A PokeGirl Emergency, part 1!

(Oh, I'm getting in trouble for this one)

It had already been a pretty slow day at the Viridian City PokeCenter when the storm hit. Things had picked up a little immediately afterward, as all the nearby trainers decided to call it a day and came in to heal up their teams before heading to wherever they were staying, but that had come and gone, and now the place was practically empty.

Nurse Joy at the front desk, watching the weather rage outside through the front door. She dearly hoped that no one was caught in all that. Wasn't today supposed to be the day the kids got their starters down in Pallet Town? Hopefully they had decided to put off heading out for at least one more day.

"Chansey!"

Nurse Joy looked down and smiled as the PokeCenter's Chansey approached the desk, a tray with two steaming cups of team, a pitcher of cream, and bowl of sugar balanced on her stubby, pink arms. She reached up and pushed the tray onto the desk.

"Thank you, Chansey," Nurse Joy said as she took one of the cups and Chansey the other. Nurse Joy spooned some sugar into her tea, added a bit of cream, and stirred it all together.

The two watched the storm together, sipping their tea in silence. It was strange, to be safe and warm within the PokeCenter, while outside was violence and chaos.

"You know, this might sound strange," said Nurse Joy. "But I'm actually glad that the Gym Leader is still gone."

"Chansey?"

"Oh, I know it means we don't get as much business. But he's here so infrequently that it's so hard to keep up with demand whenever he's in town. Can you imagine having to deal with all that when this is going on?"

Chansey nodded in agreement. "Chansey!"

"Especially since so many of them tend to have been trainers for a while, and have a PokeGirl or two," Nurse Joy continued. "Can you imagine being caught in this weather with how they get dressed up?" She shivered. That was one of the many reasons she refused to partake in any Pokemon training herself. If one didn't battle, then you couldn't be caught. There was more than one trainer out there that had a Nurse Joy on their team.

"Chansey," Chansey said sadly.

Then Nurse Joy frowned. Wait, was that someone running toward the front door? It looked like a kid. But why was he heading here and not home?

Moments later he burst in through the front door. "HELP!" he screamed. "Please, you have to help her!"

Nurse Joy leapt to her feet. The boy looked to only be around ten or eleven at most, with dark hair and eyes. And he looked like he had just been through a war. His clothes were torn and covered with mud while his arms, neck, and face were covered with bleeding cuts. But what was more concerning was the look in his eyes. He looked so panicked from terror that if no one helped him soon he would probably hurt himself further.

"Oh, Mother of Arceus!" Nurse Joy blurted out. "Chansey, go get the First Aid kit!"

"Chansey!"

Nurse Joy hurried around the desk to calm the boy. "All right, let's calm down," she said, reaching out to him. "You're safe now, and no one's-"

Instead of taking her hands, he instead thrust a pokeball into her grasp.

"Please!" he begged. "Save her!"

"Save her?" Nurse Joy said, looking down at the pokeball. "Oh! I understand." The boy was a rookie trainer, and something had happened to injure both him and his Pokemon. "Don't worry. So long as it's in its pokeball, it can't-"

Then she frowned. Wait.

"Is…Is this a human ball?"

"Yes!" the boy practically screamed. "And it's not what you think! I'll explain everything, but first help her!"

"I…" Nurse Joy shook her head. Later. She could ask questions later.

She hurried over to the Healing Machine, inserted the human ball, and pushed a few buttons. On the screen a 3d wire representation of the ball's occupant appeared while the screen filled with data.

"Hmmm, human female," Nurse Joy said. "Obviously. Age…"

She paused. And then glanced over to the frantic boy, who was hovering over her shoulder. Questions indeed.

Shaking her head, Nurse Joy went back to her job. Heal first, questions later.

"Severe electrical burns," she said. "I'm reading bad nerve damage around the hands and wrists, palms completely skinned, damage to the respiratory system, cardiac arrest, both eardrums blown out, cataracts in the eyes, internal bleeding." She shook her head. If the girl hadn't been put into a human ball when she had, she would certainly be dead.

"Can you save her?" the boy said anxiously.

"I can." Nurse Joy said. She pressed a button, and the Healing Machine dinged. The slot that the human ball had been inserted to started to glow, and a soft green light surrounded it.

"Don't worry," Nurse Joy said as she turned in her seat toward him. "You got us to her in time. Her injuries are bad, but she will be fine. It'll just take a little longer for her to heal, about an hour instead of a few minutes."

Pure relief swept through the boy's body, and he nearly collapsed right then and there. "Oh, thank you," he whispered at grateful tears streamed down his cheeks. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Right about then, Chansey showed up with the First Aid kit.

"But now that she's healing, let's see to you," Nurse Joy said as she stood up.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Or are you aware of how much you're bleeding?"

The boy stared at her in stupefaction. Then he looked down at the red cuts all over his arms as if noticing them for the first time.

"Ah!"

"Come on," Nurse Joy said as she took his trembling hand. "We'll get you fixed up. And you can explain to me what happened."

…

It was an odd state of being, existing halfway between consciousness and oblivion, unable to recall anything but certain that she ought to.

All she knew was that she had been hurt, but beyond that, nothing. No memory of what had happened, no memory of who or what had hurt her, no memory of why or how. She didn't even know who she even was.

That ought to concern her, she knew. She ought to be distressed. And yet, she couldn't muster any feelings other than a vague unease. She just couldn't seem to bother.

In the meantime, there was something happening. Energy was flowing into her, energy that she didn't know where it came from. It felt good though, so she just let it be about its work.

Enough of her was aware to hope that someone would come get her and explain things. Eventually.

…

Outside, as if to prove that it had risen up for no other reason than to ruin Ash's life, the storm was starting to quite. The rain slowed to a drizzle, the winds calmed, and the lightning ceased.

Even so, it wasn't ideal weather to be out and about in, much less a hot air balloon.

It hovered high above Viridian City, a massive inflated representation of a Meowth's head of all things. If anyone below saw it, they would wonder if the occupants had completely lost their minds. After all, only the totally insane would take a hot air balloon out during a thunderstorm!

And at least one of its occupants agreed.

"Huh," said the balloon's "pilot" as he looked up at the sky. "I thinks dah lightnin' rods worked."

One of the balloon's occupants, who was entirely unused to floating around in a hot air balloon in the first place and couldn't understand why her two companions insisted on using it in the first place, nervously peeked out of the basket. "You mean you weren't sure?"

"Eh," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "Seemed like a safe bet."

"A safe bet? You attached Voltorbs to our balloon!"

And he had. Attached to the bottom of the basket was a metal apparatus with four outstretched arms, each one covered with rubbed, and attached to the end of each was a very angry Voltorb!"

"Well, dah Pikachus kept scratchin' me and dah Magnemites wouldn't stop wanderin' off! And don't get me stahted on dat Electabuzz!"

"Oh, you think you're so smart, don't you?" Cassidy snapped. "Don't you know what Voltorbs do when they're angry?"

"Well, obviously," said the third member of the balloon's "crew," such as it was. "We're counting on it, actually!"

"You're counting on the Voltorbs blowing us up?"

"Not us," said the pilot. He clawed his way up the side of the basket to point to the town below. "Dem!"

All told, they were an odd assemblage. Cassidy was a young blonde woman in her early twenties. She wore a short black dress a large red R over her breasts, thigh-high stockings, and elbow-length black gloves. Despite still being a Grunt, she had crawled, bit, clawed, and climbed her way up Team Rocket's hierarchy, perpetuating heist after heist, everything from kidnapping (an entire beauty pageant's contestants!) to grand larceny (a million dollar diamond that she still had!) to impersonating the clergy (never again) to replacing all the rice balls at a police party with poisoned donuts (she still wasn't sure how anyone saw the difference) to tax fraud (that one had taken a lot of work, because as someone born into the Team Rocket organization, Cassidy hadn't even heard of "taxes" until then, and still found the concept stupid. Paying her money to help someone else? Ridiculous!).

Unfortunately, before she was promoted to admin, she and her partner Butch had to cooperate with another team on a big mission, one much less…competent.

It had not gone well.

Despite things clearly being the other team's fault (what part of lie low, wait for the signal that was never going to happen, and let her and Butch handle everything didn't they understand?), the blame had been shared all around, and it was mandated that the two teams engage in emergency cooperation training.

Which was to say, they had been split apart and then mix and matched, the boys with the boys and the girls with the girls.

Which meant that while her Butch was off suffering at the hands of the King of Camp, Cassidy was stuck with the living definition of dimwitted primadonna.

Jessie, Cassidy's poor excuse for a "partner," was also a woman in her early twenties who served Team Rocket, and that was where the similarities ended. Instead of a proper black dress, she wore a white halter top and skirt combination, one that left her midriff bare and had a slit right across the red R on her chest. Whereas Cassidy had her hair in an elegant, yet practical, style, Jessie's purple…monstrosity was waxed into a single giant horn that stuck out an entire meter behind her head. How she maintained that style, Cassidy couldn't even begin to guess, as she had never so much as seen her touch it up.

Jessie was emblematic of everything that was wrong with Team Rocket Grunts these days. She was dumb, she was lazy, and she was arrogant. Every plan Cassidy carefully laid out, Jessie would manage to ruin. Every part Cassidy laid out for her just to include her while keeping her out of the way, Jessie would still somehow manage to bungle. And every time Jessie would suggest a plan of her own, Cassidy would be so stupefied by its sheer idiocy that she wondered how Jessie had managed to evade being arrested so long, much less caught by some trainer she was trying to scam and turned into a PokeGirl. Maybe she had, only for her trainer to abandon her after only a few hours of having to put up with her.

But as inexplicable as Jessie was, she was nothing to the supposed "leader" of their hapless trio.

In short, he was a Pokemon.

To be more specific, he was a Meowth, a feline Pokemon fairly common in Kanto known for the their irritating disposition, perchance for wearing shiny charms on their heads, and being able to summon up large wads of money as an offensive weapon. Unfortunately, this Meowth couldn't do the latter, else he might actually be worth something!

Instead, he compensated by being the only Meowth able to walk around on his hind legs like a human.

"So if yous are done whinin'," he said in that weird accent of his, "hows about yous goes an' gets ready tah flip dah switch?"

Also, he could talk. He was a Pokemon that could walk and talk like a human.

Why this was so, Cassidy didn't know, nor would he tell her. Why this anomaly wasn't being paraded around and people charged admission to see him, she couldn't even begin to fathom. He was a talking Pokemon! Surely there were better way to make money off of him other than…recruiting him!

And yet recruit him the boss had, and he was now a full-fledged member of Team Rocket, and the leader of the…other group, which Cassidy was now forced to be a part of. And any novelty that might come from working with a talking Pokemon was worn down by him being A: really, really bossy, and B: kind of an idiot.

Oh, he wasn't Jessie-level stupid, much less as dumb as her braindead partner, but he was still pretty dumb. And for some reason he was in charge.

Finally Cassidy had given up arguing with him, which is why she had ended up floating through the air in a hot air balloon through a massive storm with several angry Voltorbs strapped to their basket.

Cassidy had been this close to making admin! One more success, and she would have scored that promotion! Now she was looking longingly at every passing trainer, wondering if she could convince them to catch her. Life as a PokeGirl couldn't be this unbearable.

"Well?" Meowth demanded. "Whaddya waitin' for?"

"Fine, fine," Cassidy groused as she headed for the switch in question. "If it gets the living bombs off us any faster."

She laid a hand on the switch, but as she did, she felt Jessie approach her from behind and immediately tensed up.

"Why so stressed, Cassidy?" Jessie murmured as she pressed her body against Cassidy's. One of her hands snaked around to grab onto one of Cassidy's breasts. "Don't you like working with us?"

…

Ash's wounds had been treated, sprayed with the tingling potion that was similar to the type used to cure wounded Pokemon. It still stung, especially on the really deep cuts, where the Spearows had gotten with their curved beaks, but he had endured. Nurse Joy had tsked worryingly as she had fixed him up.

"Looks like there's a slight infection here," she had said, her fingers brushing over his neck. Despite the hot flashes of pain, it still felt weirdly good having her touch him, even if what she was doing was only inspecting the various gashes he had picked up.

"Oh, i-is there?" Ash had said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yes. Not surprising, considering your tumble through the mud. I'm just going to add something a little stronger to be safe. Brace yourself."

"Huh? For wha-" Then something cool been sprayed onto his neck, something that felt like salt water mixed with crushed glass. "Ow!"

Still, he had gotten through it: the gashes had been disinfected and were on the mend, his neck, shoulders, forearms, hands, and the back of his head had been bandaged tightly with waterproof wrappings, and he now was in the PokeCenter's shower, getting cleaned up.

The shower was in a private booth with a curtain, but it was still in a large, communal space. Granted, it was empty save for him, but he still felt weirdly exposed to be showering in such a strange place.

Still, the hot water felt great on his tired, aching body. Nurse Joy had assured him that he didn't need to worry about getting the bandages wet, but he was still cautious letting the stream hit them directly, so let it hit him mainly in the middle of his back while he used a washcloth to gingerly clean around the tied-up areas.

But now that he was finally safe, that the girl was healing and neither were in danger anymore, he found the heart-stopping fear slowly replaced by deep simmering worry.

What was he going to do? How was he going to explain things to Mom? She was probably worried sick about him! Did she know what had happened? Surely someone had told her about him showing up too late to get a starter and how he had run off crying. And now that it was night and he still hadn't come back, what was she thinking?

He had to call her and explain things. It would be embarrassing, but that was better than having her worry sick about him. After that, he would have to go home.

That was the part that truly bothered him. He had already bragged to his friends about being ready to set off and become a Pokemon trainer, but now he was going to have to slink home with his tail tucked between his legs. Yes, he was grateful that he hadn't died, but his future wasn't looking like it was worth having survived.

(the sour worry that was twisting his stomach sank a little lower and grew warm)

And what was he going to tell that girl that had saved him? "Sorry you almost died while saving me from my own stupidity, but we're stuck together because I had to catch you"? She was going to be furious! She was going to hate him!

And he just plain didn't want her to hate him. After all, she was everything he wanted to be: a young Pokemon trainer, one who was strong, independent, and fearless. She had to be close to his age, and still already had a full team!

Plus, she was…

(the warmth in his core grew)

…well, she was really, really cute. He had only actually known her for a couple of minutes, ones that had been mostly spent fleeing for his life, but it had still been the closest he had ever been to any girl, ever!

His mind wandered back to the trainer that had given him those human balls, and the two PokeGirls that had belonged to him, about how they had draped themselves around him, pressing their bodies in close, letting him touch them, getting annoyed when he wasn't touching them. And he had seen several other trainers act just the same!

(he started to feel flush, for reasons that had nothing to do with the hot water)

Ash might have been a kid, but he wasn't that ignorant. He had studied the lifestyle of a trainer at length, so he knew full well what trainers and their PokeGirls did together. Personally he found it weird and uncomfortable and had very little interest in doing any of that. He wanted to become a trainer of Pokemon and Pokemon only, thank you very much!

But now he had a PokeGirl.

He had no intention of treating her like a PokeGirl; of course he didn't! Heck, he wouldn't have caught her in the first place if it weren't for the sudden emergency they had found themselves in!

Still…he did have a PokeGirl…

(down below, Ash's penis started twitching up and down)

He thought of those two PokeGirls again. And then he mentally took out their trainer, and replaced him with himself. It…okay, it was weird even to imagine. Both of them had to be at least twice as old as he was, and considerably taller at that. Their naked hips would practically be bumping up against his shoulders, with their boobs resting on his head!

But then the picture in his mind changed. The two PokeGirls were gone, and in their place was the girl that had rescued him, affectionately pressing herself up against him with his arm around her waist.

Maybe…Maybe she wouldn't be mad. Maybe she would be grateful that he had saved her. Maybe she would like being his PokeGirl. Unlikely, but what if?

He pictured the two of them traveling together, laughing and talking as they strolled through fields and woods, hunting down Pokemon together, training them together, challenging other trainers and Gym Leaders together, and no one need know that she was technically a PokeGirl. That wouldn't be so bad. Actually, it sounded like a lot of fun! Just the two of them, a couple of kids on a grand Pokemon adventure, all alone in the wide wilderness, camping together beneath the stars, lying side-by-side while staring up at the sky. And then their hands would seek each other's out, and their fingers would entwine…

And from there, who knew what would happen when they got comfortable together? Sharing a single sleeping bag, their bodies pressed close together for warmth. Huddled up against one another in their tent, waiting for rain to stop. Swimming together in lakes and rivers, wearing nothing but their underwear.

Or maybe…if they so happened to be far enough away from civilization…nothing at all?

(the slow, simmering warmth in his core suddenly flared up, causing his penis to rise up and grow stiff)

And then the picture in his mind changed again. Now the mental image of himself was gone, and it was just her, and she was smiling, smiling at him, not at the imaginary Ash, but at him!

Now she was walking toward him, not a casual stroll, but a slow, sensual strut, hips swaying with every step, that impish smile not leaving her face. Her hands slowly moved up her front, practically caressing herself, to come to rest on the straps of her suspenders, which she then idly pushed off her shoulders.

The straps came down, and so did her shorts, sliding down her bare legs to get kicked aside.

(his hand moved as if it had a mind of its own, sliding down his front, down to his softly burning sex. It hesitated, hovering right over its destination. Then it went in, fingers clasping around the hardness of his penis, the touch sending electricity shooting up his hips)

Her panties were white with blue stripes, and she didn't seem to care at all that Ash was staring; she seemed to enjoy being stared at, as her hands once against caressed her front as they slid up, seizing the bottom of her short, yellow tank top, pulling it up over her head and letting it drop. Unlike the two PokeGirls, her boobs were very small, almost flat, and that seemed right.

That didn't seem to be bother her any. If anything, she seemed almost proud, as she idly squeezed one of her nipples between her finger and her thumb, rolling it around for him as if to say, Come. This is yours. It belongs to you alone. Her other hand trailed down, fingertips brushing her skin, to grab onto the waistband of her panties.

And then her hand went down even further.

(his breathing now slow and heavy, Ash began to move his hand back and forth, sliding it up and down his shaft)

And now she was wearing the same kind of outfit as those PokeGirls, with red boots and red gloves and a bright red corset tightly around her waist, leaving her chest and hips naked. Her coppery hair had been let down and combed out, and now fell down around her shoulders in shimmering waves.

We can be like this, you know, she said as she continued to come deliciously close, her hands outstretched toward him. I'm yours. You just have to choose to have me-

"Ash!"

His hand still clasped around his throbbing member, Ash suddenly jerked up at the sound of his name being called from the door to the PokeCenter's showers, and immediately regretted it when it sent his bandaged wounds throbbing just as hard.

"Y-Yeah?" he stammered.

"I finished cleaning your clothes and left them on the bench outside your stall! So when you want to talk, go ahead and come out. I put on some tea for us."

"Oh, uh, thanks!"

The door to the showers swung shut, and Ash slowly breathed out. That interruption had taken him right out of the mood, the unfamiliar feeling of intense arousal now dampened by the very familiar feeling of shame. His penis was already retreating in embarrassment.

Ash shook his head. Then, with a frustrated groan, he twisted the shower knobs off.

It was just as well. That girl had gotten hurt trying to save him. She didn't deserve to be grossly fantasized over by some unlucky loser.

And it occurred to him then that the scenario he had just had her play out in his head was identical to a porn video Gary had shown him, back when they were still friends. So it wasn't even an original fantasy.

Upset, ashamed, frustrated, and still pretty hot and bothered, Ash exited the shower. Hopefully there was no one out there having an as embarrassing day as he was.

…

The energy continued to flow into her, and as it did, the feeling of being hurt slowly receded.

Not that she hurt. No, she actually felt nothing at all. It was more of an awareness of having been hurt, a consistent signal informing her of the situation without really delving into specifics. It was insistent, it was constant, and had she the capability for emotion at that moment she would find it quite annoying. But it didn't hurt. And it was slowly going away. She was healing.

Well, that was nice. Hopefully when it was done she would either be allowed to wake up fully or slip into sleep, because this half-state was almost bothersome, or at least it would be if she was able to be feel bothered, which she wasn't.

And that kind of bothered her.

…

Cassidy went rigid. She gritted her teeth as Jessie fingered the nipple through her dress, rolling it between her fingers, making it rise up and harden like the traitor it was.

And then there was this. Cassidy was not unused to the constant sexual harassment; hell, in Team Rocket it was practically the Grunts' way of saying hello. And at least with Butch it had been mutual and consensual! But ever since being separated from him and paired up with those two idiots, it had gotten so, so, so much worse.

Despite clearly being the least important member of their unwilling trio (and how pathetic does one have to be to rank beneath a Meowth, talking or otherwise?), Jessie had gotten into her head that since there were two of them and only one of Cassidy, that meant that she could do whatever she wanted whenever she felt like. Unfortunately, she was kind of right, as that damned Meowth would always pop his claws whenever Cassidy took umbrage.

Which was often.

"Come on, admit it," Jessie murmured as she gave Cassidy' nipple a sharp twist, sending lances of pain through her breast and making her wince. Her other hand ran through Cassidy's hair, stroking the locks before gathering up a handful and bringing it to her nose. "Mmmm," Jessie said as she sniffed.

Cassidy's eye twitched. "Let go of me," she said in a low, dangerous tone. "Right now."

"Or you'll do what?" The hand on Cassidy's breast stretched all the way across her bust and pressed in, squishing both breasts. The other then danced its way down Cassidy's neck to caress her shoulder, before sliding a single finger all the way down her back to come to rest on the curve of Cassidy's ass.

"Last chance, Jessie. Piss off."

Jessie chuckled. "Oh, please," she said as she gave her handful of Cassidy's ass a squeeze. "If you really didn't like it, you would have done something by now."

With that, her hand then slithered down, beneath Cassidy's skirt and slipping in beneath her underwear.

Right then.

"Ow!" Jessie recoiled, hopping on one leg while grabbing the other with both hands, holding onto where Cassidy had slammed the back of her boot into Jessie's shin.

Cassidy turned around, planted the sole of her boot on Jessie's chest, and shoved, driving her back into a corner of the basket. "Jessie, I know learning isn't really your strong suit, so let me be abundantly clear: touch me again, and I will report you as having been carried off by an Arcanine and cope with the consequences by warming myself with the memory of actually having beaten your head in with a rock. Do I make myself clear?"

Jessie's eyes burned with indignant fury. "How dare you!" she shouted. "The boss will-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Cassidy warned, tapping the three pokeballs on her belt, which was noticeably greater than the single one on Jessie's. "Let's be professional here."

"Yah wanna rethink that, Toots?" Meowth said, idly popping the claws on his right paw.

Right. Enough of this.

"Well, I don't know, Mr. Top Cat," Cassidy responded. "Say, why don't we see how your claws stand up to my Raticate's fangs? And after we do that…" She pulled out an empty pokeball and activated it. "Let's see if that mouth of yours makes you immune to being caught!"

Meowth froze. "Yah wouldn't!"

Shrugging, Cassidy went back to the switch. "Well, I certainly don't want to. The thought of having to carry you around with me almost makes me want to resign. But if you two keep pushing me, it'll be you I drop out of this balloon!"

And with that, she seized the switch and yanked it down.

…

The boy's wounds had been treated, his clothes cleaned, and since he was now showered and dressed, he was sitting across from Nurse Joy in the break room, nursing a cup of tea as he explained everything.

And to Nurse Joy's immense relief, it was a lot less illegal and unethical than she had suspected.

"Well, your quick thinking saved her life," she told him. She tapped her SilphScreen, which was feeding her information on her patient from the Healing Machine. "If you hadn't done what you had done, she would be dead."

"I know, I know," Ash Ketchum sighed. "But kids aren't supposed to catch PokeGirls! And what will she think when she finds out? Is she stuck with me forever?"

"Hmmm, well, I wouldn't worry about it," Nurse Joy said. "I won't tell anyone if you won't. And no, she isn't. You can just release her once she's healed up."

"I can do that?"

"Of course! We offer releasing services right from the public PC! If you need to release a Pokemon or a PokeGirl for whatever reason, you can do it right here!"

Ash sighed with relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I don't know how I'd explain that to my mom."

Nurse Joy couldn't help but smirk. "You know, you're a very strange boy."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean most boys your age would love to have a PokeGirl all of your own! And you actually caught one, and with a very good reason too! But here you are, so quick to get rid of her."

Ash's face flushed. "N-No! It's not like that!"

"Are you sure? I mean, I did see her picture on the screen, and she is quite the cutie!"

"It's n-not!" Ash's insisted, his voice cracking in the most adorable way. "She got hurt trying to save me! I had to do something!"

"Hmmm, if you say so." Nurse Joy decided to drop the subject. As fun as teasing the kid and getting him all flustered was, he had already had a tough day. Still, it was clear to see that the boy had developed quite the crush on his mystery rescuer. "Of course, there's still the issue of that trainer handing out human balls to children. Did he give you his name?"

Ash breathed out in relief at the change in topic. "His name? Uh, no, he didn't."

On the SilphScreen, she saw that the girl had been healed enough to work on identification. It immediately started scrolling through names. "Well, can you describe him?"

Ash started to, but he didn't have to for long before Nurse Joy stopped him. "That's enough," she sighed. "Alexander."

"Uh, who?"

"Oh, he's this hotshot trainer that passes through here sometimes. I guess he's skilled enough, but he's made two shots at the local Gym Leader, and failed each time. But that hasn't really deterred him. And he's just handing out human balls?"

"Uh, maybe he reached into the wrong pocket."

"Maybe." Though Nurse Joy seriously doubted it. Handing out human balls to a little boys sounded exactly like the sort of thing Alexander would get a kick out of. "Still, I'm going to have a little talk with the local authorities about this." Then, seeing Ash's face pale, she quickly assured him, "Don't worry, you won't be in trouble, I won't even use your name. But this really isn't the sort of thing he should be allowed to get away with."

"Well, if he hadn't, then she would have died!"

"If he had just given you the pokeballs, you wouldn't be in that position to begin with! You would've caught that Spearow and none of that would have happened!" Then Nurse Joy sighed. "Still, if you insist. I still think someone ought to tell him off though." Then she smiled. "You really want to become a Pokemon trainer, don't you?"

Ash's bandaged-up face immediately lit up. "Oh, more than anything!"

"Hmmm." Nurse Joy rose from her seat. "Wait here."

She went to the back of the room and opened up a grey door. Ash sat and stared in confusion as she went inside the room beyond.

Moments later she emerged. "If you're set on doing this, you have to do it properly," she said, handing him a child-sized travel pack. It was somewhat weatherworn, but still serviceable. "Inside you'll find a tent, a sleeping bag, a First Aid kit, and other camping essentials."

Ash's jaw dropped. "For me? Wow!"

"And that's not all. Here."

In one hand was a belt of pokeballs, the real thing this time. In the other was a PokeDex.

"You're giving me a PokeDex?"

"Yeah, you'll be surprised at what people just leave here," Nurse Joy told him. "That's our Lost and Found. We hold onto everything we find, but after a couple of weeks, it's free game."

Ash's eyes filled with grateful tears. "I-I don't know what to say."

Nurse Joy leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You can start with 'thank you.'"

Ash's face immediately turned beet-red, and he stammered out a thank you. Nurse Joy was amused. The kid had heart and guts, and would shape up into a fine trainer one day. Also he had that sort of awkward charm that would probably draw girls to him in droves without him realizing it. He probably wouldn't even need to catch them to get them to go with him.

And that reminded her. "Oh, and by the by," Nurse Joy said. "You'd better give me those human balls. It's better that you don't keep them with you."

"Oh, right!" Ash reached into both of his jeans pockets. "Here!"

He pulled out two handfuls of shrunken-down spheres. Nurse Joy frowned. He had about twelve in his right hand, and they were human balls all right. But the six in his left looked like regular pokeballs.

"Wait," she said. "I thought you said he didn't give you any pokeballs."

"Huh? Oh, right!" Ash gently dropped the pokeballs into a small pile. "These actually belong to that girl! She was holding these two, and the rest just dropped to the ground when I caught her!"

Well, that made sense. A quirk of human balls was that while they did bring in any nonliving material that so happened to be on the captured girl's body such as clothing, they didn't absorb other catching implements, be they intended for humans or Pokemon. It seemed that this girl was a trainer, and a somewhat accomplished one at that. "Well, let's just hang onto these for her," she said as she reached for them. "I'm sure she'll be happy to-"

Then she paused. "Wait, that one there…"

She touched her finger to one of the girl's pokeballs and turned it around. Its upper shell was pink, with a dark red heart.

"This is a human ball," she said. "Did you mix it in with the others?"

"Uh, no," Ash said. He was already suiting up, slipping the belt of pokeballs on, pocketing the PokeDex, and easing the backpack up onto his shoulders, wincing as the straps passed over the bandaged areas. "Those were all hers."

"Hmmm." Another odd mystery. Nurse Joy picked up her SilphScreen. From the look of things, the girl had finished healing, but they were still working on sorting out her identity. It was still scrolling through names, though they had slowed down considerably as it came close to her name. A little more, a little more.

Then it stopped, and Nurse Joy's eyes widened.

"Oh my," she said. The boy had a genuine Gym Leader in the Healing Machine.

"What?"

Nurse Joy tapped her SilphScreen. "I just found out who she is."

Ash's eyes boggled. "You did? Who is she?"

Before Nurse Joy could answer, all the lights went out.

And then there was an explosion.

…

The feeling of being hurt finally ebbed away, and she was left feeling whole. Well, that was good, but now she would like it if someone would tell her where she was, what had happened to her, and if they were especially kind, then maybe they could tell her who she was as well.

But suddenly something was different, and not how she would have wanted it. A switch had been flipped, a change made, and she felt the healing power simply vanish.

A moment later she too sank back into the cold embrace of oblivion.