91-Concave

Teddiursa was skittish at the sight of Amelia walking a half step behind Tanya as heads back over to where he’s waiting, but it only took a bit more overly sweet cooing and approximations of Caretaker’s reassuring words to ease his nerves. From there the ‘mon quickly shuffles off the path and into the woods, Tanya clearing her own path like a boat carving through the sea, Amelia following in her wake with only a momentary hesitation as she steps off the path.

The warning to keep to the trail due to hazardous conditions is still in effect, a danger presumably demonstrated by whatever injured Teddiursa’s mother. The fact that this is so close to the map-changing landslide isn't far from Tanya’s mind, and clearly her partner feels the same.

Potential risks firmly in the center of her thoughts, Tanya keeps a close eye on her surroundings for any potential instability and starts drafting plans for what to do if they’re caught by collapsing rubble or they drop into loosely packed soil.

Worse rubble in her option, where the popular understanding of quicksand is far less dangerous than reality, loose packed soil is worse. Better to be crushed quickly than to drown on dry land.

Tanya’s pokeball gives her a near certain get out of death free card for most potential hazards fortunately, especially with the ‘self fling’ trick she’d demonstrated during the Magma incident.

However, any plan that involves keeping Amelia safe becomes more complicated.

Her current plan is to just telekinetically grab the human with her pokeball and chuck both upward as hard as she can, leaving the problem of figuring out how to get down with a fragile but not as fragile as she thinkshuman body in tow as an in-the-moment thought exercise.

Because right now she’s drawing a blank on how to do it other than just to use telekineses again to gently set Amelia down as they land, which would work flawlessly and near guarantee Amelia’s safety.

Unfortunately doing so would mean Tanya would have to be focused almost entirely on that. Which would introduce… complications.

The last time she did that, at the volcano, she broke at least half the bones in her body to say nothing about her soft tissues. This was despite concentrating entirely on reinforcing herself in the seconds before impact.

The only reason she survived last time, let alone was able to fight, was because she was flooded with so much adrenaline and healing energy that she’d repaired herself almost before her body could process what had happened to it.

With hindsight the shock and awe disorienting the enemy wasn't worth it, so next time she does that she’ll actually recall herself for the landing.

Embarrassingly enough, recalling herself to soften the landing hadn't occurred to her at the time, but she was under a great deal of pressure.

Nonetheless, in an emergency escape scenario at a lower height, without gravity amplification speeding her descent and still carrying residual inertia when she’d cut it off to slow down to just terminal velocity, not to mention Amelia providing immediate medical aid to store her in a pokeball…

…Tanya probably wouldn't die, probably, but she’d almost certainly need to be recalled and taken to a professional as soon as possible. Leaving herself incapacitated and Amelia required to navigate whatever situation made such a maneuver necessary without her.

In short, suboptimal, but viable should it come to that.

Tanya does another scan of her surroundings, thankfully seeing no signs of unstable earth, and grimaces as her thoughts remind her of the potential… state of the patient they’re rushing off to see.

Though she’s not personally seen it, she knows of stories of parents lying dead and their children continuing to behave as if they’re ‘injured’ or ‘sick’ even far past the mental development and state of decomposition where they should know the truth of the situation.

She’d not thought of it beforehand, as if she had Tanya would not have brought Amelia along.

Not out of mistrust for the girl's professionalism or her ability to do her job, but for more… far reaching reasons.

Their job is pretty much done before it could even start if the patient is dead so Amelia wouldn't really be necessary in the first place. But more than that, dead bodies are unpleasant to look at and while Tanya’s long ago gotten over any squeamishness at seeing a corpse, she’s intellectually aware that more empathetic people find dead bodies… challenging.

She remembers the type, dreamers and optimists, the artistic ones who quote poetry and might even carry romantic notions of war. Those kinds of people are always hit the hardest on first contact with reality, without fail they change the most once the residual luxuries of civilian life are stripped away.

Medics have a similar problem, though it takes longer and it’s more dependent person to person in her experience.

Amellia falls into several of those categories, and her mental state being shaken by something as minor as a near death experience has Tanya… concerned that another shock to her system so soon might create or amplify mental injuries. Which would then lengthen the time needed for a professional to repair them.

But she can't send the girl back now, forget the fact that if the ‘mon is alive Amelia will be endlessly useful in helping with the healing process, human hands are just objectively better at diagnosis. More to the point, trying to send her back will inevitably lead to the question of why she’s trying to have her partner leave.

Tanya would have to be an idiot to try and explain the truth, from personal experience it’s taken not as an observation of patterns in behavior, but as a challengeor an insult. Either of which has them act in the exact opposite of her intentions and only serves to promote an adversarial relationship, which is the last thing either of them need right now.

Casting a careful eye at some boulders that look like they’re either new arrivals or freshly turned over, the ‘mon nods to herself in approval as Teddiursa leads them on a wide arc around a patch of bare earth and rock as they make their way through the forest.

“Almost there!” He shouts over his shoulder, rearing up onto his hind legs for a moment to lick the top of his paw before dropping back down to all fours and speeding ahead.

Tanya doesn't wince at the confirmation she’s running out of time should they be hiking to a dead body and struggles to–

The ‘mon slows as Teddiursa comes to a stop in front of her, glancing at Amelia for a moment, then craning his neck upward to lock eyes with her.

“...Ok she– they’re over this way, just a little bit further.” He says softly, shuffling where he stands, glancing in the direction he’d just indicated before looking back up at her. “But you gotta promise me you’ll make her better, ok?”

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Tanya puts on her face again and smiles gently.

“Of course we will, we’ll fix them right u–”

“Promise.” Teddiursa reiterates, raising up into his hind legs and staring at her with desperate intensity.

The disgustingly gentle smile widens, tinged with some profound sadness and the gentle pressure of reassurance.

“Darling, I promise.” Tanya lies, voice full of false conviction as she promises the impossible, and once again they're the exact words needed to keep Teddiursa moving as he sags with relief.

“...ok.” He says quietly with a sniff before turning around. “She’s just over here, there’s a cave, we’re almost there.”

—--

–_–

—--

As they step into a small clearing around a cave and stop at the request of Teddiursa, Amelia allows herself to fall a few steps further behind.

It’s bad enough for a foreign ‘mon is to suddenly appear in front of an injured ursaring’s den. A foreign human with cub in tow is exactly the kind of thing that the forestry service explicitly warns them to avoid at all costs.

A second later, the Joy sees her partner look down at the growling chatter of Teddiursa as he motions for them to stay put, then hesitantly moves toward the entrance of a cave.

Chansey says something back and Amelia has to consciously force herself not to react to the sounds coming out of her partner’s mouth.

Because listening to her partner speak to Teddiursa, It’s like another ‘mon is speaking throughher. As if the sight of Teddiursa makes some mental switch flip and Chansey changes from being Chansey to someone completely different.

Amelia spares a glance at her partner's gently smiling face and realizes how wrong that expression looks on the ‘mon, despite it being practically the default for every other chansey she’s seen.

It wasn't until Amelia heard her doing the voice for Teddiursa that she realized exactly how flat her partner’s voice normally is. She can pick out the emotional undertones just fine because they’ve been together for a while, but when she hears more… normal chansey-talk coming from her partners mouth the difference is night and day.

Then Chansey giggles and Amelia can't help herself, giving her partner a side-eye as the ‘mon’s gentle smile drops the instant Teddiursa’s back is turned.

Her partner huffs, looking at her with an expression that’s exasperated, slightly embarrassed, and… disgusted?

Amelia gives a baffled half shrug in her own defence at the accusative look, making a vague gesture at Chansey’s face with an inquisitive stare.

Her partner purses her lips with a roll of the eyes, then glances back at Teddiursa, now standing at the mouth of the cave, then deliberately exaggerates turning her attention to the scene with a shift of her weight, ignoring Amelia completely.

For a second or two, the Joy tries to push the nonverbal questioning, but a moment later Teddiursa begins to call into the cave.

The first call is answered by silence, an outcome that has Chansey tense slightly, but halfway through the second attempt a deep growl echoes out of the cave and fills the clearing.

Amelia tries to hide her nerves, but for some reason it looks like Chansey gets more relaxed at the sound of an enraged ‘mon, only tensing up again as, with pained shuffling and limping steps, Teddiursa’s mother steps into the light.

The Joy holds back a wince.

Ursaring’s left shoulder is gone, not in the amputation sense, but where there was once a structure of bone that everything else was built around, there’s just… this mess of matted fur in a concave divot from the sternum all the way to the left rotator cuff, a crooked arm pressed against her side as if the ‘mon was made of clay and dropped on the floor.

Yet even still, despite all of that, the moment the ‘mon clears the entrance to the cave she rises up to her hind legs and growls again, posturing so her injured side is behind her it looks like she’s ready for a fight, subtly trying to maneuver Teddiursa behind her as she does.

Chansey takes a step to the side so she’s standing in front of Amelia with a heavy rumble and for the thousandth time since first seeing Teddiursa, Amelia wishes Swellow was not just flying around somewhere completely oblivious to all of this.

Because he would be very useful right now!

Instead she tightens her grip on her emergency first aid kit, grits her teeth, then leans to the side so she can see around her partner and waves an arm at the injured ‘mon.

“Hello there! You must be Teddiursa’s mother! He told my partner that you’re injured so we’re here to help, my name is Nurse Joy!”

Her words, cutting through the tense air, seem to almost flummox the injured ‘mon, eyes leaving Chansey to glance at her for the first time, then look back up at Chansey as if seeing her for the first time.

“Ur… Ursa… ursasa?”

Chansey pauses, glances down at herself, then looks up with an incredulous nod.

“...Cha ch an.” She states, confirming the obvious that yes, she is a chansey.

“Now I will say, that looks like a nasty injury you’ve got there, and I don't think it’ll be getting better without some help.” Amelia continues, holding up her medkit. “If you wouldn't mind laying down right there for a minute, I’ll take a look to see what I can do.”

Ursaring doesn't move for a few seconds, glaring at the both of them. Then slowly, with pained stiffness, she looks down at Teddiursa who’s now looking very guilty as he avoids his mother’s gaze.

She gestures at the two of them across from her and growls something. Whatever it is has the smaller ‘mon flinch away before snapping something back, gesturing toward Ursaring’s ruined shoulder as he does.

But before he can finish whatever he’s saying Ursaring cuts him off with a growl before looking back over at them, though more accurately, at Chansey.

“Rrrasa, ursa?”

Chansey nods, and whatever question that answers has Ursaring heave a long sigh and start slowly trying to lay down. Chansey walks over to help as Amelia follows close behind, opening her emergency kit and frowning at her limited options even from a cursory inspection.

If this damage was fresh there’s a chance they could have done something, but just from the state of some of the blood she can see it’s at least a week old, if Chansey were to try healing it now it’d just heal in this defective configuration. Not to mention the fact that something in that mess has to be infected, which only complicates things.

For injuries like broken bones getting healed as quickly as possible is most important, the longer after any kind of injury the harder and less likely it is for normal healing to be completely effective, and bones are the least forgiving in that sense.

With a fresh break, healing moves can quite literally maneuver entire sections of bone into the right place, but the longer it goes the more energy it requires to achieve the same effect up to a critical point where it won't work at all.

This is far past that point, so their current options are severely limited.

Amelia slowly unslings her backpack and places it on the ground, placing her kit next to it as she breaks the seal of some disinfected gloves then pulls her drinking water and some concentrated antibacterial soap.

The first step is to loosen the matted fur and clean the work area, then diagnose, use assessment to determine safe painkiller dosage, then start treating what she can and work to stabilize.

Because limited does not mean useless.

Before Ursaring is even laying fully down she gets to work.

“Yes, right there, that’s right. Thank you Ursaring. Now I’m going to try cleaning and removing some of the matted fur. It’s probably going to hurt a bit but I’ve got some painkillers– something that can help with the pain if you want it.” She says, realizing that for safety she probably needs to do something for the pain first, and pulls out a bottle of painkillers as Chansey starts some basic diagnostics for breathing and heartbeat on the undamaged side. “We’re here to help.”