After that… experience, we all decided we needed some food. Gwen was still jumping up and down in victory, even though she lost her match. She called it a “team victory” and would refuse to budge on the matter.

Surprisingly enough, Leo was jumping up and down with her. I guess Pokemon battling really brought out the competitive side of him? He looked in the zone during his battle with Tarquin, and somehow managed to carry himself even taller than usual. I wonder what that felt like. The rush of victory, working with a Pokemon to climb to the top.

“Come on guys,” He said. “I know a place that does the best pizza in Goldenrod. Probably all of Johto, actually. But first, we gotta drop off our Pokemon at the Center.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice! I'm starving!” Gwen said, whilst pulling on everyone's sleeves to make us walk faster.”

“Thats the wrong way.”

“Oh, whatever! Let's just get a move on.”

The walk wasn’t too bad. The city streets had cleared up now that most people were at work, and the Center was not very far at all. It was probably convenient, stationing a Pokemon Center nearby to a battle court.

As always, the place was frighteningly clean. There must be a Pokemon dedicated to keeping this place as sanitary as possible. That, or the janitor has the skills of an absolute legend. Stepping inside, it revealed a very big waiting room, with dozens of nurses sitting behind a long counter. Most were accompanied by a Chansey, but I noticed an Audino here and there.

Being here reminded me of that job advertisement I was checking out this morning. Considering I don’t have any Pokemon that need healing, I might as well use this as an excuse to scope the place out. Who knows, it might be the place for me.

Me and Jack sat down on one of the sofas while Leo and Gwen approached the counter. While they were chatting at the desk, I noticed the person next to me shaking like an absolute leaf. She was constantly bouncing her leg off the ground, and had her hands in a prayer position. One look at her face told me this girl was anxious.

“Hey, you alright?” I hesitantly asked.

“Wha-, me? Um, yeah. I’m fine. Why’d you ask?” She responded.

“Well, you look really nervous. I guess I ju-” I stopped talking as the girl immediately bolted off of her chair when a Nurse Joy opened the doors to the hospital ward. She nearly crashed into the damn lady.

“Is she okay!?” The young girl pleaded.

The Nurse Joy gently put some distance between them and said calmly, “Your rattata will live. However, she sustained some serious damage and the venom of that Ekans had entered her lungs. She will make a recovery, but I cannot say whether your Rattata will return to fighting strength in the next year. Potentially, she may never.”

The young girl dropped to the floor. Immediately, she was sobbing, grabbing the edges of the Nurse Joys uniform, begging if there was something that could be done.

“Please, please. It wasn’t my fault. Those, those thugs! They cornered me, and asked me to hand over my purse and Pokemon or else. Mousey stood up to defend me, but they both released an Ekans and they were so big and they ganged up on her. It’s all my fault. I should’ve been a better trainer. If I’d caught more Pokemon it would’ve been a more fair fight. Or if I’d taught Mousey how to battle better this wouldn’t have happened. I should’ve just given her to them. That way, at least she wouldn’t have been hurt.”

Nurse Joy didn’t even flinch at the words that were being said. Ever so gently, she helped the girl up and led her through some doors, while whispering something I couldn’t hear from where I was sitting.

Holy shit. I looked at Jack, and he shared the same look I did. Like we’d just been hit by a bomb. I couldn’t even imagine what pain she must be going through. Beside me, Jack had actually released his Seedot so he could wrap her in a hug. The little acorn was wiggling its toes in just the cutest way, and Jack was bobbing her up and down on his knee in a way that made her squeal with delight.

“That’s never gonna happen to you. I promise.” He muttered.

Leo and Gwen came back only a few moments after.

“Nurse Joy said they’re both gonna be fine. There’s barely scratch on Litleo, and Shinx didn’t suffer any serious damage. It was their first battle though, so they said to leave them here for a few hours just so they can run some additional checks. Not to worry though, because we’ve got little Seedot here to keep us safe.” Leo said with a laugh, extending a finger to gently caress her shell.

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Jack turned white as a sheet and actually began to shake a little bit. Leo and Gwen were at the other side of the room, so they didn’t actually hear the story about the girl getting attacked by those thugs with Ekans.

So Leo didn’t know that that was maybe the worst thing he could’ve said at that moment.

Sensing this had the potential to get bad fast, I decided to intervene.

“So, about that pizza place?” I asked.

Jack gave me a thankful look.

Gwen had already run out the door.

– –

Of course. Of -fucking - course this would be the place we're going to eat at.

Leo had led the group a few blocks down until we reached a small little pizza place with a flashing neon sign.

Magbys Pizzeria.

What were the odds? This felt like some sort of cosmic joke. Why would the universe bring me to the place I’d probably end up working at while everyone was off being badass. Despite how upset it was making me, I was struggling not to laugh about the absurdity of the whole situation.

“You good?” Jack asked.

“Oh, yeah. Just thought of something funny.”

Gwen had almost kicked the door down and ordered two large pizzas before everyone else had even entered the place.

Magbys Pizzeria was…eclectic. I guess you could say it has character. But after coming straight from the Pokecenter, it wasn’t hard to notice that this place wasn’t the cleanest. The floor had that slightly sticky feeling to it, the kind that made a little squelching noise every time your shoes peeled off the floor.

“You gotta understand guys. The slightly run down atmosphere makes the food taste better,” Leo was saying, with a complete air of confidence. “I’m telling you, this will be better pizza than the fancy shit they serve in the best restaurants in Kalos.”

Leo waltzed up to the counter. “Hey Vinny, I’ll take my usual. Extra cheese, extra meat, extra peppers.”

“Sure thing Leo.” Vinny replied. He then gestured to me and Jack “You guys want anything?”

I looked up at the prices on the board, then checked my pockets to see what sort of cash I had on hand. Yeah… probably not gonna happen. I was kind of just looking at Vinny while he waited for an answer, and all the others were looking at me like I’m crazy for not just ordering a damn pizza like any normal financially stable person-

“I’m not that hungry,” Jack said. “I’ll just take a pepperoni, and Ethan, you can have half.”

“Coming right up." Vinny turned around and strated working at an intimidatingly hot pizza oven.

I shot Jack a look of relief and mouthed a “thank you”, but he just waved me off and sat down.

While we were waiting for our pizza, everyone sat down in a booth and was just having a nice, relaxing chat

“AND THEN I WENT WABOOM, THEN SHINX WENT WABAM, AND THEN-”

Ok, so Gwen was still hung up about her first battle. Her and Leo were throwing jokes around, and discussing what they could’ve done better. Jack wasn’t saying much, but he was hanging off of every word they were saying and was clearly mentally taking notes.

Well, that isn’t a conversation really meant for me. No matter though, because I had some decisions to make.

Chief of which was I did not think I was cut out for working at a Pokemon Center. During my five minutes of just sitting down in a chair there, I witnessed what those nurses were doing day in day out, for hours. That shit was fucking intense, and I felt so stupid for thinking I could just waltz into hospital work understanding what that entailed.

No, if I wanted to work in a Pokemon Center, that would have to be something I wanted desperately, not just something I settled for.

The best I could do was be a janitor there. But from how spotless that place was, they already had that spot filled out.

So, where did that leave me?

Well, I can scratch off the Pokemon Center from the job options. I’ll keep Magbys pizza in the back of my mind, just as a last resort in case some of the other jobs fall through.

So what was left?

Either the apprenticeship at the Bank or the Lab assistant for the archeologist. Well, if I worked at the Bank, I could probably get promoted and earn some good money. I’d be able to support mom so she didn’t have to take so many shifts at the Diner. Maybe after a few years I could have a few savings, and I could buy a starter Pokemon.

But… It was boring. I didn’t bust my ass off at school just to work a regular nine to five. I’f I’m gonna settle down, it’ll be for an awesome job.

My thoughts drifted to the Lab assistant job. That could be fun, right? At least the field was Pokemon related, even if they were all extinct.

Having made up my mind that I would apply for that job as soon as I got home, I rejoiced that our pizza had finally arrived.

I raised a slice to my mouth and took a hesitant bite.

Leo was right, this pizza was fucking delicious.