𝒯 𝒽 𝑒 𝒲 𝒶 𝓎 𝒲 𝑒 𝒲 𝒾 𝓁 𝓁 𝐵 𝑒

Chapter 6: The Girl From The Future

The local Pokémon Center

Kiloude City

It was a chaotic day for the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy, her Wigglytuff, several assistants and their Pokémon, and even volunteers and their own Pokémon scrambled around the building, attending to the many injured Trainers and Pokémon. All of the television and computer screens were flashing live reports of the mysterious explosion in downtown Kiloude. The lobby was packed to the brim with people awaiting news on the conditions of their family members, friends, and/or Pokémon.

In the lobby, Grace paced around worriedly, with Fletchling perched on her shoulder, examining its Trainer with concern. Meanwhile, Shauna, Tierno, Miette, Calem, Layla, and Moose were watching the live news report on the nearest TV. As for Trevor, he was reviewing the photos he took at the scene of the explosion, hoping one of them caught something of substantial interest.

Suddenly, everyone in the lobby heard screeching tires, followed seconds later by the doors automatically sliding open; a group ran inside. Grace's eyes widened with relief when she saw the uninjured Serena, Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie among them. She noticed some of them were carrying people or Pokémon.

"Serena!" the former Rhyhorn Racer cried, catching the attention of Shauna, Tierno, Miette, Calem, and Layla.

"Mom?!" Serena exclaimed in surprise as she was embraced in a tight hug.

"Shauna told me you and your friends went off into the forest! I'm so glad nothing happened to you in there!"

"W-We're fine, Mom." Then, the honey-blonde Performer glanced at one of the other members of the group, who Grace recognized as a Pokémon Ranger through the uniform. "You have no idea what we found there..."

"Is Nurse Joy here?!" Pokémon Ranger Summer shouted. "This is a big emergency!"

"I'm here, I'm here," the pink-haired nurse replied, struggling to hide her exhaustion as she trudged her way through the dense crowd. "Who needs medical attention?"

"Yes! This girl, first off." Summer handed Nurse Joy the unconscious young, black-haired girl tucked in her arms. "She's got bruises and cuts, and she fainted as soon as we got to her."

"Oh, you poor, poor thing! Well, these injuries look pretty minor, but looks can be deceiving. She's sure been through a lot, I can say that much. I'll have her checked right away. And is there anyone else?"

"Yes, there is, actually." Summer looked at Bonnie. "Bonnie, Pichu please..."

"Oh, yeah!" the little girl replied. After looking down momentarily at the unconscious and injured Pichu in her arms, she raised it towards Nurse Joy, whereupon the nurse motioned for one of her assistants to retrieve the Tiny Mouse Pokémon for her.

"Alright," Nurse Joy said. "We'll see to it that these two get looked at and treated if need be-"

"Actually, there's something else..." Summer interrupted. At that moment, the ranger started looking around nervously, as did Serena, Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and the black-haired couple that was with them. "And this is where we're gonna need to convene in private. It's, uh...it's very important no one else sees this..."

Nurse Joy blinked in surprise. "Y-Y-Yes, o-of course. My office is empty right now; we can continue our conversation in there."

"Perfect." Summer then looked at Ash. "Ash, I need you to give it to me, please."

Ash nodded silently before giving the Ranger an unknown object, wrapped in a dirty brown cloth. Grace raised a curious eyebrow at it, but she chose to remain silent about it. Summer and Nurse Joy promptly walked away, with the little girl still in the latter's arms. Once the two were gone, Shauna looked at Serena.