The Many Faces of Krystal

Burned

"I can't believe the rumors of Houndour are true!" I said I snapped pictures of the burnt foliage behind the spot where I had been standing seconds before the Flamethrower ripped through.

"Jayron, be careful!" Krystal telepathed out to me as she rapidly turned her head to glance between me and her fiery, feisty opponent.

A wild, un-evolved Houndour that somehow knew Flamethrower was unheard of. So, when I heard about these rumors of trainers being chased out of this area with burnt clothing, I just had to check it out for myself. This was sure to be a great story for the Lumiose Press.

"I'm okay. You're doing great, Krystal! One more attack should scare it off!" I said confidently, albeit slightly out of breath. I saw the small Dark Pokemon lean back slightly for another attack, and I called out urgently, "Jump and use Dark Pulse!"

My Absol friend took my suggestion and leapt towards the Houndour, which was clearly a good call as she would have been caught up completely in the gush of fire that came out of its mouth. She released a beam of Dark-type energy from her mouth at her opponent, but it was followed by a yelp of pain from her as the Flamethrower ended up catching her hind legs. Nevertheless, the Dark Pulse scored a Critical Hit on the Houndour, finally causing it to flee.

I nodded and smiled in relief, and I said, "Alright, Krystal, you did it! And we-."

My feeling of victory was short-lived, as the moment Krystal's paws hit the ground, she let out another loud cry of pain. I watched in concern as she promptly rolled herself onto her back and kicked out with her hindlegs. There was pained expression on her face; teeth clenched and eyes squinted as she yelped and grunted.

"My pawwwwws!" she said to me as she held her hindlegs out, and I'm sure that anyone could instantly see that they were Burned from the attack.

I frowned as I approached the squirming Absol. The pain of the Burn was causing her body and face to spasm intermittently, and it almost hurt me to see my best friend in such pain.

"It burns! It burns! My paws are on fire!" Krystal called out to me, her head turning from side to side as her face still remained scrunched up from the pain.

"I was afraid of this happening," I said regrettably, "That's why I bought a bunch of Burn Heals before we set out."

I grabbed the spray bottle of Burn Heal out of my bag and knelt down before the back end of the Burned Absol. As I raised the spray bottle, Krystal lifted her head slightly and cracked her left eye open to peer at me.

"Don't touch. Just spray them," she said, her voice direct and to the point.

I couldn't help but smile a bit as I recalled the Burr Incident, but I said nothing and simply proceeded to spray the medicine on her Burns.

Krystal's face relaxed and softened as I applied the medicine. Her mouthful of clenched teeth slowly morphed a relieved smile as she gave her own commentary on the state of her paws.

"Oh! Oh! Oh. . .oh, that's better. . .better. . .better. . .Ooh, I love you, Jayron."

Frozen

I really should have known better than to answer the door during a blizzard. After all, the idea of someone just causally knocking on the door to a forest cabin during a blizzard just sounds eerie. But, I suppose there was the possibility that it could have been a lost hiker seeking shelter. At any rate, as I got up to answer the door, Krystal voiced her thoughts.

"Wait. . .I've heard of this before, somewhere. . . Someone knocking on doors during nights of cold blizzards- JAYRON, NO!"

But it was too late, for I had already opened the door and was face to face with a Froslass, who had her right arm extended and charged with Ice-type energy ready to launch at me. I felt Krystal knock me out of the way just as the attack was launched. I quickly turned around and sat up to see Froslass staring at the now Frozen Absol with an inquisitive look on her face. She then slowly turned to look at me, floated still for a few seconds, and then turned and seemingly vanished into the snowy night. Later on, I would make a guess that the Pokemon frozen heart was somehow touched by Krystal's noble sacrifice, but at the moment my concerns were primarily focused on Krystal herself.

I quickly got up on my feet and closed the door, locking it for good measure. Then I quickly ran to where I had left my bag and dug through it, only to grow slightly panicked when I found that I had someone neglected to buy any Ice Heals.

I then turned around to look at my Frozen friend. She had jumped out to push me out of the way, and the attack had struck her just as her forepaws hit the floor. The large, thick cocoon of ice surrounded her completely, leaving her paused with her hind legs and tail up in the air, balanced on only her two forepaws. Her mouth was stuck hanging open, and her ruby red eyes were wide as well. I then noticed that her eyes were moving slightly from within the ice cocoon, which only made me all the more concerned.

"Krystal. . ." I said, guilt and worry swirling inside me, "You saved me. . .and I didn't-."

"Move the Absol to the fireplace," she said telepathically, her tone of voice rather flat as her eyes rolled in a complete circle. Her tone clashed greatly with the gobsmacked expression that was literally frozen on her face.

I swiftly turned to the roaring fire in the fireplace, and I wasted no further time in pushing the frozen Absol over to the fire. Wanting to make Krystal's ordeal as short as possible, I hugged her tightly and sat by the fire next to her. I rubbed her legs, back, and neck; giving her my own body heat and taking away some of her cold as the fire worked its magic.

Eventually, the ice around Krystal's head cracked, and then fell away. She let out a loud gasp as the rest of the ice around her started to crack as well. I quickly petted her and said lovingly, "You are the greatest friend ever, Krystal. Thank you. Thank you so much."

As ice chipped off and fell off of her body, Krystal turned to me and said in the midst of her gasping and panting, "Just keep hugging me. Please."

I smiled sadly, blushing as I as complied with her request. Then I said, "So much for our winter resort vacation. . . Let's have our next one in Alola."

Paralyzed

We were just walking along that path through the woods when Krystal started twitching and shrugging her shoulders. Then she suddenly stopped and began scratching behind her head with her right hind paw.

"Krystal? What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

"Something is on my neck! Get it off!" she shouted as she scratched desperately, a grimace on her face.

"Okay, okay, stop scratching so I can take a look," I said as I quickly walked around behind her.

Krystal put her leg back down and I leaned over and spotted something small and yellow on the back of her neck.

"It's a Joltik!" I said in surprise.

As if in response to being discovered, the tiny Attaching Pokemon zapped Krystal with a jolt of Electricity, causing her to cry out and to kick out her left hind leg and right fore leg. The Joltik then jumped off and fled into the forest, leaving Krystal standing in a very awkward position on her two legs.

Confused, I walked around her and said, "Krystal? Are you okay?"

As I walked over to look her in the face, I saw that, bizarrely, her right eye was closed while her left eye was wide open. Her teeth were clenched tightly and her nose was twitching wildly, and the fur on her chest was standing on end. On top of everything, the tuft of fur on the left side of her face was stuck forward. To top it all off, there was a visible electric current running across her body. Obviously, she was Paralyzed.

"Okay. . .this is worse. I'd rather have an itchy neck," she said as her left eye twitched.

I shrugged and said, "Well, at least the Joltik is gone now. It's partially my fault too, I should have been watching when we cut through the tall grass." I then reached into my bag and pulled out a Cheri berry. "I don't have any Paralyze Heals, so I guess we'll take a more natural route. Here you go."

I knelt down on one knee and held the Cheri berry up to Krystal's mouth, and her only open eye looked down at the berry in the my hand before slowly looking up at my face.

"Jayron. . .I'm Paralyzed," she said flatly.

I nodded, slightly confused by this response, and replied, "Yes, I know. Cheri berries can heal Paralysis. Go ahead and eat it."

Krystal's nostrils flared as she sniffed loudly, seemingly the only way she could physical express her irritation, and she said, "I can't open my mouth!"

I blinked at that, the realization suddenly striking me. "Oh," I said, then I mused aloud, "So. . . how could Cheri berries be of any use if the Pokemon can't move its'-."

"I need to move!"

"Oh! Okay, okay, um. . ."

I just continued to kneel there, doing a little thinking, until the only option came to me. Putting the Cheri berry away, I stood up, walked along to Krystal's side, and turned and bent down in just the right position for what I was about to do.

"What are you doing? Wha- Hey!" Krystal remarked as I slipped my arms underneath her extended right fore leg and left hind leg, and then proceeded to lift her onto my back.

"The Pokemon Center isn't too far away. This shouldn't be too long," I said between huffs and puffs, and then I started to briskly walk down the path.

"Jayron, you don't have to do this. You could just run and get a Paralyze Heal and I'll be fine," Krystal insisted, and the way she was concerned about me in spite of her own discomfort touched my heart, and only spurred me to keep going.

"Leave you. . behind? . . .Yeah right. . . No more. . .talking. . .Gotta run. . ." I said through my exertion. It was quite uncomfortable, and Krystal didn't exactly weigh nothing; but it's not like I wouldn't do anything for her anyway, or like she wouldn't do the same for me.

Poisoned

I smiled as I pulled out a Rare Bone from the hole I had dug. Krystal and I were on a treasure finding role. My Dowsing Machine was sending us on a lucrative luck streak. We were finding so much valuable treasure that we decided to split up so we could track two leads at once. I was putting the Rare Bone in my bag when I heard sickly coughing coming from behind me. I turned to see Krystal approaching me through the bushes, and the sight of her instantly killed my good mood.

To my horror, the Absol's normally dark blue face had a sickly purple tinge to it, just around her eyes. She had a miserable frown on her face, and the fur on her head and chest looked matted and unkempt. Her normally gorgeous gemstone like eyes were pale and shimmering, and her entire body was trembling like she was cold inside. Even her tail was hanging low and unmoving.

"You're Poisoned!" I said in alarm, "What happened?!"

"A Foongus hit me with Poison Powder," Krystal said sourly, "I was so excited about all the stuff we were finding that I was rushing and ran right into it. The jerk. I said I was sorry."

I immediately began rooting through my bag, saying, "Don't worry, you'll be alright. I'll just get you an Antidote or a Pecha berry, maybe both. Just relax-."

A loud retching noise stopped me in my tracks, and I looked up in alarm and saw that Krystal had her head down as she coughed and hacked loud and hard.

"Krystal! Control yourself! Let me-!" I began urgently, but then she held up her right forepaw at me, signalling for me to stop and wait.

She coughed three more time, then with a rather loud retching sound, she vomited up a baseball sized glob of purple slime.

Krystal took a few deep breaths, then slowly sighed in what sounded like relief. Meanwhile, all I could do was just stare at her in a state of shock and disbelief from what I had just witnessed. Then, Krystal looked up at me, and I saw that her eyes had regained her normal luster, and the purple tinge that had been on her face was completely gone.

"I expelled the poison so you wouldn't worry!" she said with a cheeky smile.

Badly Poisoned

"STOP, THIEF!" I shouted as Krystal and I ran after the fleeing Weavile. The Weavile was proudly wearing the necklaces and bracelets it had stolen from the jewelry store, but it wouldn't be wearing them for long if Krystal and I had anything to say about it.

Krystal let out a snarl as she fired a Dark Pulse at the thief. However, at that very moment, Weavile had turned around and used Fling to throw a Toxic Orb at her, which shattered on contact. Both attacks connected, knocking the Weavile into a lamp-post and causing Krystal to stagger in the dark purple cloud surrounding her.

"Krystal, NO!" I shouted in horror as I watched the poisonous cloud envelop her.

After a few tense seconds that felt like they would never end, the cloud finally dissipated, and I got closer to my best friend, heart broken to see her lying on the ground, her chest moving up and down as she breathed heavily. I saw that her entire face was dark purple, and she started coughed up purple bubbles as her eyes were filled with nothing but pain.

"Jayron. . .what IS this? Am I. . .dying?" she said, her telepathic voice weak and stricken with agony.

I was acutely aware of an Officer Jenny apprehending the Weavile nearby due to my well developed peripheral vision, but my attention was on my Badly Poisoned best friend as I swiftly took out an Antidote from my bag. "You are not going to die. I swear it," I said with conviction, more serious than I had been in quite a while. I opened her mouth and sprayed the Antidote into her, saying, "There you go. You're already on the road to recovery." Then I switched my serious frown to a smile and said, "You'll recover. You're staying with me, best friend. It'll be okay."

"This is horrible!" she shouted telepathically, whimpers coming out of her mouth in between coughs. Tears even ran down her purple cheeks as she said, "Was ordinary Poisoning not bad enough? Make it stop!"

I immediately pulled her into a hug and gently stroked the top of her head. "It's okay, it's okay," I said soothingly, "You'll be healed up soon. Go ahead and cry if you need to. Just let it out. I'm here, and I'm not leaving you. No matter what."

I felt her forelegs weakly wrap around me to return my embrace, and I was so caught up in the moment that Officer Jenny had to repeat herself twice before I heard that she was offering to drive us to the Pokemon Center.

Of course, Nurse Joy completed the process of curing the Badly Poisoning, but I just had to go the extra mile for my one true friend. I stayed by her side the entire time, and once Nurse Joy said the majority of the toxin was out of Krystal's system, I topped a few Sweet Pokepuffs with Pecha berries and fed them to her, much to her delight.

"Nothing is worth getting Badly Poisoned, but it's still nice to see how much you care about me, Jayron."

Asleep

The surprised Venomoth flew away, having being startled by the Psycho Cut that had struck its tree. Krystal had used the attack to clear out the tall grass we had been walking through, but one of the slashes had gone awry, and thus the Poison Moth Pokemon was flying off, leaving a cloud of Sleep Powder in its wake.

I had been standing a fair distance behind Krystal at the time, so I was out of the range of the attack. Krystal, however, wasn't as lucky. She let out a small gasp as the Sleep Powder hit her in the face, and then she promptly fell over and landed on her left side.

"Uh-oh," I said nervously, and I quickly approached her and gently place a hand on her back. I shook her gently and said loudly, "Krystal! Krystal, wake up! Come on, don't fall asleep! Krystal!"

After this, I heard a very distinct yet almost elegant snore. It wasn't even so much of a snore as much as loud huffing or breathing. I took a look at Krystal's face, and then at her body as a whole, and I came to the conclusion that she looked like an angel. She had a soft, gentle smile on her, her left cheek resting comfortably on the flattened tall grass underneath her. Her nose sniffed and twitched cutely as she continued to smile in her sleep, and every once in a while her hind legs would move in a running motion, and her forepaws would clench and unclench slightly as if grabbing at something.

"Aww," I said softly to myself, no longer having the heart to wake her up. Then, a clever idea came to me. I reached into my bag and pulled out her toy squeaky Rattata. I then placed the toy she loved so much in between her forepaws, which gently closed around it. Krystal's smile got even larger after this, and my smile got bigger as well.

After taking a quick picture with my phone, I laid myself down next to Krystal and gently petted her down her back. "Sweet dreams, Krystal," I said, "Sweet dreams."