A Face Everyone Knows

Two:

"Nurse Joy! Can you heal Sandshrew for me?" A little boy asked. The rose-haired girl smiled sweetly.

"Of course! I'll take your pokémon for a moment." He handed her the red and white ball, which she placed in the machine. A few minutes later, the machine beeped. She removed the ball and returned it to the boy.

"All better. Have a nice day!"

"Thanks!" The girl glanced at her watch. 9:42. Her shift was almost over. She glanced at her partner, Audino.

"What do you think? Think I could switch shifts with one of my sisters?"

"Aud." She nodded gently.

"Cover for me until one of them comes out?"

"Aud." The girl ran into a room in the back, where two girls identical to herself were talking quietly. At least, they all looked identical, with pink tepig tails and an apron.

"Laila, Bethany, one of you needs to cover the front desk," she told them. The girl on the left, Laila, nodded.

"Sure. See you then, Suzanne."

Bethany spoke up. "Don't be out late, sis. Laila, Audino and I can't do everything by ourselves." Suzanne sighed.

"Alright then..." She grabbed a black bag off if the wall and went to an empty room to change.

She sighed at the girl looking back at her. Pink dress, white apron, and blue shoes. Blue eyes, and pink hair styled into tepig tails. Exactly the same as Laila's and Bethany's.

And every bit of it was fake.

Suzanne reached up and ripped off the pink hair. Carefully, she removed blue contacts, then changed into a hunter green turtleneck, and brown pants. She also pulled on black fingerless gloves and looked back at her reflection.

The only resemblance she had to how she looked minutes ago was her height. Still short. Instead of puffy, pink hair; dark brown hair fell past Suzanne's shoulders. Brown eyes stared back from the glass. This was the real girl; the girl under the uniform, wig and contacts.

Suzanne took off running into the woods near Icirrus City with her bag and a single pokéball. In that Pokémon Center, with her "identical" sisters, she was a Nurse Joy.

In reality, her sisters and her looked nothing alike without wigs. Bethany had red hair and blue eyes. Laila had black hair, but brown eyes like Suzanne. All of them had to wear wigs, and both Laila and Suzanne wore contacts. Here, she could be herself.

As soon as the three of them became old enough, their mother(also a Nurse Joy), put them to work in the Icirrus City Pokémon Center. Laila and Bethany, at age thirteen, were happy with the work, but the fifteen year old brunette couldn't help being unsatisfied.

Suzanne finally stopped running when she came into an area where frost dusted the shriveled leaves. Up ahead, there'd be snow. She tossed up her pokéball. An elegant, purple pokémon burst out.

~Mien!~ The mienshao scurried up to Suzanne and hugged her waist. The girl pet her pokémon.

"What's up, Mien?"

"Mien, mien!"

She scratched her ears. "Yeah, sorry. I've been really busy with the Center..."

The pokémon fell in a snow drift. "Mienef!" She cried.

Suzanne pulled her up. "Be more careful," she scolded.

Mien suddenly stood erect.

"What's wrong, girl?"

"Min..." She whispered as she pointed further ahead. The outline of a boy could be seen facing away. His shoulder-length white hair blew in the wind. He wore black clothes.

A Team Plasma Shadow?!

A gasp escaped Suzanne, and the boy turned around. Fear flashed across his silver eyes just before he vanished.

Suzanne and Mien ran back to the city. Team Plasma had supposedly disbanded two years ago. If a Shadow was back, then Team Plasma had to be back too. Right?

But why did he look so scared when he saw me?