The Other Side of the Coin

3:24 PM

"Well Nurse Karimi, I was in the middle of a wash up so I assume this is important enough that it couldn't wait till things could dry?"

Chōko swallowed, bright yellow eyes blinking rapidly. Nothing worse than your boss heavily implying you were wasting their time. The small room they were in felt like a Magcargo was using it as a sauna with all the sweat that was running down her back. The other floor nurse, Cleo, gave her a sympathetic look.

"Ah, we-well Dr. Oja, it's about Hailey. I was going to give her, I mean, uh, prepare her for her a-afternoon physiotherapy b-but the, well the issue is she seems to be, ah, gone. Not in her room, I mean."

If the dark skinned woman actually wore glasses, she'd probably be taking them off right now and rubbing the bridge of her nose. That was certainly the energy she was giving off. "Ms. Karimi" Oh that wasn't good, she'd dropped the nurse, "I understand you are new at this facility, but this is hardly an emergency. Despite appearances, Miss Wolters is not totally immobile. She could just be in the attached bathroom, or around the corner from her room, I know she likes looking out the window on..."

"I-I checked there, uh, Ma'am."

Another long sigh, "Those were just examples Chōko. The book room, the entrance, the roof garden, the cafeteria, the boiler room this one time I heard, why she could be...

"I c-checked all of them, oh! Except the boiler room. Did that really happen?" The constant interruptions probably weren't doing much for her image, but she couldn't help it, she was nervous, she'd never lost a patient before! Like, literally misplaced them! "I got a list, quite a large one actually, haven't finished reading the whole thing. Anyway, when I started working with Hailey, and it listed several spots. She, uh, she's not in any of them."

That caused a pause, the older woman staring her down, trying to decide if she was being fed a load of Tauros. Cleo tried to break the ice, Arceus bless her.

"Could it possibly be a misschedule? Perhaps she's out of the building at specialist appointment?"

"No, no couldn't be that. Given her condition she travels as little as possible. As far as I know all her treatment takes place here at Moonlight." Dr. Oja was chewing her thumb now, clearly running through possibilities in her mind. "Have you talked to Arga? I doubt that dozer would have noticed the girl rolling past her station, but the cameras surely caught her."

"No, no, I called you right after checking everywhere I could think. I went to the emergency packet and #3 was to notify the head doctor on shift. Plus.... Arga, maybe.... intimidates me a little. Almost as much as Dr. Carita."

"Pokémon that choose to hold down actual full time jobs do tend to be a little… intense, I have to agree with you there." Cleo chimed back in. She would know, having worked here years longer than her. “I don’t know if it's better or worse that this happened while she was on time off. She'd be turning this place upside down."

"Yes, the last thing we need is an irate Carita. She only takes vacation a few times a year, I can't imagine her attitude if she came back to Miss Wolters missing or, Cosmos Forbid, got called back over it. We'll go down to Arga, check the recordings, get what is surely a simple error dealt with, and this will all just be a funny story to tell about the time a patient got stuck in a stairwell. No need to bother her." Oja said, half to herself, but it only made Chōko more confused.

"Is... Dr. Carita not supposed to know? She's Hailey's primary care physician after all?"

"I, well, she'll have to know eventually, yes", it was Dr. Oja's turn to stumble over her own words, "But, well, you've met the woman, haven't you? Intense is… too mild a descriptor for her. As knowledgeable and dedicated as she is, we have to coach new patients and staff that she probably doesn't actually hate them. She takes actual time off less frequently than a shiny pops out of the wild, and I pity the fool that interrupts her."

The room went very quiet after what was supposed to be a joke, as the doctors smile slowly grew more forced. The room slowly grew more and more quiet, even the bustle of PA calls and rolling trolleys outside seemed to fade away. Almost imperceptibly, a heavy THUMP seemed to roll through the whole building, as if from a great yet gentle impact.

All eyes were on Chōko and she could barely whisper "W-well, the emergency packet had several steps listened, they looked handwritten. #1 was to start a search, it even listed several places to check, #3 was to notify the head doctor on shift."

"And #2?" Cleo said. She actually was rubbing her head with her hands now, voice telling she already knew the answer.

"Just to send a message to a written Dex number. What could be the harm I thought?"

---

Gentle amber eyes swept over the room. It looked essentially the same as it had when she'd left for her trip four days ago. Hell, one of her spare lab coats was still sitting on the hook where she'd left it, people rightly knew better than to mess with her things. Generally, one of them was the only thing she wore, aside from the occasional stethoscope. Well, since her vacation was ruined she might as well look the part. Those poor Snowpoint girlies, they always begged her not to go.

Probably.

Distinct words became a suggestion pretty quick when she was off the clock.

It was certainly easier than dealing with her #1 charge.

Ms. Wolters had been through a number of primary physicians in her relatively brief life. Not a surprise really, given what she represented.

Humans were healthier than they'd ever been and the trend was still on a upward climb, the positive effects of inheritance making them more durable, further removing them from the chaos of biology. More than a few pokemon got big heads about that. For some it was a bit of slightly paternalistic pride in how strong their lovers were. Others were more... arrogant, the types that in the old days would have battered down village walls to grab humans by the handful, seeing them as helpless pleasure dolls.

As a physician she'd run into more than a few of those, often the aftermath of some failed bonding, strutting around like Legends. None of them knew, or really cared what went in to actual health-care, certainly none of them would have a single idea what to do if a human near them so much as got the sniffles.

Hailey would have sent them spiralling, which brought her back to the current situation, where was she?

Not anywhere in the building, they'd already confirmed that. The security camera footage clearly showed her rolling out a southern side door, no one else in sight, pilfered wheelchair laden with ratty looking plastic bags, probably holding food and water. This was clearly no afternoon stroll. Agra was sweeping the scene but it was doubtful the Houndoom would find anything. Perhaps the tongue lashing she'd been given would be enough to keep her mind on her charges next time, especially when it came to Hailey, but Carita doubted it, the girl needed a special eye and only best would do.

No, as many duties of hers as possibly could, would be temporarily passed off to others. This was her hunt.

So, what were the clues?

Not many, to be honest, barely anyone interacted with the girl besides her and those that did hadn't noticed anything unusual, but there had clearly already been a lack of attention around here so that didn't mean much.

1. At roughly 12:30 Hailey exited the building through a side door. It was on the south of the building but that didn't mean anything, she probably just chose one that wasn't being observed directly. Even with how scatterbrained her 'Mon co-workers were, a human would have surely seen and stopped her if she'd tried to go out the front.

2. Neither interior nor exterior cameras showed anyone accompanying her but again, frustratingly, that didn't actually mean anything concrete. She could have met someone outside their range that helped plan or even prompted this excursion. Hailey didn't own a Dex or other smart device but she did have access to several public computer terminals in the common area. Would need to get the Porygon that managed their digital systems to look over logs, tech had never been her thing, they always made them to small for her hands. What a reckoning there would be if someone had lured her out though...

3. The bags she'd crudely tied all over her chair were likely filled with bottled water and food, of a sort. A cursory look at the cameras, specifically the ones on her floor had revealed that she'd spent quite a while pulling things from a vending machine with a stack of coins. Now, where had she gotten those? Another question but not the important one. The volume of supplies clearly indicated she planned to be gone for quite a while, even if their nutritional value was certain to be lacking. This was no day trip.

And that was it, all they had, unless she could find something in this room, or on the off chance the online records turned up a tail.

Still, the fact that she'd been able to not just make it out of the building, but clearly some considerable distance, so laden down, and in a heavy hospital wheelchair? It surprised her. She hadn't thought her little Sunbeam was capable of that kind of physical feat. Perhaps further evidence of a collaborator? She'd see, she would see.

Hailey's room had always been generally pleasant, but fairly spartan. Hospital regulations prohibited excessive furniture that could get in the way of emergency response, or much in the way of redecoration. Still, there were some plants in the corner, by a window that overlooked the courtyard. A tv mounted on a swivelling, arm, and a small shelf filled with the childish books she liked to read.

From her position by the doorway, the towering woman closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and took a long look. Was anything different?

At first glance? No.

No sign of a struggle or any kind of panic. The plants were still in their pots, books on the shelf, sheets unmade on the bed but that wasn't anything new. Time to start taking things apart then.

First stop was the trash bin. The hazardous waste box mounted on the wall still had its seals so she'd leave that to someone else, but the regular bin was a bit more interesting. The usual collection of tissues mostly, yet a bit of cardboard stuck out. The remains of a yellow box, once covering some cheap and obsolete disposable camera painted with Elekid markings, the exact kind of junk they still sold in the hospital gift shop.

Interesting, she'd never seen Hailey with a camera. What would she even use it on? Something to file away. Nothing else in the bin stuck out though.

Next were the plants. Aloe Vera, Lavender, a hanging ivy pot. Yep, they were still plants, in need of watering, and dreadfully boring. No sign the earth had been disturbed so Hailey probably hadn't buried any treasure in there.

The shelf was nothing special, thick white particle board, probably been through the Recycle cycle more than once. The books on it were only slightly more interesting, at least to her. The Lamon Ladies, some kids mystery series. Sorrow of the Crescent Moon, some twee romance about a loner Absol that didn’t even have any of the good bits. Some chamber of commerce tourist book. Hoopagate, some generic SciFi series…

Hang on, one of those didn't fit in. Pushing the others aside, a slim blue volume was retrieved from the back, hidden almost out of sight. The cover was clearly a painting, not a picture. An almost fairytale depiction of a perfectly blue lake, surrounded by beautiful trees, a small island in the middle, and floating above it all, almost like a miniature sun, a radiant red jewel. The Legends of Lake Verity huh? Judging by the table of contents it looked like the legends were mostly about folks who met their partners around the lake, gussied up with strange circumstances. Tales of sorrow, heartbreak, love and joy, a real template affair. Mesprit probably barely showed up at all, only being hinted at or alluded to. That's how these books usually went. Still, it was out of place with everything else...

Setting it to the side, there was one thing left to check.

The bed was standard, basically the same as all the others in the building. Elevated off the ground, side rails, locking wheels on the bottom so it could be moved. Coloured in white and khaki. She was ready to tear it apart.

Turned out to be unnecessary, something fluttered out of the first pillow she pulled off, clearly barely tucked in to the case. A pamphlet, advertising the Oreburgh Mines. Well, it said it was advertising the mine. The ad copy talked about the modern and minimally invasive mining techniques, the automated conveyor systems, even the fossil museum. The camera person seemed to have other priorities though.

Rock trainers, along with fighting and steel trainers, certainly had a reputation for fitness, and the Oreburgh Gym leader Riley certainly seemed to embrace the stereotype. Abs you could grate cheese on, popping pecks and thunder thighs. All draped over mining equipment with surprising grace. Hard hats coyly pulled down over one eye, rock dust strategically scattered over pale skin so that beads of sweat could trace rivers down a taunt belly. My, she might have to take her next vacation somewhere mountainous. Soft was nice, but there was something to say for a partner who could slam back just as hard.

It was also strange. The Verity book could be explained away. It was new, yes, but maybe she just grabbed it from the small library the hospital had, or "borrowed" it from some nurse. The pamphlet was stranger, she'd never expressed an interest in that kind of cheesecake (or was it Stonecake?) before, certainly not to Carita. Both were hidden but were they clues? Destinations? There was still no motive, but there probably wouldn't be one till she shook it out of Hailey.

West or East?

Annoying as it was, she still had some paperwork to clear up before she could get to work, all while the others meekly had tried to tell her to leave it to the Rangers.

Not happening, Hailey was her charge.

She'd take to the skies.