Getting to Fuchsia City was a pain to be sure and I had to battle several Biker trainers along the way, but I bloody made it... with some bloody time to bloody spare. I decided to do some bloody training in a nearby bloody field and hopefully my... bloody... oh bloody fuck it, I'm having a bloody rest.
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So I had a rest, needed one after all that cycling. While laying back on a bench, I discovered the festival had soon started, and that people were visiting the Pokémon Center to have fun and celebrate their... and bloody heck, they had bloody been around, bloody 141 years... Bloody Pokémon ashes! Bloody Nurse Joys... bloody unnatural. I had to find out why. Why the bloody hell had they been around for so long. Bloody bloody bloody. What the bloody heck was I going to bloody do...?
I figured I would throw out all my Pokémon and have a look at them all, also checking them up on the Pokédex for any moves they could learn to help me hide or get around unnoticed. Growlithe was pretty useless in stealth moves, so was Machamp (hard to hide that thing around), then there was Dratini and as much as I loved it, it didn't know anything that would help. So I was left with Abra and Gastly. Surely these Pokémon would know something. They didn't. Bloody useless. Well teleport was good but it would only serve as an escape and I had an escape rope for that. Still, I guess I would keep it handy for now.
I sat there for a while, pondering, when a tall man came up to me with a box in his hands.
"Pink McQueen?" Asked the man. "I am from Magcargo Express."
I looked around for any signs of the police but there was no one about, so I nodded.
The man passed me the box and left. It was a parcel addressed to me but how the bloody hell had it bloody got to me... and here? No one knew I was here... did they? Suddenly, the box started shaking. I dropped it and took a few steps back. The box ripped open and out jumped a Wooper. My Wooper. The one I had bloody ordered all that time ago. It had been delivered. Bloody delivered to me all the way out here. Now that's bloody service!
My Wooper took one look at me then ran behind the bench. I went to look for it but it had vanished. Where had the little thing gone? A moment later, it showed up behind me. I spun around and it vanished again, in front of me this time, leaving a cloud of mist. I opened up my Pokédex to determine what the bloody hell it had just done. It was Mist, a move that prevented its stats from changing for a while in battle and apparently made it hard to see for a little while too, or something. This Pokédex's batteries were going.
Still, Wooper was perfect.
My Pokédex said my Dratini could learn the move too but that involved me having to rush around to find a shop that would sell the TM. I was still bloody tired from cycling and battling. I was NOT going to a bloody shop today.
Now, the thing was... the Wooper wasn't mine until I caught it with a Pokéball and when I did that... I would have to go to the Pokémon Center to switch my Pokémon about. It was a tough thing but I had to do it if I wanted to figure out this conspiracy surrounding the Nurse Joys. So after some more rest, and watching Wooper be silly and walk into things, I caught Wooper and headed to the Pokémon Center. Before I went through the door, I tried ringing my Uncle Gio. A voice answered but it wasn't Uncle Gio's, it was a very camp man's voice. The conversation went kinda like this:
"Who is this?" The camp man demanded.
"Pink... is my Uncle Gio there?"
"Uncle Gio? I'm sorry but I'm afraid whoever you are calling is not here at the moment, can you please leave a message after the beep? BEEEEPPPP!"
Laughter followed and I realised that there was more than just one person there. A woman laughed too and there was a weird man's cranky voice giggling as well. They seemed to realise they hadn't put the phone down, so they slammed it quickly. What had happened to my Uncle Gio?
I paused, wondering if it was best to try to find out where my Uncle Gio was, instead of investigating the Nurse Joys. What if he was hurt or kidnapped or something? Uncle Gio always talked about his large business that specialised in making Pokémon tougher and it included a lot of technology development too. He mentioned there were many who found his company intimidating, which often caused problems. Could the two things be connected, the Nurse Joys and my Uncle Gio's disappearance?
I had to go on. This was the only bloody place that could answer some questions. I took a deep breath and stepped through the door to enter the realm of the Nurse Joys.
My jaw dropped. There were loads of them. Loads of Nurse Joys. I had to rub my eyes in case I was bloody seeing things but nope... these Nurse Joys were here. What in Lugia's bloody name...? I was scared but I did my best to swallow my fears and briskly walked over to the PC in the corner. A few heads turned but I ignored them as I swapped Bulbasaur out for Wooper. The Bulbasaur was certainly handy to have but I needed Wooper's Mist ability.
I saw that Chanseys were everywhere too, one per Nurse Joy, and they all shared a smile on their faces. They looked... innocent, joyous... happy... but... it was too perfect... too strange. This... this was an act. I was sure of it. Either that or someone had just told the best joke ever, and I was sure I hadn't heard Cool Trainer Andrew ♂ be mentioned.
I walked over to the counter and handed my Pokémon to the Nurse Joy there to heal them. A few moments later and the machine rang with success and I gained my Pokémon once again. I did my best to smile and tried to make it not obvious I was inspecting the place. I even said that the festival was nice. Bloody nice! I was the perfect spy.
The Nurse Joy then invited me... invited... me... bloody heck. After the festival, they were to have a feast and I was allowed to come. I kindly refused... and stepped away. What were they thinking? That I was going to walk into their trap soooo willingly?
Luckily, the Nurse Joy's attention was taken by some people entering the Pokémon Center for the festival. Soon, food was brought out, leaflets about the Nurse Joys and their services were passed around to everyone, Pokémon and people alike enjoyed their time there, and all celebrated the 141st year of service to the Pokémon world. There were speeches and much applause. I stayed for a while and did my best to fit in and pretend I was just another onlooker, happy to enjoy their company and celebrate and praise their work.
I wanted to bloody puke. But I didn't. I kept my best behaviour up all day, and there I learned where the feast was to be held and where the Nurse Joys were going to go after the festivities were over. I gathered as much information as I could. On the surface, everything seemed absolutely fine. People were friendly, Nurse Joys were joyful... and Chanseys were charitable. For anyone else, this was probably a good day. For me... it was a chance to uncover them for good. I wasn't sure why I felt so strongly about this. I mean, they were Nurse Joys, renowned people across the world and yet here I was, sneaking about, gathering information with the guise I was enjoying myself. No... I could feel it in my gut. This was important. There was something going on here. I wasn't crazy, nope.
The day came to a close and people started leaving. With the place mapped out in my mind, I left too, planning on coming back later, when things had settled down and when the truth of the Nurse Joys would be revealed.
Keep on being ready people. I know I am! Ready to figure this stuff out!
Pink McQueen