"Now's the time, Blaziken! High Jump Kick!"

Blaziken promptly obeyed, springing up and dodging a volley of boulders, striking its foe with a mighty blow, kicking up a thick dust cloud from the impact. The veil soon subsided, revealing the victor, standing proudly before an Aggron's massive shape collapsed on the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAND IT IS ALL OVER! JOSEPH ROSEWOOD IS THE NEW NATIONAL CHAMPION!" A voice echoed all over the arena through loudspeakers, causing the crowd to explode in cheers and screams.

My eyes grow damp as the facts slowly dawn on me. I had just conquered Hoenn's National Championship.

I run to my Pokémon, as it holds its arms open, and, before I can take my seconds step, the world spins around me, turning blank, as I hear a familiar voice call my name out in the distance…

…and I merge back into the hospital's cold reality.

"Joe! Joe!" A masked man was leaning over my half-asleep body, shaking me back into awareness. "Get your ass to Room Four, we have an emergency!"

I slip my feet back into my shoes, grab a surgical mask-and-cap, and rush to the operation. In the middle of the room, lies a black and greyish vulpine creature, surrounded by a team of nurses, preparing it for surgery.

"What the hell happened?" I ask to the man who shook me awake back in the rest room, as we both cleanse our hands before slipping in sterile equipment.

"Car crash", he replied. "The driver himself wheeled the poor thing in on the back of his truck."

"But… What is this one anyway?"

"A Zoroark."

"Zo… Zoroark? Unovan species?"

"Indeed." The man said, before walking to the surgical field. "I know we're not used to dealing with those, Joe, but there's nowhere else we can take her. We'll have to make do."

Within two minutes after my awakening, the surgery starts. As soon as I make through the first layers of tissue, a dangerous amount of blood emerges from the creature's body. A conspicuous sign of internal bleeding.

I feel the clamp and tweezer shake in my hands. At the current rate, with blood pressure dropping to dangerous levels, containing the bleeding was essential to keep the Pokémon's heart from stopping. On a closer inspection, after the assistant aspirated away the hemorragia, I could spot the source of the problem – a torn liver and a crushed kidney.

People ran in and out of the room, bringing in blood and medicine, hurrying into stabilizing the patient, successfully avoiding hypovolemic shock. Only when the orthopaedists joined the operation, after checking and restoring intestinal integrity, I realized the true extension of the damage.

The Zoroark had its right leg twisted and snapped into a bizarre angle, with the right arm in a similar condition, and a whole side of its face was covered in dried blood. Its long, red mane had several blood clots sticking to it as well.

"Our job here is done, Joe, let's go. We'll leave the superficial wounds to the interns, they'll arrive soon" My partner says, removing his blood-stained sterile apron, tossing it on a hamper before walking out of the room, and I follow shortly after.

Back at the rest room, he's changed back from the hospital's green scrubs into his regular clothes, and is packing up to leave. Only then I realize it's seven o' clock. I didn't know how long I took patching that poor Zoroark up – I just wanted to get back home and get some actual sleep as soon as possible.

"So, weekend off?" He asks. His name is Mark Weiss, fellow surgeon, and my best friend.

"Guess I deserve it, don't I?" I reply, after a long, lazy yawn. "I've been handling all emergencies by myself for the past 18 hours before you joined shift."

Mark chuckles. "This schedule's gonna give you an ulcer someday, man."

"Six-hour shifts in Pokécenters ain't gonna feed your Mawile…" I ponder, closing my locker and swinging my bag over my shoulder, ready to make my way back home.

"Swing by my place tonight, we'll have the PWT live from Driftveil on TV. I'll buy some beer and order a pizza."

I nod and wave at him, starting my car. Through all the way back home and during the shower I rushed to after arriving, I couldn't stop thinking about the Zoroark and the accident's circumstances. The whole case was a puzzle missing several pieces.

Eventually, by the time I'm done with breakfast, my jaded mind surrenders and guides my numbened body back to my warm bed. As much as I cared for my patients, a weekend off was a weekend off, and I had to seize it. I'd have plenty of time to think about the situation soon enough.

The dream I had earlier, back at the hospital's rest room, made its way back into my subconscious as I feel deeply asleep.