Joy.
It was the name of a woman who, along with her Blissey, had helped the suffering humans and Pokémon during the Kanto-Johto-Hoenn War. She had discarded the warning sent by various clans of the time and stayed true to her purpose.
To honour the deeds of such a great person, once the International League was established, every head nurse working in a Pokémon Centre was given the name of Joy and had to dye their hair pink, just like the original Joy's.
Helena, the recently promoted Nurse Joy of Pewter City, took great pride in being given such an honour. And to do justice to the responsibility she had been given, she had worked hard every day, making sure every trainer and Pokémon that entered her Pokémon Centre were given the highest level of hospitality.
Was it tiering? Indeed it was, but she enjoyed every second of her work...except a few times, like right now.
Since the gym circuit had officially begun about two weeks ago, the number of trainers coming to Pewter City had only increased every given hour.
Wherever trainers gathered, there were bound to be battles, and where there were battles, there would be injuries. Thus, the centre had been prepared for this influx, which would die down in a month or so when the majority of the trainers either gave up or moved on from Pewter City.
Her day was going as usual.
Trainers lining up to register for the Indigo League or asking to have their Pokémon treated after a duel. But everything had changed three days ago when something unexpected had happened in the Viridian Forest, even more so than the events of the Viridian City Pokémon Centre.
A trainer had died.
It wasn't uncommon to hear about such tragic incidents during the nine months in which trainers were travelling all over the region, exploring the wilds with their Pokémon, preparing for the conference.
However, the trainer who had died was a bit...special.
Not only was he not from Kanto, but also the second son of the richest man in the Unova Region.
Justin Salvania had entered the Viridian Forest, but while exploring had gone off route...as a novice trainer. Moreover, he had been attacked...by Team Rocket.
The criminals had not only stolen his Pokémon, but they had also killed the boy when he tried to fight back. From the ranger reports, of the three Pokémon Justin had brought with him from Unova, two were dead while the third had escaped.
And now that very third Pokémon was the source of worry for the rangers, who were trying to find it before it caused irreparable damage.
But she couldn't care less about the missing Pokémon since her centre was now filled with Interpol agents who had to get involved since the death of Justin in the Kanto Region could lead to worsening relations between the two regions.
While rangers as well as gym trainers of Viridian City Gym tried to find the Team Rocket members, the Interpol was trying to investigate on their behalf as well.
And just when the Interpol decided to pull back a little from the case...the boy showed up.
He was covered in blood, and a gaping hole from a Beedrill's lance had formed in his right shoulder. In his arms, he carried a Ralts that was just as injured as him.
The moment the boy stepped into the Pokémon Centre, he collapsed.
"Prepare an emergency room. NOW!"
Helena rushed the boy to an operation theater. Her trusted partner, Chansey, followed her into it, and the duo started operating on the boy as well as the Ralts.
The psychic-type's case was easily handled by Chansey, but the boy was in a far more critical state.
The wound, as well as the lost blood, was not the problem; it was the poison from the Beedrill.
But thanks to the advanced technology as well as the magical abilities of Pokémon, after spending a few hours on the boy, his condition had stabilized.
For the whole night, the vitals of the black-haired boy were monitored by Helena's assistants, and when she finally came to check up on him the next day, the boy had woken up.
"You are finally awake."
Daemon's eyes shifted to the pink-haired nurse. "Thanks for saving me."
"It's part of my job." Nurse Joy walked over with a smile, scrolled through her tablet and read all the reports on his vitals. His starter was already sound asleep by his side.
"The wound will surely recover by tomorrow, and you are free to go the day after. But till then, no sudden movements."
"I understand."
"Let me know if you feel any discomfort," she said before adding. "Also, this might be a bit abrupt, but I need to know what happened to you; it's part of the procedure to make sure you are safe and sound."
"I..." Daemon paused before he gathered his thoughts to properly present his following words. "I caught two Pokémon."
"Oh? Would you like them to be treated as well?"
"Yes." The boy nodded and handed her one of the three pokeballs he owned. "It's a Smeargle."
"A what?" Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow before she gave the boy a soft smile. "A lucky find." She looked at the Pokémon in her hand. "And I suppose you would like my help to have it listed for trade?"
"Exactly. From what I know, Pokemon Centre's are the only place a trade can occur; moreover, every Smeargle being traded or listed for trade has to go through a Nurse Joy."
"You are right." Nurse Joy handed the Pokeball to her Chansey. "I will make sure you get the best deal."
"Thanks."
Since a Nurse Joy was responsible for the trade, he knew she would not let him suffer a loss against those mega corporations.
"Anything else?" The nurse asked, eyeing the third pokeball.
Daemon took a deep breath. "I caught it while it was fighting the Smeargle. It should not have been there...it is not supposed to be there, but it was."
Nurse Joy frowned at those words.
"After I caught it, I felt as if something was wrong and ran away, but they found me soon after."
Nurse Joy's eyes widened as she immediately realized who had "found" the boy. "You mean..."
"The five Team Rocket Grunts were after it."
Nurse Joy listened to the boy, and even without him telling her, she knew what Pokémon it was in that pokeball. It was something the rangers had been tracking down for a while now.
"When I woke up an hour ago, I checked the news on my pokedex. The dead boy...the missing Pokémon...it now made sense why it was there...a wild Deino."
"I need to make a call."
Daemon watched as Nurse Joy hurriedly walked out of the room and sighed before leaning back on the frame of his bed. Several thoughts raced through his mind, and the black-haired boy knew that this time, the mess in which he found himself was deep.
...
..
.
"Alice, [Confusion]."
The incoming Zubat was hit by a telekinetic force before it slammed into the ground. The very next moment, a fireball landed on it, making the flying-type screech in pain.
While Daemon had only ordered for [Confusion], Ralts had followed up with [Mystical Fire] on her own. The battle style of the duo did not depend just on the trainer's orders but also on the situational awareness of the psychic-type as well.
They were being pursued by a gang of criminals; they needed to reduce their numbers whenever they got the chance.
Despite being attacked just now, Daemon did not stop running. Ralts was seated on his, stuck their with the use of her psychic powers while two fireballs floated above her small palms.
"Left!" The black-haired boy shouted, and his starter let loose another telekinetic attack on the slithering Ekans and then followed up with the two fireballs.
~Boom~
The light radiated from the blast allowed Daemon to see a few silhouettes that were still pursuing them.
Soon after he had captured the dragon, the black-haired boy was hit by an odd sense of restlessness. He had felt incoming danger and instead of staying rooted and decided to run towards Pewter City.
As for his tent? He had left it behind; there was nothing of importance there...well...nothing was as important as his and Ralts's lives either.
Now, they had been on the run for the last two hours.
One might wonder how he was able to run for so long without being exhausted, and the answer lay in one of the [Moves] his starter knew. Over the time they had spent training in Viridian Forest, Daemon had learned of a miraculous use of this [Move].
And if it had any side effects? He couldn't care less about them in his current situation and needed that recovery provided by [Heal Pulse] to survive this ordeal.
Daemon came to a halt with a slide, and Ralts jumped down from his head; they were surrounded.
"Fucking hell, kid." A man dressed in a standard Team Rocket uniform walked toward him, along with two others. "How the fuck do you have so much stamina?"
The trio looked exhausted as they were panting for breath, and so were the two who were now behind him.
"Had to use our bikes in this god-forsaken forest just to keep up." The man huffed before he stood straight. "Now then." He took one last deep breath to calm himself. "You have something of ours."
Daemon looked at him and then at the other four grunts. The three of them already held two Pokeballs each in their hands, while the other two only had one.
'The Zubat and Ekans must be theirs,' he thought before taking out a Pokeball. "This?" It was the Pokeball in which the dragon-type had been resting.
"Hand it over!" A woman ordered; she was among the two who were standing towards his back.
"Will you let us go?" Daemon asked the million-dollar question, but the answer was just as he had expected from these people.
"Take him down!" The presumed leader of the grunts order and they all released their Pokémon.
Three Zubat, a Beedrill and an Ekans materialized around the surrounded trainer-Pokémon duo.
But before any of the poison-type could attack, Daemon pressed the button on the pokeball in his hand and released the dark dragon as close to the three grunts as possible.
"What the fuck?!"
~Roar~
Call him crazy, but Daemon knew he might need to use Deino, and so he had used healing potions on the dragon-type during a short break he had taken while running, and also to get himself rejuvenated by a [Heal Pulse].
Now, not only was the dragon-type awake, but it had also recovered much of its energy and health.
It looked at three grunts, along with their Pokémon, before anybody could say or do something, it let out a [Dragon Breath].
Every dragon was aggressive, and when you added a dark-type to it? It was a recipe for disaster. Even the mighty Gyarados, the serpent of the seas, paled in comparison to the rage and cruelty of these dragons.
"Alice, take care of them." While the three grunts ahead of him were busy dealing with a dragon, he ordered his starter to fight the two behind him.
"Shit!" the woman from before cursed when a fireball came straight for her Zubat.
The bat Pokémon screeched, swerving violently as the flames tore past its wing. The near miss lit the clearing in a brief flash.
Behind Daemon, the battle split into two violent fragments. The three grunts were trying to stop the raging dragon, but their efforts seemed to be in vain. On his side of the fight, Ralts faced the two poison-types.
"[Bite]!"
The Zubat ripped forward, and Ralts' eyes flared blue.
Invisible force of [Confusion] slammed upward. The diving Zubat's body jerked midair before being violently driven into the forest floor. Leaves and soil exploded outward on impact.
Before the bat could recover—
[Mystical Fire].
Pale, spiralling flames descended like a verdict. The Zubat's screech cut sharply through the clearing before dissolving into silence.
Simultaneously, the Beedrill lunged.
It was fast and deadly, but nothing the psychic-type had not fought against in the last five days.
Ralts only pivoted her body, and the psychic force seized the charging bug-type, arresting its movement for a fraction of a second, just long enough to ruin its angle. The Beedrill smashed sideways into a tree trunk with a violent crack.
But while the Pokémon ripped at each other, Daemon did not stand idle. He spun toward the two grunts behind him.
His fist crashed into the male Rocket's face. The grunt staggered backward, cursing, but Daemon pressed forward with raw, desperate aggression. A second strike drove into the man's ribs, folding him.
"Not so evil now? Eh, mate?" The black-haired boy slammed an upper cut into the man's jaw.
"You fucking asshole." The woman snarled and lunged at him.
Daemon twisted, catching her arm, and slammed his shoulder into her midsection. Both of them tumbled across the dirt, breath knocked loose in a chaotic blur of motion.
Pain screamed through Daemon's arm as a sharp knife had pierced through him.
"Urgh! Fuck!" He shoved her off and staggered upright.
A violent, furious buzzing cut through the clearing.
The Beedrill had recovered, and it had seen the human violently attacking its trainer. With a savage screech, the Beedrill abandoned Zubat, being cornered by Ralts and shot forward like a living missile.
Daemon turned, but he was too slow. He threw himself sideways on instinct. But...
The lance pierced his shoulder, and agony detonated through his body.
Daemon's scream tore into the night as the force spun him violently, blood instantly soaking his sleeve. He collapsed to one knee, vision fracturing into shards of pain and darkness.
The Beedrill pulled back, preparing the killing blow, and its stinger gleamed as it drew back again.
Behind Daemon, the woman grunted and scrambled upright, coughing, disoriented, her back now directly facing her own enraged Pokémon.
Daemon's mind burned through the haze of agony.
He seized her collar. Yanked. And when the Beedrill struck, the lance met resistance, but it was his body.
The woman's scream lasted only a fraction of a second before the force of the impact hurled her forward.
The Beedrill hovered in midair, momentarily confused. What had just happened?
It looked at the pierced head of its trainer.
~Swoosh~
Hesitation in a fight meant death.
Ralts, who had already taken care of the Zubat, unleashed a barrage of fireballs at the Beedrill.
~Boom~
Eerie flames spiralled into existence and engulfed the Bug-type in a single, decisive burst. Its shriek was sharp and brief before its body dropped lifelessly to the forest floor along with the charred corpse of its trainer.
"Ralts!"
The psychic-type ran toward Daemon and immediately used [Heal Pulse], but the remaining energy in her was not enough to fully heal her trainer.
~Roar~
Daemon turned towards the dragon, who had ripped apart the Pokémon and the grunts; it now feasted upon the former.
Once it had eaten its fill, the dragon-type turned its head towards the only duo who remained standing. Its red eyes shone brightly beneath the black hair covering its face.
"Fuck."
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[Author's Note]:
[1]: Did you guys like it? I know it might be confusing, but the fight scene, it was Daemon recalling everything once the Nurse Joy left. I was trying to make it a bit dramatic in a way. Let me know your thoughts.
[2]: I need a suggestion for the third Pokémon. Would guys like to have a Charizard in the team or not?
**Note**
- I am not going to catch a lot of Pokémon, but since we are in Kanto, at least two of the six will be from this region, so give your suggestions accordingly.
- Please give me Power Stones so the story can get some reach.