[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]As @nikita strode down the hallway leading to the Lilycove City General Hospital's emergency ward alongside the hospital's medical director, Aurelie caught only a fleeting glimpse of the slender, steely woman in a smart skirt suit through the door of her examination room, before a nurse bent over the hand that the red-haired smith was cradling. The nurse tsked reprovingly but not unkindly over the livid red burn along Aurelie's right forearm. Drops of water dripped from her elbow, courtesy of the concerned Sealeo that had industriously kept her arm bathed in a spray of cool water during the entire trip to the hospital.

"You did the right thing coming to us as quickly as you did, dear," the nurse commented, carefully patting the skin dry with a feather-light touch and applying an antibiotic ointment. Aurelie caught her breath and winced slightly, but kept her arm still throughout the process. "How did it happen? Did you spill some boiling water on yourself while making dinner?"

Aurelie shook her head. "I was quenching a blade in oil," she explained, "and some of the oil caught on fire—which isn't terribly unusual," she hastened to add. "But I pulled the hot metal out of the oil too fast, so the oil splashed up my work gloves. The tops of the gloves lit on fire too and gave me a bad burn before I could get them off."

The nurse gave her a dubious look but continued with her work of applying ointment and then wrapping the burn in sterile gauze bandages. The ointment was already reducing the sharp pain of the burn to a mild stinging sensation, and the bandages were wrapped loosely enough to not put pressure on her skin. Aurelie's Sealeo watched the proceedings benignly, seeming to take comfort in her trainer's relief.

"Well, you should be ready to go now," the nurse said finally, after giving Aurelie a cursory check for other injuries and burns. They turned toward the computer. "Let me just print out your prescription for more ointment... Wait a minute..."

With increasing impatience, the nurse started tapping angrily at the keyboard. Aurelie glanced over curiously, just in time to see the screen glitch up into a fuzzy static snowfall. Looking perturbed, the nurse rushed out of the room to talk with their colleagues, who, judging from their voices, seemed just as baffled as they were. What the heck is going on? the red-haired smith wondered, getting to her feet and motioning to her Sealeo to follow.

Then a Porygon darted through the door of her examination room, and the computer started beeping uncontrollably. More of them ran past the door, swarming through the hallway to the sounds of startled gasps and yells. No wonder! Aurelie thought, staring at the Virtual Pokemon in shock. They must be the reason all the electronics were going haywire.

And in a hospital, full of sick and injured patients...

"Océane, come with me!" she ordered her Sealeo, who waddled along after her as best as she could. "We've got to help get this under control somehow." Grimacing as her bandaged right forearm protested the sudden motion, Aurelie charged into the hallway, intent on somehow subduing the pack of rampaging Porygon.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Aurelie rushed into the hallway intending to face the pack of runaway Porygon head-on, when suddenly an unearthly wailing sound filled the air and the Porygon in the back of the pack tumbled to a stop, as if stunned by the loud noise. Looking toward the source of the sound, Aurelie met the eyes of the steely white-haired woman she'd briefly noticed before, with an Audino beside her. Two thoughts swiftly sprang to the red-haired smith's mind.

Wow, she's gorgeous was what she thought first as she beheld the other woman's flowing snow-white hair and striking features. Then, rather more emphatically, Aurelie thought, Wow, that's some gorgeous work! as her gaze slid over the prosthetic hand peeking out of the woman's suit sleeve, her single eye widening in admiration to see the flexible, finely-articulated joints and smooth, lifelike construction. It wasn't until a fleeing Porygon bumped into Aurelie's leg that she realized she was being both rather rude for staring and not particularly helpful at the moment with herding the Porygon.

She shook her head distractedly and tried to gather her wits. Unfortunately, being in a hospital meant that normal Pokemon battle tactics might be a lot more hazardous than she wanted for the doctors, nurses, patients, and medical equipment all around them. While normally she might use her Sealeo's POWDER SNOW to mire the Porygon in frigid snow or a wave of BRINE to knock them down, Aurelie rather doubted the people in the hospital would appreciate a sudden snowfall or flood, even if it was meant to capture wild Pokemon. Regretfully, she pulled out the Sealeo's Pokeball and summoned her back within.

"Thank you for all your help, Océane," she said in an affectionate undertone, giving the Sealeo a fond pat before it returned. Aurelie paused to consider the other Pokeballs she normally carried. Finally, she selected one and dropped it, releasing a regal-looking Delphox draped in fiery robe-like fur.

"Fiametta, use HYPNOSIS on as many of the Porygon as you can," she instructed her. Putting the riotous Porygon to sleep was the least disruptive thing she could think of for the hospital. "If there are any stragglers, try to blast their minds with PSYCHIC until they faint."

Hopefully, that would be enough to disable the Porygon without disturbing anything else, particularly the hospital's already-disrupted routines and protocols. She also hoped it would work reasonably well with the other woman's tactics, since she was the only other person that Aurelie could see trying to handle the Porygon rampage so far. The faster they could deal with this, the less likely this chaos would spread to the rest of the hospital.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]When the white-haired woman finally spoke to her, she exuded such a natural air of authority that Aurelie found herself all but leaping to obey her simple instructions. She seemed like someone used to being in charge, like some modern-day general born and raised to command an army. Considering that Aurelie was feeling a little bewildered by the number of factors and variables in their environment and situation that needed to be taken into consideration, she felt grateful for the leadership.

"Yes, ma'am," the red-haired smith said crisply, resisting the urge to perform a salute. Mentally picturing them proceeding down the hallway back-to-back like a coordinated pair, clearing out one room after another, she added with a grin, "If you've got my back, then I've got yours."

For a moment, Aurelie hesitated as the eternal question popped up in her mind: Her right, or mine? With Porygon scurrying all around both of them, though, she decided to follow common sense and swiveled to her right. She and her Delphox gazed into an examination room identical to the one she'd just been in. One Porygon was poised right in front of the computer monitor here, looking as if it were about to merge right into the screen somehow.

Always quick to assess a situation, her Delphox stepped past the threshold and waved the stick that it always seemed to have in its paw, gesturing as if it were a magic wand. The tip of the stick seemed to glow softly with soothing light, traveling in slow, mesmerizing patterns that caught and firmly captured the Porygon's attention, seemingly lulling it into a dreamy trance. In a moment, the Porygon dropped onto the desk, looking for all the world as if it were snoring softly in a light, fitful sleep.

"Phew, well done, Fiametta," Aurelie congratulated her Pokemon partner thankfully. The Delphox inclined her head graciously, like a queen accepting homage.

In the next room, they saw an orderly already attempting to subdue a mischievous pair of Porygons with his own Pokemon, a plump pink Chansey. For this one, Aurelie asked her Delphox to simply pitch in with a few blasts of telekinetic force to help subdue the more rambunctious Porygon. As the orderly finished dealing with the two Porygons, the red-haired smith moved on, cradling her burnt right forearm carefully to avoid bumping into anything with it by accident.

"How are you doing so far?" Aurelie asked, tossing the question over her shoulder to the white-haired woman. With an effort, she kept her eye studiously averted from the prosthetic hand—and the even more fascinating and beautifully constructed prosthetic leg extending from the hem of her skirt suit—this time, to avoid giving offense. Crisis management now, interesting engineering examination later.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie flashed a quick thumbs-up to the beautiful white-haired woman with the prosthetic limbs, before grimacing and quickly lowering her right arm as the pain from her burned forearm reasserted itself. This had better heal quickly, or that'll get annoying fast, the red-haired smith thought irritably. She settled for a decorous nod of affirmation instead as she and her Delphox performed a clean sweep of the last room on her side of the hallway and thankfully found it empty of Porygon—though the man changing into his hospital gown didn't seem to particularly appreciate their search.

"Doing well here," she replied with a satisfied air. "I think we got all the ones on this side. I just hope the Rangers can get here pretty soon, before the Porygon that were put to sleep start waking up."

With a friendly smile, she added, "I'm glad you responded so quickly to the swarm, or this could've gone a lot worse for everyone around here. You and your Audino were smart to use the sound waves to handle lots of them at once, too."

She turned around and was about to offer her hand to shake and introduce herself, when they heard a shout from around the corner. "Argh, they're in the server room!" Another voice, slightly muffled as if heard through a thin door, exclaimed, "The network servers are going to go haywire! Can anyone come help?" A wild-eyed man next to them, wearing a hospital IT department badge, charged down the hallway toward the shouting, looking panicky.

For a moment, Aurelie hesitated, wondering if the Rangers that the white-haired woman had called would be able to handle this in time. As groans and exclamations from people typing at computers started to fill the air, though, she shook her head. Man, they better refund my copay for this, she thought as she started trotting toward the source of the shouts around the corner.

"Once more into the breach?" she asked the white-haired woman with the Audino. "It sounds like they could use all the help they can get."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Nikita Wells, hmmm? The name sounded vaguely familiar for some reason, bringing to mind a splash of news reports she'd heard as a kid, of all things. Something about a sensational Pokemon attack? she thought distractedly, furrowing her brow. At any rate, now was hardly the time to ask, as both women and their Pokemon hurried around the corner toward the server room at the end. When they reached the doorway to the server room, several harried IT technicians and administrators looked up in relief while trying to herd several energetic Porygons and push them out the door.

"Aurelie Lefevre," she answered shortly, shivering slightly as the chill from the frigidly air-conditioned server room enfolded her. "Oh wow, that really is a lot of them. And me without a Fighting-type Pokemon in sight!"

Instead, awkwardly reaching around using her left hand, she decided to provide some extra backup for her Delphox to entrance and incapacitate as many of the rampant Porygons as she could. While her Delphox began the work of hypnotizing the nearest Porygons with its eye-catching fiery display, Aurelie released a new Pokeball to unleash a leaf-green Eldegoss crowned with an enormous white sphere of cotton-ball-like fluff. With a few whispered instructions from Aurelie, the Eldegoss began to complement the Delphox's performance, starting to SING a low, soothing lullaby to catch at the ears of the more distant Porygons and pacify them into harmless slumber.

Under the combined mesmeric onslaught of fire and music, several of the Porygons fell still or toppled over outright as sleep claimed them. Unfortunately, a few Porygon still hopped about frenetically, unaffected by the hypnosis or singing of Aurelie's Pokemon. The IT technicians tried ineffectually to bat these last stragglers away from the racks of servers, yelling and jumping back as one particularly belligerent Porygon unleashed a wayward but still shocking ZAP CANNON toward the ceiling.

"Bah, I think I'm out of tricks," Aurelie admitted with a gulp, leaning down to pat her two Pokemon encouragingly. "Unless they're okay with risking me setting their server room on fire. Do you have a way to handle these last few before the Rangers get here, Ms. Wells?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Ugh, I couldn't agree more," Aurelie chuckled candidly as she recalled her Pokemon back into their Pokeballs and followed @nikita into the hallway. Rarely had she ever been so grateful to give way to the Rangers and let them take charge of the situation. "I don't know about you, but I am ready for a nap after that much excitement in one day."

For a moment, she glanced back toward one of the recumbent Porygon that she and Nikita had just subdued. A fleeting thought to sneak it away somehow and bring it to Rocket for analysis flickered through her mind, just for an instant. There were too many witnesses here, though, and the Rangers were being far too thorough about accounting for all the runaway Porygon and retrieving them for return for her to feel confident about such a risky gambit. Especially with my bum arm, she thought testily, flexing her elbow.

When Nikita also looked at her bandaged forearm and asked if it was all right, Aurelie blinked and looked up toward her, startled by the unexpected question. The red-haired smith was pretty sure they hadn't exchanged more than a dozen words between them. Maybe it was the (still extremely fascinating) prosthetics, but the white-haired woman did have a certain almost-robotic quality to her, with her icy, precise, and dispassionate way of moving and speaking. But asking about Aurelie's welfare, even briefly, somewhat broke that robotic resemblance just slightly.

"It's not too bad," she answered honestly. "Just a long burn from me being careless and rushing when I shouldn't have. The nurse gave me some antibiotic ointment to prevent infections and help speed up the healing process a little, but it's just going to take time, sadly." She sighed gustily.

Aurelie paused for a moment and tilted her head thoughtfully to one side. "What about you? You doing okay after all that?" Her single visible eye roved inquiringly toward Nikita's left side before she could stop herself, drawn to the metallic beauty of those prosthetic limbs.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie's jaw dropped in surprise when @nikita unexpectedly instructed her Pokemon to use a healing move on her arm. "Oh! Thank you!" she exclaimed, feeling the wave of healing energy spreading over the burn on her arm. "That's so kind of you. I can feel it helping already."

She talks like a doctor herself, she thought as Nikita followed up with some good advice about getting rest and not straining the burned area too much. Though she seems like the type of doctor who doesn't bother much with having a nice bedside manner. But I'd much rather work with a doctor who leaps into action when a crisis happens, rather than a doctor who'd mince words to try to spare my feelings if I'm sick or something. A good heart counted for a lot more with Aurelie than a smiling face, which could hide all manner of unkindness.

As another doctor popped up in front of Nikita and ushered her away, Aurelie bemusedly waved goodbye to them both. "Uh, you're welcome? And...thanks again! Take care," she stammered, unsure if either of them would hear her as they strode off together purposefully.

It seemed as though her erstwhile comrade-in-arms against the Porygon menace was someone of importance to the hospital as a whole, judging from the obsequious way the doctor had addressed her. Her curiosity about Nikita Wells, already piqued by the fascinating arm and leg prosthetics, threatened to overwhelm her. Aurelie was absolutely going to look this woman up on the internet as soon as she got home. But for now, Nikita was right; after such a chaotic hospital visit involving rampaging Pokemon and a hospital computer system at risk, it was time for some rest. She headed out of the front doors, for once feeling satisfied and accomplished for having gone to the hospital, rather than—well.

She touched the edge of her eyepatch and sighed. Some things, even a HEALING PULSE couldn't mend. Still, a rest would be good, for sure.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT