Let's get this over with

The weather was oddly nice. The sun smiled happily on the land and the gentle breeze provided perfect relief from the mildly hot temperature. On occasion, a cloud would pass by and completely block out the sun, but that was short lived. The quickly moving clouds had much better things to do than give max shelter from the sun. Max really didn't like the weather too much. Then again, it was perfect weather, meaning he might find something on his way to the lab. Sadly, that wasn't the case. The walk from the city to the lab was, for lack of better term, boring as hell.

As if to add to Max's discomfort, Aetos was persistent about perching on top of Max's head for, what seemed like, the rest of Max's life. People would smirk and even call out to Max as he passed them. Apparently, a Rufflet sitting on someone's head was something everyone thought they would never see. They needed a life, or something. Aetos, unlike Max, liked the attention. Upon noticing people murmuring about him, Aetos would turn to them and chirp proudly as he waved a wing at them.

The more they walked, the more Max realized that Alena was more of the Pokemon for him. She simply walked at his heels and quickly observed the scenery. Though her thought level wasn't on the same level as Max's, she shared a much softer version of his contemplated expression. Max could only mull about what went on in a Pokemon's head while they looked up at the world.


Aetos on his head and Alena by his feet, Max knocked once on the door of the lab. The building was definitely an eye raiser. Two stories of white walls and enlarged windows. There were rows of a sort of bush planted around the border of the sidewalk that led to the building and around its walls. It was the sort of building that would look cheerful even if it was the end of the world. Max instantly compared it to an insane asylum. Mostly because he could he a cluster of researchers in the background hollering to each other. From the sound of it, they had lost a Pokemon and were trying to herd it back to wherever it belonged. Max rolled his eyes at the lack of control there seemed to be here.

Alena looked up at Max, but didn't receive even a thoughtful glance. She slowly looked at the door and then tilted her head to scan the area. With naturally quiet steps, Alena stepped back and began to sniff at a small daisy that had pushed through the sidewalk. With a content smile, she sat by the flower and began to toy with it.

“Wow, you're actually going through with it?” He chuckled. Max hated the sound of his voice. The alter ego that mocked him and everything about him whenever possible. Always pestering him about “doing the right thing” and “helping the needy”. He was far too much of a goody-two-shoe. He had no name, he was simply Max's Alter. He had black hair and wore black clothes. He was everything Max wasn't.

Max rolled his eyes and simply ignored his alter as he waited patiently for the professor, or one of his assistants, to answer the door. He already couldn't wait to get this beautiful day over with.

[567 words. 400 pokemoney gained.]

"Ugh...damn. Another rookie." Said a dazed and tired voice from behind the door.

The door opened slowly, and standing in the doorway was a tall, lanky figure, yawning and scratching his disheveled head of hair lazily. A tie was strewn loosely about his neck, and his dress shirt was untucked from his half-buckled pants. His sleeves were rolled up, and his hair was matted and wild.

He must've just woken up.

"Let me guess." He began, his glazed eyes glancing over your two small pokemon, and then once over you. "You're a brand-spankin'-new Pokemon Trainer, and you came to me because you want to get some free stuff and get a leg up on your competition, is that what I'm seeing here?"

Yeah, sure, he was being a prick. But honestly, he didn't care.

No sooner had Max rolled his eyes at his other half did a tired voice echo from behind the door. From the sound of things, the professor was feeling under the weather or was over worked. Whatever the reason, he was clearly not in any mood for Max and his Pokemon to be knocking on his door. Max grumbled as he wonder why the guy signed up for a job he didn't like. Then Max's thoughts were answered. One look at the man and Max was beginning to believe this really was an insane asylum. Matted hair, unkempt clothes, a loose tie. Either this man was crazier than Max himself, or he had a hell of a party the night before.

As the professor grumbled, Max's left eye twitched and his glare intensified. All Max heard was: “Hello there. Can you please punch me in the face?” From the way Max balled his fists tightly, it looked like he was ready to give the man what he asked for. “Temper, temper, Max,” tsked his Alter from behind. Max closed his eyes, held his breath, and tapped his foot once. Slowly, he opened his eyes to stare into the professor's glazed eyes. “Yes, I am, in fact, a new trainer. Yes, I do need supplies. No, I don't need any of your undereducated tricks on Pokemon raising and battling. Now, can we get this over with? From the looks of it, neither of us want to be here right now,” Max spoke between his teeth.

Alena, who had grown bored with her flower, stood and trotter up to Max's feet once more. She gaze up at the man in the doorway with small, bright eyes. “Phaan..?” She questioned while she tilted her head. Her confused expression was short lived. Within the blink of an eye she grinned and then exclaimed: “Phan! Phanpy, phan!”, which was her way of greeting new people. Despite her careful and quiet nature, she seemed to like most people. Max really hoped she'd grow out of that in a quick hurry

Max looked down at his little girl. “Hush, Alena,” the words themselves were harsh, but his voice was soft. Well, soft for him. There was still enough force behind his words to smack Alena's smile from her face and make her look down. Max rolled his eyes and then looked at the professor. “Are you going to let me, or not?”

[412 words. 300 pokemoney gained]

"Ha! Finally, one gets it. You know what, kid? I like you, so I'll give you a little tip." He leaned in closer sarcastically and whispered into the boy's ear. "I get paid to research pokemon. Not to change you rookies' diapers. Forgive me if I sound a little irritated."

He turned around and beckoned the boy inside as he reached out and plucked a mug from a nearby coffee table. Drinking from it deeply, he strode to the other side of the room and pulled a few things from a shelf absentmindedly and laid them aside. Another draft from his mug left it completely empty, and he sighed in a satisfied way.

"Coffee: man's real best friend." Crowe said, typing several things into a computer.

Spinning in his desk chair, he turned to face the kid as he poured a fresh cup of coffee from a thermos. Pausing to sip at the steaming cup, he placed a hand on his chin in thought. "Now, uh...what do I call you? Doesn't look like you take too kindly to me callin' you rookie all the time."

Instinctively, Max leaned back and away from the professor as he leaned forward and began to whisper. Max had already figured out that professor Crowe wasn't in this job because he loved it, but being called a rookie made Max's eye twitch in annoyance and, once again, he began to hear the professor, literally, asking for a punch in the nose. “You two are two peas in a pod. It's a good thing you came here, Maxy” Alter laughed as he watched from behind. Max's fists tightened as he resisted the urge to spin around shout out like a crazed psychopath. Instead, he followed professor Crowe into his lab.

Alena shuffled at Max's feet, though, she still had a saddened expression from Max's slightly harsh word, but, true to her nature, upon entering the lab, her eyes lit up with curiosity and amazement. She stared at awe at the computers, bookshelves, and other objects that would be found in a Pokemon lab. She began to take a step away from Max to investigate a brightly colored book, but with the shake of her head she decided it was best to stay at his feet.

Aetos was also sensing the aggression in Max's posture and decided to hop from his hand and walk beside his new friend and partner: Alena.

Max grunted in response to professor Crowe's obsession with coffee. “It's bad for your teeth and heart,” he mumbled below his breath. With hands in pockets, Max simply watched as professor Crowe tapped in a book full of words into his computer and then spin in his chair. Finally, the professor asked for Max's name. “Max.” He said was an edginess to his voice. The longer he was in here, the quicker his anger grew. “Look, I just need a pokedex, some pokeballs, and whatever else it is you gave out.” Max had already decided that taking from a professor wasn't the best of ideas, especially if the professor already woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

[342 words. 200 pokemoney gained.]

"Temper, temper. Did I strike a nerve?"

Professor Crowe asked calmly as he moved towards the computer and began typing more words in. He was paying less attention to the rookie in his lab and more attention to uploading the boy's personal information into the system.

Still, Max didn't appear to be the type to be kept waiting, and the last thing he needed was some crazy kid tearing up his lab in a fit. He figured it would probably be best to just get him whatever he needed so he could go be moody elsewhere.

Pulling a small, silver suitcase from beneath his desk, he fit five pokeballs into their five velvet slots and placed a black pokedex into a perfect square slot. Tossing it to Max, he leaned against a nearby wall and ran through everything he was supposed to be giving him aloud.

"Let's see...pokeballs, Pokedex, and my number's in the pokedex somewhere, not that you'll be needing that...now, if that's all...with all due respect, you look like you have better things to be doing, just like me."

The professor was proving to be someone Max would most definitely never visit again, and probably someone he would shove to the back of his mind. Max suddenly felt the urge to teach the professor that pushing his buttons and being moody was something he shouldn't be doing. His fists tightened in his pockets, but with a deep breath he seemed to cool himself down to a mild simmer. Even at his cool simmering state, his eyes were still tense with annoyance and his muscles were still straining to relax. Still, he stood quietly and waited for this man to type in Max's information and ready his soon to be pokedex.

His eyes snapped down at the silver case as professor Crowe gingerly placed five pokeballs and Max's black pokedex into the proper slots and then closed the top, which made an official sound snap sound. Max could practically read what the professor was thinking as he tossed the case to Max. Professor Crowe was probably judging Max to be the psychopathic, raging sort of person that, in all reality, only showed up in Hollywood movies. If Max was back in High School, he would have jumped the professor and probably sent him to the hospital for thinking such naïve thoughts, but he wasn't in High School. He had more control than that, so he simply checked over his empty pokeballs and pokedex as professor Crowe listed off everything inside and then suggested it best that Max takes his leave now. “Wow, maybe you do have a brain somewhere beneath that tattered mess you call hair,” Max grunted and then turned around. He briskly walked from the lab, purposely making sure professor Crowe had no time to answer to Max's out of line comment.

While leaving, Max had slipped the silver case into the backpack he had lazily slung over his shoulders. “Alena, return,” he casually held out her pokeball directly at her. As if the pokeball was voice activated, a red beam came from the button on the center of the sphere and then sucked Max's blue elephant back into her pokeball. He slipped her pokeball into a pouch on his backpack and then left for Pueri city.


(374 words. 200 pokemoney gained.)