[X] My Assistant

[Toogee]

BWWWRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

The crisp blue sky over Port Barley was met with the horn from the first cruise liner to dock that day. It was fairly early morning, around 8 am. Stores near the docks were just starting to open up. Anyone else nearby was stirring awake from the loud blaring of the ship; it was one of the “perks” of living near the docks. Tourists were beginning to trickle into the Barley Boardwalk, looking for hotels and souvenirs. For any novice trainers, it was the first day of a grand journey that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. To the natives, it was Tuesday.

It was the perfect time to be on the beach. The pre-summer sun was not pounding the sand with blistering heat, making it ideal for joggers to get a run in before starting their day. Several did , running the length of the popular beach before the sunbathers started converging. A little girl was combing the tide for shells. She was far too young to start a pokemon journey, but she was hoping to find her first pokemon among the sands. Maybe a shelder or a horsea or a…

“Mommy mommy look! A pikathing!”

“Josephine Elizabeth Partridge! What have I told you about touching strange pokemon. This one is clearly sick. Who knows what virus it’s carrying.”

“But Mommy, a pikathing!”

The mother took her daughter’s hand and led her away from the sickly creature. That “pikathing” was a pachirisu, soaked to the bone and covered in sand. She was exhausted, as if beaten by the tide. The electric pokemon was on her back and facing the sky in sorrow, wondering what she could have done to avoid such catastrophe.

“…Pa…”

Many journeys were beginning, but one had ended…
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“Thank you for waiting. We restored all of your pokemon to full health. We hope to see you again!”

Jaylyn had hand off a pair of pokeballs back to their trainer. The boy eagerly ran out the door without a thought, like so many before him. For the nurse, he would be her last client in this pokemon center. She was preparing to head out on her cross country journey to heal far off trainers. Though excited for this prospect, she was going to miss the center. She had worked here for most of her life as a Nurse Joy in training. She was even offered the position of Nurse Joy of the Barley Pokemon Center. Yet she turned it down in order to help those that could not make it to these places of refuge. She would not be confined to these walls when there were others who suffered in the wilderness.

The current Nurse Joy of Barley was an elderly woman; her pink curls turned grey long ago. She stood beside Jaylyn as they both watched the boy run off.

“You would run things well here,” the elder told her former apprentice. “I hope your venture works out well.”

“It will, Matriarch,” Jaylyn replied. “I’m going to clean up before heading to the marts.”

“Oh, go. I got things here.”

“Why Nurse Joy!” Jaylyn replied in mock shock. “Have you forgotten the first rule of keeping a center: No Nurse Joy leaves a center without tidying up, or it will not be a place of Joy. That was on my first day.”

“Oh, I remember. I remember you trying to sneak out to avoid doing it too,” the elder Joy chuckled. “Remember when you snuck out the second story window? Heh, I was waiting for you on the bottom.”

“It was certainly not a place of Joy that day,” Jaylyn joined the elder in laughter. She hoped to have more wonderful stories ahead of her.