Adventure's Past

Chapter 4 - Incident

Nurse Joy packed up her daily belongings in her bag, getting ready to hand off her shift to her third cousin, the other Nurse Joy that worked the night shift. "Are all the Pokemon in stable condition, Chansey?" Nurse Joy asked Chansey, the assistant who helped out with the day-to-day tasks.

Chansey nodded and walked back to the area where Pokemon were kept. Nurse Chanseys usually worked both shifts, as they were able to maintain their strength for long periods, so while Nurse Joy was going home to sleep, Chansey was getting ready for another session of work.

Nurse Joy grabbed everything that belonged to her and hoisted her purse onto her shoulder. She pushed the chair under the desk and began walking towards the door that led outside. Before exiting, however, she looked at the small screen that showed current news about everything that needed to be known.

None of the news particularly caught her eye, except the final part of the information, which talked about something that was of interest to her. "Small signs of Zygarde cell activity shown to be in Santalune City..." she read in a whisper. We're currently in Santalune City right now. I wonder why there are readings of Zygarde?

Six years ago, she never would have understood the activity of a Zygarde cell, let alone what a Zygarde was. After what people were calling the Cell War, which was a massive fallout from an intense and damaging conflict somewhere in Kanto, high-ranking officials made sure that people knew what certain people and Pokemon looked like and what threat they could pose to society.

"And that's all for today's news!" The bulletin read. Nurse Joy frowned and thought to herself, It would've been nice to know more about that Zygarde cell activity. She shrugged it off and walked through the doors outside, only to be met with a pitiful sight.

A young man, around his late teens with raven-colored hair, was crawling towards the center on the ground, his fists bloody and a Pikachu with burn marks on his arms. "Oh my Arceus!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, running over to the teenager, who looked up at her. Something about him looked familiar, but she wasn't positive about it. "Please... help... Pikachu..." he muttered before losing all strength and fainting right on the ground.

It took a second for Nurse Joy to react. She hoisted the trainer onto her shoulder and poked her head inside the center, yelling to Chansey, "Code Red! Code Red!" In a matter of seconds, Chansey came running with a stretcher, allowing Nurse Joy to place him on it. As they both pushed him back into the operating room, Nurse Joy stared in wonder at the teenager's face, wondering desperately how he got there.

{—} 22 hours earlier from the arrival {—}

Samuel offered Ash a towel, dripping with water. Ash happily accepted it and applied it to his sweating forehead. "So that's all of the training for today?" Ash asked, hinting at the now setting sun which signified that bedtime was soon. Samuel chuckled and nodded. "Sure. You've made enough progress for today."

Ash lightly punched the old man on the arm and laid down in his hammock. He and Samuel hadn't always had a father and son relationship. It was a sort of professional mentor and student situation at first, which slowly became more comfortable and friendly as the months grew by.

"Well, good night, Ash," Samuel said, waving as he departed for his small hut that stood just a few dozen yards away from where Ash usually slept. "Yep. See you tomorrow," Ash responded, sitting up in the hammock and nodding at Samuel, who had begun walking away.

Pikachu slowly made his way over to Ash and hopped up into the hammock. "Pika..." Pikachu said tiredly, snuggling into Ash, who leaned back and rested his head on the end of the hammock. His mind, now on Samuel and what he meant to Ash, began wandering back to the first time they had truly broken the barrier and began bonding.