Carlos was staring at the ceiling. It was early in the morning and he was still in bed.
Nurse Joy had excused herself early on, duty called. She was still in training which meant 7 day work weeks for a year and she still had half a year to go.
It had been a long night. It had been a Wild night. Everything building up to it had felt casual, but laying here, after hours of intimacy. He wasn’t so sure. There had been a palpable need from both of them, at least that’s how he interpreted it.
Mentally he had been prepared for a casual night. Not intense hours of fiery passion, he had been quite surprised at both their stamina.
There was a story untold with Nurse Joy, something to do with Lance . She had played it all off rather playfully and mischievous but the moment they hit the sheets….
He was beating himself up. Although mentally he barely remembered anything about his past life.
He came face to face with the fact, that emotionally his body, his mind, his spirit remembered the emotional experiences but his brain no longer had the memories, they no longer physically existed in his brain.
It was like trying to look at a written page in a book, with a big fat wall between.
There was a frustrating amount of emotional baggage surfacing without the memories. He thanked Arceus, the passage of time and the grounded reality of survival, had done wonders for his mental sanity and he was quite sure there were some shenanigans with TE, that affected his psychological recovery as well.
However, regardless of miraculous recoveries, he wasn’t home scot free just yet. Going to a psychiatrist would lead to nothing since he couldn’t actually talk about stuff he didn’t remember. He would have to trust that living in this world would allow the baggage to fall to the wayside.
Carlos felt himself smiling ruefully. He wanted more from nurse Joy than just a one night stand, emotional baggage or not. Today he would travel about 300-350 miles to the west to vermilion city. “Perhaps long distance will work?” He chuckled.
”Perhaps I can visit.” He wondered. He mentally froze. Anxiety and fear settled in realization, that somewhere along the lines last night, young nurse Joy had touched him somewhere tender. A particular moment were she crooned and smiled in a particular wonderful way, came to the forefront of his mind but it warped into the nightmare of that courtroom he dreamed about months ago, a recurring dream that had stopped around month two. His brain at the time, had frantically tried to piece it all together and fill in the missing pieces.
Fragmented as the recurring dream had been, those fragments were enough to bring back that searing sensation of betrayal, the one that made you feel like your life got sucked out of you, leaving you empty. Looking back on last night, she definitely didn’t strike him as a shy girl that wouldn’t dream of sleeping around. She very much struck him as the type that did. He sighed and calmed himself down.
”Did I just have a panic attack?” He thought. He detached himself mentally from his emotions and allowed all the chaos in his mind to settle. A technique he had been forced to learn in the rugged wilderness.
He sat up, scratching the back of his head, thinking back on that dream again. “I gotta let go. I can’t go back. Those cracks are getting fixed and closing up. That’s what Arceus said.” Carlos reminded himself. Now that his mind settled back into a reasonable calm. His thoughts inevitably went back to last night. Vivid and vibrant. He sighed. “Guess I suck at casual.”
His mind wandered to the fact that, that this was his new life now with no way to return, now that he had a day or so to reflect, it was finally beginning to settle in.
He had a gift for reaching out to Pokemon that wasn’t quantified by his Arceus system or the Pokedex that much was clear observing people yesterday. He would be fine, put in some effort he would thrive, he knew that.
Thinking back on yesterday, not just the losers but also the rangers and the people in Blackthorne.
It was somewhat Jarring and somewhat painful to see the awkwardness other people seemed to have, compared to him with their Pokemon, the older more experienced trainers less so.
Unlike the anime he watched as a kid. Pokemon didn’t fully understand human language. They understood emotions better, but humans had a lot of hidden subtleties to their own words that wasn’t getting translated with their intent. A lot was getting lost in translation on both ends. The Language barrier was a real problem for both sides.
He took a deep breath and got up. He had a new member to pick up. He wanted to properly introduce the two new members to his first three. He paused his actions for a second. “God damn, those three practically feel like family now,” he thought. Smiling wide at that.
He went and took a quick cold shower that did nothing to calm his bubbling anxiety down while mentally told himself he had to be ok saying goodbye potentially never seeing this young Nurse Joy again. “Fuck I really suck at this.” He thought.
He got dressed in his official league garb, which consisted of basic, but sturdy jogging pants, good walking shoes and a non-descript beige sweater with the indigo logo on his back. The jacket was an indigo blue with big yellow orange letters “Indigo gym trainer” on the back. Looking himself over he resolved to get some personal clothing.
He couldn’t believe the indigo brass would actually be ok with their officials walking around like cheap dumbass eastern europian street gang members, unless that’s what they were going for. Someone in their fashion department needed to get fired. He made the look work, only because he was built like a brick house.
Which wasn’t as special as he first thought. Most of the experienced trainers he saw, were very strong compared to people on earth.
Which made sense. Lethal violence and thrudging in the wild for a shiny new Pokemon, was a regular Tuesday here. Most of the female trainers that looked experienced, were built like amazonian Warriors, a few he almost spontaneously challenged to a wrestling match, he didn’t think Nurse Joy would have appreciated that.
Thinking back on yesterday he didn’t think he saw a single person who was actually out of shape.
He grabbed all his stuff and slung it over his shoulder. Leaving the room and locked the door.
He walked down the stairs into the hallway that connected the lobby with the medical ward. He passed by the breakroom and spotted both Nurse Joys. His and young Nurse Joy’s eyes met. Carlos in that moment got a pretty clear confirmation that struggled with whether it had been casual or not.
The young nurse didn’t have her playful flirty guard up. She had a soft look in her eyes, shy almost. Carlos had no idea what his expression was, he just looked.
”Well.” The old nurse broke the spell. “It seems to me, you two have a lot to talk about.” She left the breakroom and walked into the hallway. “Sit down next to her boy.” She said playfully. “She doesn’t seem to be in a biting mood.” She chuckled at her own joke and headed to the lobby.
Carlos took a deep breath and entered the break room. He sat down next to young Nurse Joy, in awkward silence.
“We could go back upstairs?” Carlos said jokingly. Young nurse Joy gave him a coy smile. “Don’t tempt me.” She said. A silence again but not as awkward.
”What’s your name?” Carlos asked breaking the silence again.
Young nurse Joy flinched. She spoke after a few seconds. “We are not supposed to share our personal names with other humans.”
Carlos felt a pang of sadness. “Not even after last night?” He meant to say it in a neutral tone but it came out emotionally charged.
Silence.
The young nurse didn’t say anything. Carlos wondered if he accidentally stepped into a faux pass and he was about to apologize.
”Cory”. A simple name but with her indescribable gaze, she somehow conveyed something profound. Carlos felt some rudimentary understanding form in his mind.
The Nurse Joy clan was even less human, than the humans from this world were, compared to humans back on earth. Something he was subconsciously aware of but this moment brought it into his conscious mind.
Carlos glimpsed the forlorn loneliness carefully hidden behind multiple layers of mental conditioning. Layers peeled away in this moment, it definitely didn’t give him the feeling she was just wild and chasing guys, there was a shyness, a real fear of getting hurt.
It was gone as quickly as it appeared. Carlos had subconsciously reached out with his hand, grabbing hers. They sat in silence again. The faint smile on her lips made it a peaceful, comfortable silence.
Something in the past had set the Joy’s on the sidelines of human culture. Observers, caretakers but never truly participants. At least that’s how he interpreted what he observed. How much of that interpretation was true, he had no clue. He doubted nurse Joy, Cory, would be forthcoming.
Carlos broke the silence, again. ”I have 2 new members on my team and was planning on doing an official meet and greet with the whole team. Would you like to join?”
He felt her flinch. He looked at her worried. She had a startled look on her face. It looked like her brain had reset to its factory settings and for the second time today he wondered if he had stepped on a social land mine but her face quickly morphed into her usual sultry smile. A faint pink blush on her face.
”That’s something children do, she teased.”
“Oh, well, if you don’t want to, then...” He said.
she shushed him by leaning forward. She startled him now with a french kiss, she kept it up for a good ten seconds. She pulled away slowly and spoke in a low voice. “But I think it’s cute. What about lunch? Noon is when transfer Pokemon come in and I will also introduce you to mine ok?” Carlos smiled at that, he felt hot.”sounds good.”
She sat back lounging leisurely. Her moment of vulnerability was gone. Her practiced walls of sultry behavior and seductive smiles were back, as if they never left.
”Btw, don’t go offering a meet&greet like that with other women, the way you talk sometimes feels like you are lacing it with innuendo, they might misunderstand.”
”Ah so a bit more complex than something only children do.” He thought, he heard a possessive tone that he liked very much however he didn’t voice that he smiled and nodded. “Ok I won’t, just you.” He playfully added. She smiled coyly while still blushing, “thanks.”
Carlos felt awkward bringing it up but she gave him no indication she would, playfully guarding herself so he braced himself and spoke. “Did you ever believe this was going to be casual?” His heart beat a bit faster, laying it out so openly made him nervous.
“My, my, it seems you are upfront and bold all the time, not just last night.” She playfully teased. He nodded but kept a stern expression and stared at her, putting on a bit of pressure.
His mind almost wandered after it seemed like she wouldn’t bite, still deflecting with sultry commentary but after a minute, Cory’s showed a genuinely expression. “Ok i will answer. Yes I kept telling myself it would be casual.” Her face morphed back into her sultry self, and she leaned forward, smirking when his eyes flitted down. He couldn’t help it She did that on purpose.
“That’s until you walked in last night and any thoughts of casual, left instantly,” she laughed flirtatiously while biting her lower lip, the subtle exaggeration in the motion, made it very seductive, it made his heart pound.
His noticed how his body reacted heavily, if he wasn’t so on guard, he would never have caught the subtleties of how it was part of this social front she seemed to have. He also noticed that almost everything she did had very a potent effect on him, more than he felt it should, something Carlos was curious and suspicious about and he latched onto that curiosity. He felt it was important to understand this, before be became a simping spineless mess.
“Do all nurse Joy’s do that? You are well practiced in portraying this, character, for lack of a better term. I would call it acting but that doesn’t feel like it would do it any justice, it feels so real, don’t get me wrong I enjoy the flirty banter, but it’s something you seem to be doing purposely.”
Cory sighed deeply and dropped her facade, shaking her head. “I must say it’s frightening to see a man with your disposition so keenly aware of our mask with only a few days of interaction.” She said cooly.
”What do you mean?” He asked, suspiciously noticing that he calmed down rather fast due to her tone, he didn’t like the tone, it felt weirdly distant and out of place.
”Are you calm now?” She asked, now in a neutral tone. Carlos realized she was aware of the effect she was having on him, he nodded, his expression turned stern, his thoughts dark, it felt like he got played and it made him angry but he kept it locked away for now. She sighed.
“Let me preface this, that this character you observe, this mask, is part of who we are as Nurse Joy’s, it is genuine for the most part, albeit exaggerated because we use facets or ourselves that we don’t always fall to naturally.
We are trained to come up with a pattern of behaviors that create a sense of familiarity and trust, it’s left to each of us to create our own personality, our mask.
We do this because as professionals we need to create emotional distance between patients and us. More often than not, a nurse Joy must operate on someone they are familiar with, sometimes having knowing them for years.”
Carlos nodded, it made sense the way she put it, it did calm his anger down hearing the logical reasoning behind it all.
“In order to maintain excellence, we create this emotional distance that allows us to do our work. Over the centuries, our mask has become somewhat of an art form. Something we take pride in.”
Carlos kept nodding while in thought but before he could ask his second question, the one he really wanted, needed an answer to, Cory spoke again.
”I need to explain a bit of context for the second question that is obviously burning in your mind.”
”Ok take your time.” He did a bit of emotional detachment himself.
she took a deep breath. “All humans have some form of Pokemon genome. Its what allows for the symbiotic relationship between pokemon and human. Or Hewmon as Pokemon call us, this Genome is a bit different for everyone, which leads to different people bonding more easily with different Pokemon, then say the Pokemon you and me naturally bond with.”
“Since you are new to this world you probably don’t know this, but women of the Joy and Jenny clan are all practically twins respectively on the genetic level. This is due to some additional DNA with Pokemon origin, that merged the entire human DNA sequence and that keeps the same sequence to appear in our offspring, there are minute differences in among the different Joy’s that account for different personalities but other then that we are completely identical.”
Carlos had his suspicions confirmed but he didn’t interrupt, letting Cory continue.
“As nurse Joy’s we are always born with an innate need to study medicine and we bond particularly well with normal, fairy, psychic, grass and water type Pokemon.”
“All typings that have some sort of healing move?” Carlos asked, this was beginning to sound like someone or something, had done some serious genetic modifications. She kept going.
“We are also born with what we refer to as: psycho manipulative communication and observation. We can’t perform full blown Pokemon moves like auric users such as yourself but we can encourage the process of rising and fading of emotions, combined with an overdeveloped capacity in reading body language.” She paused to let that sink in.
”Oh, is that what you been doing to me?” Carlos asked with a blank mind. He felt something flare deeply in his chest.
Cory flinched, he saw panic on her face. “No! Not at all! At least not actively, ive never met a man with your disposition before and you reacted so wonderfully and.” She said panicking but broke off her rambling. “Please let me explain further?” she asked hopefully.
Carlos nodded. His guard however was up, his dark TE flared and circulated through his mind.
His expression must have changed because Cory was a lot more tense.
”We can use these psycho manipulation techniques to supplement our medical skills. When it comes to the healing process, you want to use, encourage and optimize the natural progresses of the body as much as possible, often what needs to be done, is guide the body away from producing hormones such as stress and a few others, that create complications during any sort of surgery or stunt the natural healing process, which is where our body language recognition comes in, so we can recognize how to manipulate the emotional state of our patients.
Using drugs and medicinal is an alternative we sometimes use for long term healing but we tend to steer away from that, side effects tend to pop up randomly and there is always someone allergic or resistant.”
As she explained more and more about how her manipulation techniques were employed he calmed down and relaxed, although to say he wasn’t freaking out, would be a lie.
“So how does that relate to me?”
She took a deep breath. “So because we are slightly different from humans, we don’t really bond like normal humans when it comes to romance. That internal part of us is more akin to a Pokemon. So I might flirt or go on romantic dates with some guy but his mind would subconsciously register me as something that’s not really human. Many would lack the natural attraction necessary for most people, for romantic bonds. we keep this part our genetic makeup a secret, so please do not go and talk about this please?”
”However I can connect with you romantically.” He said, She nodded again.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
”So what does all of that, mean for us?” Carlos blurted out. For a moment he didn’t understand why she smiled so warmly.
Then he realized he had referred to them as an item. “Nothing much” she shrugged, “we take it slow, if you can please visit, call me at the end of the day, that sort of thing.”
”Do long distance relationships work in this world?”
”Careful with the way you talk Carlos. Already too many people know what your real background is.” She warned.
”To answer your question, yes, but I always thought people that did it were stupid” she let out a pained sigh, giving him a look, obviously aware of the irony.
“But in our case it’s also necessary, someone like you who is responsive to romantic bonding with a Joy also needs to acclimate, the process is basically the same as a long distance relationship.”
”Why is there such a process?”
”Men and women in social interactions have an airborne exchange of testosterone and estrogen, coupled with TE this creates a process where people acclimate quite fast to each other’s presence compared to what star children have explained in the past compared to earth. The same happens to a lesser degree for men on men, female to female. Pokemon to human, friends, family members, etc.”
“Nurse Joy’s without fail will mentally be registered as caretaker or nurse.”
”Ok so why do I need to acclimate to you?”
”Because a Nurse Joy produces about 10 times the estrogen of an average human woman, it’s part of how we can Psycho manipulate. Most people in this world have a natural resistance to it because they acclimate to us growing up, you didn’t but you are also compatible. If you don’t build a resistance it can lead to estrogen poisoning, the bonding between us would gain a rampant speed, your dark typing should give you some form of resistance to it already though .” She answered.
“Will it turn me gay?” She looked at him dumbfounded and then burst out laughing and didn’t stop for a few minutes.
She calmed down tears running down her eyes ”No Carlos it won’t turn you.”
She burst out laughing again. And finally managed to calm down. “Gay.”
She finally managed to finish her sentence. Still shaking from laughing wiping away some tears. “That was funny Carlos.”
”Why was that funny? it was a genuine concern, isn’t higher estrogen linked to dudes being gay?”
”You would suck at medical school Carlos, it’s a good thing you weren’t born as a nurse Joy.” she said playfully.
“Ha ha, make fun of poor me.” Carlos said while pouting, which he didn’t really do well.
”So what would it look like, if a guy is compatible but he doesn’t have dark typing like me?”
Nurse joy smiled weakly at that. “They showed us videos and documentation of that, if we don’t catch it early, it usually leads to obsession and a severe lack of self control when it comes to women, usually it turns them into excessive skirt chasers, as an attempt to clear the tension and stress their bodies go through, it’s sad those poor guys can’t help it. Their bodily functions overload constantly.”
”Sounds rough for guys like that,” he said, his thoughts went to the comedic relief he remembered of Brock chasing skirt. It was weird how so many things played off as a joke in the show, were somehow accurate depictions of how this world worked, yet the more serious themes of the show were more often than not, wrong. He realized it would be probably be a bad idea to hang out with that guy. Carlos wouldn’t want to poke his eyes out.
Cory was checking her Pokedex. She got up and grabbed his hand. “Your Pokemon got in early. Come I want us to introduce both our teams.”
Carlos and Cory went to the Lobby and The old nurse Joy’s already had all 5 Pokeballs on a tray, ready to go and gave them to Carlos.
“Here you go!” She smiled. “Your Poochyena hasn’t recovered all her TE yet but other than that, she’s the picture of health. Your Cetoddle is hungry so make sure she eats a lot.” Carlos nodded, thank you nurse Joy.”
“You’re welcome.” The old nurse said watching Cory excuse herself to get her own personal team.
“The two of you had a good talk?” Carlos looked at Cory running to her room. “Yea I think so, we decided that since we have to do the long distance thing we will take it slow.”
”Slow huh? yea I guess that makes sense.”
The old nurse watched Cory come back, the both of them shared a knowing look, but before Carlos could ask Cory grabbed his hand. “Come Carlos, I’m eager to meet your Pokemon team. She winked at the old nurse who still looked knowingly at both. “Ok have fun you two.” She said.
They went outside and Carlos went first, letting everyone out of their balls. “Ok everyone some new faces today but we are going to get along right?” He looked at his 5 team members who either nodded or shrugged.
Cory let out her team next. An Azumaril who looked incredibly fluffy and seemed to be an utter goofball.
From the looks of it heavily trained in TE and healing moves but Carlos doubted the Azumaril was a slouch, Next was a wigglytuff acting all posh and proper. And a blue crustacean called Clawitzer according his Pokedex.
It apparently learned Healing pulse but one look and it was clear. This was a Pokemon trained to be Cory’s personal gun. He smirked at her, he thought the clawitzer was cool as hell. How can you not? It was an adorable howitzer with an even more adorably serious Pokemon attached.
Carlos then let everybody get to know each other. From what Carlos could tell from his preliminary observations, there wouldn’t be too much of an issue with his personal team.
Kong as usual would build a frenemy relationship with the newest additions, throw his weight around, but the Rough looking Pawniard seemed to be capable enough of, to handle whatever Kong threw his way.
Cetoddle was so heavy Kong bounced off when he bumped into her, after which Cetoddle promptly body slammed him, chomping down on his arm. Everyone had a good laugh at his expense.
After initial introductions were done. Pairs quickly formed. Dianne and Pawniard started exchanging pointers on how they handled dark TE, Pawniard, at first wasn’t impressed until Dianne allowed him to sense how deep her pool was compared to his. It quickly settled a hierarchy between the two.
Cetoddle and Kong started roughhousing, or more accurately, Kong dodged getting bodyslammed. and Gawain curled up in Cory’s lap receiving scratches gentle strokes from Cory. Cory’s team laughed or scolded the antics of Carlos team. All in all, it was a cozy atmosphere.
Carlos caught Cory softly gazing at him in the corner of his eyes. Whenever he would look at her directly she would put on her sultry mask. Carlos scanned all the Pokemon he now owned with his Pokedex so he could safely use his Arceus system. He hadn’t told anyone and felt that the less people knew, the better.
Cetoddle.
Jolly: You love exploring, tasting new things and meeting new friends. Although you don’t shirk away from some fun roughhousing it’s meant to be fun, not to inflict pain. You have vastly increased defensive A/U/S but lackluster offensive A/U/S.
Terra Whale:You will grow up to be massive in Size, you have Vastly increased HP and TE however you tend to lumber along, And you need lots of food. Your Health and TE naturally grows fast, but your speed and reflexes will always be lower than other Pokemon.
oblivious: you don’t understand social cues. Although things such as taunt may lower your stats, the moves of opponents cannot prevent you from using your own moves.
Thick Fat: Reduce incoming Fire and Ice damage by 50% this includes fairy, psychic or ghostly fire or ice
Cardinal moves: 0/4
Yawn: utility move, you exude sleepiness in an area around you for about a second. You can increase the yawn’s intensity for greater effect.
no damage, 50% chance to become Drowsy.
Drowsy ignores defiant, reduces speed and reflexes by 10%. stacks up to 6 times. At 6 stacks Pokemon falls promptly asleep. All Damage, except Ice damage, will awaken Pokemon.
Aurora Veil: Snow and ice stick to your body. The ethereal energies of aurora veil powders the snow into a thick icy veil that shatters the light in many colors, reducing all incoming damage. Aurora’s veil Lasts 6 seconds.
add your Defense to your Reflex Score. Ice TE. 10%
Snowscape: summon a mini icy tornado around you freezing the environment. Thick icicle snow flakes cake the area. The crystaline flakes connect and attach to your body in a complex matrix of crystals, covering your whole body in an icy armor. Greatly increasing your Defense for 30 seconds
double your Defense. Ice TE: 10%
Powder Snow: Exhale a large amount of snow that covers a 10 by 10 foot area.
50% atk. 100% increase in speed. 10 to 10% ice TE.
Freeze dry: Freezes water, mud, snow, and bodies into solid ice. Receive 200% increase to speed if target is covered in snow, mud or is drenched. 100% atk high chance of freezing. 10% iceTE
Pawniard
Impish. You like playing tricks and pranks on people. Your atk is lower but you have a natural affinity for utility moves.
Inner Focus: you won’t flinch from attacks or Paralysis, all effects that prohibit your movement or clarity of mind such as confusion, sleepiness, taunt, etc, only last half as long.
Cardinal moves 0/4
Hone Claws: increase atk and speed by 3 for 12 seconds. Stacks up to 6 times.
5% Dark TE, or 50 Dark TE whichever is lower.
Harden: increase defense by 15% for 12 seconds. Stacks 6 times
5% normal TE. prelude to steel defense.
Mean look: Blocks Pokeball return function, switch moves, Causes flinch
Leer: Reduce Speed and atk by 10% for 12 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times
5% normal TE.
Metal Claw: Slice with your metal claws. Building up momentum. 120% atk increases speed by 2 for 12 seconds. Regardless of hit.
10 to 10% steel TE.
Iron Head. Launch yourself forward with great force and speed, has high chance of flinching.
150% atk, 30% base chance to flinch, 150% speed.
Foul Play. You trick your opponent into hitting itself. By guiding its movements with subtle encouragement.
80% base atk of opponent. Add both your and your opponents bonuses to speed and attack to Foul play. You must be within close proximity, to use this move.
50 to 10% Dark TE.
Looking over his pawniard stats he was pleased to see that, whatever trainer used to own Pawniard, had at least made an attempt to train him. He already made up his mind on how to train his newest additions. He had also come to the conclusion he needed to change the way he trained Kong. However he put those thoughts to the side and simply enjoyed the early morning with his new girlfriend meeting his Pokemon.
He saw Surge in the Lobby and waved and sighed, knowing this warm cozy feeling was soon coming to an and. He turned to Cory and added her work schedule and her contact information to his pokedex promising he would send his work schedule as soon as possible.
Cory then suggested to do some move demonstrations, clearly she wanted to show off. Carlos happily agreed.
After a few rounds he was severely tempted to get his own Clawitser who wouldn’t want a mon that aggressively shot healing pulses at his team or precise, accurate water bullets, that shattered some poor trees.
Surge POV.
Surge was forced to get up early that morning, after receiving a call from the local Jenny at 5am, blasting his ear because Carlos had roughed up some hoodlums the night before. grumbling all the way, walking to the police station in a foul mood, to give a statement. He knew she didn’t call him that early for a statement she called him that early to spite him and to have an excuse to rant.
At 7am he walked out of the police office. His mood even fouler. His hangover didn’t help.
He really hated how thoroughly petty, Jennies were. Dating one, a decade ago had been the worst mistake ever. He should never have fallen for that sexy look.
He couldn’t help it back then that he was insanely attracted to girls in uniform, it was partially why he had joined the standing army. He cringed at some of the teen angst from back then.
Dating a Jenny had been a disaster, oh sure she was wild, hell they had an amazing year, she had made him blush like a little boy. Who knew they loved to be dominant and man, those nights with the whip. As awesome as it all had been, the memory of it now, was sour and bitter. The constant hounding also never really let him recover and move on, coloring all his interactions with the fairer sex. always on guard with women,
That second cousin, of his girlfriend Jenny had obviously set him up.
He still couldn’t quite figure out why or how that had happened, he hadn’t been that drunk, had he? He should have been suspicious right then and there. His Girlfriend Jenny hated him getting drunk, that one hadn’t, he stupidly believed his girlfriend was loosening up.
Then this second cousin disappeared from the face of the earth the next day, still not found a decade later and that had settled it. Didn’t matter that he helped them search every nook and cranny of the city and surrounding area. He was forever suspect. That was their dark side, their obsession and paranoia over the years he learned their darkest secret. Deep down, very deep down, they never trusted you. Not even their own loving husbands. Yet somehow they garnered blind trust widely among the population, nobody questioned the police force. For him that trust was utterly shattered, and he had nobody to talk to about. The shrink during some of his mandatory sessions had laughed in his face when he brought it up.
The worst part, was they all talked. So no matter where he went, all the Jennies had read his psycho analysis profile, recently he discovered it was now officially part of Jenny academy curriculum. That made him downright hate them. always ready to jump at anything that wasn’t completely in line with the law, always right on the line of abuse of power on their end.
The only silver lining today, was that he had an excuse to yell back at this particular Jenny.
Oh how up in arms she was about Carlos using excessive force.
“Pfff excessive force, the Jennies are the ones to talk about that.” He muttered darkly. He had been somewhat apologetic right until she slipped that some stupid loser trainer on the hopeless list, had ordered an ekans to attack Carlos directly.
Surge had snapped, exploded and his starter and second had to hold him down not to cause a scene of him crushing the station to the ground, all the frustration and resentment of the last decade with the Jennies had exploded out of him, the electrical breakers of the station blown due to his outburst, another addition to his Psycho analysis file.
Had he been any other Gym leader, the Jennies would never have dared bother him with this, hell they would have commended the initiative Carlos had shown.
He smirked, he had the whole thing on tape. he wondered if this would finally be enough for his lawyer this time. He really needed the Jennies to back off with that ridiculous vendetta. How many perfectly normal dates had they ruined for him by showing up unannounced for some bogus charge?
His conscience began to remind him. “Well actually, it wasn’t complete bogus that one time.”
”Shut up.” He growled at his own conscience. He didn’t care about fair anymore. Not with the Jennies.
Surge calmed himself down by looking up Carlos fight on the pokenet. Carlos was already making waves in the rookie circuit with his onesided, nearly murdered, Mankey vs Natu fight and now the alley fight was going viral. He quickly send his PR manager the link for both, pointing out, that Carlos was officially under their wing.
Surge smiled, Jenny might have wanted to get under his skin but this allowed him to get ahead of all the hype. This was great advertisement for his soon to be Gym.
“Perhaps I should use this to set the tone for the gym, tough, ruthless, no weakness. Be good for the image.” He thought.
In the past Gym’s received taxes straight from the civilian population they presided over. Nowadays those taxes went straight to the central government body of the league. As a Gym, one of the primary sources of income was money received for the number of challenges you managed to squeeze out. It was all a balance of providing rookies, veterans and Ace trainers with enough challenge to make them try again and not overwhelm them and crush their spirits.
the higher the badge, the trainer aimed for with his gym, the more money was involved. If your gym was seen as a rookie starter gym major gym or not. all you would get was pennies. If he could elevate his gym to the level of Giovanni, widely regarded as the last gym. He could rake in some serious profits. The last thing he wanted, was to be like flint, or god forbid Erika who cared more about her Perfumes selling, then Pokemon battles. The fact Erika of all people had a major Gym was a clear indicator how pathetic the average gym had become.
Surge replayed the part, where Carlos grabbed the ekans and slammed it into the ground repeatedly while his Poochyena bombarded it with swift. He wondered how he got his Poochyena to effectively triple the number of swift projectiles smirking wide. “Bloody giratina in a soup bowl, that kid already has his Pokemon chain and use unique moves. What sort of freak talent is that?”
The link on the official vermillion Gym site, Letting everyone know Carlos was with the Vermilion gym, proved to be effective. His PR manager already send him an email that reservations came trickling in. “Gotta help get that kid some good electric Pokemon so we don’t fumble this momentum.” Surge mused.
Surge entered the Poke center reasonably calm and approached the old nurse.
”HEY THERE sweetheart! Is that dumbass ready or still sleeping?” He grinned wide, leaning on the counter. The old nurse smiled coyly. “Careful Lieutenant, you might give this old woman the wrong idea.” She dramatically fanned her face with her hand.
Surge just got a bigger shit eating grin on his face, he might despise the Jennies but he loved fooling around with the Joy’s and they always played along, clearly enjoying the banter which he enjoyed. He never felt judged by them, which he appreciated.
“To answer your question, look outside.” She motioned with her head and Surge saw Carlos sitting among his Pokemon 5 instead of 3 and the young Nurse with her own Personal team.
He whistled. “Care to explain? How did he turn that ice cold fish, into a blushing girl batting her eyelashes?”
”Well there is the fact that he had 3 adorable Pokemon, who are very attached to him. There is a paternal affection and bond forming between him and his 3 Pokemon. It’s clear as day, that he was a father in his old world and by the looks of it a stern but secretly doting type.”
Surge scoffed. “You can tell all of that from a dude unconscious for 2 days awake for 1?”
”We can, regardless it gave young nurse over there, enough time to realize she utterly misjudged him when you three barged in that night.”
”Yes but she’s known around town as Lance’s fangirl. She’s been relentlessly pursuing him.” Surge countered.
The old nurse gave him a look. “Yes Lance made it a little too clear he wasn’t interested 3 days ago,” the old nurse let a little venom in her tone for Surge to know what she thought of the matter. “that was partially why she lashed out so viciously at our prodigal new addition to the leagues.” She motioned at Carlos.
”Yea but seeing this 180 is still whack.”
”He’s compatible, something you know a thing or two about?”
”No shit. And don’t remind me I just spend 2 grueling hours of holding back my frustrations.” He grumbled. His mood souring again. He motioned to the happy couple.
”Still, they are going pretty fast and all.”
”Nope they are not” the nurse stood straight a happy stiff smile on her face obviously trying to contain herself.
Surge raised an eyebrow.
The nurse relented, “They talked this morning so I naturally give them space, and he walks up afterwards and casually informs me they are taking it slow.” She drawled out the last word to punctuate it.
Surge took a second but his eyes widened. A startled expression, looking at the couple, a look that the old nurse savored.
”He has no fucking clue does he?” He gasped.
“Nope.” The old nurse beamed happily.
”She knows, he has no clue right?”
”YUP!”
”What the actual Arcues? And she’s going along with it? Why?”
”Because! It’s so adorably oblivious and innocent, it’s what makes it so endearing, how could she not go along with it?”
”Dayum! perhaps I gotta use that move, that’s slick.” He mused.
The old nurse tsked. “It only works because he had no clue. If you do it, it will just come off as cheap.” She placed her hand on his arm. “You can do better than that Surge.”
Surge scoffed. Bitterness dripped from his tone. “Better then that?” Motioning to Carlos. “I doubt it.”
The old Nurse sighed. There was a discreet encouragement among the Joy’s to be lenient with Surge. The crusade against Surge worried the elders, especially with Surge becoming a Gym leader. Surge had proven a challenge for the numerous Joy’s that dealt with him. His brash straightforward behavior was somewhat similar to their mask, albeit crude loud and obnoxious.
She felt her pride bubbling. Her poke at Surge had been perfectly performed. This was something she would put in her daily report, it was part of their Job, to keep prominent figures emotionally stable.
”For what it’s worth, Surge I NEVER believed the accusations.” She said softly.
Of course she had, but her and many other Joy’s would take that to the grave.
the evidence presented by the Jennies had been overwhelming at first. But carefully disecting it piece by piece had unraveled the facts, revealing to her and many of the older joys, small gaps in logic that the Jennies overlooked in their zealous crusade. In her medical psychological opinion, an opinion her peers shared, Surge needed to believe that there were people that had his back, no matter what, lest he would alienate himself.
She continued, “I’ve pointed out numerous times that their whole case relies far too much on circumstantial evidence but they are stubborn as you well know.”
Surge had his shit eating grin on his face. Still guarded, she noted.
”Thanks nurse I never doubted you.” He spoke somewhat softer, a few moments later, still obnoxiously loud. “Seriously though, after this morning that’s something I needed to hear.”
“Don’t be a stranger you hear? The Joy stationed in Vermillion is a good fluffy egg, she knows how to listen and keep her mouth shut if you need to talk about something private.”
He nodded at that, “I will, in a strange way talking to Joy’s seems to help more then those stupid shrinks they make me talk to.”
He pushed himself of the counter with that and stretched a little. “Well I was planning on going back early in the morning with the teleportation pads but we don’t need to be back until t so I’m going to push it till late afternoon, give those two lovebirds some more time, cya!”
”What would the indigo league do without you Surge.” She playfully called out after him. He waved her goodbye. Leaving the center.
