The next morning I already had our bags all packed. Jessee though insisted on slipping into the ceremony to see Chansey graduate. Since Chansey was pretty much her best friend, how could I not oblige her. So we snuck to the auditorium. All the lights were off, the only light source was the tiny candles illuminating the Chansey's faces, and the only sound was a chorus of Chansey alumni chanting a very beautiful harmony. I cracked the door open a hair and moved so Jessee could watch as Chansey mounted the stage and receive her diploma, nurse hat, and golden necklace with a tiny egg shaped charm on it. Despite her eyes overflowing with tears, Jessee smiled. Then she turned and whispered to me, "Thank you, Jess," Before closing the door again silently and moving toward the exit. I followed her as she opened up the school door and we both slipped out without a sound.

Jessee and I walked away from the school, Jessee standing straight and proud like nothing was wrong at all, not looking back once. I held Pikachu in my arms, worried about my little sister. This was typical for her; she wasn't one to snivel…when someone or something hurt her she more often tended to either get vengeful or bottle it and act unaffected at all. This was both a good and bad thing. She wasn't a crybaby, I could give her that, but she often would end up lashing out in anger at all the wrong people…and she wasn't one to really apologize either.

Suddenly I heard something coming up behind us. I turned and didn't even have to tell Jessee because she had heard it too.

"—sey Chansey!" Chansey called after us, running as fast as its tiny little feet could carry her. She ran straight to Jessee and handed her the nurses cap. "Chansey chansey!"

"Y—you want me to have your cap?" Jessee asked uncertainly.

"Chansey!" Chansey chirped happily.

Jessee knelt down in front of her. "That's very sweet of you…but no…You deserve it, not me." She put it back on Chansey's head. Chansey looked downcast again before suddenly brightening and reaching for the egg shaped charm on her necklace. She gripped it with both paws and with a little bit of strain it snapped in half. She handed the bottom portion to Jessee. "Chansey!"

Jessee's voice cracked as she took the small egg. "Oh Chansey…thank you…Now you'll always have a part of me and I'll always have a part of you."

"Chansey!" Chansey chirped with a nod.

Jessee let go of her bag and wrapped her arms tightly around Chansey's round pink body. "I'll never forget you, Chansey…" Her voice was cracking and I knew she was close to crying.

The sun was setting though, soon it would be dark and we had to get to the Center before the curfew. "Jessee…" I prodded as gently as I could.

"I know Jess," Jessee replied pulling herself off of chansey and wiping her eyes. She looked back at Chansey. "I have to go now, but I promise I'll never forget you. And someday I'm sure we'll meet again." She stood up and picked up her bag again. "Goodbye, Chansey." She said turning her back and walking slowly away from the school again.

I turned toward Chansey again. "Thank you Chansey. I'm sure you'll make a great nurse. We'll see you again someday." Then I turned back and caught up to Jessee already having left the Chansey School of Pokemon Medicine in the dust.

Jessee was silent all the way to the pokemon center. She just held her bag in one hand and stared down at the tiny broken charm clenched in the other. Her heart was broken, and there was nothing in the world that I could do or say to cheer her up, despite wanting more than anything to comfort her. So we just walked silently the five blocks or so to the pokemon center.

In addition to being a hospital for sick and injured pokemon, most pokemon centers acted as a free hostel for traveling pokemon trainers, paid for by the taxes of whatever city it was in. The catch was you could only stay there for a max of three days, unless you had a pokemon in the center that needed more time to recover. But right now it was all we had.

Jessee sat on a seat in the far end of the center while I went up to the counter and requested a room for the two of us from the Joy that was working there. She gave me a key, and I went back to Jessee.

"Hey, Jessee…we've got the key. We have a place to stay for a couple days. It's not much, but it'll give us some time to come up with a plan…" I said, trying to be as optimistic and reassuring as I could.

Jessee turned the charm over in her hands. She still didn't look up at me but she nodded to show that she'd heard. She picked up her bag and stood up. "Ok, Jess. Then lets go…get this day behind us…"

I led her down the hall to the room with the matching key number. I unlocked the door and let her in first. She went through but stopped in the doorway. I was about to ask why, but when I looked past her I got my answer. the room was set up almost identically to the dorm at the school. I bit my lip wondering if maybe I should ask Nurse Joy for a room on the opposite side.

Jessee took a shaky breath and walked into the room. She dropped her bag on the floor and sat on the bottom bunk. I flicked on the light and set my bag down gently in the corner. Pikachu jumped off my shoulders where he'd been riding and jumped onto the bed near Jessee. He put his front paws up on Jessee's leg and looked up at her. "Ka…?" He asked quietly. Jessee turned her head away and tried to wave him off, but he was unperturbed by her lack of fondness toward him.

"Pikachu, you stay here with Jessee, I'm going to go get some food." I commanded heading back toward the door.

"Pikachu nodded understandingly. "Pi."

I came back a few minutes later with some fruit for Pikachu and a bowl of rice and sautéed vegetables for Jessee, as well as a cup of hot tea. When I came into the room it was like they hadn't moved at all. I set the small bowl of assorted fruit on the desk across from the bunk beds. "Here, Pikachu. This is yours."

"Pika!" Pikachu chirped as he hopped off the bed and bounded to the desk, clearing it in a single bound.

As he sat happily eating, I took the tray of food over to Jessee. "Here, I got this for you too."

Jessee took one look at the food on the plate and immediately turned her head away. "No thank you. I don't want it."

"…I got you some tea too…lots of sugar…just the way you like it…"

Jessee's fists clenched the hem of her skirt. "I don't want it."

I sighed and laid the tray down on the floor. "Jessee…you should eat something. We can only stay here for three days, we should take advantage of the free food. Who knows when we're going to eat again…" Jessee was silent. "Do you want to talk…?"

"Everything…We bet everything on this one chance…We bet everything and we lost every bit of it…!" Jessee's lip quivered. "We have no money, no job, no home, Mom is dead, James is gone…" She sobbed, tears running down her cheeks. "We don't even have any hope left. There is nothing left for us! We're going to die, homeless and starving in some alleyway with no one to even identify our mangled corpses!"

She sobbed again, and thats when I grabbed her, wrapping my arms around her and clutching her to my chest, rocking her gently as I stroked her hair. "Jessee, that won't happen. I swear, I would never let that happen!" I pulled her off and wiped her tears away. "Look, this path didn't work out so well. I know you're heartbroken about it, but it's ok. We'll still use what we learned and we'll figure something else out. Something will come up. I promise you, we will be ok."

Jessee didn't say anything but tucked her legs up underneath her and leaned against my shoulder. I hugged her again and continued stroking her hair. I wouldn't say it, but I was feeling the same anxieties she was. It didn't matter. I had three days to figure something out. That was plenty of time, right? Sure, plenty of time…

I continued to rock my sister whispering, "We'll be ok…Everything will be ok…" I would never tell her this, but this was more for my benefit than it was for hers.