“Lady Sera, settle down, you’re grossly overreacting to a simple scan!” Joy called to the strange tan furred pokemon in front of her.

“Then why are these green walls attempting to push on me!” came the voice that threatened to rise to a roar.

“They aren’t walls! They’re just harmless bits of light that are taking your measurements for me! I promise it is nothing to worry about!”

Joy turned to glare briefly at the snickering to her right that was threatening to turn into laughter by the youth Timothy. He seemed momentarily apologetic, but continued to snicker and his blue shirt continued to shake.

“How do I know this is true?” Sera challenged, still looking at Joy.

“Because if they were walls, you would have felt them doing something to you already. See? It’s already up to your neck and at your knees.” Joy answered in a calm tone and giving her a small smile to hide the anxiety and encourage the pokemon’s emotional sympathies. It didn’t always work, but something was better than nothing! “See? Perfectly safe. I’d show you by letting my assistant Chansey demonstrate for you, but she went out to get herbs yesterday and isn’t due to be back until tonight.”

“Fine, you had better be right. A better question now is why you need these measurements you’re making.” Sera demanded.

“Well, when a pokemon is injured, you want to restore them to their fullest health that you can, yes? Since we haven’t met your kind before, it’s good to get an idea of what kind of health you’re in so we know how to get you to what you need as ‘normal’ instead of trying to guess. Make sense?”

“If I am understanding you correct-” Sera froze and reflexively closed her eyes as the light threatened to envelop them, opening only once they had passed. “Correctly, you are trying to say you don’t know how to heal me and are trying to create a record that you would restore me to?”

“That’s close enough.” Joy answered, letting out another exhale to stimulate relief and continuing to smile at the pokemon. Perhaps she had cleared the danger?

“Interesting…” Sera seemed to pause, furrowing her brows.

Joy noted the creature’s expressions with subtle interest as she went to her notepad and pen while making sure the computer wasn’t encountering any errors in the scan. They appeared to be bothered by the idea of being documented, which tends to happen in the more skittish pokemon. Perhaps this was some insight into her habitat? She knew if they were caught and coaxed to breed, more of her kind could circulate among trainers, if only out of curiosity by some but was that the cause of the skittish behavior? Strangely, the creature’s expression turned to a smile and she seemed to puff out some.

‘Expands body in pride? Excitement?’ She scribbled, ‘not want record, seems happy at benefit?’

“In the event of a particularly difficult battle, will you require any reagents to be acquired ahead of time? I’m afraid I don’t carry any diamonds as a general principle.” Sera asked after only a few more seconds of silence.

“I- That’s understandable, but what do you mean by ‘difficult battle?’ You mean a pokemon battle right? Most battles aren’t supposed to cause any permanent harm, though occasionally an opponent can get carried away if the power difference is that severe.”

“I mean in the event of being slain of course.”

Joy froze, blinking briefly as her mind processed this suggestion, the tonality trying to suggest it was the most casual event imaginable. She took a breath and tried to scribble a new note before continuing, ‘death = difficult fight???’

“Sera- you might not be used to this familiarity, but I must ask.” Joy prefaced, trying to keep her politeness as she tried to be a proper medical professional and find a proper way of phrasing her question. Before she could ask, a response came.

“I am not in my kingdom, I will not be offended by the use of just my name.” She nodded.

“Good. Sera… why in the world would you ever be in a fight where you would risk your life?”

“What do you mean? Many such fights often are.”

“No, no they’re not.” Joy answered firmly.

“They’re… not?” the creature raised a brow.

“No, they’re not.” Joy repeated herself firmly, noting the look of bafflement on their face. She heard the beep of the computer and let out another sigh, this time for her own benefit as she hit a few other buttons on the computer to recommend a near-lightless comprehensive scan as multiple metrics failed to get a proper reading. “Please make yourself comfortable as the machine works and I’ll try to explain.”

Sera nodded, opting to move around and lay on the platform properly much as any canine or feline might, even with its tail curling around the body.

“Pokemon, even in the wild, do not fight to the death unless it is necessary. Many pokemon are obligate carnivores, and your teeth suggest you are as well, but most pokemon go out of their way to ensure that such fighting is avoided. Territorial disputes, rivalries, and especially trainer battles, they all are contests of skill and aptitude. They challenge one another to grow and develop, but it is not supposed to go any more dangerous than bruised bodies and egos. Have you fought harder than that regularly?”

“No more than necessary to defend myself or my allies. Certainly not since my arrival early today.” Sera said, her tone indicating gravity and yet her brows continued to stay furrowed. “But then what of the scythe mantis creature who was chasing a little blue and black creature my charge adopted? They seemed to be intent on the death of the creature until our intervention.”

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“Your charge?” Joy asked, looking at Sera briefly before turning to the boy.

“Oh yeah! She’s got like a little green scaly version of her and a Riolu that kinda disappeared under her wing before we took off!” Timothy volunteered when he was looked to.

“You left them behind?” Joy asked, now furrowing her own brows slightly as she looked back to the tan furred form.

“Most certainly not! I would never leave my charge alone in unfamiliar lands!” Sera answered with the unmistakable air of indignance, head rising up closer to her full height a head higher than Joy’s own.

“Right, so where are they? Tucked in your saddle?” Joy asked, her tone doubtful. She had been eying the thing and it hadn’t made a single move in the time that she had returned. Had they slipped away in the short time she had healed Timothy’s pokemon?

“In the pet cache.” Sera answered.

“The what now?”

Sera didn’t comment, and then the computer briefly flashed the words ‘scan complete’ over the top of the screen and she turned to look at it more closely. It was then that the scale’s weight measurement shifted, and Sera had suddenly gained a solid 47 kilograms. Given the sounds under Sera’s wing, she suspected the pair of newcomers had slipped out of the saddle and was hiding under her when she wasn’t looking. At least the scan results were incredibly interesting and only contained one pokemon for sure then.

“Zephyr! Zeph zeph.”

Joy paused briefly and turned toward the slightly deeper voice and noticed a pair of heads poking out from Sera’s leg and a wing draped over herself like a blanket. A green reptilian head with extra horns was joined to a particularly young Riolu’s head, which was only barely poking out from under the wing but started to poke out more at seeing Joy.

“Ah, looks like we’ll have even more checkups to do with everyone. While I get them looked after, why don’t you tell me more about these two and how you met.”

Joy spent the next half hour going between listening to a truly odd circumstance about being raised in a forest among ‘druids’ and being given the green ‘dragon’ to care for and documenting details that might be important for their care. It was obvious the two unfamiliar ones would be the dragon type, probably the dragon breeding category, and the smaller one was declared male, making the usual check far less invasive. She couldn’t see any other details that were left out that she couldn’t amend with more data later, so she saved her work and then prepared to send out the data to her Veilstone researcher contact.

“And that is how I met this little child who only knows how to say Riolu.” Sera concluded, adding, “Which reminds me, I want you to tell me what is going on with my charge only being able to say his name.”

“That is normal for most pokemon, you’re the excep-” Joy started to answer, then stopped herself. “Wait, you mean you don’t understand him even though he speaks pokemon?”

“He does not speak pokemon. He speaks Common and Draconic. We can communicate just fine in Draconic, but when he tries to speak Common, he only says his name.”

Joy blinked as she tried to process this news, only to then hear the green child vocalize while intermittently adding snaps of its teeth. She could sense there was some sort of intentionality to the voice and she noticed the tan adult in charge of him seemed to be understanding before replying in the same manner before turning to her.

“I don’t suppose you knew Draconic and understood him did you?” Sera asked.

“No, no definitely not.” Joy echoed, regretting that she was now cradling a napping Riolu in her arm and would struggle to properly notate this additional detail. She hoped she could remember to add it later.

“Pity, but understandable.” Sera answered, “He claims he is speaking perfectly understandable common and is understanding everyone around him, but it is only you, myself, and the boy who can’t understand-”

“I have a name.” The teen swiftly injected.

“Right, Timothy. Point remains.” Sera answered. “I admit my desire to rest is growing and I wish to retire for the night. May we leave any additional queries for the morning and receive our meal and room?”

“Oh, yes of course. One moment.” Joy answered, quietly delivering the little Riolu to Sera’s fur.

She went to the back and got out a few bowls of appropriate sizes and prepared some simple pokechow for them, putting away the bags before serving the bowls to the trio. As expected, the Riolu perked up when it smelled the food and readily went over to the bowl, scooping up its portion with enthusiasm. To her surprise, the other two were less eager to move.

“Is something wrong?” Joy asked.

“I did not know what to expect of your ‘chow.’ It seems unusual.” Sera answered, looking to it as she casually used a claw to pick up the bowl and inspect it, as if averse to eating from the ground.

“Is that a problem? I’m afraid the restaurants are closed by this time of night if you’re looking for a human cooked meal.” Joy answered, noting the behavior and contemplating what in the wild would encourage the caution. She noted the little green offspring didn’t appear to have any issues after a few sniffs and an experimental bite, so was it cultural perhaps?

“Is this a typical representation of food in this plane?”

“We aren’t in a plane, but yes, that is typical food for pokemon. Perfectly safe to eat.” Joy answered.

Sera gave her a look, then seemed to glance at the Riolu and Zephyr before giving her answer, “Very well, thank you for the meal.”

“Hey, what about me?” Timothy protested.

“You can either make due with what you had or purchase a meal timothy. You left prepared to camp out before right? You’ll do fine.”

“Fine… here, please lemme have a room and food again.” He said, holding out his gear.

“Excellent,” Joy answered, getting out a small tablet from her gown and tapped a few icons before holding it near the gear and taking the funds for the stay. “We thank you for your patronage.”

“Yeah well, lemme have a room next to hers and we’ll eat up there. I wanna talk to her in the morning about something.”

“That’s up to her, Timothy. You’ll get along better with ladies if you treat them nicer, you know.” Joy answered, turning to leave for the kitchen again.

“Yeah yeah.” Timothy waved dismissively behind her.

“Boys… always having their bodies grow faster than their brains.” Joy sighed wistfully as she put together a cold meal for him. She was nice enough already, letting him have half off, but that was because she had no intention of staying up late into the evening cooking for a cocky teenager who likely wouldn’t appreciate it and documentable as a finder’s fee for a new pokemon. Besides, when her research document of the discovery of a new pokemon, possibly two, is opened, she had a feeling her contact was going to have a lot more questions and she would have a few sleepless nights to discuss everything despite a recording being included.

Joy hummed as she paused with the knife over the sandwich she assembled for him. “Now what is the best way to get her to wear a gps collar without them getting offended?”