Tanya’s not sure when they got into Lavaridge, but by the time she does notice it’s because of one simple reason.

  She succeeded.

  The ‘mon squints and winces as she tries to recreate her success, enduring the slightly painful pulling sensation of her skin feeling too large for her body as she shoves exorbitant amounts of power in a way that… defies explanation. A kind of twisting flow in no direction that looks like the concept of being small and feels like an optical illusion. Keeping hold on the slightly uncomfortable pressure this state forces her into, he immediately reaches up and drags the height marker down from where it previously sat then steps out to look at it.

  She’d grown more in the journey, pushing 184 centimetres, which has made navigating anything designed with human proportions in mind nearly impossible. To say nothing about normal doors, the sliding glass double doors at the entrance to the lavaridge pokecenter were a worryingly narrow fit.

  But as she feels her body strain against her will, she looks up at the marker with an excitement born from knowing that this increasingly large problem is finally coming to an end.

  175.

  She didn't even get her back to the annoyingly large size she was at in Mauville.

  Freakishly large, approaching double the size of the average chansey and larger than any on record by an ever growing margin.

  Tanya exhales lightly through her nose, consciously holding onto the minimize and begins to pick the move apart in her mind, figuring out how it works to make it better.

  “Well, that’s sure something.” Chansey comments, stepping down from her stepladder and adjusting her nurse's hat. “Normally it makes you a lot smaller, while I’ve not learned much about move training, that seems normal for a newly learned move. With a little practice I bet I’ll have you dusting the ventilation system in no time!”

  Tanya nods, hiding a grimace as the movement breaks her concentration and she grows back to full size.

  “Thank you. I look forward to working with you.”

  Chansey answers with a giggle.

  “Aww, cutie pie.” She puts down the clipboard she’d not used since they came into this room and opens the door. “Well I gave you the welcoming tour, I’m gonna go make sure Lilly didn't muck up the front desk while we were gone.”

  With that she walks away, leaving the door to the room open for Tanya to get through.

  It takes a few seconds, an effort that has her compressing her bulk on both sides at once –stretching a bit taller in the process for some reason– then both her and the doorframe release a strained groan .

  But, after a worrying half second of nothing moving, Tanya staggers through the single-wide door with a pop and the ‘mon sighs in relief as she rapidly wobbles back into shape.

  Yes. It’s quite fortunate that she cracked the code for minimize when she did, otherwise things would have been an issue.

  The ‘mon blinks.

  She’s unsure of whether or not she thanked Amelia for her input. She’ll make a note to bring it up soon.

  Following where she saw Chansey, back toward the main room, the ‘mon hears her partner’s voice rise above the dim hum of electronics.

  “...ust didn't really think about it after I didn't see any underlying health issues aunty, I’m sorr–”

  “When we’re in this center it’s Nurse Joy trainee, and I’m beginning to doubt you’ve been taught to do that properly either.” Interrupts a stern voice. “Or perhaps you don't have functioning eyes.”

  Her voice grows louder then quiets again, presumably because Chansey opened the door. Confirmed by the elder Joy abruptly changing the topic.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to discuss this later. Now, Chansey, hold the front desk while myself and Trainee Joy complete her paperwork in my office.”

  There’s a small pause when Tanya arrives and Chansey hops out of the way for the larger ‘mon to start squeezing her way into the main room, but then she nods at her partner.

  “I got it.”

  It takes Tanya a few more seconds to get out of the door, blocking the two humans from getting past her until she pops out again and hastily steps aside, walking toward the counter without looking back.

  Unfortunately Chansey is also looking up at her with a sympathetic expression as the large ‘mon looks at the small space behind the desk and decides against it, opening her mouth to say something then shaking her head before appearing to switch mental tracks.

  “Well. Since you’ve already done a week in Mauville, I’m gonna skip explaining the stuff you need to do that you learned there and tell you the unique stuff for here.” She says, adjusting her nurse's cap to be perfectly straight as she does. “The big difference is that we do a lot more house calls than a normal center, so we’re going to be out of the building a lot of the time.”

  Tanya blinks.

  “House calls?”

  “Yep!” Chansey chirps. “The hot springs attract a lot of older folk and a lot of the time their partners are pretty old too, as ‘mon get older it’s not unusual for being inside a pokeball to make them… uneasy, or their partners are just too old to come to us, so we go to them.

  Looking down at the ‘mon, Tanya hums in affirmation, considering the idea.

  “...I understand, how many house calls would you say you get a day?”

  There's a pause as Chansey seems to think.

  “Three? Maybe four?” She answers with an uncertain squint. “Most of those calls come bunched up around sundown, the most I’ve ever done was six, Lilly had to call Tammy in early to help deal with it.”

  Six house calls?

  That's…

  “How many people are on staff for this center?” Tanya asks after some estimation filled math.

  “Five. Lilly, Tammy, Ambrette, Chansey, and me.” Chansey counts off on an arm.

  Tanya blinks at the odd number and, seeing the look on her face, Chansey continues.

  “You’ll meet Ambrette tomorrow. She’s uhh…” The ‘mon pauses, a mildly uncomfortable expression appearing. “She wears a wig. Just don't make a big deal out of it.”

  …

  Make a big deal out of what?

  Tanya slowly blinks as she tries to puzzle out the incomprehensible answer, but as she opens her mouth to request clarification Amelia opens the door from the back room with enough force that –from her– means she might as well have kicked it open then does the closest thing to a stomp possible while still keeping proper nursing etiquette while marching to the exit.

  “Chansey. We need to figure out where we’re staying this week. I’ll go ahead. Whenever you’re finished talking with Nurse Joy’s partner could you meet up with me?”

  With that she steps through the automatic doors to the outside, picks up her bag from where it was lying next to the door with one hand, then slings it over her back so hard there’s the sound of the strap’s fabric ripping a little. This sound appears to only make Amelia more irritated, marching out of eyeshot even more quickly than before.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Leaving Tanya to stare at where her partner was in confusion as she distractedly says goodbye to Chansey and starts to follow.

  —--

  –_–

  —--

  Amelia tries to breathe deeply as she marches away from the pokecenter and the… relative inside.

  In her emails she seemed terse, but the younger Joy had chosen to assume it wasn't intentional, that her aunt would show even the smallest bit of sympathy

  Apparently not!

  Her aunt took one look at her, sent her partner to take Chansey into the back room, then immediately called her appearance ‘an insult to their history.’ Implied that her mother shouldn't have ‘allowed’ her to go on a journey in the first place! Then started interrogating her on Chansey’s size!

  Which is just uncalled for!

  Amelia huffs, gripping tighter onto the straps of her backpack.

  Sure Chansey’s gotten… a bit bigger than the average, but she checked for underlying health issues, she had several members of her family do those same checks! They even did bloodwork! And how many of Chansey’s hormones were outside of acceptable parameters?

  None! That’s how many!

  So yes! When she says that her partner’s size is fine, that means it’s FINE!

  But while the nurse in training repeatedly imagines saying all these things to her aunt, she feels a familiar series of thuds behind her, followed by the sun disappearing behind her partner's bulk as she plods up alongside.

  Amelia glances up at the ‘mon, then the memory of Chansey trying to get through a door from just a few minutes ago plays through her head.

  Then she really looks at her partner, noticing for the first time exactly how far the top of the ‘mon’s head is from her.

  …Chansey has gotten pretty big, hasn't she?

  Seeing her partner’s attention lingering, Chansey looks back at her, squishing her face down slightly until they’re close to eye level.

  “Ans?”

  Amelia looks away.

  “Nothing.” She says quickly. “Just thinking about where we’re going to stay.”

  Or rather, that’s what she should be thinking about, and even before she’s done speaking she is.

  “Chansey an sey chanchansey.” Her partner observes, indicating all the overpriced looking tourist accommodations around them. “Chans anan.”

  “Yea. I know it’s going to be pricey, but we need a place to shower and stuff to be at the pokecenter.” Amelia sighs, the thought of giving Lilly anything to criticize with a basis in reality causing a flare or anger. But it fades at the picture of the hot spring offered by the hotel in front of her. “Plus… I do kinda want to use a hot spring while in Lavaridge.”

  “...Ansey.” The ‘mon says in deadpan.

  Amelia groans.

  “I know…” She sighs, struggling to put the desire into words. “It’ll even be cheaper to just get a normal hotel and buy a ticket to a public one but… Let’s just see what’s around.”

  Chansey doesn't respond, instead she does that lingering barely narrowed stare –her version of rolling her eyes– then nods and they set off through the winding walkways of Lavaridge.

  It is, in a single word, very touristy.

  And full of old people.

  That combination of things means it takes less than thirty seconds for her to realize how unlikely it’s going to be that they find a room at a price she’s willing to pay, or able to afford.

  It means that Amelia is pretty shocked when she sees the price proudly stamped on a room for one of the largest and fanciest looking hotels in town.

  “...Wait, thirty dollars a night?” Amelia asks incredulously before hurrying inside. “Wait here! I’ll see if they have any of those rooms left!”

  That’s less than half the price of the next lowest hotel she’s seen!

  Chansey makes half a sound, but falls silent as Amelia ignores it and runs through the doors.

  Hurrying inside it’s just as fancy looking, old fashioned painted paper screens and low tables are mixed with soft music and dim lighting.

  The fanciness has her automatically adjusting her behavor to match, her run slowing to a speedwalk as she passes all the fancy decor to the incongruously modern looking reception desk at the other end. On the other side of the desk is a balding clerk looking down behind it, apparently writing something .

  “Hello. Do you still have–”

  “Unfortunately Ma’am all of the superbudget accommodations have been taken.” He interrupts, not looking up from whatever he’s writing. “However I would be happy to show you our normal– hgng!”

  Amelia blinks in confusion as the man looks up at her, then flinches back and makes a nose like he’s choking.

  “...Are you alright?” She asks, and the man nods as he coughs and thumps his chest.

  “Yes Ma’am, I’m fine. Just–” He coughs again. “Just breathed down the wrong pipe is all.”

  Amelia slowly nods, the statement not really alleviating her concern.

  “If you’re sure. But if this happens often–”

  “Oh no Ma’am. I’m fine, I'm fine!” He says a bravado coming back into his voice. “Now! Let's see what I can do for you.”

  “But I thought you said you didn't have any more of those–” Amelia starts confusedly.

  “Yesyesyes, well it’s my fault for not putting up a notice when I ran out of those rooms now isn't it?” He interrupts yet again, flipping though a book and running a finger down the page. “Now, I can put you in one of our lovely ground floor mini-suites, right next to the hot spring, how’s that sound?”

  Amelia blinks, then hesitantly smiles.

  “Oh! That sounds good… But it might be too expensive for m–”

  “Abababa!” He waves a hand at her, seemingly insistent on never letting her finish a sentence. “Now I believe I said this whole thing was my fault? You’ll pay for the room you came in here for, now sign this and I can get you the key.”

  With that, Amelia finds a clipboard full of densely written paper shoved into her hands and a pen slapped on top.

  “O-oh. Thank you sir.” She mutters, feeling a touch overwhelmed by how fast this is all going, reflexively flipping through the papers and scanning down the writing.

  But as she does her eyes catch on several numbers that have her do a double take.

  How much is that cleaning fee?

  Wait, there's also a maintenance fee? What in the world is going on in maintenance that makes it cost so much?

  Hold on! The deposit this is asking for is going to be more than the entire week she’d be staying here!

  She tries to read more, but then she’s left grasping at air as the clipboard is ripped from her hands and the clerk hurriedly flips through the pages, scribbling things out.

  “A-ah! Goodness me! I gave you the wrong contract! That’s for the people who normally get that room. It’s got the fees for the– uhh… the full price. Let me just… fix a few things… aaand here!” He says, shoving the thing back at her with almost all the writing scribbled out, the new total at the bottom of the page next to the blank where signature is supposed to be exactly the same as the price she saw on the door with the key right next to it. “Sign here Ma’am, please.”

  Amelia blinks rapidly, slowly trying to figure out what’s going on here and coming up empty, so she simply grabs the offered pen and signs her name at the bottom.

  “Wonderful Wonderful!” The clerk says as the clipboard disappears and the key is placed in her hand. “Now just wait here a few minutes while I have a member of the staff get your room ready. Richard!”

  With that he gets up and moves with surprising speed through a door into a back room.

  But as the door slowly closes, the nurse in training catches sight of a ‘mon on the other side.

  It’s a persian, a very old persian, with silvery grey speckling her entire coat and skin sagging over tired bones. She’s laying on a large elevated platform overlooking everything inside, a ramp clearly added sometime later to keep the spot accessible as the ‘mon got older.

  The persian looks at her with amused milky eyes and lightly flicks her tail in recognition.

  Then the door closes.

  Amelia stands silently for a few seconds, trying to parse what just happened to her, before slowly walking back out to where Chansey is, key in hand.

  “Chans?” She asks, looking from her partner’s face to the key, then back again.

  “...I don't know…” Amelia answers.