Chương 57: 57-Feeble

Watching on with some muted confusion, Tanya looks from the abandoned looking building to her partner then back the way they came, trying to figure out if they missed a step somewhere. Because apparently this is the Lavaridge Gym, and it doesn't look the part. Her eyes lock back onto Amelia when she hesitantly crosses the final steps to the front door and, after hesitating for a moment, pulls it open and pokes her head inside.

"... Hello?" She calls, taking a confused step back and allowing the door to close after a few seconds then looking back at her partner.

"There's no one there… I think the power is off." Tanya nods slowly at the datapoint.

"We're certain the gym didn't move to a new location? Or some kind of notice other?" She asks, looking around for any message to that effect once more as the trainer shakes her head.

"I don't think so…" She mutters, then shakes off the confusion and breaks into a smile.

"Well! We'll need to figure that out, I'll see if Aunt Lilly knows and we need to get over there anyways." Tanya nods, and with that they're walking back the way they came. Last night, the pokecenter didn't pick up their phone when Amelia called them, the line wasn't disconnected so they assumed they were past closing hours. But today isn't a weekend or any other kind of holiday, so they should be open.

Walking through the streets of Lavaridge toward the pokecenter, they wind around the nature covered space, the narrow streets covered by the awnings of low buildings of the canopy of old trees, and soon enough they're filing through the door into the pokecenter, met by… Tanya squints as she recognizes Chansey from yesterday, but the person she's accompanied by… She looks like a Joy, almost, just close enough to fool her on a first glance, but that makes the differences more eye-catching.

Her nose is the wrong shape, her eyes are a shade lighter and the pupils look ever so slightly artificial in a way to describe, the same issue with her hair, the shade of pink is spot on, but the strands fall and bunch in a way just to the left of correct. This isn't a Joy. That revelation occurs the instant before the woman looks up and smiles at them with a mouth a bit too wide and low on her too-round face.

"Oh, hello. You must be our traveling resident." She waves.

"I'm Ambrette, I'll be the nurse on duty for today. Head Nurse Lilly gave a list of instructions for both of you while here. Something came up." The casual address seems to snap both 'mon and trainer out of their minor stupor as Amelia continues with a polite introduction as she approaches the desk and grabs an apron from underneath the counter to tie around herself.

Tanya spares another glance at the fake Joy, then notices Chansey's sympathetic look from the corner of her eye and connects the dots to why she was warned of Ambrette yesterday. After tying her apron and adjusting her uniform to be perfect, Amelia is led to the back exam room to clean it up while Tanya is left with Chansey to hold down the front. As the door closes and the sound of footfalls fade into silence, Chansey looks up at the other 'mon and nods approvingly.

"Thank you for not causing a scene about… that." She sighs.

"I know it's weird, but you'll be used to it by the end of today."

"It's no trouble." Tanya says, scanning the empty lobby as random items faintly glow purple and straighten themselves out until the space looks like it belongs in a catalogue.

"I appreciate the warning. I can't say I was expecting to meet a…" She trails off, searching for the word, only for her sentence to be completed for her.

"Cosplayer." Chansey says.

"I had Lilly explain it to me, but I can't say I get it either. For some reason Ambrette seems to think playing ditto makes her better at the job." …Odd, and cultural differences don't seem to be enough to cut it this time. The woman just might be strange. Tanya grunts in acknowledgement, looking around for more things to straighten, then makes note of the amount of dust on several surfaces.

"What is the scope of work?" She asks as she walks over and presses her bulk into the table, wrapping herself all the way around till her head pokes into the shelving underneath and a featherduster floats out of the dark.

"In Mauville there were predictable surges of patients, is there something similar here?" There's a pause as Chansey watches the larger 'mon get to work on the dust, then she shakes her head.

"No. We don't have a lot of normal patients, one or two an hour on a normal day, but the gym doesn't have a dedicated nurse so most 'mon come from the transfer machine. I'll show you how it works in a minute." She says, smiling as Tanya floats the feather duster up high and cleans off the tops of the fluorescent light fixtures.

"Thank you for that, by the way." Tanya shakes her head.

"It's why I'm here. Though I doubt we'll be seeing any 'mon from the gym unless it was moved unexpectedly." Chansey looks confused.

"Oh?" Finishing her first pass of tidying up, Tanya explains her experience with the gym then allows herself to be walked through the process of receiving and sending transfers through the slightly different variant of the machine she'd studied. It turns out they did go to the correct place thankfully, so the completely deserted gym is a surprise to everyone, but Chansey mentioned offhandedly that the Gym Leader has been…

'strained' by the challenges of her new job. So it could be some strange byproduct of that. Chansey is also correct in her description of how slow working in such a small town is, despite being the only pokecenter in the area over the next hour exactly no one comes in.

It got bad enough that, with nothing to do, Tanya found the remote and turned on the lobby TV, only to find that the only channels with reception this far away from anything is the weather channel, a channel that's just a looping video of a flower field with classical music, and a live broadcast of some kind of dry governmental hearing in the Lavaridge town hall about pothole repair. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Suffice to say, when the phone rings, Tanya immediately rises from the floor and walks over to the front desk where the other 'mon had been napping. For some reason Chansey doesn't take the phone from the receiver right away, instead pressing the button to open the answering machine cassette tape slot, pulling the cassette out, then slotting in another. The reasoning becomes clear when she lifts the handset and presses star then one, causing the cassette to click to life.

"You have reached the Lavaridge Pokecenter, how can I help you?" A recorded voice states with a soothing monotone. Tanya tilts her head consideringly. Clever. There's some inaudible communication from the other end of the line, and whatever Chansey hears has her pressing star then five.

"I understand. Where are you right now?" The phone says. Some more talking, then the 'mon presses star and nine, and the cassette takes a few seconds to scrub to that point on the tape.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Goodbye." With that Chansey hands up the phone and looks up at Tanya.

"House call. C'mon. We just need to… Ugh, Ambrette." She trails off, then grabs a pen and piece of paper. Tanya watches the 'mon slowly scratch out some sloppy characters one after the other for a few seconds before realizing what she's doing and opens the door to the back room.

"Amelia." She calls.

"Tell Ambrette Chansey received a house call."

"Say it's Ursarang again." Chansey chimes in. Tanya relays the addendum and, after a few seconds, the artificial Joy comes out of the back room and walks behind the counter. A few seconds after Tanya is following Chansey out the front doors, walking just a touch faster than normal to keep up with the smaller 'mon as she hurries down the road. Just after they turn off the street the pokecenter is on and they seem to have found their rhythm, Chansey speaks up."

Writing, easily one of the worst things humans have invented." She groans.

"Why can't they just talk normally like the rest of us?" Tanya says nothing, and a few seconds later Chansey continues in a brusque cadence.

"Alright so, Ursarang is a regular with our house calls. She's old enough that she gets… confused." The 'mon says slightly tentatively, glancing at the taller 'mon every few words.

"Apparently she got it into her head that she needed to go wandering, but she fell down and now she can't get up and won't let anyone other than her trainer get close." Tanya nods, a mask of professionalism falling over her.

"Understood. How can I help?" Chansey gives a slightly relieved sigh at the simple response.

"Just stay nearby, do what I say, and make sure no one gets close enough to spook Ursarang, she's delicate."

"Yes Ma'am." —-- Following a half step behind, it doesn't take long before they arrive in what looks like a mixture of hotel and hospital, wide double doors led with shallow ramps melding with ostentatious decor. But they don't enter the front door, instead Chansey leads them around the side toward the back of the building. And as they round the final corner into a small but tastefully decorated and paved garden, Tanya sees their patient. Looking at her, delicate is not a word she would use.

Judging from the shattered second floor window and the path of destruction leading from it, it appears that the 'mon decided to leap from that height and managed to make it haflway across the yard to where she fell before the injury caught up with her. Deep furrows in the earth from her claws and shattered concrete are all around her, a solid stone bench is completely destroyed.

It takes a second before Tanya sees the elderly man sitting next to the 'mon's head, laying a hand on her neck and gently patting it as Ursarang looks around in a combination of hazy confusion and suspicion. There are other humans around, people wearing some kind of uniform as well as other elders in casual dress. They're standing at what feels like the absolute minimum distance Ursarang will tolerate. The first thing to fix then.

She clears her throat, her eyes flare purple, the backs of everyone's shirts fall under her control.

"Please disperse." She calls, the order accompanied by a simple gesture and a gentle tug indicating everyone to step back.

"You are all too close. Please disperse!" It takes a few seconds but thankfully her instructions are heeded, even amplified by a few of the unformed humans as they assist in giving more space. Meanwhile, Chansey has slowed her approach as she gets closer to the injured 'mon, to a near crawl as Ursarang looks at her with unfocused eyes." W–where… Did I get them? Where's…" She grumbles, only to be shushed by the human next to her.

"Shh… Teddy. It's alright. Look!" He says, slowly pointing at Chansey." Look! There's Chansey. She's gonna help you, alright?" The 'mon looks at Chansey for a few seconds, then appears to lose interest, looking around vaguely."... Jacob?" The man's smile twists slightly.

"Right here Teddy." He says. It's at this point that Chansey gets to Ursarang's side, gently paying an arm on the 'mon before some faint green sparkles almost struggle to emanate from the injured 'mon's fur. At the apparent resistance, Chansey appears to tense and the sparkles flare to full brightness, covering the 'mon. Once they disperse, Tanya blinks in surprise at the sight of Ursarang looking around with much more clarity and intention in her movements, appearing to assess her surroundings for the first time.

"... Chansey? Why am I…" She trails off with a groan as she sees the shattered window.

"Goodness. I'm dreadfully sorry about all this. I must have been… I must have… I…" But almost as quickly as that clarity appeared, it's gone, the fog appearing over her eyes again while she trails off into muttering silence. Her partner, Jacob, picks up where the 'mon left off.

"Thank you Chansey. I'm moving to a ground floor apartment next week, this won't happen again." He promises, continuing as the 'mon smiles and nods.

"She's healed?" Chansey nods again, and in short order the human uses his partner to help him slowly stand up before leading her back toward the doors to the building. Waving away orderlies as he does. Watching on, Tanya falls in line beside Chansey as she starts walking back the way she came." This happens regularly?" She asks, a note of incredulity in her voice. The nurse hums, sounding conflicted for a few seconds.

"... Ursarang has never jumped out of the second floor before, but yes, similar." Chansey confirms.

"Her line's hips wear out pretty badly as they get older and healing can't really fix bone atrophy. So she gets a hip injury at least once a week. This one was bad though."

"I'd have to assume." Tanya nods.

"Complete break?"

"Try shattered. Anything less than that wouldn't have been that difficult to heal, and I think I saw at least one of her ribs floating free under her skin." Chansey says with a combination of worry and irritation.

"I don't know how she was even conscious." Tanya simply hums in response, and after a minute of silence Chansey continues, gesturing at the air in front of them.

"So that's a touch more extreme than a basic house call, but it's the same procedure. Once the sun starts going down we'll probably be seeing at least one more." The nurse states calmly, looking up at Tanya and holding her gaze there before continuing.

"... If you're comfortable with it I'll let you take the lead." Tanya considers the offer for a second before nodding.

"Alright."