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It wasn’t unusual for Roy to wander outside the airship late at night when it was landed. Roy struggled to sleep most nights, his head too busy with thoughts of adventure, new battling strategies and catching the black Rekuzza. It all excited Roy so much. Ever since he joined Liko, Friede and the rest of the Rising Volteccers on the Brave Asagi, he had been having the time of his life.
Can you really blame him for struggling to sleep?
Hogator, on the other hand, fell asleep very quickly. They battled some random Pokemon, here and there in the forest until Roy noticed how tired his partner was getting.
“Ready to head back?” Roy looked down at his Pokemon and asked.
Hogator made a noise of agreement and Roy gently picked him and started carrying him.
Hogator had fallen asleep not long into the walk, Roy chuckled and continued walking, thinking about all the things they could do tomorrow.
After walking for a while, Roy stepped on a branch and broke it, startling him, but not enough to wake up Hogator. Roy sighed in relief at that, but unfortunately it was enough to alert a nearby Kurobatto. Roy panicked when he saw the Kurobatto was about to launch a Sludge Bomb, it was like time slowed down for him in those seconds.
“Hogator!” Roy yelled in panic, waking up his Pokemon before gently throwing him into a nearby bush, Roy took the hit from Kurobatto’s Sludge Bomb, he fell back on the ground, wincing in pain. The Kurobatto flew away.
Hogator struggled out the bush, but started freaking out once he saw his trainer on the ground and rushed over to him, nudging him for almost a minute before Roy sat up and forced out a smile.
“I’m fine, buddy, don’t worry…” Roy spoke with a very groggily sounding voice, forcing himself to stand but wobbling, Hogator could only look up at his trainer with concern. Roy kept his forced smile on, looking back down at him before slowly beginning to walk again. “Come on.. We best be going.”
Hogator kept watching Roy the whole time they were walking, Roy had never walked so slow since they met, he was always so fast and loud, seeing him like this was new to the Pokemon, and he didn’t like it.
Roy started coughing and slouched on a nearby tree, it hurt.
Everything hurt.
He felt like he was on fire.
He couldn’t breathe.
Everything was so blurry, he felt so dizzy.
He couldn’t keep walking, no, no he should probably sit down.
Oh, he’s already on the ground. When did that happen?
Even on the ground he still felt so dizzy and his legs felt like jelly.
He needed to call for help.
Weakly, Roy got out his Rotom phone, through very cloudy eyes, Roy could just barely make out Friede from his contacts. He made the call, and then passed out.
Friede was startled to hear his phone starting to ring, he was confused and a little concerned to see it was Roy calling him at this time of night, but he tried to ignore the voice inside him telling him something was wrong.
But now it was screaming. Silence. Silence was all he heard from the other side of the call. He immediately stood up. His eyes darted around the room, it was taking all his willpower to not just jump off the airship, right then and there, and go looking for the kid.
Finally, he heard something on the other side of the line. It was Hogator. Hogator sounded out of breath, he was freaking out and crying.
That did it. Friede jumped from the airship, freeing Lizardon from his pokeball, Cap barely catching up from how impulsively his trainer is acting. Cap was making noises that was definitely meant to be some kind of lecture towards Friede, but Friede wasn’t paying attention, Cap realized that and went silent.
Finally, Friede could hear the cries of Hogator again and the second Lizardon was close enough to the ground, Friede jumped down.
Friede gasped and he could feel himself turn pale, he felt sick to his stomach upon seeing Roy laying on the ground, looking so sickly and gasping for air. He could also see tear marks on the poor boy’s face. He carefully kneeled down and as gently as possible, placed a hand on Roy’s head, he was boiling hot. Poison. Friede could tell from the heat and the purple still staining Roy’s skin. He needed to get him back to the airship, he gently picked Roy up causing him to make a noise of discomfort.
“Shh…” Friede took Roy’s hat off and gently stroked his hair. It pained him deeply to see Roy like this and wanted to try his best to comfort him. Making sure Hogator was on Lizardon as well they were airborne once more, slowly this time so as to not disturb Roy anymore.
Friede couldn’t keep his eyes off of Roy, he felt like he nearly had a heart attack when he first found him. Friede was so close to tears but he wasn’t going to dare let any fall. Not now.
When they landed on the airship, Friede rushed Roy to the medical room and quickly started looking for antidotes to heal Roy.
Would have it been quicker to get Mollie for this? Yes.
Did Friede think about that? No.
He was focused on one thing and one thing only, Roy.
After finally finding them, Friede grabbed a few antidotes and sprayed Roy with them, gently rubbing them in, Roy groaned in discomfort but eventually, his body temperature was starting to go back to normal, along with his breathing.
Friede picked Roy up again and took him to his room, instead of Roy’s. He needed to keep on him, he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t. Friede placed Roy in his bed and tucked him in, Hogator joining him, staying close. Friede sat back on the swivel chair near at his desk, watching over Roy and getting lost in thought.
He had never felt so terrified in his entire life. He never wants to feel like that again. He can’t stop thinking about what if he hadn’t got the call, if Roy was just stuck out there all night….
Friede was pulled a little out of his thoughts when he saw Cap had joined Roy and Hogator on the bed, watching over Roy with worry.
Like trainer, like Pokemon.
Friede walked over the bed, petting Cap and then ruffling Roy’s hair, he smiled fondly at Roy, like he had many times before. He had grown so fond of Roy and cared for him like a father. The thought that this kid was almost taken away from him, made him feel the worst kind of feeling imaginable. He eventually sat on the floor, leaning against the bed to still keep an eye on Roy, but ended up falling asleep.
Roy stirred awake after hours, confused by his surroundings but he knew he was on the airship. Slowly, he sat up, both Hogator and Cap were next to him. Hogator was normal, but Cap was a little odd. Then he heard loud snoring coming from the floor, he looked down and saw Friede sprawled on the floor.
“Friede?” Roy called out, instantly seeming to wake up Friede who stared at him.
“Roy.” Friede responded in a fond tone, he wrapped his arms around the boy and pulled him in for a hug. A tight hug, but Roy didn’t seem to mind, happily hugging him back. “Roy.. don’t ever scare me like that again.” Friede spoke, sounding halfway stern and halfway fond. He was a little mad at Roy for what happened, the chances of Roy getting out of the airship late at night again were slim to none. But, mainly he was just so happy to see he was okay again.
Roy nodded, “I won’t, sorry, Friede.”
“It’s… okay.” Friede responded. “Just… it really did put me right on edge when I found you like that. If you didn’t wake up this morning I don’t know what I would have done.”
Roy took a second to process Friede’s words before smiling. “You really do sound like you’re my dad now, you know?”
“As far as I’m concerned I am, you’re the best son I could ask for.” Friede chuckled and ruffled his hair.
Roy grinned at him, and then his stomach rumbled. “Friede…?”
Friede chuckled, “Right, right… let’s get some breakfast.”