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Lyle trotted over to the table, watching curiously. Would it be anything like the kind of check-up he had when he went to the doctor?

Spinel laid belly-down on Lyle's hat, propping his head in his hands. He knew what a check-up was, but he watched anyway because he had nothing better to do. Or at least, nothing that wouldn't get his boy into more trouble, and he did not want to make trouble just now.

Lyle watched as Nurse Joy looked over Zaire. It wasn't exactly like when he got a checkup, but it was kind of the same. He nodded when she said it was Spinel's turn, and reached up to take his pokemon off his head.

Spinel understood that it was his turn to get on the table, and he figured he'd save his boy the trouble of bringing him over. So he scampered onto the brim of Lyle's baseball cap and leaped off it like a diving board.

Or at least he tried. Unlike a diving board, the cap didn't have a spring and wasn't fixed firmly in place, so Spinel's sudden weight on the brim caused it to lurch downward. Lyle yelped as the hat suddenly covered his eyes, and quickly clapped his hands to his head to keep it from falling off. Spinel yelped and his footing fell away and quickly clung to the brim with all his hands and feet.

Lyle had managed to steady the cap in time to keep Spinel from falling off, but it was still a precarious position. When he felt it wasn't about to move yet, he started inching backwards onto the firmer ground offered by Lyle's head. When Lyle felt his pokemon's weight safely on the dome of the hat, he reached up with both hands to retrieve his pokemon.

Before putting Spinel on the table, Lyle held the errant Sableye in front of him so he could look his pokemon in the eyes. "Spinel, you have to be careful! If you'd fallen off, you could have been hurt! We won't always be at a Pokemon Center where they can look at your right away. And I won't always be with you to help, if I'm at school or something. So be more careful. OK?" His pokemon nodded, thoroughly chastised, and meekly allowed himself to be set on the table.

Lyle frowned. "I dunno what silica is, but yeah, I've been feeding him quartz. I can't afford gems." He looked down a little and hunched his shoulders defensively, a little worried that he wasn't taking care of his pokemon right. "But the policeman says you have pills I can give Spinel, right? Made of gem dust that are like vitamins for him?" He peeked up at her for confirmation.

Spinel accepted the garnet and happily crunched it up in his strong jaws. It wasn't as tasty as the ones he'd found would have been, but it was good! When he'd swallowed it all, he looked up at the nurse hopefully. Maybe there would be more? It wasn't likely, but that didn't stop him from hoping.

Lyle nodded emphatically and grinned. "Yeah, I can come by every week!" He might be in at least that often anyway if he and Spinel had some more battles. And even if they didn't battle, it wouldn't take long to stop in once a week. But wait, checkups took some time. "Will he need a checkup every time?" Lyle asked.

Spinel happily accepted the rock, then peered at it curiously. It had bits of shinier rock inside a chuck of duller stuff. The licked the rock experimentally and found that the smaller bits were quite tasty. So he grinned and started gnawing at the rock, trying to get the little gem bits free.

"OK, I can do that," Lyle said, nodding dutifully. He wanted to take care of Spinel right, but having no money made things hard. But if the Pokemon Center would do everything for free, then he just had to get to the Center often enough, and make sure he had enough time for the checkups. He wondered if they could give him pokemon food if he got any other pokemon, but didn't think he should ask just now.

Spinel finished grinding down the duller rock and picking out the gems, so all that was left was a small pile of gritty sand on the table. He poked at it for a few moments to make sure there wasn't anything tasty left, then sat back and looked around. Were they done? Could he go back to his boy now?

"I can walk home!" Lyle said. "I know the way." He could see Spinel looking at him and the cop had said they were done, so he picked his pokemon up. The Sableye quickly managed to pull himself onto Lyle's arm, climb up his shoulder and perch on his head.

"We are done, right?" he belatedly asked the nurse. "Or wait, I should get those pills first, huh?"

Lyle took the pills with a solemn promise to come back in a week. Spinel looked curiously at the pills, but they didn't look as tasty as the gems he'd just had, so he left them alone while the boy tucked them in his pocket.

Once outside, he waved goodbye to the cop. "Bye! Thanks for everything, and I'll make sure he's good!" he promised. Spinel waved too, just for the fun of mimicking some more. Then Lyle headed home. He would take better care of Spinel. He would. And now he knew how.