Pokémon Dimensions

Trapped

The sound of roaring thunder soon filled everyone's ears.

*GASP* "What was that?!" Naomi asked fearfully.

"Relax, it was just thunder. Oh! Would you look at that... it's starting to rain," Nurse Joy replied.

Suddenly, the doors burst open. A teenage boy was standing there, holding a Krabby with a panicked expression.

"Nurse Joy! Please, you've got to help Krabby! We were attacked by an Ariados, and Krabby took a strong Poison Jab..." the boy pleaded.

"Oh, Wi-"

As if on cue, Wigglytuff came out of the back room with the stretcher before Nurse Joy had finished her sentence.

"Oh! Well, you were certainly ready for me, weren't you?" Nurse Joy said in a playful tone.

Nurse Joy placed the injured Krabby on the stretcher, and Wigglytuff hurried into the back room with Nurse Joy following close behind.

Sooner than expected, Nurse Joy returned from the back room with a worried look on her face. "I'm terribly sorry, but we've just run out of ingredients to make an Antidote... I have a list, but without a Pokémon it would be too dangerous for you to wander around at this time of night," Nurse Joy explained.

"Is... is Krabby gonna be alright...?" the boy asked.

"Yes, for now. I have Wigglytuff using Heal Pulse to keep Krabby stabilized, but she can't keep it up forever. She only has so much energy..." Nurse Joy replied.

Naomi suddenly had an idea.

"Oh! Wait! Ralts can use Heal Pulse! What if when Wigglytuff gets tired, they switch?" Naomi suggested.

"Oh, what a wonderful idea, Naomi!" Nurse Joy replied.

"I still have Chespin, so I could take her with me to retrieve the ingredients," Naomi added.

"I guess that could work. Although it's dangerous with that Ariados running around, it may be our only chance to save Krabby," Nurse Joy said.

With that plan in mind, Naomi returned Chespin to her pokéball, grabbed her bag, and started to walk toward the doors. Suddenly, there was the sound of branches snapping, followed by a loud thud. *Zzzzrt* The lights cut off.

"What just happened?" Naomi asked in confusion.

"I think a tree just fell on the powerline. Not to worry, I have flashlights in the back room in case of an emergency. We'll be fine. Just go get those ingredients, and try to hurry," Nurse Joy responded.

Naomi walked up to the entrance, but the doors didn't open.

"Huh? They aren't opening," Naomi said.

"Try the emergency release mechanism. There should be a switch in that power box over there," Nurse Joy instructed.

Naomi walked over to the power box and looked inside, but there was no switch.

"Um... there's not a switch in here," Naomi said.

"Huh? Oh... right. You see, it recently had to be removed because it failed the annual safety inspection. I ordered a replacement, but it hasn't arrived yet," Nurse Joy explained.

"So we're stuck here?" the boy asked.

"Until I can figure something out, I'm afraid so," Nurse Joy replied.

They waited about an hour, and then Nurse Joy went into the back room to check on Wigglytuff. Nurse Joy promptly returned and looked at Naomi.

"Wigglytuff needs to take a break; she's exhausted. Is Ralts ready? Nurse Joy asked.

Naomi looked at Matthew questioningly.
Matthew nodded in response.

"Yes," Naomi responded.

Nurse Joy escorted Matthew into the back room and shut the door behind her.

"This is probably your first time performing life-supporting porcedures, so I'll be here to walk you through the process. First, I want you to look at Wigglytuff for a moment. See how her arms are fully extended? That allows for a more powerful pulse," Nurse Joy began to explain.

"You also want to always aim your pulse at center-mass so that the healing waves expand outwards through their whole body. If you aim for something like their head, for example, the wave will expand outwards, but it won't reach the lower parts of their body."

"The most important thing to keep in mind while using heal pulse is you need to stay calm. If you become nervous or get too distracted during a procedure, it will affect the strength of the pulse, potentially endangering the patient."

"So, do you think you can handle it on your own now?" Nurse Joy asked.

Matthew nodded in response.

"Alright then. Wigglytuff, you can take a break now," Nurse Joy said.

Matthew swapped places with Wigglytuff and began to use Heal Pulse as instructed.

"Very good! You're doing wonderfully!" Nurse Joy complimented.

"So if I just keep doing this, Krabby will be fine? Seems easy enough..." Matthew thought.

After about an hour, Nurse Joy walked back into the lobby where Naomi and the boy were patiently waiting.

"I've got an idea. Ralts can use Teleport, correct?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Naomi replied.

"Ralts could take my list of ingredients and teleport out of the building. I've drawn pictures next to the ingredients so that Ralts can understand what he's looking for. Fresh Water is also on the list, but he won't have to worry about that because I have plenty of it stored in the back room," Nurse Joy explained.

"Alright, so that's the plan then," Naomi agreed.

Nurse Joy went into the back room to give Matthew a run-down on the plan and then came back out with him following close behind. Once they were in the lobby, Nurse Joy handed Matthew the list. He then teleported outside and headed into the forest to gather the ingredients. On his way there, he began to get lost in his thoughts.

"I knew there had to be more. An area that large would have a few scattered around. What's stopping them from attacking the next traveler that comes through here? They could end up in the same situation as poor Krabby, or worse..."

"Well, there's not much I can do about it right now. I need to focus on finding these ingredients."

"That boy is counting on me to bring back what Nurse Joy needs to save his Krabby. I can't let him down."

With that, Matthew walked into the forest, determined not to leave until he found every ingredient.