Chaper 39: Cynthia

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center. You three seem pretty new. I haven't seen your faces around here before.", A pink-haired woman in a nurse's attire said, greeting three Trainers appearing before her. This woman was one of the many Nurse Joy that worked at Pokemon Center. All Nurse Joys were somehow related to each other. They were all cousins!

"We indeed are. We just got our Trainer License today, in fact. I hope you can check up on our Pokemon. We do have a new addition that was struck with a deadly poison, so could you check on that first?", Ricky said, greeting Nurse Joy with a smile.

"I sure can. Chansey be a dear and go heal up the three's Pokemon for me, okay?", Nurse Joy said, glancing to the side. The three saw a large pink and egg-shaped Pokemon. It was equivalent to a giant egg. This Pokemon was Chansey, and was a signature Pokemon that Nurse Joy uses as an assistant!

"Chansey!", Chansey happily responded, only to bring out three trays. If one had a close look, there were six holes in each tray, meaning that a Trainer could heal six Pokemon at once! There was one thing that Ricky wanted to find out, and that was if Pokemon automatically became healed once they entered the Storage Space. The trio immediately went to the Pokemon Center to get healed up before doing their other tasks for the day, so they didn't find out if this function existed or not.

It was a function of the games to automatically heal Pokemon once they were placed inside Pokemon Storage, so Ricky assumed it would be the same thing over here. They all had their Pokemon inside their Pokeballs while on their body. They quickly passed their Pokemon to Chansey.

"Chansey!", Chansey happily responded again, thanking the trio.

"We'll get your Pokemon healed up in a jiffy! Is there anything else you would like to do here today?", Nurse Joy asked. These three were new faces, and wasn't sure if they would be staying for the day or not.

"Yeah. We're planning on heading inside Viridian Forest tomorrow. Can we check out one room for today? Plus I want to use one of the PCs to connect with someone.", Ricky questioned.

"Only one room?", Nurse Joy questioned. She was quick to realize what was going on. "I see. You're a couple, right?", Nurse Joy said, wanting to confirm.

"Heh, we are. That won't pose a problem, will it?", Ricky asked.

"None of the sort. Just bear in mind there isn't a lot of cleaning staff on hand. Sex and the like is prohibited here, most Trainers just use the rooms for resting to continue where they want to go next.", Nurse Joy uttered, keeping her voice down. Hearing that caused Serena and Lillie to blush, but they nodded their heads.

"We understand. We won't cause a problem.", Serena uttered back, keeping her voice down. The matter of the body wasn't meant to be spoken loudly, after all, it was their private life. It was nice to inquire about this, as Ricky didn't know if having sex was allowed inside Pokemon Centers. Looks like they couldn't do it here. They would have to find another location to do the deed, and he was fine with that. As Nurse Joy just said, Pokemon Centers should be used for resting. Trainers needed to be in tip-top shape to continue their journey, and battle others!

"Chansey!", Chansey suddenly said, calling out to the three. Before they realized it, Chansey carried the three trays back to the trio.

"Wow, that was quick.", Lillie responded, seeing how efficient it was to heal Pokemon all the way back up to perfect condition.

"Us Nurse Joys take pride in what we do and that includes our efficiency. Your Pokemon should be as good as new! As for your other question, the PCs are available to use 24/7. Free of charge. Consider it a perk Pokemon Trainers receive. You three showed me your Trainer Licenses so I've already gone ahead and booked you into a room tonight. Just return the key before your departure alright? Oh, and if you come across other Pokemon Centers, you might find my cousins!", Nurse Joy said, keeping a professional smile on her lips.

"Thank you very much.", Ricky responded with a happy look in his eyes. He gladly retrieved his room key from Nurse Joy.

"Your cousins?", Serena asked.

"That's right. All of us Nurse Joy belong to one giant family!", Nurse Joy responded.

"That's amazing...", Lillie uttered, sucking in a cold breath of air. "And here I thought being in a harem was enough. Do all of you Nurse Joys really belong to the same family? That must look pretty crazy...", Lillie responded, amazed at the fact.

"Haha, you're a lucky guy huh?", Nurse Joy said, getting another look at Ricky.

"No comment.", Ricky simply responded with a smile.

"Oh come on. Let's head into our room!", Serena replied with a frown. She then realized what Ricky brought up earlier. "Actually, you said you wanted to connect with someone. Is it who I think it is, Ricky?", Serena questioned.

"It is. You two head on up alright? I'll join you in a while.", Ricky said to the two.

"Don't be long alright, Ricky? We want to see what our Pokemon like and don't like later. We also need to do some accessory shopping!", Lillie responded.

"If that's the case, then have a nice stay, you three.", Nurse Joy responded, bidding the three farewell. The trio nodded their heads, and Serena grabbed the room key. This Pokemon Center was right smack-dab in the middle of Viridian City, and it was very easy to go shopping from here. It was also one of the bigger Pokemon Centers in the entire Kanto Region. There were many floors that allowed Trainers to take a rest here. Nurse Joy gave them a room key that was just situated on the second floor, so they didn't have to go very far!

With their Pokemon all healed back up, Serena and Lillie departed the lobby of the Pokemon center, and headed on up, taking the staircase off to the side. When one went upward inside a Pokemon Center, they could find the rooms where Trainers could rest. There was also another staircase downward. Ricky inquired about it, and it looked like it was a space that allowed Trainers to trade their Pokemon! That was pretty cool to find out. There were many Pokemon that evolved by trade. If the trio do happen to come across them on their journey, they could easily use a Pokemon Center here, trade one to evolve it, then immediately trade back.

One such Pokemon the trio could find here in the Kanto Region early on was Machop. Its final evolution, Machamp, needed to be traded to evolve!

Just knowing that was a possibility now made Ricky consider whether or not to catch a Machop, or let one of his two girlfriends catch one to add them to their roster. He'll bring it up to them later. For now, Ricky wandered off to where the many PCs could be seen lined up. He wasn't alone, he saw one or two other Trainers occupying some further off to the right.

Considering who it was that Ricky was going to call, he decided to head to the opposite direction, and took a booth on the far left side where there were no Trainers nearby. Inputting his caller id information, he was able to find a record of the contact that he wanted to connect with. It was pretty obvious, but a certain name quickly showed up on screen, along with the sound of a phone being dialed in. The noise continued on for a couple moments.

Click.

The other end picked up, and a video call appeared on screen. Ricky was immediately greeted by a serious-looking golden-blonde haired woman, whose hair was partially covering her face. Still, she had that certain look in her eyes that one would think twice of battling her. And for a good reason.

Ricky smiled seeing this woman appear on the screen before him.

"It's been a while, Cynthia. How have you been?", Ricky said, greeting the woman.

"It really has been a while, hasn't it? It's nice to see you again, Ricky. And here I thought you forgot all about me. I thought I was going to have my heart sliced in two.", Cynthia responded with a playful smile. "What is it, five years now?", Cynthia questioned, realizing how much time had gone by before they last contacted each other like this. They've exchanged short conversations since then, but that was mostly through messaging. The two hadn't shared a video call like this since Ricky departed for the Alola Region five years ago...