Injuries

Chapter 1

Derek the Umbreon morph padded out of the forest behind the old general store near the edge of town. The charcoal black Umbreon fur that covered his entire lower body shimmered in the moonlight. It was a full moon again, probably his favorite time of the month. He'd gotten used to coming to the store at night to buy whatever he needed. It was open 24 hours a day, but he found that very few humans had the stamina to shop at 2 AM. The store was almost always completely empty. Once or twice he'd tried to come during the day, but then the store had several people in it, most of whom felt the need to stand a gawk at him or to laugh and make jokes about him. Tonight he'd come fairly early, but the store was still nearly empty. He was fairly surprised to find that there were actually 2 different groups of people in the store, despite it being past eleven. He entered the store calmly, and made his way to the back. He never bothered with a cart, as he usually needed very little. Instead, he wore a bag around his waist that rested against his right foreleg. It was more than large enough to hold all that he would need in a week. He was searching through the medicines when he heard the voice of a young boy call out.

"Look mom! A pokemorph!" Derek turned to see a little boy, probably about eight or nine years old running up to him with his mother in swift pursuit.

"Now Benny, stay away from him, you know pokemorphs don't like humans." She said, catching hold of his wrist.

"Who told you that?" Derek asked, giving the woman a skeptical look.

"My father" the woman replied nervously, Derek could tell that this woman's father had told her many things about pokemorphs, probably very few things that were actually true.

"Well I'm a pokemorph and I'm telling you that's not true at all. Although sometimes it seems that humans do not like pokemorphs."

"But my father said..."

"Is your father a pokemorph?" Derek asked cutting her off.

"Well, no..."

"Then how would he know?"

"Good point" By now Benny had wrested free of his mother's grasp and was stroking the charcoal black fur on Derek's side. Derek seemed to be enjoying the attention and relaxed noticeably.

"See mommy? He's nice." The boy grinned. "You're an Umbreon taur aren't you?"

"Yes I am" Derek nodded, perking his ears and twisting them towards the front of the store. "Hold on..." He said, motioning for the child to stop. Benny stopped and backed away cautiously as Derek stared intently towards the front of the store. He lifed his bag off of his waist and dropped it on the ground at Benby's feet.

"I'll be right back..." He said, silently moving down the aisle. The pads on his feet made his motion silent to even his sensitive Umbreon ears, his only pokemon aspect above his waist. He peered around the last corner, instantly confirming his suspicions. The store was being robbed. A man was standing at the counter, pointing a handgun at the new sales clerk, one that Derek had never seen. He silently stepped out of the aisle and began creeping up on the man with the gun. The sales clerk could easily see the seven foot tall Umbreon taur from the moment he emerged from the aisle. His eyes grew as big as saucers at the sight of him silently making his way to the counter. To the sales clerk, Derek looked like some creature that had just crawled out of a fantasy horror story. It seemed as though the shift manager had forgotten to warn his new employee about Derek.

"GAH! STAY AWAY!" the cashier screamed, pointing at Derek. The robber was very surprised and whipped around to face Derek. Derek reacted instantly and let a shadow ball fly straight at the man's torso. The mere sight of Derek stunned him momentarily, allowing the shadow ball's aim to strike true. It knocked the man back into the counter. The man scrambled to his feet and ran towards the glass door, shooting it once to shatter it. He lept through the opening and raced away into the night. Derek followed in swift pursuit, ignoring the sharp shards of glass that dug into all four of his paws with every step. He sprinted across the parking lot at top speed, hoping to overtake the man on flat ground where he, being a taur, had the obvious speed advantage. He stopped as the parking lot ended against two tall concrete buildings. There was no way out. The thief had to be hiding in the shadows of the alley. Derek peered into the alley, his Umbreonism helping him to see fairly clearly in the dark. He failed to see the man anywhere. Cautiously he stepped into the alley. A kick came out of nowhere and connected with his Umbreon torso, knocking him offbalance. He stumbled back several feet, bumping into the cement wall. A shot rang out followed by a seering pain in his right foreleg and side. A bullet had ripped into the soft flesh at his hip. He groaned in pain. "Cayla..." he murmered and then collapsed. The thief didn't seem interested in finishing him off and instead bashed him once over the head with the side of his gun. Derek could hear the shrill scream of the police sirens in the distance as he blacked out. Someone in the parking lot was calling for him.

"Umbreon?! Umbreon where are you?"

He regained consciousness several minutes later. He was still in the alley, but there was light everywhere. Several men from an ambulance crew stood around him, debating whether or not he was to be taken to the pokemon center hospital or the normal hospital for treatment. Derek did not hold any malice from him as in this area it would be a legitimate question. There were very few pokemorphs in this area and his wound was in his pokemon half. Finally they decided to play it safe and take him to the normal hospital. They lifted him onto a stretcher and gently placed him in the ambulance. The ambulance was not designed to transport a taur, so his human half was not supported by a stretcher. Instead, they leaned him up against a pillow on a wall and draped a blanket over his entire body. He quietly slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter 2

Derek woke up feeling sore all over. He looked himself over and was surprised to see how thin and frail his Umbreon half seemed. It looked as though he'd lost quite a bit of weight. His pokemon back ached and his leg seemed to be throbbing. He looked at his right foreleg and was very displeased to see that it was wrapped tightly in a cast. He knew he couldn't walk easily without all four legs in good functioning order.

"Ah you're finally awake!" A cheery voice rang out. Derek looked up to see a nurse dressed all in with with short amber hair standing in the doorway. "We were beginning to think you weren't going to be waking up. You've been in a coma for almost three weeks."

Derek was stunned at this news.

"I have?!"

"Yes, I'm afraid there were several complications surrounding you."

"There were?"

"Yes, lets see here, hold on let me go get your file." She said, abruptly leaving. Derek's thoughts were swimming. Three weeks?! What all could have happened in such a short period of time? The nurse soon returned carrying a clipboard.

"Lets see the first complication was your blood. You lost quite a bit before anyone realized you were back in that alley. Your blood type isn't on file, but it turns out that it wouldn't have mattered if it was. I've never seen blood like yours in my entire career. Its a very strange variety that seems to carry almost 20% more oxygen than any of the regular blood types. When it came down to it, we had to resort to drawing blood off of one of the doctor's Umbreon and trying that in you since you would have died if we hadn't, it seemed like a safe risk. Turns out your blood stream accepted it readily. And you've probably noticed that bandage on your underside by now haven't you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the bullet richocheted off of your leg and entered into your torso. It traced its way down through you and stopped about two feet away from your hindlegs. It didn't hit anything major though, but we had to do some exploratory surgery to find it. The X-ray doesn't seem to work on you at all. All we ever got back was a big blob of white. The coma by the way was brought on by an odd interaction between your body and the anesthetic, combined with your loss of blood. I hope you don't mind, but against my manager's wishes I contacted the pokemon center. They've had a nurse come check your status every day. She said you were a "very lucky pokemon""

Derek blushed slightly, calling a pokemorph a pokemon was a way humans showed affection for them.

"Mind if I ask you a slightly prying question?"

"Uhh sure?"

"Do you know anyone named 'Cayla?'"

Derek's heart skipped a beat.

"Uhm.. yes?"

"Who is she?"

"A friend..."

"You said her name several times when you first came in. The doctors said you were delirious."

"I see"

"Do you like her?"

Derek blushed. The nurse got a small tool out and started cutting the cast off of Derek's aching leg.

"Aww" she said, rubbing his belly as she finished cutting the cast off. "Does she like you?"

"I... I hope so..."

"Well as soon as you can walk on that leg of your you can leave. The doctor said you were healthy over a week ago, we've just been waiting for you to wake up."

Derek groaned as he slid off the bed, ignoring his aches and pains. He took a few wobbily steps before resting against the bedside.

"Do you feel any dizziness or nausea?"

"None, just a bit of weakness and tiredness."

"You lost quite a bit of weight and you've been on your back for three weeks. Take it easy at first and try not to over-exert yourself. Don't worry, you'll be fine." She said, patting him on the side and handing him his bag.

"A woman and her little boy came by and left this for you."

"Thanks... Uhm... I assume there's a bill for me to pay somewhere?"

"No, no bill. You paid for it all with a sample of your blood that we took from you about three days ago. A scientific research company agreed to pay your medical bills in exchange for it. No offense, but you're not legally human so we didn't have to get your consent for it. We figured you wouldn't mind waking up without any debts."

"I don't, and thanks for all your help."

"You're welcome, try not to get shot for a while alright?"

"I will. Thanks again!" Derek said, making his way out the door. He winced slightly with every step of his right foreleg.

"Come back in a week for a check up!" The nurse called after him as he pushed the glass door open.

"I will!"

Derek paused for a moment in the parking lot and looked around. He stretched his legs, trying to get rid of some of the stiffness and set out for the beach area.

**end story**

I've decided I need to start writing more with Derek ^_^ This is just an interesting little ordeal I thought up last night and wrote this morning. Twas inspired by a short RP with a good friend ^_^