The Medicine shop and residence

[Yuri]

Okay, for those who don't know: Terra collapsed in the Sankaku grass lands and she was carried of by a boy to the hospital. She was taken care of by a family that were 'Pokemon Healers', basically people who owned a medicine shop and they took care of injured Pokemon. She then decided to live with them after spending some time there till about a month where she decides to go on a journey again. Reason behind this is because I wanted develop terra's character faster, and yeah.


So yeah, here are some drabbles that show the time skip and changes in Terra as we go along.

---


Everything was blurry for the first few seconds. It was like looking at a reflection of a dusty, broken mirror. Terra blinked her eyes numerous times and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to try to focus on her surroundings. And thank goodness, her vision came back to being normal. She still felt like her head was thumping hard. And she could still feel her body being really sore.


“Uhh.. “ she moaned looking around the plain white room that contained green curtains, a television, a sofa set, and a bed with matching green bed sheets draped over it that Terra was currently occupying.


Terra looked down and noticed the light blue dress-like thing she was wearing. She also noticed that one of legs and one of arms were covered with a cast and there was a Band-Aid stretched across her forehead. A hospital? Why was she in a hospital?... How did she end up in a hospital? She looked around, still confused with her new environment.


She paused as her door swung open and a pink-haired boy entered the room. He too paused in his footsteps as he noticed Terra. Both of them quietly stared at each other for a while, Terra wondered who he was and she wanted to ask what was she doing in a hospital, before she had a chance to however, the boy started first. “Mooo~m, she’s awake!” he yelled as loud as he could and ran outside to fetch his mother. Terra felt woozy again, like her head was feeling heavy and the headache that she was having suddenly increased because of the high pitched noise. With another moan, Terra fell into her pillows unconscious.


---


“Ann~d this is your room.” Said the middle-aged woman as she introduced the somewhat plain but spacious room. “The doctors said you should have a nice rest for about at least two weeks before you head off anywhere, your leg’s still sprained, you know.”


Terra felt her face flush. She felt like she was taking advantage of the nice family that showed her so much hospitality. When she had come back to conscious, the family explained her that a wild Pokémon must have attacked her and Zeke, the woman’s son had found her lying unconscious. She should really leave as soon as possible, she shouldn’t trouble them. “I – It’s really okay.. I can just go somewhere else.. I really don’t want to be a burden.. “


“It’s okay. You don’t need to be so worried, honey. We’re glad to have you! I always wanted a daughter of my own!” said the joyful woman with cotton candy-like hair similar to Zeke the boy she met earlier in the hospital. She had slant-y eyes that disappeared whenever she smiled, but you could tell her smile was genuine. She was such a nice person.


“Thank you for everything.. Miss Ara.”


“Now, now. No need to be formal! Just call me Ara, okay?” the woman said with a laugh.


“Okay.” Terra approved with a small smile. She felt happy that she met such nice people on her journey in Jenta. Speaking of nice people – She had completely forgotten to contact her grandmother all this time! She must talk with her soon. And, there was another thing she was forgetting that she just had to know.. Oh right! She looked down and observed her attire. A camel-colored cargo pants contrasted with a lavender-colored shirt. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail and she noticed that her black nail polish had faded away from her nails.


“Um.. What happened to my clothes and things?” she asked wondering where her clothes, accessories, and facial products went. Miss Ara had kept her Pokémon with her, that was the first thing Terra asked her when she gained her conscious ‘Are my Pokémon alright!?”. She said they were all safe and fine and were kept with her. Miss Ara went and straightened the crimson-colored bed sheets, not really paying much attention to Terra’s worried tone.


“Oh those. Well, the dark dress thing you were wearing was torn, covered with mud and blood so the hospital had thrown it away. Your other dresses, outfits and accessories and make up stuff were, uh.. stolen and eaten by Pokémon.. “ she said turning around and flashing her a sheepish smile.


Terra’s heart sank. Oh no. Not her dark attire.. What was she going to wear now!? These.. These normal vibrant colored clothes!? Won’t people notice her more like that… Her identity.. Her Terra-self.. Oh no. And since this was in a far away land, Terra doubted that this place sold gothic Lolita dresses.


Terra felt like she was going to be sick again.


---


“Ya know, Terra, you should really.. uh, express yourself, if ya don’t then people.. would step all over ya, know what I mean?” Zeke asked folding his arms behind his head as both him and Terra walked in the nearby woods.


One and a half week had now been passed, Terra started to walk. She really got used to the surroundings, the sick Pokémon that came in the house, the family, and even these normal vibrant colored clothes that normal people wear! She really liked it here, she was pretty close with everyone, especially Zeke. Zeke’s grandfather and grandmother were also very nice. His grandfather was a sweet old man who adored Terra while his grandmother was a bit.. Mean on the outside, she always yelled and lectured everyone but she really meant well on the inside. They were all such nice people.


Terra cocked her head to the side and a confused expression came into view. “I don’t.. Understand. How do I express myself?.. “


“Well, ya know, uhh..” the pink-haired boy scratched the back of his head thinking of a perfect example.


“Let’s say for instance.. this HUGE AND FAT person appears out of nowhere and steals all your Pokémon! And you obviously want yer Pokémon back, right?.. And uh, he doesn’t give them to you so you.. “ Zeke then grabbed a nearby stick and started swinging in mid air. “Then ya go like this, and that.. And yeah, you beat him up with a stick and get back yer Pokémon!” he said as he defeated the invisible evil fat person and flashed a peace sign as a victory pose.


“Here, you try.” He handed the stick to Terra who stared at blankly for a couple of seconds. “Well, okay..” she murmured, finally deciding that she would give it a try. She took a deep breath and with a thrust she swung the thin stick. Which sort of slapped Zeke on the face.

"Oww~ What the hell!?"


“-- Oh God!! Zeke! I’m so sorry!”


---


“I really, really like how you all work together and help Pokémon. And.. I was thinking, since I have gotten used to everything here. That, I too, want to learn and become a Pokémon healer and help Pokémon all over. I decided that’s what I want to do! So if you please let me stay here a bit longer..” Terra stared at the grandfather with determination sparkling from her eyes. Even if the two weeks were over, she had found out that this place was just like her second home. She found out that she wanted to help Pokémon by becoming a Pokémon healer and she wasn’t going to back down. She was ‘expressing herself’ like Zeke told her to.


The old man with spiky grey hair sat comfortably on the ground, with his legs stretching across on top of each other. He was mixing ingredients together with a stem in this tiny bottle to make potions. His eyes were still fixed at the potion jar but he was listening to whatever Terra had to say. He cleared his throat after a small silence “Being a Pokémon Healer isn’t easy. It needs dedication, hard work, and lots of practice.”


Terra stood up from her position, she was sitting just a beside the elderly man. She raised a fist in mid air, a sign, to show that she had the strength and endurance for it all. “I’m ready!”


---


A month later…


“Terra~ Terra!~ Where are ya? Mom’s callin’ for dinner!” called out Zeke as he walked across the grassy fields. It’s been a month since Terra was with them, she became a part of the family. Even the hot-headed grandmother of Zeke’s approved of her now secretly.


“Right here, Pinky!” Terra yelled as she jumped out of nowhere and pushed Zeke, mocking him about his pink hair. Zeke never liked his pink hair, pink was so feminine! He hated pink. Which was why he tried to speak in an odd manner, he thought it made him sound more masculine. Zeke turned out with a scowl plastered on his face. “I told you not to call me that! Ter-tard!” he teased back with his tongue sticking out and Terra laughed.


Terra noticed that she had changed since this last past month, she had become more outspoken, she learned to communicate with people and Pokémon, she learned to laugh, to heal Pokémon. Not only her personality changed but she found out that her appearance changed, as well.


Her hair reached till the end of her chest now, she folded them into a bun and let the bottom-length loose as a ponytail, like those Japanese traditional hairstyles. She even got used to the vibrant colored clothes, she now wore cargo shorts and a shirt because she felt comfortable in them.


Terra paused in the middle of the poke-fest both her and Zeke were having. Terra looked at the far-out stretching grassy plains, a distant expression appeared on her face. Zeke stared at Terra and wondered what was wrong. “Zeke.. I’m thinking of going back to continue my journey now.. But not as a Pokémon trainer or breeder but as a Pokémon healer.”


---

[MorriganFearn]

"Weeell," Zeke plucked a piece of grass and stuck it in his teeth. "I'm gonna support you, of course. But I'm not sure about Gran. She might get -- you know -- scary about it. You know how she is about all the traditional methods of learning. I don't think traveling around is us there until you've passed some sorta test or something. Which I'm sure you can do!" he said quickly. "Just, you know, you might be seen as a bit young."

[Yuri]

Terra gulped as 'Gran' was mentioned. She was still scared of that old woman, oh yes she was. "Test? What kind of test?" she asked cocking her head sideways as the pink haired boy now pulled a grass strand and chewed on it. For a moment a worried frown appeared on her face but it was quickly moprhed into a happy one. She knew she could do it, she had confidence in herself. She raised her fist in midair in a determined pose.

"Well, whatever test this may be, I'm going to ace it and then go on my journey! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah -- " the blonde girl stopped in the middle of her forced laughter, turning around she asked "too much of laughing? I think I made the confidence speech bit well, though.."

[MorriganFearn]

"A little too well," Zeke told her. "That was kinda maniacal. 'Cauza the laughter. C'Mon, I'll race you back into town!"

He didn't give Terra room to argue, beginning to run along the dusty road. He zoomed past grass huts, and people setting out their wears in the market, before coming to a stop, panting, outside their own home.

[Yuri]

"Maniacal!? Well, I'm working hard on it, oka -- aay! Hey!! Wait up!!" she yelled at the young boy as he raced off towards the town, kicking sand behind him as he went. Terra shook her head in dismay and coughed as the dust entered her lungs."Childish. Didn't even let me get ready.." she muttered and then she too started running behind him.


As she finally reached the outside of their home. She caught the pink-haired boy panting heavily. She walked up to him heavily and kicked him on the shin. "Take that! Cheater! You so didn't win, this race doesn't count!" Terra stuck her tongue out and made her way towards the entrance but paused as soon as she turned around because 'gran' (We should really give her a name..) was apparently standing at the door, waiting for both of them with her usual scowl-like expression.


Terra gave a sheepish smile "Ehehe.. Um, we're back?".

[MorriganFearn]

"I never would have guessed," Marion commented dryly. She stuck out a hand with a broom in it. "Terra, sweep! Zeke, go peel the potatoes!"

"Yes, Granny," cowering, the pink haired boy limped off to do as he was told.

Gran leaned against the wall, and took out her pipe, beginning to puff. "Been talking with that Glisscor of yours," she commented darkly.

[Yuri]

Terra opened her mouth to speak, to excuse herself away and help Zeke peel the potatoes as Zeke went away but decided otherwise. She grabbed a broom and quickly began sweeping the front porch. Terra had always been good with house chores ever since she was little. she would love to help around the house.

She could fele herself gulp as Marion mentioned her Glisscor. "Oh, um, really? He's a lovely Pokemon, isn't he?.. Eheheh.. What did you guys talk about?" she asked with a forced-sheepish smile plastered on her face.

[MorriganFearn]

"Your future, of course," Marion puffed on her pipe. "Apparently you want to go out and be a healer. Never mind that your knowledge of pokemon physiology is extremely limited. I wouldn't let you out of the house to be one of those silly healing machine nurses. Being a healer requires complete knowledge of all pokemon. For example, tell me what the complications are for a gachomp who will be giving birth? Where are the major veins on an onix's circulatory system? What is the difference between treating golbat bites versus crobat bites? How can you keep a muk's consistency liquid enough to move, yet solid enough to stay together?"

Pipe smoke circled in the sunny room. "Imagine, Terra, imagine that there is a car wreck. Everyone arrives on the scene to help, some are calling for the ambulance, others for the fire department because the car is on fire. The passengers in the car have all been thrown out of the vehicle. You know that they're going to be in danger if they don't get help. Now, someone in the crowd pushes past you, telling that she's a nurse, and begins to give CPR to the victims. Now, in some cases CPR helps. However, in this exact circumstance for whatever reason -- perhaps one of the passengers broke their ribs as they were flung from the wreck -- she actually ends up killing the victims before the ambulance can arrive. When questioned, she breaks down and confesses that she's merely taken a few first aid courses and wants to be a nurse. The professionals would have known to check for the broken ribs before applying pressure to the area -- she didn't. She may have had the best of intentions, but at least one person who could have been saved by someone with better knowledge is dead.

"You, young Terra, haven't got the encyclopedic knowledge needed to be a healer. It's in no way like being a rash, unthinking trainer. You need years of study before you embark upon such a serious and important career. I would never allow you out in the world claiming to be a healer."

Marion looked grim, and knocked out the ash from her pipe on her boot heel. "Not yet, at any rate. There's a tradition of apprentice healers walking the land they intend to patrol and then making notes on the pokemon found there, and learning about what they want to specialize in. When they come back to begin full training under a master healer they concentrate on the pokemon in the areas they intend to spend the rest of their life walking."

[Yuri]

Pokémon knowledge? Gachomp. Um, well since they are human-based Pokémon they have the same difficulties giving birth just like any of us humans do. So they have difficulties like loss of blood and that other difficulty that can be solved by a Caesarian Section. What? Onyx had veins.. !? Weren't they made of rocks and mud and stuff? And how would she know the difference between bites, she sure hasn't been bitten before! And eh.. She really didn't know how to answer the Muk question either. Okay so, one out of four wasn’t… that bad.


And then Marion went on and on and on. And that's when she hit Terra's nerve.


"You, young Terra, haven't got the encyclopedic knowledge needed to be a healer. It's in no way like being a rash, unthinking trainer. You need years of study before you embark upon such a serious and important career. I would never allow you out in the world claiming to be a healer."


Terra felt one of her eyebrows rise as the old woman finished. ".. Who said I'll go around claiming to be a healer? I mean I definitely didn't call myself healer, did I? I know I don't know much Pokémon at the moment but this is why I'm going on a journey! That’s the whole point. And I’m going with or without your permission. Maybe you have forgotten but you're not my grandmother, you may be Zeke’s but you’re definitely not mines. And don't you forget that -- You know, I wonder why I was scared of you all this time! You're no one to me. Even if your family took me in and help me recover and stuff, you were always against me from the first day. And I'm just, really sick and tired of you."


Terra had crossed her arms by now. She felt her cheeks grow hot from exhaustion – She really had talked a lot. Terra quietly stared at the old woman with narrowed eyes, waiting for her reaction.

[MorriganFearn]

"And you stopped listening to me before the end of the lecture," the healer sighed, looking slightly exasperated. Why did sixteen year olds always have to be so difficult? One of the perks of old age should have been respectful attention by less experienced years. Marion calmly refilled her pipe during this speech, and then fixed Terra with a hard gaze. "Child, I don't think I've heard a more self-centered speech in my life. The world is not out to get you, in particular. No one has ever had it against you from day one. You are lucky you've got credit with me, because after a pouty, conceited tantrum like that, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't want anything to do with you. Now wipe that scowl off your face, or it'll stick that way, and listen."

Marion puffed on her pipe, perhaps giving Terra time to get into a more receptive frame of mind. However, Terra was a teenager, and teens sometimes preferred to think that the entire world hated them whenever they were told to look before they leaped.

"Now, I'll say it again. You need training. There is a tradition for real healers -- people who know medicine -- to journey, and collect their findings, and figure out what they want to specialize in. Birth, laceration, burns, diets, poison pokemon, water types, whatever, you walk up and down the region, finding out everything that you can, and then once you know what you're going to do with your life, you come back to your mentor, and they work out where you need to go further to lear what you need to learn. Baby steps, Terra. You don't know where you're going, and trying to fly before you can walk. I'm trying to keep you set on your path, but with a better idea of the pace you need to go at."

[Yuri]

Terra opened her mouth to retaliate yet again against the wicked grandmother but quickly found herself shutting it back.



Wait. What!? Terra blinked.


"I.. I can go?" She asked herself disbelievingly when the old woman finished. "I mean, I knew.. And.. You definitely knew I would go away even if you have refused to do so, but, I just – um, I can't believe you're letting me go," Terra said as her mouth dropped wide open, looking here and there frantically trying to grasp all of this. Terra clasped her mouth with both her hands as she gasped. Was her mind playing tricks on her or something? Did she really hear what she thought she did? Was all this some kind of nice dream that would end anytime soon?


"Oh, Marion!" Terra exclaimed and ran to the old lady and gave her the biggest hug ever. "I'm so happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me," hey, the old snobby woman atleast deserved some gratitude for all of this, right?

[MorriganFearn]

"Enough to make me air sick, certainly," Marion commented acerbically, as the taller girl practically swung her around. "You'll need some things, of course. Things that you'll only get if you put me down!"

[Yuri]

"Right,"


Terra cleared her throat as she awkwardly put back the little woman down on her feet. Terra could feel her toes turning numb. Oh, this was so exciting! It was just like the first time she started on her journey, you know, just less emo and dramatic.

Terra excitedly waited to get the things Marion wanted to give her with the biggest grin ever.

[MorriganFearn]

"They're heavy things," Marion warned, stumping over to the bookshelf, and pulling down a large volume. The text was old, and about the size of a dictionary. The print had rubbed off the cover, and it seemed to weigh about two metric tons. Marion dumped this in Terra's hands. "This used to be called "Solomon's Scientific Guide to Zoology and Biology," or something like that. We just call it the big book of everything you'll ever wish you had never learned about sickness, disease, wounds, and giving birth. Now, you're pokemon, give me a list of the ones that you have again."

[Yuri]

Argh.


"Dumb book," Terra muttered as she balanced it. The freaking book was heavier than the woman she just picked up a while ago! And it didn't help that it had the weirdest name ever. Terra sighed as she tried to keep herself on her toes, Marion went on and asked how many Pokemon she has.

"Oh," Terra began thoughtfully. "I have, Blue my Totodile, Pyro my Quilava, Gale my Gliscor, Happy my Donphan, Jun my Mothim, Yi my Chingling, Garnet my Growlithe, Hmm.. Oh! Yoko my Swablu and lastly, Elektra my Luxio," Terra ended the list panting. She actually never noticed how many Pokemon she had until she decided to go on a journey again.

"I'll be taking Blue, Yi, Yoko, Pyro, and and Jun. I'm leaving the rest of my Pokemon in your care over here, so they can help around and stuff because I really don't need them in my journey. The lighter I travel, the better. Oh, and I'm going to giveaway Elektra to Zeke. They've grown prety attached to either, so," Terra shrugged as she stuffed the big book with a weird name in his backpack.

[MorriganFearn]

"Hmm -- I will just say that Gale could be useful if you feel like studying poisons. Yi also could be an asset. Most healers have a psychic pokemon to take "calls,"" Marion pointed out. "It's why I have Yaga, even though she spends most of her time arguing with me."

*You should try being a bit more open minded,* the voice of the medicham sounded in their minds, and Marion went to the window, an exasperated expression on her face.

"Aren't you trying to organize the world through yoga or something?"

<I was.>

"Continue doing it," Marion came back. "Anyway: Next thing we discuss is going to be your speciality. First thing you've got to do is research status conditions. That's the most basic part of your training. You build your journey based on what you're looking at. So, first, what do you want to examine and develop a new medicine for? Poison, paralysis, burns, frost, or sleep?"

[Yuri]

"I think I'll go with sleep," Terra said twisting her face in thought. She should probably go with something really easy, and then move on to the harder ones. The blonde wondered where all her pokemon went off to. Zeke was nowhere to be seen, as well.