"And you think you might sign up for the Nurse Joy program?" An older man asks from behind a desk, clasping his hands together.
The man is old and serious-faced; his plain grey suit stands out against the lavish office room.
"Of course she will!" The Ace Trainer chirps.
"I wasn't asking you," the man says, an annoyed look crossing his face. "She must be the one to answer me."
"Well?" He prompts the silent girl.
"A-Ah, yes, I'm very interested," replies the girl timidly.
She wears a giant floppy hat, a plain sundress, and an intricate choker. Her nervousness is one he's seen many times before.
She'll probably fail and go the way of the Lass Trainers, the old man thinks.
Yet…
"Then I am obligated to give you this Happiny. You do understand the level of care and hard work required for it evolve? You'll need to pass the finals of the Johto Nursing program to be given an Oval Stone. It must evolve into a Chansey to be given the title of "Nurse Joy.""
"Y-Yes," the girl answers.
"You may trade it away if you wish, but you cannot receive another one," he tells her gravely.
"Yes."
"Our Happiny are bred to be quite stubborn. If you mistreat it you will likely be hospitalized," he stresses.
The girl seems taken aback, as they always are, and only a nudge from the irritating Ace Trainer prompts a reaction.
She takes a deep breath and meets his eyes.
"I understand."
The girl's purple eyes seem to narrow in determination, and he feels better about his decision. He grabs a pokeball from a drawer.
"Then I suppose I am prepared to give you this pokemon, miss…?"
"Jane," she tells him accepting the pokeball gingerly.
A fine name for a Lass Trainer, he thinks ruefully.
"Miss Jane, here are some informational pamphlets on the program as well as a list of study guides," he tells her, grabbing a folder of papers.
"I'll hang onto those for her, if you don't mind," the Ace Trainer says brightly, holding his hand out.
He gives the boy a nasty look, but hands him the papers when he doesn't see the girl reach for them.
"Treat it well." He tells the girl, "A pokemon that has the potential to save lives is a huge responsibility."
The girl seems to tremble a bit, but gives him a nod. She's holding onto the pokeball as if it's the world's greatest treasure, and he sees a bright future ahead for trainer and pokemon.
"Thank you," she says softly.
He smiles, knowing that the timid girl before him can only grow into a stronger woman.
Then the boy ruins it by throwing his hands up and hollering like an imbecile.
"Alright, your first pokemon, way to go! Time to celebrate!"
The girl's face twitches as he pushes her out the door, and he feels himself pitying her for having such an unruly brother.
Endless chatter blasts its way into his office until blissful silence takes its place.
Just as he finally thinks himself to be rid of the cretin, the Ace Trainer sticks his head back in the door with a grin and says,
"You know, not allowing guys to be Nurse Joys is kind of sexist, don't you think? Do you think helping pokemon's only for girls? Well, not my problem. Bye!"
It takes his remarkable self-restraint not to throw a paperweight at the boy's head.
...
"Man, we got lucky that your voice hasn't cracked yet," Kyle says grinning.
He doesn't say anything and runs his thumb over the pokeball.
This is his pokeball; his pokemon.
He thinks he's going to be sick.
"And all the recruiters thought you were a girl, one-hundred percent, so we had absolutely no problem getting to the final part!" The Ace Trainer chortles.
He glares at the teen from under the brim of his hat.
"You know if you want to do this long time, I know a few people—"
He throws the pokeball.
"Happiny, use Pound."
...
"You shouldn't be so mean to me," Kyle says with a pout.
He doesn't say anything.
"I mean, do you know how much talking I had to do to get you a licensed Happiny?"
My clothes better be in here, he thinks irritably as he digs around in his backpack.
"I put myself out for you and then you attack me!" Kyle complains.
He finds his shirt, but—
"Where's my shorts?" He asks, eyes narrowing.
"You don't remember?" Kyle blinks.
"Remember what?" He growls.
"You traded them to that girl for the hat," Kyle informs him.
"What."
"Or maybe it was me who traded them while you were shrieking about getting stripped and being exposed," the Ace Trainer muses.
"You traded away my shorts," he states dully. "I have no pants."
"Well, it's not like you need them. You look surprisingly good in a dress," Kyle grins.
He reaches for the pokeball lying beside his backpack.
Kyle grabs his arm before he can exact justice.
"Nope," the teen says, "you need to introduce yourself before you keep issuing orders. Pokemon don't handle only being called on for battle too well."
The teen thinks about it for a moment.
"Unless they're single-minded and blood-thirsty like Hydreigon," the trainer amends.
He snatches his arm back and glares.
"I am not going to be friends with that thing. This was a waste of time, and you know it," he hisses.
The pitying expression on the Ace Trainer's face only makes him angrier.
"I don't need pokemon," he says through gritted teeth. "I just need pants."
"You're wrong," Kyle tells him gently, "you've got it backwards. We humans can give up many things, but pokemon isn't one of them."
He scoffs.
"I've done just fine on my own. I can admit to needing them to survive, but I don't need them as a companion!" He declares crossing his arms.
"Maybe," Kyle says, "but do you like being angry all the time? Because pokemon aren't going to magically go away."
He looks away.
"Well we can work on that later," the Ace Trainer mutters. "We need to get back to Olivine City."
He stiffens.
Oh no, please no…
"I'm staying in Goldenrod City!" He exclaims, darting away.
Kyle grabs him by the back of the dress and slings him over the trainer's shoulder.
"We're going to start this journey off right—in Kanto!" The teen tells his struggling form.
"Which means it's back to Olivine City, and we both know my Noctowl's the fastest way," Kyle continues, picking up Happiny's pokeball and slinging the abandoned backpack across his other shoulder.
"Cheer up! I'll buy you an awesome pair of shorts when we get there," the Ace Trainer says brightly.
"I'm going to hurl on you," he threatens, still thrashing against the hold on him.
"We'll be going too fast. It'll just stay in your mouth," Kyle responds knowingly.
He doesn't stop trying to escape when the Noctowl appears in a beam of light. He doesn't even stop when the familiar glow of Fly encompasses them both.
I'm going to die, he thinks tearfully.
They're picked up in an invisible whirlwind and flung away.
Olivine City is still a trip even with Fly in effect; they get to travel at high speeds for what feels like a very long time.
It's lucky for Kyle that they're going too fast to even scream.
I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him.
Very lucky.