For 32 points, I was doing fairly well for a first year. George had apparently only gotten 3 points in total due to the Beedrill focusing down on his Bronzor who was in charge of using gravity to get them low enough for his other Pokemon were mainly physical in nature except his Piplup. As I walked over to collect up the Stufful I saw the girl with bug types walking over to me. I figured she would walk past me but she had other ideas.

"I want the bandanas you stole from me" she looked me in the eye and put her hands on her hips in a power pose. I did remember taking bandanas from her knockouts, but from what I read that was legal. I had even watcher her steal one from me. 

"Huh?" Yup, that was my response as I noticed that her shirt comprised of Cleo the Bluepoint city gym leader and her Goodra. She was obviously a fan of hers as even her backpack was in the shape of a Goodra. I moved my eyes back up once I finished my once-over and tried to figure out how to navigate her.

With how the first group had halted before proceeding while the one that had been hidden had sped forward with both groups shooting poisoned needles as cover fire. If I had learned one thing today, it would be that bug types work really well together. She had definitely gotten unlucky with how the Beedrill had obviously planned to catch someone off guard but that didn't mean I should have to compensate her.

"I want the bandanas you stole off of my Pokémon's hard work. They put in the effort and should be rewarded" she repeated, adding on reasons why she should get the bandanas. 

"But like, you also stole from me?" I didn't understand her reasoning here.

"What are you talking about? I only took bandanas I knew were mine" she made a motion as if she was offended that I would suggest such a thing.

George had hurried off to get in line for the nurse Joy, so I was by myself. I looked over at the resting Stufful and decided that I had better things to do. I shook my head and passed her.

"Hey! Get back here and give me my bandanas!" She yanked on the back of my shirt, one that I had been in since I left from Darklauf(don't judge, I only have two sets of clothes!) I tripped and fell forwards and my shirt loosened from her grip as my weight pulled the cloth down with me. I felt the dark TE churning as it rebelled against me and I felt new anger towards another.

"Oh my god are you alright? I'm so so sorry, I didn't expect" she paused as if unsure what to say. Why was I this furious? It's like she had burned my favorite toy in lava or something when she only made me trip. Clearly I did feel that way though, as from the ground I braced myself and pettily swept her feet such that she fell too. She yelped and landed a bit roughly.

"I am NOT giving you anything" I fought this feeling of anger, but it hit back. Eating away at me and trying to overtake other parts of me. I did not see this coming as the only three things I seemed to dislike in this moment more were certain Pokemon from the Strange Forest, the government, and waking up late myself. This line of thinking seemed to calm me down, so I continued. Waking up late was in a category lower than the other two, it was more of a self improvement goal while the others were personal grudges.

The girl got annoyed that I tripped her and started demanding even louder that I give her what she wanted. Impertinent? Is that the right word? I tried to ignore her but with both her and the darkness egging me on I was unable to win against both.

“Give me my points you brute!” I bit my tongue and kicked her again before getting up and running away. I scooped up the sleeping stuffed animal Pokemon and ran farther from her yelling figure. She didn’t put too much effort in chasing me, that would be too much exertion for someone like her. 

I focused on getting away from her before getting socked in the gut and having to stop. The anger faded as I focused on the Stufful who hit me. It wasn’t crying this time but creepily stared at me as I heaved and coughed from its hit. I took this as a sign it wanted to be put down and did so. Its sibling was still using rest but I set them down anyways to catch my breath.

Oof, that hit hurt. 

I stood there bent-over for a solid minute before being able to straighten up to standing normally. That girl could have easily caught me if she had followed me a little through some houses but the only ones who saw me were the one Stufful and a concerned old lady who offered me a cup of lemonade which I gratefully accepted. Hey, it's free lemonade.

She also knew about the Stufful and pet it perfectly such that it leaned into her touch. She chuckled and then congratulated me for protecting Elizabean before leaving. I assumed she was one of the ones who watched the colony attack as several had brought out folding chairs from houses and back porches of friends to watch the young trainers. 

With everything about my mindset, reset and not angry or hurt, I walked at a slow pace such that my companion Stuffel could keep up on our walk back to Puff. What had happened back there? Normally I would feel a bit annoyed, I mean I only fell to the ground not off a house. But this time it wasn't like that and it has to do with the energy lingering from that black hole eclipse. I tried to feel it out but doing anything with it hurt although now I could at least feel it. While the energy was spread out over my entire body, mixing with the other TE I received through my bond connections, the largest amount focused on my brain.

There wasn't much I could do, if nothing would move then I couldn't change anything. The best I could do was understand what was going on and now that my anger was gone I couldn't exactly compare how it looked then. 

Nothing I could do... just like back home.

Puff was glad I was alright although she still wasn't in the best condition.

"Heeey Maxyyyyy" she didn't have a cough but the tone still had a rasp to it. 

"Drink some more water, are you feeling better?" I sat the Stufful who had finished using rest on the ground before walking over to take her temperature. It felt normal? Yeah I suck at this medical stuff. I did know that warmth is good somehow, so I made sure to wrap Puff in one of my other shirts before carrying her along with my other stuff.

Whatever sickness had its hold on her was really nasty. The Stufful complained for a minute before I offered them berries to walk on their own. A careful pet later and they were slowly moseying alongside me as I made my way to the line for healing Pokemon.

It was there I saw George, he was near the front half and let me cut in line in front of him. There were many glares targeting us as I instead chose to focus on feeling how Puff was doing. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out, breath in--there was a pause--breath out. 

"Think you could learn heal pulse or wish Puff?" I was trying to make conversation to avoid the glares. 

"Rooooost" she whispered. Yes, but that hadn't worked to help her with the sickness and it wouldn't heal the others either.

"Just think of the possibilities, if you ever can't use roost or it doesn't work then you can heal a different way" I knew that having a healer would be good. Someone who could save us if we ever needed something potions couldn't fix. And, albeit little selfish, someone who could fix me given enough time and research. The hospital said I’d be stuck like this but that didn’t mean I had to believe them(I do believe them, they saved me after all.)

She used peck, extending and hardening her yellow beak until she poked me with it lightly “Fine.”

After that, she drifted off to sleep.