Chapter 11

Alice grit her teeth as the ambulance she was in went over a particularly nasty bump. Her heartbeat pounded like a drum in her ears, the loud clatter of the hospital tools around her sounded closer to a whisper. Across from her, her mother had her eyes closed, a determined expression on her face that didn't waver for a moment. Her hair was done in the usual Joy family hairstyle and slight shadows were visible under her eyes. Like Alice, she wore the usual pokemon gown. Unlike Alice's, Amanda's didn't have a single crease, but faint stains could be seen if you looked close enough.

Currently the Joys were helping out at the Oreburgh Pokemon Center after the head nurse there went on vacation. Of course, her mother offered to step in, and that meant Alice had to help as well. Having to balance helping out with school was a nightmare, but to her mother it was the bare minimum.

Alice felt something soft on her shoulder, which made her flinch. To her right side, her mother's Blissey sat next to her, the pokemon giving her a reassuring smile.

Alice frowned and shook her head, shaking the pokemon away. If mother felt she was unprepared in any way, there'd be hours of lectures prepared for her tomorrow.

The two of them were on their way to Oreburgh Gym after receiving a call about a pokemon severely injured in a battle between two trainers.

Nothing special, but what made Alice anxious was her mother's insistence that Alice treat the pokemon herself. She had always simply assisted from the sidelines, so this would be a completely new experience for her. Normally it would be completely unacceptable for someone her age to do. Of course, because she was a Joy, everyone looked the other way.

Taking a breath, Alice tries to calm herself. Her mother is right there. Things will work out. Even if a pokemon's life would be in her hands.

After seemingly an eternity, the ambulance slowed to a halt. Alice and her mother both stood up at once, making their way out the vehicle, Blissey hobbling after them. Outside, two trainers were bickering outside the gym. Both seemed to be around 10 years old, and one of them, a boy with orange hair, was clearly very upset.

"But if you knew that your pokemon had a chance of going too far, why would you use it in a battle!?" The orange-haired boy shouted, tears in his eyes.

"Something like this has never happened before!" The other trainer, a girl with blue hair, responded angrily. "And besides, why didn't you return your pokemon faster? If you did, it wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place!"

As the boy was about to respond, her mother's voice cut him off. "Enough." At that single word, the air seemed to get five degrees colder. Immediately, the two young trainers flinched and took a step back, the boy's face lighting up as he saw who had interrupted them.

Alice's mother turned back to her. "I'm going to go inside to speak with the gym leader. Take the injured pokemon and prepare the ambulance for emergency treatment."

Alice nodded, and her mother quickly walked into the gym. She turned to the two trainers, trying to imitate her mother's air of confidence. "The pokemon, if you please."

The boy nodded furiously, his hands shaking as he took out a pokeball.

"Now, we received a general report of what happened from the gym, but I would like a description of your pokemon's condition when you returned it to its ball. We need a good idea of what we're working with before we start the treatment."

"O-ok." The boy's voice sounded like he would burst into tears at any moment. "So, I was battling in the gym, and just as I was going to return my Geodude, her Machop went berserk! It started tearing into my Geodude, and I-I…" Unsurprisingly, the boy began sobbing, his words turning into unintelligible whimpers.

Gently taking the pokeball from the boy's hands, Alice decided to give him some space, turning to the girl instead. "Do you have anything to add?"

"Yeah. He conveniently left out how his Geodude had been pissing my Machop off on purpose!" The girl indignantly looked at Alice as if she was being put on trial. "It's not my fault. It's karma! Besides, he's overreacting. I'm sure the Geodude is fine."

Alice simply nodded. While she didn't like this girl's attitude, a Joy wouldn't take sides in an issue. They were there to treat injured pokemon, nothing more.

Once the boy calmed down, Alice took down his trainer information, and instructed him to head to the Oreburgh Pokemon Center ahead of them. There, he would wait in the lobby until Alice or her mother would come and update him on his pokemon's condition.

Just as she finished and was heading back to the ambulance to prepare for emergency treatment, Alice heard her mother's footsteps behind her.

"What's the Geodude status?" Her mother wasted no time getting down to business.

"From what I could gather, it seems like a case of a fighting type going too far. The culprit seems to be a Machop, so the damage is probably extensive."

Amanda nodded. "Good job. I spoke with the gym leader. It seems like this is going to be a bit of a complicated situation afterwards."

Alice tilted her head in confusion. "Why?" The two of them made it to the ambulance. Alice's mother motioned for the driver to wait and the Joys made their way to the back. Blissey was waiting for them, a bed for the injured pokemon standing in the middle of the vehicle.

Amanda turned to her daughter. "The Machop's trainer is apparently the daughter of a Jenny. Not just any Jenny either, as she's related to the Chief of Police. It's why we specifically were called in. They want to have this wrapped up as quickly as possible. They also encouraged me to 'pressure' the boy not to sue in exchange for the treatment." Her mother's normally inexpressive face darkened into a scowl. "Who the hell do they think I am?"

Alice watched as her mother took a breath to calm herself down. After a moment, she motioned Alice forward, her face back to its usual expression.

Here we go. Alice took a breath, trying to let her training take over. Remember the family creed. She couldn't afford to mess up. A life had been entrusted to her hands. She had to do this. She had to-

As Alice concentrated more on the task ahead of her, an odd feeling began to flow throughout her body. It felt like her limbs were becoming numb and disconnecting from her mind. As she walked forward to prepare for the first steps of the surgery, it felt like she was watching someone else pilot her body. Her anxiety seemed to fade away, replaced with cold analysis of the situation. The first steps to take would be to put the patient's pokeball on the machine in the right corner of the vehicle. The machine would provide a detailed analysis of the pokemon's state inside the pokeball, along with pumping a sleeping agent into the device in preparation for the surgery-

Alice stumbled on her feet blinking. It felt like she had taken a long nap, with her mind fuzzy and nerves buzzing as if she had been lightly shocked.

A hand grasped her shoulder, and Alice jumped as she turned around, and saw something that made her heart stop.

Amanda Joy was looking at her daughter with a smile on her face, something that Alice hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Magnificently done." Her mother said, pride in her eyes. "I couldn't have done a better job myself."

What? Alice turned to the hospital bed, a chill running down her spine. The Geodude sat slumbering peacefully on the bedding, its wounds bandaged perfectly. Blissey stood above it, preparing to strap the pokemon in for the trip to the hospital. It seems after looking at the Geodude's wounds, they had decided to perform emergency treatment immediately. The issue was Alice barely remembered performing the surgery at all. It wasn't like she didn't remember performing the treatment at all, but it felt like some distant memory from weeks ago, not something that had just happened.

Looking up at her mother's proud smile, something that seemed a rarity in recent years, Alice simply gave a small nod in return.

Walking back into the lobby from her performance, Alice's mind was disoriented with an all too familiar feeling. Making her way to a bench, she grit her teeth as she tried to calm her body down.

I guess I had an episode, huh. Alice had only experienced these feelings while doing nurse work. This was the first time she had experienced this sensation 'off the job', and for a contest of all things to trigger it was surprising.

"Congrats!" Alice jumps as a voice interrupts her thoughts. Jack and Archibald walked up to Alice, smiles on both their faces.

"Archibald says with your score you have a pretty good shot of making it to the second day!" While Jack is visibly happy, Alice notices a bit of concern in her expression, her eyes looking closely at Alice's face as if she was searching for something.

Archibald nods, a bright smile glowing on his face. "Indeed! If you hadn't gotten a good score with that performance, I would've had words for the judges! Truly the mark of a future top coordinator!"

Alice wasn't sure how she felt about Archibald's praise or the fact that he would use influence to sway the results. While Alice did try her best ( or at least she thinks she did), she didn't expect to score that well. To top it off, there was the fact that she was barely conscious during the whole ordeal. It made her result feel undeserved, as if she had cheated somehow.

"Al, you alright?" Jack rubs Alice's back reassuringly. "You seem a bit out of it. Anything you want to tell me?"

"No!" Alice blurted out before she realized it. There was an awkward silence between the two of them, with Alice turning away to avoid looking at her friend's questioning gaze. Luckily for Alice, at that moment there was a loud jingle from the loudspeakers above.

"Attention coordinators! The results for the next round have been calculated! Please turn your eyes to the nearest television screen to see your results!"

There was a shuttle of movement around the room. Tons of faces anxiously looked up awaiting the result that had the potential to upstart their coordinator careers. Alice, Jack, and Archibald joined the crowd, and a pit in Alice's stomach began to grow. With an unnecessarily flashy display, the eight coordinators moving onto the next round were shown. Like Archibald had said, Alice's face and name were shown, displayed with a gold glowing flowery frame. She also saw several other names she recognized from favorites the judges had talked about.

"I told you so!" Alice could hear the pride in Archibald's voice, but rather than happy she felt like strangling him with his stupid cape. She expected this to be a one and done deal, the hell do you mean she had to do more?

"Congrats, Miss Joy." Alice jumped at the sudden voice behind her. Like a ghost type, Percival, the staff member that had known Archibald, had crept up behind Alice without her realizing. While he was smiling and his tone of voice was warm, his eyes were cold and calculating, as if he was measuring her worth. Was he like this when they had first met?

"You put on a spectacular show for a newcomer, let alone someone who prepared their performance in a few days. I could hardly believe it!"

Percival reached into his red suit and pulled out a card. A business card, the same color as his suit with black font. "If you'd like some more opportunities in the coordinator spaces, whether for training or meeting with big names for advice, feel free to call me!"

Alice took the card with an apprehensive feeling. While she appreciated the offer, she didn't feel she really deserved it. She was just in this contest for a passing interest. Surely there were others that deserved this kind of connection more?

"Any student of Archibald is a friend of mine! We would love to have more Joys in space." And there it was. In the end it was always about the damn family name. Alice put on a fake smile as she waved Percival off, the man slinking back through the crowd without a sound.

Seeing people around them giving curious glances, Alice tugged on Jack and Archibald, motioning they should leave the crowd. After leaving the contest hall, Alice finally felt like she could relax. Her posture eased from the stiff, regal self who was representing her family to the casual self who was traveling to become a trainer.

"So!" Jack was the first to speak, putting her hands on her hips with a grin on her face. "The next round is tomorrow, right? That's enough contest stuff for today. I think it's time to go back to trainer mode!" She looked hopefully at Alice. "If you're ok with that, of course."

Archibald frowned. "I believe young Alice should-"

"Sure!" Alice didn't want to think about contests right now, or the implications her episode might have. Out of sight, out of mind, something for the Alice of tomorrow to deal with.

Both Jack and Archibald looked surprised, Jack grinning like she won the lottery, and Archibald scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"It'll be fine." Alice reassured the senior coordinator. "Besides, the second round is just battling right? I already have a plan for that." She had the most barebones of a plan, but he didn't need to know that.

Archibald stared at her for a few seconds before giving a dramatic sigh. "Alright, my young student. If you truly feel this way, there's nothing I can do to stop you." Putting a hand on his forehead and another in front, he strolled away, his cape flowing dramatically in the wind.

As their friend walked away, Jack excitedly put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "It's time for you to get a new pokemon."

Unbeknownst to the girls, looking through the windows of the contest hall, a pair of eyes watched them, brimming with maliciousness.

Alice was beginning to regret taking Jack up on her offer. Her friend had clearly been planning this for a while now, with everything they needed already bought and paid for, waiting in a box at the center.

Apparently, Jack had wanted to teach Alice the art of using lures to find rare pokemon. Various methods were used to do this, but the most common one was to use honey. Floaroma Meadow was, according to Jack, one of the most popular spots for these lures. You would slather whatever lure you were using on a tree, wait a day, and then wait to see what pokemon would approach. If a pokemon you didn't want got close, you could scare it away, albeit at the risk of scaring the pokemon you wanted if it was nearby. It was a process of trial and error that took hours. Jack had put some honey on a tree yesterday in hopes of getting to visit today with Alice.

Alice, who had been sitting in the grass for about 40 minutes, the hot sun beating down on them from above, felt like strangling her friend for suggesting such a thing would be a good idea. She had changed out of her contest clothes, but she still wasn't a fan of having to wait in the dirt for hours. Not only was it uncomfortable, but it was so boring.

To Alice's utter surprise, Jack didn't seem bothered by this fact, lying still without a word. Was this really her same obnoxiously loud friend? Clutching the pokeball in her hand, Alice lay her forehead into the grass, her arms curled together in front of her body as she tried to shield herself from the overbearing heat.

As Alice was zoning out, an odd buzzing sound reached her ears. Lifting her head up groggily, she blinked as her eyes adjusted back to the bright light. The culprit responsible appeared to be a blue shape in the creature was shaped like a giant beetle, its blue armor shining in the sunlight like a beacon. It had a long horn on its head, and beady eyes that seemed almost glazed over. Behind its back, its wings beat rapidly to the point they were almost invisible, propelling the pokemon closer to the sweet smelling honey. If Alice wasn't mistaken, it was a Heracross.

"Jack, what should I do?" Alice asked, trying to bring her body closer to the ground. Upon receiving no reply, Alice slowly turned to her friend. "Don't tell me…"

Even upon the Heracross's arrival, Jack hadn't moved. Scowling, Alice reached over and pinched her friend's arm. Jack lifted her head up with a start, blinking deliriously. "Huh-what?"

Alice put her hand over the redhead's mouth. "Shh. Look". Upon seeing what Alice was pointing at, Jack's eyes widened, her eyes practically sparkling as she saw the bug type.

"So what should I do now?" Alice repeated, clutching the pokeball in her hand. As Jack smiled and opened her mouth to speak, a loud screech made the two trainers flinch. Alice turned her head just in time to see a green blur shoot down from the tree branches, hitting the Heracross square in the back. The beetle made a startled gasp as the blow from above knocked its breath away, and sent it crashing to the ground.

As Alice and Jack looked on in shock, there was another cry from the mysterious green blur, a green blur that seemed awfully familiar. The green creature slammed into the Heracross below it a few more times for good measure before letting out a victorious cry, hopping around as if celebrating its victory. As it bounced around on the body, Alice felt a light bulb go off in her mind. She had seen this pokemon before. She had encountered it in the caves of Ravaged Path, during the encounter with the swarm of Zubats. If Alice remembered correctly, the pokemon was called Petilil. Seeing the pokemon's attitude, Alice now had a good idea what had caused the Zubat swarm to get so agitated.

Suddenly, Alice felt a chill crawl throughout her skin. The Petilil had stopped its celebration, and was now looking in her direction, squinting as if trying to make out something. Alice held her breath, not moving a muscle as the grass type tried to perceive her.

There wasn't any movement from either side for a minute, and for a second Alice thought she might manage to fool the Petilil-

"Hey," Jack whispered. "I think you should-"

A piercing cry echoed across the field at Jack's words, the Petilil lunging towards the two trainers at surprising speed, battle hunger in its eyes.

Alice squealed in shock, letting Paragon out of his pokeball as Jack blinked in surprise. "It heard that? From all the way over there?" She shook her head incredulously. "Oh well. You're up Alice!"

Already suspecting that her friend would throw her to the wolves, Alice stood up with a groan. Paragon was already standing protectively in front of her, the Starly expanding his wings threateningly at the approaching pokemon. Slowing down, the Petilil started making a strange hissing noise, gauging its new opponent.

I'd better send out Rogue too. The Petilil had taken out a Heracross in a single hit, and while it had been a surprise attack, Alice didn't want to take any chances. Would Paragon and Rogue work well together? She didn't have the two of them out at the same time often, if at all. But Rogue's attitude problems were mainly with her, so hopefully things should work out.

With a loud cry, the Petilil charged forward once more, its small body flying towards her Starly.

"Dodge!" Alice yelled. But to her utter surprise Paragon disobeyed, meeting the Petilil in a head-on collision that sent both pokemon flying backwards.

What? Why did Paragon not listen? Alice began to panic, fearing that she would have a second disobedient pokemon to rein in. As he recovered from the collision, Paragon looked back at Alice in an odd way, almost as if-

No, that's not it. Alice immediately realized the issue, backing up and motioning Jack to do the same. Paragon disobeyed because he wanted to keep me safe! I was too close to the two of them and if he dodged, there'd be nothing between me and the Petilil! The pokemon had already attempted to attack her directly in the past, there was no reason it wouldn't try again.

Alice threw her other pokeball down, sending out Rogue as Paragon and the Petilil began to size up one another once more. After quickly looking back and seeing Rogue in front of her, Paragon slightly relaxed before letting out a piercing cry at the grass type in front of it, taking off into the air. The Petilil tensed, realizing the situation had turned into a two on one.

"Paragon, use Wing Attack!" While it would be ideal for Rogue to go first, making use of his range, as always there was no guarantee the Houndour would listen to her. So, instead of banging her head against a wall, she'd focus her orders on the pokemon who would listen to her. At the very least Rogue would respond if the Petilil started to attack her.

Paragon dove in for an attack, his wings glowing with white energy. The Petilil dived out the way with impressive agility, using its round body to roll to safety. As the grass type reorients itself, its focus on the bird above circling for another attack, a burst of flame hitting its body sent it reeling. Rogue, utilizing the technique they practiced for the contest, had sent an blindingly fast Ember spark that erupted into a fiery burst.

"Now! Go in again!" As the Petilil shook off the flames, Paragon went in for another wing attack. But the grass type was prepared this time. As Alice's Starly dove in, the Petilil sprayed a cloud of yellow spores from the top of its head. Alice's heart dropped. Stun Spore…

Paragon was unable to avoid the cloud in time, chirping in alarm while trying to pull up. His speed visibly dropped as he hit the spores, yellow sparks beginning to crackle all over his body. An opportunity the Petilil didn't let go to waste. Jumping into the air at a surprising height, it knocked Paragon out of the air, sending the bird back in the direction of his trainer. Rogue growled in surprise, avoiding the tumbling bird while not taking his eyes off Petilil.

Alice was already reaching for her bag she had hidden nearby, taking out her medical case. As she took out a paralyze heal and reached towards her pokemon, to her surprise Alice's hand was knocked away. With determination in his eyes, Paragon knocked the bottle away, hobbling back to his feet and fluttering back towards his opponent.

"Wait! At least let me get rid of the paralysis!" Alice yelled, but her words were ignored. Maybe Paragon really was starting to follow in Rogue's footsteps. It was just her luck that her pokemon were so stubborn.

In the meantime, Rogue was keeping the Petilil at bay, using flashes of fire to keep the grass type at bay. While the Petilil's agility was impressive, Rogue's aim was better, and the Petilil once again screeched in pain as another ember hit its body. At that exact moment Paragon came barreling back in, colliding with the Petilil with a Quick Attack for his revenge.

Surprisingly, even after that combo, the Petilil still wasn't down, slowly reorienting its body to face its opponents. Although the pokemon looked exhausted, Alice swore she could see another emotion on the pokemon's face was that…happiness?

"Rogue! Paragon! Keep your guards up!" Alice yelled, unsettled by what she saw. Why was it happy? The pokemon was cornered, against two opponents in an unfair fight. How could anything enjoy a situation where it was getting hurt? Alice watched in shock as the Petilil threw itself towards Rogue once more.

The Houndour was very clearly getting tired of this song and dance, letting out an annoyed snarl before sending a cloud of toxic smoke in return. As the Petilil slowed down to avoid the toxins, a ball of flame was shot through the cloud, hitting the grass type dead on. Caught off guard by the tactic, the Petilil could do nothing as Paragon came in for another blow with Wing Attack. While the Starly was still slowed by the stun spore, the Petilil was in no shape to dodge. With an audible impact, Paragon's attack landed, sending the grass type flying away from the blow. Flower petals were blown into the air as the Petilil landed in the meadow below, Paragon letting out a victorious trill as he flew upwards once more.

Alice relaxed. Finally! She didn't want to risk any injuries today when she had to battle tomorrow-

Suddenly, there was movement from the meadow in the distance and Alice's heart sank. The Petilil was slowly rising, its body shaking as it tried to push itself up.

It's still not down? Alice was both impressed and fearful of the Petilil's sheer willpower. But if the battle went on any further, there'd be risk of serious injury for the pokemon.

As Alice was about to call off Rogue and Paragon, the Petilil collapsed, unable to bring itself up any further. Alice and her pokemon didn't move as they waited with baited breath to see if the Petilil would move again. After a minute, they finally relaxed, with Alice falling to her knees, mentally exhausted.

"Good job! It's not easy managing two pokemon at once, but you pulled it off!" Jack walked over with a smile on her face. A pokeball was clutched in her hand, her friend had apparently been ready to step in in case things got too dangerous.

Having stubborn pokemon is exhausting. Alice thought, turning to her two pokemon. Paragon had flown back down to the ground, and was puffed up in front of Rogue as if saying 'Look how I did!'. Rogue simply snorted in response, but didn't look annoyed or displeased.

But before she pondered how Rogue and Paragon, Alice had something to do first. "Paragon, get over here. Now." Her Starly flinched, and hobbled over to her, the paralysis still clearly affecting the flying type's movement. At her words, Rogue sent an odd look in her direction as well.

"What were you thinking?!" Alice snapped. At her words, Paragon sunk further into the ground, as if trying to use the flowers around him to hide himself. "Listen, I'm still new at this trainer thing, so I might not always make the correct call in battle. But when it comes to your health, I am always the one in charge. Understood?"

Paragon nodded, and Alice looked towards Rogue. "That goes for you as well." Rogue simply looked at her in response, an unreadable expression on his face, and Alice kept eye contact, not flinching from the dark type's gaze.

"Hey Al-"

"What?" Alice snapped, and her friend flinched at her tone.

"J-just wanted to suggest you catch that Petilil." Jack pointed to the fallen pokemon in the distance. "I think it'd make a good addition to your team."

Alice blinked. "What? I thought you wanted me to catch a Heracross."

"I mean I did, Heracross' are cool! But I have a good feeling about that Petilil." Jack looked over to the grass type with a smile. "Call it a trainer's intuition. Besides, looks like it's long gone anyway." Looking back at the tree, there was no sign of the blue beetle.

Alice frowned. She already had her hands full trying to take care of Rogue and Paragon. Could she really take on another? From when she battled it, the Petilil already seemed like trouble incarnate. It was quite strong though, and it would fill a much needed role in her team against rock types.

As she treated Paragon's bruises and paralysis, the flying type shivering as she sprayed medicine over his wounds, she came to a conclusion.

Without a word, she cautiously walked over to the Petilil, Paragon on her shoulder at the ready for any movement. Thankfully, the Petilil was still very unconscious, the grass type face down on the ground with no signs of getting up anytime soon. Alice relaxed, and tossed a pokeball at the pokemon. With a *click, the pokeball swallowed and captured the fainted Petilil.

Another pokemon, another responsibility I have. Alice looked at the pokeball in her hand, frowning.

And so Alice gains her third team member! Will the grass type be as troublesome as Rogue? As always, thank you for taking the time to read my fic! Follows and reviews are greatly appreciated.