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Spiders Spiders
Pokemon Writing For: Joltik
Difficulty: Medium
Suggested Length: 10-20k
The room was pitch black when I awoke, leaving me in a state of confusion. I stumbled out of bed, hitting the lights with an outreached finger. The room was unfamiliar to me; plain white walls and a sterile-looking environment. I tried to sit up, but I was held back; there was a needle hooked up to an IV, and I suddenly realized where I was. This was a hospital!
“What am I doing here…” I said, and then noticed that there was another person in this room. I reached over, gently nudging the sleeping mass next to me. It was a girl who looked to be about my age, maybe around twelve or fourteen. She woke slowly, not realizing what was going on. I poked her again, and she sprung to attention. The girl was fairly good looking, but her looks were diminished by the dark rings under her eyes and pale skin. Her light brown hair and deep black eyes would have been rather stunning if I had seen her anywhere else, but in the dank hospital lights she looked fallow and sad. She began to speak in a quiet tone, obviously surprised to have a roommate.
“…who are you?” she inquired, not seeming to know me despite the fact that we were next to each other. I noticed her checking me out, feeling kind of surprised. I wasn’t the most attractive man on the planet, and I was sure that I couldn’t exactly be rocking the hospital gown look. I’m about 5’7, maybe 145 pounds. Sandy brown hair, faded green eyes and just the tiniest amount of freckles; she probably hadn’t known many people before she got here.
“I’m Adam. Adam Maison.” I replied, not sure how I had remembered that. I felt like absolute crap; I was surprised I could even talk cohesively. The girl blushed before replying, her eyes looking droopy and tired.
“I’m Celia Raney. What brings you in here? Same thing as me?” she inquired, sitting up. The lady seemed to be experienced in hospital living, as she could sit up and turn to me at the same time. She pushed the blanket off of her body, revealing two little popcorn-shaped bandages adorning her lower left calf. They were stained bloody red, with a strange odor coming off of it. I had never seen this before, and I hoped I would never again; that was just plain nasty.
“What is that?” I asked, obviously grossed out. She sighed, seeming used to the reaction. Celia pulled her gown back down, getting up as she hobbled towards the foot of my bed. Picking up a clipboard stuck to the metal frame, she eyed it with interest then began to speak aloud.
“Adam Maison. 13 years old, brown hair green eyes. 5’6 and a half, admitted here just last night…hm. Oh hey, what’s this…” she said, pointing to a sentence lower on the sheet. Her grin grew wide as she read the rest of the paper, leaving me quite confused. A hospital sheet couldn’t possibly have anything too funny on it, could it? This was getting really weird really fast…
“There we are. Admitted for three Joltik bites.” she said, her grin growing wide. She walked back to her bed, obviously limping from her injury. Getting back in, she began to talk. Apparently this room was only for Joltik-poisoned patients, so that we would not spread our disease to others. These tiny little electric spiders were the plague of anyone out in the forest, mainly because when they attached to you their light weight stopped you from noticing. Joltiks could pump a lot of serious electric energy to you as well as poisons; they were arachnids, after all. These noxious toxins could take your life away if you waited for too long, and they slowed your clotting in blood. It would never go away, and a lot of blood would be lost pretty much all the time. I wondered how long Celia had been here, maybe her whole life. She searched the hospital record again, and then calmly and seriously told me to pull up my gown.
“Are you serious?” I replied, but the look on her face told me that she was not kidding. I did it without shame, and she turned to the back of my legs. She was right; there was a bandage under my kneecap, stained red as well. I honestly didn’t remember how it had happened; I didn’t remember anything but my name. However, that didn’t mean I didn’t have feelings. She looked pretty sad at that moment; I guessed that she had never met anyone but the nurses here. I felt sorry for her, and she seriously looked like she needed a friend. I reached out and touched her hand, more in a friendly way. I just hoped she had taken it that way, and I knew that I needed to break this awkward tension.
“How long have you been here?” I said quietly, kind of curious. She didn’t look like she had seen anything outside of these four walls, especially based on how she had looked at me when I woke her up. Celia stared at me in shock; she had obviously never been asked this.
“I’ve been here…pretty much as long as I can remember. I’ve never been out of this hospital, but Blaze here keeps me company,” she said, getting up once more. She pulled a striped green backpack from under her bed. She looked through it, finally pulling out a red and white sphere. She pressed the button on the middle, releasing a little firey lizard. It was a Charmander, one of the rarest Pokemon in all of Kanto. The Charmander waddled over to me, cuddling the arm that was hanging over the bed.
“Aww, how cute! Where’d you get it?” I said, scratching the fire-type. He closed his eyes, looking very comfortable. Although he was an adorable companion, a Pokemon was certainly not compatible to be the only friend a person could have. Celia was never going to get to see the outdoors, and I certainly didn’t think that was right.
“He was a gift from one of those charities, just around Christmas last year. He’s really helped me get better,” she replied rather sheepishly. If this was better, I was sure that I wouldn’t be so comfortable when she was in a bad condition. Her life was truly terrible; I was going to have to be changing this.
“We’re going. Let’s roll,” I said as I got out of bed, whipping out the IV despite what it was doing. I got her out of bed too, returning Blaze to his ball and grabbing her backpack. We dressed (on opposite sides of the room, with neither of looking at each other you strangers), then stepped out of the patient room. Our corridor was empty; it was early in the morning, and only a few people were in. They were mostly aids, who had never seen us before; they assumed we had just come in to visit someone and were leaving now.
The receptionist waved us bye without even looking, not even noticing our hospital slippers. Neither of us had an extra pair of shoes, but I doubt that being barefoot in the most dangerously disease-laden place in all of the land would be a too great thing to be doing here. The door opened to a fresh new day, the sun just beginning to peak over the fresh foliage. We both turned to each other and grinned, looking at the parking lot. A few sedans and a huge truck were parked, with the truck right in front of us. I went up and looked inside, seeing a few boxes labeled “DANGEROUS”. Knowing that she had never lived a little, I grabbed the box and brought it back to her.
“Dangerous, eh? Let’s see this.” I said, opening the box. There were three vials, each labeled with a huge skull on the front. We each took one, peering inside. Oh my god, they were Joltiks! There was a four-eyed yellow spider in each of the tubes, their four blue-tipped legs trying to grasp the glass. The dastardly electric pokemon hissed at the both of us, leaving us leering at it. I took another look at it, and it didn’t look like a too bad Pokemon. Hell, it was actually kind of cute! I turned back to Celia, who did not look comfortable at all with it.
“Can I borrow Blaze? I kind of want to catch this. You know, to have a little friend.” I said, not sure if I seemed sincere. She looked at me with disgust, but grabbed her Pokeball anyways. Passing it to me, I opened it up. Blaze leaped out onto the pavement, wincing as a little as its smooth feet hit the ground. It seemed confused; why wasn’t it in the room? However, the Lizard Pokemon was not too depressed; it walked around freely, looking quite happy to be released. I grabbed the test tube again, opening the stopper.
“Joltik! J-j-jolt!” the little spider cried, landing by Blaze. It blinked repeatedly, not sure where it was. I was right; it was pretty cute. This would be a cool Pokemon to have around, but I wasn’t sure how safe Celia would feel around it. I turned to her, and she looked rather squeamish; pushing her away, I grabbed Blaze and put him in front of him. Somehow, the battling came naturally to me; maybe I had been a good trainer before I had awoken here.
“Okay Blaze, use Ember!” I exclaimed, not sure if the Kanto-born Pokemon would listen to me. Luckily he did, opening his mouth as a stream of fireballs fell towards the bug. It jumped, seeming jittery and worried. It leaped up, trying to reach one of the flowerbeds but being shot down by an ember. It fell to the ground, looking rather hurt as it turned back around towards Blaze. I decided at that moment that Joltik was a guy, just by the way he acted. He seemed more battle-oriented than protection, and his next attack really proved it.
“Jo!” he cried, crossing his two front legs. A blue energy “x” quickly formed as the Spider Pokemon released its claws. Two points of neon blue energy formed around the tips of its legs, creating swords of light. I would later learn that it was a Fury Cutter attack, one that would damage my Blaze more each time it hit. Joltik rocketed towards the Lizard Pokemon, its blades of power coming closer and closer. The Attaching Pokemon slashed Blaze with its mighty attack, the blue claws growing larger each time. I knew that I needed to get my Pokemon out of this situation, and fast.
“Okay Blaze, try a Scratch followed by a Dragon Rage!” I said, not sure how I really knew any of this. I was just guessing what it could do, but luckily so far it was working. The Charmander sprinted forwards towards Joltik, who wasn’t moving at all. Blaze got in close, but its diminutive frame allowed Joltik to dodge. Charmander’s claw hit a young tree, just planted the day before. He pulled it out, looking more angered than ever. Blaze obviously wasn’t going to let it go. He let loose a ball of red-and-blue fire, which was way too big to miss. It blew Joltik back, burying it in a sea of ground.
The little spider dug itself out, looking rather murderous. Instead of coming towards Blaze, the Attaching Pokemon climbed up to the top of a sapling, swinging its electrical web back and forth. With a few more of these, Joltik had successfully created a web of powerful electricity; it was an Electroweb! The little opponent sat on the center of the web, taunting the poor little Charmander. He was so angered that he could not even wait for a move from me, going in for what looked like another Scratch. Joltik successfully dodged, forcing the Lizard Pokemon into the web. Blaze cried in pain as he was covered in electrical tendrils of silk, trying to shake them off. He knew that he could not battle for much longer, and I thought so too.
“Blaze, try to wrap this up! Keep him on the net, and then hit him with a Fire Fang!” I cried, hoping this was going to work. I knew that Celia would be heartbroken if Blaze lost his first and most likely only battle, so I had to stay on my toes. He sat on the ground, finishing his removal of the Electroweb. Finally getting up, he opened his mouth. His two large incisors glowed red, flames literally flowing out of his jaw. Running straight towards Joltik, he grabbed the tiny bug and placed it in his mouth, crunching it with its powerful flames. The Attaching Pokemon hissed as it was spit out, ready to get rid of this thing. It was extremely tired, but so was Blaze. Joltik crawled on the ground at an unbelievable pace, headed straight for the Lizard Pokemon. Blaze yelped in surprise as Joltik pricked his skin, beginning to leech the blood out of him.
“We’ve gotta stop it! Do something!” I said, knowing that if we left it for much longer, Blaze would end up like us. Celia frantically looked through her pack, finally pulling out a Pokeball. It was coated in gold leaf, and looked as if it was given to her by someone precious. She held it out to me with a quivering hand, but I knew that she would want the safety of Blaze more than anything else. I walked up to the scrapfight, pressing the ball gently to Joltik. He was sucked into the ball, shaking once; even twice…I couldn’t take the tension. Even if I caught it, I doubted that Celia would let me keep it. It was cute; even she couldn’t deny it. But it had too many bad memories…
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