Larry soon realized that Valerie, in her half-asleep stupor, hadn’t taken any clothes with her into the shower. He pushed aside the sliding door of the wardrobe, only to find no clothes in the wardrobe at all, ‘That’s right, she said they were evacuated over here.’ A single backpack was placed at the foot of the bed, with no other clothes in the room. He quickly checked inside to find a large swath of items which were all somehow crammed into its inside, extra clothes included. ‘Guess these will have to do,’ He placed the backpack in front of the bathroom door and retreated, not wishing to be a weird creep, ‘Still too human, don’t want to spy on teenagers in the shower…’

  When the sound of the shower finally stopped, the sound of a hairdryer began. Eventually, the door to the bathroom opened and Valerie looked around for her backpack before knocking into it using the door, “Ah, did you put this here Larvitar? Thanks!”

  Soon after, Valerie emerged from the bathroom dressed in a simple plain white T-shirt and a set of black shorts. They certainly weren’t fashion pieces, but they would have to do. A simple shower already upped the young girl's presentation quite a bit. Where before she’d looked like someone you might find at a refugee camp for natural disasters. She now instead looked like any other young girl, her hair was still in a simple ponytail, and her new outfit showed more of her limbs, they were so pale, she looked like they hadn’t seen a day of sunlight, it showed off the girl's shut-in tendencies to Larry.

  “You knew I’d need some clothes, right?” Valerie pet Larry on the head affectionately, “That's very thoughtful of you!” she praised. Larry leaned into the display of affection but pulled away when he realized what he’d done.

  “Alright, today I’ll go check on Dad and then we’ll be off to Mt. Silver again, I guess.” Valerie did some simple stretches as she explained their schedule. Larry nodded back in confirmation.

  Valerie's voice lowered as she turned, “I hope he’s up already…”

  GGRRGGLLL… Larry's stomach suddenly cried out.

  Valerie stepped back a half-step in surprise at the loud growl of her Pokemon’s stomach as Larry blushed.

  “First though, let's get a bite to eat.” Valerie corrected.

  RRRGGRGLL… Her stomach responded in kind.

  “...Or two.” She blushed as well.

  …

  The pellets the Pokecenters cafeteria had called PokeChow weren’t up to snuff to Larry. They tasted acceptable, but to Larry, they simply weren’t as good as some good ol’ soil and dirt, ‘I wonder if the soil here tastes any different…’ Still, once he’d actually downed a plate of the stuff, he’d asked for seconds, then for thirds, and finally for fourths. Luckily for the two of them, Valerie had enough PokeDollars to accommodate him.

  She’d been slightly exasperated with him by the third serving, but chalked his endless hunger up to him living in the wilderness until now, ‘Someone wasn’t reading their Pokedex entries,’ Larry thought to himself humorously, ‘if a Larvitar’s hunger is even common knowledge here.’

  With their bellies filled, the two of them once again walked through the front of the Pokecenter, going for the front desk to ask about her father's condition. Larry fought to keep up with the human girl's hurried steps but didn’t complain, even if he hadn’t met him, he realized the girl cared for her father deeply.

  “Good Morning, Valerie.” The Nurse Joy of the center smiled back at her from behind the front desk. He wasn’t so sure how he felt that she’d already memorized the girl's name, but Valerie didn’t seem to mind, “Morning, do you have any info on how my dad is doing?”

  “Your father…” The Joy tapped away at her computer, “...should have woken up last night! But I’m unsure if he’s asleep right now, after the operation he should be located in Room 208B.”

  The girl really, truly deflated for the first time since he’d seen her, seemingly losing an inch in height as she breathed out at the good news, “Haa…Thanks for letting me know, Nurse Joy.”

  She was just about to run off to the room, when Nurse Joy stopped her, “Ah! Don’t barge in his room if he’s sleeping, let him have his rest, alright?”

  “Alright!” And the girl was off for the races.

  “Ah, damn wait!” Larry ran after her, with his arms adorably extended outwards for balance like an airplane.

  …

  The human hospital section of the Pokecenter was far smaller than expected, two rooms with eight beds in total, with an examination-slash-operation room situated at the end of the corridor. Valerie skidded to a stop before the two rooms, searching for their nameplates before opening the correct door in the most hurried yet quiet way possible.

  “Dad!” She whispered a cry, as she saw her father.

  “Val,” Her father greeted back in a weak voice, “How’s my gal doing?”

  Larry finally caught up and snuck after her through the door and into the room. His view was bad from so low to the ground, but walking up to the two of them more closely, Larry saw Valerie already embrace her dad into a very careful hug, probably still unsure of his condition.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Reading his nameplate on the hospital bed, Larry finally caught his name. Drew Riston was a handsome but disheveled man in his 30s. He looked European, had some clear beard stubble and his hair hadn’t been combed yet. He was lying on his side to not agitate the burns on his back.

  “Dad…” Valerie looked like she was already tearing up seeing her father, the girl was young, so she’d probably never seen the parental figure in her life in such a weak position. She pulled back to look him in the eyes, “How are your injuries?”

  “Ehh,” Drew averted his eyes. He looked like he wanted to give a positive answer, but couldn’t find a good angle to broach the subject, “I’ll live, I guess.”

  “What does that mean?!” She wanted concrete answers, so she pulled herself back into her father's chest.

  Larry pulled at her leg, knowing her father's weak state, ‘Don’t give that guy more drama than necessary!’

  “Ah, sorry!” She recoiled, clearly still shaken, “How long will you be in here?”

  “Don’t know,” Drew shook his head weakly, “I just know I got lots of creams and ointments to put on my back. Hurts like heck to simply lift my head right now. I’ll probably need physical therapy.” Even in his injured state he still kept up his no-swears policy, “And unfortunately, you’ll be forced to live with a relative for some time until I’m all healed up again.”

  “Huh?” That hit Valerie far harder than before, she looked at her Dad with surprise, “Who will I live with?”

  “I’m arranging it, don’t even worry about it… You shouldn’t need to worry about it.” Drew hung his hand around weakly, waving off the girl's concern about him. He didn’t want his daughter to sit in a hospital room and cry about her father her entire teenage years.

  “Oh, Dad…” Valerie was seriously about to cry as she pulled at the hem of her T-shirt, she wanted to complain, but seeing the state her father was in she couldn’t help but think she got off easy. Instead, Drew quickly changed the subject.

  “Is that the little guy you saved?” He looked like he wanted to raise a hand in greeting, but decided against it, instead going for a simple chin-nod, “Hey, there.”

  Catching herself with a sniff, Valerie kneeled and pet Larry's head as he waved at Drew, “Yeah, this is Larvitar. He’s nice, he even helped me out today in the morning. I think he might be pretty smart.”

  “Might be? I’m a damned genius!” Larry scoffed at her, he wanted to pull away from the pets but didn’t want to worry her father, so he kept still and enjoyed the affection.

  The two obviously didn’t understand his snooty remark, “He looks lovely, probably the greatest catch for your first Pokemon you could get.”

  She retreated into herself at the remark, looking down at Larry for support, “Uh, actually…”

  Drew looked at her expectantly, but Valerie fought to find a way to explain their current relationship, “I, uh, I actually didn’t catch Larvitar to keep him. I caught him so he could be healed. I- I was planning to release him back to where he lived after he was healed, he’s young and probably still has a mother.”

  Nodding along, Drew interjected, “He’s young? That’s weird. Normally young, wild Pokemon take quite some time to be able to understand their trainer since they never had any interaction with humans before.”

  The two looked at Larry for a second, yet he simply averted his eyes, ‘I- I’m just really smart…Really…’

  She continued to explain their circumstances as Larry watched on. Her reasons seemingly made sense to Drew he just still didn’t feel it was the right way to go about it, “I get it, honey. I really do, but what about your plans for the future, didn’t you say you wanted to work with Pokemon?” He looked down at Larry, “This is your chance, Val.”

  He kept up his lecture, “Not to mention how dangerous Mt. Silver is. I get bringing Larvitar back there, but you don’t need to do it yourself. A ranger can release him somewhere near the base too, you know.”

  “I-I know, but it wouldn’t feel right that way.” Valerie shook her head, “I want to make friends with Pokemon and the way I caught Larvitar just doesn’t feel right. I caught him, so I’ll release him.”

  Drew didn’t respond, as he was deep in thought, “You say it isn’t right, but what’s Larvitars opinion on the matter? What does he want?”

  Both of them again turned to Larry, forcing him to shrink away from their gazes once again. He thought about his plans, ‘What do I actually want? Well, for one I need to know what happened to Mom…’ Stewing in his thought for a second he let his option go through his mind, ‘I could get released near Mt. Silver again, but my plan was already to explore the world. There’s barely any better way to travel the Pokemon world than with a trainer, is there? But I’d be forced to stay with them, wouldn’t I?’ Larry's opinion was split.

  “Uh, I wanna know what happened to my Mom…” He answered timidly under their gazes, “...but after that, I’m not sure…”

  The two looked on, not understanding his squeaks and growls, Valerie followed up quickly, “The police are planning to interview him once we get to Route 28, I’ll get the answer we need from them, I hope. You alright with that, Larvitar?”

  Larry nodded back, not wanting to be misunderstood.

  “Alright!”

  Drew wanted to keep objecting, yet he looked split. He debated with himself mentally, before simply sighing, “You know I can’t stop you even if I wanted to. I’m stuck here now, I just hope you’ll stay safe and keep close to the rangers.” A small silence descended on the room before he continued, “You’re growing up and planning to be a trainer, I can’t keep you stuck inside all the time.”

  Wiping away her tears, Valerie sniffled some more before she answered, “Don’t worry, Maxie and some other rangers will all be inside the cave with me. I think I couldn’t be safer if I wanted to.” She once again caressed Larry's tall, dull horn, “Besides, I’ve got a Pokemon to back me up! Don’t I?”

  “Sure you do!” Larry hollered back.

  Looking at the two of them, Drew smiled on, the two painted a perfect picture for him. His daughter was growing up.

  …

  After the heart-to-heart and some more idle conversation, the two left to spend some more time together. Their ride to Mt. Silver was going to arrive sometime in the afternoon. The flight was supposed to be far quicker than a drive, but the ranger who would fly them also had other work that would delay them.

  Valerie and Larry had returned to her room, cleaned off her old clothes, and checked the contents of her bag, just making sure that Valerie still had everything she might need. She had refilled her bottles with fresh water, but found that she was running low on food, she had a second mouth to feed now, after all. So the two made way for the PokeMart section of the PokeCenter.

  The two entered the PokeMart, Valerie wasn’t poor but she still felt pained when she eyed the price tags. Larry on the other hand was simply amazed seeing an honest-to-god, real-life Potion for the first time.

  ‘Huh, I always thought it was some melty purple thing, not just a spray bottle.’ Larry felt a sense of childlike wonder looking at all the items he’d only been able to see in tiny little icons on his videogame consoles. Even the prices were the same, which made Larry concerned for his trainer's financial situation, ‘Let’s hope this is a Japanese Yen situation and this stuff isn’t hundreds of dollars…’

  As they browsed, a young kid with a cap strode up to them, tossing and catching a Pokeball. He sported a confident smile, “Hey, you! Wanna fight?”