As Roisin sat on the bench to one side of the lobby, watching the nurses, visitors and patients flitting to and fro, she counted herself somewhat lucky. The last two times she had visited the Pokémon Center, she had needed an overnight stay to recover effectively from the damage she had taken in those fights, both planned and unplanned. Now, though, she was in and out the very same day. The endless abrasions from even the slightest of contact with her for? All smoothed back out. The frigid cold embedded in her bones from the unexpected Ice Beam? A distant memory. The deep gashes across her cheek and arms? Each closed up with the healing abilities of the immeasurably kind staff on hand.
Still, though, the last remaining remnants of the injuries sustained in her latest fight lingered, a sensitivity beneath the feathers and patches of gauze that burned like an acid bath with every touch. It would heal in time, as these things always did, but it was yet another reminder of the world she had so eagerly thrown herself into.
Just as it was with many of the others the Staraptor was watching make their way through the room, some of them had evidently only just arrived and returned to consciousness, wearily being helped through the front doors and up to the reception desk for a quick recovery, or into the back half of the building if further assistance was needed. A handful were able to arrive by themselves, still looking noticeably beaten up from their own battles, a couple of whom were stubborn enough to refuse the help offered to get around, even when obviously limping. There were even one or two that the big bird actually recognized from having fought - and defeated - just a few hours earlier.
And then there was a single, all too familiar figure, as the loose crowd gradually parted around a large orange Camerupt, slowly lumbering her way over toward Roisin with a bottle of soda in each hand. "Hey," came her usual monosyllabic greeting.
"Hi, Laurie," the Staraptor replied, shifting over a little to give the tank of a girl slightly more space as she awkwardly turned herself around and flopped down onto the bench in her typically lackadaisical manner, drawing the customary gentle creaking from the furniture as her weight settled upon it. She didn't look nearly as banged up as Roisin did, at least not outwardly, though her heavy breathing and heavier swigs of soda told a different story. "Where'd you get those?" asked the Staraptor, the thought just occurring to her.
Laurie idly gestured toward the far wall with the open bottle. "Vending machine," she huffed, before taking another hearty gulp, and extending the second bottle toward Roisin. "Want one?"
"Sure, go on then," the Flying-type accepted, cracking open the second bottle of soda, and taking a quick sip of the revitalizing nectar. As soon as she did, however, she gave a sudden, harsh grunt and clamped a hand over her beak to keep it shut, the overpowering carbonation and citrus bomb of flavours tearing across her tongue like a mouthful of thumbtacks.
This, of course, caught the attention of the Camerupt, who had stuffed an insouciant hand down the front of her tank top."'Sup?" she asked, fishing out a third bottle she had stashed in her chest.
Roisin visibly convulsed as she gulped her first mouthful down, throwing a fist into the bench alongside her with a soft thump. "Urrrrgh!" she groaned, peering in disgust at the bottle and its brutal contents, hidden behind an almost sarcastically bright and cheery label. "This is lemonade!"
Laurie shrugged. "Yeah."
The Staraptor glared over at the fat girl, who was already halfway through her own bottle, unconcerned as ever. Reluctantly, though, Roisin had to admit that the fizzy stuff actually did its job in healing up those who drank it. They were unlikely to have it on offer in a Pokémon Center otherwise, she figured, as she took another glug, trying her best to avoid recoiling while the angry liquid clawed at her tonsils as it hit the back of her throat. And it was still infinitely more palatable than the 'all-natural' herbs which Skye would have her take instead. "Arceus, I forget how sour this stuff is..." she muttered to herself.
"So, who took you out?" Laurie asked, out of the blue.
Roisin blinked for a moment as the inquiry caught her off guard. "Oh, the Sharpedo."
"Kerry?"
"I think so," nodded the big bird. "I just couldn't get away from her tail." Every bandage and plaster was a testament to that fact, each telling its own story of the various wheeling punches and kicks Roisin had managed to duck and dip away from, only to be met with that mighty tail, longer than she was tall, instantly whipping around to follow Kerry's motion, its crowning fins delivering a vicious Slash with every swing, carving into the Staraptor like razor blades over and over, until the officials were forced to step in, and the match was finally brought to a halt.
"And your hair, too?" continued Laurie, again pointing lazily with her bottle.
Glancing up a little, Roisin brushed a hand through her scarlet devil lock, now only half the length it had been before the tournament, and with an eerily perfect straight cut terminating it just above her cheek bone. "It'll grow back," she conceded with a sigh. "What about you?"
"Same," Laurie admitted.
"Wait, really?" The Staraptor pressed, noting the very obvious lack of cuts anywhere on her companion's body. "You don't look like you got gashed up the way I did."
The big Camerupt simply shook her head a little. "Aqua Jet."
Roisin leaned back on the bench a little at that revelation. "Oh, man..." she muttered under her breath. "I thought you'd be able to take a few hits, even with your typing."
"I am," Laurie reminded her, resting a hand on the upper curve of her belly where the Sharpedo had struck. While it was obvious the big girl was built to withstand a number of attacks, easily shaking off some of the more conventional blows during her matches, and blocking a few others with some well-placed shards of rock kicked up from the ground, it was equally obvious that the one thing the Camerupt lacked was speed. That left her all but a sitting Psyduck as Kerry, a split second after being pitched away, propelled herself back toward her foe, throwing her arms forward and summoning a rushing vortex of water to surround her in an instant, blasting her across almost the entire length of the arena faster than Laurie could blink and driving both fists into that huge target of a tummy with all the force of an oncoming bullet train, even managing to launch the fat Fire-type clean into the air and send her tumbling across the ground like a boulder. "Still hits like a cannonball," she added.
The Staraptor momentarily turned her gaze down to the greatly oversized gut of the Camerupt sat alongside her, filling her lap and spreading out over her equally thick thighs. Even if Laurie didn't look the part of a fighter, Roisin had to give it to her, she did have an awful lot of bulk to get through in order for her opponents to cause enough damage for her to still be feeling now. "Wow. Remind me to avoid one of those, then," she said, gingerly testing another sip of her aggressive drink.
"You can't."
Blinking her eyes back open after that gulp, Roisin stared at Laurie in bemusement after a comment like that. "Why not?" she retorted beneath her furrowed brow. "I'm sure as hell faster than you are, you big lava lump."
A snort of derision escaped the big Camerupt, as her typical gentle pout fleetingly flicked upward into a soft yet condescending smirk aimed at the big bird. "Good luck, then," she replied dismissively, turning her attention back to the drinks, quickly downing the rest of her first bottle.
Roisin's eyes narrowed, sneering a little at Laurie's attitude toward her. Sure, she might have been new to the battling scene, but she was holding her own against more seasoned competition, even picking up a couple of victories over her fellow rookies so far. Both her and the Camerupt had been knocked out of this tournament by the same competitor, but in her short time and limited experience standing across that battle field from some of the best Sinnoh - and occasionally beyond - had to offer, the Staraptor already had a much clearer view of the road that lay ahead of her. The fighters to look out for in the arena, the techniques and styles worth trying to take her place among them, and the lessons she could learn from Rocky to help her get there.
But before she could do any of that, she needed to heal herself back up. Hesitating only for a second, she brought the oppressively sharp lemonade back up to her beak, scowling as the stuff one again began its violent assault on her senses.
