"Wake up, Cassandra!"
Cassandra's eyes snapped open. It was still dark in the little house.
"Grandmother, what's wrong?" Cassandra looked at the aged woman near her bed. She loved her grandmother, but she knew she was capable of making a big deal out of nothing.
"It's Persian, he's sick again."
"Grandmother, Persian's been moping ever since we didn't get rich off our Pokemon potion."
"Well, that was your fault, Cassandra, you practically gave it away for free!"
"Never mind that now, Grandmother."
Cassandra sat up and looked at Persian. He looked fine to her expert eyes, but she knew her grandmother wouldn't pay attention if she said so.
"Grandmother, just give him some of the 3-in-1 herbal cure, it works every time."
Cassandra's grandmother shook her head. "We used the last of it yesterday. You'll need to gather some more goldenseal to make more."
"Now? In the middle of the night?"
Cassandra's grandmother shrugged. "Fine, don't do it, send your pour aged grandmother out in the forest in the middle of the night instead. I'm not going to let Persian die because you're hard-hearted..."
Cassandra sighed. "Grandmother, you know I would never let a Pokemon die. I'll go get it, but I'm taking Parasect with me."
Cassandra dressed quickly, woke Parasect, and started heading down the trail through the forest. There was no moon; all the light came from Cassandra's small flashlight.
"Parasect, which way was it that we saw the goldenseal plants?" she asked.
Parasect raised a claw and pointed into a thick grove of trees. It was a place Cassandra found spooky even during the day. At night, it looked terrifying.
"Are you sure, Parasect?"
"Parrrrrass...." Parasect nodded.
The two headed into the grove. Cassandra began shining her light around looking for the plants she needed. Suddenly she noticed a light in the distance. It looked like a bonfire.
"Parasect, I wonder what that is?"
Parasect, still not the bravest Pokemon in the world, began scuttling backwards. Cassandra was usually not very brave either, but she was extremely curious to see who had built a bonfire in the forest in the middle of the night. Finally she convinced Parasect that they should go investigate.
As they neared the fire Cassandra began to hear voices chanting a song. "Chansey, Chansey... Chansey, Chansey..."
Cassandra shook her head. "That's strange, I've never heard of Chanseys around here..."
Finally they got near to the bonfire and Cassandra his behind a tree to peek at the scene.
There was a huge bonfire in the clearing. Standing in front of it was a Blissey, the evolution of a Chansey. It was smiling broadly, and holding the egg from its pocket. The Chanseys were standing in a line and chanting.
"I wish I knew what they were saying," said Cassandra.
Suddenly she heard a voice.
"At night the Chanseys and Blissey meet.
The amazing egg of Blissey to eat!
They do this only once a year
And seldom does a human hear
The chant that all the Chanseys sing
Of the kindness and luck the egg will bring!"
Standing beside Cassandra was one of the strangest looking men she had ever seen. He was short and thin, with wild-looking brown hair. He had on a white lab coat and he desperately needed a shave. His eyes looked kind and gentle behind his glasses, so instead of running, Cassandra continued to stare at him.
Eventually the man began to blush. "Ummm, I'm sorry, I do this rhyming thing sometimes... anyway, what I was getting at is that this is the ritual where certain Chanseys eat the Blissey egg and then go off to be nurses. But not even Nurse Joy usually hears the ritual. I was lucky to discover it myself."
Cassandra was still staring. This was just getting weirder.
"Um, I'm Seymour the Scientist... I mean, I'm Seymour, and I am a scientist..." The man was beginning to look painfully nervous. Cassandra felt sorry for him, and held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Cassandra, I make cures and antidotes for Pokemon."
"Really?" said Seymour. "That's fascinating! Just the other day I was studying the effect of..."
Suddenly their conversation and the ritual were interrupted by a bright light and a blasting voice.
"Prepare for Trouble"
"And Make it Double"
Cassandra looked up. Hovering over the bonfire was a huge balloon shaped like a Meowth.
"Look!" shouted Cassandra. "It's the Team Rocket superheroes! What are you doing here?"
Jesse and James looked down from the balloon. Jesse began, "Well, actually, we're here to steal..."
James coughed. "You can't tell her that, that girl admires us."
Seymour suddenly recognized Team Rocket. "They're not superheroes!" he shouted.
Cassandra turned to him in shock. "They aren't?" she said.
Seymour got nervous again. "Well, um, I mean, the last time I saw them... oh, never mind."
Suddenly Meowth poked his head over the rim of the basket. "Cassandra, oh, I'm so happy to see you again!" He lowered a rope and began climbing down.
He ran up to Cassandra. Jesse and James eventually shrugged and climbed down also.
"There go all our plans to steal the Blissey and its egg," muttered James.
"Well, I had no idea how many Chanseys would be here, they'd have beat us for sure anyway," said Jesse philosophically.
James looked at her, "That's not like you to give up, Jesse."
Jesse shrugged. "Well, after my years as a nurse I feel funny stealing a Blissey anyway..."
Meanwhile Meowth was translating the Blissey's outraged remarks at the interruption.
"She says if we shut up and let them finish she'll give us some of the egg. It's supposed to bring good luck."
"That would come in handy," said James.
"It's also supposed to make people nice."
"Nice!" said Jesse, outraged. "We don't want to be nice!"
"See, I told you," muttered Seymour.
"You stay out of this!" Jesse snapped at him. "Go crawl back in your cave with the Clefairy."
"Sounds like you could use some niceness!" yelled Cassandra.
"Actually, they're pretty nice to each other when they think I'm not looking," said Meowth. "Like the other day, I caught them in the kitchen..."
Jesse and James hit Meowth at the same time.
Cassandra ran to Meowth and began examining his head. "There, there, you'll be all right..." Meowth smiled and gazed at Cassandra.
Finally Jesse and James pried Meowth away from Cassandra and put him in the basket of the balloon.
"So much for stealing a Blissey," muttered Jesse.
"You're too nice to steal a Blissey," said James. Jesse hit him in the head with a fan.
"Then again, maybe not," he said.
Finally the Meowth balloon floated out of sight and the ceremony continued. Seymour and Cassandra were looking at each other.
"That Meowth sure seemed attached to you," said Seymour.
"Well, he sort of has a crush on me I guess."
"I can see why," said Seymour.
Cassandra blushed. Soon the Blissey was finished breaking her egg into a bowl and Seymour and Cassandra were both honored with a sip of the egg. They even gave some to Parasect, just in case.
"That tasted awful," said Cassandra. "But if it brings me good fortunate and kindness, it will be worth it."
"I can eat anything, even Pokemon food!" said Seymour. "But that was awful."
They giggled.
Suddenly Cassandra gasped. "Oh no, I forgot all about the goldenseal I was supposed to bring home for my grandmother!"
"Oh, I can help you find some. And you shouldn't walk home alone in the dark..."
Cassandra took Seymour's arm, and they walked through the dark forest together.
The End
Note: The Blissey's egg is supposed to have special powers, but I made all the rest of the stuff about Blissey and the Chanseys up.