bloogum

Finally, the end of the week arrived and my leg was feeling much better. It still hurt a bit to walk on, but there wasn't that constant ache any more. I felt I had the courage to visit Glacier, and the Chansey and nurse said I had the strength, so I hobbled down to the ward where Glacier was held, with the help of Shelly and a Chansey. He had begun in the critical care unit, but now he had moved to the general ward. I assumed that was a good thing.

"He'll be fine in two weeks," the Chansey was saying as we hobbled down the long corridors and through doors, "try to take care of yourself this time!"

I flicked my 'tail' and smiled grimly. "I'll think of something to do."

All the while I was thinking of how to get my egg back. It seemed impossible. If I left in search of my egg, I would have to leave Glacier. When he gets better, he would go searching for the egg or for me. If either of us found it, there was no way we could tell the other. For me, there was no question. We would search together.

Then it hit me. Who would know better than where a human would hide an egg than a human? I had discovered that not all humans were cruel to Pokémon, Nurse Joy had shown me that. Maybe I could find a human who would have an idea? How I would find one, I was still to figure that out. For the time though, Glacier came first.

Finally, we reached the room Glacier was in. Outside the door, the pair of Pokémon helping me walk asked if I would like them to wait outside. I figured that would be a good idea; we needed a bit of private time. I took a deep breath and stepped in.

Glacier was lying on the bed facing the window. I didn't have a window in my room, but a burnt leg isn't as bad as an electrocution from twenty odd Pikachu. He didn't have nearly as many tubes in him, just two tubes and a wire connected to a single, beeping computer.

"Hi honey," I said softly, hiding my stump of a tail from him.

He turned his head to face me and smiled. He raised his wings to me and I staggered over, fighting back tears. I could see he was too. We embraced each other in that little white room and just hugged and cried, eyes tightly closed from the stinging tears, for a solid five minutes.

When the tears slowed, and my legs started to cramp, I opened my eyes and stood up, walking over to grab a chair.

"Oh my god. Snowfall, what happened to your tail?"

I knew it was coming, that's why I got the chair, just to break the suspense. I picked the chair up and carried it to the bedside, then sat down. I took another deep breath and told him the same story of Inferno I had told to Shocker, how we got to meet her again, then a brief retelling of the battle. As expected, I started sobbing once more when I got to the part about my tail.

Glacier put his wing around me and patted me on the back.

"Why didn't you tell me about this Moltres before?" he asked.

"It didn't seem necessary. I didn't think I'd ever see her again. I mean, she lives in fire, we live in snow. I never thought we'd ever see temperatures above zero, let alone somewhere in the thousands."

"It's okay, it's okay. I guess you'll be going to find our egg now? I'm not going to be out for another two weeks, that's three weeks in total we've lost for finding it."

"I know, but what if I find it after you get out, or if you find it? How will we tell each other? I'm staying here."

"Are you sure?"

"I can lay another egg, I can't get another Glacier."

He reached his wings for me and gave me another hug. I had to break it to tell him my plan.

"So, let me get this straight," he said when I had finished, "you want to go to a human, repeat, human, for help."

"Yes. Well look what all the nurses in the Pokécentre did for you!"

"Humans put me here, and stole our egg." This was going to take some convincing.

"When I first came to this town, looking for you, I saw a big building with a huge window on top. Inside were humans battling their Pokémon. If I sit up the top and look down, I can see how different Pokémon respond to their humans and vice versa. When they come out, I'll go to the one who likes their Pokémon best for help."

He folded his wings and gave me an odd look.

"Please?" I begged, wings clasped.

"Oh, okay, but if you end up in here again because of it, no more humans."

I jumped up and hugged him again. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou!"

I let him go and walked to the door. "Oh, I forgot to ask. How are you feeling?"

"Better, but not great," he said.

"The Pikachu that shocked you said to tell you they all feel really guilty about it. I told them it wasn't their fault and that you know it wasn't."

"That's good. I know it wasn't their fault, they probably would have gotten something worse than me if they didn't knock me out cold, they've got such tiny bodies, I'm sure he could do bad stuff to them. Good job setting them all free, just like you!"

"Thanks. I'll visit you every day and tell you how my search is going for a good human. Bye honey, see you soon." I gave him a kiss and walked out smiling.

Ten | Twelve