Rehabilitation
Chapter 1
Damn vending machines. They always don’t work when you’re the hungriest. That was on the top of Gerald’s mind as he slid the dollar into the machine ad infinium, hoping he’d placed it in just right, so he could gain access to some delicious potato chips. Sighing, he gave up on the damned thing and sat in the rusty metal chair in the hospital’s break room.
Said hospital was placed in the northwest district of Goldenrod City, Johto, where all the residents had their homes haphazardly clustered together. The season was autumn, but the temperature said otherwise. It was mid-October, and was early in the morning, yet it was 70 degrees out, but all the residents were used to it and didn’t complain.
Gerald looked at the mirror in the room and frowned at what he saw: A 28-year-old man with messy black hair, face kept in a perpetual unamused and tired grimace and eyes, hidden beneath glasses, with bags underneath them from all the night shifts he worked.
“Damn” he said to himself, “Take a look at you, gramps. No wonder Sally calls you old.”
Gerald then looked at the room reflected in the mirror: Walls colored in a disgustingly sterile white, vending machines and coffee makers busted, and rusty, metal chairs that could barely fit a teenager.
“Ten years and I’m still surprised by how crappy this place is…” he chuckled to himself.
Maybe it was because his job keeps him away from the dingy conveniences this place has to offer for its employees. It was its patients that got the best treatment, furniture and food. Or at least, in his wing that’s how it goes and he had no problem with that. After all, in his job, the patient’s comfort was top priority. Dr. Gerald Bane is a grievance counselor, one who comforts those whose loved ones died in the hospital. However, unlike most of his colleagues, who attend to other humans, he took care of the person’s Pokémon, if the person even had any. It wasn’t an overwhelming job; how can someone get hurt if they have a walking tank, or a volcano that can erupt whenever the trainer feels like it? But, one way or another, it happens more commonly than most people believe.
He’d usually have about two cases a week and although that didn’t sound so bad, recuperation would usually take a couple weeks maximum, leading to multiple patients at once. Perhaps it’s because he was working in Goldenrod City, or the Lavender Town of Johto, as his colleagues would refer to it as. It was probably the place with the most abundant amount of Team Rocket members, always keeping the GCPD busy. This was no surprise to Gerald at all.
Goldenrod has the biggest shopping Center in the region, meaning shoplifters, most of the time armed, thought of Goldenrod as the land of milk and honey. To synergize that, Goldenrod also has the only Game Corner in the region, turning the town into a magnet for gambling, drinking, wife-beating pieces of trash that gambled what little life they had away. Mix that with innumerous amounts of dark alleyways and Magnet Train that could easily serve as an escape to another region and you got yourself the most crime infested town imaginable.
“Shit” Gerald said to himself, slipping a cigarette in his mouth and digging into his pockets for a lighter, “Who daydreams about how fucked up his town is on his break?”
Finding the lighter he lit up his drag and leaned his head back, smiling as the burning tobacco washed away his feeling of disgust. Suddenly, his contented break was cut short as the door swung open, revealing his friend, Dan.
“Gerry! We got a new patient, a Mawile! Whitney found her, said she was found crying next to a dead body! Problem is she’s a fighter! Gus, h-he was off to get a muzzle when I left to get you!”
“A muzzle!? Dammit Gus, that’ll only make things worse… Where is he!?”
“Upstairs A-wing. Hurry!”
The last sentence was shouted as Gerald dashed through downstairs B-wing, hoping he would stop his idiot cohort from making the poor thing’s frustration even worse. He rushed through the hall joining A-wing and B-wing and zipped through the stairs just in time to find Gus standing with a muzzle in his hand.
“Gus, what the HELL are you doing!?” Gerald exclaimed through rigorous panting.
“What does it look like I’m doin’?” Gus said, “This BITCH just bit two of our employees and is gonna get muzzled for it.” He was holding the Pokémon in his free hand and roughly jerked her when he said ‘bitch’, causing a yelp.
Gerald leaned to the left a little, to see what caused Gus to act the way he did. He saw a little Mawile, no more than 2 feet tall, looking up at him. Her face showed anger and malice, probably caused by the unwanted, rough contact with humans that weren’t her trainer. But her eyes, a dark shade of maroon, showed fear and confusion while her body shook, almost violently. Gerald noticed that Mawile was covered from forehead to chest in blood.
“Christ, Gus, you didn’t even clean blood off of her?”
“We couldn’t, smartass, she wouldn’t give us the chance”
He crouched down wordlessly, pulled a small, damp towel and clutched it in his right hand. He extended his left hand towards the Mawile. When his hand was about a foot away from her face, the still-shaking Mawile closed her eyes in fear and chomped his left hand with her second mouth. Gerald cringed for a minute, but then smiled.
“Gotcha”
Taking his chance, Gerald began wiping blood off of the Mawile’s face. Mawile recoiled for a minute, closing her eyes out of fear of the foreign object owned by a stranger, but eventually stood still. Gerald heard her sigh at the feel of the damp, but warm towel rub against her face as a contrast to the chilling cold of the groggy morning. When Gerald finished cleaning Mawile’s face and upper torso, she slowly let go of his hand, which had blood trickling down its side.
“Good girl” Gerald said, scratching the back of Mawile’s head, to which she closed her eyes and smiled, although she was still shaking quite a bit.
By the time Gerald was done, Dan had arrived to take Mawile to her recovery room.
“See, Gus? I told ya Gerry would’ve solved things.”
“Hmph. Only ‘cause he’s a pansy that’s paid to have animals cry on his shoulder.”
Gerald gave Mawile a final pet on the head, ignoring Gus’s usual attitude. Dan led Mawile to her room, located in upstairs B-wing. Waving goodbye to the fleeting Mawile, who returned it with a blushing stare towards the floor, Gerald stood there with Gus waiting for them to be a good distance. When Gerald was sure he and Gus were the only ones in the hallway, he grabbed Gus by his collar and roughly dragged him, who was protesting and yelling the whole way, to the staircase.
“What the hell, Gerald!?”
“You know damn well what this is about!” Gerald exclaimed furiously, smashing Gus into the wall of the stairway’s room, “Ever since you’ve arrived here, you’ve been a pretentious little bitch that pulls rank whenever someone calls you out for the asshole that you are. I’ve tolerated you for the several months you’ve been here, but now we’re gonna have to make some ground rules.”
Gus tried to struggle, but the older man had a good grip and well-toned muscles, though what he did to get them, Gus didn’t know.
“You’re getting your ass fired for this…” Gus hissed through gritted teeth.
“Fired? HA! Let me tell you how exactly that statement’s full of crap. There are no security cameras here and no witnesses, meaning the only evidence you have is your word. And I’ll let you in on a secret… it isn’t worth shit here. Sure you may have a higher rank, but you aren’t my boss. I’m not going anywhere.”
“So now that we established the crystal-clear fact that I can beat the shit out of you and not pay for it, let’s make some rules, okay? Rule One: Don’t you DARE lay a hand on my patient with abuse ever again, as though they haven’t experienced enough of that. Rule Two: Don’t refer to my patient as a bitch or ANYTHING like it. And finally, Rule Three: You can disrespect me all you want. But if you disrespect the work I do, the Pokémon I treat, and the reason they got here by referring to it as crying on my shoulder, I’ll make sure you end up on the opposite side of the hospital bed for weeks. ”
Gus looked at his colleague, pupils diluted in fear.
“What? Too complicated for you? Fine, I’ll summarize. Stay the FUCK away from my patients, or we’ll figure out how long it takes gravity to send your fat ass to the bottom of these stairs, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?”
Gus nodded his head quickly and was released from his captivity with a shove, running down the stairs as quickly as he could without falling. After his shift was over at around 7:00, Gerald left the hospital and entered his home, trying not to wake Sally up, although he wouldn’t feel guilty if he did. She’d probably return the favor in the morning regardless.
Chapter 2
“Wake up, Daddy! Wake up!”
Gerald tiredly got out from under his covers in a groggy haze, though more because his daughter’s physical queue than her verbal one. Sally, his 7-year-old demon, was excitedly jumping up and down on his bed, eyes wide with happiness. She was always this way when he was home in the morning.
Her short, jet-black hair was bouncing up and down along with her body, but only slightly because of her headband that kept most of her hair back. For some reason, even though it was in the morning, she was wearing her red hoodie. Of course she always wore that thing, but for why Gerald had no clue.
“Alright, fine. I’ll make you a big breakfast. Just stop jumping up and down, it’s too early for this kinda stuff…”
“Or whaaat?” Sally teased after jumping off of the bed, with a devious grin.
“Or, THIS!” Gerald picked up Sally and held her upside down and tickled her stomach, causing her laugh hysterically. After a minute or so, Gerald let her down and ruffled her hair a bit, to which Sally scowled.
She walked past the doorway and said, “’kay, I’ll get out the food and pots and pans for ya! Thanks Daddy!”
After breakfast and Lemonade – which went surprisingly well together – Sally asked if Gerald had any new patients. After some reluctance, Gerald mentioned the recently committed Mawile, to which Sally beamed.
“A Mawile? Aww, they’re so cute! Can I visit her? Pleeease? I always wanted to be friends with one of your patients!” Sally rocked up and down in her seat, to which Gerald scratched the back of his head.
“Ehh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, kiddo. She’s not really in the mood for anyone visiting right now.”
“Why not?”
Gerald looked into his half-empty glass of Lemonade. He never told Sally what his real job was. He always told her he took care of Pokémon, but not the circumstances. Meaning, Gerald always had to think of some reason as to why the adorable Pokémon he takes care of would attack anyone that wasn’t careful.
Thinking it’s too early in the morning to think of a reason, he said, “Trust me. You’ll meet her, but not now.”
Thankfully, Sally simply shrugged and said, “’kay, see ya when you get home, Daddy! Have fun at work!”
Gerald smiled weakly and said he would, walking out of the front door and beginning his stroll to the hospital.
Gerald walked through the front doors and was greeted by Dan, who looked somewhat urgent, but had a smile, like always.
“Heya, Gerry! How’s the hand?”
“Alright, still a little sore, but there’s been worse. Remember that one time, with the…?”
“Oh yeah! With the Teddiursa and that Focus Punch to the face! Man, can’t blame Gus for going bald after that.” Dan chuckled, but then Gerald made his way to upstairs B-wing, stopped at the fifth door on the right and sighed. The first day of meeting them’s always the toughest. He wondered how the Mawile would react. No use wondering about it, Gerald thought. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Mawile thankfully was still sleeping, but what surprised Gerald was that she had a visitor. Or, to be more precise, Gerald was surprised by WHO the visitor was.
Watching over the Mawile with tears in her eyes was Whitney, sitting in one of the visitor chairs.
“*sniff* Umm, are you Dr. Bane? The guy that helps Pokémon?”
“Yep. But, please, I’d feel better if you called me Gerry. How long have you been here?”
Whitney shrugged, “Heh, since Mawile got here. So I guess that’s ummm…”
“28 hours.”
“Umm, y-yeah!”
Gerald sighed and held his forehead in his palm, “What about your Gym?”
“Don’t you worry! Cathy’s taking care of it while I’m gone. I just, ummm, wanted to make sure she’s alright. ”
Gerald nodded, telling Whitney he there was more.
“Umm, how exactly do you go about, umm, what’s the word…?”
“Recuperation.”
“Y-yeah, that’s it!”
“We… I mean, I… usually try to calm down the patient using various methods: aroma therapy, psychotherapy, hell, sometimes a combination of several of them. Mawile doesn’t seem so bad, so some therapy and friendliness should make her… well, I don’t want to say good as new, because…”
“Yeah, I understand.” Whitney said, looking to the ground, “What about adoption?”
“Oh yes. Unfortunately, there are many restrictions when it comes to adoption, especially here in Johto” Gerald took a deep breath, “Gym Leaders aren’t allowed to adopt, I’m afraid, nor are people that don’t reside in the town they’re committed in…”
“What? That sucks!”
“Shhh” Gerald put his hands up and looked at Mawile then back at Whitney. She put her finger to her lips and nodded as Gerald continued, “I know. They don’t allow people from different cities because they don’t want to have to move the Pokémon. They ban Gym Leaders, because the Indigo Plateau states that Gym Leaders can only own Pokémon they’ve caught. Pokémon owned by other trainers, deceased or not, are off-limits.”
Whitney gave an exasperated groan, “Damn, I wanted to ask Jasmine to adopt her. I wouldn’t have been able to anyways… oh well, I understand. I’ll try and figure something out. Here, umm, take my Pokégear number.”
Gerald wrote down her number and gave Whitney his.
“Maybe you should go back to your Gym, or home? You’re probably dead tired.”
“Ummm, yeah, maybe you’re right. I was kinda on my way home from Olivine when I met her, so I haven’t really slept in a while. She doesn’t look so bad, so I don’t think I have to worry. Besides, I can see she’s in good hands. Bye-bye!”
She waved goodbye, to which Gerald responded with a wave as well, and walked out the door. After Gerald closed the door he sighed and turned to face the still-sleeping Mawile.
"You're a lucky little one, ya know that?"
Chapter 3
It had been an hour and a half since Whitney left and Mawile still hasn’t woken up. Gerald checked her vitals – all of which were normal – and simply assumed she collapsed from exhaustion. It was fairly common for smaller Pokémon, especially ones with a strong bond with their trainer. That reminded Gerald; maybe he should find out a little bit more about the trainer. According to Dan, he was sent to the hospital’s morgue, and almost definitely would have a record in the patients’ archives.
When he arrived at the morgue, he stopped at his destination, the front desk.
“Mornin’, Reggie.”
“Reginald.”
“Yeah, yeah, you still goin’ on about that? Anyways, I’m here t-”
“You’re here to see the info on your newest patient’s master, right?”, Reginald said listlessly, then replied to Gerald’s surprised look, “Oh, come now, you don’t have to be Archimedes to think of a plan so simple.”
‘Smug motherfucker…’ grumbled Gerald internally.
“It was a Mawile, right? A female one? Here, I’ll print out all the data I have on her trainer.” Moments later, two sheets of paper slid out of the printer and were handed to Gerald. Gerald walked briskly back to his patients room, reading the information on the paper and absorbing its contents.
“Name: Joseph Kroze. Hometown: Oldale Town… so he’s from Hoenn. Guess that explains Mawile. What’s he doing here?” Gerald looked further into the information, seeing frivolous knowledge, like height, weight, and eye color. He looked at the photo before turning the page. A boy, no older than 15, was standing with a huge grin on his face. He was a fireball, a huge ball of energy, Gerald could tell. A ambitious boy that wanted to have an adventure and all the friends, hardships, and triumphs that came with it.
Gerald sighed and turned the page to battle statistics. On the second page, it showed the badges he earned, the amounts of wins and losses he’s had and all the trades, eggs, and Pokémon in general, that he’s been given. What Gerald saw shocked him: The only Pokémon he had was Mawile. However, the badges he had were enormous: All of Hoenn and Kanto, placing in the top five in both regions’ tournaments and Olivine and Ecrueteak‘s badges recently obtained.
Gerald then folded the small packet and placed it in the right pocket of his scrubs. He entered the door of his patient’s room, and she was awake. However, something was wrong. Two doctors feverously tended to Mawile, giving her an ice pack, checking her vitals, asking which medicines should be used.
“What’s going on!?” Gerald exclaimed, utterly confused by the panicked sight.
“Mr. Bane, your patient is suffering from a severe fever, most likely stress-induced. She started to spasm only moments ago. We’ve stabilized her, but she’ll have to get treatment for it to go away. Her body’s too weak to fight it on its own. ”
“Isn’t that kind of why we have medicine?” Gerald spat sarcastically.
“It’s different with Pokémon, Mr. Bane. Different Pokémon have different strains of diseases and viruses. We would have to know her internal symptoms, but obviously we can’t ask her.” the doctor sighed before continuing, “We’ll bring all the fever medicine we have, but we may not have enough time to reach the right one.”
The doctors left in a hurry towards the medicine containment area in C-wing, leaving Gerald alone with his patient. He crouched down somewhat next to her bed, causing her to look to her left and give the friendly human a weak smile, glad he wasn’t holding a needle, breathing heavily with half closed eyes, due to the fatigue caused by the her fever.
“M-maw…”
“Mawile, listen to me. You have to tell me how exactly you’re feeling. Stomach aches, headaches, hot or cold, anything. But… don’t tell me. Describe how you’re feeling in your mind.” he saw the utterly confused look on Mawile’s face and replied, “Trust me. It’s the only surefire way to make you feel better in time.”
Mawile nodded and closed her eyes as Gerald touched her forehead with his middle, index, and ring fingers and does the same. As Gerald had expected, words flushed into his mind.
“I feel cold… but my head feels hot. I-I can’t stop shaking and my head hurts… Is that enough?”
Gerald nodded, but Mawile continued, “Joseph…” she started thinking of her trainer, his chest bleeding profusely, his last words, and how happy she was before he left,”… maybe it’s better this way… Maybe I ought to let go and join him…”
“Don’t say that, don’t you dare say that.” Mawile was shocked at Gerald hearing her thoughts, “Everyone deserves a second chance at life, whether it was taken from them by someone else, or themselves.’
“Y-you… you can hear me? How?”
“I’ll explain later. The doctors are probably almost here and I know exactly what you’ve got.” he scratched the back of her head, causing her to close her eyes and smile, “You’ll be better in no time!”
“Th-thank you… what’s your name?”
“Gerald.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Yep. I’m in charge of making sure you feel better... well, I’m the ONLY person assigned with making you feel better. You’ll be seeing me a lot, so don’t go thinking you’ve gotten rid of me.” said Gerald matter-of-factly, causing Mawile to giggle.
The doctors entered the room and Gerald turned to them smiling and saying, “I think I know what she’s got. Try the medication for Paulsen’s Fever.”
The doctors shrugged and the one Gerald assumed was in charge said, “I don’t see the harm in it.”
They then took out a syringe with a red liquid in its glass vial, the sight of it causing Mawile to cringe.
Gerald crouched back down next to Mawile petting her head and said in a calming voice, “Hey now, don’t worry. It’s just medicine. If you go to sleep after this, you’ll feel better, I promise… Okay?”
Mawile stared down at the other end of her hospital bed, considering that promise. After some hesitation, she looked up at him and nodded, “… Okay.”
Gerald then moved to her left side, so the doctors could use her right arm for the injection. Mawile squeezed Gerald’s hand as the injection started, but relaxed her fists as the pain from the prickling subsided. Relieved, Mawile slowly fell asleep, while the doctors put away their syringes and pill bottles.
Gerald kissed Mawile on her forehead to which she purred somewhat and finally passed out from exhaustion.
“Her vitals and temperature are returning to normal… Mr. Bane, how did you know what type of fever she had? How could she have told you?”
Gerald shrugged and grinned, "Guess I was born with a gift."
Chapter 4
“Morning, sunshine!” grinned Gerald as he woke up the Mawile by opening the curtain in her room to reveal a large burst of yellow light from Goldenrod’s famous sunrise.
The Mawile rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms and then gasped at who woke her up.
“Mr. Gerald! Hey, I think I know how you can talk to me!”
“Oh? Alright, I’m curious… Shoot.”
“You’re psychic! No really!” said Mawile as Gerald laughed his ass off, “I heard there’s this guy in the Indigo Plateau who got Psychic powers from his Gardevoir!”
“Yes, I heard of him as well. But no, that’s not how I can communicate with you.” Gerald pulled out a chair and sat down, while Mawile sat up and looked at him quizzically, “You see, I’m not from Goldenrod, or Johto at all for that matter. I’m from Viridian City, or Viridian Forest, to be precise.”
“So? You were born in a forest. It’s a little weird, but not anything too odd.”
“Well, yes… but you see, every generation there’s a child born in Viridian Forest. That child’s born in an area so dense with Pokémon that he can tune in with any Pokémon’s thoughts and feelings and use them to communicate. We’re also said to have a small form of telekinesis, but I never needed it, so I never tried.”
“Wow… that’s awesome! Is that why you started treating Pokémon in this hospital?”
Gerald grinned, “Yep! I’m supposed to help out in a way that those machines at the Pokecenters can’t. Usually that requires me to be able to explore their minds. Therapists and psychologists use fancy methods… I just talk to them.”
“Wow. Does anyone know about it?”
“No. Only a few Pokémon and I know about it. I use it the least I can, and your situation made it necessary. So, since the cat’s outta the bag, might as well talk to you all the time, right?”
Mawile giggled, “I’m okay with that…”
She looked down, wondering whether or not to ask her next question, “Sooo… why’d your parents have you in a forest? No hospitals nearby?”
“I… don’t know. I never got to ask. My dad bailed when I was four. He wound up becoming a gambling fiend over at Celadon. He wound up betting against the wrong group of people and… I’d rather not get into details as far as what the police found. My mom died, when I was… I’d like to say nine, but I think it was eight… ‘Cause she starved. Too focused on feeding me.”
Gerald started to hear sniffling and looked over at Mawile. Her eyes were red and her face was wet with tears. Gerald wanted to punch himself. He should of lied, told her that everything was fine, that he was just some rebellious youngster wanting to get out of his town and go somewhere. It’s not like she hadn’t heard enough about dying.
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s fine. I’m used to it by now. I wasn’t alone all the time, ya know. I went on adventures and caught Pokémon and all that. I just had different reasons. Don’t look sad now, do I?”
Mawile sniffed and shook her head, “I-it’s just… I keep thinking about Joseph and… I… I… He told me not to cry! He told me not to think of him like this! But… I can’t help it! I keep seeing his face and his chest covered in blood and I… I…”
Mawile was hyperventilating, jamming her eyes shut and trying as hard as she could to imagine something else, but couldn’t no matter how feverous her attempts. Gerald bent over the hospital bed and picked Mawile up and held her against his left shoulder, hugging her as tightly as he could without damaging her small frame. He rocked back and forth and stroked the back of her second mouth until her breathing returned to normal. Taking that as a queue, Gerald put Mawile down onto her bed and scratched her ears.
“Thank you so much. I’m sure you hear that a lot, but… you have no clue how much I mean it.”
“Nah, I do. Gettin’ over grief with help is a hell of a lot better than doing it all on yer own. I know exactly how thankful I’d be if someone gave me the option.”
Mawile then smiled deviously, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What, is that a virgin joke? ‘Cause I’ll have you know I had a wife and have a kid.”
“A kid? Ha! You don’t have it in you.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really!”
“Alright! I’ll bring her to work tomorrow!”
“Fine!”
“Fine! Let’s shake on it.”
…………
“But daddy, I thought you said I would have to wait a while to meet her.”
“Well, if you don’t want to meet her, we could always go back-”
“No no no! I’m good. You know I don’t see that many Pokémon anymore.”
Gerald felt a twinge of guilt. What she said was true. Gerald thought that Sally was a little too young to handle the tall grass, as any parent with half a brain would. However, Gerald still had no excuse. They lived in Goldenrod, just north of the only Pokémon Daycare in the region. However, Gerald would absolutely never take her there, for two simple reasons. Reason one was that they lived in northeast Goldenrod, while Route 34, where the Daycare was, was in southern Goldenrod. This means that that they would have to travel all the way across the town, which would almost take an hour and a half. And Gerald always remembered the proverb he made: “The longer you spend walking in Goldenrod, the more likely you’ll end up crawling.” Gerald always hid a baseball bat underneath the doctor’s coat he wore over his scrubs and could probably take on at least three people without guns, but there was no way in hell he’d use it in front of Sally.
The second reason was something Gerald would rather not think about, especially when he had other things to worry about… such as Mawile and Sally meeting. He shuddered at the very thought of the two meeting and all the chaotic, hellish mischief that would be caused. He sighed and ruffled Sally’s short black hair before they entered the hospital, causing her to give him her famously adorable scowl. They made their way to B205 and Gerald opened the door to see Mawile lying awake in her bed.
“You wanted proof? Well, I- hey!”
Before Gerald could respond, Sally was already halfway to Mawile’s bed. In one quick movement, she picked her up and hugged her as tightly as she could. Mawile was shocked at first towards the girl’s forwardness and blushed profusely, but soon returned the hug with the same strength as the little girl. She traced her claw-like fingers through her jet-black hair, while nuzzling against her cheek. Sally gently stroked and pet the large set of jaws that were connected to Mawile’s head, scratching the yellow spot on its center, causing Mawile to nuzzle her even more happily and vigorously.
“She. Is so… adorable!”
“She’s a cutie herself… I’m guessing she gets her looks from her mother?” thought Mawile backhandedly.
“Oh ha ha… just remember who makes your food and how easy it is to slip a laxative in it.”
“Don’t you worry…” thought Mawile mischievously, “I’ll behave around your cute little daughter. For now.”
Gerald failed to keep in a chuckle, leading to Sally turning around and asking what was so funny.
“Nothin’. Just you two hugging. It’s adorable.”
Sally and Mawile stuck their tongues out at Gerald simultaneously, which didn’t really help their case that much. Sally then said with a smug face,
“I bet you’re just jealous she’s having more fun with me than an old man like you.”
“Oh, please, I ain’t that old. Of course, a baby like you’d probably think everyone’s old.”
“A baby? Why you…”
Sally then put down Mawile and ran to Gerald and started pounding on Gerald’s stomach, but with little affect. The attempt only made Gerald laugh, but he soon realized that when she stopped she suddenly looked up at him solemnly.
“I was wondering… I… well, I mean, it’s kinda forward, but… can I… can we adopt Mawile?”
This hit Gerald like a brick. He didn’t really know what to think of it. There seemed to be no problem… No, there was absolutely no problem. Mawile needs a home and Sally needs a partner…
“Well… it’ll take a few weeks and it’ll be kind of a pain… Just make sure Mawile’s willing.”
Sally put down Mawile and looked down at her, “Well, Mawile, would it be okay with you?”
She hugged Sally’s leg and let out a decisive “Maw!”
"Then it's settled! I'll get working on it today."
Damn vending machines. They always don’t work when you’re the hungriest. That was on the top of Gerald’s mind as he slid the dollar into the machine ad infinium, hoping he’d placed it in just right, so he could gain access to some delicious potato chips. Sighing, he gave up on the damned thing and sat in the rusty metal chair in the hospital’s break room.
Said hospital was placed in the northwest district of Goldenrod City, Johto, where all the residents had their homes haphazardly clustered together. The season was autumn, but the temperature said otherwise. It was mid-October, and was early in the morning, yet it was 70 degrees out, but all the residents were used to it and didn’t complain.
Gerald looked at the mirror in the room and frowned at what he saw: A 28-year-old man with messy black hair, face kept in a perpetual unamused and tired grimace and eyes, hidden beneath glasses, with bags underneath them from all the night shifts he worked.
“Damn” he said to himself, “Take a look at you, gramps. No wonder Sally calls you old.”
Gerald then looked at the room reflected in the mirror: Walls colored in a disgustingly sterile white, vending machines and coffee makers busted, and rusty, metal chairs that could barely fit a teenager.
“Ten years and I’m still surprised by how crappy this place is…” he chuckled to himself.
Maybe it was because his job keeps him away from the dingy conveniences this place has to offer for its employees. It was its patients that got the best treatment, furniture and food. Or at least, in his wing that’s how it goes and he had no problem with that. After all, in his job, the patient’s comfort was top priority. Dr. Gerald Bane is a grievance counselor, one who comforts those whose loved ones died in the hospital. However, unlike most of his colleagues, who attend to other humans, he took care of the person’s Pokémon, if the person even had any. It wasn’t an overwhelming job; how can someone get hurt if they have a walking tank, or a volcano that can erupt whenever the trainer feels like it? But, one way or another, it happens more commonly than most people believe.
He’d usually have about two cases a week and although that didn’t sound so bad, recuperation would usually take a couple weeks maximum, leading to multiple patients at once. Perhaps it’s because he was working in Goldenrod City, or the Lavender Town of Johto, as his colleagues would refer to it as. It was probably the place with the most abundant amount of Team Rocket members, always keeping the GCPD busy. This was no surprise to Gerald at all.
Goldenrod has the biggest shopping Center in the region, meaning shoplifters, most of the time armed, thought of Goldenrod as the land of milk and honey. To synergize that, Goldenrod also has the only Game Corner in the region, turning the town into a magnet for gambling, drinking, wife-beating pieces of trash that gambled what little life they had away. Mix that with innumerous amounts of dark alleyways and Magnet Train that could easily serve as an escape to another region and you got yourself the most crime infested town imaginable.
“Shit” Gerald said to himself, slipping a cigarette in his mouth and digging into his pockets for a lighter, “Who daydreams about how fucked up his town is on his break?”
Finding the lighter he lit up his drag and leaned his head back, smiling as the burning tobacco washed away his feeling of disgust. Suddenly, his contented break was cut short as the door swung open, revealing his friend, Dan.
“Gerry! We got a new patient, a Mawile! Whitney found her, said she was found crying next to a dead body! Problem is she’s a fighter! Gus, h-he was off to get a muzzle when I left to get you!”
“A muzzle!? Dammit Gus, that’ll only make things worse… Where is he!?”
“Upstairs A-wing. Hurry!”
The last sentence was shouted as Gerald dashed through downstairs B-wing, hoping he would stop his idiot cohort from making the poor thing’s frustration even worse. He rushed through the hall joining A-wing and B-wing and zipped through the stairs just in time to find Gus standing with a muzzle in his hand.
“Gus, what the HELL are you doing!?” Gerald exclaimed through rigorous panting.
“What does it look like I’m doin’?” Gus said, “This BITCH just bit two of our employees and is gonna get muzzled for it.” He was holding the Pokémon in his free hand and roughly jerked her when he said ‘bitch’, causing a yelp.
Gerald leaned to the left a little, to see what caused Gus to act the way he did. He saw a little Mawile, no more than 2 feet tall, looking up at him. Her face showed anger and malice, probably caused by the unwanted, rough contact with humans that weren’t her trainer. But her eyes, a dark shade of maroon, showed fear and confusion while her body shook, almost violently. Gerald noticed that Mawile was covered from forehead to chest in blood.
“Christ, Gus, you didn’t even clean blood off of her?”
“We couldn’t, smartass, she wouldn’t give us the chance”
He crouched down wordlessly, pulled a small, damp towel and clutched it in his right hand. He extended his left hand towards the Mawile. When his hand was about a foot away from her face, the still-shaking Mawile closed her eyes in fear and chomped his left hand with her second mouth. Gerald cringed for a minute, but then smiled.
“Gotcha”
Taking his chance, Gerald began wiping blood off of the Mawile’s face. Mawile recoiled for a minute, closing her eyes out of fear of the foreign object owned by a stranger, but eventually stood still. Gerald heard her sigh at the feel of the damp, but warm towel rub against her face as a contrast to the chilling cold of the groggy morning. When Gerald finished cleaning Mawile’s face and upper torso, she slowly let go of his hand, which had blood trickling down its side.
“Good girl” Gerald said, scratching the back of Mawile’s head, to which she closed her eyes and smiled, although she was still shaking quite a bit.
By the time Gerald was done, Dan had arrived to take Mawile to her recovery room.
“See, Gus? I told ya Gerry would’ve solved things.”
“Hmph. Only ‘cause he’s a pansy that’s paid to have animals cry on his shoulder.”
Gerald gave Mawile a final pet on the head, ignoring Gus’s usual attitude. Dan led Mawile to her room, located in upstairs B-wing. Waving goodbye to the fleeting Mawile, who returned it with a blushing stare towards the floor, Gerald stood there with Gus waiting for them to be a good distance. When Gerald was sure he and Gus were the only ones in the hallway, he grabbed Gus by his collar and roughly dragged him, who was protesting and yelling the whole way, to the staircase.
“What the hell, Gerald!?”
“You know damn well what this is about!” Gerald exclaimed furiously, smashing Gus into the wall of the stairway’s room, “Ever since you’ve arrived here, you’ve been a pretentious little bitch that pulls rank whenever someone calls you out for the asshole that you are. I’ve tolerated you for the several months you’ve been here, but now we’re gonna have to make some ground rules.”
Gus tried to struggle, but the older man had a good grip and well-toned muscles, though what he did to get them, Gus didn’t know.
“You’re getting your ass fired for this…” Gus hissed through gritted teeth.
“Fired? HA! Let me tell you how exactly that statement’s full of crap. There are no security cameras here and no witnesses, meaning the only evidence you have is your word. And I’ll let you in on a secret… it isn’t worth shit here. Sure you may have a higher rank, but you aren’t my boss. I’m not going anywhere.”
“So now that we established the crystal-clear fact that I can beat the shit out of you and not pay for it, let’s make some rules, okay? Rule One: Don’t you DARE lay a hand on my patient with abuse ever again, as though they haven’t experienced enough of that. Rule Two: Don’t refer to my patient as a bitch or ANYTHING like it. And finally, Rule Three: You can disrespect me all you want. But if you disrespect the work I do, the Pokémon I treat, and the reason they got here by referring to it as crying on my shoulder, I’ll make sure you end up on the opposite side of the hospital bed for weeks. ”
Gus looked at his colleague, pupils diluted in fear.
“What? Too complicated for you? Fine, I’ll summarize. Stay the FUCK away from my patients, or we’ll figure out how long it takes gravity to send your fat ass to the bottom of these stairs, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?”
Gus nodded his head quickly and was released from his captivity with a shove, running down the stairs as quickly as he could without falling. After his shift was over at around 7:00, Gerald left the hospital and entered his home, trying not to wake Sally up, although he wouldn’t feel guilty if he did. She’d probably return the favor in the morning regardless.
Chapter 2
“Wake up, Daddy! Wake up!”
Gerald tiredly got out from under his covers in a groggy haze, though more because his daughter’s physical queue than her verbal one. Sally, his 7-year-old demon, was excitedly jumping up and down on his bed, eyes wide with happiness. She was always this way when he was home in the morning.
Her short, jet-black hair was bouncing up and down along with her body, but only slightly because of her headband that kept most of her hair back. For some reason, even though it was in the morning, she was wearing her red hoodie. Of course she always wore that thing, but for why Gerald had no clue.
“Alright, fine. I’ll make you a big breakfast. Just stop jumping up and down, it’s too early for this kinda stuff…”
“Or whaaat?” Sally teased after jumping off of the bed, with a devious grin.
“Or, THIS!” Gerald picked up Sally and held her upside down and tickled her stomach, causing her laugh hysterically. After a minute or so, Gerald let her down and ruffled her hair a bit, to which Sally scowled.
She walked past the doorway and said, “’kay, I’ll get out the food and pots and pans for ya! Thanks Daddy!”
After breakfast and Lemonade – which went surprisingly well together – Sally asked if Gerald had any new patients. After some reluctance, Gerald mentioned the recently committed Mawile, to which Sally beamed.
“A Mawile? Aww, they’re so cute! Can I visit her? Pleeease? I always wanted to be friends with one of your patients!” Sally rocked up and down in her seat, to which Gerald scratched the back of his head.
“Ehh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, kiddo. She’s not really in the mood for anyone visiting right now.”
“Why not?”
Gerald looked into his half-empty glass of Lemonade. He never told Sally what his real job was. He always told her he took care of Pokémon, but not the circumstances. Meaning, Gerald always had to think of some reason as to why the adorable Pokémon he takes care of would attack anyone that wasn’t careful.
Thinking it’s too early in the morning to think of a reason, he said, “Trust me. You’ll meet her, but not now.”
Thankfully, Sally simply shrugged and said, “’kay, see ya when you get home, Daddy! Have fun at work!”
Gerald smiled weakly and said he would, walking out of the front door and beginning his stroll to the hospital.
Gerald walked through the front doors and was greeted by Dan, who looked somewhat urgent, but had a smile, like always.
“Heya, Gerry! How’s the hand?”
“Alright, still a little sore, but there’s been worse. Remember that one time, with the…?”
“Oh yeah! With the Teddiursa and that Focus Punch to the face! Man, can’t blame Gus for going bald after that.” Dan chuckled, but then Gerald made his way to upstairs B-wing, stopped at the fifth door on the right and sighed. The first day of meeting them’s always the toughest. He wondered how the Mawile would react. No use wondering about it, Gerald thought. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Mawile thankfully was still sleeping, but what surprised Gerald was that she had a visitor. Or, to be more precise, Gerald was surprised by WHO the visitor was.
Watching over the Mawile with tears in her eyes was Whitney, sitting in one of the visitor chairs.
“*sniff* Umm, are you Dr. Bane? The guy that helps Pokémon?”
“Yep. But, please, I’d feel better if you called me Gerry. How long have you been here?”
Whitney shrugged, “Heh, since Mawile got here. So I guess that’s ummm…”
“28 hours.”
“Umm, y-yeah!”
Gerald sighed and held his forehead in his palm, “What about your Gym?”
“Don’t you worry! Cathy’s taking care of it while I’m gone. I just, ummm, wanted to make sure she’s alright. ”
Gerald nodded, telling Whitney he there was more.
“Umm, how exactly do you go about, umm, what’s the word…?”
“Recuperation.”
“Y-yeah, that’s it!”
“We… I mean, I… usually try to calm down the patient using various methods: aroma therapy, psychotherapy, hell, sometimes a combination of several of them. Mawile doesn’t seem so bad, so some therapy and friendliness should make her… well, I don’t want to say good as new, because…”
“Yeah, I understand.” Whitney said, looking to the ground, “What about adoption?”
“Oh yes. Unfortunately, there are many restrictions when it comes to adoption, especially here in Johto” Gerald took a deep breath, “Gym Leaders aren’t allowed to adopt, I’m afraid, nor are people that don’t reside in the town they’re committed in…”
“What? That sucks!”
“Shhh” Gerald put his hands up and looked at Mawile then back at Whitney. She put her finger to her lips and nodded as Gerald continued, “I know. They don’t allow people from different cities because they don’t want to have to move the Pokémon. They ban Gym Leaders, because the Indigo Plateau states that Gym Leaders can only own Pokémon they’ve caught. Pokémon owned by other trainers, deceased or not, are off-limits.”
Whitney gave an exasperated groan, “Damn, I wanted to ask Jasmine to adopt her. I wouldn’t have been able to anyways… oh well, I understand. I’ll try and figure something out. Here, umm, take my Pokégear number.”
Gerald wrote down her number and gave Whitney his.
“Maybe you should go back to your Gym, or home? You’re probably dead tired.”
“Ummm, yeah, maybe you’re right. I was kinda on my way home from Olivine when I met her, so I haven’t really slept in a while. She doesn’t look so bad, so I don’t think I have to worry. Besides, I can see she’s in good hands. Bye-bye!”
She waved goodbye, to which Gerald responded with a wave as well, and walked out the door. After Gerald closed the door he sighed and turned to face the still-sleeping Mawile.
"You're a lucky little one, ya know that?"
Chapter 3
It had been an hour and a half since Whitney left and Mawile still hasn’t woken up. Gerald checked her vitals – all of which were normal – and simply assumed she collapsed from exhaustion. It was fairly common for smaller Pokémon, especially ones with a strong bond with their trainer. That reminded Gerald; maybe he should find out a little bit more about the trainer. According to Dan, he was sent to the hospital’s morgue, and almost definitely would have a record in the patients’ archives.
When he arrived at the morgue, he stopped at his destination, the front desk.
“Mornin’, Reggie.”
“Reginald.”
“Yeah, yeah, you still goin’ on about that? Anyways, I’m here t-”
“You’re here to see the info on your newest patient’s master, right?”, Reginald said listlessly, then replied to Gerald’s surprised look, “Oh, come now, you don’t have to be Archimedes to think of a plan so simple.”
‘Smug motherfucker…’ grumbled Gerald internally.
“It was a Mawile, right? A female one? Here, I’ll print out all the data I have on her trainer.” Moments later, two sheets of paper slid out of the printer and were handed to Gerald. Gerald walked briskly back to his patients room, reading the information on the paper and absorbing its contents.
“Name: Joseph Kroze. Hometown: Oldale Town… so he’s from Hoenn. Guess that explains Mawile. What’s he doing here?” Gerald looked further into the information, seeing frivolous knowledge, like height, weight, and eye color. He looked at the photo before turning the page. A boy, no older than 15, was standing with a huge grin on his face. He was a fireball, a huge ball of energy, Gerald could tell. A ambitious boy that wanted to have an adventure and all the friends, hardships, and triumphs that came with it.
Gerald sighed and turned the page to battle statistics. On the second page, it showed the badges he earned, the amounts of wins and losses he’s had and all the trades, eggs, and Pokémon in general, that he’s been given. What Gerald saw shocked him: The only Pokémon he had was Mawile. However, the badges he had were enormous: All of Hoenn and Kanto, placing in the top five in both regions’ tournaments and Olivine and Ecrueteak‘s badges recently obtained.
Gerald then folded the small packet and placed it in the right pocket of his scrubs. He entered the door of his patient’s room, and she was awake. However, something was wrong. Two doctors feverously tended to Mawile, giving her an ice pack, checking her vitals, asking which medicines should be used.
“What’s going on!?” Gerald exclaimed, utterly confused by the panicked sight.
“Mr. Bane, your patient is suffering from a severe fever, most likely stress-induced. She started to spasm only moments ago. We’ve stabilized her, but she’ll have to get treatment for it to go away. Her body’s too weak to fight it on its own. ”
“Isn’t that kind of why we have medicine?” Gerald spat sarcastically.
“It’s different with Pokémon, Mr. Bane. Different Pokémon have different strains of diseases and viruses. We would have to know her internal symptoms, but obviously we can’t ask her.” the doctor sighed before continuing, “We’ll bring all the fever medicine we have, but we may not have enough time to reach the right one.”
The doctors left in a hurry towards the medicine containment area in C-wing, leaving Gerald alone with his patient. He crouched down somewhat next to her bed, causing her to look to her left and give the friendly human a weak smile, glad he wasn’t holding a needle, breathing heavily with half closed eyes, due to the fatigue caused by the her fever.
“M-maw…”
“Mawile, listen to me. You have to tell me how exactly you’re feeling. Stomach aches, headaches, hot or cold, anything. But… don’t tell me. Describe how you’re feeling in your mind.” he saw the utterly confused look on Mawile’s face and replied, “Trust me. It’s the only surefire way to make you feel better in time.”
Mawile nodded and closed her eyes as Gerald touched her forehead with his middle, index, and ring fingers and does the same. As Gerald had expected, words flushed into his mind.
“I feel cold… but my head feels hot. I-I can’t stop shaking and my head hurts… Is that enough?”
Gerald nodded, but Mawile continued, “Joseph…” she started thinking of her trainer, his chest bleeding profusely, his last words, and how happy she was before he left,”… maybe it’s better this way… Maybe I ought to let go and join him…”
“Don’t say that, don’t you dare say that.” Mawile was shocked at Gerald hearing her thoughts, “Everyone deserves a second chance at life, whether it was taken from them by someone else, or themselves.’
“Y-you… you can hear me? How?”
“I’ll explain later. The doctors are probably almost here and I know exactly what you’ve got.” he scratched the back of her head, causing her to close her eyes and smile, “You’ll be better in no time!”
“Th-thank you… what’s your name?”
“Gerald.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Yep. I’m in charge of making sure you feel better... well, I’m the ONLY person assigned with making you feel better. You’ll be seeing me a lot, so don’t go thinking you’ve gotten rid of me.” said Gerald matter-of-factly, causing Mawile to giggle.
The doctors entered the room and Gerald turned to them smiling and saying, “I think I know what she’s got. Try the medication for Paulsen’s Fever.”
The doctors shrugged and the one Gerald assumed was in charge said, “I don’t see the harm in it.”
They then took out a syringe with a red liquid in its glass vial, the sight of it causing Mawile to cringe.
Gerald crouched back down next to Mawile petting her head and said in a calming voice, “Hey now, don’t worry. It’s just medicine. If you go to sleep after this, you’ll feel better, I promise… Okay?”
Mawile stared down at the other end of her hospital bed, considering that promise. After some hesitation, she looked up at him and nodded, “… Okay.”
Gerald then moved to her left side, so the doctors could use her right arm for the injection. Mawile squeezed Gerald’s hand as the injection started, but relaxed her fists as the pain from the prickling subsided. Relieved, Mawile slowly fell asleep, while the doctors put away their syringes and pill bottles.
Gerald kissed Mawile on her forehead to which she purred somewhat and finally passed out from exhaustion.
“Her vitals and temperature are returning to normal… Mr. Bane, how did you know what type of fever she had? How could she have told you?”
Gerald shrugged and grinned, "Guess I was born with a gift."
Chapter 4
“Morning, sunshine!” grinned Gerald as he woke up the Mawile by opening the curtain in her room to reveal a large burst of yellow light from Goldenrod’s famous sunrise.
The Mawile rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms and then gasped at who woke her up.
“Mr. Gerald! Hey, I think I know how you can talk to me!”
“Oh? Alright, I’m curious… Shoot.”
“You’re psychic! No really!” said Mawile as Gerald laughed his ass off, “I heard there’s this guy in the Indigo Plateau who got Psychic powers from his Gardevoir!”
“Yes, I heard of him as well. But no, that’s not how I can communicate with you.” Gerald pulled out a chair and sat down, while Mawile sat up and looked at him quizzically, “You see, I’m not from Goldenrod, or Johto at all for that matter. I’m from Viridian City, or Viridian Forest, to be precise.”
“So? You were born in a forest. It’s a little weird, but not anything too odd.”
“Well, yes… but you see, every generation there’s a child born in Viridian Forest. That child’s born in an area so dense with Pokémon that he can tune in with any Pokémon’s thoughts and feelings and use them to communicate. We’re also said to have a small form of telekinesis, but I never needed it, so I never tried.”
“Wow… that’s awesome! Is that why you started treating Pokémon in this hospital?”
Gerald grinned, “Yep! I’m supposed to help out in a way that those machines at the Pokecenters can’t. Usually that requires me to be able to explore their minds. Therapists and psychologists use fancy methods… I just talk to them.”
“Wow. Does anyone know about it?”
“No. Only a few Pokémon and I know about it. I use it the least I can, and your situation made it necessary. So, since the cat’s outta the bag, might as well talk to you all the time, right?”
Mawile giggled, “I’m okay with that…”
She looked down, wondering whether or not to ask her next question, “Sooo… why’d your parents have you in a forest? No hospitals nearby?”
“I… don’t know. I never got to ask. My dad bailed when I was four. He wound up becoming a gambling fiend over at Celadon. He wound up betting against the wrong group of people and… I’d rather not get into details as far as what the police found. My mom died, when I was… I’d like to say nine, but I think it was eight… ‘Cause she starved. Too focused on feeding me.”
Gerald started to hear sniffling and looked over at Mawile. Her eyes were red and her face was wet with tears. Gerald wanted to punch himself. He should of lied, told her that everything was fine, that he was just some rebellious youngster wanting to get out of his town and go somewhere. It’s not like she hadn’t heard enough about dying.
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s fine. I’m used to it by now. I wasn’t alone all the time, ya know. I went on adventures and caught Pokémon and all that. I just had different reasons. Don’t look sad now, do I?”
Mawile sniffed and shook her head, “I-it’s just… I keep thinking about Joseph and… I… I… He told me not to cry! He told me not to think of him like this! But… I can’t help it! I keep seeing his face and his chest covered in blood and I… I…”
Mawile was hyperventilating, jamming her eyes shut and trying as hard as she could to imagine something else, but couldn’t no matter how feverous her attempts. Gerald bent over the hospital bed and picked Mawile up and held her against his left shoulder, hugging her as tightly as he could without damaging her small frame. He rocked back and forth and stroked the back of her second mouth until her breathing returned to normal. Taking that as a queue, Gerald put Mawile down onto her bed and scratched her ears.
“Thank you so much. I’m sure you hear that a lot, but… you have no clue how much I mean it.”
“Nah, I do. Gettin’ over grief with help is a hell of a lot better than doing it all on yer own. I know exactly how thankful I’d be if someone gave me the option.”
Mawile then smiled deviously, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What, is that a virgin joke? ‘Cause I’ll have you know I had a wife and have a kid.”
“A kid? Ha! You don’t have it in you.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really!”
“Alright! I’ll bring her to work tomorrow!”
“Fine!”
“Fine! Let’s shake on it.”
…………
“But daddy, I thought you said I would have to wait a while to meet her.”
“Well, if you don’t want to meet her, we could always go back-”
“No no no! I’m good. You know I don’t see that many Pokémon anymore.”
Gerald felt a twinge of guilt. What she said was true. Gerald thought that Sally was a little too young to handle the tall grass, as any parent with half a brain would. However, Gerald still had no excuse. They lived in Goldenrod, just north of the only Pokémon Daycare in the region. However, Gerald would absolutely never take her there, for two simple reasons. Reason one was that they lived in northeast Goldenrod, while Route 34, where the Daycare was, was in southern Goldenrod. This means that that they would have to travel all the way across the town, which would almost take an hour and a half. And Gerald always remembered the proverb he made: “The longer you spend walking in Goldenrod, the more likely you’ll end up crawling.” Gerald always hid a baseball bat underneath the doctor’s coat he wore over his scrubs and could probably take on at least three people without guns, but there was no way in hell he’d use it in front of Sally.
The second reason was something Gerald would rather not think about, especially when he had other things to worry about… such as Mawile and Sally meeting. He shuddered at the very thought of the two meeting and all the chaotic, hellish mischief that would be caused. He sighed and ruffled Sally’s short black hair before they entered the hospital, causing her to give him her famously adorable scowl. They made their way to B205 and Gerald opened the door to see Mawile lying awake in her bed.
“You wanted proof? Well, I- hey!”
Before Gerald could respond, Sally was already halfway to Mawile’s bed. In one quick movement, she picked her up and hugged her as tightly as she could. Mawile was shocked at first towards the girl’s forwardness and blushed profusely, but soon returned the hug with the same strength as the little girl. She traced her claw-like fingers through her jet-black hair, while nuzzling against her cheek. Sally gently stroked and pet the large set of jaws that were connected to Mawile’s head, scratching the yellow spot on its center, causing Mawile to nuzzle her even more happily and vigorously.
“She. Is so… adorable!”
“She’s a cutie herself… I’m guessing she gets her looks from her mother?” thought Mawile backhandedly.
“Oh ha ha… just remember who makes your food and how easy it is to slip a laxative in it.”
“Don’t you worry…” thought Mawile mischievously, “I’ll behave around your cute little daughter. For now.”
Gerald failed to keep in a chuckle, leading to Sally turning around and asking what was so funny.
“Nothin’. Just you two hugging. It’s adorable.”
Sally and Mawile stuck their tongues out at Gerald simultaneously, which didn’t really help their case that much. Sally then said with a smug face,
“I bet you’re just jealous she’s having more fun with me than an old man like you.”
“Oh, please, I ain’t that old. Of course, a baby like you’d probably think everyone’s old.”
“A baby? Why you…”
Sally then put down Mawile and ran to Gerald and started pounding on Gerald’s stomach, but with little affect. The attempt only made Gerald laugh, but he soon realized that when she stopped she suddenly looked up at him solemnly.
“I was wondering… I… well, I mean, it’s kinda forward, but… can I… can we adopt Mawile?”
This hit Gerald like a brick. He didn’t really know what to think of it. There seemed to be no problem… No, there was absolutely no problem. Mawile needs a home and Sally needs a partner…
“Well… it’ll take a few weeks and it’ll be kind of a pain… Just make sure Mawile’s willing.”
Sally put down Mawile and looked down at her, “Well, Mawile, would it be okay with you?”
She hugged Sally’s leg and let out a decisive “Maw!”
"Then it's settled! I'll get working on it today."