(AN: If there is a drop in quality, do tell in the comments.)
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Ash followed Flint down the gravel path.
Crunch...crunch...crunch...crunch...
The wind whirling through the trees near the path muffled the sounds of their footsteps.
The city flickered with life. Ash barely noticed the glowing windows, the humming streetlights, and the shadows that stretched long across cobbled alleys. Pikachu and Eevee followed him with twitching ears while Yellow looked around with wide eyes.
Flint led the way through the narrow lanes and stone-walled alleys that seemed carved out of the mountain itself, with purpose.
The buildings were squat and sturdy, with rough-hewn and practical exteriors as if the city itself didn't flaunt beauty but wore an armour of resilience.
After crossing some paths that had a shuttered shop with cracked signage, and a fountain that no longer flowed, they came out in the gravel and stone-laid main street of the city. Jogging behind him, Flint led the way towards the mountainous side of the city where the Pokémon centre was located.
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The automatic doors sliding open with a soft hissing sound signalled the arrival of yet another trainer to her Centre. Preparing herself to attend to the Pokémon of a trainer that has either lost or barely won against the Gym Leader Brock (even if he was a womanizer, there was no point in denying that he was good trainer), she lifted her head from the computer to welcome the trainer to the center when she froze when she saw the group at front of her desk.
A man was wearing a dirty white shirt with green-dirtied pants, a red woollen beanie on his head and a shaggy beard (likely a beggar or one of the poor labourers in the city).
Along with him was a ten-year-old boy wearing a blue heavy-duty waterproof hiking jacket, slightly oversized but cinched at the waist with a utility belt that had a sword attached to it. His black cargo pants were tucked into sturdy boots, laced tight and covered in mud. A hood flopped behind his neck, lined with fleece for cold nights. He had black fingerless gloves. Slung across his back was a multi-pocketed backpack, with a tent secured at the bottom of the bag. The poles for his tent and the cooking pots were strapped to the side with cordage.
The boy was carrying a conscious but injured blonde girl in his arms, who was wearing a black oversized shirt and jeans. Her arms and legs had splints applied to them, signalling that her limbs were fractured. She had a bandage covering her throat as well. There were a Pikachu and an Eevee at his heels as well.
"Nurse Joy?"
Hearing the boy call out her name, she immediately went into professional mode and asked with urgency while reaching her hands towards the girl, "What happened to the girl?"
The boy answered, "I found her injured in the Viridian Forest along with her Doduo. I gave her first aid as best as I could, but she needs to be looked at by a trained professional, and I brought her after stabilising her as best as I could."
By now, Nurse Joy had taken the girl off the boy's hands and was looking at the bandages and her condition.
"Who is the man, then?"
The man, taking it as his cue, told her before the boy could, "I met them as they came out of the forest, and he asked me to guide them to the centre."
Using a pair of scissors carefully, she opened the bandage on the girl's throat and saw the scar of a slash on the throat. She would have then and there attacked the boy for obviously harming the girl, as he carried the sword with him, were it not for a few observations as a medical professional.
1. The scar was too shallow and deliberate for a sword to do if the girl was not falling backwards.
2. The scar had threads coming out of it, showing that the wound had been stitched, which no attacker would do.
3. The girl was not afraid of the boy at all, and the boy held her with care.
Keeping her thoughts and judgment to herself, she pointed to the scar on the girl's throat with a raised eyebrow as if silently asking what happened there.
As if saddened upon being shown that, the boy replied in a quiet voice as she saw the Pikachu's ears droop, "We found her with a slit throat and paralysed in the Viridian Forest. We were somehow able to keep her alive by using Pikachu's Thunder Shocks as a defibrillator. She had nearly died there. We did the best we could have done. Her Doduo was nearly dead while being poisoned. I am sorry that I was not able to do better for them, but it was the best we had."
Seeing his guilt for not being able to do better for the girl, Nurse Joy mentally gave the boy a green light for now. She had to take the girl to a human hospital, but first...
"Chansey!"
After calling out her partner and confirming with the boy and the girl, she handed the Poké Ball containing the Doduo to Chansey.
"Take care of this Doduo, and while I am gone, you are in charge. I will need to admit the girl to the human hospital. Take care of the Centre, okay? Let's go."
Nurse Joy took the group out of the Pokémon Centre after the boy had taken the girl in his arms again, as if she were something precious to him and took them to the human hospital that was a 20-minute walk away from the Centre.
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The man separated from the group as they came out of the hospital, bade them farewell and disappeared into the streets.
"Nurse Joy?"
Turning to her right, she saw the boy looking at her with a questioning look in his eyes.
"Yes, Ash?"
She came to know about the names of the boy and the girl during the process of admitting the girl, Yellow, into the hospital. She really needed to remind herself to take a person's name beforehand during the first meeting.
"Why did we have to meet you first, instead of directly admitting to the hospital?"
Nodding at his genuine confusion, she said in understanding frustration, "I can understand where your dilemma comes from, but there is a good reason for that. There have been cases of people who admit themselves to the hospital but do not pay the money for their treatment afterwards, as they have run away by then. They had claimed that they were trainers and had trainer cards and had Pokédexes as well, but they never submitted their correct details, which led to the hospital suffering losses and the people and trainers with real conditions being denied treatment. The man had taken you to me because I personally referred the case to them, and as a fellow practitioner of medicine, they value my recommendations more. You saw how the hassle of admitting her was less when I was them doing so."
"But shouldn't all get to...?"
"All should, but it can never be taken by the poor and the needy when it is required. Let's go back. You need to get a room to stay and possibly dinner."
Silently nodding to her, Ash followed Nurse Joy back to the Pokémon Centre with Pikachu and Eevee at his heels while he thought back to Yellow's lonely face when she was admitted into a room. She needed to stay for a week before she was allowed to be dispatched.
With the scent of the antiseptic still clinging faintly to his clothes, he left. The building behind him was modern but modest—grey concrete softened by ivy creeping up its sides, with narrow windows that reflect the moonlit night sky. A carved stone plaque near the entrance read Pewter General; its lettering was clean but weathered, like the city itself.
The road ahead was paved with uneven cobblestones, smoothed by years of footsteps and rainfall. It curved gently downhill, flanked by buildings that seem to grow out of the earth rather than sit atop it.
To the left, a row of squat homes huddled together, their walls made of stacked shale and their roofs sloped with dark slate. Smoke curled lazily from chimneys, and the occasional wind chime—crafted from fossil fragments and polished stone—tinkled in the breeze. The faint laughter of the family having dinner from within was heard, with the faint smell of food drifting towards them, reminding their empty stomachs about eating food with a small collective growl.
On the right, a small building loomed quietly, its facade carved with reliefs of ancient Pokémon and tectonic maps. A sign read Pewter Museum of Science, but it feels more like an ancient temple than an exhibit hall.
As they continued, the buildings began to space out. The stone gave way to gravel paths and low retaining walls built from river rock. They passed a public fountain—its water trickling over sculptures of Pokémon, one mostly flat with a protective shell covering its body, and another one was a body with ten tentacles and a helix-spiralled shell on its back with the shell's rim having two circular indents, worn smooth by time and touch. A few trainers sat nearby, whispering strategies and watching their Pokémon rest.
Then, just ahead, after some time, the Pokémon Centre came into view.
It was nestled into the base of a cliff, half-sheltered by the rock face behind it. The building was circular; its walls made of polished granite with veins of quartz that caught the pale moonlight like starlight trapped in stone. The red cross above the entrance wasn't painted—it was inlaid with rose quartz, glowing faintly even in the dim light of the waxing moon.
As they approached the doors, they slid open with a soft hiss. Inside, the air was cooler, quieter. The scent shifted from mineral dust to herbal salves and moss. The lighting was warm, amber-toned, and the walls curved gently inward, like the embrace of a cave.
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After registering his name for the Pokémon league challenge, he got the keys to a room after his trainer credentials had been entered into the computer.
Before going to bed, they had other things to do. After calling home and assuring his mother that he had arrived safe and sound, he hung up the phone after promising her that he would call Professor Oak in the morning. After that, he went to the cafeteria with Pikachu and Eevee following behind.
The cafeteria sat just off the main corridor, behind a thick stone archway etched with fossil motifs. As they entered, the room opened into a warm, cavernous space lit by hanging lanterns made from polished geodes. The walls curved inward like a natural grotto, lined with shelves of dried herbs, Pokéfood ingredients, and geological curios donated by passing trainers.
Long communal tables carved from petrified wood stretched across the room, their surfaces smoothed by years of use. Benches were cushioned with moss-stuffed pads, and each table bore a small stone centrepiece—often a miniature sculpture of a Rock-type Pokémon.
The menu was simple but hearty. Stews simmered in stone cauldrons over low geothermal burners, rich with root vegetables and wild herbs. Pokéfood was served in custom bowls, each tailored to species type. The trainers spoke in hushed tones, sharing stories of battles and bonding. A corkboard near the entrance was cluttered with handwritten notes in illegible handwriting as if they were doodles.
Taking a table far away from the rest of the trainers, he brought out his Pokémon after collecting the food for each of them, as told by Nurse Joy. It was a testament to show that they were all hungry when all of them tasted the food and started scarfing it down with little to no concern for decorum. Some of them even took extras.
After eating the food, he had to submit all of the dirty dishes and place them in the spot designated to keep them. Paying the amount necessary to the clerk, they went to the sleeping quarters them to asleep. While doing so, they crossed the public dormitory to sleep.
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Down a quieter hallway, past the healing room, lay the dormitory—a shared space for travelling trainers to sleep and recover. The entrance was marked by a carved relief of a sleeping Geodude, its arms curled protectively around a Poké Ball.
The room was divided into alcoves, each with a stone-framed bed inset into the wall like a cave hollow. The mattresses were firm but warm, layered with wool blankets and moss-lined pillows. Above each bed, a small shelf held a lantern, a journal, and a Poké Ball cradle.
The lighting was soft and golden, mimicking firelight. The walls absorbed sound, creating a cocoon of quiet. Occasionally, they heard the distant hum of healing machines or the soft shuffle of Chansey's footsteps in the hallway. Trainers left tokens behind—badges pinned to bedposts, and sketches taped to walls, making them feel personal, as if a legacy left behind by the older generations. There was no luxury here, but there was peace.
Unfortunately, there was no privacy except the curtains that covered the entrances to the alcoves. Ash left the place behind with Pikachu and Eevee following, as this was not the place, he was supposed to rest for the time he spent in the city.
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At the end of the hallway was a spiral staircase that led to the upper floors. After going a few flights of stairs, upwards, he landed on the floor his room was supposed to be in. After walking down the ambient light-covered hallway past a few doors, he came across his private room.
The door is thick and heavy, carved from dark cedar and banded with iron. A small plaque beside it reads simply: A306. Turning the handle after inserting the cast-iron key, the door slid open with a low rumble, revealing a space that felt like a personal retreat carved into the mountain's heart.
The bed was inset into a shallow alcove, framed by smooth granite and lined with moss-stuffed cushions. The mattress was firm, layered with wool blankets dyed in muted earth tones—ochre, slate, and forest green. Above the bed, a small shelf held a lantern made from a hollowed geode, glowing softly with amber light. A Poké Ball cradle sat beside it, carved from polished obsidian.
A stone wardrobe stood in the corner; its doors etched with patterns. Inside, there was space for travel gear, Poké Balls, and a few personal items. A drawer contained parchment and charcoal sticks for sketching or journaling. A writing desk, carved from petrified wood, sat beneath a narrow window slit. The view outside showed the rough and quiet cliffside.
Tucked behind a privacy screen of woven reeds and stone lattice was a small wash basin fed by a trickling stream of mineral water. The basin was lined with quartz, and the water smelled faintly of mint and iron. A towel rack holds thick, woollen cloths, and a shelf offers possibly herbal soaps and salves. The walls were thick, absorbing sound like a cave. No sound could be heard from the hallway.
Satisfied with the arrangements, Ash closed the door with a satisfying click.
After removing the clothes, washing them, then his Pokémon and himself in the bathroom, he let them out to dry on the desk and in the wardrobe through the night. Changing into his pyjamas, he tucked himself in with Pikachu and Eevee in the warm mattresses and fell asleep quickly while thinking about what the next day would bring.
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(AN: I might have gone a bit too much into description for this chapter.)