It was the dead of night, a time where only hums and snores should fill the air around and break the natural silence. A time where most should be in rest, save for the sweet Clefairy and the lurking Gengar wandering under the shine of the moonlight. Night was the time of recovery—for people, for Pokémon, for nature, for everything. The time to settle, to relax, to dream,

            But on this night, Luhanfound himself doing anything but that.

            ‘I ed up, oh man did I up,’ he found himself repeating in his mind over and over again. And he was right—he did up, though the words seemed a little too mild for how absolutely screwed he actually was.

            He’d been careless—he recognized that from the very start. No one could even try to deny that—what kind of idiot tries to catch a stray Weedle without checking the surroundings first? First of all, who even assumes there is such thing as a stray Weedle? As if any Beedrill would ever leave even a single one of its children alone for more than a millisecond. They were way too territorial to do anything like that, but of course, Luhan had let his confidence from beating the Cerulean City gym leader spill over and cover up practically all of his rational thought. ‘There doesn’t seem to be anything else around!’ he had told himself, as though Beedrill don’t perch high up in dark forest tops to dutifully watch over Kakunas and Weedles 24/7.

            God, he was such an idiot.

            A groan slipped out of his mouth as he felt heat rising in his body. His Rapidash would never burn him—he knew that—but the poor girl couldn’t always control herself perfectly, especially when she was dealing with so much stress and fear like it was now. He carefully leaned in so he was pressing his torso against the back of her neck and his mouth was as close to her ear as possible, and he quickly began muttering quiet words of assurance and comfort. It didn’t help much, but at the very least, she wasn’t unintentionally scorching as much of the forest vines and branches as before.

            He hated putting this much stress on her, or any of his Pokémon, for that matter, but he had no choice. There was practically no chance of him winning if he tried to stand his ground—there were way too many in the swarm, he’d be overwhelmed and overpowered within minutes. It wasn’t like he could even try to fight, anyway. His Pokémon were all too weak, worn out either by the unexpected series of matches that he had been drawn into halfway down Route 5, when it was too late to make it back to the Pokémon Center in Cerulean City, or by trying to ward off the first swarm of Beedrill just minutes ago. Only Rapidash was somehow holding on, but Luhan knew it wouldn’t be for much longer.

            Who knew everything would come to an end like this?

            He stared straight ahead of him, into the endless depth and darkness of a forest lighten up only by the crackles of Rapidash’s flames. She was slowing down with each step—he could feel it, and as she slowly came to a halt, collapsing over herself with a weak, pleading neigh, all he could do was desperately hug her neck and accept their fate, praying to whatever deities may be out there that she would be spared. He could hear the swarm closing in, the buzzing noises mixing in his ears with the sounds of his own heart pounding out of his chest and Rapidash softly whining in fear and sorrow. With all the energy he had left in him, Luhan slowly reached his hand up to pet her one last time, a soft ‘I love you, girl,’ leaving his parted lips as his eyes began to flutter shut.

            It’d be okay. He’d had a good run, and hopefully, once this was all over, the rest of them would be spared—Rapidash and the others. Someone could find them, collect and heal them, save them and let them live as they deserved to. They might be sad, but they could get over it eventually—they’d find a better trainer, one who would protect them better than he did, and they’d forget all about him. Or they could even be released into the wild once more, renewing and restarting their lives as they saw fit. So long as they were happy, Luhan didn’t mind. He didn’t care what happened to him—he’d be gone, and that was all fine. It didn’t matter, it didn’t—

            “Quick, Aurora Beam, now!”

----

            Something was fading in and out. Was that… light? What was he hearing? Something felt soft underneath him, but how could he feel anything? How were small sounds and voices humming in his eardrums? Wasn’t he…?

            Everything felt heavy as Luhan forced his eyes open with muscles he assumed would be decomposing by now. He immediately shut them, however, as soon as his sight was overwhelmed with a burst of light. Muffled noises slowly became clearer in his ears, becoming distinct sounds, and he was able to distinguish one as a particularly soft voice speaking.

            “Ah, is he waking up…?” the voice muttered, and Luhan could hear footsteps growing louder and louder as the source of the voice came closer to him. Begrudgingly, he cracked his eyes open once more, blinking numerous times to get used to the light before turning his head. When he did, however, he came face-to-face with someone—a boy, who looked around his age. Around him was very little: plain cream-beige walls, minimal furniture from what he could tell, really nothing standing out.

            “Ugh,” Luhan groaned as a tremor of pain suddenly struck in his temple, and he brought one lethargic hand up to grip his head.

            “Ah, right!” the boy was speaking again, and god was he loud. “I’ll get you something for the headache, one second… uh…”

            “P-please…” Luhan started, his voice barely anything but a dry croak from how dehydrated he had been. “…Q-quieter…”

            “What… oh!” the boy exclaimed again, almost immediately slapping a hand over his mouth afterwards, and Luhan looked over once again to see the boy’s sheepish smile as he spoke again, now in a whisper. “I-I’m sorry… here, take this, it’ll help.” Luhan looked down to see a glass of water and two pills held in the boy’s hands.        Slowly, with unsteady hands, he took the objects, nodding to the boy quietly in thanks before popping the aspirins into mouth and downing it with a glass of water.

            “Oh, would you like some more water?” the boy asked, immediately taking the glass from his hands and running off. Luhan vaguely heard the sound of a faucet running before he managed to turn his head all the way, but by then, the boy was already back, pressing the water glass into his hands. “Drink, drink, and I can get you something to eat later too.”

            “Thanks,” he muttered quietly, and he couldn’t help but smile a little at the burst of happiness that exploded on the boy’s face at the single word.

            “I’m Jongdae, by the way,” the boy introduced, taking a seat at the edge of Luhan’s bed. “What’s your name?”        

            “Luhan,” he replied shortly in between his sips of water. “Where am I?”

            “You’re at the Kim reserve!”

            “Kim… reserve…?”

            “You’ve heard of a Pokémon reserve before, right?” Luhan nodded, and Jongdae beamed. “That’s what this is! A safe haven for all the Pokémon here, wild or not, where none of them can be hunted or captured. Granted, we aren’t that big and we’re a lot more remote than other reserves, but we still do our best! There are a lot of smaller reserves around these areas anyway, seeing as the only big one in the region is Laramie Ranch and that’s all the way by the Safari Zone and Fuchsia City. Still, we don’t get visitors too often, seeing as we’re in a pretty deep part of the forest, so imagine my surprise when hyung brought you and your Rapidash in! Though you were pretty injured then so I guess it wasn’t the most pleasant of surprises but still—”

            “Jongdae, wait,” Luhan interrupted the other’s excited rant, a heaviness settling in his gut as a thought occurred to him. “Where’s Rapidash? Is she okay? What about the others?” He was suddenly much more aware of his missing belt, and, as a result, missing Pokéballs. “That night… the swarm… the Beedrills… did they—”

            “—They’re fine!!” Jongdae cut in quickly, trying to give as reassuring of a smile as he could. “Rapidash and your other Pokémon are over in the nearby hospital—it’s not really a hospital but we like to call it that—and they’ve healed just fine! I can take you to go see them, if you’d like? Oh, oh! And you could meet hyung too!”

            “Hyung…?” Jongdae grinned, clapping his hands together and Luhan couldn’t help but find his hyperactive attitude a bit endearing.

            “My hyung! He’s the one who saved you guys from those Beedrill! He brought you guys back here last night, and he’s the one who’s been taking care of you since you got here. He’s really cool, I swear!” Luhan raised an eyebrow in amusement, but nodded anyway.

            “Alright, alright,” he hummed, his voice still a bit dry, “take me to this hyung of yo—!”

            “Ah, ah, careful!” Jongdae exclaimed, but Luhan wasn’t paying attention. He had moved to sit up slowly, seeing as he was still lethargic from injuries and sleep, but as soon as he moved his right leg, a burning pain struck him hard, involuntary pushing him to grip his leg desperately in pain. He couldn’t bend it even an inch past its natural bend, and it was only then that he noticed the heaviness he felt in the limb. He looked down to see it covered in a thick blue cast from his foot to just below his knee.

            “Hyung said when you and Rapidash collapsed, your leg got caught under her body,” Jongdae said quietly, everything about him tense, waiting for a response.

            “Figures…” Luhan trailed off, hands absently tracing the sides of the cast. “How bad is it?”

            “Surprisingly not that bad—just two fractures in the ankle and one on the shin. It should still take up to 8 weeks to heal, though.” Luhan sighed, ruffling his hair in frustration before nodding.

            “Well… do you have something I can use then?” A pair of crutches were immediately shoved into his hands.

            “We have a wheelchair if you’d like that too but I don’t know I figured you’d probably prefer crutches since you’re a trainer and trainers like walking around I think and you’ve been lying asleep for so long don’t worry everything here is on the ground floor you don’t have to worry about climbing stairs—”

            “Jongdae, it’s fine. I’m fine,” Luhan pressed, flashing the boy a tight smile to show he wasn’t annoyed (that much). “Let’s just… go see Rapidash, okay? And your hyung.”

            “Okay!” And thus, they began walking.

            Apparently, there was a sort of ‘town’ in the center of the reserve where all the shops, stables, and whatnot were. It wasn’t really much of a town as much as it was just a small community where the reserve’s staff and their families went about their business. Jongdae’s home, where Luhan had just been, was a little farther away from this ‘town,’ apparently, but it was close enough that on the already-laid-out trail, it took around 10 minutes to walk to.

            The walk to town was relatively uneventful, with nothing around them but grasslands and the occasional Caterpie or Spearow. Jongdae filled the silence with his talking though. Though the boy was a bit over-the-top, Luhan couldn’t help but appreciate the pure enthusiasm Jongdae had when talking about, well, anything. He could go on and on talking about whatever came to mind, and that sort of excitement was hard to come by nowadays. Not only that, but he was pretty considerate, not expecting Luhan to talk, making sure he was going slow enough to match his pace, and so on. The behavior had Luhan reaching a hand up to ruffle the boy’s hair in endearment when they had taken a pause, despite the other being a bit taller than that.

            “H-hey, what’s that for?” Jongdae spluttered, and Luhan chuckled a bit as he saw a little pout form on the boy’s lips.

            “How old are you, Jongdae?” he asked, and the other furrowed his eyebrows at the sudden question.

            “19, why? How old are you?” Ah, he was right.

            “23,” he responded simply, smirking as he saw the shock spread all over Jongdae’s face.

            “W-what? How?! You look younger than me!” Luhan rolled his eyes, reaching up and ruffling the boy’s hair one more time.

            “Call me hyung, okay? You’re a good kid.” To which Jongdae stuck his tongue out indignantly.

            “Whatever… hyung.” Luhan grinned. “I’d be more surprised, but my hyung’s the same age as you and I always get mistaken as the older one.”

            “Well we’ll have something to talk about then, besides the whole him-saving-my-life thing.” Jongdae rolled his eyes.

            “Anyway, let’s keep going, we’re getting into town now. The hospital’s just a couple minutes away from here, will you be okay?”

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, let’s go.”

            Jongdae was right—this place wasn’t really a town, but it did have the feeling of it. Or at least, it felt like a more mellow marketplace. It wasn’t just a barn or whatever, nor were the buildings worn down and made of dusty brick. They were relatively well-constructed, new buildings considering how far off from big cities this place seemed to be. Still, there were open stalls in addition to the larger buildings, and the whole thing came together to give a sort of homey feel.

            “We’re here~” Jongdae sing-songed as he stepped towards what seemed to be just a regular, if not a bit large, home. He led Luhan in, gesturing to where they needed to go as he shut the front door behind them. “C’mon, your Pokémon are this way.”   

            The older boy looked around to see that the place really just was a large house, with quite a few rooms and hallways all over the place. Navigating was a bit hard; the house was like a maze in so many regards, and Luhan was sure he’d get lost in an instance if he were try to find his way around on his own. Eventually, though, they reached a room towards the very back of the house, and Jongdae pulled the door open slowly, as though not to disturb anyone.

            “Hyung? Are you here?” he called out softly, and the pair stepped in—or in Luhan’s case, hobbled in—slowly. Luhan didn’t get a chance to look around though, because seconds after he stepped into the room, his face was being attacked, his vision turning blurry and… tan?

            “Hmph! Oh go—Primeape!” He barely managed to get out, his words muffled by the ball of fur hugging his head and holding on for dear life. He rapidly shook his head barely being able to use one of his hands to finally tug away the overexcited Pokémon. It was just getting a bit harder to breath for Luhan when someone spoke gently, a hand brushing against Luhan’s own hand on Primeape’s leg.

            “Now, now, let’s give him a little space to breath first—I’m sure he’s just as excited to see you as you are to see him,” the man said, voice soothing enough for Luhan to almost forget how this dude was about to get smashed to bits for even touching Primeape, let alone trying to pull him.

            Or so he thought.

            Luhan couldn’t even try to contain his surprise as he felt Primeape relax, slowly allowing itself to be pulled away from its trainer and into the arms of, as far as he knew, some complete stranger. It had taken weeks, even months of training and bonding with Primeape before he was even willing to battle without attacking Luhan instead. Sure, now, they were extremely close, so much so that the Pokémon acted somewhat territorial over Luhan—which was sweet, in its own weird way—but that closeness was something that was grown out tireless time bonding and learning to trust each other. How could this person make Primeape so calm, in just a matter of a few hours?

            He didn’t have much of a chance to linger on the thought, though, because even though Primeape was now away from his face and safely on the floor, he was still getting nudged in all directions by his feet and hips. He looked around to see Ninetails poking her snout at his waist, Butterfree perching himself on his shoulder, and Abra practically hugging his cast. Shaking his head in amusement, he raised his head, only to be faced with Haunter barely 10 centimeters away from his face, hands poised, tongue out—

            “No !” he practically screamed as he frantically backed up, nearly tripping over himself in the process. Really, the only reason he didn’t fall over was because Ninetails held him up, pushing at the small of his back until he came to stand upright again. Haunter was laughing at the whole debacle, and Luhan sighed, wondering why he ever thought having the trickster as a friend was a good idea.

            “They certainly seem to love you,” a voice spoke up again, and Luhan finally looked over to get a proper look at the man who pulled Primeape off of him.

            He was a little shorter than Luhan, not by too much but enough to be noticeable— though that could’ve just been because he was perched on his crutches. The man’s hair was messy, short, and dark brown, his eyes a little narrow and face a bit round. Dressed simply in jeans, a graphic tee, and a denim jacket, the man looked as though he could work out in the fields or grab a cup of coffee and still be dressed appropriately.

            “Y’know, sometimes I wonder if that’s true with Haunter—I’m pretty sure he just loves ing with me,” Luhan replied easily, rolling his eyes as the mentioned Pokémon just cackled in response. The unknown man chuckled and Jongdae, who’d been strangely quiet this whole time, giggled as well at the words.

            “Well c’mon, how about you sit down and I get some tea for us all?” the man offered, and Luhan nodded almost immediately at the thought of sitting down—his leg was already getting sore, and Abra latching onto it wasn’t helping very much.

            “I’ll get it hyung!” Jongdae offered suddenly, speeding out of the room before anyone even had a chance to process his words. Hyung… so this guy’s…

            “Okay then, I guess he’s getting it.” Amusement laced the man’s voice, and Luhan couldn’t help but shoot him a smile in response as the other came over to help lead him to a place to sit. “Well, I suppose now’s as time as any to ask this: what’s your name, stranger?”

            “Luhan, and yours?”

            “Minseok—nice to meet you.”

yes im ending it there fite me

anyway this was supposed to be up last night but i got held back bc i still needed to finish the first chapter for my kaisoo fic and i also went out poké-hunting with my parents yesterday and that took wayyyy longer than expected and yeah everything was just a lot more delayed than it was supposed to be

oh well at least it's out now
have fun reading i guess
im getting worse at these author notes i swear