After making absolutely sure Rayquaza wasn't a battle junkie, Axel hesitated a bit as he put Rayquaza back into its Poké Ball and walked toward the room.
During the recent battle, although Axel had been pale and weak and could only move a little, he could still move somewhat.
But Lacey was different.
As an ordinary person, she simply couldn't withstand Kyurem's cold.
She had stayed by Axel's side only to give him something to lean on.
During Kyurem's final self-detonation, the two of them were the first to be hit by the chill.
Lacey immediately ran a high fever.
Even after Gardevoir treated her, she still couldn't recover quickly.
"Lacey, are you feeling any better?"
Axel sat on the bedside at his grandma's house and placed a big hand on Lacey's forehead.
Still very hot. There wasn't much difference from before.
"It's fine~", Lacey poked half her head out from under the blanket and looked at Axel quietly, her eyes full of joy.
She wasn't worried about her body at all now; instead she was incredibly proud.
She'd seen with her own eyes the man she liked solve a huge disaster.
Rayquaza, Ho-Oh, Glastrier... those legendary Pokémon had gathered because of Axel.
Plus Axel's practically perfect battle skills, they had successfully defeated that ferocious dragon god.
This was the same man who at first had thought about going easy and losing on purpose.
Luckily her sister had reminded her; otherwise Lacey felt she might not have reacted in time~
Thinking that, a faint blush crossed Lacey's face.
"You should take some cold medicine too. You were weaker than me just now, don't catch a cold."
"Uh...", Axel originally intended to check whether Lacey was better and then leave if she was.
But hearing Lacey's reply, he hesitated.
She hadn't stepped back a single pace facing Kyurem just now. If he left now... That wasn't something a man should do.
"You rest first. I'll make you a steamed egg, then ask that grandma for a room. When you're better I'll leave."
"Mm!", Lacey nodded hard.
Just then, grandma's helpless voice came from the doorway, "Stop with the 'mm' Lacey, where would I get another room?"
"If I give you another one, this old woman'll have to sleep on the road."
"Tonight you two share a room, don't fight with your old granny for it."
Axel's gaze fell on the empty room beside them, and he asked curiously, "Isn't this room empty?"
A gleam flashed through grandma's cloudy eyes, "My little Yorkie doesn't like to share a room with others."
"But why does this say 'guest room' and cost one hundred and one per night?"
Grandma showed no shame, "That's the guest room for entertaining little bitches. What's wrong with me doing some part-time egg-hatching work?"
Axel: "..."
'Is this what being old and crafty looks like?'
———
Because he had helped the Fairy Queen with Mega Evolution and given high-intensity battle commands, Axel was extremely exhausted today.
After preparing medicinal food and a little more to eat for Lacey, he lay down at the bedside and fell into a deep sleep early.
Perhaps because of Kyurem's divine nature, the wind outside the window still howled.
At first Lacey only felt very cold. So cold she wanted to hug anything she could.
But seeing Axel's exhausted look, Lacey held back the urge to cling to him, sat in a corner, and gripped the blanket tightly.
Besides the cold, there was also a lot of pain in her body.
But later the chill gradually faded and instead she felt extremely hot.
Driven by that heat, Lacey felt her pain subside a lot.
The only problem was the heat.
It was almost enough to make her lose consciousness.
Almost instinctively, Lacey took off her jacket...
———
Axel had a dream, he dreamed of Eva.
He felt like he was back home, back when the Eva would get sick, cry and fuss and not let Aunt Stacy inside the room, insisting he take care of her.
The only difference was the little girl was much bolder now...
"Axel I'm hot!"
"Axel turn on the air conditioning for me!"
"Hmph, you won't even turn on the AC but you say you're my brother?"
"Ah ah ah, I'll bite you to death!"
Immediately the Eva snuggled into his arms; Axel couldn't tell past from present, nor dream from reality.
And vaguely, the little girl's figure kept overlapping with Lacey.
The only difference was that today Lacey did not make that "X"-shaped hand gesture. Instead there was a faint look of expectation.
Instinctively, Axel wrapped his arms around the girl in his embrace...
"Lacey?"
"Mm!"
———
The next morning Axel instinctively patted the bedside but felt his head still fuzzy.
With his current mental strength he was far from able to concentrate for long periods and command top-tier legendary Pokémon in battle.
Their reactions were measured in milliseconds, something an ordinary trainer simply couldn't do.
After patting the sheet a few times and feeling a cut piece, Axel's hand found a cool card.
"Lacey, where's Lacey?"
Grandma's voice sounded at the door, "Little Lacey left early this morning. Her cold seems to be better."
"Oh, right. She left you a note. The paper's on the table, read it yourself."
Axel nodded lightly and picked up the letter on the table.
[Axel, I'm leaving... Yesterday I was too impulsive, but I'll make it up to you!]
[When I graduate I'll definitely look for you.]
[Also, your Pokémon are so strong, they must be hard to raise one by one, right?]
[Here's a card with 52 million. Use it to train your Pokémon; if it's not enough call me.]
[One last thing, after you finish in the Sinnoh region, take care of a friend of mine.]
[She just set out on a journey; her name is Platinum Berlitz.]
[Sinnoh seems unstable lately; if you have time please contact this number and protect her for a while!]
Looking at the eight big characters on the card, "romance fund, voluntary gift", Axel sighed softly.
This round... he'd accidentally bitten off more than he could chew again.
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