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Juliana didn’t mean for this to happen… really! She’d just, you know, been traveling through the Terrarium. She’d left her room after the last meeting with Kieran, something she was still… honestly, somewhat scared about. She’d put Koraidon into his pokeball, mainly because he was whining very aggressively that she wasn’t nearby Arven. She knew he’d wanted a sandwich, but he’d have to just wait a bit. And yet now… now she was laying on the ground of the canyon biome. Her ankle throbbed, her left leg was burning, and her back felt like it was completely on fire.
She’d slipped off one of the large rocks, and her rotom phone was hidden in one of her pockets, so it couldn’t come out to help her. Originally it was just her ankle, so she began limping towards the nearest rest stop. She could’ve easily managed to get there…
..if she hadn’t managed to get attacked by a group of scyther. They’d managed to hit her straight in the back, so now her back burnt, and a scyther cut into her left leg. She was stranded right next to a waterfall, her entire body in pain. She couldn’t move without her legs giving out, and she’d let out her Meowscarada moments ago. He wasn’t strong enough to carry her, or to bring help, so Juliana did the only thing she could do.
She called Drayton.
His relaxed voice filled her rotom phone, loud when compared to the silence of the wilderness around her.
“So, Julia, what do you need?”
“I’m stuck and injured.”
Drayton didn’t respond to that, instead sighing into his phone. “How?”
“Scyther attack, I can’t move.”
“Hold on, I’ll come to find you. Send me your location.” She did, clicking a few buttons. Drayton had quickly become a friend of hers, constantly running around to have fun and even going on cafeteria ‘dates’ during her school year.
Her thigh, upper-left, burnt like hell. The part directly below felt, well, numb. Without thinking, she pulled out a potion normally used for her pokemon. She sprayed it on, watching the inflamed cut do nothing. It lessened the sting, but there was no change in appearance.
Worth a shot.
So she pulled out some bandages she kept in her bag for this express issue, and wrapped them tightly around the cut. It was deep, really deep, and blood had spilt all over her pants. She even felt some blood from a cut on her back. She, of course, wasn’t able to reach it, and just left it.
Oh well.
She’d left the majority of her team in her boxes, fully intending to catch new team-mates here. She hadn’t caught anyone, leaving her with just Meowscarada.
Meowscarada let out a small noise, butting his head on her arm. He cuddled closer to her, a pitiful attempt to make her feel better. She’d seen him do this to the younger pokemon in her party as well, a sign of trust and acceptance.
Juliana smiled at her starter, even though his paw got too close to the cut. She inhaled sharply, turning her head away. Meowscarada, noting that something was clearly wrong, pulled away, instead opting to lay his head on her lap.
Juliana looked around. A couple wild pokemon watched from the sidelines, not daring to come close to her. Then the majority of them seemed to spook, running off.
She heard a yell, actually, an argument, from just a little ways away. Drayton must’ve brought Carmine with him. That thought dissipated when she noted who was with him. Kieran.
The boy looked just as shocked to see her as she was to see him.
“Juliana! Sorry bout Kieran, he was with me when you called. You okay there?”
She just shook her head. They definitely saw the blood that soaked her pants. She was holding tightly on the bandages, hoping to staunch the bleeding. Sadly, it did nothing. The cut was too deep, she’d need stitches.
“Oh yeah that’s… deep. Cmon! Up ya go. I could probably carry you by myself, cause when my Achaludon was a Duraludon, I carried ‘em everywhere.” Drayton talked slowly, holding his arms out to her, even as he slipped up with the comment on the cut.
Kieran barely looked at her, even when she was scooped up into Drayton’s arms. Juliana wouldn’t say she was light, but she wasn’t too heavy. Still, it was odd to be picked up like this by Drayton. She heard a scoff though.
“Are we done here? I’ve got things to do.” Kieran looked at her with an odd weariness. He remembered last night.
She winced a bit, looking down at the ground. Drayton just smiled passive aggressively.
“Oh, yes, of course, great champion . You don’t need to stay at all–why did you bother to come anyways?”
“It’s my duty to watch after the students here as the champion.”
Juliana watched them both go back and forth. She didn’t speak at all, just watching. She was being carried bridal style by Drayton, who still managed to crack jokes at Kieran’s expense. Drayton was… laid back. Too laidback. Even though she could feel his hands tighten when Kieran got in a particularly cruel joke.
Kieran didn’t act like this before Ogerpon. Yet now the two seemed to argue like little kids. They fought like siblings, so angrily. They didn’t even stop when she spoke, only opting to get more aggressive. Something happened after she’d left yesterday, so she just… stopped.
Her back burnt even worse now, but they reached the rest stop. Without even thinking, she pulled out her phone and called a fast travel back to Paldea.
“I’m going to my dorm, and I’m not talking to either of you.” Her voice left no chance of arguments.
Even when Drayton raised an eyebrow at her hard limp, at the blood on her back. Even when Kieran looked at her with lifeless eyes. She just glared at the both of them and hopped into the taxi. She was going to sleep, end of the discussion. No matter how injured she was, she was getting home, sleeping in her bed, bothering Penny and Arven over texts, and then fighting Carmone. She would not come back and she’d come back to deal with their arguments.
Juliana hated when they started this. Kieran always had an issue with Drayton’s behavior, and Drayton loved to rial Kieran up. So, Juliana decided to take a logical response.
Force them both to shut up for a weekend.
(If she could, she’d opt out of even coming back when they argued. She hated it. Reminded her too much of the past.)
And she hopped onto the taxi, glaring at the two as her legs burnt and she felt like crap. It was fine! Totally fine! She’d, just, you know, sleep off the heavy injuries from the scyther attack. And maybe disappear. Perhaps they’d both learn to shut up when she had someone else to talk to.
(Kieran totally didn’t watch her as she left. Drayton totally didn’t notice, nor feel any sort of jealousy at the fact she looked at Kieran before she left, and not him.)