Nowhere to Go But Down

A/N: Hey everyone, been a while! This is my first one-off story! I love listening to the HG/SS OST, especially Pokémon League music, and I figured, "maybe I'll write a story about it". So here it is! It's written from an NPC's POV, which was actually really fun. It adds a whole new layer of personality to the story. So I hope you guys enjoy, and if you do, I can write more like these!

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The Pokémon Center was empty. The people working upstairs and downstairs had already gone for the night, early as usual, waving Nurse Joy goodbye as they exited through the front doors and into the brisk air towards Route 28. Joy tended to wait a bit longer before leaving, but tonight she was feeling particularly tired, so she had already begun packing her bag.

She let out a yawn as she removed her apron, haphazardly stuffing it into her work bag. She didn't really know why she lingered around after nightfall. Perhaps it was in her nature to want to help, but who was there to help? Route 28 was unpopulated, and very rarely visited by trainers and other people, due to its entrance being restricted by Professor Oak himself. The only person residing in the immediate area was a reclusive celebrity in a nearby house, but even then, even they rarely left their lonely abode. And not to mention the ever-intimidating Mt. Silver, which was practically considered a no-man's land at this point. And so, due to these circumstances, unlike the other Pokémon Centers located throughout the regions of Kanto, this one was permitted to lock its doors at nighttime if it was slow, instead of adopting an open twenty-four hour schedule.

So why had they decided to place a Pokémon Center, an establishment which had the sole purpose of serving trainers, in the least trainer-friendly location possible? Well, that was because there was "hope". Hope that Oak would deem somebody worthy of traversing the mountain. But unfortunately for Nurse Joy, that hope was diminishing with every day that passed, every week, every month. It would be a lie if she said that recently she hadn't begun thinking of quitting outright.

But alas, the hope remained. And so she came to work, every day, her stoic smile ever-present.

...She was ready to leave. All that was left was to shut off her recuperation tray and the PC, but before she could pull the plug, she heard the familiar whir of electronic doors sliding open and closing.

She froze. What? Had somebody upstairs or downstairs forgotten a belonging or something? It wasn't likely - despite their lazy demeanors, one thing they could not be called was neglectful. They did always come in to work, after all. But still, it was a possibility.

She turned around just to make sure... and immediately jumped back in shock.

A boy stood at the entrance to the Pokémon Center, clad simply in a red and white jacket with black, short sleeves, jeans, red and black sneakers, and a red and white cap with a Pokéball symbol on it that rested softly on his head of short, brown hair. He gazed around at the interior, before setting his eyes on Joy. Once the two's eyes met, much to Joy's dismay, the boy began making his way over to her desk. And once he finished his small walk, which to Joy felt slower than it should have, he stopped before her, began to fish around in his yellow backpack, and pulled out a Pokéball, placing it on her desk. Then he pulled out another. And another, until a full team of six lay before Joy. The boy then looked at her blankly, seemingly waiting for her.

Joy was still in a position of fright, leaning back, arms raised slightly. She observed the kid in front of her, and only one thought could be formed in her head:

Huh?

Had that geezer of a professor finally approved of someone? And if so, could that mean that this trainer had defeated the Elite Four? And if that was true, then did that mean that this boy... was the Champion of the Kanto Region?!