June 3rd, 1995, 8:40 AM:
Nicholas slowly woke from his peaceful slumber as Miss Marin entered the room, turning on the light slowly. She’d say to the little pup in a cheerful tone “Good morning, little Nicky! Did you have a peaceful slumber? It’s a new day!” as the audino picked up the baby. Hearing him let out a happy babble. She walked out of the room holding the pup in tow, closing the door on the way out. Then it was down the stairs from the second floor to the entrance door.
Their little trip to the entrance was interrupted when a two-year old squirtle in a small orphanage uniform asked “Miss Marin? Who is that?” Marin stopped and turned towards the pokemon who was addressing her. She didn’t mind the slight interruption and was happy to answer the boy’s question. This was an opportunity for Nick to see the other children that lived at this facility.
“This little one is Nicholas, but you may call him Nicky. He hatched from his egg yesterday, so he’s our newest addition to the orphanage.” the audino said to him. The young turtle was happy because this meant that he was going to have a new potential playmate. Other children that were passing by would stop and gather around Miss Marin, curious about the baby riolu. It was only natural after all. Nick looked down at the other children, confused yet curious about them. She noticed the look on his face and chuckled to herself.
“These are some of the other children who live here at the orphanage, I believe they want to be friends with you.” said Miss Marin as the other children nodded in response, agreeing with her statement. “How nice of you to do so, children!” These kids wouldn’t be around for long however, one of them had noticed Lady Drevelle approaching them. She had recently exited her office and wanted to make sure everything was in order. One of the kids whispered quietly to the others “It’s the Queen of Mean, let’s get out of here! She’s a jerk!” as they walked away and went off to the classroom for their morning class. Nick became frightened as she got closer to them. Miss Marine gently rubbed his head to try and calm him down. Drevelle looked at the audino and the baby riolu as she said to her “Bringing out the brat?”
“His name is Nicholas, and I don’t appreciate you calling him a brat!” Miss Marin gently exclaimed. “He was just born recently, and you already think he’s going to be a problem. Be a little nicer to the boy…” She continued to rub the little one’s head. The staff manager could’ve told off the owner, but she didn’t want to scare the baby and make this worse.
“I don’t need to, I’ve got more important duties to focus on compared to the children here. I got this job because of my desire for orderliness and financial management skills. The position doesn’t require being nice with the children. That’s why we have other staff here.” said the gothitelle as she scoffed. She gave the baby riolu a stern stare which terrified the pup even further.
“I know the reason why you act like this, I’ve heard about it from the staff members, and they said- ” the audino said before she got cut off by Lady Drevelle who had enough of the conversation and wanted to return to her office.
“Silence! Just go back to what you were doing… I’d fire you myself, but there’d be an uproar from the children if I did that.” said Lady Drevelle as she turned her head and walked back to her office. “Good day!” Miss Marin watched angrily as she walked away from them, and then relaxed a bit once the owner was out of sight. She smiled at Nicky.
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from her, in whatever way I can.” said the audino as she walked outside the orphanage and made their way over to the garden that was nearby. The little pup was intrigued by the flowers in the garden as he stared at them. Miss Marin saw how interested he was and decided to tell him about the rose garden.
“Like the flowers? These are roses, pink roses to be exact. The petals on a rose can have different colors depending on the seed and other factors. Be careful though, they got prickly thorns on the stem that could hurt your little paws! But don’t worry… I’ll fix your boo-boos if you prick your paw on one.” said Marin as she tickled the pup’s belly, which made him laugh a bit. While they were out on their stroll by the garden, they encountered one of the groundskeepers, a fifty-year old man in a green shirt with blue overalls that had a flower logo sewn onto the front of the shirt. This is what all the groundskeeping staff wore. This man was about to water some of the plants with his watering can.
“Good morning, Miss Marin, how do you do this morning?” said the man as he was distracted by the baby riolu in her arms. “Awww… who’s this shiny little guy?”
“Morning Jenkins! I am alright this morning. This is Nicholas, he’s our newest addition to the orphanage since he was born yesterday. I wanted to take him out for fresh air before breakfast,” said the audino as the groundskeeper gently approached him and gently shook his left little paw.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, little Nicky,” said the groundskeeper as he smiled at the pup. Nicky let out some happy babbles in response since the man was being very friendly. “Meet any new friends, pup?”
“He did see some of the children, I am sure he’ll get along with them over time.” said Miss Marin.
“That’s good. I’ve got one important tip for you: keep him away from the rose bushes, those thorns are really prickly. I’d hate for the little guy to get a thorn stuck in his little paw.” said Jenkins as the audino nodded in reply. She appreciated the advice. These two were really good friends at the orphanage, and enjoyed spending their free time talking about the newest flowers. Sometimes they shared snacks between each other.
“I shall do my best to keep Nicky safe, thank goodness I always have plenty of bandages-” said the audino as she heard some grunting coming from the pup. She chuckled as she gently rubbed his back, knowing what was happening next. He soiled and drenched his diaper, sighing in relief after he was done. His onesie remained dry, but the stench was quite strong. The groundskeeper held his nose as he chuckled to himself, surprised that the staff manager wasn’t doing the same.
“Time for a diaper change, little Nicky! But first… I need to get the changing supplies. Jenkins, can you please keep an eye on him for a moment while I grab those supplies?” Marin asked him as she gently set him down on the ground.
“Sure, I can keep an eye on him while I water the plants,” He replied.
“Thank you, I won’t be long.” said the audino as she headed back inside to grab the changing supplies. The groundskeeper nodded as he began watering the roses. Occasionally taking a glance at Nicky, just to make sure he was still in the same spot. Since he promised to keep an eye on him.
The young pup watched him tend to the rose garden, but he also saw something else that caught his eye: the playground. While he didn’t mind sitting in one place, he really wanted to go over there. The curiosity in his mind was begging him to go over there. He babbled quietly to himself and then began crawling on his paws and legs, away from the groundskeeper who was rather preoccupied to notice that the baby had crawled away from him.
Three minutes later, Miss Marin returned with a changing mat, new diaper, baby oil, wipes, and a garbage bag to dispose of the dirty diaper in. To her shock, she found out that Nicky wasn’t in the same spot that she left him. She exclaimed “Oh goodness! Where’s Nicky!?”
“What do you mean? He should be right he- oh my goodness!” said Jenkins as he just realized that the little pup was gone. They both looked around and saw that he was on his way over to the playground. For an infant like him, he got pretty far. Regardless of his slow movement speed.
“Get back here, you need a diaper change!” said Miss Marin exclaimed as she and Jekins went after him.
Meanwhile nearby, Angelina and Marsha were currently relaxing after having breakfast and doing chores. They were having a friendly conversation between each other when they heard shouting from the groundskeeper and the staff manager in the distance. These two interns put their conversation on hold for the time being.
“What is going on?” asked Marsha.
“That’s what I am about to find out,” said Angelina as she looked around and saw that Nicky was crawling towards the playground. She was rather shocked to see that the little pup was out and about on his own. “Looks like we got a little escape artist, come on Marsha. Let’s go get him.” chuckling to herself.
“Right behind you! Just in case he gets squirmy!” She replied as she followed Angelina.
Every little inch got the pup closer and closer to the playground, and he was certainly eager to get over there. The little adventure he was going to have was almost within reach. What he didn’t notice was some green vines coming in from behind and gently picking up the kiddo. Which really surprised him.
“Got you Nickster, what are you doing out he- Oh my! You really need a diaper change!” said the snivy as she put her leafy hands over her snout. Marsha chuckled as she did the same with her own hands. Both the staff manager and groundskeeper caught up with them, relieved that the pup was caught by Angelina. Miss Marin was rather impressed.
“Good work you two, now I can change the little stinker before he gets a rash.” said Miss Marin as she set up the changing mat and the other supplies that she brought with her. “Don’t want my precious pup getting one.” Angelina laid him down on the changing mat, and undid the buttons on the onesie. Afterwards, she stepped back and allowed the audino to change him into a new diaper. Both interns made sure to pay attention, in case they needed to do this on certain days.
She first untaped his diaper and slid it from underneath his bottom. Putting it in the garbage bag to be disposed of later. The audino then lifted up his little legs and wiped his bottom clean with baby wipes, applying rose scented baby oil after that was done. Finally, she slid a new diaper underneath his legs and made sure to secure the tapes so that it’d be nice and snug.
“All done little Nicky!” The audino said in a gentle sing-song tone as she disposed of the used diaper in the nearest garbage receptacle “Well, that’s more experience for you interns. I will say again, you did well with stopping our little escape artist before he could go further. After all… we can’t let him be unsupervised. You’d make a wonderful mother in the future.”
“Thank you… perhaps child abandonment will decrease over the next couple of years. After all… I’d really hate to see more young children like Nicholas be abandoned by their own parents. It shouldn’t be okay to just leave a young child on their own without parental support,” said Angelina.
“Unfortunately, some people in this world don’t care and think they can just do whatever they want without consequence. But eventually, their own choices catch up with them,” said Miss Marin as she heard the pup’s stomach growl, which meant it was time for breakfast. “It’s breakfast time, Nicky. Let’s get some food in that little tummy of yours.” She carried the pup over her shoulders as she was followed by Angelina and Marsha. They headed to the dining room since they had a separate fridge in the kitchen that contained baby food and also three high chairs used for infants and toddlers. The little pup was placed in a high chair as the staff manager went to the kitchen to get the food. The interns would keep an eye on him.
