Champion's Sword, Galar's Shield (Leon x OC)

08 - Vulnerable

Cassandra woke up slowly, confused by her surroundings. A warm building, low ceiling, and a bed underneath were not things she expected to find when she came back to consciousness. She felt infinitely better than she had when she passed out, but how? Turning her head to the left, she found Arcanine staring, and now that she had woken up he stood, whining, and began to lick and nuzzle her. Her other Pokémon in the room ventured closer as well, with only Lapras and Tyranitar missing. She wasn't surprised. They were large, but Boltund, Lucario, and Corviknight were able to hop onto or be beside the bed and fuss over her, whining and crowing, and chirping. She managed to bring her arm up to give each attention, although that alone was tiring. However, her side didn't hurt so much anymore, and when she touched and then looked, she found a well-tied bandage.

Leon definitely didn't do that.

Speaking of—where was he? And where was here?

"Glad you're alright," she mumbled to her Pokémon. At the very least, their being okay meant this was a safe place. Leon must have brought her here—had he braved the storm then? Was he alright? And what about that man? Swordward. Bastard. She hoped he'd frozen to death, but she didn't dare believe it. It would be too easy. Not to mention the Braviary would have come out of its paralysis by then, and it wasn't hurt enough that it couldn't fly. The man might have some broken bones and a nice scar since she doubt Alpha had killed him—that'd be too easy, too.

Shame.

"Mind getting Leon?" she spoke up, and her Lucario nodded, racing out quickly. She heard the echoes of barks and excited sounds. Her fighter appeared again in a few seconds, and a familiar face was right behind him. She managed a small smile as the purple-haired man practically slid beside the bed, taking a seat in the chair she just now noticed. Had he been sitting there before? She could believe it, and, it might have been silly, but the thought made her happy. She reached out with her hand, which he took, "Hey, you."

"Hey to you, too," he chuckled, his voice choking some. "You're finally up. How do you feel?"

"I've been better," she groaned, and he laughed. "Where...?"

"Sonia's lab in Postwick. My hometown. We made it through the storm. She called in a favor from Nurse Joy, so we were able to patch you up. Thank Arceus you're okay. I was so worried that we'd lost you."

"Yeah, me, too. But we made it. You okay, though?"

There was pain in his chuckle, "Don't ask me that when you're the one who almost died."

"Yeah, well, we're friends now, which means I'm gonna ask how you are—especially 'cause I know how you can be, too. That, and because I know there's still bad shit going on."

His silence said enough.

"Not okay. Okay," she half-sighed, half-groaned, still tired. "Is here safe?"

"Yeah. Neither Swordward or his brother have found us. Sonia is only letting trusted people know what's going on. We've told Raihan about things. Eternatus is under his care, so we have to make sure he's ready," he explained, but then added when she scrunched her brows, "The Pokémon Gloria caught—the one Rose unleashed, remember? They want to use its power we think, but she—thank Arceus—didn't have it with her when they kidnapped her."

"Right. And they have your brother," she rumbled, to which he nodded.

"And we... Well, we think there's more of them—allies. We're not sure who. We're trying to not be obvious in what we're doing, but we're gathering our own teams together. The Gym Leaders are all going to be in the know. We're including the police as best we can without causing a panic, too."