Machop winced as she gingerly tore at the bloodied bandage, putting a pause to Kerry’s endeavor. The girl smiled and gently caressed the humanoid Pokemon’s calloused hands.

  “I’m sorry, did that hurt too much?”

  The Machop vehemently shook his head in denial, eyes quivering in pain but too stubborn to admit it, eliciting a giggle from the nurse girl.

  “You’re very brave. But how about you shut your eyes and take a little nap for the moment? I promise you’ll be all better once you wake back up again.” With a glance at Peppy, the Chansey approached and began lulling the Machop to sleep with her soothing voice. All the while, Kerry maintained her smile, assuring Machop that everything was going to be alright.

  A smile — that was the most important secret of nursing. The first lesson and the first trial for any prospective Nurse Joys. To maintain a warm smile even in the face of suffering and tragedy. To be a beacon of hope and solace for the sick and wounded.

  Once Machop dozed off, Kerry allowed her face to harden in concentration as she continued to peel at the stained bandages wrapped around the Pokemon’s leg.

  “Is Ippo going to be alright? If… if he hadn’t pushed me out of the way, that Hyper Beam wouldn’t have hit him…”

  Kerry’s eyes softened and turned towards the young man hovering anxiously by the bedside, fists tightened, brows furrowed and teeth clenched in frustration. Despite being almost three times the size of the juvenile nurse girl, the man looked as feeble as a Whismur at this moment.

  “Mr Ippo will be fine. There are severe burns and lacerations, and we will need to remove some broken fragments and reset his bones. But it’s nothing we can’t fix with enough time and care. So please, don’t be sad. Mr Ippo loved you enough to sacrifice his own wellbeing for yours. No doubt he would be distraught to wake up to the sight of your distressed figure.”

  “B-but…”

  “I promise you, sir, that I will take good care of your partner. So please, why don’t you step outside for the moment. I don’t think you will like to see what’s underneath all this dressing.” Kerry tilted her head and widened her smile. “I assure you that the next time you two meet again, it will be like nothing ever happened.”

  The man stammered, looking hesitant all the while, before acquiescing with a reluctant nod and moving to the other side of the curtain.

  With the onlooker gone, Kerry finally allowed herself a sigh of relief and refocused on her work.

  The Machop’s leg was an appalling sight; skin blackened, flesh purple and twisted at an unnatural angle. Normally, Kerry wouldn’t have allowed her patients to deteriorate to such an extent. But the past couple of days had been extremely hectic. And while they were not short on supplies, personnel and space was a massive constraint, forcing them to prioritize those in more urgent need of care.

  “Peppy, keep an eye on him and make sure he stays asleep. Polly, I need a tweezer and a scalpel. And make sure to be on standby with the gauze — we don’t want blood splashing everywhere.”

  “Chance~”

  “Poli!”

  Peppy waved her stubby little flippers and bounced in affirmation like the adorable pink blob that she was while Kerry’s Poliwhirl deftly passed over the requested tools. Polly had become quite the competent assistant throughout all their time together. The girl still remembered how nervous she was back when Polly assisted with her first patient — an injured Pidgey they found while wandering around in the wilderness.

  Now, her hands were steady, knowing exactly which sized scalpels Kerry needed at any given time and no longer dropping her tools. Though to be fair, having opposable thumbs did contribute greatly to the latter, something that Peppy and her flabby little flippers could only envy.

  Slowly but surely, Kerry meticulously sliced away the charred skin and gangrened flesh that were beyond salvation while making sure to avoid any major nerves or arteries. The missing pieces won’t cause any issues — a generous application of Potions was enough to facilitate regeneration. What’s more important, and a mistake that many people made, was to prevent healthy flesh from healing over the rotten to prevent future complications.

  It took an inordinately long time because Kerry tried her best to reduce collateral and had to carefully shift the Machop’s positioning a few times. But ultimately she managed, leaving behind grey but lively skin cells and bloody but still-healthy flesh underneath.

  Kerry set aside her tainted tools with an exhausted quiver and a subdued breath. “We’re not done yet… Lynxie, you’re up. I need an X-ray. I don’t want to make any more incisions than necessary.”

  “Lux!” The Luxio’s eyes began to glow while Peppy guided his sight. Kerry’s lion cub had already been hooked up to a special monitor beforehand to translate the signals from his brain to something discernible. And before long, a complete image was displayed of the Machop’s internals.

  “Hmm… I need a different angle on this part, Lynxie.” Kerry pointed. “There’s too much overlap here between the fragments.”

  “Lux!” With another cry, the chubby Luxio jumped precariously onto a stool and repeated the process once more.

  “Alright, that should be good enough. Polly, get me a—” Kerry giggled at the tray of tools already laid out to her side. “Hehe. You’re getting better at this Polly. Proud of you~”

  “Poli. Poliwhirl!”

  And after another half hour of delicate operation, Kerry finally realigned the injured leg and removed the majority of the smaller bone fragments while leaving behind enough of the larger pieces to be regenerated once they were done.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Phew. That should do it for now. You’re up, Peppy.”

  “Chance~” With a melodic cry, Peppy conjured an incandescent Egg of pure Type Energy which she then embedded into the center of Machop’s being — Soft-Boiled. With this, there should be enough nutrients to sustain the Pokemon during the healing process without the need for an infusion.

  Once that was done, the nurse girl sealed the incisions she made and began applying a sequence of medication; Burn Heal to help rejuvenate the burnt skin, a basic Potion to prime the flesh and kickstart the regeneration process. And finally, an appropriate dose of Hyper Potion to accelerate the healing to just the right degree — wounds that healed too fast might end up scarred or disfigured.

  “Chance! Chansey~” Then, with a wave of soothing Psychic Energy, Peppy chimed in with a final application of Heal Pulse before returning Ippo the Machop into his Pokeball.

  There would be no need for bandages because for Pokemon, a Pokeball was the safest space they could be in, utterly sterile and isolated from any external impurities that might complicate the recovery process.

  With a nod, Kerry gestured for Peppy to bring the Pokeball outside to the H.E.A.L machine, the Health Empowerment and Acceleration of Life machine, while she cleaned up the space.

  “I reckon a couple of hours in the machine should be good enough for Ippo to mostly recover. Then, it’ll just be some PT to get him back on his feet… Heh.” Kerry chuckled as a memory flashed through her mind. “Remember how Justin thought that Pokemon healing just involved putting a Pokeball into a H.E.A.L machine and letting it flash a couple of times?”

  “Poli. Poliwhirl!” Polly frowned and shook her head in disapproval. She still held a bit of a grudge against the boy for taking in the Carvanha who tried to eat her all those years ago.

  Kerry caressed the Poliwhirl. “It’s just Justin being Justin, no need to take it to heart.” Although, she did remember being quite annoyed at him back then when he first said that.

  In truth, the H.E.A.L machine was actually a time dilation device used to shorten recovery time. Pokemon were quite resilient and so, most of the time, they could recover on their own without additional intervention. Not to mention, most Pokemon that came into a Pokemon Center after a long journey were just suffering from exhaustion. Hence why a short spiel in the H.E.A.L machine would suffice and why laymen like Justin thought the way they did.

  “But speaking of that guy, I wonder what he’s doing right now…” Kerry sighed. “I should go check on him after this, make sure he’s not causing any trouble for the locals.” She was already feeling the exhaustion set in.

  “Haa… I hope Nina comes back soon.”

  ***

  “Gra, graveler.”

  Kerry splayed languidly onto the bumpy exterior of her Graveler and revelled in the boulder Pokemon’s soothing rumbles, the subtle vibrations penetrating deep into every fibre of her being and helped to loosen her fatigued muscles.

  “M-m-m-m-m… Y-o-o-o-u’re-e-e th-e-e-e be-e-e-est, Ro-o-o-o-cky-y-y-y…”

  “Gra-gra-gra-gra…” The Graveler quaked with hearty chuckles, further intensifying Kerry’s ecstasy.

  The sound of raucous chatter, energetic shouting and rhythmic construction permeated the air. Pokemon could be seen hauling debris and materials back and forth while children ran around doing menial chores and minor errands.

  Rocky, Kaipo and Duo the Noctowl had been lending their assistance to the town’s reconstruction while Kerry was slaving away in the Pokecenter. Mahogany Town looked a lot livelier now as everyone worked in unity to restore their livelihoods.

  It was an invigorating sight. One that gave her a deep sense of accomplishment in knowing that her efforts over the past couple of days had not been in vain.

  “Do you know where Justin is, Rocky? He’s not causing trouble again is he?”

  “Gra.” With a cry of affirmation, the Graveler grabbed hold of his human with his powerful quad-arms and gently draped her atop his head like a scarf before proceeding to make his way over to their other human companion.

  Kerry wanted to protest, but soon found herself ensnared by the sinister comfiness of Rocky’s rumbly shell. Every step he took was like a jolt in her spine, stretching it out with just the right amount of force to dispel her stiffness.

  “Oh Arceus, this is diabolical… I’m never gonna wanna walk on my own after this.” If Nina were here, she’d go on a tirade about portable massage chairs and setting up a Graveler-themed spa. Ever the profiteering little mermaid, just like her bosses.

  They eventually found Justin on an empty patch of land. The boy had seemingly set up an impromptu battle gauntlet to distract the town’s children from their recent losses.

  “Haha! You’ll need to do better if you wanna beat the great Justin Mayo! Now who’s up next?!”

  Indignant cries sounded from the precocious crowd as the next child stepped forth with their Growlithe by their side.

  “We won’t lose to some oversized Bug! Go, Pero! Scyther is weak against Fire!”

  “Woof! Aaaroof!”

  Kerry chuckled at the sight and signalled for Rocky to stay back, not wanting to put a damper on Justin’s efforts. However, the conspicuous sight of the pink-haired girl lazily lounging on top of her Graveler with a bouncy pink blob by her side inevitably caught the attention of some elderly people nearby.

  “Are you alright, dear? Did you hurt yourself?” asked the old grandma who came up to her.

  Kerry let out an awkward cough in response and quickly hopped back onto her feet. “Not at all, ma’am. My Graveler was just being a little playful. More importantly, how are you doing? Is there anything you need help with?”

  The affable old woman grabbed hold of Kerry’s hands with a warm smile. “You’ve done enough, my dear. May Ho-Oh rain myriad fortunes upon your family. The Joy clan has been nothing but an absolute blessing during these trying times. If anything, we should be the ones asking; how are you, my dear? Have you eaten yet?”

  The young Joy girl quivered and responded with a blooming smile. “I am very well, ma’am. Just glad to see the town smiling again. And no, I have not eaten yet. I’m on my way to lunch actually.”

  That response seemed to please the woman a great deal because she began guiding Kerry towards her group of elderly friends. “Then please, you must allow us to feed you. As it just so happens, we just finished cooking up a nice pot of lunch. Bring your Pokemon as well. There’s plenty enough food for everyone. Us old folks can’t eat too much these days, you see…”

  “But ma’am, I wouldn’t want to impose...”

  “Nonsense. It’s no trouble at all. In fact, it would be an honor to dine with our benefactor.”

  Kerry held her smile and acquiesced to the woman’s wishes. It was likely that the seniors were just trying to cope with the frailty of their age and their inability to contribute to the town as much as they would have liked.

  “Everyone, I brought a little Miss Nurse here with me. Make some room!”

  The gathering of elders cheered at the sight of Kerry while one of them laid out a stool for her to sit on. The group was surrounding a flickering bonfire with a large pot of bubbling red stew in the center.

  Kerry sniffed, stomach grumbling at the enticing smell. “This smells amazing. What is it?”

  The old lady chuckled as she went about preparing a bowl for her. “This is called Army Stew, my dear. We used to eat this a lot back in the war. It’s mostly just made with whatever tinned and preserved goods we managed to salvage from the rubble. But we’ve spiced it heavily to make up for the simple ingredients. Give it a try! You’ll be asking for seconds in no time!”

  Kerry gulped as she grabbed hold of the bowl she was offered; chunks of luncheon meat, rice cakes, tofu, root vegetables and instant noodles poking out from a steaming red broth. It looked generously spiced as the woman said, but utterly enticing at the same time.

  After a few cautious blows to cool the concoction, Kerry gingerly sipped at the broth and nearly ascended from the explosion of flavors searing her tongue. The earthiness of the miso, the spiciness of the dried chilies and the intense saltiness of the preserved meat, all homogenising perfectly under the grace of a singular slice of processed cheese.

  It was an overwhelmingly heavy taste. But somehow, it was also exactly what Kerry needed after days of hard work. The girl slurped at the noodles and bit at the hearty garnish, uncaring of the molten hot liquid burning her mouth.

  “This is amazing!” The sheltered nurse girl exclaimed. “If only there was a bowl of rice to go with it...” Kerry jolted and shut her mouth with a sheepish look. She had not intended to say that last part out loud at risk of sounding ungrateful.

  However, the surrounding elderlies did not mind. Instead, they responded with a knowing smirk, and just like magic, a bowl of rice appeared in front of Kerry.

  “Oh goodness, carbs upon carbs in a heavy bowl of sodium and fat.” Kerry felt almost guilty when she reached out for the proffered rice. But just as quickly decided that she did not care. She was feeling particularly indulgent on this beautiful day.

  “I should cook this for Nina and Justin next time. Maybe sub out the meat for Peppy’s eggs… But speaking of which, I wonder what Nina’s doing right now? She always forgets to eat whenever she gets super obsessed with something.” The girl mused as she thanked her host for their generosity and continued shovelling food in her mouth with as much grace as the young Joy could muster.