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Yui's breath puffs into the air. She can do this. She can manage.
The cave she's in seems to go on forever, stretching out in the darkness to either side, in front of her, and behind. She's been in here too long for keeping track of time in units shorter than 'an age', and it feels like it's been an eternity. A rock slips loose on the wall and she jumps backwards, hand flying to the Poké Ball on her belt, gulping down panic. She doesn't know how many battles she can get through with her Pokémon in the state they are. Hours spent lost in the tunnels just means she must be nearing the end. She has to be, or she's done for.
She'd say to herself 'I'm going to die down here' but she doesn't want to attract anything, though her voice isn't attractive, really. It's okay at best. Shaking her head, she swallows down tears. Now is not the time.
Something scuttles behind her and this time she gets her Poké Ball into her hand before she realises it's not a Pokémon.
Calm down, she tells herself. She has to calm down or she's going to die down here. Other trainers will find her bones and that would be the worst, so she can't. She swallows and blinks away tears, gripping her bag tighter and letting her fingers linger over her Poké Balls. "You can't," she whispers as quietly as she can manage, chancing the retribution of a hundred thousand Zubats.
"You can't?" asks a voice like an echo, but it's prettier and softer than Yui's voice, so she doesn't think it can be a real echo.
She hears a mumble and throws her arm up over her eyes as the cave lights up.
"Sorry!" Yui says, though she's not entirely sure why she should be sorry, and gently lowers her arm, squinting into the darkness. The light casts her company into sharp relief, Yui nearly tears up at the sight of a woman about her own age, her black hair pulled into a ponytail. "You're a nurse?" she blurts out. There's no other reason for someone to wear that uniform, but it seems too good to be true that she would find someone in the dark who can heal her Pokémon.
The nurse - thank goodness she's a nurse - nods. "Do you need healing?" she asks. Now she's less disoriented, Yui can see that the light comes from a Skitty held in the nurse's arms, illuminating the cave around the two of them. The way the light casts shadows over their faces is slightly unnerving. It looks like the nurse is haunted– but she couldn't be, could she? Yui hasn't encountered any ghost Pokémon, just an awful lot of Zubats.
"Yes," Yui says, hoping she doesn't sound as desperate as she feels. "I do, um, quite a lot, actually. Can you...?" Yui doesn't think the nurse can refuse, but she doesn't want to chance coming off as rude for assuming. Her poor Pokémon need this.
The nurse beckons and it takes Yui a moment to realise that she's asking for her Poké Balls. Yui hesitates as she unclips them from her belt. "You don't want to battle?" She doesn't think she does, but sometimes it's hard to read people after she's been in a cave for hours.
The nurse offers a tiny smile, and takes the first Poké Ball from Yui's hand. "I don't think it would be fair. Perhaps another time." Her voice is soft and delicate and she's careful to keep her fingers only to the Poké Ball as she picks it up, but Yui's sure they would be much the same. The nurse's Skitty climbs up onto her shoulder and then further, onto the top of her head. Yui swallows a slightly hysterical laugh at the sight as the nurse releases her Mawile, which splays onto the ground, second mouth gaping wide. The nurse slips something that might be a revival herb into Mawile's mouth and holds it closed. She massages her throat to make sure she swallows then whips her hand back as the herb takes effect and Mawile's second mouth snaps around the space where it was.
Some day soon Yui would like to learn how to heal Pokémon properly. She's never had the knack for it, and even using potions never seems to be as effective as it should be, much less the more fiddly items. Besides, she's too brash and impulsive, so taking time and care to make sure she's doing it right scares her. Having that kind of responsibility over making Pokémon healthy again is frightening, but when the alternative is relying on kind strangers passing by to heal her team, she thinks she can work up the nerve to learn. Even if it's only a matter of helping them get to the next Pokémon centre a little easier.
Yui hands over her next Pokémon and pulls her newly healed Mawile close into a hug. She squirms but Yui's too relieved to let her return to her Poké Ball just yet. She waits, patiently, for the nurse to finish restoring the rest of her Pokémon to good condition.
Once the nurse finishes, Yui sighs in relief. "Thank you," she says as the nurse passes back her last Pokémon. "Thank you, so much. I don't know what I'd have-" she breaks off in a swallow. She told herself she wasn't going to do this, and she won't, she really won't cry.
The nurse tucks some stray hairs behind her ear. She doesn't seem to mind having to heal Yui's Pokémon. "Do you have any others?" she asks, quietly as ever.
"No, that's all of them," Yui replies, once she's sure her voice won't quiver. "Oh! But," she pulls out her PokéNav, and offers the nurse the screen to register friends. "Please, you can put your details in, just so that I can pay you back some day? That is if you want! I mean, you've been so nice and I'd like to." She's practically begging and she can tell her face has gotten hot, but it would be awful to leave without offering and it probably doesn't show too much in the dim light.
Yui can't be sure, but she thinks the nurse's smile grows, if only a little, as she nods and taps her details in. They part ways with a wave. Yui makes it out of the cave unscathed, though her heart hammers in her ears for every step she takes until she's out in fresh air once again.
*
Yui takes a week to wrestle up the courage to look at the contact the nurse typed in. It takes her releasing her Pokémon around her for comfort (Mawile in her lap, Linoone draped over her shoulders and Murkrow and Chinchou either side) for her to manage it, and even then she can't force herself to actually reach out just yet. But she does take note of the nurse's name: Shimizu Kiyoko.
Yui groans, flopping backwards, and causes her linoone to chirp and scramble away.
Her name is as pretty as she is! How Yui is supposed to handle contacting someone like that, she has no idea. Just her profile is intimidating enough that she can barely look at it, and she said she'd pay her back, even though she can't think of what she could offer someone like that. It has got to be impossible. A true impossibility.
She's let her secret base get away from her and in an attempt not to brood, she throws herself into tidying it, placing all the things that have strayed during her inhabitation back into their rightful spots. Her Pokémon help as they do (mostly by getting underfoot), but she doesn't return them to their Poké Balls. Murkrow, at least, is a little helpful, and seems to enjoy sorting her evolution stones into their different colours. Mawile is less so, and refuses all hints that maybe the broom is a little small for Yui and could be better used by someone two feet tall with very pretty teeth.
All through her busywork, Yui's eyes drift back to her PokéNav, thinking about the nice nurse who didn't even demand a battle before taking care of her Pokémon, and how she could have. It would have been well within her rights to request one when they were both out in the middle of nowhere, and Yui was too busy squinting into the dark to avoid making eye contact. But she hadn't. She was quiet and sweet and nice.
"She probably thinks I'm a fool, letting all of you get so hurt," Yui muses to Chinchou. "I should have found somewhere to teach you flash before going in, and stocked up on potions." Yui blinks back tears at the memory of Mawile and Linoone unconscious and her other Pokémon on their way there as well. "I'll do better," she says to convince herself, because while her Pokémon look like they understand, she can't be sure that they do. She gives them the benefit of the doubt anyway, placing a kiss on the top of Chinchou's head and slapping her own cheeks to kick herself into action on the rest of her base. It will be spotless.
*
When she does manage to screw her courage to the sticking place, she thinks Shimizu must have already forgotten her. She must see hundreds of trainers as she works. But Yui is nothing if not stubborn, so she calls her, hoping that her cheeks aren't still red from where she had slapped them.
"Shimizu-san!" Yui exclaims as the call connects, bringing the face of the woman into view.
Her eyes are bright and lively and her hair is dark and beautiful, out around her shoulders this time, and she's somewhere well lit. There might be music from a Pokémon centre in the background but it's hard to make out. Yui notes a beauty mark that she couldn't see in the dark just to the side of Shimizu's mouth, which somehow feels intimate even though everyone who sees Shimizu in the daylight must be able to take note of it. "You're the trainer from the cave," Shimizu says. Her voice is louder through Yui's speakers, but no less lovely.
Yui's heart thuds. She hopes it's not audible over the call, as she realises she never gave Shimizu her own name. "Y-yes! That's me, um, I'm Michimiya Yui." She hopes she doesn't sound as frightened as she feels. Her voice is steady, but there could be something she's missing as she hears it, or some mysterious technological add-on that Shimizu has to tell her how frantic Yui feels.
They let silence descend for long seconds before Yui begins to say "Thank you!" right as Shimizu says "What were-" and they both swallow down their words again.
Yui finds her scattered words again first, but only because Mawile closes her teeth around Yui's leg, a habit she has for when she thinks Yui must be being silly about something. Yui knows that she will put those teeth to use if Yui doesn't stop being silly. "Thank you, again. I haven't forgotten about doing that properly and I was thinking, if you weren't busy, - or, that is, if you weren't too busy, because I'm sure you are busy! - if you were ever in the area, I'm around route 120 most of the time and there's this really lovely thing I can show you to thank you." Yui remembers to take a breath. "But only if it isn't a bother."
Her hands are shaking so hard she thinks Shimizu won't be able to see her face. She's definitely having a hard time making out Shimizu's on the tiny screen.
But maybe she's worrying for nothing, because Kiyoko sounds happy as she replies "I would love to, Yui-chan. I can meet you tonight?"
Yui swallows and forces her hands to steady as she nods and agrees, not realising until later how little time that leaves her to prepare. She confirms a few final details before Kiyoko disconnects the call with a tiny finger wave and a smile that makes Yui's heart squeeze.
*
The screen of Yui's PokéNav proclaims the time to be one minute to eight, and she wonders whether she should have been more specific in their arrangements, because as Shimizu arrives, she realises that there has never been another trainer quite as scruffy as she is, or as pretty as Shimizu is. She's off the clock and out for a (hopefully) pleasant evening, so Yui knows it makes sense that she isn't wearing her uniform, but the pleated skirt on her dress and long sleeves of her shirt somehow manage to make her look more radiant than Yui imagined - and she'd been imagining a lot. In her shorts and sneakers, Yui doesn't match up.
She smiles anyway and raises a hand. Shimizu does the same. They seem to be waving at each other a lot.
"I hope you didn't have to come out of your way?" Yui asks. The cave where they met isn't close, and Yui would hate to have dragged Shimizu away from somewhere. The point of this is to say thank you for her previous inconvenience, not create more.
Shimizu shakes her head, covering her mouth with a hand but Yui can tell she's smiling behind it. "Skarmory needs to stretch his wings more often, I was happy to come."
Sighing in relief, Yui attempts to relax. "You look really nice, Shimizu-san," she says, because she does. She asked her here to show her something nice, but she's not certain she can live up to the kind of lovely things Shimizu must be used to.
She catches a flicker of hesitation from Shimizu but she's still smiling her tiny smile, so Yui doesn't let it worry her. Especially not when Shimizu then says "Please, call me Kiyoko."
Yui probably looks silly with how much she lights up at that, but she can't help it. "Right, Kiyoko." She even manages to say her name without stammering.
The night is crisp and clear as the sun dips down below the horizon, which is perfect. Yui has had an eye on the sky all day, glaring at every cloud that dared to pass across it. Her cheeks tell her she's gained a small sunburn for her troubles, but since the sky has decided to behave under her stern watch, she thinks it was worth it.
She and Kiyoko talk about this and that. Yui possibly asks too many questions about being a nurse, but Kiyoko answers happily and offers questions of her own. They each pull out their Pokémon for 'it's nice to meet you' scratches and rubs. Kiyoko's Ninetails sneezes from a flower nearby and Yui angles their walk over to what she wanted to show Kiyoko, starting slightly as Kiyoko links her fingers through Yui's. She catches a nervousness in Kiyoko's eyes, so with a blush she hopes is less than noticeable under her sunburn, Yui gives her hand a squeeze and pulls her into a run.
In the new darkness, the stars have grown bright and they're clear in the night sky. Yui is sure she can see every one of them twinkling up above.
"If you just..." Yui begins but quickly decides that she won't be able to explain like that, instead taking her hand back and adjusting Kiyoko's position to the centre of the bridge, settling behind her with her hands on her hips and Kiyoko's Ninetails leaning against their legs keeping them nicely warm in the evening chill. "Okay! Now, look down."
Kiyoko does, though Yui can tell she's bemused. Yui waits for some reaction, hoping this wasn't as silly an idea as she thought. The stars reflected in the pond seem even closer than looking up at the sky. Yui tries not to stiffen behind Kiyoko, in case she picks up on how nervous she is, though that must be obvious by now. Kiyoko's face reflects in the water as well, and she's at least as beautiful as the stars as her expression softens into one of kind surprise.
"So beautiful," Kiyoko says in a soft breath, eyes fixed on the water.
They stay there, taking note of each star for what feels like hours but can only have been minutes, the occasional thin cloud obscuring a handful but passing over quickly enough.
Kiyoko is the one to break the silence, and Yui is grateful, because she's not sure she could have done it herself. "Thank you," she says, and Yui really believes her.
With the spell broken, Yui knows she should find their closeness awkward, but somehow it's not, and Kiyoko turning so she's facing Yui and tilting her head up to bring their lips together is the most natural thing in the world.