Spiritmal, By The Light Of A Star

5. A painful recovery

Pointing my New Spiritmal dexter at the Glowstaride, I was about to flash the capture beam at it when I hesitated, rethinking my decision of capturing the spiritmal.

"What's wrong?" The healer asked, seemingly picking up on my hesitation.

"I... I've never had a spiritmal before... I don't think I'll be able to care for this one properly. Worse. What if it doesn't want to come with me? I want to respect this spiritmal's decision... not force a poor creature to follow me around against its will."

The healer nodded in understanding. "I've an idea. Why don't you take care of this spiritmal for now. I mean, you wouldn't have to capture it but you could still help me care for it. Maybe afterwards you would be able to make a better decision."

I thought about the idea for a while. It would be nice to be able to care for a spiritmal before deciding. Besides, the poor Glowstaride needed someone...

I smiled. "Ok, what do I need to do?"
———————

About twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting on the bed of my hotel room. The healer had said that the Glowstaride was well enough to be solely taken care of by me. I remembered her asking me to go back to my hotel and get some rest, reassuring me that I would be able to care for the spiritmal on my own.

It had been easy to get the Glowstaride into the hotel. The exhausted bird had been asleep in my arms throughout the entire journey, not a surprise due to the battle it had been through earlier.

Carefully, I placed the sleeping bird in a makeshift nest that I had made using an extra blanket. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth and prepared myself for bed. After all, I knew that tomorrow was going to be a big day.
——————

"STARRRRRRRR!..."

I jumped back into consciousness, rubbing my blurry eyes to clear my vision.

"What in the world..."

"STARRRRRRRRRR!!!"

Groaning, I covered my ears to shut off the high pitched wail. My vision having cleared, I looked around the room to see the Glowstaride from yesterday on the floor... lying on its hurt wing.

"STARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Hurriedly, I covered my ears again while flipping off my blanket. Rushing out of bed, I walked towards the squawking bird. Uncovering my ears for a second to get it back into its nest, I placed it in a better positioning to ensure that it wouldn't be putting much pressure on its wing.

The Glowstaride immediately  stopped its racket as soon as it wasn't lying on its wing
anymore. Instead, it tilted its head slightly, looking up at me. It's glowing eyes were filled with curiosity, most likely because I haven't introduced myself yet and because the Glowstaride had been unconscious for the most of last night. Not knowing much of what happened after it got knocked out.

"Hello!" I spoke to the little spiritmal. "I don't know if you could understand me but the name's Emily." I placed a hand on my chest to illustrate my point. "I'll be taking care of you for a while... I hope that you don't mind my presence?"

The Glowstaride shook its head, answering my question.

"That's great! Would you like to sit... or perch on my shoulder? I'm about to go get some breakfast and I'm sure that you're hungry too."

The Glowstaride nodded eagerly, trying to fly onto my shoulder. Unfortunately, it's hurt wing was too weak to defy gravity and it started free falling. Seeing the bird's predicament, I quickly grabbed it before it fell onto the ground.

"Oof. There we go." Gently placing the Glowstaride on my shoulder, I quickly packed my bag and rushed out of the hotel, ready to grab myself and the Glowstaride some breakfast.
———————

"So... what do you want to eat?" I asked the Glowstaride as I munched on a fresh hotdog bun. We were currently queuing up in front of a spiritmal food stand, trying to find something for it to eat.

As the last person in front of us moved away, the Glowstaride pointed at some grapes in one of the stand's crates.

"Star! Starrrr!" It pointed at the grapes, then at the sun, frantically gesturing with its one good wing.

Strangely, I actually understood what it was trying to say.

I smiled. Looking up at the man running the stand.

"Got any dried grapes?"

He looked around, opening a nearby container. "Would these do?"

"St-star!" The Glowstaride, flapped it's good wing, signing its approval.

"We'll take them." I payed the man some money and took the little container the man handed to me. Opening it, I lifted it up to the Glowstaride who immediately started pecking at its contents.

Sitting down on a nearby bench, me and the Glowstaride finished up our breakfast together.

As I was swallowing the last of my hotdog bun, I suddenly remembered something.

"Umm... Glowstaride? Would it be ok if I nickname you Star?"

"Starr? Star!" It nodded excitedly in agreement.

"What would you like to do now Star? We have plenty of time."

"Starrrrrr! St-star! St-star!" Star suddenly started hopping up and down, pointing a wing towards our right.

"What is it Star? I'm quite sure..." I looked in that direction, gulping as I realized what Star had been pointing at. Looking into the distance, I saw someone walking towards us. His dark hair and blue Lionblitz a dead giveaway.

"St-star! St-star!" Star pecked on my shoulder.

"Owww... what was that for?"

"St-star!"

"You want to talk to him?!"

"Star!"

I sighed, walking over to the trainer.

"St-star!"

The trainer looked at the two of us, seemingly uninterested in our existence. "What are you doing here?"

"St-star!"

"You again I see?" The trainer raised an eyebrow at Star, seeming a little surprised with a bit of something else. "What are the two of you doing here? Would you mind letting me get on with my training? The race is tonight and I've not much time for weaklings like you two."

"Star..." Star hung its head sadly. "Star?" It asked, glaring up at the trainer with hopeful eyes.

"There's no use for a weakling like you on my team." He replied calmly. "I've abandoned you already. What more do you want?"

"Star..." I could tell how upset Star was from those words. Letting it hop into my hands, I petted gently it as it started to sob about the fact that it has lost its trainer.

"Starrrr... st...star..." it continued crying, trying its best to stop but ending up crying even harder.

Meanwhile, the other trainer stared at the bird for a little while before shrugging.

"So, peasant. I guess you'll be taking care of the puny, no-good baby."

I raged. "The name's Emily you idiot! Look at what you've done to poor Star!"

Calmly, he just flipped his hair. "The name is Felix. Not idiot. If anyone was an idiot, it would be you. That baby is pathetic anyways."

As he walked away, I stared at him angrily before going back to calming Star. Apparently, Star had been unconscious even before his trainer abandoned it, meaning that it would have no idea about its abandonment.
——————

Oops. It looks like there were no early updates after all. School has been keeping me on my toes recently, it's been a busy week. I guess I'll see you guys next week.