her moment with Dan as well.

Dan sighed, he knew it was only a matter of time before they asked, but the time they asked just made him feel worse,

"So you guys just came to ask what's wrong with me? Ugh..." He said " Look its, nothing. I talked to my dad but he didn't say much. It seemed he was just as surprised as me at this."

I can't tell them anything. Nothing about my....Sickness.

"Just really bummed, Mom was disappointed and that always sucks. But ya know. That's just life, we make mistakes and forgive other. We don't give each other dirty looks because of one mistake, right?"

Too specific Dan. He thought to himself, getting more visually upset, his heart racing faster than before, remembering Twiggy.

"It's nothing, alright? Just leave it alone." He said as he stood up, something was very wrong.

Twice in one night? This is new.

"I got to go guys." He said standing, trying to wave off the searing pain in his chest. "I forgot to feed...." Dan's mind blanked, his thoughts a blur and a headache arising. "...Twiggy..." He said as he walked off his left leg almost giving out on the spot. This was worse. Worse than last time.

His breath had become short now, and his head felt lighter than a feather, and, to Dan, it was spinning around.

He managed to only get one step up the stairs in the center before his feat gave out completely.
Why didn't I just get medicine like Mom told me to, she said this would happen. Idiot.

He said, as his mind began to blur, as his consciousness faded.

"Twiggy...I'm sorry."

Dan had passed out, drenched in a sudden amount of stress. If his friends didn't act quick, Dan would be in serious trouble.

Indigo, understandably, was getting more and more frustrated with Dan's lack of emotional maturity to hold a proper conversation. In the past two weeks, he had tried approaching Daniel, but had only been shrugged off and ignored. Dan said that they were friends, but Indy realized, he knew nothing about Dan. He had not known anything about Daniel's family, because Dan refused to tell him anything. Despite the fact that they had all gone through the same thing at Pewter, but Dan had refused to open up about that too, which was concerning because literally all of their lives had been in danger.

But, I'm gonna talk to Dad later. The leader of those thieves it was Uncle Richard. You never met him cause he disappeared pretty early on but its no coincidence. Both of them being in an old, disbanded group."

He hadn't given them any details about what had happened, and he refused to clue them in. It was unfair and infuriating. Friends? What friendship was there, Indy thought. If all Dan ever did was ignore their attempts at trying to talk to him?

I opened up about myself, I came clean to everyone about what I did, Indigo thought. But with Dan, there was no reciprocity. Amd he even had the gall to act annoyed when they tried to connect with him. Or in other words, be his friends and do what friends did.

"You guys just came here to talk to me about that. Ugh.." The last word rang in Indigo's ears. It was dismissive, not to mention rude. A whole slew of things that he didn't feel like he deserved.

"Look its, nothing. I talked to my dad but he didn't say much. It seemed he was just as surprised as me at this."

If he had the nerve to act that way, Indigo thought, then why show concern at all? Dan moped and sighed and dampened the mood, and then seemed to pin them as pesky when they asked him what was wrong?

And how were they supposed to even know whether he was telling them the truth or not? He kept lying about what was so obviously wrong, saying it was nothing and shrugging off their concerns. How could they truly trust a friend that kept lying to them? If Dan didn't feel like he could be honest with them about his feelings, then how did they truly know what information he was leaving out or not?

Indigo's eyes narrowed. If that was the way it was going to be, then there wasn't much anybody could do. He turned to walk away.

But in a twist of events, what was supposed to be a storming off turned into a slow motion rush towards. Dan as Indigo and Margo tried to catch Daniel as he fainted.

Now what, Indigo thought, worry and fury clashing at odds. What more did they have to find out? What more did they have to worry about when Dan could have just explained to them what was going on? No, instead they had to be blindsided and hit with waves of questions.

But he was wordless as the rush of nurses and staff came to the aid of Daniel. As Indigo watched Daniel's limp form carried out on a stretcher, he felt a lump in his throat. Angrily he looked away as a tear slid down his cheek. What did Dan care? Why worry? Neither he, nor Margo could answer the questions the staff asked. How could they? Dan had never so much as mentioned anything.

"Surely, you must know something," the nurse said gently, kindly. "I've seen the three of you around quite a bit. Aren't you all friends?"

"I thought we were," Indy replied, eyes downcast. "I guess not. I don't know anything."

"Nothing at all about his condition?" There were some murmurs of confusion, but the hustling and bustling of the center staff were effective in their mission.

Indigo shook his head. There was mothing useful he could offer. He knew nothing about Daniel.

Dan was wheeled away to some room. Emergency services had been called and they were on their way. Somebody slipped Indigo and Margo information about the proper hospital Dan was being taken to.

"I'm so tired of this," Indigo confessed to Margo in a low voice after the scene had calmed down. "The reason I went on this journey was so... It was just so I could get away from everything. I haven't been perfect, I know, but at least I don't..." His voice trailed off. He was getting into dangerous conversation. He wasn't thinking straight. He couldn't talk shit behind Dan's back for goodness sakes.

But in order for Indigo to forgive, he was going to need to cool off.

"Can we just blow off some steam or something?" Just to get Dan situated in the hospital would take quite a bit of time, and Indigo needed to calm down before then.

((Sorry for no color tags and errors! Had to whip this up on my phone.))

Margo blinked, unsure of what else to do, as Dan seemed annoyed by their questions on his behavior. Was it out their realm of friendship to ask, she wondered? His vague answer was... well, vague, and didn't really give Margo anything to go off of. She exchanged a quick look with Indy as if asking what just happened, but before she could speak her mind, she heard Dan mutter something under his breath. She whirled her head in his direction, about to correct his sass but watched as he began to falter on the staircase.

"Oh geez, what is wrong with him??" Margo directed the question towards Indy with almost comical exasperation as they quickly came to his side and grabbed his arms before he fell and hurt himself. She was taken aback by how sweaty he was. "Seriously, what the hell?" This time, she was mainly asking anyone who had an answer, including the nurses that suddenly appeared to help and were asking questions of their own.

Margo felt helpless, not able to answer anything besides his name and that his mom was sick too--were they related? Who really knew. She looked towards Indy for answers, clinging to his side like he was her only lifeline in this ocean of questions... except, he didn't seem to know much either? Apparent on his face, he seemed almost angry about this.

As Dan was taken away and they were given the information on where he'd be staying, Margo took a deep breath and leaned against the table they had been sitting at, gripping the edge of it to stay afloat. The nurses had told them they might not be able to see Dan immediately, as they might run some tests to figure out what happened and if he was stable enough to be released. How long would they have to wait?

She glanced at Indy as he spoke, his voice filled with something she couldn't quite place. Disdain? Exhaustion? It was on the tip of her tongue. Asking if she'd like to join him someplace else, she furrowed her brows and thought. "Well.. I do think we should see Dan as soon as possible, but the nurses said that it might be awhile before we can even get in to see him. He did just collapse after all..." She seemed to mull over what to do for a moment, but when she looked into her companion's eyes she could tell that something was bothering him.

From his eyes, to his body language, even to the way his voice sounded. There was something itching under his skin that seemed ready to burst. "Yea... Let's go take a breather, Indigo." Margo pushed off from the table, touching Indy's arm comfortingly as she lead them out of the center. It felt a lot better to be outside--an almost claustrophobic feeling had crept into her heart when all those nurses had sprung on them--taking in the fresh air.

"So... that was pretty weird, huh?"

Dan sat up, it seemed to have been forever since he was awake, a nurse attending to him, went to grab a doctor.

"Ugh, shit. Everything hurts." Dan whispered to himself, laying back down. His chest was in searing pain, but after a quick check, it was clear why.

A jagged line going from the top of his chest to the bottom of his ribs.

"It's gonna feel like that for awhile." The doctor said as he fidgeted with a strange machine

"When you arrived here, you heartbeat was very off-track. Going between beating fast and slow. At one point, you had technically died." The doctor said, Dan gulped, unable to say anything.

"But, we got you back on track, but, we had to put in a pacemaker. It'll help on making sure your heart doesn't go off-beat again. As well as that, your gonna need to take LOTS of different medication from now on, but that will come later.''

"But before I tell you more, I need a little information, just a formality, not like you got habit of collapsing."

The next few hours had been filled with forms and retrieving medicine, when it was all over, Dan sat with a stack of papers and medicine. He still had a couple of hours but friends and family had finally been allowed to visit, after a quick call to his family back home he texted Margo, and Indigo.

Look, guys, I don't know if you're here already, but I'm awake. Not so well. I can soon whenever but I have to be careful. You'll know why soon. I'm sorry for not telling you anything. But, you guys deserve to know after what you just saw. I'll tell you everything. I'm sorry for this. All of this.

“Yeah, weird,” Indigo exhaled, putting his arms behind his head. He was trying to ease into a more comfortable position, relax, get rid of the tension inside him.

“You really didn’t know…? Dan’s condition, I mean.” Margo’s normally assertive voice was much more gentle, but she certainly knew she was walking on eggshells. Having seen Indy come to the verge of cracking once before, she didn’t want to be the cause of it happening again. And that went for anyone, really.

“No,” Indy’s voice was flat. “I didn’t. He never told me. You know what…” He sighed. They were walking through Shamba now, the quaint houses and small shops on either side of them on the street. They looked like a couple of normal teenagers having fun. “I never knew… I never knew about his dad being in Team Rocket either.”

“Really?” Margo’s voice was in disbelief. “How…? They talked about it in front of us, just the other day. And I mean, I was practically a stranger.” He couldn’t possibly be serious that he didn’t know these key things about Dan, right?

“I don’t even know,” Indigo rolled his eyes. “Seems like a lot of stuff is coming out now and it’s all so confusing. I guess, like, you know, I wouldn’t feel so insulted if…” He trailed off, thinking. “If he was just more honest? Like, we almost died at Pewter. He went off to go talk to his dad, and then when he comes back, he’s all like, ‘yeah, yeah, dad didn’t know anything.’ At least give me the conversation in detail! We deserve to know that much.”

“Hm,” Margo avoided making any statements of her own, instead feeling out for questions and productive language she could use to help Indigo feel more at ease. “Yeah… It’s a lot to take in. Pewter was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life. It didn’t even seem like you guys cared about what happened to you at first... Say,” Margo paused. “You said you became a trainer to get away from it all, didn’t you? Just a few minutes ago?”

Indigo shrugged. “Yeah.”

“What did you mean by that, exactly?”

“Well… I…” He bit his lip. “Um, I don’t really think I’ve really ever had aspirations, before, you know? Like, okay, it seemed like most of the kids in my school were super figured out and they knew what they wanted to do and everyone was taking a gap year or going straight off to university or something. And then there was me, I didn’t really want anything.” He paused. “I still… Don’t? I mean, I just want to sleep and play videogames.”

Margo stared for a moment before a bubble of laughter escaped her.

Indigo glared, but then he couldn’t help but chortle himself. It sounded so incredibly stupid once he said it outloud.
“Oh my goodness, Indy… That’s the STUPIDEST thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I wasn’t done!” Indigo was still laughing. “I—you know what I did? I didn’t want to keep going to school or start working at my parents company so I asked my parents if they’d let me go on a pokemon journey or whatever. And they did—and then I spent like my first two months vacationing in Cinnabar. On their tab.” It felt good to get the ugly truth off his chest. The blunt humor helped dampen the sharp guilt.

Margo gasped, covering her mouth, but her eyes still alight with amusement. “What? Indy—you are such a punk!”

“Yeah, and then they got super mad and they almost made me come home, but I pretty much just begged them to let me stay. They’re not paying for anything anymore though. Me and Dan just like, squat at pokemon centers.” Another laugh. It felt good to be making fun of what had once made him hurt so. Perhaps this was what coping truly was, facing fears directly in some kind of way at least, instead of eschewing them away completely.

“But… That’s not really why you left? I mean, you haven’t really gone too deep into it. All you said was you wanted to sleep and play videogames,” Margo snorted.

“Being at home, there was a lot of pressure, y’know? All the time. Like, my older brother, you met him, Morado. He’s always been like this perfect kid and I’m always getting compared to him. It was just hard. I guess like, you know, I tried for awhile but ugh, my parents… They were always like, ‘why can’t you be more like Mori?’ Ugh. No matter what I did.” He paused, settling into silence.

Margo was just a tiny bit conflicted. After all, Morado Rose was such a gentleman. Sure, maybe Indy was pressured by his parents. But that’s not Mori’s fault. Hm… I did get his number. I should talk to him… She couldn’t help it.
”But forget me.” Indigo crossed his arms, looking at Margo expectantly, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“What about you? Why are you out here?”

Margo paused, her smile slowly withering despite her shining eyes. She avoided the directness of his eye contact, instead opting to look at a shop window filled with pastry treats for both humans and pokemon, leaning over. Appreciating the intricacies of the frosting and designs, Margo searched her brain for an answer. She knew eventually she would have to explain her appearance but she wished she had thought more about what exactly she would say to her two new companions.

“Well… I’m just out here to sleep under the stars and play my own games.” She straightened now, laughing once more as she poked some fun at Indy. He rolled his eyes at her before continuing to wait for her serious answer, his eyes glancing over the food with her.
“I’m just kidding with you. I’m out here… I suppose for the same reason as you, in a way. I wanted to get away from… my family.” She felt like she was stabbing them, the way she made it sound. “They were just so… overbearing? They were shoving their aspirations on me, without ever asking what I wanted to be or what I liked to do. It was always just assumed from the moment I could walk and talk that I’d be a breeder like them.”

Indy let out a low whistle. ”I know what that feels like.”

She could feel her eyes pricking with hot tears, but she didn’t let them form enough to fall down her face. They were angry tears, but there was a tinge of guilt mixed in with her emotions. Keeping the ghost of a smile she had left on her face, she turned from the window and continued their walking, Indy looking at her with… sympathy, perhaps? He’d never heard her speak in such an anguished way before.
“It’s annoying to have anything forced upon you, and something that determines the rest of your life? No thanks, I’ll pass. I want to explore! I want to have fun! I want to be an actual teenager who’s not polite all the time and makes mistakes and has time for herself.” The passion in her voice suddenly returned, Margo whirling on her companion and taking his hands in hers abruptly, bringing them up to eye level dramatically.

”Uh-”

“Do you know what I mean? I want to learn who Margo is, truly, underneath all the preconceptions about myself that my own family threw on top of who I honestly am! I’m a blank slate, I can be whatever I want, and I want to try out everything I can while I have this freedom!” She could feel herself rambling, letting Indy out of her grasp and turning once more away from him and leading them down the street further.

Who knew Margo was going through all this? She-- she even tells me more than Dan does... Indy shoved his hands into his pockets. He wasn’t as angry anymore, now it had just dissolved into a dissatisfied ache. Still, he listened to Margo intently all the same.

“Even if it doesn’t last… I want to take advantage of all these opportunities before me. That includes when they scare me to death and I wake up in a hospital with two crazy boys. My parents would probably kill me if they knew I had run away and now I was traveling around with boys.”

Margo giggled to herself, throwing a grin over her shoulder at Indigo.

”Ha,” Indigo let out the tiniest of smiles. ”I promise I won’t tell.” He pantomined a zipped going across his lips.

Margo sighed. It had felt good to talk out everything, sure, but there had been one crucial component missing. Dan. Whether he wanted to open or not, he was going to, she thought fiercely.

”You know, I’m sure Dan will come around,” she reassured Indy. ”Give him some time.”

”Yeah… I know. I guess we can just try to open up to him more, and maybe he’ll do the same.”

”Well, Indy, it was nice talking to you but I’m off.” Margo twirled.

”Where to?”

”Training, of course!” Margo pumped a fist into the air. ”If we ever get ambushed again, I’ll be prepared. And hey, I’ve already beaten you.” A fiendish grin.

”Get real, you got lucky,” Indigo snorted.

Margo fluttered her lashes. ”Is that so? Well, keep thinking like that and you’ll just fall further behind. See you later!”

”Uh-- yeah, later!” Indigo stared as Margo ran off, a now released Crowne close behind her. Looking up to the sky, he wondered what he wanted to do before remembering there was a gym match that he could participate in.

”Let’s get this over with,” he said. Glancing at his pokeballs, he trekked to the gym.



After the gym battle and training, the two received a text from Dan. It didn’t take long for Indy and Margo to get to Dan’s hospital room. Evening was starting to settle now, Dan had been in the emergency room for quite a while. That was how emergency rooms were, usually, packed full with schedule and not enough staff and too much to do.

”Dan…” Indigo uttered. ”So… Uh, you feeling okay?” Having blown off plenty of steam, he was ready to listen.

Dan sighed as he flipped through the channels on the T.V in his room, eventually deciding on some Pokémon teaching show.

When Indigo popped his head in Dan grunted in slight pain, adjusting himself into a more comfortable position.

"Hey, guys." he said as he notioned them in.

"So...." "I guess I owe you plenty of explanation. huh?" He said.

"I'm sorry. For what happened in the center."

He looked Indy straight in the eye softly "Especially you."

"You guys ready? I'll tell you everything." He said.