"Yeah," Nick answered, rather uncomfortably. "We just had a battle."

"Oh, don’t worry about that! There’s no problem at all. That’s what I’m here for," replied the nurse.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," the boys called out, as she walked through double doors, deeper into the building.

Nick and Keith walked over to a bench and looked around. "Hmm... We’re the only ones here now," commented Keith.

"Yeah, you’re right. Must have something to do with it not being lunch time," Nick replied. At the moment he made this comment, the entrance doors were flung open as a young boy scrambled in, yelling exultantly, "I beat you!" He was soon followed by a sprawling group of eight-year-olds. The first child then trotted up to the check-in counter and rang the call bell. Seeing the new arrivals, Nick sighed, "It figures." Keith laughed quietly.

"School’s out," said he, smiling. By the time Nurse Joy had hurried back to the check-in counter, all fourteen of children had assembled around it, pushing each other, laughing, and ringing the call bell incessantly. Recognizing the kids, Nurse Joy smiled and said,

"All right, all right! Remember, just ring the bell one time, OK?"

"Yes, Nurse Joy!" chorused the second graders. Nurse Joy laughed and asked,

"So, do you have any pokémon for me to heal?" Fourteen hands shot out, holding out handfuls of shrunken pokéballs to Nurse Joy. Amid cries of "Could you help my Pikachu?" and "I think my Rattata is tired," she took the pokéballs and pressed a white button on the front of each to enlarge them to normal size.

"Hush, hush!" she teased, obviously enjoying herself. "I’ll take your pokémon into the back and fix them up." Nurse Joy walked through the double doors with an armload of pokéballs.

Keith looked on the scene amused and whispered to Nick, "Looks like this could take a while."

"No, probably not," replied Nick.

"Why?" asked Keith, surprised.

"Most of those pokémon probably have nothing wrong with them."

"Oh..." said Keith, understanding. "Your right, the kids probably didn’t have much time for battle at school," he said, smiling. "I’m gonna’ go try to play with them. I like children," he commented simply.

Keith got up and walked over to several of the kids. They had all separated into little groups. Nick watched amused as Keith approached a little girl and said, "Hi! What pokémon do you have here?" The girl was surprised but looked up quickly said,

"My dad bought me that Pikachu for Christmas!"

"Oh," said Keith. "You have a Pikachu? I’ve always wanted one. Is your Pikachu cute?"

"Yep! Patt’s the cutest pokémon ever!" she said proudly. By this time, Keith had attracted the attention of several other kids. A young boy asked him admiringly,

"Are you a trainer too? Wow! It must be neat to not have to go to school! Where are all your pokémon?" he asked. Keith at first looked a little embarrassed, then said, dodging part of the question,

"Nurse Joy is taking care of my Squirtle right now." Another boy piped up and said,

"You have a Squirtle! Oh I want one of those." He was followed a girl who immediately said,

"But Squirtle’s not as neat as Psyduck!"

"Yes, he is!" said another kid. "Squirtle can beat Psyduck any day!" The debate rapidly gained rowdy participators, until, by the time Nurse Joy returned, almost every kid was chattering away. However, when the kids looked up and saw Nurse Joy, they immediately ceased talking and hustled over to her, eagerly holding out their hands to receive their pokémon. Nick stood up and walked near the counter, holding back from the tangled mass of children, and Keith soon came over and joined him.

"Quite a conversation," said he.

"What do ya’ mean?" Nick asked.

"Well, evidently, Psyduck’s better than Squirtle, but Pikachu’s better than Psyduck. Better than them all is Staryu. It’s quite a favorite," Keith said, smiling joshingly at Nick.

"Oh, stop it!" Nick laughed. Nurse Joy meanwhile handed out all of the children’s pokéballs. When the children walked away from the counter, Nick and Keith walked up.

"And here are yours," Nurse Joy said.

"Thanks," they both replied at once. They took their rejuvenated pokémon and started walking toward the exit doors. Just before they reached it, a girl cried out to Keith,

"Wait! What’s your name?"

"Huh?" he said, turning around. "Oh, I’m Keith! I gotta’ go now. Bye!" he said to everyone. As the two boys walked out of the doors, they heard a boy’s voice come out above the others, saying, "Man, I wish I had a Charmeleon and a Victreebel like Keith!" Keith turned to Nick, puzzled, and shrugged.