With the work week mostly done, Aubre departed for her clinic’s second branch. It was there where she did most of her work with oversized and wild Pokemon. In truth, this was her favorite part of the week. She might work and spend most of her time in the city, but her home would always be here. Breathing in fresh, countrified air surrounded by greenery and quiet.

But her daughter didn’t feel the same. The toddler preferred to spend her time staring at encyclopedias and huddled in her room. It made Aubre worry about her levels of Vitamin D. Sometimes, she wondered if the kid had been bitten by a Zubat or something. In hopes of kindling some fondness for the outdoors, Aubre took her on every couple of trips out to the patient retreat.

Which they were arriving at this very moment. Returning their mount home with a nod and a murmured thank you, Aubre grabbed the toddler’s hand. “Are you excited to see all the Audino? They are one of the most adept healing Pokemon in—” Big blue eyes blinked up at her as the child walked forward, the picture of surliness. Though tiny, her voice was enough to punch through Aubre’s defenses. “No.” Michaela huffed. “They’re stupid.” Shaking her head, Aubre ran forward to grab the grumpy toddler’s hand.

In short order, they arrived at the large west pasture. Inside, looking like the historical creature he was descended from, a giant Tropius browsed. One of his wings had been burnt away and his frame was much smaller than that of a typical male of his kind. “Good afternoon, Gregory.” Aubre called up to the sauropod with a surprisingly broad smile. “How’s it going up there, big guy?” The long neck bellowed in greeting.

Whatever poison had crippled him seemed almost entirely banished. A new wing was sprouting in the place of the other.

The Tropius swiveled his head towards the doctor. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at the smaller human beside her. While wild just a few weeks ago, he no longer reared at the doctor’s touch. Seeing his discomfort, Aubre held out a hand to her toddler, who was currently trying to crawl under the fence. “Stay here, okay, Mikky? I just want to check on him really quickly."

Huffing irritably, the toddler flopped against one of the fence posts. An Oricorio—currently in Sensu form—settled beside her.

Aubre, meanwhile, clambered her way over the fence and into the paddock. From within her satchel, she pulled out a large tube of anti-fungal cream and a bottle of specialized antidote. While she gestured, she tried her best not to look at the animal’s feet. Not to imagine herself turned into copper-tufted toothpaste beneath those plates of solid wood. “Can you lower your head for me, please? I’d clamber up there, but..” Without protest, the grass-type did as requested.

Off came the cap of the tube. Standing on her tippy toes, the doctor went about applying the ointment. “It really does look a lot better. I don’t think it will be a problem for much longer. Though it could come back if we don't keep an eye on it…” As she shifted, her cardigan and accompanying t-shirt rose with her.

Beneath it lay horrific, twisted, reddened skin.

Aubre will take the Kabutops.

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X gacha (50 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

50 PD

Let's take a spin on the gachapon wheel.

With the week’s shopping done, Aubre looked forward to a small reprieve. The clinic would be closed for the next two days, which meant she had time to catch up on her reading and spend some much overdue time with her daughter. The very thought made her often leaden heart lift.


Even the constant burn in her back did nothing to shrink her timid smile.

A squeak behind her shifted her attention. The sight of her Mudkip struggling with two towering bags of groceries drew out a giggle. One she instantly regretted. Even beneath the smile, she could sense her axolotl was crestfallen. Her gills visibly quivered. “Serena! Sweetheart, let me help.” Laying her own bag aside Aubre moved to double her load. But something made her pause--math.


She may always think the apocalypse was nigh, but Aubre did not shop like it. She had three bags and two Pokemon with her. So, how in Arceus had the poor water type ended up carrying two of them? Her lips pursed as she jerked her head up to where her Helioptile watched with a smirk.


A noise like a tea kettle escaped from Aubre’s mouth as one hand dropped to her hip. Even when she scolded, her voice remained on the quiet side. But, to the lizard’s sensitive ears (and sensitive soul), it felt like he was standing behind a jet. “Alister McKenna! You know better!” With only the slightest roll of his eyes, the electric-type grabbed a bag from the burdened Mudkip. And, it’d have been the smaller one if Aubs hadn’t given him the look.<br><br>


With the load evenly distributed (again), Aubre moved to the main thoroughfare. But any introspection on the walk was interrupted by a fiasco across the street. Big emerald eyes locked onto the event, unable to look away. And that glance stretched into an uncomfortable stare. Oh Arceus! Could they feel her staring? Had she been looking too long? Would it be wrong to just walk away?<br><br>


Chewing on her bottom lip for a moment, Aubre tried her best to steady herself. Deep breath in. Long exhale. With a decent dose of O2 in her lungs, she moved towards the “conflict.” Behind her, mostly hidden by paper bags, her Pokemon toddled under the weight of cereal and vegetables.<br><br>


It was really best if they just went on their way and minded their own business. Butting in every time she saw something wrong was what had gotten her burned in the first place. The smart thing to do would be to make like a Vanilluxe and nanab split.<br><br>


But she couldn’t do that.<br><br>


“Pardon me--” She could practically feel Alister’s eyebrow quirking. “--us.” Here she lifted a hand in the international symbol for pause. Though whether that was a reminder to herself or the other person was unclear. “Are you all right?”

If she imagined hell, this might be part of it. Sales and marketing were not her purvey. In fact, in all honesty, they were the exact opposite of something she was good at. Or, well, maybe not quite that. But it was certainly something she didn’t enjoy doing. <br><br>


Judging by the look on Alister’s face, he felt the same. Though his expression wasn’t so much fear as it was general annoyance.<br><br>


But being a newcomer in Hoenn had made gaining traction at the clinic difficult. Even the fact that she’d partnered with a native didn’t seem to help. Then again, he was not her idea of a proper mentor. Though he certainly knew Pokemon anatomy, he always smelled vaguely of booze and didn’t seem to be very excited about his job. And, of course, she’d found him stitching up people a couple of times. And, for some reason, complaining about it had made her the weird one.


At the center of town, Aubre McKenna stood with a sheath of freshly printed papers. These were miniature ads for the newly open clinic, highlighting what they offered to the citizens of Hoenn. Which, thanks in part to her husband's attempts to patch things up, was quite considerable.


But, even after a few hours, the stack of papers had not really shrunk. By the time she decided what she was going to say, the potential customer was already a way down the road. And, she really did not want to be a pest. Or, chase them down and look like a crazy person. Even if she was aware of her neuroticism, Aubre rarely felt a need to advertise it.


“Pardon me, miss--” Her voice barely rose above a whisper as she thrust a paper forward. The other woman did not acknowledge her presence, but no one was meant to hear whispers. A defeated sigh poured from Aubre’s mouth as she curled the papers close to her chest.



A dozen images flashed through her mind. A pantry emptied by poverty. Shuttered clinic doors were held shut by some mustachioed banker’s padlock. For some reason, she saw a gravestone too.


Surveying the square around them, emerald eyes alighted on a nearby sign. A small, almost sly smile played at her features. While cold selling wasn’t her thing, she could make the prospects a bit warmer. Though that sounded kind of word. “Hey, Al?” The Helioptile turned with a raised brow, his frill raising in time with his breathing. “Can you go grab some candy And a bowl?” A pause stretched between them as the lizard gave a shrug. “You can get something for yourself too, of course. You’ve been a big help today."


Money exchanged hands as the electric type waddled to the nearest snack cart. He emerged minutes later with a small bowl and bag full of candy. Once that was filled, he moved to stand closer to the path with the bowl extended. Somehow, Alister had ended up bait. But he didn’t mind. Aubre needed him.

And, with a reward in sight, it didn’t take long for a “fish” to bite. A shadow fell over the lizard as Aubre moved and politely intruded, “Excuse me--” She swallowed. Tightened her nails on the flyer. “I just wanted to talk to you about the new candy--uh--clinic.”



Blue eyes rolled in front of her as the Helioptile resisted the urge to facepalm. Real smooth there, Aubs.

The sky pinkened at its extremities, trapped somewhere between dusk and afternoon. At the edges of the path, a few of the lights flickere into standby mode. A short distance from the trail, a young mother knelt with her child. The little toddler—as usual—looked like she’d been licking a lemon. But that didn’t stop her mother’s excitement as green eyes spotted a dash of red in the undergrowth.

“Mikky! Look! It’s a Wurmple!" Aubre turned to her daughter with a wide smile. "Do you want to see?” The normally mousy woman bubbled with a younger her’s excitement for a moment. These explorations brought back an almost contagious nostalgia.

“Mn.” A button nose screwed up as Michaela Settentrione squinted through her child-sized binoculars. Blue eyes quickly spotted the target of their excursion. The mother’s expectant grin froze, cracked as the tiny voice emerged.

“It’s ugly.” The toddler sniffed derisively. A stubby hand lifted to pat the Snom at her side. Its little mandibles moved as it gnawed through a patch of clover. “Aubbie’s cuter.” The redhead readied herself for a scold. “Michaela, that is not something you can just—looks are not—” Big blue eyes blinked lazily up at the doctor, waiting for a conclusion to that sentence.

One would not be coming.

A loud crash from behind them shattered the moment. Aubre dropped her binoculars with a noise of surprise as a cloud of dirt billowed from the past behind them. The Girafarig—gnawing his way through some excess overgrowth—let out a neigh of alarm as it fell backward, its prosthetic threatening to buckle. Unnerved by all of this, the toddler curled her Snom closer to her chest. “Momma…?”

A noise of pain came from the hole. Is something stuck in there? It sounds like it needs help. And, well, it’s not big enough to be dangerous. I can’t just leave it there. Her hands lifted in a request for calm, though she was not sure if it was for her daughter or for herself. “Michaela, stay here, all right? I want to make sure everything’s okay.”

Before reaching the hole, Aubre felt her gaze drawn to a strange, dark rock on the path. New cracks ran up its rocky exterior. “Isn’t that a—?” Her eyes drifted upward for a moment, just in time for another Minior to crash down beside her. THWUMMMPF!

Dust exploded as the doctor fell onto her backside in a cloud of dust and gravel.

[nospaces]



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The morning rush ended in a flurry of pets and fond farewells. A few long-term patients were finally going home. And, with only a few minutes until lunch, the office was in a temporary lull. The sound of water could be heard in the backroom. Gloves were being stripped off and the white jacket switched for a hoody.

“Hey, Al, I was thinking we could swing by that Kalosian restaurant for lunch.” With nothing but her own Pokemon around, her normally mousy voice was plainly audible. “ Maybe pick up some macaroons for Mikky.” A croaking noise from up front served as assent. With that done, Aubre sat down to try and tackle some outstanding paperwork.

A short walk up the hallway was the clinic’s front lobby. In place of a human receptionist, a little yellow lizard perched on the desktop. Beside him lay a bright yellow memo pad and a matching ink pen. His tiny claws tapped idly at the keyboard, flipping idly through some unboxing videos. Big baby blues, however, were locked onto the black cat clock above the door. He wasn’t one given to watching the clock. Instead, he tried his best to make the day go faster. “Lisk…” Alastor sighed. Those psychic punks had it easy.

Suddenly, the front door burst open. A squeak emerged from the Helioptile as the door knob collided with the wall. His heart pounded in his chest as sparks rippled across his form. ”!?” The feeling of relaxation ended when he spotted the red trailing down the trainer’s arms. This was serious stuff! But he figured Aubs could fix—ah, Arceus. His eyes widened to saucers. Alastor furiously shook his head.

“Optile!” With surprising grace, the tiny lizard dropped to the ground. His claws flipped furiously through the memo pad as he raced towards the back entrance. Short questions, numbers, and a few games of tic-tac-toe flashed by as the electric type settled on an empty page. Up and down the paper the pen went as the lizard placed himself between the man, the dog, and the door.

Hearing all the commotion, the doctor pushed back from her desk. Her red brows lowered somewhat in concern as the man called out. “Al? Is everything all right?” Back in the lobby, the lizard’s panic grew. With a final swipe, he turned the paper to the Houndoom and its owner. On it was a drawing of something with a giant x through it. It had a snout—or, well, beak?

Frantically, he tapped the butt end of the pen against the paper.

The handle jerked down as Aubre moved to shoulder the door open. “Hel!” A sharp rebuke from the lizard drew a thoughtful frown. From him, a thin bolt of electricity hit the doorknob. A scarred hand snapped back with a yelp.

“Hey!” Aubre sucked on her tingling fingers as she stepped away from the door. She could see shadows moving on the other side. “If someone’s hurt out there—Alastor McKenna, you better open that door.”