A/N: And chapter 3 is here! I'm in the middle of writing layouts for each upcoming chapter as we speak so hopefully, it should make writing go a bit faster since I'll know where I want to get.

Healing Journey

Chapter 3

Rocketing Away

"Happiny, use pound!", Collin commanded his partner in a desperate attempt to get away from the venomous snake making its way towards him.

When the ceiling collapsed, Collin had at first assumed some wild flying Pokemon had simply flown into it. An aerial battle perhaps. He didn't expect two white-outfit wearing individuals and a talking Meowth to drop down from the hole that had been created. He especially hadn't expected them to immediately start singing what they called a 'motto'.

"Are you actually serious right now?", he questioned them incredulously.

"Don't interrupt us, twerp!", the two humans shouted in sync with each other.

"Who do you clowns think you are?!", Ash yelled from his spot near Collin.

"If you had bothered to listen to our motto, you would know my name is Jessie", announced the woman with long red hair.

"And I'm James", the suave blue-haired man smirked from his spot next to his partner.

"And I'M MEOOOWWTH", the apparently talking cat Pokemon spoke up from in between them.

"And WE are the amazing Team Rocket!", they finished in sync once again.

They received doubtful stares in return.

"Isn't Team Rocket supposed to be a highly dangerous criminal organization?", the red-haired girl who had come after Ash asked in confusion.

"Exactly! What's your point, ugly?", Jessie asked snottily.

"Well... you three don't strike me as the most dangerous people. I mean, you started to sing when you first broke in. Are you sure you aren't a musical trio?"

"Oh, I wish we-", James was quickly interrupted by Jessie.

"How dare you! I'll have you know that we are some of the top agents in Team Rocket! So I'd start handing over your Pokemon and any Pokemon in this center unless you want to face the consequences", she threatened.

"And I'll have you know that my name is Misty Waterflower, one of the four Sensational Sisters of the Cerulean Gym; and all it will take is one call to the League to bring the full force of it down on you!", the finally named Misty declared with a smug smile.

Jessie laughed before throwing out a Pokeball followed by James throwing his own, "I guess we'll need to make sure you aren't able to give them a call then! Go, Ekans! Bite these kids until they can't move!"

"Go, Koffing! Suffocate them."

Collin, Ash, and Misty all jumped away from the Pokemon as quickly as possible. Happiny had jumped into Collin's arms the moment Team Rocket had come through the roof and was shouting off what was sure to be explicit curses in her own language. After jumping back, Misty reached to her backpack and pulled out two of her own Pokeballs before releasing them to show two star-shaped Pokemon with one being a bit larger than the other.

"Staryu, use Bubblebeam on that ball of gas! Starmie, use your Psychic on the snake!", Misty commanded her Pokemon in quick order and they responded in kind.

"Koffing!", James shouted as his Pokemon was thrown into the air by the attack sent by Staryu. Ekans, on the other hand, managed to dig underground the moment Starmie was commanded to attack.

"Oh, you really shouldn't have done that, kiddo. Ekans, use Poison Jab on that Starmie", Jessie shouted with a laugh as her Ekans flew out of the ground and smacked Starmie with its tail.

"Now, use Bite!", she continued her assault on the water/psychic type while glaring at Misty for daring to attack Team Rocket.

"Starmie, no!", Misty gasped without paying attention to her other Pokemon.

"Koffing, Sludge that overgrown starfish! Then Tackle it until it's down!", James commanded from behind her.

Staryu made a robotic noise that sounded like a screech as a huge glob of hazardous waste was thrown on top of it, only to go silent as Koffing used Tackle on it multiple times until its gem cracked slightly.

"No! Quick, Collin; use your Happiny! I'm out of Pokemon!", Misty cried as Team Rocket's Pokemon started moving towards them.

"Happiny isn't a battler!", Collin denied her request, "She can't take these guys on!"

"I can try to wake up Pikachu, he can take these guys no problem!", Ash declared with an assured smirk while imagining how quickly Pikachu could deal with the trio of criminals.

"Are you an idiot? Pikachu is still in bad condition! He should not be fighting under any circumstance!", Collin shook his head at the stupidity of the young trainer for even suggesting such a thing.

"Well, what else can we do? Unless we can use some of the Pokeballs on the shelf over there?", Ash asked Collin while pointing to the area where Joy stored the recovering Pokemon until they were fully healed for their trainer.

"Of course we can't! Those are sick Pokemon, Ash! We can't ask them to rescue us when they already are trying to heal up!", Collin explained to him while once again wondering why he didn't think these things through.

"UGH! Then I don't know what else you want us to try and do! If we don't fight these guys off, they're going to steal our Pokemon and every Pokemon in this place!"

"I know, I know. Just give me a second."

"Well hurry up, 'cause I can't imagine bad guys are willing to let you think it through", Misty commented while returning her Staryu and recently fainted Starmie.

Collin gritted his teeth and began looking around before his eyes finally landed on Happiny, still in his arms. Happiny looked up questioningly at him before smiling with a nod that filled Collin with determination and hope.

"Do you think you can do it, Happiny?", he wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into. They had never battled before. This wasn't something they were ready for.

"Hap- Happiny!", she nodded her head while pumping a 'fist' in the air.

"Well then, I'll trust your judgment!", he told his partner, "I want you to use Pound on that Koffing!"

"You think that little pipsqueak is going to any damage to my Koffing? You must be jo-", James began to gloat before stopping dead when he noticed his Koffing go flying across the room.

"What!?"

"How!?"

"KOFFING!"

"Did you not know that the Happiny line has incredible strength? They might be healers at heart, but every healer needs a strong arm every now and again!", Collin laughed as Happiny turned to face Ekans.

"So what if your pink ball is a bit stronger than we thought! Ekans will still eat it in one bite! Ekans, how about eggs for dinner?", Jessie asked her Pokemon with a devilish smile on her face.

"EKANSSS!"

"Happiny, get away!", Collin shouted in a panic at the speed in which Ekans began to move across the floor.

"Don't let it get away, Ekans!"

Collin and Happiny began running from the Ekans that didn't seem to care if it got a bite of either of them as long as it tasted flesh. Collin tried throwing several chairs and tables in its way but nothing seemed to slow it down as it either went under, over or through every obstacle.

"Ekans, get them!", Jessie laughed at the game of chase.

"Happiny, use Pound!", Collin commanded his partner in a desperate attempt to get away from the venomous snake making its way towards him.

But Happiny didn't use Pound.

Instead, three large projectiles made of what looked like mud slowly formed in midair before launching at the snake Pokemon. They formed slowly enough that Ekans managed to dodge the first one but the second one barely managed to scrape it and the third one made a direct hit.

"Ekans, get up!", but the Pokemon didn't move from its position on the ground.

"Now, I think you're going to want to sit quietly until Officer Jenny gets here to arrest you goons. Or else", Misty stepped in and gloated to the Team Rocket members who paled for a second before James smiled.

"You didn't think Koffing was completely out of the game, did you?"

Collin sighed before saying, "Look, you should just give up. There's nothing you can do that we can't handle."

"Oh? Then handle this. Koffing, Self-Destruct!", James ordered as he grabbed ahold of his partners and made a run for it.

"KOFF-IIIIIIIIING!", the poison gas Pokemon boomed as it... boomed.

One should never become over-confident and think their opponent doesn't have a move that they'll be unprepared for. Almost every good trainer has an ace-in-the-hole. James was no exception. The moment Koffing used Self-Destruct, Collin's eyes were blinded by a flash of light before a loud noise took his hearing away. When he managed to gain his sight back, he saw Team Rocket was gone (including Koffing) and his friends were on the ground, disoriented. The building was on fire.

"GET OUT OF HERE!", he shouted as far as he could tell into their faces. When he realized they most likely couldn't hear him just like he couldn't hear anything, he grabbed them one by one before pushing them towards the door of the Pokemon Center. Ash resisted instantly and Collin realized he wasn't going to leave without making sure Pikachu also made it out of the building.

Collin pointed from himself to the area where Pikachu was being kept and tried to show Ash that he himself was going to make sure Pikachu made it out fine. Ash continued to resist a bit more before Collin smacked him upside his head and pushed him into Misty's arms and glared at them while once again pointing at the door. Misty pulled Ash along while Collin looked at Happiny who had a determined look on her face.

"I'm sorry", he mouthed to his partner who looked at him in confusion before outrage overtook her face as he pulled out her Pokeball.

"Haap!", he saw her start to mouth as he clicked the button on her ball and returned her to safety.

He managed to make it to where Pikachu was being kept and found his Pokeball nearby the bed he was lying on. He quickly returned Pikachu by tapping him on the head with the ball and then turned to leave. As his eyes moved around the room, he realized that all the other Pokemon were still stuck in their Pokeballs and wouldn't be able to get away from the fire. Collin ran over to where the balls were kept and began shoving as many as possible into his backpack. He'd take multiple trips back and forth to make sure they were all safe. He would-...

He would...

"Why is it so blurry?", he questioned no one as he slowly sank to the floor while coughing more and more.

The last thing he saw as his vision faded was curly red hair.

"Of all the idiotic things you could do?", was the first thing he heard upon opening his eyes.

"Whaa?", he managed to mumble while looking around the room.

If the signs were being read correctly, it looked to be a hospital room. It had been years since he last remembered being in a place where humans were healed rather than Pokemon. Coincidentally, the last time he was in a hospital was also because he had managed to injure himself trying to help Pokemon. Those Zubat needed to get back into their cave though, and he didn't regret getting them there!

"Do you realize you could have died?", Nurse Joy questioned him with a glare as she crossed her arms.

"Well... yeah. But I needed to make sure all the Pokemon were safe", he shrugged as if it were obvious.

Nurse Joy's eyes softened slightly before she sighed while putting her head into her hands.

"That was very... noble of you, Collin. But you should know that I had been in the process of sending all sick Pokemon to another center the moment Team Rocket broke through the ceiling", she explained to him with a shake of her head.

"Oh...", he whispered as he looked down, "But I didn't know that! And Pikachu definitely still needed to be rescued when I went back there!"

"I know that, Ash. But did you know Pokeballs are fire-proof? They've been like that for over ten years now. You could've just returned Pikachu and made a run for it. You didn't need to try rescuing them. I only attempted sending them to another center to keep them from being stolen by Team Rocket. Once they were gone, our lives were more important than sticking around the save Pokemon that were safe anyway."

"I didn't know that..."

"Well, as a future Pokemon Nurse, it's one of the first things you should look up."

And then she smacked him upside his head.

"Now, don't pull that kind of stupid stunt again. You really had me worried, Collin."

"Eh heh... I make no promises", he sheepishly informed her as she once again sighed before perking as she remembered something.

"Oh, I forgot. Your friends wanted to see you", she smiled at him.

"Friends?"

"So you're leaving, eh?", Collin asked Ash while wondering why Joy had called him his friend.

"Yeah... I really need to get started on my journey. We stuck around a bit longer than I had planned because we needed to make sure you were going to be okay, but it's time for me to get a move on", Ash responded while Pikachu nodded from his shoulder.

"And you're traveling with this guy now?", Collin turned to the red-headed partner of Ash.

"Mmhmm! He still owes me a new bike! Not to mention I might come across a few water Pokemon I haven't seen if I stick with him for a while", Misty responded with a smile while hugging Collin goodbye.

"But yeah! We just wanted to say bye to you before we left and to make sure you knew that we believed in you! Nurse Joy told us about what you're doing to become the first Nurse Joy that's a guy! That's so cool! I know you can do it, Collin!", Ash shouted far too loudly in such a small room.

"Oh... well thanks. I wish you luck on your journey as well, Ash. Just remember, Pokemon Masters need to actually catch Pokemon."

Ash just glared.

"And that's the move Refresh", Joy explained to Collin with a small smile as Chansey finished instructing Happiny on her first healing move.

"Wow! Thanks, Nurse Joy!", he excitedly thanked the Nurse before turning to his partner, "This should help us a lot, Happiny! Now that we're able to heal statuses with just a single move, we don't have to worry about having Antidotes, Awakenings, or any other healing items besides Potions! We're basically a two-man healing team already!"

Joy laughed before stating, "You have quite a ways before you're reading to be a healing team, but I think you'll get there eventually, Collin."

"Really?", Collin asked with his eyes shining in disbelief that the Nurse who started out hating him actually believed in him.

"Really", she agreed with a nod as Chansey giggled in her own way off to the side, "You just have to remember that a healer needs to not only care for their patients but also care their own personal well-being."

"I know that", he attempted to brush her comment off.

"If you know it, the practice it", she told him sternly in a way that made him feel like he was a small child being dressed down.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Now, I've taken the liberty of contacting my sister Joy in Pewter City. She's expecting you. Don't worry if she seems a bit tired, she's used to dealing with a rather persistent suitor of a Gym Leader in that town; and it's exhausted her a little bit."