[PRP] Unfair

[Tori Honoo]

Another day had passed, and while his condition was barely different than before, Dove and Jace couldn't have ever been happier to spend time with their friend. The television turned on and at a lower volume, Dove sat at Yuri's side in her chair, absently switching her gaze between the screen as the news scrolled through and the younger boy at Yuri's opposite side, explaining what he had learned about his swablu--a dragon type eventually!-- in the last few days. She only hoped they weren't exhausting him further, and she had promised to relieve him of their presence after a little while longer--just a little while.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri also wore a smile to keep them from worrying and he was actually kinda enjoying being educated about Swablu. It helped to melt away his boredom that was typically only broken by nurses coming in to turn him so he wouldn't get bed sores.

It was humiliating being like this, so helpless and unable to do anything for himself. Not to mention he was a little shaken by how close he had come to death but he kept that to himself.

The tv was only background noise at the moment as he listened to Jace.  

[Gwennythe]

On the floor, with some colouring pencils she'd gotten from somewhere, Henrietta was doodling yet another picture to 'help Yuri get well' and just to pass the time.
A few them weren't exactly just to 'help Yuri'... Some of them were a bit of therapy, perhaps, for herself. For instance, a quick nose through some of the pictures she -hadn't- shown people specifically would reveal a crudely drawn, semi-spectral blue creature... It was spindly and long-limbed, but crude as it was, it could probably still be seen as a representation of the creature that had thrown a log at her and Flynn.
Other pictures, the ones she showed people, or did give to Yuri, were of various things; Repede, Trill, Gummy and Chester all featured, in varying degrees of accuracy.

The TV was usually nice to have in the background; she got to see pokémon news, or adverts for things, or cool programs she hadn't seen in a while- not that they would ever have been worth -not- being a trainer for.
She wasn't paying too much attention though, busily finishing off a rather... accidentally Bunneary-ish drawing of Lovey.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey sat contently near Henrietta, her ears perked as she was drawn... or at least, what she thought was her. Content keeping Henrietta entertained, the eevee sat poised, watching her calmly, curious about the drawings that she hid away from the other humans.

Jace beamed, wishing he could have Chester out with him, but with full understanding that it wasn't allowed. Open flame wouldn't be safe at all, afterall. Dawn sat perched next to Yuri on the boy's arm, humming gently every so often. "...they can even sing, too! It's really pretty, but if they want to, they can make you go to sleep, too! And you can't even stop it!" he was explaining, clearly eager to impart all of his knowledge to the man who couldn't escape. At least he seemed a little interested.

Dove had now turned her attention to Flynn, offering him a small tired smile. It was odd, yes, that their little group was so casually spending time in a hospital room, but at the same time... it was nice. Things had calmed slowly, and while they were far from out of the woods--and she herself was still completely exhausted, and worried about things to come-- she considered herself blessed for the moment, even if it was only a short moment.  

[BlackPidgeot]

With all of the chairs taken, Flynn stood in the doorway, quietly watching. Though at the moment he seemed to be the only one paying much attention to the television.

"Yeah?" Yuri said weakly to Jace. "I think Dove could use that." His gaze traveling to the obviously tired girl. Flynn also grimaced slightly as he had experienced that first hand.

However the blondes attention refocused on the television as an anchorwoman appeared and apologized for interrupting their scheduled program for a breaking news report.

"Hey what's this," Flynn wondered as he moved to turn the volume up a little. Just as the screen went to a media conference with one Petra Rall.  

[Gwennythe]

Hen' listened to Jace while she coloured in 'Lovey' and frowned very slightly; yep- she knew about the sleeping thing all too well already.

The girl reached out to pet the Eevee nearby, pausing in her colouring, and also to check she was more or less right with the pencil she'd chosen...
Just as Flynn commented about the television...  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove's face flushed as Yuri made his comment and looked to her, and she lowered her eyes to the journal in her lap. She did need to sleep, but given everything going on anyway, and now this...plans had been thoroughly set back, and she couldn't help derailing everything in exchange for this. Yuri's health and the others' happiness was more important anyway. She was finding peace well enough for now, at least so much so to go on living.

Jace just giggled, then shook his head. Flynn and Henrietta had apparently been victim of the pokemon's power... to do it to Dove, against her will, would be bad as well. Maybe, though, he could get Dawn to sing to her tonight.

Lovey rubbed her head against Henrietta's hand, more than happy to receive the affection-- she loved being petted.

Flynn's direction to the television pulled at Dove's attention, then, and her brows furrowed. "That's Petra Rall... She's part of a Special Operations branch of the league..."

"Long before the Pokemon League had established its niche in the island region of Kodo...one man pioneered the search for the hornet's nest - the base of operations of the terrorist organization known as Team Rocket. This man was Lance, Dragon Champion of the Kanto-Johto aggregate. Thanks to his efforts, many advancements were made in the war on Team Rocket, including the eradication of the Rocket post that existed inside this very city."

Jace's eyes lit up, and he beamed as he turned to the television, excitement pouring from every pore in his body as Lance's name was mentioned. There hadn't been anything new said about him in ages, and his attention rapt, he soaked up everything the woman had to say. He knew he had been doing something awesome all this time! He didn't know much about Team Rocket, but he had heard enough to know that they were bad... Of course Lance had gone after them! That's what Champions did!

In the next instant though, he froze, unsure if he had heard right, or if he even understood what the words meant.

"It is with grief in our hearts that the Pokemon League of Kodo must announce that this morning, Lance made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a world free of Team Rocket's tyranny."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Both Flynn and Yuri watched with confusion and mild surprise. Being from Grande Ile neither of them fully understood what was being said. They didn't know about Lance or champions.

But one thing was clear, someone died because of Team Rocket.

Eventually though Yuri voiced the question both had in mind in the shocked silence of the room.

"Sooo... Who's Lance?"

Surely someone else would know?  

[Gwennythe]

As Dove explained who was on TV, Hen' peered with a little further scrutiny- that sounded like a cool job.
She paused in petting Lovey as she watched... and then heard and saw those extremely unexpected words being spoken.
She knew enough to know what that meant... It was horrifying- Lance was the strongest of Johto really, and Kanto, as far as she knew, and he'd been killed.
She'd have to call her family soon.
For now, though, she couldn't really muster anything but a wide-eyed, somewhat uncharacteristic; "...Holy s**t..."  

[Tori Honoo]

The broadcast continued, unwavering in the wake of the surprised stares and unexpected loss of words from those watching it.

"Kodo lost a powerful ally when it lost Lance, and so the Pokemon League is reaching out to Kodo's trainers to fill the gap his absence has created. The Special Operations Squad, a division that specializes in responding to pokemon-related crime, has created a branch here in Kodo commanded by myself, Petra Rall. We are opening a department of volunteers to create a permanent place for the courageous trainers that continue to answer our calls for assistance. Together, we will work to create a region where its residents can live without fearing Team Rocket's next strike - a region that Lance would be proud to see."

Dove stayed silent throughout the entire broadcast, her chest clenching painfully, as the news sunk in. She hadn't been so affiliated with the Champion, but it didn't take anyone familiar with the League to realize exactly what this meant.

...Or for anyone in the room to know how much of an impact it would have on the two younger trainers from the Johto region. Hen's surprising swear drew a quick glance before the woman turned to look at the little boy, ignoring Yuri's question completely as the Swablu on the boy's arm suddenly fluttered in front of him and gave soft tweets, all too aware and startled at the sudden change in disposition.

Lovey looked up at the younger girl and stepped closer to her with a soft, quesitoning 'eev?' unsure of how close to get to her for now. She was clearly surprised by whatever the news had been...

Jace's eyes stayed glued to the television and the offending announcer woman, suddenly brimming with tears. He didn't know exactly what had been meant by her first words, though it hadn't been a good feeling, but as the woman confirmed that Lance had been 'lost' to the League, it hit--hard. Lance was gone... and some group of bad guys--Team Rocket-- had killed him.

Without a word to the others in the room, the boy shook his head and ran, past Flynn and out of the room, followed by the concerned and frightened Swablu.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Hen's curse drew a brief wide eyed stare from Yuri and Flynn as well before they looked back to the tv as the announcement continued. They were both silent, knowing that this had to be important but still missing pieces of information. Whether the guy was important or not though, the fact that Team Rocket had killed someone was not to be taken lightly. But it also sounded like the League was finally stepping up its game. It was a shame that it was too late for that person who died.

Yuri looked to Jace as he noticed the boy seemed to be upset. But before he could say anything, he ran out, past a surprised Flynn. There was a moment of hesitation but then Flynn spoke up. "I'll get him," and then went after Jace.

Yuri would have rather gone after him but... he kinda couldn't.  

[Gwennythe]

As Jace ran, and Flynn went after him, Hen' was just turning to look his way. She winced, physically, as the boy vanished through the door, then looked anxiously between Yuri and Dove, the latter of whom she addressed simply with the concern.
"But... he doesn't understand..." That much had been clear from Yuri and Flynn's reactions so far; it was perhaps, so kind of request though the nature wasn't entirely clear.  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace continued to run, even as the hospital staff turned to look at him, a few calling out to him to see what was wrong until they noticed Flynn coming after him. In their confusion, a few followed the boy to the door of the hospital, watching to make sure he would be alright, as the others looked to each other, wondering if it was just another reaction of a child to seeing a family member's state or even worse, passing.

To Jace, it might as well have been. He ran, looking for a place to hide without actually understanding what he was looking for, and when he found a good enough place--in a courtyard within the hospital's grounds, behind a small wall-- he sank down into the cold, powdered ground, fumbling for his gear to see if what the woman had said was true.

It took almost no time for the eleven year old to confirm his absolute worst fear-- his hero had fallen, at the hands of an organization he had helped to bring down once before. Dropping the gear to the side, he buried his face in his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs, unable to stop the small sobs. No, no, no, no, no...!

The swablu perched at the top of the short wall, fluttering her wings in a sort of quiet panic and distress as she looked around. The blonde human had been following them, and surely he would know how to handle things better.

In the room, Dove's attention turned to Henrietta entirely, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. Setting her journal aside, she moved down to the floor with Hen, reaching out to take her shoulder, at a loss for what sort of comfort would be best in the situation. At the girl's words, she looked to the door, then nodded, a pain in her eyes as she struggled with her options. Flynn wouldn't understand as well-- he hadn't heard Jace go on and on about the man. He wouldn't understand the impact it would have on the boy or Henrietta, given Lance had been from their home region and a legend. But while she would better understand the boy's feelings, she couldn't go to him and leave Henrietta and Yuri alone. Yuri had even voiced that he didn't know who the dragon master was, and though Hen was older, Dove was sure that this had hurt her, too.

Lovey pawed at Hen's arm, then rubbed her little body against the girl's leg, offering as much comfort as she could in the situation. Seeing this, Dove moved to draw her into a hug. "I'll go check on him, then be right back." The boy had run off, and though Henrietta was clearly shocked, she was expressing concern. "Will you be okay with Yuri?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Hold on," Yuri said quickly and firmly, looking to the girls with a serious frown. "I don't think its a good idea for all of you to go after him. He'll just try to put on a brave face, and that's not what he needs right now." It didn't take a rocket scientist, no pun intended, to see how this news had affected Jace.

"Flynn lost someone important to him once too. I think he'll understand well enough." In fact, now that he thought about it, Flynn probably was better suited to talk to the boy than he was.

Jace kind of left a trail in his wake of confused people, and Flynn just had to follow that. When he went though the doors though, he paused and looked around, not seeing the boy in sight. As he walked around a bit though, he caught sight of the very distinctive Swablu sitting on the wall. Thus as he drew closer to it, he could hear the boy's sobs.

Walking up to him quietly, Flynn knelt down to place a hand on Jace's shoulder.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta leaned into the hug, but wasn't sure what she really wanted.
She didn't know much anything of Flynn's past, so Yuri's words weren't a perfect comfort, but she nodded slightly.
Either Dove would go after Jace, or Flynn would bring him back; going after Tymiko hadn't gone well, but there wasn't going to be an angry blue Mewtwo wandering the hospital with Jace.
... And Dawn had fluttered after him.
Numbly she fiddled with a pokéball until Bistra appeared.
"Go find Jace and Flynn." She told the bird, who hesitated- something was very wrong in the room.
She looked questioningly at Lovey, than cautiously fluttered around the humans standing, before setting off out of the door.