If Darius had to point out the thing most unerving about this particular Nurse Joy, he'd have to say her wings. That or her glaring red eyes, jagged horns, long black claws or devil tail. But it was a close call. Her long, ragged, leathery black wings were much larger than Darius himself, and he found himself edging away from him.

Nurse Joy was all smiles and happiness, appearing to be oblivious to the hell-like fumes erupting from her mouth with every breath. It seemed to be the only thing out of place in the building she was leading him up to; all smooth and white and shiny. The automatic doors were silver and slid open without a sound, and tiny lights illuminated the clinic's sign.

Darius did a double take. tHE CLiNIc Of no RETuRn? He learned back to double check the roughly gathered letters, but the automatic doors hissed shut with a force garenteed to cut off whoever's head was held there.

He swallowed. His mother had always told him that his imagination would get his a good job as a writer or mass murderer. But now he wasn't sure it was his imagination. He wished he'd never offered to babysit the Special Needs pokemon on the Third Floor.

"Why does the sign say that the Clinic has no return?" he asked.

"Well, are patents are all better, so they don't need to return, do they?" replied Joy brightly. "This way please, Mr Fied."

Another Nurse Joy stood behind it. Her eyes were a dead yellow, the stagnant colour that bottled water turns if you don't shake it every two years. She wrote down his name and occupation. The Nurse Joy behind him laughed, and everything jolted. It was his imagination. She wasn't a demon at all. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Your hand, please, Mr Fied." Darius held out his wrist, and the Nurse Joy stamped it. "Thank you for offerning to look after the pokemon on the Third Floor."

A bolt of lightning shook the building. Lights dimmed briefly. Darius looked around, nervous. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the first Nurse Joy said, leading him away. "It's just we don't get many people volenteering to look after the Third Floor occupants."

Another flash. The lights crackled and went out for barely a second, but it was enough. "What was that?" he asked, terrified.

"What was what?" she asked. "Anyway, those pokemon up ahead are charming, if not a little difficult. It'll only be a four a few weeks."

"Weeks?"

"Many people find it hard to escape from the Third Floor."

By this time they were in the lift, and the doors slammed shut at the third bolt of lightning, plunging them in blackness.

"Oops, silly me. I forgot the lights." Nurse Joy hammered the lift power box. "I just hope the lift cable doesn't snap again," she said. "There are an awful lot of basement floors. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes. We need the Third Floor."

The lift stopped. Darius, petrified, stood waiting for the doors to open. They remained locked.

"This way," Nurse Joy said, walking in the opposite direction. "Don't worry, Mr Fied. A lot of people are confused by the Third Floor doors."

The lift doors snapped behind him as he stepped out onto the corridor. The rumble shook the building.

"Yes, such lovely words," Nurse Joy said to herself. She started singing. "The Third Floor, Third Floor, THIRD FLOOR..."

Darius grasped a door frame- that was standing in the middle of the corridor- as the building leapt around violently. The earthquake soon stopped, and he let go of the frame with an odd sort of drunkenness.

"Thanks again, Mr Fied," Nurse Joy said, stepping back into the lift. "You'll find everything you need here. We'll be back in a week. Thanks for looking after the Third Floor occupants."

At those fatal words, the lift doors snapped shut and a heavy metal vault locked itself over the entrance. Darius took a deep breath and stepped through the nearest door.

Nothing happened. Not surprising, since this was the same door frame he'd held onto earlier. It was just standing there. Darius stepped through it several times, each time more confused. Finally he spotted another door, opened it, and stepped through.

The notice said. "Third Floor occupants" and it had a picture of a lightning strike.

E/N: Do not be scared. This part of the story is the serious bit. For, as Tomanculastic Gregoriano III will say later, things are not always as they seem. (Remember I said that. Look out for it in the next chapter).