Nina dug her feet into the ground as her bike slowly came to a stop. “Might need to have this thing checked out when we get into town.” The girl mused. She could feel a wobble in her Kusanagi’s wheels, not to mention the looser breaks. 

Her newest baby had been subjected to a lot of abuse over the past couple of weeks, scarlet red paint chipped and muddied. Some of the stickers had even fallen off, much to Nina's dismay. So hopefully, there was a competent bicycle shop in Violet City she could use. 

“Is that it?” Kerry asked as she came up to a stop beside Nina.

Nina nodded and admired the view that opened up below them, of dark and purple wooden constructs set amidst a sea of trees and contained within ancient stone walls — Violet City. The sight of it felt almost like stepping back in time to a period piece set in medieval times.

The two girls had spent almost another week on the road at this point, with Nina opting to shelve her cave exploration plans. One, because Justin finally called and said that he was enroute. And two, because unlike in the games, the rocky terrain of Route 31 didn't just have the one cave, it had several, considering it was a fairly expansive area after all.

Not that their journey was fruitless, not for Kerry at least. The young Nurse Joy had managed to catch herself a fully evolved Noctowl during one of their many nights out in the wilderness. 

Nina was initially perplexed. She had been urging her friend to catch one of the many Tallows and Swellows that had migrated back into the region for spring. But she opted for a Noctowl instead.

According to the nurse, Noctowls were calm Flyers that made them more ideal for airlifting any sick patients. “It’s not always about speed, Nina,” said Kerry, which was fair enough. Especially considering the inordinately calm and intelligent demeanour of her newest member. 

In fact, the young nurse had begun training the owl Pokemon on becoming her newest medical assistant, much like the rest of her team. Even Lynxie was starting to get better at utilizing his latent X-ray vision that all Luxio’s possessed, though it took a lot of bribes and treats to accomplish, much to Nina’s amusement and Kerry’s chagrin.

“Then you’ll have to get a Fly Basket since you can’t exactly ride bareback on Noctowl, and also your Fly license.” Nina said at the time. She had already gotten her license during her recovery interval.

“I can get that done in Violet City. And mom said that she’ll buy me a Fly Basket and send it over with the Egg.”

“Oh, are you getting a new Pokemon Egg?”

“Yup! It’s part of the reward for successfully Evolving a Happiny and being accredited as a full-fledged nurse.” Kerry explained. “I get to request for any Pokemon Egg from the matrons — within reason of course.”

“So? What Egg did you ask for?” Nina probed eagerly, only to receive a cheeky wink from the girl. “You’ll have to wait to find out,” said the young nurse.

“Dammit! Why are all the people around me so damn cryptic?!”

“We should get going before it gets dark. Think we can make it in time?” Kerry chimed, pulling Nina back from her recollection.

The other girl shrugged. “Eh, worst comes to worst, I’ll just have Nitey Fly us there. We’re in the home stretch anyway.” Nina hummed. “Hmmm… Actually, wanna just switch to Flying now? I’m a little worried about the state of our bikes.”

Kerry nodded fervently in agreement, eager to get to a hot shower and a soft bed sooner rather than later.

***

Purpleheart, a type of wood that turns a beautiful purple hue when exposed to air and sunlight. It used to be found in abundance here in this area, until overexploitation led to a very precarious situation. Hence why there was now a strict quota on how many Purpleheart trees could be harvested per year.

It was also the reason for the stunning dark purple hue of Violet’s City’s architecture, from which the city derived its name.

And coming into the city really was like stepping into a set for a period drama; wooden townhouses lined the street, roads paved simply with basalt slabs, and not a single vehicle in sight. In fact, the only form of public transportation the city had was a tram that commuted between the western and eastern district of Violet City in one straight line. 

The tram and the modern street lights illuminating the streets, styled in the motif of Bellsprouts, were the only visible aspects grounding the ancient city in the modern era. As well as the people of course. The sight of people in modern clothes casually walking the streets of Violet City amidst beautiful geishas and devout looking monks with their derpy little Bellsprouts almost made the place feel like one giant theme park.

In the distance, Nina could see the fabled Sprout Tower jutting out from an elevated hill, a massive three storey pagoda said to be built with a giant Bellsprout as its core. Though the validity of such lofty claims would warrant further investigation.

“It’s hard to think that a place like this is considered a city.” Kerry remarked as the two of them leisurely took in the sights around them.

Nina nodded in agreement. “Apparently, the Tsubasa Clan, Falker’s family, are really strict when it comes to population control. Trying to get residency here is no easy feat and they aren’t very accommodating of tourists either. Which is why you don’t see the same problem of over tourism like in Fuchsia City.” 

In Kanto, the Navy reigned supreme. But in Johto, the Air Force was king. Thanks in large part to the contributions of the ancient Tsubasa Clan, making them the second most influential clan behind the ruling Blackthorn.

But unlike their Draconic counterpart, the clan of Flying Type Experts were more neutral entities back in the war. Traditionalists whose main concern was with the training of Pokemon and the worship of the Johto’s two Guardian Birds. As evident by their city’s archaic aesthetic.

“By the way, should we head to a Pokecenter first or straight to your family’s estate?” 

According to Kerry, the Joy Clan maintained quite a sizable compound here in Violet City, and the young nurse had already called ahead to secure accommodation for them.

“Let’s head to a Pokemon Center first.” Kerry replied. “I don’t want to trouble my relatives too much. Best to maintain some propriety whenever we can.”

***

As it turned out, the graduation of an apprentice to a full nurse was quite the big deal, as one would expect. So all the local nurse Joys were quite giddy with excitement when Kerry showed up at the Pokemon Center, practically putting a temporary halt to their operations just so that they could come out and celebrate the newest addition to their member with confetti and hugs. Leading to a very flustered Kerry.

“Your cousins are all very nice.” Nina remarked, in between mouthfuls of Chansey’s eggs that the nurses offloaded onto her.

“Urgh… Don’t you dare start.” Kerry grumbled as they came up to the Joy compound in Violet City. It was quite the space. In fact, Nina wouldn’t be surprised if she was told that the place housed more people and took up more real estate than the Apricorn Village they just visited not too long ago.

“Kerry-Anne, it is so good to finally meet you. I hope your journey here has been pleasant?”

The one who greeted them at the threshold was an elderly Joy that radiated a comforting maternal aura, her pink hair faded with time and wearing an elegant green yukata. 

“Esteemed matron,” Kerry greeted in return. “My journey has been pleasant, yes. Thank you for your concern. And thank you for your generosity in housing us as well. I am truly sorry for the imposition.”

The elder Joy smiled and waved elegantly at the girl. “Nonsense.” The woman exclaimed as she pulled the child into her embrace. “We are all very happy to have you here, and deeply proud of your accomplishment, dear. To graduate from being an apprentice at such a young age, that is no small feat I can assure you. Your mother was absolutely beside herself with joy when she called in.”

Kerry blushed, lowering her gaze out of embarrassment.

“We received your parcel not too long ago, I’ll have one of the young ones guide you to it once you’re properly settled.” The old Joy then turned towards Nina. “And this lovely young lady must be your travelling companion.”

Kerry nodded. “Yes, this is Melina Jones, a member of the Cerulean Gym and the niece of Lady Misty Mizuhana.”

“Indeed. I saw your wonderful performance during your aunt’s wedding, dear. It is an honor to meet you, and I hope that you will look kindly upon our humble abode.”

Nina shook her head. “No, the honor is all mine. And please, just call me Nina. Rest assured that your home is very lovely and I am very grateful to be here.”

The elderly Joy nodded in approval with a matronly smile. “I’m sure the two of you must be winded from your long journey. So please, allow me to show you to your rooms and feel free to partake in the baths as well. I just had the servants clean it in anticipation of your arrival.”

“Is it a hot spring? There’s a hot spring in this compound?!” Nina exclaimed, eyes sparkling in anticipation.

Kerry giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm. “Of course, we’re in Johto right now, the land of hot springs.”

Chansey’s eggs, free accommodation and a hot spring. Today might be Nina’s happiest day yet!

***

However, not long after, Nina let out another weary sigh as she rubbed at the broken fragment of an Apricorn shell that night. All the while, absentmindedly scribbling in her notebook.

Maizie had been kind enough to let Nina take some of her failed crafts with her when she left the village. So the girl had been spending every one of her nights since, ruminating on her findings, but to no avail.

“I see some suspicious lines here… Like, this obviously says sys…” It was hard for Nina to tell anymore, if she was just hallucinating or if it was just a random coincidence. “But does that mean I’m currently living in a simulation?” Nina chuckled. “Nah, no way. That would be sooo cliche.”

Nina had always hated tropes in stories where everything turned out to be just a dream or it was a simulation all along. It just felt to her like lazy writing. So the girl fancied that, if there was some celestial llama in the sky dictating her life, or if this was just someone’s shitty fanfiction, they would at least be competent enough to not rely on such a cop out setting.

“I think you should take a break, Nins… You’ve been staring at that thing for days now.” Kerry chimed as she sat down next to her friend, hair still moist from the baths.

Nina groaned and rubbed at her eyes. “Yeah, you’re right… This isn’t productive at all… I feel like I’m starting to go crazy.” It’s no wonder why every researcher that studied the Unown before her all broke down at some point in their lives.

The other girl chuckled and gave Nina’s hand a little squeeze before wrenching the Apricorn fragment from her. “C’mon, girl~ we’re finally in Violet City. Let’s go do something fun tomorrow! I mean this entire place is full of history and old buildings — you love old buildings right? It’ll help take your mind off things.”

Nina laughed. She did love old buildings indeed. “Sure, we deserve a break anyway, after such a long trek. Let’s stop by the Gym tomorrow as well. I wanna get a feel of the place, see if all those rumours are true or not.”

Kerry nodded and pulled her friend into a hug. “Yup, let’s do that! C’mon, it’s almost dinner time. I told ‘em how much you love Chansey eggs, so the matrons here promised to cook up a feast for us.”

Nina immediately lit up at the prospect. Nothing beats grandma’s cooking. And what’s better than a grandma? A compound full of retired Nurse Joys!

***

Author's note:

Something inexplicable happened last night. I suddenly woke up in a daze, grabbed my phone and just started typing.

Ended up writing 2 whole chapters in that sleepy haze. Then went straight back to sleep again.

The end result had no formatting, as in no quotations and italics and so on. But there were no grammatical or spelling errors that I could find. The flow was great and content was solid as well.

I barely remembered that impromptu writing session. But looking back on it, all I needed to do was to format it and make some additions to jazz it up a little.

I feel like I've unlocked some sort of achievement or passive skill or something. Is this what achieving enlightenment feels like?