Happy 25th anniversary of Pokémon everyone! It is officially Pokémon day, and I just had to do a special PKMN RN for the occasion.

As all of us have traveled across the various regions and meeting new Pokémon, Nurse Joy has been with us every step of the way! She’s been healing us and our teams for 25 years (so, you know…management will probably throw her a pizza party or something) but, what have these past 25 years looked like from Joy’s side of things at the Pokémon Center? Well, I can’t tell all her stories (that would take too long), but we can certainly look back on her more memorable days as a Pokémon Nurse.

Kanto: Joy worked in Saffron City which was temporarily captured by team rocket. She was still able to heal Pokémon, but overall the situation was very tense.

Johto: Joy worked in Mahogany Town where there was an upswing of injured Pokémon due to Team Rocket using radio signals to aggravate the local magikarp causing one in particular to evolve into a raging red gyarados. Thankfully, Johto’s champion was on the case before the Pokémon center became over run.

Hoenn: Joy later got a nice job at Sootopolis City. A beautiful city with warm weather and relaxing waterfront homes, or at least it would be if the weather didn’t suddenly go insane because two rival organizations decided to go wake up two slumbering legends! Pokémon were coming in for sunburns one second and injuries from storm debris the next! Thankfully Rayquaza appeared before long to return things to normal.

Sinnoh: Joy will never forget that day when darkness suddenly spread across the entire region from Mt. Coronet. She was working at Pastoria City when they got a sudden influx of magikarp needing healing from having their home at Lake Valor attacked. The darkness suddenly coming from the largest mountain in Sinnoh only made the following shifts crazier as magikarp kept flopping around in a panic.

Unova: One of Joy’s more annoying jobs. A lot of Pokémon kept coming to her explaining how Pokémon battles were evil and bothering various patients in the waiting room. It got even more annoying when 2 years later they came back and attacked Opelucid City with a huge ice beam! Joy didn’t hesitate to defend her patient’s from the attacking Plasma members.

Kalos: After the chaos in Unova, Joy went and took a job in Cyllage City. A nice beach side town with shops and sun, it was a dream come true. At least until the inventor of the Holo Caster decides to attempt to wipe out the entire region in order to create a more beautiful world. The ensuing panic and injured Pokémon being brought in from Geosenge Town made the following weeks as crazy as her time back in Unova.

Alola: You would think moving to a topical island paradise would be perfect. Plenty of fresh berries, lots of friendly Pokémon, plenty of shops, and that minor event where WORM HOLES opened up all over the region. You have any idea how hard it is to give a Pokémon treatment when they are from another dimension?! Surprisingly not that hard, turns out they heal the same way other Pokémon do. Convenient. Heahea City was lovely.

Galar: If you think a rowdy Pokémon could be a bit of a problem for the Pokémon Center staff, just imagine how dangerous a Pokémon bigger than the whole building could be! While Joy was working in Hammerlocke, Pokémon began uncontrollably dynamaxing all over the region! They had to make sure each Pokemon Center had a well-equipped security team to deal with the crisis and hope no one dynamaxed randomly inside the Pokémon center. Probably should have just stayed working in Alola.

Despite everything Joy loves her job, craziness and all. Who knows what stories Joyce will get during her own time as a PKMNRN. (Especially with Arceus on the horizon)

(btw – you can find out which version I played growing up by looking at Joy’s hat)