The next day, Violet found herself out by the pasture. Noah had asked her to help give some medicine to a Duduo that had worms.

"Basically, I just need you to squeeze this stuff into its mouth while I hold the beak open. It tastes real nasty to him, but it's the only thing to make him better." Noah held out a plastic syringe that contained some sort of pink liquid.

Violet glanced up at the bird Pokémon. It was eying them curiously... with both of its heads. "Do we need to give it to both of them?"

"Nope. Two mouths- one stomach. Although you'll have to watch out for that second one, make sure he doesn't nip ya."

"O-okay." She gulped. She had no idea what she was doing.

Noah must have seen her anticipation. "Don't worry, if he gets out of hand, I'll just have Ariados calm him down with a string shot." The giant, spider-like Pokémon nodded in confirmation.

Noah approached the Duduo, saying things like, "Hey, buddy. Let me take a look at you. Don't you look nice today?" He rubbed both of its necks and scratched one of the heads. "Hey, would you mind opening that mouth for me?" The Duduo obliged, and Noah grabbed hold of both parts of the beak.

"Alright, Violet, let him have it!"

She hesitated at first, but then swiftly lifted the syringe and shot the pink liquid into its mouth. All of its feathers seemed to stand on end and it gave out a nasty squawk. Noah snapped the beak shut and held it together. Duduo's other head yelled and lunged towards Noah's face. Violet quickly retreated and screamed at this sudden motion, but Noah reached out and grasped the other beak.

"Okay! Okay, easy! Easy, Duduo!" He struggled with the fighting Pokémon, but the two seemed evenly matched. Duduo couldn't get Noah to let go, but its heads surely kept him on his feet. He had to move back and forth so that he could keep his grip.

A worried noise came from Ariados.

"No buddy, I think I got it!"

Finally, Duduo seemed to calm down and Noah let it go. He patted it on the neck and sent him off back into the pasture. "There's a good boy. That wasn't too bad, was it?" He shut the padlock door and then fell backwards onto the grass.

"Ugh, I hate doing that." He looked up at Violet, who was staring at the Duduo with wide, nervous eyes. He laughed. "Good thing I didn't ask you to help me with a Gyarados."

"I've just never been around Pokémon much before."

"You get used to it after a while."

"Spearow!"

Violet and Noah turned towards the noise. Sunny was flying towards them, making noises and maneuvers as though he were trying to get their attention.

"The professor must want us up at the lab," Noah deduced as he stood up. "Let's go."

They followed Sunny to the house at a rather quick pace. Based on Sunny's behavior, the situation must be urgent. As they entered through the back door, Violet could hear a commotion coming from the living room. Professor Oak and a young woman with a dark, copper colored ponytail were trying to carry something wrapped in a white sheet. It was moving.

"Get him in the other room, quickly!"

"He won't stop thrashing!"

Noah rushed forward. "Professor, what's that?"

"It's that Bulbasaur that ran off last week. We have to get him to the lab so I can analyze him."

Noah left to help, but Violet stayed behind. She felt as though she would only be in the way. Still, the ordeal made her worried, so she sat on the couch and stared at the lab door, hoping that the poor thing would be okay.

"Hi!"

Violet jumped. Someone small had crashed into her knees. Looking down, she saw it to be a child. He was young, probably four or five years old, and had wild, black hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt with red suspenders, although one of them had fallen off his shoulder.

"That's my Bulbasaur!" He said cheerfully... and loudly.

"Oh is it?" Violet raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yep! Mama and I just found him by the road, and when he's better, I get to keep himmm!" He began jumping up and down excitedly.

"Is it sick?"

The boy nodded vigorously. "But soon it'll be mine!"

"I see," she said, sounding halfway impressed.

"Hey Violet," Noah came out of the lab. "Professor Oak wants you to take a look at this."

She sat straight up, unable to hide her surprise. "Me?!" How in the world could she help?

"Yeah, get in here."

As Violet stood, the boy bounded over to Noah, grabbed his hands, and started climbing up his legs. "How's my Bulbasaur?!"

"Whoa there, kiddo!" Noah chuckled. "You have way too much energy. I don't know how he's doing, but you might want to ask your mom again if you can keep him."

"She'll say yes!" He hopped down and marched away proudly.

"Oh really?" Noah put his hands on his hips. "How old are you?"

"Four!" The kid put up four fingers for emphasis. "And when I get that Bulbasaur, I'll be a trainer like my dad!"

Violet muttered, "You keep telling yourself that, kid." She entered the lab, not sure of what to expect having never been in there before.

Several computers, bookshelves, and machines line the walls, someone them she recognized from Professor Elm's lab. One corner of the room was home to a large cabinet container dozens of shelves of PokéBalls. Oak and the woman, she assumed was that kid's mother, were standing around a table where Bulbasaur lied, being put to sleep by an Alakazam's hypnosis.

Oak was speaking while quickly tapping away at a laptop, "Where did you say you found him?"

"About a mile from the grocery store. Ash spotted him, actually."

"Well thank you for bringing him here. If we act fast, we might be able to save him."

Violet cleared her throat. "Um... Professor?"

Oak looked up. "Oh, Violet! Yes, Noah said you were pretty familiar with plants. I want you to take a look at this."

"B-but this is a Pokémon," she muttered. "It's not exactly the same thing..." She approached the table anyway, and as she did so she got her first good look of the Bulbasaur.

Even though it was nearly asleep, its face was contorted with pain, and it was heaving heavily. Sweat dripped down its forehead and legs. Violet couldn't help but gasp at the sight of its bulb. Round, golden flecks were speckled across two of its back leaves, near the tip. She racked her brain, trying to remember everything she had read about plant diseases.

"Alright, Alakazam, that should do it."

"Kaa-zaam." The psychic Pokémon bowed its head and, to Violet's surprise, teleported out of the room.

"I've never seen anything like this in a Bulbasaur before," Oak said as he continued to type away. "Sores, broken bones, and the flue, yes, but never a bulb infection. I can't imagine what he got himself into."

The woman put a hand to her mouth. "I hope you can save it."

"Oh!" Violet snapped her fingers. She did know what this was! "My bell peppers had this once. It's a fungal infection- some kind of rust fungus is growing on it."

Professor Oak's eyes examined the bulb again. "That does make sense. Were you able to cure your peppers from it?"

"Um..." Violet frowned, suddenly not feeling all that impressed with herself. "Just one bush, out of eight. It spreads pretty fast, and the only way to get rid of it is to cut out the infected area altogether."

"We'll have to operate on it right away then." Oak turned to the woman. "Thanks again, Delia. I'm going to ask you to leave, though. We need to get started."

"Of course, we'll get out of your hair. Please let me know how everything went."

"Sure thing." Oak said it quickly and off-handedly. By this time, he was utterly distracted by his task, gathering equipment and preparing a syringe of an anesthetic.

As Delia left, Ash bounded up to her. "Is my Bulbasaur coming with us?"

"No, it's still sick. And I told you, no Pokémon until you're ten."

"Awww! But Mahhhm!" His wines of protest could be heard as his mother took him outside.

Violet stood there, still looking at the Bulbasaur and wondering if she should leave. Meanwhile, Professor Oak moved about the laboratory at lightning speed, getting things prepared for the surgery. He opened one of the cabinets and grabbed for a lab coat on one of the hangers. "Noah!"

He poked his head in the door. "Yo."

"Go in the shed out back and see if we have any fungicide."

"Caaan do!"

"Violet, put on a lab coat."

"Why?"

"I want you to help me."

Her eyes widened and a nervous, hot pit instantly formed in her stomach. She was going to perform surgery on a Pokémon?!

No, she thought. Absolutely not!

You can do it.

Uryu?

His presence was already gone.

"But... I don't know how to do this!"

"I don't need you to do much, just hand me what I ask for and apply the fungicide when Noah gets back. Bulbasaur's bulb is a plant, essentially. You'll be fine."

"Um... okay." She wasn't too sure about this, but she suited up anyway. Oak wheeled over a lamp and position it so that the light showed right on the Bulbasaur. After the two of them washed their hands and donned some gloves and face masks, the procedure began.

"This is precisely why we need a damn Pokémon Center in this town," Oak muttered as he administered the anesthetic. "Just because we don't have a gym... There, we'll give that a couple minutes to kick in."

"Professor, are you sure I should be helping you with this?" Violet asked nervously.

"You've worked with Professor Elm, haven't you?"

She could honestly say she wasn't expecting that question.

"We keep tabs on each other quite often," he explained at her confused gaze.

"Well, a little. I mostly just went to look at some samples I had collected from my garden."

"From what he tells me, you're quite the little scientist with a lot of potential. Time to tap into that, I say."

Violet thought she felt her cheeks flush. She had no idea Professor Elm ever said good things about her. All those times in the lab when she would come over to visit, the two had mostly kept to themselves, unless Elm wanted to brag about some breakthrough he had. She wondered if he knew what had happened, or if he was expecting her to come in next week on her normal day.

"Okay Violet, are you ready?"

Oak's words shook her from her thoughts. She took one more look at the Bulbasaur. The rust fungus looked hideous against its deep, green leaves. It must have been painful too.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good. Here we go, then."

He cleaned the damaged section and the area around it with some disinfectant. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the scalpel and made the first incision. It wasn't deep, just in case the leaves below weren't infected. He peeled away the first leaf and its neighbor when they were both completely cut off, only to reveal a smaller quantity of rust fungus on the second layer.

"Damn," he whispered. "It's deeper than I thought. Any further and we'll have to cut all the way to the center, and that will be difficult to heal."

"He won't heal at all if there's any rust left." Violet pointed out.

"Very true. Can you hand me that probe?"

"Sure."

Oak slightly peeled back the second layer of leaves. After asking Violet to move the lamp so he could get a better look, he gave a small sigh of relief.

"Well, we're in luck. There's only a small amount of fungus on the third layer. We won't have to cut that much out." Very gingerly, he made another incision and removed the second infected layer. "Alright, now this is where I'm really going to need you. The inner layer of the bulb is very sensitive. You see that other syringe there?"

"Yeah."

"That's more anesthesia, but a lesser quality than the shot I gave him earlier. I didn't want to put too much in him if he didn't need it, but if he wakes up when I cut into this leaf, I need you to administer it into his foreleg and help me restrain him. He needs to keep still if he's going to get through this. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Violet could barely breathe. She cleaned the appointed area with some rubbing alcohol, realizing that this is the second time today that she might have to inject something into a Pokémon. And she was far more afraid of failing than she was the last time.

"Are you ready?"

She picked up the syringe and nodded.

"Alright, be prepared if he moves."

Violet moved the needle into position, hoping she would have the constitution to jab it into the skin of another being. Oak carefully set the blade of the scalpel next to the leaf and applied pressure. The Bulbasaur's leg twitched. Violet gasped and inched the needle closer.

"Not yet, Violet." He made the cut. At first, there was no movement, but then the Bulbasaur moved its head and groaned.

"Professor..."

"Give him a little, but not the whole thing. I'm almost done."

She fought to steady her hand as she pushed the needle into Bulbasaur's leg. She pushed on the piston, letting half of the anesthesia to go in. Her tense shoulders didn't relax until she had taken the needle out and their patient didn't stir.

Though she couldn't see it through his face mask, Professor Oak smiled. "Good job."

Noah's voice could be heard from the living room as he drew closer. "Okay, I had to brush off a few cobwebs, but I found that fungicide." He entered the lab and slowed his steps when he saw the operation taking place. "Yikes. Just how bad is he?'

"Rust fungal infection," Oak explained. "He's lucky Delia found him when she did. One more day and it could have spread to the entire bulb." He deposited the last of the infected leaves in the plastic container on the table and set down his tools. "Now, Violet, can you pour some of that fungicide in a dish and rub some on the wound with a swab?"

"Yeah."

"Don't forget to change your gloves after you've touched the bottle."

"Of course."

As Violet did as she was told, Noah maneuvered over to the professor.

"You let her help?" He whispered in Oak's ear.

"Sometimes we need to care for another in order to ease our own pain."

Noah raised his eyebrow at the old man in a, "Well then, aren't you sneaky?" kind of way.

Violet returned with the dish of the fungicide, and after commenting on the smell, finished her task. She stood back and gazed at the Bulbasaur. He looked bizarre with a hole cut out of his bulb, but other than that, he looked much more at ease. His breathing was steady and his face was calm. She reached out and stroked his foreleg. It was smooth and warm.

"I'll put some gauze around that so it doesn't get infected again," said Oak. "We'll move him to a bed and check up on him in a couple hours."

Maybe it was her curiosity as to what the bulb would do over time, or maybe it was her dormant happiness wanting to force its way back out, but she felt as though she shouldn't leave Bulbasaur. He had entered this room dying patient, but could now live again as a free Pokémon, all thanks to some quick thinking and a little benevolence. He was a miracle to her. A picture of peace.

"Would it be okay if I stayed with him for a little bit longer, Professor?" Violet asked quietly.

Oak glanced over at Noah with a knowing grin as if to say, "I told you." In return, his assistant gave a "whatever" shrug.

"Of course, just as long as you don't wake him up. He's going to need plenty of rest if he's going to heal."

When Bulbasaur was moved and bandaged up, and the other two had left, Violet moved up a chair so that she could sit by him. She crossed her arms on the bed and rested her head on them.

This... she thought. I saved this.

Could she save Val too?


Hey everyone! My humble thanks to you if you've been reading this far. It means a lot.

I just wanted to drop a little message here letting everyone know that I'm writing this story for NaNoWriMo, so don't be surprised if you spot little plot holes or things that don't quite correlate with what was said before, that's why. (Get it?) I'm trying to avoid any screw ups, but sometimes attempting to reach word goals puts logic on the back burner. BUT you can also expect fairly frequent updates, at least for the month of November. Hopefully I can continue this trend when novel month is over. Once this whole thing is written, I'm going to go back through and fix everything.

Enjoy reading guys! Feel free to give feedback, whether it be good or bad. Any constructive comment is encouraging for me.