Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'd like to start this by thanking you for giving this story a chance. It means a lot to me and I hope what I write here is to your liking. Next I'd like to say for those of you who have read my old story "Retribution", (It will be deleted shortly after the posting of this chapter.) you may recognize some similarities between this story and that one. That is intentional, because this is the promised remake after a LOOOOOOOOOOOOT of redesigning. In fact, it is so reworked that I would highly advise you read this story as if it were completely new to you. I did not like the direction past me was taking the story, so it is time to lay it to rest. Lastly, I would like to advise the general audience that this story will feature and/or allude various darker topics at times that may be disturbing to some people. I sincerely apologize if this story makes you uncomfortable in any way, as that is not my intention. As such, I will be putting author's notes at the tops of pages that will feature such topics as a warning. My hope is that we can all be mature about this. Thank you again for choosing to read this message, and let's get into The Boy and His Bat!
The door gently closes from down the hall, but it is still enough to stir me from my nap. I know those footsteps very well by now. Papa's finally home! I know he always comes home at the same time every day, but it feels like forever when he doesn't take me with him. He comes by the bedroom and smiles at me through the open door before continuing down the hallway.
Without wasting any time, I crawl out of the bed. Something is wrong, I know it. No, I can smell it! Every now and then, he flips a switch making a familiar click. He clutches at his side leaking blood. I can smell it mixed with something bad. Before long, he leans on the sink in the bathroom.
"I'll be alright, Audi." Papa assures with a slur in his voice while he takes off his shirt. He's clearly hurt, so I shouldn't believe him. But he also seems very calm about this situation, so I should believe him. This is new. Should I believe Papa is alright?
Before I get a chance to decide, Papa steadies himself and opens the cabinet. A few items fall out of the cabinet as he rummages through it until he pulls out a yellow bottle. That's an Antidote, now the bad smell makes sense. Someone's poisoned Papa! A sharp smell fills the room as he aims the bottle at his bleeding wound and squeezes the trigger.
I tense up as he winces in pain. Antidote is meant for Pokémon, not humans. But I can smell the poison going away as he sprays it. After a few more seconds he stops spraying, causing the hissing to stop too, and puts the container down. All that remains is the smell of fresh blood. It doesn't take him long to begin pulling tape from the roll that fell from the cabinet.
"Sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to come crashing in here like that. Hopefully I didn't wake you up," Papa apologizes more clearly while looking at me. He sighs before I can answer, as if I somehow gave the answer away without making a sound. "I'll try to be a better owner." Why does he always say that to me? I've always loved him and thought he was the best papa I could ever ask for. Who is saying Papa is a bad owner? Wait, is that why someone poisoned him?!
"What happened, Papa?" I ask in a whimper, coming closer to look at the bleeding wound. There are two marks on his side, they look like bite marks. It went cleanly through his shirt too, by the looks of it. He crouches down to pick up one of the items that fell to the floor, gauze if I remember the name right.
"Heh, a Seviper bit me with poison fang on the way home from the lab," He turns on the sink and washes away the blood while telling me the story. Before he continues, he moves my Pokéball off his belt. I'm guessing he doesn't want anything to get on it. We've gotten pretty good at understanding one another most of the time, since I've known him since I hatched. "The lady who owned him profusely apologized to me, explaining she lost him after an incident with a Zangoose. Then she tried to call an ambulance for the trouble, which I refused." Now, I don't know what "profusely" means. Papa knows a lot of big words I can't make sense of, actually. But I do know Papa doesn't like being around people, so this lady and her Seviper seem mean!
"I'm just glad you're okay, Papa." I reply in a chirp. He positions the gauze over the clean bite and tapes it there.
"What can I say? If the bite was severe, I wouldn't have made it. Even if someone came to help me," Papa smiles a smile that quickly fades. Neither of us like that he said that. But if he can't deny that truth, I can't either. "You must be hungry, huh?" I nod, desperate for anything to distract us from thinking about death. He puts his shirt on again and puts everything back inside the cabinet. Once he passes me to go to the kitchen, I sigh in relief mixed with disappointment. This behavior isn't new to me at all. Papa always had a lot of bad days. My job is to make those bad days better!
Papa makes us food over the next few minutes. He comes into the living room while I am watching Ledians fly over the city with my bowl of fresh berries and raw meat. My favorite!
"Here you are, buddy!" Papa says before placing the bowl on the floor. I wag my tail in anticipation of a good meal. Then I stop suddenly when I realize Papa doesn't have any food.
"What about you?" I ask in a chirp. Papa tilts his head to the side.
"You can't still want more, can you?" He chuckles while answering my question. "I know you've always had an appetite since you were a Noibat, but you've been on a diurnal schedule since-, oh. You meant ME." I nod in response, surprised he didn't pick up on that immediately. Papa closes the windowsill, mumbling something about getting food later. Satisfied, I start eating as he crawls on the sofa, enjoying the metallic taste mixed with berry juice. By the time I'm finished, I realize that Papa is going to be there for a while. Since the TV remote is on the coffee table, I press the on button with my tail. It isn't a skill I am good at, but I know the TV helps Papa from time to time.
It sparks to life, and the screen shows a woman in blue fancy clothes with her Vanillite having her actions explained by someone else. Cheers roar in the background as they perform, but I can hear Papa whisper a "thank you" to me over the noise. I settle down again, expecting Papa to go to sleep but it never happens. He silently lays there watching the TV show, not interested at all. But I can watch the worry slowly drain from his face only to be replaced by tiredness.
"You'll be okay, Papa," I finally promise in another chirp. "You're safe here with me." He doesn't reply, but he makes eye contact with me for a moment. Something tells me he'll be alright for a little while. Maybe he'll be able to get some sleep after last night. I believe he's mentioned something in the past called sleep paralysis. This is confusing to me, because I thought you could only be paralyzed if you weren't asleep or asleep if you aren't paralyzed. Even after all this time, there are still too many things without answers for me to help. Is this something I can solve or do we need another human to do it? I hope it's something I can solve, because Papa probably wouldn't go to another human for help.
While I'm thinking about this, Papa begins to close his eyes and I hear him breathing a little slower over the TV show. I'm glad he's finally getting some rest, and I begin to lie down too as the show changes to being about buying potions. That's when I begin to hear someone coming up the driveway with the sharp clicking of heels. Please don't be here for Papa, he just fell asleep. There's a firm knock at the door and Papa jolts awake quickly.
"Hello? Is anybody home?" A familiar voice calls from the door. Where have I heard that voice before?
"Who on Earth needs me now?" Papa asks in annoyance while he gets up to check. All of the worry I worked to ease is back again. I go to follow him, not wanting to make him feel alone. "Stay here, Audi. I don't want to shout next to you if this goes poorly." That causes me to stop in my tracks.
"What do I do if it does, Papa?" I ask in a whine. He comes back to me before placing a gentle hand on my head.
"You already know what to do, Audi. Remember what I taught you to do if something ever happens to me." He assures with a smile that pushes away his fear before he turns to the door. I nod before going back to the bathroom to pick up my Pokéball.
"Escape to the wild with my Pokéball and live on my own, or give it to another good person." I tell myself out loud. Papa taught me how to find food and a place to live in the wild, but I still don't want it to come to that.
"Hello, Officer Jenny," Papa greets after opening the front door. What a relief, it's Officer Jenny! "How are you?"
"I'm doing fine, thank you for asking." She replies.
"That's good to hear. How can I help you today, Officer?"
"We recently received a call from a woman saying that someone matching your description was attacked by a poisonous Pokémon."
"Was it a male Seviper, by any chance? One roughly three meters in length with a slightly duller than average tail?" There is a moment of silence after Papa asks this.
"That is . . . a very specific description, Sir. Yes, it was a Seviper. Did it attack you?"
"I figured," Papa sighs. "Yes, he bit the left side of my abdomen after I attempted to calm him down."
"Sir, that Seviper was allegedly pursuing a Zangoose. Are you aware how dangerous an angry Seviper can be?"
"I am, Officer. That's exactly why I attempted to calm him down. A lot of people THINK they know how to soothe an aggressive Pokémon, but have little clue as to what they're doing."
"Why did you think you had what it took then, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I've taken multiple courses on Ethology in college and have nearly ten years of experience working with wild and domesticated Pokémon in various environments. In these parts, most people had a single Pokémon at their place, that wasn't even their responsibility to take care of, and those people think they have more knowledge on the matter than me."
"Ethology?"
"The study of Pokémon behavior."
"That would explain a lot of what I've heard about the situation so far," Officer Jenny comments. "Have you received medical attention for the venom?" I set the Pokéball down, since it seems like everything is okay.
"I didn't get help, but I was able to address the injury myself."
"Well, given what you seem to know about Pokémon, you probably already know how dangerous poison can be."
"Yes, but Pokémon venom is pretty easy to take care of if you have Pecha Berries on hand." But you used an antidote Papa, not Pecha Berries.
"That should do the trick for you then," There is another moment of silence after Officer Jenny says this. Feeling more brave, I slowly peak down the hall. Papa stands in front of the door, pretending to be calm. But I know him too well to see through this trick. "Now that I know you are alright, can I have your name?"
"Oh right, I imagine you'll need to write a police report on this encounter," Papa takes a deep breath. "My name is Will Starlyson."
"Starlyson? That name sounds oddly familiar."
"I work with Professor Sycamore at his laboratory, that's what most people know me for anyways. Will that be all you need, Officer Jenny?"
"Yes, I think that would cover everything I need to ask of you," Officer Jenny puts something small in her hand away. "If you begin to have symptoms, please call emergency services. Have a nice night, Mr. Starlyson."
"Have a nice night," Papa closes the door and lies down on the couch again. "You abhorrable bitch."
"Papa?" I call out in a whimper as I come out of hiding. He doesn't answer me. Papa is facing the opposite way on the couch this time, so I can't see his face. What I can see is that he is shaking a lot. There is only one way I know to fix this problem. It worked much better when I was still a Noibat, but I can make this work. I go over to Papa, kneel, and nuzzle his partially covered face. His skin is cold against mine and I can hear him breathing quickly easily. A little while passes before Papa begins to wrap his arm around my neck. I'm bigger now, but he still clings to me the same way he did when he was also young. He still needs me to be here for him, and I don't mind that.
"Dodge that Rock Throw and hit him with Bite!" Papa instructs.
"Huh? Papa?" His voice sounds higher in pitch and very hazy. Despite my confusion, I recognize the Geodude in front of me as one we battled a long time ago. We stand on a battlefield outside our old home in Sinnoh. I haven't used Bite in a long time, but my body seems to fulfill the command without me needing to think about it.
"Counter it with Supersonic!"
"What's going on?" Weren't we still trying to work on Boomburst, Papa? You said you'd help me perfect that move. Again, my body fulfills the command without me needing to think about it, causing a collision of my Supersonic with a Chimchar's Ember. It's at this point I realize I am a Noibat again.
"You're an incredible battler, Audi. Together, we can overcome any opponent!" Papa encourages with so much enthusiasm, it relieves my pain from battle with an overly aggressive Raticate. That's when I hear a sudden hiss that causes everything to go dark. No, everything didn't go dark . . . it IS pitch black. The TV is off too. I make a small click to echolocate and detect Papa taking off his third leg before setting it on the floor. So that was the hissing I heard.
"Did we-," I begin to ask in a chirp while letting Papa go.
"Fall asleep?" He interjects groggily. "Yes. Yes we did, Audi. Thanks for smothering me, I wouldn't have gotten any sleep without that." I nod, even though I'm not sure if he can see me. At least he isn't shaking or cold anymore. Wait a second, it's nighttime and Papa still hasn't eaten anything.
"Aren't you going to eat, Papa?"
"I'll get something in the morning, Audi. I'm not hungry." With that, he rolls back to face the TV and tells me good night. I search his face for any signs of lying. He already fooled Officer Jenny earlier, why wouldn't he try it again? Papa's already told me people always tell themselves lies. But the more I search his face, the more I believe he is telling the truth. Well, this isn't the first time he waited until morning to eat. Papa will be fine.
Then I start to get thirsty, so I get a drink from my water bowl. Even as I drink, I can't shake one thing from my mind; I want to go back to battling like we did years ago. We had so much fun doing it and Papa was happier. That thought is my mantra as I slowly drift back into sleep for the third time today. When the sun rises through the reopened window, I wake up to another bowl of food and water. Papa is eating a donut with some tea in a different outfit while watching another woman with pink hair and bright red pants talking on the screen. It seems like today will be sunny and warm weather.
"I suppose it makes sense that Malva is still a news reporter after all these years," He murmurs before noticing I'm awake. "Good morning, buddy."
"Good morning, Papa!" I reply in a bark.
"I'm surprised I didn't wake you up earlier when I was getting ready for work," Papa takes a sip of his tea. "Say, today's going to be a rather long day at the lab. We may have stumbled upon something really big in our recent investigations. We need all hands on deck for this one," I turn my head in curiosity as to where this is going. If this is going where I think it is, I may have just gotten lucky. "That's besides the point though. I don't really need to bore you with the major details. My point is, do you want to come with me to the lab today?"
"YES!" I show my fangs in excitement. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Papa turns off the TV and stands before covering the rest of his third leg. Despite everything, he's never explained to me how he lost his second one.
"Alright then. Someone's excited to get going. Well, I'm ready if you are." Papa holds out my Pokéball in an inviting manner.
"I'm ready." I answer in another bark before I tap the device and get sucked inside of my dormant safe space.
"Okay then, now to lock this place up and we can go." Papa's voice rings out in a distorted manner. As much as I enjoy our home and the peace it offers, it's time for us to have a change from our ordinary life!
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