Hello once again, everybody. I'm happy all of you decided to come back to read the second chapter of this story. Anyway, there's not many shippy parts in this chapter, but it helps set the stage for the main story. Please don't shoot me. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 2
The whole group stood in awe as they watched the small, blue dragon slowly pick itself up from the ground, baring its fangs in a weak effort to defend itself from the unfamiliar people before it. It was only as it rose that Georgia decided to break the silence.
"Is that a Deino?" Georgia questioned as Ash began to pull out a small, mechanical device from his back pocket that many people called a Pokédex. After pressing the white button at the bottom that was surrounded by a red circle, which made it somewhat resemble the image of a Poké Ball, the gray, rectangular device began to expand vertically to reveal a second monitor screen that had been behind the first. Shortly after expanding, the two monitors began to activate and show various colors in the background that were soon covered by various texts on the bottom and a picture of the dragon in question on the top. The device suddenly began to speak as if it were an actual person, but still had a sort of tone that made it easy for them to tell whether or not a machine was talking.
"Deino, the Irate Pokémon. Due to their poor eyesight, which is caused by the fur that grows on their bodies, Deino tend to tackle and bite wherever they go in order to learn more about their surroundings. Due to their pension for tackling, their bodies are often covered in wounds that are occasionally fatal to them."
"Hmm, that would be a good explanation for why it's so heavily injured," Cilan said as another thought began to bother him "but I don't remember hearing the Pokédex say that before. Did something happen to it, Ash?"
Puzzled at first by Cilan's question, Ash thought for a short moment about what Cilan had said and finally responded. "Now that you bring it up, it does sound different from what it said before. I'll go ask Nurse Joy about it once we reach the Pokémon Ce-" Ash was saying before he was suddenly cut off by a dark beam of energy that quickly approached both him and Cilan. Both Ash and Cilan barely managed to avoid the mass of energy with looks of shock on their faces as it devastated the few trees behind them. As an almost natural reaction for them and people in general, they quickly turned around to see Iris, who was equally surprised by the sudden attack, and Georgia, who found herself sitting on the ground after barely avoiding the attack from the Deino that was now on its knees from exhaustion. "What just happened?!" Ash shouted with panic in his voice as his mind still continued to digest what had happened.
After both Georgia and Iris were brought to their senses, Iris began to speak to Ash with a bit of fear and panic in her voice as well. "Well, while you and Cilan were taking too long talking about the Pokédex as if you were a couple of children instead of focusing on the injured Deino in front of us, Georgia and I were actually trying to tend to its wounds. I had some leftover medicine that would've helped it heal, but GEORGIA was being too hasty and scared the Deino into attacking," Iris said before suddenly turning her head towards Georgia with a serious look on her face. "Why did you suddenly grab the medicine from my hand like that and approach Deino so recklessly?" Iris asked with a bit of anger in her eyes.
As Georgia was fixing the hat on her head, she began to respond to Iris' question. "You were about to give the medicine to it yourself, but as soon as you got the medicine out, you suddenly stopped moving. You looked like you were thinking deeply about something, and I didn't feel like waiting, so I tried to give the Deino your medicine." Ash and Cilan could only stand as they thought about what Georgia had said while Iris could only give an exasperated sigh before responding in a somewhat kinder voice than usual.
"You're such a kid, Georgia. How else would you expect an injured Pokémon to react if you suddenly approached it the way you did?" Georgia could only look down in disappointment as she thought about what her rival said as she began to slowly approach the Deino, who still bared its fangs as Iris drew closer. "Don't worry, Deino. We're only here to help you," Iris said as calmly as possible as she began to crouch and stretch her hand out towards Deino. Wary at first, the Deino took a step back from her hand, but slowly began to approach her hand and lower its guard long enough to capture her scent. Still cautious about the cheerfully smiling Trainer in front of it, it carefully analyzed Iris' scent. After a few minutes of careful smelling, the small, purple dragon began to climb into Iris' lap and cuddle her as if she was a mother caring for her infant child. As the group watched this event, the Axew that stood beside Georgia couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of the random dragon that befriended his Trainer so quickly. Reflecting on this sudden bonding, Cilan began to comment about Iris' and Deino's synergy.
"Mmm, both you and Deino seem to produce an exquisite flavor together. Somehow, it resembles the same one produced between you and Axew, but slightly more bitter than usual," Cilan said with happiness in his voice and showing on his face as Iris began to give Deino the medicine it needed.
"It seems much better now, but we should take it to the Pokémon Center in the Dragon Village nearby just in case," Iris said as she began to carry Deino away in her arms and Axew returned to Iris' hair. As Ash went ahead to follow Iris, Cilan went to Georgia's side to help her rise from the ground.
"I don't need your help to stand on my own two feet, you know," Georgia snapped at Cilan as she picked herself up from the floor. Cilan only continued to smile as she got back on her feet.
"I'm sure she could teach you if you would simply ask," Cilan said with a calm expression on his face. Georgia only responded to his comment with a simple "Hmph!" as she began to follow Ash and Iris again.
...
Nearly twenty minutes had passed until Ash and friends arrived at the Pokemon Center in the Dragon Village, which was at least twice the size of most of the other cabin homes within the village and decorated with the traditional red and white 'P' at the front. After confirming where they were, the group entered the building through the wooden door below the 'P' logo at the center with the injured Deino in tow. As the door opened and the group entered, the first thing that came into their view were the various trainers that could be seen lounging around the center either waiting for their Pokémon to return from their check-ups, enjoying moderately sized meals at the tables and chairs in the corners that seemingly blended in with the environment, or simply talking to each other about numerous topics from what the Trainers did to make their Pokémon stronger to, more recently, why someone was carrying a Deino into the Pokémon Center. As the group walked towards the front desk before them, there were some Trainers that remained speechless as they stared at the battered Pokémon while others continued with their own business as if nothing had happened or what they witnessed had happened too often for them to be able to show any noticeable concern. Finally arriving at the counter, the group was greeted by a young, slender woman in a conservative, pink dress that stretched down to her knees that matched the color of her shoes and her short hair, which was fashioned with two, noticeably large hair loops. Noticing the injured Deino in Iris' arms, she straightened the white apron on the lower half of her dress and began to speak.
"Welcome to the Pokémon Center," she said to the group in her typically cheery tone.
"Hello, Nurse Joy," Iris replied with the Deino held firmly in her arms. "Can you please take care of this Deino for me? We found it in the wild, but it was injured and we didn't want to just leave it out in the open. We already gave it some medicine, but we just wanted to make sure that it was okay now."
"Of course, we'll make sure that this Deino is at full health again," Nurse Joy said as she stretched her arms across the desk to grab the Irate Pokémon from her arms. Iris had nearly put the Deino in her hands, but instantly retracted the Pokémon when it began to lash out, surprising both her and the group in the process. Somehow, this event got the attention got the attention of everyone in the Center that wasn't either resting in one of the bedrooms upstairs or working in one of the rooms behind the front desk. Naturally, the people watching this chaos were either annoyed by the noise made or laughing quietly to themselves as they witnessed such an embarrassing moment take place.
"Don't worry, Deino. She's not going to hurt you. There's no need to worry," Iris said in a soothing voice in order to calm the disturbed Dragon in her arms. Slowly, but surely, the Deino began to calm down as Ash felt a slight, ominous chill go down his spine. Once it finally calmed down, Iris, once again, attempted to hand over the Deino to Nurse Joy. Everyone in the center had braced themselves for another outbreak, even the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, but once Nurse Joy had a firm grip on the dragon, everyone relaxed and went back to whatever they were doing beforehand. After Iris gave a short sigh of relief, Nurse Joy began to turn around and raise a hand toward her mouth.
"Audino! Come here!" Nurse Joy called, and shortly after, a Pokémon came out from the door behind the front desk. It had a slightly plump body with a head that barely rose over the front desk and beige fur across its body along with pink fur that gave the impression that it was wearing an unzipped, pink jacket with a hood that seemed to hug its skin. It had a rather unique appearance, but one of the most noticeable features it had was a pair of large ears that would make anyone believe that it could hear anything. The only thing that was remotely odd about it was the nurse hat it wore that looked just like the one that Nurse Joy wore. "Audino, please take care of this Deino," Nurse Joy said to the Audino as it took the Deino from her hands and gave a soft cry. As the Audino retreated into the back room with Deino, the group decided it would be a good idea to leave their Pokémon with Nurse Joy while they waited for Deino. As the rest of the group went ahead to wait at a table in the corner, Ash had decided to stay behind to ask the pink-haired nurse about his Pokédex.
"Hey, uh, Nurse Joy, I need to ask you something."
"Sure, what's the problem?" Nurse Joy responded.
"Well," Ash said as he pulled his Pokédex out of his back pocket "when I used my Pokédex earlier to search for information about Deino, it said something different from what it said before about it. Did something happen to it?" Ash asked before he handed his Pokédex to Nurse Joy, who was puzzled at first by what he said.
"Have you used it to look up information about a single Pokémon more than once?" She asked Ash, who quickly responded.
"Maybe once or twice, but I never did pay much attention to those kind of details."
Upon hearing this, Nurse Joy soon began to give a soft chuckle. Ash could only stare on in utter confusion as to why she laughed until she began to explain things.
"You probably don't know because of how often it happens, but thanks to new technological advances made over the years, your Pokédex is now capable of being updated automatically whenever it is brought near a Pokémon Center." Ash did not quite understand some of the big words that she used, but he understood the general idea.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Ash shouted with an amazed look on his face to both show his excitement and hide some of his confusion, but very soon, a different thought bothered him. "Wait, if the Pokédex is constantly being updated like this, doesn't that mean that we still don't know everything about the Pokémon researched?" Ash questioned. Nurse Joy began to respond with a more distraught look on her face
"All of this information is constantly being updated by the numerous Pokémon Researchers and Pokémon Professors of the world, so it's still an imperfect system. There are some Pokémon that are not properly researched for various reasons such as rarity or a lack of interest on the researcher's side. There are even some Pokémon that are not properly studied because they are generally considered too dangerous or protective of their territory," Nurse Joy continued as an expression of sadness decorated Ash's face.
"Pokémon ignored because of how dangerous and protective they are," Ash thought to himself as he thought back to all the times he had been in danger because of Pokémon like this as well as the people and situations that made them act this way. A scowl had begun to form on his face before Nurse Joy began to speak to him again.
"Don't worry. There are still many people out there trying to learn more about these Pokémon, and I'm certain that they're doing the best they can," Nurse Joy said in a successful attempt to brighten Ash's mood.
"I guess you're right about that. Thank you for the information," Ash said to Nurse Joy, who gave a small bow as he put the Pokédex back in his pocket and walked to where his friends were sitting.
...
Nearly an hour had passed as Ash and friends waited for their Pokémon to be returned to them. As they waited, Ash told his friends about what Nurse Joy had said about his Pokédex. Both Cilan and Iris were amazed by what he had said, but Georgia could only give so much as half-hearted "Wow, cool," after hearing this news, for she was more focused on scanning the Pokémon Center for any trainer that gave so much as a hint of having a powerful Dragon type Pokémon with them. Before long, Nurse Joy's voice began to echo throughout the center over the intercom as she began to speak.
"Ash Ketchum, Iris, Georgia, and Cilan, please report to the front desk to retrieve your Pokémon. Thank you." Upon hearing the announcement, the group proceeded to the front desk, where they found multiple Poké Balls organized in different racks with Pikachu and Axew sitting in their respective trainer's racks with cheery smiles on their faces.
"I'm happy to inform you all that all of your Pokémon have passed their health check-ups and are in peak condition," Nurse Joy said with her typical smile.
"Thank you very much, Nurse Joy," the group said together as they began to grab their own Poké Balls and store them away. As Iris' Axew returned to its regular home in her hair, she began to notice that something was missing from the group and began to speak.
"Hey, what happened to Deino? Is it alright?" Iris asked with a slight expression of worry on her face.
"Don't worry, Deino is alright, but for the record and because I find it somewhat annoying when Trainers refer to gendered Pokémon as 'its', it's a girl," Nurse Joy said with a somewhat serious look on her face that slightly unnerved the group. "To be honest, her wounds were pretty serious. By all rights, she would've died within a few days if she was left alone, but when we checked her bloodstream, we found a few traces of some potent medicine in its system. Where did you get this medicine?" Nurse Joy said while still keeping a serious look. After a moment of silence, Iris had finally decided to break it by speaking.
"I…I made the medicine myself with some plants and herbs I found while my friends and I were traveling," Iris said with a shaky voice. "I was worried that one of our Pokémon would be injured and that we would be too far from a Pokémon Center if it happened, so I made some medicine in advance just in case." Worried that she had done something wrong, she braced herself, but soon found herself surprised as a smile broke across Nurse Joy's face.
"Don't worry, Iris; you're not in trouble," Nurse Joy said as Iris began to lower her guard and Pikachu jumped back onto Ash's shoulder. "I was only shocked by what I examined. Not too many people can make a complicated medicine like that without some sort of assistance." Iris had begun to blush slightly and rub her head in a sheepish manner upon hearing this praise while the rest of the group was somewhat impressed by what was said, but Nurse Joy continued. "Anyway, right now, Deino is resting in the back room and won't wake up for another hour, so you're all free to do whatever you want until then. Personally, I would suggest visiting the Village Matriarch while you're here."
"Umm…sure," Iris said, feeling a bit scared as she thought about this, but doing her best to hide her feelings from her friends, "but we might go to visit her later?"
"Why not right now? I'm curious about who this Village Matriarch is, or are you too scared to see her?" Georgia said to Iris with a snarky tone in her voice.
"Why would I be scared to take you to see the Matriarch?" Iris responded with a snarky tone as well.
"Then why don't you take us to her now?" Georgia commented. Pretty soon, Iris had found herself in an unavoidable trap that she had created by herself. She tried to think of an excuse, but so far, she couldn't think of any that were good enough and decided that there was no point in arguing.
"Fine, I'll take you all to her now," Iris said with a huff as she began to march outside of the Pokémon Center.
"Thank you for your help, Nurse Joy," Cilan said to Nurse Joy as group followed Iris outside the Pokémon Center. As Iris stood alone, separated from her friends by the wooden door behind her, she began share a worried look with her Axew as they glanced at each other.
Well, that's the end of the chapter. Next time, the whole group will finally get to see the old Village Matriarch. Feel free to leave your comments about the story and stay tuned for the next chapter.