Chapter Text
Two days passed in Andy’s house. Bear and Merlin sat together and talked about the situation as it was.
“She hasn’t eaten in two days,” Bear stated worriedly.
“She has been through something awful,” Merlin reminded him. “She’ll eat again, I’m sure Andy can coerce her into eating.”
“Talking about him,” Bear began with a sigh, “both he and Benny are miserable too.”
“Yes, they feel responsible. They think they should have been able to prevent it. Benny feels he should have won against the Alakazam, so he wouldn’t have claimed Kim as his prize. And he feels he should have tried harder to save her from him. And Andy feels the same way, he thinks he should have done better and tried harder.”
“He could hardly stand!” Bear exclaimed. “For a human he took quite some hits. They both need a good pound on the head to get some sense in there if you ask me!”
Merlin looked at Bear and shook his head. “Not everything can be solved with violence.”
“Right, Featherball, like any of the talking you did with Benny has helped. Or the talks Matt and Edmund had with Andy.”
Merlin didn’t comment on that, Musclebrain had a point, as much as it pained him to admit that. It was like talking to closed doors with those two.
“If only we had arrived sooner! I would have beaten the shit out of that spoon-obsessed psycho.”
“You wouldn’t have lasted two second with his type-advantage,” Merlin sighed, “but I too wish we would have been there sooner.” He looked up when he heard footsteps approach and he saw Andy walk from the kitchen towards the living room with a bowl in his hand. He looked at Bear and they both followed Andy into the living room. They noticed Benny was there too, sitting on the windowsill.
Andy carefully crouched down near the blanket where Kim lay on top, moving like this still hurt and would hurt for a few more weeks. At least. “Here, Princess, I made you a milkshake with Moomoo milk and Sitrus berries.”
Kim turned her head away.
“Please, Kim, you have to eat.”
Kim let out a weak sound and shook her head.
“I know you went through a terrible thing, but not eating is not going to undo it.”
The Furret still didn’t look at the bowl.
“Are you mad at me?” Andy asked with a soft voice. It was the first time in two days he voiced that concern.
Now Kim looked at him again.
“I did my best to protect you, but I couldn’t.” Andy looked at his Furret with a sad look in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I promised to keep you safe, but I couldn’t. When you needed me most, I failed you. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Furret,” Kim whispered.
“I wish I knew what that meant,” Andy whispered as he sat down next to her. “Are you mad at me?”
Kim shook her head and weakly got up from the blanket. She took two feeble steps forward and sat in his lap. As she rested her head against his chest, she started a lengthy explanation that she wasn’t mad, that she saw how hard he tried to get to her and that she was grateful for the attempt, but also how awful it had been and how she wanted to forget it, but couldn’t, and how she felt responsible for him getting hurt, because she was too weak to fight off the Alakazam for herself. Andy couldn’t understand a word of it, but he was glad she moved again and she wanted to be touched by him again.
“I’m sorry too,” Benny said as he flew up and landed near Kim. “If I had defeated the Alakazam... if I had tried harder...”
“You did your best,” Kim whispered. “I was too weak, you two got hurt trying to rescue me.”
“Please eat,” Andy said and Kim looked up at him. She saw the mixture of worry and sadness in his eyes. “I don’t want to lose you, Princess. We all need you.” He attempted a smile, but he only partly succeeded with that. “What would four guys in one house do if there isn’t a girl there to keep them in check? Who else can make me read the boring reports I have to read for my work?” He closer his arms around her more tightly. “Please, Kim, I know it was awful what you had to experience, but I don’t want to lose you. You have to eat. I made the best Pokémon milkshake I can, just for you.
“Why do you want a weak Pokémon like me?” Kim asked, but all Andy heard was “Fur, furret, furret, fur?”
“Because he doesn’t measure us to just our strength,” Benny replied softly. “He cares about you.”
“We all do!” Bear interjected.
“They are correct,” Merlin stated. “Don’t you see he cares about you? How we care about you? Eventually the pain will fade, it will become a distant memory. Maybe you don’t feel it now, but you will be able to smile again. Trust me. Trust us. Trust Andy.”
“Yeah! Listen to Featherball!” Bear interjected again.
“I swear, if you will call me that one more time... Musclebrain”
“Musclebrain?! Why don’t you come over here and...”
Kim couldn’t help herself, a soft giggle escaped her throat. To see them argue like that, it was so... normal. Despite what happened, everything was the same. She looked up at Andy again, she saw there was hope in his eyes now. She looked over to the bowl, his milkshakes were usually good and this time she was certain it would give her body strength too. She wobbled over to it, sat down and began to drink from it.
Andy let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t know what you guys said to her,” he said to his three Pokémon, “but thank you. Thank you so much.”
Benny flew up to give Andy a comforting hug. “It will be all right,” he said to Andy, even if Andy only heard a comforting “Freee!”
It took some time before Kim was truly herself again, but she came out of her shell a little more every day. A turning point had arrived and that helped all of them. Because Kim was doing better again, both Andy and Benny came to a point in which they were able to forgive themselves too.
The trainer and his Alakazam were brought to justice, it seemed Kim wasn’t the only victim and they got the punishment they deserved.