“Cell beds? What are you talking about?” Officer Jenny asked, confused.

“Uh, you said you wouldn’t let me leave. So, I’m assuming I’m gonna stay in a cell until we clear this up,” I answered. That is what she meant, right?

“No, we have a PokéCenter connected to the station. You’ll be staying there since you haven’t committed a crime,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Aren’t you risking the chance of me sneaking out or running away?”

“This entire area is crawling with officers and Trainers. Even if you did, you’d be caught within seconds.”

“Huh, that’s some good security,” I mumbled out. “Thank you for believing me.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she warned. “I still have to learn where you came from and what you’re doing here.”

“You and I both,” I said to myself as I followed her through the station. As we walked, I saw the station bustling with activity. Trainers walking in with criminals, officers keeping watch with their Pokémon; I even saw a Rotom and Porygon zap their way from computer to computer, the office workers sighing in relief as they did so.

Once we got to the Center, I saw even more Trainers posted all around. Officer Jenny wasn’t kidding when she said I’d be caught in seconds. Just one notification and any one of these Trainers would be on my ass, their Pokémon leaving no room for mistakes. I mean, I doubt I could escape the nose of a Growlithe or Arcanine.

Officer Jenny talked to Nurse Joy, whose bubbly energy did not go away even a tiny bit after Officer Jenny informed her of the situation. A real Nurse Joy, in the flesh. She had pale white skin, large, frosty blue eyes, soft pink hair, and a very warm smile. She was rather tall, standing at around 1.76 meters (5'7", almost 5'8"). Her warm presence made me feel right at home.

"Hello, do your Pokémon need a check up before you rest for the night?" she asked in a soft, soothing voice.

“Yes, please,” I said as I reached for Inkay’s ball, only to realize that Officer Jenny still had it. I looked over at her, and she seemed to realize why.

“Sorry, here it is,” Officer Jenny said as she handed Nurse Joy the two Pokéballs. “Here’s another Pokémon that needs to get checked. We’re not sure of its status, but it’s for an investigation.”

“Got it, leave it to me,” Nurse Joy said as she fitted the Pokéballs into slots on a machine, from which they were pulled in.

“Nurse Joy, could you also give me a check-up?” I asked. I definitely need to know if my amnesia is from brain damage or not.

“Sure, are you feeling sick?” she said, concern flitting over her face.

“Oh, that’s right. Marco here seems to have amnesia. If you could please check on that, it would be very helpful,” Jenny cut in. Nurse Joy’s eyes widened a bit before she agreed with a serious nod.

“I’ll have to get back to my office. It seems like tonight will be busy with phone calls. Please call me if you get the memory problems figured, okay?”

“You got it! I’ll let you know if anything comes up,” Nurse joy returned. After Officer Jenny left, the pink-haired nurse turned back to me.

“The examination will be 20$, but I’ll charge that to the station since Officer Jenny told me it is important,” she said.

“That, and I’m broke,” I joked with a tired laugh.

“Alright, please walk through those doors, a nurse or Audino will be with you soon.”

“Thank you, Nurse Joy.”

I stepped through the doors and waited. Not even a minute in and an Audino came to me, guiding me to an examination room. Its eyes glowed blue for about 10 seconds before it began to write some stuff down. It scanned me a few more times, each one taking longer than the last. After two full minutes for the last scan, Audino frowned and hurried out. A minute later, Audino returned with Nurse Joy.

She rolled two machines over and placed a wired cap around my head, reminding me of an EEG. A few bands on my arms and legs were hooked up to one machine while the cap was connected to the other.

“Ok, lay down for a few minutes while we scan your brain and body,” Nurse Joy said with a smile. I didn’t have much experience with hospitals, other than a broken bone and my asthma, but I knew Audino’s frown and the sudden need for these scans was not great news.

After a few minutes, Nurse Joy removed everything and went through the results on a computer that the two machines were connected to. A frowning Nurse Joy? This definitely wasn’t good.

“How bad is it?” I asked, to which Nurse Joy stared at me blankly.

“Excuse me?”

“You and Audino both frowned, so it can’t be great news. How bad is whatever’s going on?” I said, my anxiety starting to creep up.

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“I wouldn’t say it’s bad. It’s just… odd. This is the first time I've seen something like this," she replied with furrowed eyebrows. She once again ran whatever test she had done. The computer beeped while I could feel some sort of energy coming from the electrodes she attached to my body. Once the test was complete, she turned the screen so I could see.

"So, your brain seems to be functioning fine, based on the relative levels of brain waves. Your brain's alpha waves are rather high, which normally is not a problem because this is caused by a relaxed state, or even a mellow learning environment. The weird thing is, the beta waves are also high. Specifically, the high-beta waves are really high. This normally does not happen because high-beta waves occur during times of agitation or high alertness. For example, when you have to deeply analyze a math problem or when you are going to be attacked and need to find the best solution to survive. These two brain waves are rather opposite, so to find them at elevated levels at the same time is not normal."

She paused for a moment while I took a bit to process.

"So, two brain waves are elevated at the same time when they shouldn't be. Should I be worried?"

"I'm not too sure," Nurse Joy replied. "I haven't seen this in my 30 years as a practicing Nurse Joy. I’ll let Officer Jenny know to keep you here for a while to find out. That way we can continue studying your brain after she’s done dealing with your case. Room and board will be free since this will provide an excellent learning opportunity for the Joy family, if you don't mind. Here’s a voucher you can use for the food"

"You had me at food,” I said as I grabbed the plastic voucher.

Wait.

“Rooms and food aren't free?” I asked, receiving a questioning look in return.

“No, Nurse Joy answered. “If you are not with the League or Rangers Association, you will have to pay a fee for medical services, room and board, and any other services we provide. It'll be 5$ for Pokémon examinations and healing, 20$ for human examinations. 15$ per trip to the canteen and 40$ a room per night.

“You can also pay for monthly, seasonal, and yearly passes that give you access to the cafeteria and a room at every Pokémon Center for free. Well, 'free,' since you still have to pay for the pass. A monthly pass is 500$, a seasonal pass is 1200$, and the yearly pass is 3500$. Of course, you can join the Pokémon League or Pokémon Rangers Associations, which will automatically give you free access to our services, as well as discounts at the Pokémon Mart and its online services."

We walked out of the room and out to the receptionist's desk. She then handed me my Pokéball.

"Inkay is very malnourished. I would've yelled at you about that, but the scan showed that you just caught the poor thing today. I hope you treat him well. He is a very young Pokémon, only two months old. He might have been abandoned by his parents, or he might have survived an attack on his family. Either way, he might be looking for another home and may be more than willing to join you if you show him you’ll take care of him," she told me.

“Malnourished? That might be why he attacked me,” I said, a bit glad that I was able to catch. Especially since I could get free food from here. “Thank you, Nurse Joy. I really appreciate what you and Audino do.”

My sincere gratitude earned a bright smile from both Nurse Joy and Audino.

“Why, not a problem at all! That’s why we’re here.”

“Audino!”

I walked around the Center, almost every Trainer and officer staring at me as I walked by. I guess information travels fast here.

To the left of the PokéCenter lobby and help counter, was the door that led to the medical rooms and other hospital areas. To the right was another little lobby where people could take the stairs or an elevator to their rooms. Past that was the canteen, filled with Trainers and officers of all ages.

The right wall of the canteen was the kitchen and ordering area. The left and back walls had a few doors, each named for where they headed to: Training Facilities, Pokémon Mart, Trading Room, Battlegrounds. I walked over to the kitchen to order some food.

There were people and Pokémon bustling around in there, chopping, stirring, frying, and plating all sorts of dishes. I walked over and scanned my profile, then got into line. Once it was my turn, the guy standing just past the wall asked what I wanted. I told him I wanted nachos with protein of any kind, whatever they thought was best. Same with the toppings. He gave me a tired look before nodding.

"Anything for your Pokémon?"

"Hmm, I just caught one and don't know what he'll like."

"What Pokémon is it?"

"He's an Inkay."

"Alright. They generally enjoy spaghetti with Grumpig meatballs, so we'll get both dishes out for you in a bit."

"Thank you," I said while walking over to a table. Before I could sit down, my phone beeped with a notification about my food being done.

That was quick.

I went over to grab my food, then returned to the table. Before I started eating, I thought it would be good if I ate with Inkay as our first bonding experience. I took the tray of food over to the training facility, which was empty. I set the tray down before putting Inkay's food on one side of the tray and my food on the other. I sat behind my food and then released Inkay.

After the red light from the Pokéball disappeared, Inkay looked around before noticing me. Once he did, his yellow dots once again began flashing, probably to prevent me from attacking him. I raised my hands up and pointed at the food. Once he noticed the food, I could see some drool peeking out of his beak. He didn't move though, just returned his attention back to me and resumed with the flashes of light.

"Inkay, I'm sorry about the way we met. I didn't want to seriously hurt you, but you did attack me first. As a sign of peace, I brought you some food. Spaghetti with Grumpig meatballs. I have some nachos for myself, cheese made from Miltank milk, topped with grilled Pidgey, chopped Cheri berries, and sour cream made from a Dubwool. This sounds really good," I told him while staring at my food wide-eyed. I was seriously salivating from the delicious smells coming from the nachos. I looked at Inkay, who was looking at his food similarly. We looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding at each other and began devouring our food.

The nachos were amazing. The cheese was very rich and thick, with a sharp, smoky flavor that was enhanced by the spicy Cheri berry. The sour cream was very tangy and tart, perfect for the spiciness. The grilled Pidgey was perfectly spiced, charred just enough to give it that extra complexity in flavor from the meat. It was amazing.

Based on the happy chirping and bouncing Inkay was doing, I'm guessing his spaghetti was amazing as well. After 15 minutes of chowing down, we both finished. We sat there, in a bit of a food coma. I guess it's been a while since we both ate, particularly so for Inkay. He looked at me with a very content expression.

"So, Inkay, I have a question for you," I started. Inkay perked up at that, but was still rather relaxed. "I would like to be your trainer. I'm not sure where you came from, if you had a trainer before or not. Were you previously caught with a Pokéball?"

Inkay shook his head at that.

"Hmm, well, I noticed you were a bit hungry. Have you been having trouble finding food?"

He nodded vigorously at that. I guess it was a rough world.

"Ok, would you like to be my Pokémon? I promise to always have some food for you, though it might not always be as good as what we just ate. Is that fine?"

Inkay took a second to think about it. He then nodded and chirped happily, probably glad that it didn't have to worry about food anymore.

‘I guess I'll have to find a way to consistently make money now. I hope beating trainers is as fruitful as the games.’

Inkay then floated over to me, deciding it would rather sit on my head. He was more solid than I was expecting, not squishy like a squid. Soon, I heard some snoring. Guess the food was just that good. I got up, deciding it would be better to leave him up there.

‘I don’t have any extra clothes and I really need a shower. Time to finally see the PokéMart for myself.’

I walked over, finding myself in a busy supermarket. Aisles of literally everything I could think of: Pokémon toys, grooming kits, training gear, camping gear, food, healing items, battle items, TMs and TRs, clothes for both people and Pokémon. It felt momentarily overwhelming, but a bump from someone in a hurry brought me back to reality.

In the clothes section, I chose two shirts: a plain dark blue t-shirt and a dark purple long-sleeve. I also added a pair of blue jeans, khaki cargo shorts, black sneakers, five pairs of socks, four pairs of briefs, and black leather gloves. This cost me a total of 140$. Not too bad, in all honesty. I also grabbed some laundry detergent to clean my current clothes.

As I walked up to my room, I decided to check out the League app. As soon as it loaded up, it tried to connect to my profile.

*beep* *beep*

[The profile is not connected with one in the database. In order to proceed, this profile must connect with the database.]

‘Umm, okay?’

[You are under investigation with the Santalune City Police Department. Your profile is now suspended until further notice.]

“What the fuck?” I muttered to myself. I tried to tap the other options, but nothing happened until I closed the app. “Whatever man, I’m tired. I need to shower.”