Journey to Another World 4
Ch. 12

Even though I needed to check my family into the center, I still wanted to see what kinds of Pokemon that, 'Steven' had. By the way I'd left things after our battle, their would be a good chance that we'd probably meet again and we'd have another battle between us. Handing my Pokeballs over to the nurse in the center I decided to see if I could catch a glimpse of him battling. "Please take good care of them, Nurse Joy. They've been through a lot in the last few days and I know that they'll be asking where I am once their all better."

"You mean, that your not going to stay here and wait to collect them once their all healed up?" She asked in a shocked tone.

"Well, of course I'm going to wait for them. I just have some errands to run first." I turned and slowly walked towards the door, but stopped when I thought about it for a moment. 'Jenavee.' I thought. The last I'd seen of her, she was crying and very distraught. 'If she wakes up here and I'm not here, who know how badly she's going to freak.' I turned and smiled to the nurse. "Actually. On second thought. Would it be alright if I stay in the room while your helping them?"

The nurses features softened and then turned into a smile. "Though that may be a strange request. I'll allow it." She then turns and holds out a hand. "Please, this way." She says as she leads the way through a set of double doors and down a corridor. "Tell me." She says without turning around. "How many Pokemon do you have?" She asks as she stops at the first door, then turns to face me.

"In total, there are five of us in my family. Though I'm guessing you mean Pokemon." I say but stop before continuing as I hear her giggle.

"It almost sounded like you treat your Pokemon as human." She giggles as she covers her mouth with her hand, this time trying to hide another giggle.

"As a matter of a fact. I treat them more than that." A blush slowly starts to spread across my face. "But to really answer your question. I have four Pokemon, which all happen to be girls, and their all pretty well beaten up." I nervously laugh as I put my hand behind my head.

The nurse puts a single finger on her lower lip and looks to the ceiling. "Hmm. four of you, you say. Well, I'm afraid that we don't have any rooms that can handle four injured Pokemon at once." She turns and then starts walking again. "So we're just going to have to use the machine in the back."

I start following her as she continues to walk down the corridor. "What do you mean, 'Machine in the back'? Is their something that can take care of all my girls at once?" Then it hit me. There was such a machine. 'Stupid. How many times have you seen images of a trainer going into a center, walking up to the desk to hand over the Pokeballs, then the nurse just turns around, and places them in a machine to be healed all at once.' I hit my forehead with the heel of my hand.

"Yes there is." She says as she continues to walk then stops at the end of the corridor and opens a door to a well lit room. "Most of the other rooms on the first floor are for trainers who want to have only one Pokemon healed, so they can stay with them while they recuperate." She steps into the last room at the end of the hall as I follow her in. The machine she mentioned looks a great deal like a babies crib. The interior of the machine has a blue bottom with three rows of two impressions in it, two sides that were made out of a sliver like metal, and a the top of one it had a yellow plus sign on it. "Now if you'd be so kind as to place your Pokeballs in the machine. They'll be all healed up in practically no time."

I looked at her for a while until she finally nodded to me and I stepped forward. "I really don't understand. How is this possible?"

"It's quite simple really. When an injured Pokemon is put inside it's Pokeball, the Pokeball actually heals the Pokemon within, though at a very slow pace." I slowly turned to face the nurse Joy. "This machine acts like a booster for that process. So what would take hours or maybe even days to heal just left alone inside it's ball, this machine cuts that down to an hour or so." After hearing this I turn back to the machine and slowly place each of my four girls in the corners of the six impressions and slowly take my hand out of the machine.

A sheet of glass slowly moves over the exposed impressions, then clicks/locks into place on the other side. Slowly the sound of a machine humming fills the room and then each of the four balls starts to pulsate with a white light that emanates from the core of each ball.

The nurse comes over and a small panel pops out of one of the ends of the machine and she starts hitting some keys. "It would seem that your Pokemon aren't in that great of danger." She looks over her shoulder at me. "It also says that the process is only going to take a little while, and...." She turns back to the machine and presses some more keys. "Well now, isn't this interesting."

I quickly walk up to the panel and look down at the readout. Upon the screen there are images of each of my girls in green outlines of each of them and it looks like their sleeping in a curled up position. 'No wonder they don't like being in there. If I was cooped up in that position for long periods of time, I'd start to get cramps all over the place.' I look at the images of the girls for a bit longer until some kind of text was slowly passing by next to each of them. Unfortunately the text looked like it was either written in Japanese or Chinese and me being from the U.S., there was no way that I'd understand that.

"It would seem that two of your girls are...." She stopped as she read a little more of the readout a little to close to the screen. As if she needed either a pair of prescription glasses to see what it said or that she couldn't believe what it said.

"Are what?" I asked as I looked from the screen to the balls in the machine, then back up to her. Just then there was a beeping sound and the machine shut down.

"Are all done. Their all done in there." She pressed a button on the screen and the glass withdrew back into it's sleeve on the opposite side of the lock. She smiled to me over her shoulder and then turned to face.

"Ooooookkkkkkkkk." I said. 'There's something else going on here, but she's keeping it secret.

"If it'd be alright with you. I'd like to keep them here for a little while longer." I slowly raised an eyebrow at her. "Just to make sure that the procedure was successful." She gave me an innocent/hiding smile. "After all, you did say that you needed to go out and take care of some errands."

"I...did." I was about to walk out of the room when I thought better of it. "Actually, before I leave, I'd like to talk with my Gardevoir and explain a few things. They'll probably start to panic if they wake up or are released from their balls and I'm not here." So I reached into the machine but stopped when I realized that I didn't know which was Jenavee's.

The nurse just laughed a little, reached into the machine, pulled out one of the balls, and handed it to me. I accepted the ball and released Jenavee. She seemed a little disorientated at first as she looked frantically around the room, but when she saw me standing there, she leapt right into my awaiting arms.

"Oh Donovin. Thank goodness you are alright. I feared the worst when I had to be..." From that point she just babbled, cried, and beat at my chest in a mock temper-tantrum.

I didn't say a word as I stroked her soft green hair. "It's alright Jenavee. That whole experience with Team Galactic is over." I told her as I continued to stroke her hair.

All of a sudden she stopped crying and pushed away from me with a angry look on her face. 'Wait a minute. You are not saying that you...' She said over the link.

"Of coarse not. While I was taking care of all of your wounds, Saturn slipped out and escaped." I told her as the angry expression on her face slowly softened, then she placed her head on my chest again.

"Now isn't that just precious." The nurse said as she clasped her hands together and fawned over the two of us hugging. "Now I'd really hate to interrupt this precious moment, but I need to get going with the rest of the tests." She said as she took out the other three balls and placed them on a tray.

"What is she talking about Donovin?" Jenavee asked as she looked over to the nurse while still keeping her head pressed against my chest.

"That machine that she just took the rest of the girls Pokeballs out of, just healed you all. She just wants to do a final checkup to make sure that that machine did it's job right." I told her as she slowly looked the machine over then looked back up at me.

"But, I feel fine. Great in-fact. I do not need..."

"I insist." Nurse Joy interrupted Jenavee. "Especially your Gardevoir and Lucario."

My face lost a few shades of color as my mind finally processed what she was saying. 'How could she know?' I thought to myself. 'Was it the hug that finally tipped her off to what...' I slowly started looking behind me and questioning whether or not I could knock her down, get the other girls, and escape before she called the police on me, for being a...

'Calm down Donovin. I can feel her emotions and it has nothing to...' I looked down and could see a deep green blush slowly start to spread across her face as she looked up at me. 'With what we did...' She looked down and started fiddling with the hem of her dress. 'A few nights ago.'

"You don't have to worry. It's just a standard checkup. Nothing to get all excited about." She assured me. Finally I relented and nodded to her. "You are free to stay here at the center until things are done, but I must ask you not to come into the room while I proceed with the checkup though."

"Wait...What? Why?" Jenavee asked. "It is not like..."

I pulled her into a big hug which caught her off guard and she stopped talking. 'If this checkup is just a normal one, then I recommend that we don't let her know about, you...know...what we did a few nights ago.' I told her. "You have to forgive her nurse Joy. She gets quite agitated when we get separated." I nervously laughed.

'You have no idea.' I heard her say as she looked up at me with a piercing gaze. "Though I guess we did run out of potions back there. I think it would be a good idea for you to restock on potions and such while us girls..." She stepped out of my embrace and wiggled her hips like a belly dancer. "Get ourselves...CHECKED...OUT."

A thrilling shiver quickly ran up my spine. 'Oh, you little tease.' I said as I watched her dance around for a bit.

'And, you know it.' She said back over the link as she winked at me, then did a little pirouette.

"If the two of you are done talking. I'd like to get your Pokemon into the examination room so that I might begin their physicals. As they say, 'The faster in, the faster out."

"Alright nurse Joy." I said as I walked over to Jenavee. "Come over here you little minx." I said as I grabbed her and brought her into another hug. "Until later then." I said as I leaned down. Jenavee leaned up and she puckered up, but was disappointed as I only kissed her on the forehead. "You tell the other girls that I'll be back before long." I said, then turned to the nurse. "How long is this exam going to take?"

"Not long." She replied. "Around twenty to thirty minutes if all goes well."

'OOOOOhhhhh, you naughty thing. I am so going to get you tonight.' She said as I walked out of the room and down the hall.

'I guess that's one thing I'm/we are going to have to look forward to, tonight.' I said as I waved to her over my shoulder. After leaving the center I quickly walked over to the PokeMart and purchased the replacement potions and such that I needed to restock my supplies for the girls. 'Damn. Who'd ever thought that their would be a mall here in the Pokemon world. Let alone one that's five stories tall.' I thought as I looked down at the bag that I had put all the things I purchased into. When I was about to head back, I looked down at my watch and realized that I still had nearly twenty minutes left before the girls would be ready to be picked up from the center.

Just then a thought popped into my head. 'Steven said that he was going to battle with that gym leader. Maybe I could sneak into there and see what other type of Pokemon he has. Just in case I ever meet up with him on some random place on the road and he wants to battle.' So, making my way over to the gym I quietly snuck in and looked about.

The first thing I saw when I entered the building was the two statues of Machamps holding up some kind of plaque of stones that said the names of people. 'Hmm. I wonder who's names are on that thing?' I thought, but was quickly drawn out of that train of thought when I heard the sounds of battle as well as a lot of yelling. I looked up and could see that the place was full of pits, six to be exact, and the yelling was coming from one of those pits.

"Welcome to Veilstone city gym. The fighting type gym." A man said as he stood next to one of the statues. The man was dressed in a brown business style suit with a matching brown tie, his hair was the only thing about him that wasn't colored in some kind of brown as it was slicked to the side in a dark black color, and he wore the same colored glasses that looked to be sunglasses rather than reading ones. "Currently we are engaging in taking on a new trainer. If you wish to challenge the gym leader Maylene, you'll have to wait until the current trainer has either defeated, 'Which is unlikely', Maylene, or is defeated by one of the trainees under her."

I looked over his shoulder and could see the signs of a water type against a fighting type, as shots of water were coming up from one of the pits every now and again, while there were shouts and grunts from the opponent. "That's alright. I have no intention of challenging anybody here at this gym." I told him as I leaned to one side to look around him and watched the water shots get more and more erratic from the pit.

A slow eyebrow lifted over one of the mans glasses. "Interesting. Then, what might I ask are you here for then?" He asked me in an interested tone.

"The current challenger is someone I recently battled against. I came here in hopes to see how strong he is, when facing off against someone who's at full strength." I told him as the sound of the battle behind him slowly died down.

The man slowly raised up his eyebrow again, but then it turned into a frown. "Here in this gym, we'd take that as an excuse. An excuse that shows how weak you..."

He didn't get a chance to finish as I pulled out my dagger, leapt forward, and pressed the hilt to his belly. I slowly looked up from where I was pressing the dagger against his belly, up his body till I met the shocked expression that was on his face. "As they say, 'Actions speak louder than words'. I'd just came out of a great battle with one of the higher ups of Team Galactic. So I may have been weak then..." I slowly pulled the hilt away from his belly and put the blade back into it's sheath that was attached to the back of my belt. "But don't think that I'm totally defenseless."

From a shocked expression, he slowly turned into a smile. "I must say..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away several beads of sweat from his brow. "That you definitely caught me off guard there." Finally after wiping his forehead a little more, he put the piece of cloth back into the same pocket and nodded to me. "I retract the word weak, you definitely have a fighting spirit. What's your name trainer?" He asked as he held his hand, to which I accepted with a firm handshake.

"The names Donovin, and I'm just passing through." So the two of us walked over and looked into one of the pits. He told me all about how the gym leader had set up with place so that trainers would have to defeat all the rookies to get to the leader and then move all the wooden slabs around to finish the minor preparation for the main event. "Ok, I think I get it. In order to get to Maylene, you have to pass two tests." The man looked at me as I knelt down to inspect one of the slabs. "The first is of endurance, as a challenger has to battle all of the six trainees under her. The next is of wisdom, as the challenger has to move each of these labs to get to Maylene. Finally, if they are successful in those two, then their given the permission to take on the gym leader." I said as I patted the wooden slab then stood.

"Well, now I'm thoroughly impressed." He said as I stood next to him and watched as Steven emerged from the far upper left pit and started looking around. "You were able to deduce all that by just looking at battle/training grounds. Tell me..." He said as he clapped me on the shoulder. "What else can you tell about our gym?"

I looked about the gym a little more then looked down at the right front pit. "Well, I can see by the look of the trainees that they are well trained fighters. It almost looks like they train right alongside their Pokemon." I looked up over the pits and saw a person who was probably Maylene sitting cross-legged upon a cushion at the far side of the gym. She was wearing a white loose pair of pants, a tight blue and black latex bodysuit that looked like a swimmers getup which left the shoulders down exposed, blue knuckled gloves that had red pads on it which the person lay on their knees with her palms open and up, pink hair that was turned up on either side of her head, and finally she had a few bandages on either shoulder as well as one on the nose.

I raised up a hand and pointed to the girl at the girl with a finger. I looked over at the man and he smiled. "And I take it that that girl over there is Maylene, the gym leader." To which he nodded. I looked her up and down a few more times and smirked. 'Well she definitely does have the athletic build. Even down to the fact that her bust is very firm, but small.' (Author: Sorry, don't see many body building girls with a large bust.)

'Donovin? Where are you? Both Rena and I are finished with our physicals and would like to get go..." Jenavee stopped in mid sentence as I could feel her start to get angry over the link. It was quite some time before she spoke up again. 'For crying out loud. What in the world did you and Kit do while heading over to the Pokemon Center to get us healed up? She is practically tearing down the door to get at someone. Who is she after?' She asked over the link.

'It's a long story, and one that I can't get into right now as I'm talking with someone.' I told her. 'I'll finish my talk with this guy, then I'll be right over. In the mean-time try and keep Kit there and keep her from putting holes in the door.' I turned to the man. "Though, I'd love to continue our little chat. I have to be going as I have to pick up my Pokemon from the center and be on my way."

"That is a shame. I was just starting to enjoy our little chat." He said as she looked over at Maylene then smirked. "I'm fairly sure that Maylene would've enjoyed chatting with you, maybe even battling with you." He went on to say that I could have even become one of her elite battle partners. Though in the end, he just settled on a firm handshake, and we parted ways.

It was right at the moment that I stepped right between the two statues that I heard someone shout. I turned half way around and saw that Steven had finally noticed my presence and was pointing right at me. "It can't be. Your that trainer that..." He didn't seem able to finish his sentence so I just laughed.

"That's right. I'm that trainer that battled against you before you came here to challenge Maylene." I said as I fully turned around and looked over at him.

"You wait right there." He said as he looked around and realized that he was stuck at the far end of the room due to him pushing around the wooden slabs that now blocked his path.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but your not going to get that chance." I told him as I turned to my side again, but kept my eyes on him. "You're here to challenge Maylene for a badge and to wrapped up in getting to her to realize that by the time that you finally move those slabs, battle another trainer or two to get to me, I'll have left this gym, collected my Pokemon, and be long gone from this town."

I could see the color on his face as it slowly went to a deeper shade of red. I fully turned around and waved to him over my back, but stopped when he shouted. "You bloody coward. Your just to afraid to face me, knowing that I'll wipe the floor with you again. Just like I did before coming here for my Cobble Stone Badge."

I slowly turned half way around again and raised an eyebrow at him. "A coward, am I?" I asked in a slow tone, that slowly turned into a smirk "Better a coward, than a fool, to fall for a silly taunt like that." I said to him as I turned again and headed for the door. "Do your self a favor. Worry about your current dilemma, before facing off against me again with your water types."

Just then I heard several people laugh from within the gym or voices coming up from the pits. "So he uses water types, huh. Now these fights should get interesting." Or something similar, from the other trainees within the pits.

I slowly turned away from him, then slowly headed outside of the gym's glass doors as I waved to the people within. "Make sure you push him harm Maylene. I'd like to face off against him some day, when he's stronger." Just then the doors the gym closed as I turned and headed for the Pokemon center.Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended