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Hello and welcome to an anime based one-shot.
Last week, Sun and Moon episode 58 aka 'Don't Cry, Hidoide' aired, an episode that involved a bizarre love triangle and one of the main characters going into hand to hand combat with a Toxapex. In the episode, the character ends up being poisoned, leading up to a shippy implication in the middle of the episode and an aww-worthy post credit scene. As soon as I watched the episode, I knew I had to write a fanfic of what may have happened offscreen.
Warning: This fanfic contains Rocketshipping.
I hope you enjoy.
Musashi’s breath caught in her throat as Kojiro started writhing in pain. He seemed to be getting worse. She gripped his hand, not liking how warm it felt.
“You’re going to be alright!” she said, trying to keep the growing dread out of her voice. “At least I hope.” She turned to the fourth member of their group beside her. "Sonansu see if there's any more Momon Fruits."
"Sonansu!" He nodded and headed towards the back of the den. Even in the dark, she could see the pile of fruits and berries Kiteruguma had gathered for them.
Kojiro started to moan. Musashi instantly turned back towards him and held her hand to his red forehead. She fought the urge to pull it away; his forehead was burning hot and drenched with sweat. Musashi gritted her teeth, hating how vulnerable she felt. She took a wet rag out from the bucket beside her and wiped his face. Kojiro clenched his eyes, tears of agony leaking from them.
While they were out shopping that afternoon, Hidoide had run into her first love, one of those guys that acted as if they loved you then went for another girl behind your back. After Hidoide (quite rightly, in her opinion) rejected him, he had attacked Kojiro in a fit of jealousy, poisoning the lavender haired man.
Musashi had thought the Momon Fruits Kiteruguma had in its den would be enough to stop the poison but it seemed they had only paused the effects.
On her right, Nyasu was looking through Kojiro’s information booklet. “Yowashi...Hidoide...Dohidoide! Its poison causes the victim to suffer intense pain for three days and three nights with after effects, meow.”
Musashi winced. “Poor Kojiro.” She dipped the rag into the remaining water and wiped his tears away. “What kind of after effects?”
“It doesn’t say, meow,” said Nyasu, lowering the book as he looked at their groaning friend. “Kojiro.”
“The after effects could be anything. Dizziness, hallucinations, coughing up blood,..”
"Sonansu!"
She turned to Sonansu, her eyes brimming with hope, but Sonansu shook his head.
"That was what I was afraid of. I need to find more before..." Musashi was pulled out of her thoughts as a sound remarkably similar to a creaking door entered Kiteruguma’s den. “Mimikkyu’s back!”
Near the mossy walls, she could see a Pikachu-like shape. A shadowy limb dragged a bucket of water behind it.
“Mimikkyu thank you!” shouted Nyasu. He jumped off the leaf bed, taking the bucket from it. He dragged the bucket over to Musashi’s side.
Sonansu handed her a hollowed berry as Nyasu helped Kojiro sit up. Musashi filled the berry with water as she wrapped her other arm around his back to hold him up. She carefully helped him drink. “Easy does it Kojiro. Don’t choke yourself.”
“Musashi…”
“Shh. You need to rest.”
“Has Hidoide come back yet?” Kojiro asked as Nyasu helped him lie back down.
Musashi frowned and looked around the den. There was no sign of the hyperactive Poison Type, only Mimikkyu. Where could she be? Knowing how Hidoide felt about Kojiro, Musashi expected she would have come back by now. “Unless she disappeared out of guilt.”
“Not yet. I’m sure she’ll be back, meow,” said Nyasu.
“I want to talk to her...talk to her before…”
Musashi rinsed the rag off and placed it on Kojiro’s forehead. “I’ll take care of it. When she gets back, the two of us will have a chat.”
“Be gentle with her.”
“Don’t worry about it. Get some rest.” Kojiro closed his eyes with a wince. Musashi gripped his hand again. With her other hand, she smoothed down his messed up hair. His hair felt like velvet against her fingers as she brushed the strands back into their usual place.
When he appeared to be asleep, she jumped down from the leaf bed.
“Musashi where are you going, meow?” asked Nyasu.
“I’ll go and find more Momon Fruits. You and Sonansu stay here and look after Kojiro.”
“Susoso!” Sonansu grabbed onto her arm.
“You can’t go out by yourself, meow!” said Nyasu.
Musashi gave them a reassuring smile. “Kojiro needs you two more right now.” Nyasu and Sonansu both looked at their burgundy turned friend.
“Besides, I won’t be alone. I’ll have Mimikkyu with me,” she said, turning to it. It creaked from inside its rag.
“Musashi…” said Nyasu as she took Sonansu's arms off her's.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” Musashi stepped outside the den, looking around. She knew Kiteruguma had a habit of popping up from nowhere to take them back to its den. She couldn’t get caught this time; Kojiro’s life could be in the balance. “Hang in there Kojiro.” Determination surged through her heart as she dashed away into the night.
“Come on, come on. Every minute I’m out here could drive Kojiro further into his grave,” she thought impatiently, silently willing the blasted fruits to appear.
There! She raced towards a speck of pink. Joy died just as quick as it had come. Not only was it the wrong fruit but it was rotten. She kicked it away and sighed.
Mimikkyu suddenly turned around hissing, glowing a fiery blue.
"Don't tell me Pikachu's appeared!" She jumped as a loud blast came from behind her. Musashi whirled around. A group of Bug Types scurried away from a battered bush as fast as they could. The fiery blue around Mimikkyu disappeared.
Something rustled in the bushes behind her. She turned around, tensing in fright; it sounded big. Mimikkyu jumped in front of her, its eyes glittering through the disguise.
“KIII!!”
Musashi screamed as Kiteruguma jumped out of the bushes and grabbed up her and Mimikkyu. She struggled wildly as it carried her back to the den.
“Put me down! I need to find Momon Fruits for Kojiro! Put me down!”
As she struggled, she spotted a mess of pink under its other arm. “Momon Fruits?” She looked at the large bear Pokémon. There was a frightened expression on its usually blissful face.
“You’re worried about him too, huh?” she said quietly.
“Guu."
Musashi thought back to when Kiteruguma had first taken them into its home. Why? Simple kindness perhaps? No, that didn’t explain why it would constantly be appearing out of nowhere to take them back to the den. The den was big enough to fit another Kiteruguma. Perhaps there'd been others once? But where did they go? Did they...leave?
“You’re tired of being alone, aren't you?”
Kiteruguma’s ears drooped. “Guu,” it replied quietly.
Musashi's heart panged with empathy. “I know that feeling. Until I met Kojiro and Nyasu, it was all I knew.”
She looked down as a blurred memory flashed through her mind; an older woman with purple hair walking away from her. She shook her head, trying to keep it suppressed. Now was not the time to think about these sorts of things.
“Musashi!” said Nyasu.
Musashi climbed onto the leaf bed. “Has Kojiro gotten any better?” she asked as Sonansu hugged her.
Kiteruguma lumbered by behind them. Seconds later, she could hear it pounding the fruits.
“Not much. He’s been moaning since you left, meow. He only started to move a minute ago, meow,” said Nyasu.
Musashi looked at her best friend. Kojiro was stirring, his face contorted in terror. “Kojiro.”
He started whimpering. Was the pain getting worse?
“N-n-no...no!”
Musashi shook his shoulder. “Kojiro! Kojiro wake up!” His eyes opened. “Kojiro, it’s alright. You were just having a nightmare,” she said, internally wincing at their sickly yellow color.
Kojiro’s eyes widened in horror. He shoved her away, barely moving her an inch. “Get away from me!”
Musashi staggered back confused. “Kojiro?”
He tried to scramble away from her but he could barely move. “Stay away!”
Musashi glared at him. Before she could say anything, Nyasu jumped between them.
“Kojiro, you’re hallucinating! It's us, Musashi and Nyasu, meow!”
Musashi relaxed. "This must be one of the effects of Dohidoide’s poison," she thought.
Nyasu must have gotten through to Kojiro for he started to blink. A heartbreaking look spread across his face. “Musashi…” He weakly reached towards her.
Nyasu backed away then looked at her. Musashi cautiously moved forward. Kojiro wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Musashi gritted her teeth as she realized he was crying.
“I...I thought you were…her.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nyasu lower his ears, confirming her suspicions.
“She’s not here Kojiro. Only us,” he said.
Musashi pulled him up and wiped his face with the rag. "You need to calm down. She isn't anywhere near here." She held him as his sobs quieted. “The poison must have gotten worse. He knows I'm nothing like her.” She filled the hollowed berry with water and helped him drink.
Kiteruguma sat down behind her, holding a hollowed coconut in its paws. Inside it was a pink paste.
Musashi helped Kojiro lie down and took the coconut from Kiteruguma. With the hollowed berry, she spooned the paste out of it and fed it to him. Minutes passed and eventually the coconut was empty.
“Musashi...thank you.”
“Don’t think about it. Go to sleep now,” she said, gripping his hand.
“Has Hidoide...” Kojiro started to ask. Musashi interrupted him with a shake of her head.
"Shh."
Within a minute or two, she could tell he had fallen asleep.
Minutes turned to hours. Musashi sat in silence, watching Kojiro as he slept, his breathing barely making a sound. His skin had changed from the worrying dark mahagony to a light purple. Her hand still clutched his as if afraid to let go for a moment.
Nyasu slept by Kojiro’s head. Sonansu leaned against her side, her other arm wrapped around him. Kiteruguma was somewhere behind her, asleep she assumed. Mimikkyu sat beside her, having eaten not too long ago. Hidoide...still wasn’t back yet. “Where is that Pokémon? She’s going to give Kojiro a heart attack if she’s not back before he wakes up!”
Something about the uncomfortable silence, the waiting, Kojiro hurt and unmoving gave her memories to that other time. The sounds of beeping machines filled her mind.
“It was our first mission together,” she said aloud, mostly to break the uncomfortable silence. She heard a creak; Mimikkyu must have turned towards her.
“We were much different back then, hardly what you'd call a team.” She gave a dry chuckle as she remembered her and Kojiro, clothed in red, competing against each other, glaring testily at each other every chance they got. They had come so far since then. “Especially me. I could hardly hold onto a partner. Back then, I was known as Musashi, the Death Goddess. I guess that happens when one has been left behind so much. They close themselves in, not wanting to get hurt again.”
Creak.
Musashi glanced at the moon as she remembered that night around the campfire.
“Musashi are you awake?” said Kojiro, his voice filled with emotion.
“Yeah.”
“I’m always saying how I won’t run away from anything but the truth is I’ve run away from all sorts of things.” Kojiro paused. “Until now, I’ve lived a life where I’ve been constantly running away.”
“Until now, I’ve lived completely alone even though I keep being paired up with teammates,” she admitted, feeling more exposed than she'd ever been.
“You can’t undo the past, but you can make a new one starting tomorrow."
“Yeah. If this team becomes number one, I believe we'll be able to shine like the stars in the sky." Maybe this time, a team would work out. Maybe this time, things would go right for her. Maybe, just maybe, she had finally found someone she could trust…
“During the mission, we had to cross a bridge and Nyasu was afraid to cross.” Musashi paused, remembering the wood splintering under her feet, the sound of the rushing water below in her ears. “Kojiro went to cross...and the rope broke. I grabbed onto Nyasu’s paws to save them.” Even now the memory of Kojiro and Nyasu dangling over the river was so vivid in her mind, she could still feel the scrape on her hand from gripping the cliff side with half her strength, the other half dedicated to her friends. “He was hanging onto Nyasu’s tail. I told him not to let go.” Her throat went dry as she remembered screaming after him as he plunged into the river. “The doctor said he wouldn’t be in action for a while. He couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Musashi walked away from the tower muttering to herself, barely hearing Nyasu’s voice. It all made too much sense. Of course the moment she opened up to someone, he would be gone! And yet,.. she had thought he would be different. She shook her head furiously. She was a fool if she thought this one would be any different! And what did it mean for her?
“It all means that I looked back and I was deserted. This sort of thing is what my life is." She sighed. "Is that all there is?”
“If you ask ‘is that all there is’, the answer will be the universe’s compassion.” And there he was, leaning against the trunk of a tree, jumping out of the bandages as if he wasn’t hurt at all. Someone who wouldn’t run away.
Musashi smiled at the memory as she turned towards Mimikkyu. The Ghost type was looking at its reflection in the water. Her gaze turned back to Kojiro, losing her smile as she thought of what could have happened. Musashi sighed as she looked outside Kiteruguma’s den at the moon.
Since then, they’d gone through much more than they could have ever imagined. Their bond had been tested repeatedly, had been strained and strengthened yet through some miracle their friendship had survived it all and had become even stronger. For so long, Kojiro had been her closest companion, longer than they’d been chasing Pikachu, longer than they’d known Nyasu. She trusted him more than anyone and she could hardly imagine life without him. “If I lost him now…”.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when something rested against her lap. She looked to see Mimikkyu leaning on her, a shadowy limb pressed against her. She smiled at it as two large arms gently wrapped around her. She looked up. Kiteruguma loomed over her, its chin almost brushing the top of her hair.
"Guu."
Musashi turned her attention back to Kojiro as its paw patted her, almost comfortingly. “I’ll stay up until the poison’s gone, all night if I have to.”
“Musashi?”
She stirred at his voice. “Kojiro!” He was knocked down as she hugged him smiling widely, so fast she knocked him into Nyasu.
“Kojiro!” Nyasu hugged the back of his head.
Kojiro smiled at his friends then he remembered. ”Where’s Hidoide?” he asked.
An alarmed look spread across Musashi’s face as she pulled away, looking around wildly. Mimikkyu and Sonansu lifted their heads. “She’s still not back yet?” she exclaimed.
“She could be in danger!" Kojiro thought. He leapt off the bed with a surprising amount of energy.
“Kojiro!” Musashi shouted after him.
“Wait Kojiro!” said Nyasu.
“Sonanso!”
Before he had made it far from the den, “KIIIII!!” Kiteruguma grabbed him. “Gu!”
Kojiro struggled as the large bear held him close. “I’m happy to see you too Kiteruguma but we have to find Hidoide.” He panted as Kiteruguma released him.
Musashi knelt beside him, Mimikkyu’s Poké Ball in her hand. She helped him to his feet and started leading him back to the den. "You're reckless, you know! You've just been poisoned!"
"I have to find her!” Kojiro insisted.
"I know but..."
He widened his eyes in a begging manner wavering them for effect. "Please!" he said, clasping his hands together.
Musashi rolled her eyes. “Alright but don’t be surprised when you collapse."
Kojiro smiled at her. "Come on. Let's go!" He dashed away, thinking of places the Water-Poison Type might have gone off too. "Water." He knew the first place he wanted to look.
Last week, Sun and Moon episode 58 aka 'Don't Cry, Hidoide' aired, an episode that involved a bizarre love triangle and one of the main characters going into hand to hand combat with a Toxapex. In the episode, the character ends up being poisoned, leading up to a shippy implication in the middle of the episode and an aww-worthy post credit scene. As soon as I watched the episode, I knew I had to write a fanfic of what may have happened offscreen.
Warning: This fanfic contains Rocketshipping.
- This fic is based off the Japanese version as not only has the episode not been dubbed yet but the characters this fic revolves around are quite different from how they're portrayed in the dub so I have no clue how the dub will handle the middle (and the post credit scenes aren't dubbed.) I know that not everybody watches the subbed version or know the Japanese names so here is a key to help you identify the characters.
- This fic will refer to events from the episode 'Love and the Origin of Youth' aka 'Training Daze'.
Musashi - Jessie
Kojiro - James
Nyasu - Meowth
Sonansu - Wobbuffet
Kiteruguma - Bewear
Hidoide - Mareanie
Momon Fruit - Pecha Berry
Dohidoide - Toxapex
Mimikyu's name is the same except for an extra k
Kojiro - James
Nyasu - Meowth
Sonansu - Wobbuffet
Kiteruguma - Bewear
Hidoide - Mareanie
Momon Fruit - Pecha Berry
Dohidoide - Toxapex
Mimikyu's name is the same except for an extra k
Poison
Musashi’s breath caught in her throat as Kojiro started writhing in pain. He seemed to be getting worse. She gripped his hand, not liking how warm it felt.
“You’re going to be alright!” she said, trying to keep the growing dread out of her voice. “At least I hope.” She turned to the fourth member of their group beside her. "Sonansu see if there's any more Momon Fruits."
"Sonansu!" He nodded and headed towards the back of the den. Even in the dark, she could see the pile of fruits and berries Kiteruguma had gathered for them.
Kojiro started to moan. Musashi instantly turned back towards him and held her hand to his red forehead. She fought the urge to pull it away; his forehead was burning hot and drenched with sweat. Musashi gritted her teeth, hating how vulnerable she felt. She took a wet rag out from the bucket beside her and wiped his face. Kojiro clenched his eyes, tears of agony leaking from them.
While they were out shopping that afternoon, Hidoide had run into her first love, one of those guys that acted as if they loved you then went for another girl behind your back. After Hidoide (quite rightly, in her opinion) rejected him, he had attacked Kojiro in a fit of jealousy, poisoning the lavender haired man.
Musashi had thought the Momon Fruits Kiteruguma had in its den would be enough to stop the poison but it seemed they had only paused the effects.
On her right, Nyasu was looking through Kojiro’s information booklet. “Yowashi...Hidoide...Dohidoide! Its poison causes the victim to suffer intense pain for three days and three nights with after effects, meow.”
Musashi winced. “Poor Kojiro.” She dipped the rag into the remaining water and wiped his tears away. “What kind of after effects?”
“It doesn’t say, meow,” said Nyasu, lowering the book as he looked at their groaning friend. “Kojiro.”
“The after effects could be anything. Dizziness, hallucinations, coughing up blood,..”
"Sonansu!"
She turned to Sonansu, her eyes brimming with hope, but Sonansu shook his head.
"That was what I was afraid of. I need to find more before..." Musashi was pulled out of her thoughts as a sound remarkably similar to a creaking door entered Kiteruguma’s den. “Mimikkyu’s back!”
Near the mossy walls, she could see a Pikachu-like shape. A shadowy limb dragged a bucket of water behind it.
“Mimikkyu thank you!” shouted Nyasu. He jumped off the leaf bed, taking the bucket from it. He dragged the bucket over to Musashi’s side.
Sonansu handed her a hollowed berry as Nyasu helped Kojiro sit up. Musashi filled the berry with water as she wrapped her other arm around his back to hold him up. She carefully helped him drink. “Easy does it Kojiro. Don’t choke yourself.”
“Musashi…”
“Shh. You need to rest.”
“Has Hidoide come back yet?” Kojiro asked as Nyasu helped him lie back down.
Musashi frowned and looked around the den. There was no sign of the hyperactive Poison Type, only Mimikkyu. Where could she be? Knowing how Hidoide felt about Kojiro, Musashi expected she would have come back by now. “Unless she disappeared out of guilt.”
“Not yet. I’m sure she’ll be back, meow,” said Nyasu.
“I want to talk to her...talk to her before…”
Musashi rinsed the rag off and placed it on Kojiro’s forehead. “I’ll take care of it. When she gets back, the two of us will have a chat.”
“Be gentle with her.”
“Don’t worry about it. Get some rest.” Kojiro closed his eyes with a wince. Musashi gripped his hand again. With her other hand, she smoothed down his messed up hair. His hair felt like velvet against her fingers as she brushed the strands back into their usual place.
When he appeared to be asleep, she jumped down from the leaf bed.
“Musashi where are you going, meow?” asked Nyasu.
“I’ll go and find more Momon Fruits. You and Sonansu stay here and look after Kojiro.”
“Susoso!” Sonansu grabbed onto her arm.
“You can’t go out by yourself, meow!” said Nyasu.
Musashi gave them a reassuring smile. “Kojiro needs you two more right now.” Nyasu and Sonansu both looked at their burgundy turned friend.
“Besides, I won’t be alone. I’ll have Mimikkyu with me,” she said, turning to it. It creaked from inside its rag.
“Musashi…” said Nyasu as she took Sonansu's arms off her's.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” Musashi stepped outside the den, looking around. She knew Kiteruguma had a habit of popping up from nowhere to take them back to its den. She couldn’t get caught this time; Kojiro’s life could be in the balance. “Hang in there Kojiro.” Determination surged through her heart as she dashed away into the night.
---
Minutes passed as Musashi searched high and low for spots of pink in the world of navy blue and green. The songs of several night birds and Mimikkyu creaking filled the air. If she wasn't out here racing against time, she might have found it beautiful. On her shoulder, Mimikkyu looked around, the ear of it's disguise brushing her cheek.
“Come on, come on. Every minute I’m out here could drive Kojiro further into his grave,” she thought impatiently, silently willing the blasted fruits to appear.
There! She raced towards a speck of pink. Joy died just as quick as it had come. Not only was it the wrong fruit but it was rotten. She kicked it away and sighed.
Mimikkyu suddenly turned around hissing, glowing a fiery blue.
"Don't tell me Pikachu's appeared!" She jumped as a loud blast came from behind her. Musashi whirled around. A group of Bug Types scurried away from a battered bush as fast as they could. The fiery blue around Mimikkyu disappeared.
Something rustled in the bushes behind her. She turned around, tensing in fright; it sounded big. Mimikkyu jumped in front of her, its eyes glittering through the disguise.
“KIII!!”
Musashi screamed as Kiteruguma jumped out of the bushes and grabbed up her and Mimikkyu. She struggled wildly as it carried her back to the den.
“Put me down! I need to find Momon Fruits for Kojiro! Put me down!”
As she struggled, she spotted a mess of pink under its other arm. “Momon Fruits?” She looked at the large bear Pokémon. There was a frightened expression on its usually blissful face.
“You’re worried about him too, huh?” she said quietly.
“Guu."
Musashi thought back to when Kiteruguma had first taken them into its home. Why? Simple kindness perhaps? No, that didn’t explain why it would constantly be appearing out of nowhere to take them back to the den. The den was big enough to fit another Kiteruguma. Perhaps there'd been others once? But where did they go? Did they...leave?
“You’re tired of being alone, aren't you?”
Kiteruguma’s ears drooped. “Guu,” it replied quietly.
Musashi's heart panged with empathy. “I know that feeling. Until I met Kojiro and Nyasu, it was all I knew.”
She looked down as a blurred memory flashed through her mind; an older woman with purple hair walking away from her. She shook her head, trying to keep it suppressed. Now was not the time to think about these sorts of things.
---
They continued on in silence until they reached the den. Kiteruguma released Musashi and Mimikkyu, Musashi grunting as she landed on the ground.
“Musashi!” said Nyasu.
Musashi climbed onto the leaf bed. “Has Kojiro gotten any better?” she asked as Sonansu hugged her.
Kiteruguma lumbered by behind them. Seconds later, she could hear it pounding the fruits.
“Not much. He’s been moaning since you left, meow. He only started to move a minute ago, meow,” said Nyasu.
Musashi looked at her best friend. Kojiro was stirring, his face contorted in terror. “Kojiro.”
He started whimpering. Was the pain getting worse?
“N-n-no...no!”
Musashi shook his shoulder. “Kojiro! Kojiro wake up!” His eyes opened. “Kojiro, it’s alright. You were just having a nightmare,” she said, internally wincing at their sickly yellow color.
Kojiro’s eyes widened in horror. He shoved her away, barely moving her an inch. “Get away from me!”
Musashi staggered back confused. “Kojiro?”
He tried to scramble away from her but he could barely move. “Stay away!”
Musashi glared at him. Before she could say anything, Nyasu jumped between them.
“Kojiro, you’re hallucinating! It's us, Musashi and Nyasu, meow!”
Musashi relaxed. "This must be one of the effects of Dohidoide’s poison," she thought.
Nyasu must have gotten through to Kojiro for he started to blink. A heartbreaking look spread across his face. “Musashi…” He weakly reached towards her.
Nyasu backed away then looked at her. Musashi cautiously moved forward. Kojiro wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Musashi gritted her teeth as she realized he was crying.
“I...I thought you were…her.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nyasu lower his ears, confirming her suspicions.
“She’s not here Kojiro. Only us,” he said.
Musashi pulled him up and wiped his face with the rag. "You need to calm down. She isn't anywhere near here." She held him as his sobs quieted. “The poison must have gotten worse. He knows I'm nothing like her.” She filled the hollowed berry with water and helped him drink.
Kiteruguma sat down behind her, holding a hollowed coconut in its paws. Inside it was a pink paste.
Musashi helped Kojiro lie down and took the coconut from Kiteruguma. With the hollowed berry, she spooned the paste out of it and fed it to him. Minutes passed and eventually the coconut was empty.
“Musashi...thank you.”
“Don’t think about it. Go to sleep now,” she said, gripping his hand.
“Has Hidoide...” Kojiro started to ask. Musashi interrupted him with a shake of her head.
"Shh."
Within a minute or two, she could tell he had fallen asleep.
---
Minutes turned to hours. Musashi sat in silence, watching Kojiro as he slept, his breathing barely making a sound. His skin had changed from the worrying dark mahagony to a light purple. Her hand still clutched his as if afraid to let go for a moment.
Nyasu slept by Kojiro’s head. Sonansu leaned against her side, her other arm wrapped around him. Kiteruguma was somewhere behind her, asleep she assumed. Mimikkyu sat beside her, having eaten not too long ago. Hidoide...still wasn’t back yet. “Where is that Pokémon? She’s going to give Kojiro a heart attack if she’s not back before he wakes up!”
Something about the uncomfortable silence, the waiting, Kojiro hurt and unmoving gave her memories to that other time. The sounds of beeping machines filled her mind.
“It was our first mission together,” she said aloud, mostly to break the uncomfortable silence. She heard a creak; Mimikkyu must have turned towards her.
“We were much different back then, hardly what you'd call a team.” She gave a dry chuckle as she remembered her and Kojiro, clothed in red, competing against each other, glaring testily at each other every chance they got. They had come so far since then. “Especially me. I could hardly hold onto a partner. Back then, I was known as Musashi, the Death Goddess. I guess that happens when one has been left behind so much. They close themselves in, not wanting to get hurt again.”
Creak.
Musashi glanced at the moon as she remembered that night around the campfire.
“Musashi are you awake?” said Kojiro, his voice filled with emotion.
“Yeah.”
“I’m always saying how I won’t run away from anything but the truth is I’ve run away from all sorts of things.” Kojiro paused. “Until now, I’ve lived a life where I’ve been constantly running away.”
“Until now, I’ve lived completely alone even though I keep being paired up with teammates,” she admitted, feeling more exposed than she'd ever been.
“You can’t undo the past, but you can make a new one starting tomorrow."
“Yeah. If this team becomes number one, I believe we'll be able to shine like the stars in the sky." Maybe this time, a team would work out. Maybe this time, things would go right for her. Maybe, just maybe, she had finally found someone she could trust…
“During the mission, we had to cross a bridge and Nyasu was afraid to cross.” Musashi paused, remembering the wood splintering under her feet, the sound of the rushing water below in her ears. “Kojiro went to cross...and the rope broke. I grabbed onto Nyasu’s paws to save them.” Even now the memory of Kojiro and Nyasu dangling over the river was so vivid in her mind, she could still feel the scrape on her hand from gripping the cliff side with half her strength, the other half dedicated to her friends. “He was hanging onto Nyasu’s tail. I told him not to let go.” Her throat went dry as she remembered screaming after him as he plunged into the river. “The doctor said he wouldn’t be in action for a while. He couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Musashi walked away from the tower muttering to herself, barely hearing Nyasu’s voice. It all made too much sense. Of course the moment she opened up to someone, he would be gone! And yet,.. she had thought he would be different. She shook her head furiously. She was a fool if she thought this one would be any different! And what did it mean for her?
“It all means that I looked back and I was deserted. This sort of thing is what my life is." She sighed. "Is that all there is?”
“If you ask ‘is that all there is’, the answer will be the universe’s compassion.” And there he was, leaning against the trunk of a tree, jumping out of the bandages as if he wasn’t hurt at all. Someone who wouldn’t run away.
Musashi smiled at the memory as she turned towards Mimikkyu. The Ghost type was looking at its reflection in the water. Her gaze turned back to Kojiro, losing her smile as she thought of what could have happened. Musashi sighed as she looked outside Kiteruguma’s den at the moon.
Since then, they’d gone through much more than they could have ever imagined. Their bond had been tested repeatedly, had been strained and strengthened yet through some miracle their friendship had survived it all and had become even stronger. For so long, Kojiro had been her closest companion, longer than they’d been chasing Pikachu, longer than they’d known Nyasu. She trusted him more than anyone and she could hardly imagine life without him. “If I lost him now…”.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when something rested against her lap. She looked to see Mimikkyu leaning on her, a shadowy limb pressed against her. She smiled at it as two large arms gently wrapped around her. She looked up. Kiteruguma loomed over her, its chin almost brushing the top of her hair.
"Guu."
Musashi turned her attention back to Kojiro as its paw patted her, almost comfortingly. “I’ll stay up until the poison’s gone, all night if I have to.”
---
Kojiro’s eyes flickered as the sunlight poured through Kiteruguma’s den. His body ached and his chest felt heavy. He rose his hand to his face to block the sun, noticing his skin had turned back to its regular color. As he pushed himself up, he found Musashi asleep, her head rested on his chest. He smiled at her before he looked around at his surroundings. Mimikkyu was sleeping against her side and Sonansu against the other, Nyasu was curled by his head, Kiteruguma must have gone off somewhere, and Hidoide… where was she?
“Musashi?”
She stirred at his voice. “Kojiro!” He was knocked down as she hugged him smiling widely, so fast she knocked him into Nyasu.
“Kojiro!” Nyasu hugged the back of his head.
Kojiro smiled at his friends then he remembered. ”Where’s Hidoide?” he asked.
An alarmed look spread across Musashi’s face as she pulled away, looking around wildly. Mimikkyu and Sonansu lifted their heads. “She’s still not back yet?” she exclaimed.
“She could be in danger!" Kojiro thought. He leapt off the bed with a surprising amount of energy.
“Kojiro!” Musashi shouted after him.
“Wait Kojiro!” said Nyasu.
“Sonanso!”
Before he had made it far from the den, “KIIIII!!” Kiteruguma grabbed him. “Gu!”
Kojiro struggled as the large bear held him close. “I’m happy to see you too Kiteruguma but we have to find Hidoide.” He panted as Kiteruguma released him.
Musashi knelt beside him, Mimikkyu’s Poké Ball in her hand. She helped him to his feet and started leading him back to the den. "You're reckless, you know! You've just been poisoned!"
"I have to find her!” Kojiro insisted.
"I know but..."
He widened his eyes in a begging manner wavering them for effect. "Please!" he said, clasping his hands together.
Musashi rolled her eyes. “Alright but don’t be surprised when you collapse."
Kojiro smiled at her. "Come on. Let's go!" He dashed away, thinking of places the Water-Poison Type might have gone off too. "Water." He knew the first place he wanted to look.
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