Text messages were not Jayden Cross' strong suit.

Sure, he knew how to navigate them. He understood how technology and phones worked, at least on an informational level. On a professional one, such as the occasions when his superiors like Cillian Quinn texted him, he was prompt and effectual.

However, as far as social interactions went... well, he often fell flat. In more ways than one.

For his plea of desperation, Chu-e Choi would receive a single text back:

> ?

It was rather unfortunate, when you thought about it.

A sharp Ding! of the reply cut through something in Chu-e's mind, making him flinch. From his spot, it's not like he could read what the reply was, even know it was jayden cross who had responded and not his pokemon. Jayden might not even know who he was from this phone, honestly; it was one of his burners.

But, there wasn't much he could do right now. The idea of trying to send another message was exhausting. Everything hurt. It would be so easy to just lay there and go to sleep...

Scratching was the only thing that kept him from falling unconscious again, followed by frantic yowling. It was muffled, frantic. The various cats out wanted in, perhaps sensing something amiss or just hoping for lunch. They were crowded around the outside of the door, multiple Skitty, Delcatty, Shinx, Purrloin; any feline one could think of, pressing face and body at and claw at the way to get inside.

One could also say that he was simply at the right place at the right time. That it was a stroke of luck.

It was true; Jayden Cross had not responded to Chu-e Choi 's text, but he was on his way to the other's house. An elite, higher-up had tasked him with a delivery. He was to deliver a set of files to Choi's house. Choi who had, for some reason, not appeared at the latest meeting and was probably playing hookey. The words of the man who had handed him the files - not Jayden himself. Jayden would never have been so insubbordinate.

Stepping off the train that led to Mossdeep, navigating the routes through the city to find the retired Beast's place of address was fairly easy. Though his memory of Hoenn's geography was still somewhat rusty from his return from Galar, it all came back quickly enough. It was muscle memory. Mossdeep was not his favorite city, but the landscape was not at all unlike any other city he had been in.

Once you mastered Slateport, you could master anywhere.

Reaching the doorstep, Jayden closed his hand into a fist and wrapped his knuckles on the door frame. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Would there be an answer?

There would not be an answer, simply because Chu-e could not get up to provide one. The knock was just background noise as he started to slip back out of consciousness, muddy and mixing in with the general confusion going on around him.

The felines outside, however, were none too gentle with jayden cross. While none of them would outwardly attack or be violent with the man, they would quickly surround him, form a circle of no escape. A Persian pushed against his hind legs, knocking him for the door, while three Skitty and a liepard pawed at the door feebly. A cacophony of meows and yowls and growls filling the air in urgent paces.

Open the door They all begged, in their own language.

It would only be if Jayden tried to pull away, to leave that any of them would show aggression. A swipe of claws from a Delcatty, an arched back and hissing body of a Litten. Forward, forward, forward they would push, trying to get the human to just understand

When the door was finally opened, they all poured inside, practically stepping on one another. Another circle formed around the puddle of nastiness surrounding their trainer, the light from the doorway cutting into the room to land on man. They cried for him, unsure of what to do, pacing restlessly but going no closer.

There is an answer, but not one that Jayden is expecting. Instead, it comes in a cacaphony of meows and yowls, as the retired Beast's cat brigade all but assaults Jayden. There is pressure on his back legs, hissing and mewls in his ears, something sharp against his thigh.

[break][break]Jayden does not speak the language of cats, but it does not matter.

[break][break]He pushes, the door clicks, and the barrier falls. The cats spill into the house, like water into a jar. Their bodies seemingly morphing into one distinct mass that pushes, urges, Jayden to find their owner collapsed onto the floor.

[break][break] His eyes widen.

[break][break] "Chu-E!" he says, crossing the room in a few strides and dropping to his knees, despite the rather pungent smell of vomit and blood that is sharp in the air. His fingers immediately go to the other's throat. There's a pulse.

[break][break] His eyes flicker between the cats pushing and meowing at their seemingly-fallen trainer, at the man himself. Taking in all the clues and facts of the situation. His gaze lingers on the man's face. Even in death, Chu-E looks...

[break][break] No. He wasn't dead. Jayden wouldn't let him.

[break][break] Thinking quickly, the dark-haired man gathers him in his arms before trying to find somewhere else to place him. Somewhere, at least, easier to examine. At the very least, he would prevent Chu-e Choi from choking and dying in his own vomit.

The cats part for jayden cross like a sea, tense and pacing to observe his work.

At being lifted, a bit of consciousness is shaken into Chu-e. He tries to peel one eye open, vision blurry. His fingertips twitch and a shaky breath escapes his mouth. Signs of life. Fleeting, but there.

The quickest and easiest place to place Chu-e would be from the very place he fell from when he surged to his feet: the couch. The nest of blankets and pillows are still there, wrapped around nothing and cold. The remnants of the blood and vomit may get on the couch but it will clean. He groans lightly even at the small amount of jostling it would take to place him.

Jayden would be able to see the damage clearly now. Chu-e isn't in bad shape, despite the blood. His hair is matted into place on the left side of his head with blood, a slow ooze still dripping lightly from some cut under his hair. That side of his face, neck, shirt, down to the sleeve of his arm is dark and stained in it. Any other wetness is from the vomit. The cut itself isn't bad, though, just a heavy bleeder from being a head wound. Scarier to look at than anything. The biggest danger had indeed been him choking on his vomit, which Jayden could protect him from. Even if the other didn't know it, Chu-e would be fine.

The haze of fever from the illness still clings to him even as he fights through the confusion of the seizure, of hitting his head. A shaky hand is slowly raised and tries to press to Jayden's cheek, cold and moist and faint. "Why did you leave...." He says, faint and thick and wobbly.

Claw pricks sound from the back of the couch, a Skitty hopping on the back to look down on the two of them. A bottle of pills jingles in her mouth, quickly dropped so they bounce on her trainer's chest.