bookpower Chapter 261.5: Joy’s Anatomy
Chapter 261.5: Joy’s Anatomy
Kerry woke up to something tickling her nose. “Nghh…” And with a reluctant moan, opened her eyes to see a little star tail dangling in front of her face. “Lynxie…”It seemed the precocious little Luxio had decided that he wanted to sleep with his human for the night as she found him curled up by her side. “Hehe…” With a sedate giggle, Kerry carefully extricated herself without waking the adorably slumbering lion cub.
“Once he evolves into a Luxray, we won’t be able to sleep together like this anymore…” The sight of her fast growing Luxio infused her with a bout of melancholy. But then, the thought of having a big fluffy Luxray to cuddle with while they were out camping perked her right up again. “Twinkling stars high above, a crackling fire, Justin with a guitar, Nina singing, and fluffy Luxray fur to bury my face in… Hehehe. Sounds like a perfect night to me.”
Looking around the unfamiliar space with groggy eyes, Kerry noticed that the owner of the room was absent. “Right, Nina said she was going to go meet Mash in Vermilion City today.” She had initially wanted to tag along to catch up with their mutual friend, but the thought of being ogled by that creepy shop owner of Nina’s preferred TM place was enough to dissuade her from that notion.
As Kerry gently caressed her Luxio and steadily got her mind up to gear, the door to Nina’s bedroom opened to admit the bouncy pink blob of her partner. “Morning, Peppy~”
“Chance. Chansey~”
“Have you been helping Mrs Jones with breakfast?”
“Chansey, chance.” The Chansey nodded.
“Alright, gimme a sec, I’ll be by in a bit,” said the girl as she gingerly trudged out into the bathroom to freshen up.
***
“Good morning, Kerry.”
“Good morning, Mrs Jones.” The girl replied.
To be honest, Kerry had initially felt reluctant to parade her Pokemon in front of the housewife after what Nina had told her about her childhood. The nurse girl had not personally dealt with victims of psychosis before, but hers were a clan of medical providers and so she had heard plenty of stories from her relatives.
However, looking at Leanette Jones right now, in her little apron and cheerfully humming to herself as she flitted around the kitchen with a Chansey by her side, made it hard for her to believe that the woman’s mind had ever been anything but healthy.
“Do you need any help, ma’am?” Kerry offered as she stood by the edge of the kitchen — it was a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen so she wanted to avoid overcrowding the place.
“No need, my dear. Peppy’s been an absolute sweetheart. Why don’t you go ahead and prepare the feed for your Pokemon while I handle the human breakfast. I know you have them on a very strict diet and I wouldn't want to impose.”
Kerry returned with an awkward chuckle. Her Pokemons’ diets were indeed on a strict regimen — one that depended on their schedule for the day. Take Lynxie, for example; on the days that they were scheduled for a battle, Kerry made sure that the Luxio ate exactly a third of his bodyweight in proteins a few hours before the battle to allow sufficient time for all those calories to metabolize.
On less active days, like today, where Lynxie wouldn’t be doing much outside of his regular training, Kerry only fed him a third of that mixed with complex fibres to help mitigate muscle loss and to aid in his digestion. There would be supplements as well, of course — Calcium, Zinc and Carbos. (Iron and Protein were already accounted for in his natural diet)
This tended to be where Nina and Kerry’s Pokemon rearing philosophy differed. The Gym Trainer preferred bolstering her Pokemon with all-natural substances like Berries and the occasional herbs. But Kerry eschewed all of that excess fructose in favor of more targeted and efficient dosing of synthesized supplements.
The two of them used to argue about this a lot actually. Though, nowadays, they’ve learned to just be respectful of each other’s viewpoints. Not that it would stop her mischievous friend from sneaking Berries to her Pokemon when she wasn’t looking though.
“So, what’re your plans for today?” Leanette asked Kerry as she was weighing some Pokechow on a scale and making a record in her Pokedex.
The girl hummed in consideration. “Hmmm… Well, Nina’s not around today so it’ll just be me and Beverly in dance practice this morning. Pretty sure they want me to do a recording in the afternoon as well, which means it’s probably best not to go to the Pokecenter today… I’m not too sure, honestly. I want to go visit Professor Bill’s ranch but that just seems a little intrusive without Nina with me, you know?”
Nina had promised to introduce Kerry to the world’s foremost Eevee specialist so that she could have her newly hatched Eevee be checked out by an expert. But so far, the two of them had just been too busy over the past week to go.
“I think they offer guided tours of the ranch,” said Leanette. “Or you could just have Nina call ahead for you.” The woman sighed. “That girl, honestly… How could she be so irresponsible? Bringing a friend to her home and just leaving you to fend for yourself.”
Kerry giggled. “It’s okay, Mrs Jones. This is my journey year, I’m not supposed to be dependent on her. But thank you for the suggestion though, I’ll send a message to Nina and have her call in for me.” At this point, Patrick, Nina’s dad, woke up and greeted them in the living room where they proceeded to have a delightful breakfast together.
In truth, Kerry really enjoyed staying with the Joneses. Within the confines of this tiny apartment, she was able to relish in the warmth of family, unlike her own home where her parents were always too busy to be around. And even if they were, never both at the same time. In the nurse girl’s mind, their detour to Cerulean City had been well worth it just to experience this mundane little slice of Nina’s life.
***
“Okay, Polly. Let’s do our stretches!”
“Po. Poliwhirl!”
“Hehehe.” Kerry’s Poliwhirl didn’t need to do any warm-ups of course, but she liked to follow along as her trainer did. So the Nurse Joy in her navy blue swimsuit began stretching her limbs by the pool while Polly did her best — the Poliwhirl’s tummy was too rotund and her limbs too stubby to do the full range of motions, making for a very adorable sight.
“Bev isn’t here yet, but no point waiting on her. Let’s get in the water and start by reviewing some of the stuff that we practiced yesterday.” The girl said once they were done stretching.
“Poli, poliwhirl.” Polly nodded and jumped into the water.
Kerry giggled and followed suit. These rehearsals had been the happiest she had ever seen her Poliwhirl, like Polly had finally found her calling in life. “Maybe we can consider hosting smaller shows in the local community even after the journey is over…”
She needed a hobby anyway and this would be a good way to keep fit while doing some outreach at the same time. “Not everyone can afford to go all the way to Cerulean City to watch the Gym’s mermaids perform in person.”
Kerry’s musings were cut short by the distorted blare of music in the water. And here she thought speakers wouldn’t work underwater but Nina said it was just simple piezoelectrics or something. Kerry didn’t get it, she mostly relied on the beeps of her earpiece anyway. “But maybe Ohm would…”
The thought of her childhood friend made her giddy with excitement. “Ohm said he was gonna Fly all the way from Vermilion to come cheer for me. Gotta work hard!”
At that thought, Kerry’s earpiece beeped, signalling that it was time for her to do the first set of movements. So she did, turning herself upside down and gently waving her body to the rhythm. All the while, Polly swirled around her human and manipulated the currents to move her around.
Mermaid shows were a collaborative effort between a Water Pokemon and their trainer. The humans would think up the complicated choreography and coordinate the group while the Pokemon made use of their supernatural powers to realize their vision.
Kerry could feel that Polly wasn’t quite up to par yet compared to Brinny, even though the Brionne was equally as inexperienced. The tide just felt a little too turbulent, nearly startling Kerry a few times. “Geniuses will be geniusing I guess.”
Not that she minded. Kerry had been around enough talent in her life to know that everyone was a genius in something. What was important was that she never gave up. So she flashed a hand sign to Polly for a reset, then she resurfaced for oxygen and clicked her earpiece in a specific sequence to restart the music.
The two continued in their struggles until a loudmouth Beverly arrived with a Rotom phone hovering around her.
“Sup Bevlings! It’s your girl~ Beverly!!! Time for another day in the life of Cerulean Gym’s number one mermaid!”
The girl was streaming, clearly. Another recent undertaking of the youngest Mizuhana in her incessant pursuit of stardom, according to Nina.
“Unfortunately, Nina’s playing hookey today.” Beverly continued. “But that’s fine because that means you’ll be getting more Beverly action!” The girl struck what their mutual friend would call a “cringey pose” then started twitching when she peeked at her stream chat. “Oi! Don’t leave! Look, we got a loli Nurse Joy in a swimsuit over here!”
Which was when Kerry suddenly found the Rotom hovering in front of her, the screen showing her own startled face along with a barrage of rapidly scrolling text.
“Come on, say hi to the chat, Kerry!” Beverly was smiling but her smile was a stiff one, clearly not pleased by her audience’s disregard of her.
“Errr… Hi, chat?” The nurse girl held back her sigh and obliged with her family’s signature smile, causing the flow of text to fly by even faster. “H-Hold on… You guys are going too fast, I can’t read the comments in time…”
Which was when the chatlog started spamming emojis in response.
Kerry frowned and tilted her head in confusion. “I’m seeing a lot of Typhlosions with… heart eyes?”
“Oi! I told you to behave, you little shits! Stop being such degens!” The mermaid girl yanked the camera back to her and started berating her audience. Until finally… “Alright, that’s it! Timeout for all of you!” With a wave of her hand, Beverly signalled for her Rotom to end the stream. “Urgh, fucking incels…”
Kerry chuckled in exasperation. “I know it’s already been said, Bev, but don’t you think you might be a little too young for streaming?”
The other girl clicked her tongue and waved dismissively at Kerry. “It’s fine, Violet gave the okay for it so long as I only do it in the Gym. Just… gotta get the hang of things…” Beverly said in assurance, though the shaky tone in her voice made it pretty clear that the girl’s words were more for herself than Kerry.
“Never mind all of that, let’s just get started already!” Beverly exclaimed as she jumped into the pool without even bothering to stretch.
Kerry sighed. “I’ve been here all along, Bev. You’re the one who’s late…” Out of all of Nina’s colleagues, Beverly was the only one whom she found to be the most difficult to get along with.
***
“Nghh… Day’s almost over, Peppy~” Kerry moaned as she exited the Gym and stretched out her spine.
“Chance, Chansey!”
“Hehe… My singing's gotten a lot better, don’t you think? The producer didn’t even ask for a retake this time!”
“Chance~ Chansey.” The pink blob bounced up and down in affirmation, proud of her partner’s progress.
“Hehehe… Can’t wait to hear the final mix. For now though, time for Vivi to go make some friends!” The girl declared as she caressed the fluffy brown bundle of fur in Peppy’s embrace.
“Veee!”
“Chance!”
Kerry hummed a happy tune and made her way over to the bus stop. “Let’s see here… Nina said it was bus number… That’s the one, isn’t it? Wait for meeee!”
Fortunately, the bus driver saw the girl waving at him and held his departure with a nod.
“Thank you, sir! You’re Mr Norman, right?” Kerry said as she waved her Pokedex to pay for the fare. “Nina told me all about you… She said sorry, by the way — said that she would come by with souvenirs soon.”
Norman the bus driver was silent as ever but he still acknowledged the girl’s words with a smile and a thumbs up.
Kerry smiled back in return and made her way to the back with Peppy bouncing in tow.
The inside of the bus was sparse, but not as empty as Nina had said. “Maybe we just came a bit too early.” Kerry mused as she and Peppy sat down in an empty seat, right in front of a smiling old lady. Her friend did say that she usually visited Bill later in the afternoon so maybe that was why.
“Vee~”
“Yeah, this is your first time on a bus huh, Vivi?” Kerry cooed at her baby Eevee who jumped onto her lap to look out the window with sparkling eyes. She had mostly been taking the Sky Tram during the length of her stay in the city.
Gleaming ivory towers, gurgling waterways and abstract fountains, Cerulean City had a distinctly different feel as compared to her hometown of Vermilion. “I kind of prefer this city actually, it feels more… natural — peaceful.”
“Excuse me, are you a Nurse Joy?” came a fragile voice from behind Kerry.
“Yes, I am. Is there anything I can do for you, ma’am?” The girl looked behind her with a smile, at the matronly old woman who called out to her.
“Oh, not at all dear. I just wanted to say thank you to your family for healing my Meowth recently.” The woman gestured towards the grumpy looking feline lounging on her lap. “Old girl’s been having a lot of issues at her age.”
Kerry giggled. “You’re welcome, ma’am. It’s our clan’s pleasure to serve all Pokemon.”
“Of course, and how blessed we are to have such beautiful Togetics looking after us. Would you like some cookies, dearie?”
Kerry chuckled at the delightful woman. “Of course, ma’am. Can’t say no to cookies.” She responded as she reached into the proffered container.
The two continued chatting until the woman had to alight near a bridge while Kerry continued on her journey to where a ranch full of adorable fluffballs were waiting for her.
“I wonder if Professor Bill will be able to figure out Vivi’s elemental affinity. I mean, Nina did say that her sponsor had every Eeveelution biome imaginable set up in his estate.” And the one that her baby Eevee was attracted to would likely be his Evolution of choice.
“I hope it’ll be a Flareon.” Or, a Glaceon would be fine as well, as Nina surmised. “Just please, Arceus, don’t let it be a Jolteon.” Kerry wanted an adorable Eeveelution to cuddle with, not a pincushion!
***
Author's note:
This is one of those chapters where I wish I had written more. Maybe show Kerry working in the PokeCenter a little.
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