"Welcome to the Vermillion City Pokémon Center. No need to look so glum, we can heal your Pokémon to perfect health." The nurse looks over the guardian, then back to the ruffled mess conked out on the strawberry counter.
"Uhm, hi. It's not-It's not my Pokémon, miss. It's a wild one. I know people normally leave them to fend for themselves after a battle, but I just couldn't." The lad fidgets under a blue stare. "There was a really concerning pop in its wing and I don't want it to die. Even if it attacked Jewel." Apparently seeing what she needs to in Evan's expression, the attendant's posture relaxes a fraction, a true softness normally buried beneath professional smiles seeping in.
"She was quite safe, you know," calls from the side of the room. The fisherman's right hand rests on a knee while the adult's bulk settles more thoroughly into the yellow-cushioned stool. Leaning to the left, an elbow settles on a glass table, and is used as a brace to prop his head.
Evan glares down at hideous mustard tiles rather than answer or glance in the man's direction. Furious is a word lacking the potency of the Trainer's feelings.
His sweet Jewel almost died. Again. And this fat old jerk isn't even sorry.
Sighing at the stiffened shoulders, and lack of response, the older male tries again. "I'm sorry I didn't explain better when you asked, but I surely couldn't have predicted for your Magikarp to bolt straight at a predator that I hadn't yet seen myself."
Whispering to the side, the medical professional sends a pink assistant off to the back. The Chancey returns, wheeling a small gurney.
"That's not an apology," the blonde bites out, spitting the rancid words. The nurse looks between the two, comprehension slowly suffusing as the conversation continues.
Grabbing three braces from a shelf under the Formica, Joy wraps first the brown neck, then both wings of the prone form as an extra precaution. Grasping the body gently but firmly, hand under the head, and forearm under the back, the nurse very carefully rotates the Pidgeotto onto its stomach. Her free arm mimics the position on the front of the bird as it moves, providing a new secured cradle.
Deflating, the seated, unwanted tag-a-long attempts once more, "I am very sorry I caused you undue stress. That was not my intent. In normal circumstances Jewel would have been very safe, even with Pidgeotto nearby." Yet another silence descends.
The limp figure of the Pokémon gets transferred to an elevated stretcher-attachment suspended above the mobile bed. The humanoid pinkette makes sure the chest still has space to rise and fall in the hammock intended for just such a purpose and notes the new ease with which the air whistles lightly through its beak.
The RPN/RPNA pair push the occupied cart to the far corner of the front desk. Detaching the hammock, the patient is transported, contraption and all, into a large mechanical pod. The horizontally sliding door clicks sideways into place after the tenant is deposited. Scootching around her partner, the tubbly, mothering partner clicks a crimson cross. The button glows.
"I have never personally seen any in the columbidae line attack a Magikarp that was not incredibly weak or old. They prefer the easiest prey. With one look at the body-builder you're toting, they normally would have turned tail."
"Except it didn't! It went straight for her!" Evan's hands whip into the air, the agitation palpable.
"You think—" A mouth pops open, then quickly snaps shut. "Jewel was not the focus of this Pidgeotto's attack. The Magikarp she talked to afterward was. Wild Pokémon never try to eat a human's partner except in the most dire of circumstances. They know the backlash such a move would offer." A silence, then an unnerved, "...you truly didn't know?" At the stillness, the epiphany weighs heavy.
An upbeat, five note jingle severs the quiet, the medical device's luminous cross blinking out.
drive . google ".com" / file/d/1nOorSxmeeaRZ0-ux8jwCASRfSgNoQNao/view
Remove spaces and quotes to listen to the five note jingle.
Chapter Notes:
-"Welcome to our Pokémon Center. We can heal your Pokémon to perfect health," is a direct Nurse Joy quote from the games.
-I wanted Nurse Joy to be more human by implying that her joyful manner is just required by her job. When given the choice, she has more emotions on a daily basis.
-Yes, the setting is actually a PokéCenter interior from LeafGreen and FireRed.
-Also, I know the braces probably wouldn't do anything, since, had the Pidgeotto already had breaks either in the neck or wing it would have already suffered further injury being carried to the PokéCenter without them. But Nurse Joy is a professional, and she would refuse to not follow procedure, on the off chance it helps.
-RPN normally stands for Registered Practical Nurse but for this I want it to be Registered Pokémon Nurse. RNA stands for Restorative Nursing Assistant but will also add Pokémon in.
-Columbidae is the family consisting of Pigeons and Doves.