Nurse Joy's Insidious Trap (Pixiv Fanbox)

After a long day of battling hopeful trainers, Misty found herself in the Cerulean City Pokémon Center. Her Staryu and Starmie had fought ferociously, defending the Cerulean City Gym up until the last battle. As Misty watched Nurse Joy heal the two mighty star shaped Pokémon, she thought about the match and it made her realize that she had to train harder. Not only did she owe it to her Pokémon, but to her hometown. "Thanks, Nurse Joy. I think I'm going to do some training down by the river so I'll see you later tonight!" "No problem, Misty." The redhead smiled and nodded before proceeding out the door. "Hey, cousin!" Nurse Joy called out to the back room. "Watch the desk, I'm taking my lunch break!" Before any reply was given, Nurse Joy abandoned her post and left the Pokémon Center to engage in her nightly ritual. The pink haired nurse walked out of town, careful to keep a safe distance from her target. It wasn't too hard to follow Misty since the Gym Leader typically trained in the same area so, even if Joy had somehow lost her, she could still find her later. Joy liked to keep an eye on Misty as she trained and knew that the redhead would be heading to the nearby river which flowed down from the base of Mt. Moon. If asked why she stalked Misty on nights like these, her answer would probably not make a lot of sense to the average person, but deep down, she felt an ever growing obsession with the Cerulean City Gym Leader. It all started a few months ago when she was first transferred to Cerulean City. She had been on the job only a few hours, but her first encounter with Misty left her mesmerized by the redheaded Gym Leader. It had started casually enough, small talk in between battles when Misty healed her Pokémon. Occasionally, Joy would see Misty walking around the city, sometimes in her bathing suit, and the nurse would start daydreaming. After a while, these innocent interactions weren't enough for Joy. She had to make sure that Misty was safe and, to do that, she had to watch her as often as she could. Some people would say that such a strange compulsion is crazy, but it had a lot to do with how the woman was wired. She was a deeply caring and nurturing individual who healed Pokémon every day as part of her job. It would only be natural to want to protect and heal someone she saw as a love interest. However, this particular Nurse Joy didn't exactly know how to express her feelings which was how she ended up following Misty on days such as this. As Nurse Joy left the path and meandered through the trees, she stepped on a brittle branch, causing a loud crunching sound to emanate from where she stood. It sounded like a gunshot firing in the dead of the night. Freezing in mid-stride, Nurse Joy leapt behind a tree and swore under her breath. "Shit." The pink haired woman stood as still as she could be, hidden behind the Oak tree. Her eyes remained shut while she forced herself to control her panicked breathing while her heart was pounding wildly. She didn't want to be caught, not again! Not like in Steelport! A Hoothoot's call breaks the stillness of the forest as it sounds off in the distance just as the rising moon's glow disappears behind a patch of wispy clouds, deadening down the lunar light to a dim haziness. Misty sighed, content that the snap sound was caused by the bird Pokémon before it announced its presence and flew away. She quickly turned around and set off towards the river, knowing that there weren't any obvious wild Pokémon around this part of the woods to battle. Ultimately, she knew that it was much better to train by the river, which wasn't much further down the makeshift path ahead of her. Nurse Joy breathed a sigh of relief as she heard Misty's footsteps fade away. For once in her life, she was happy to have gone unnoticed by the object of her affection. She knew that if she got caught following Misty, she'd be transferred again like when the higher ups had been discovered that she had been stalking Roxanne. Even though she had been caught, it merely served as a lesson that she had to be cautious and take her time. Unlike in the Hoehn region, she had everything set up and ready for Misty. She had gone to great lengths to steal Pokémon from the Pokémon Center, supplying them to Team Rocket in exchange for a private warehouse that came with the tools she needed to ensure that Misty would be hers. Of course, Joy had requested special customizations on certain parts of the warehouse, but after she had secured that Dratini for the miscreants running Team Rocket, she figured it was the least they could do. After a few minutes of waiting, the pink haired woman stepped out from her hiding spot and felt comfortable enough to get back on Misty's trail. She slowly walked through the woods, creeping up to the edge of the forest. As she reached the clearing, she looked down towards the bank of the river and was greeted with the sight of her favorite girl who was in the middle of battling a wild Squirtle. Misty stood confident, commanding her Goldeen to attack the Squirtle. "Goldeen! Use Horn Attack!" Nurse Joy marveled over how well Misty ordered her Pokémon. The nurse had watched her do this many times before and always found herself amazed that Misty never ran into any real trouble. Regardless of this fact, Nurse Joy still felt compelled to protect Misty. It was a wild world and no one knew what dangers lurked just out of sight. For instance, a few weeks ago, Misty had told her about how she ran into a small swarm of Beedrill. They were angry that she had wandered into their territory and ended up swarming right towards her! Needless to say, she was frightened, but according to Misty, the offensive bug Pokémon were all quickly taken care of by her Staryu and Starmie. It took everything in Joy's power to restrain her maternal instincts that day. She fought her urges to reach over the counter and pull Misty into a hug after she had heard that story. However, thanks to Misty's boasting, she mustered up her courage to steal a Dratini. After Misty had left that day, Nurse Joy had gone back to her duties, but couldn't get that horrifying story out of her head. It had been a few hours later, while Joy and Chansey were taking out the garbage, that a truly life altering moment had occurred: In the middle of the night, an Ekans had attacked them both, but thankfully the bulbous Chansey had easily defeated the Snake. Being the kind hearted woman she was, Joy picked up the fainted Pokémon and brought him into the Pokémon Center where she nursed it's wounds. While she was healing the Pokémon she couldn't help but notice how similar an average Ekans was to a super rare Dratini. They both shared a serpent's body and had similar features. It was at that moment a sinister thought popped into her mind, an evil epiphany if you would: 'What if I painted this Ekans light blue and switched him with the Dratini?' Thinking quickly, she knocked the Ekans out with a fast acting tranquilizer and left the center to buy a few cans of white and light blue spray paint spray. Once she returned, the Ekans was stretched out and painted white on his underside and light blue all over. It took some plaster to cover the ridges of the Snake Pokémon's tail, but after about ten minutes, the rattle on the end of Ekans tail was smooth to the touch and practically disappeared from view. Next, Joy glued a rubber ball on the nose of Ekans after she painted had painted the rubber ball white. The final piece of artistic fraud was the molded wing like fins that Joy had applied to Ekans' head with another healthy bit of glue. With the hard part completed, Nurse Joy creeper into the Trainer's room and grabbed his Pokeballs, it was obvious by the dragon emblem emblazoned on the ball that Dratini lived within it. She summoned the adorable Dragon and marvelled over how much the sleeping Ekans and Dratini looked alike, almost like twins. With a heavy heart, she withdrew the disguised and knocked out Ekans to the Trainer's Pokeball, returning it to the room where the man was sleeping. When she had returned to her station, she found the Dratini looking at her with a quizzical expression, almost as if it knew what she was up to. She remembered almost crying and having to wipe her eyes as she picked up the phone and called her other cousin who was a member of Team Rocket. By Dawn, the Dragon had been handed over to Team Rocket and the man was none the wiser. It had been a bold move, but one that ultimately paid off far better than she could've ever imagined. *Ring* *Ring* *Ring* A series of rapid rings came from Nurse Joy's phone, pulling her out of the past and into the present. She suddenly turned ghost white and fumbled with her phone, turning it off, but it was too late! "Hey!" Misty yelled. "Who's out there!?" Nurse Joy realized that she had no real choice but to show herself, the jig was up. The pink haired woman stepped out from the trees, standing on the ridge, looking down at Misty. "Oh, it's just you." Misty stated in a relieved tone of voice. "Is something wrong?" In an instant, everything clicked between the Nurse's ears. She knew just what she had to do! "I didn't know what to do!" Misty's relaxed posture turned tense. "Why? What happened?!" "I looked everywhere for Officer Jenny, but I couldn't find her so I knew that I had to find you! You're the only person who can stop Team Rocket's evil plan! They're storing captured and injured Pokémon in an abandoned warehouse just outside of Cerulean City!" Nurse Joy explained, using her best acting skills. "This is terrible!" Misty recalled her Pokémon and returned her gaze to Nurse Joy. "But you did the right thing by coming to get me. I'll defeat those two bit crooks and rescue all those poor Pokémon!" Before Nurse Joy could say another word, Misty had already went off running down the side of the river bank, towards Cerulean City. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." To Be Continued...