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Penny snuggles up against Nemona, who in return pulls her closer. Surprisingly, even with her excitable behavior, Nemona is a good cuddler once you lock her down somewhere. Firm enough hugs but never enough to squeeze, good little whispers to say, and while it was a weird observation for Penny to make in her own opinion, she even smelt good. All this made for a perfect partner… well… if you were fine with a little bit of plastic and cloth on one arm.
Penny never really wanted to ask about it, figuring it was personal or something, but if she's ever going to have as long of a relationship with this woman as she wanted, something personal to one side should be personal to the other. Getting herself into a comfortable position, Penny speaks up.
"Hey, Nemo?"
"Mmm, ¿sí cariño?" Nemona shifts a bit.
"Well… it's about your… brace."
"Oh? Do I need to-"
"No, no, it's fine right where it is… just… why do you need the brace anyway?" Penny asks, and Nemona noticeably buries herself into Penny more.
"... well…"
~
Nemona ran across the fields. So much to do, so much to see! She only started her treasure hunt about 2, 3 days ago? But she's been blitzing through every obstacle! Just now, she was running over to Porto Marinada just to see what's there.
"Okay! So apparently they have daily auctions there! I wonder what-woah woah, ¿qué hay ahí arriba?" Nemona glances up at the cave she's passing, noticing something glowing at the top of some flat platforms. While most treasure hunters would look at how high it is and decide against investigating, Nemona was no ordinary hunter. If there was something that caught her eye, she needed to see exactly what it was, what it does, and if it can help her in battles. So, she started climbing. Up the shortest one, and after a quick glance, up the next one she can reach. While admittedly in a region where bike-like Pokémon do all the running, jumping, and acrobatics for you, Nemona liked to keep herself fit. Sure she could use a Cyclizar to climb up these steps, but what's the harm in a little climb?
After a good bit of jumping from rock to rock, she finally found what was making the glow. A yellow Poké Ball!
"Oh great! A Technical Machine! It's gotta be a good one to be up here! Maybe it's Stone Edge? Stealth Rock? Earthquake? Oh I can't-"
As she reached down to grab the ball, there was a thud directly in front of her, and things seemed to get brighter. Slowly looking up, she saw a very… weird sight. It was a Garchomp… but why was it wearing a silly hat? And why was it all glossy? And… wait. It's a Garchomp.
"Gah!" Nemona backed away, but stopped after almost losing her footing. Glancing down, it was a real long drop, but looking at the Garchomp, it was either fight or flight.
Most treasure hunters would know what the right thing to do at this moment is; to grab onto your Rotom Phone and jump off the cliff, since the Rotom Phone will slow your momentum at just the right time.
Nemona wasn’t most treasure hunters.
"Alright, big guy. You think I'm scared of you and your blue hat? Well, I just so happened to be prepared for Dragon Ground creatures like you!" Nemona took her Poké Ball and sent out her Pawmot. "Pawmot! Ice Punch it hard!"
The Pawmot charged its fist with ice, quickly lunging at the landshark. When Pawmot's punch landed against the dragon, ice shards flew everywhere! A critical hit!
…but Garchomp didn't even budge.
With a snarl and a quick strike, Pawmot is sent flying.
"Huh!? Pawmot!" Nemona watched her electric Pokémon soar through the air, rapidly attempting to hit it with its Poké Balls return beam, but in doing so she didn't even notice the Garchomp approaching her.
Garchomps were notably ferocious. If they were to catch unsuspecting prey, then they could do an unspeakable amount of things to secure them as food. Drag them to the skies, bury them in the ground, simply slice them to parts… but this Garchomp wasn't very hungry at the moment, more just mad that someone dared step on its home. It kicked Nemona off the rock.
"Waah!" Nemona cried, now flailing to get her Pokémon back into the ball. She actually did recall it, but now she had to save herself as well. Luckily, the Rotom Phone could automatically detect when its owner was falling, so it jumped out and floated in front of Nemona. In a desperate attempt, she reached out to grab the phone.
One hand on one side! Now the other-
… had a ball in it.
The ground was right below them. The Rotom could not hold off any longer, so before Nemona could react, it forcefully stopped itself, making an extremely unpleasant sound come from Nemona's arm. She quickly dropped to the ground, lying her arm on the ground.
"...Rotototo…?" The phone floated around Nemona, checking if its owner was alright, as any call for help either required the trainer to start it, or for them to be unconscious. Nemona breathed shakily.
"...Hhhuh… my… haah… mmMY ARM!" Nemona screamed violently in pain, causing the Rotom within the phone to panic, ignoring its programming and just sending out the distress call anyway.
"S-O-S! Trainer Nemona is injured! Contacting Naranja Academy! S-O-S!" The Rotom repeated while Nemona was violently thrashing in pain.
---
Sitting on the bed, Nemona looked at the arm brace locked onto her hand.
"I'm really sorry, Nemona." Miriam spoke. "Pokémon attacks on trainers are rare, but they happen."
"I know, I've heard the tales." Nemona sighed. "I just… never thought it would happen to me."
"If it makes you feel better, you're lucky to have come out in such… relatively good shape. Most who come out of a Garchomp attack have deep cuts across their body, and I've even heard of someone losing an entire limb from one." Miriam put a hand on Nemona's shoulder. She inspected her brace.
"... What should I expect out of this brace?" Nemona muttered.
"Of course. Your arm is going to not be sore after about… maybe a month? But your arm is going to be a lot less functional. You can hold flatter things like a hand or a phone, and maybe after a few months you can hold heavier things, but things like Poké Balls are going to be harder to handle."
Nemona tried clenching her hand into a fist. Sure enough, it was very uncomfortable. Sighing, she stood up and went to the door.
"I suggest you spend a couple weeks resting. By then it shouldn't hurt too bad to use that hand." Miriam called out to Nemona. She stopped in the doorway for a moment, before turning back to look at Miriam, a smile plastered on her face.
"I'll do just that! If anyone thinks this little strain will put me down, though, then they've clearly never met me!" She mustered as much enthusiasm as she could as she ran to her dorm room, trying her hardest to not let the anguish of the thought of her arms restrictions.
~
"... So yeah. That's why it was so heavily recommended at a point in time to get a new phone. The new ones are designed to be more autonomous and fast when it comes to safety. My parents went crazy about it." Nemona gave a dry chuckle.
"...Is that so?" Penny says with a cold voice. "A Water Tera Garchomp on the route to Porto Marinada caused it?"
"Um, yeah? Why- Oh?" Penny stands up and rouses her Leafeon. "Hey, Penny, what are you doing?"
Calling the Leafeon in its ball, she glances back with a fire in her eyes.
" Dragon hunting. " Penny ran out.
"Huh? Wait- Penny!" Nemona jumped out of bed. Scrambling to put on a jacket, she followed her as best she could. For being a shut-in, Penny's a really good runner.
Once they make it out of the Academy building, Nemona starts yelling again. "Wait! You don't need to do this, Penny!"
"Yes, I do!" Penny answers back, not slowing down in the slightest.
"You really don't! I forgave the Garchomp! It was just protecting its home!" Nemona shouts, but the yelling mixed with the running made her quickly feel winded. She pulled out a Poké Ball. "¡Lycanroc, ayúdame a llegar hasta ella!"
Once thrown, the wolf bounds in front of Penny, stomping the ground causing rock pillars to form behind it. The wall does make Penny stop, letting Nemona catch up.
"...Why do you want to stop me?" Penny lashes out. "Do you want me to just sit there and know that the thing that hurt my-my girlfriend, my TREASURE, is still out there!?" Penny ran over to Nemona and grabbed her braced arm. "It did this to you! It scarred you! And not just like a minor cut or bruise, it permanently strained your hand!" Her glasses were growing hazy. Nemona brings her braced hand up to Penny's cheek.
"It may have… but that's okay. Because I'm okay. This brace doesn't change a thing about me. I'm still your Nemona, brace or not." Nemona leans in and gives Penny a quick kiss on the lips. "So just forget about that Garchomp, okay?"
Penny stares at Nemona for a moment, before latching onto Nemona. "I'm sorry… I just got… a little protective."
"I understand. I'd probably do the same in your situation." Nemona mutters.
"You wouldn't need to. I'd have come back at a future point and end that beast out of spite. You were nice enough to forgive it, but I'm not."
"Come now, Pen! You were nice enough to forgive your bullies, what would be different with a Pokémon?"
"My bullies didn't try to kill me." Penny answers, but shivers from a notably cold wind. "Eesh, um, maybe we should continue this talk back at my dorm?"
"Good thinking." Nemona chuckles, and releases Penny from a hug to just a hand hold. "Come, Lycanroc!"
The rock wolf howled, and followed its trainer. However, from a nearby cave entrance, a Garchomp watched the two trainers. It was tempted to hunt them, but thought better of it, and retreated back to its home.