#Hey we've got a patient here who needs tranqs

[kettouryuujin]

Fallen Fire Chapter 1: Wake-Up Slap

Bad news: Sudden Developments have pushed Chapter 2 out a bit. Good news: I feel much more comfortable sharing Chapter 1 now (especially seeing as I got 2 near-instant reblogs).

Chappie is under the break. Enjoy!

[Also, if you have a better name than "Fallen Fire" for a light-hearted story, let me know! This one gets a bit serious, but the tone shouldn't carry through the story as a whole.]

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Rrrraaahh…canine… what happened? 

Palina groaned, eyes fluttering. The last thing she remembered was trying to help the young Sir practice swimming, when suddenly…

…she wasn’t sure. There were flashes of wet and pain but no actual memories.

Of course, this was no help in working out why she was in a bed. A…rather comfortable one, too. 

Nor did it explain that strange sound in the background. It was like… “b e e p”? Beep. Yeah, that sounded right. A constant string of “beep” noises in the background.

Well, hopefully opening her eyes would get her some answers. Slowly but surely she dragged her eyelids open, despite them feeling almost sewn to each other…

Blink. Blinkblink. Blinkblinkblink.

What was this place? The walls were solid and a pale tan, but seemed far sturdier than anything she knew of. There was a strange black box attached to one wall, almost floating there. A startingly plush chair was in one corner, a small hallway with what seemed to be a washbasin in the other. Her bed had what could only be called “raised metal tubes” on either side (wouldn’t that make getting out hard?), a table set to her right. It had a small folded piece of glossy paper and two strange, rectangular objects. Both had protruding elements, but one had more than the other.

She would’ve picked one up to investigate if she hadn’t seen the thin ropes leading off her body. They were smoother than any rope she’d felt before, though, and were stuck to circles on her chest. The other end was hooked up to a white box, the black part showing a green line that spiked and crested up and down (and was apparently the source of the beeping). To its left was some sort of clear pouch, filled with fluid that was trickling through a clear tube, into her-

Wait why was that thing leading into her left arm that was wrong that was wrong that was wrong! She tried to pull the limb up to take a look, but it was held down by strange black straps. Her other arm wasn’t, however, so she reached over to pull the tube out - no luck. Something was holding it down, a white strip placed over the entry point. Letting out a snarl of frustration, Palina went to tear the tube apart with her claws-

Claws?!?

Jerking back to take a closer look, it was undeniable that yes. She had claws. On what was very much not her hand. As she turned it back and forth, her widening eyes took in the strange mixture of Arcanine paw and human hand.

Wait, the fur was on her arm too! She couldn’t see where it stopped, either. Sticking her (too-long!?) face under her tunic (which felt different, come to think of it), the Warden couldn’t help but yelp in shock.

The fur was practically everywhere, only absent in the few bare spots where those circles were stuck to her. And the tubed arm was the same - coated outside of a bare spot centered on the tube. What in Hisui was happening!?

Her heart rate picked up, as did her breathing. The panicked Warden idly noticed that her breath was warmer now, heavier - and that the strange “beep”ing was staying in time with her heart. But her shock was kinda taking precedence over those realizations.

*Wham* “CA!!” What was that? Oh, why was Sinnoh doing this to he-

A Chansey had just entered the room. Not a normal Chansey, no - a Chansey with a humanoid shape, covered mostly with a white coat of some kind. WhattheDistortionwhattheDistortionwhatthe…

“Ma’am, please, calm down…” Oh, how Palina wished she could calm down. Panic was never fun.

She was looking at a more-humanoid-than-normal Chansey. In an unfamiliar room. And was herself apparently part-Arcanine. The word “calm” had been erased from her mental dictionary (for the time being).

Quite frankly, almost every word but “what”, “the”, and “Distortion” was inaccessible. It was all too much for the poor Arcanine… she felt like she’d faint any second now. Maybe wake up to something reasonable. Yeah. That’d be nice.

“Paging Dr. Grey, room 501. Dr. Grey, room 501.” Paging? There weren’t any pages around here! A hysterical laugh slipped her maw - of course! She’d hit her head in the storm and was going mad… of course! Explains why that weird pink-and-tan thing in a white coat is coming in and pricking her with something…

Ooooh, that feels nice. And hehe, Poképeople… wow she felt tired all of a sudden. Ni’night.

—-

When Palina came to, the soothing scent of Aromatherapy filled the air, enhancing this strange…calmness, she felt. A calmness that prevented her from panicking at seeing the same two human-like Pokémon as before. Even though she really should be because nothing had changed.

“Are you feeling alright, ma’am?” That…that was the pink-and-tan one who’d poked her and made her all sleepy. The Chansey had…apparently left. Oh-kay then.

“Y-yeah…sorta… just…weirded out by all…this.” The furred woman went to motion to the entire room, but found that both arms were held down by straps now. “Uh…”

“Apologies… you were becoming quite hysterical. We had to secure you for your own safety.

Now that you’re awake, though, I can take the IV out if you’d like?”

“What’s an IV?”

The bizarre Poke-person blinked. “You…don’t know what an IV is?” He motioned to the bag and pipe that was leading into her arm. It was a miracle from Sinnoh that Palina stayed calm enough to nod, despite being reminded that the other end of that pipe led into her arm. “It’s short for Intravenous. Basically, it’s a way to deliver medication, or in your case nutrients, into your bloodstream.”

The only thing Palina got from that was “blood”. It was still enough. “So…you put this thing in me to help or something?” Given how he was worried about self-injury earlier, she felt safe assuming he was trying to help.

“Yes? It’s the whole reason you’re at the hospital, after all.”

“Hospital?” Look left, right, and left again. “This… doesn’t look like any hospital I’ve seen. There’d be more beds, for one…”

The ‘mon-man had a pensive look on his face. “...Tell you what. While I take the IV out, why don’t you tell me what you remember last?”

He slid around to the side, Palina closing her eyes to concentrate on those fleeting moments. “I know I was helping the young Sir learn how to swim when a storm kicked up, but… everything else is a blur of wet and pain.”

“I…see.” A hrm as she felt something slide out of her arm - that tube from earlier. “...Tell me. Were you always a uniquely-colored Arcanine?”

“No? I’m human.” The tube yanked against her skin ever-so-briefly, eliciting a small “yipe!”. Thankfully, it slid out the rest of the way without incident. “...And…what year, was it?”

“1868.” That was a far, far easier task than trying to remember what had happened. Did he want to check for head trauma or something?

A sharp breath as worry drifted by her nose. Eyes opened, looking at the tense man as he finished covering up the tube hole in her arm. “Ma’am…

I’m afraid this is the year 2022.”

…what.

—-

The false calmness was already fading, but Palina did her best to hold her panic back as she listened to this…Audino? Who was apparently a doctor? Either way, the lack of panic didn’t mean there was no need for clarification. “Faller?”

The doctor nodded. “Yes. It’s the term for someone who comes from another time, world, or both.” Well. That…kinda validates both clans? Sorta? She wanted to keep her mind busy. “In your case, we suspect it’s both, as you say you were originally human. Around here, humans are things of myth and legend for the most part.” Oh, wow. That…was kinda cool.

Except for the whole “other time and space” part. Especially because there was so much still back home, like-

Sir Growlithe. Was he ok? She needed to know. That meant she needed a way to Hisui. “How do I get back? I-” Oh crap, they don’t know about Nobles and Wardens, do they? “-I have someone important back there.”

Why was he biting his lip? If this was a common enough thing to have a name surely it had a solution, right? “There’s… two problems with that.” Or maybe not. “The first is, we can’t pinpoint which world you’re from. Normally, that’d only set us back a few months, but…”

“But?” was bad. Palina didn’t want “buts”. Not when the young Sir was at risk.

“...From what you described, it’s highly likely you Fell here as a result of a…not-so-near-death experience.” Someone in a more joking mood could call the Warden an “Arcanine-sicle” after she heard that, as everything from her blood to her motions froze.

They would also be greatly disrespecting the incredibly serious matter at hand. “A-are you…are you saying…”

A sad sigh was not what the now-Arcanine lady wanted to hear. “Yes. I’m afraid you Fell here because you...” An uncomfortable pause. She knew what he was going to say, but she didn't want to hear it. Who would? Would anyone in their right want to hear that - 

"You were dead."