The laboratory seems unassumingly barren, the entrance at least. The small foyer we walk into feels too sanitised, and it narrows into a hallway that could be similarly described.
Cassie quickly pick out one of the few white doors, opening them. Following the three of them, I find myself in a room that's anything but barren. The walls can't be found anywhere, in their entirety they are lined with numerous ceiling-high bookshelfs. Variety of colorful leather-bound spines cause me a small headache.
The floor on the other hand is neat, with a few modern looking tables randomly placed around. Across them, a small forest of papers seem to be growing, with a stray laptop every now and again that camouflages into the mess.
Beside one of the tables, a woman is standing. She had noticed us walking in, and has turned around in expectation. Her hair is tidy, short and honey-blonde, expertly kept in place by a headband. By the lines that have carved themselves deep into her face I'd assume she's in her mid 40s already.
When she moves to greet us, I can't help noticing the way her labcoat drags across the floor. She wesrs it closed up to her neck, making it look like a nun that failed to follow the dress code.
Her eyes fly over me immediately, she doesn't stare, but I recognise the calculatimg glance. Almost instantly, lies start running through my mind.
"Aunt Lydia", Cassie perks up, skipping over and dragging the woman in a tight hug. The professor's face immediately gains a few light notes, as she embraces her niece back.
"It's fine honey, you can calm down", the woman laugs. Her voice sounds sweet and somehow dusty, like a bottle of wine that had been kept in someone's basement for a tad bit too long. The woman barely escapes the grasp of the red-haired teenager.
In doing so, she gives a polite greeting to Xander and Leo as well. Stepping forward, I offer my hand. "Rory, Rory Mulligan", I clear my throat as we shake hands.
Her spirits falter a bit, but she gives me a polite nod, introducing herself: "Lydia Hall". Her eyes quickly scan over my right hand, and by the look in her eyes I can tell she isn't really a fan of my scar.
"Rory's a friend", Cassie's quick to interrupt, noticing the way the professor squints her eyes at me.
"So I've figured", the woman turns her gaze towards the girl, giving her a weak smile. This might not be the first time Cassie's brought a complete stranger to meet her aunt.
"On that note, I have a tiny little favour to ask", Cassie twists her face into a pleading grimace.
"Figured that out as well", her aunt says, somewhere between a sigh and a defeated laugh.
"But it can wait", Cassie waves her hands out in an exaggerated promise.
"Sweetie, it's fine, can't say I I didn't see this coming", the professor stretches her arm out, softly touching upon Cassie's shoulder. "I've known you since forever, remember", she offers a small wink.
"Yeah, I know", some pink runs across Cassie's face as she look down to the ground smiling.
"Would you like to go first then?", professor steps back, expecting her niece to follow her. Cassie immediately does.
"Of course", she says, "but you saw that coming as well, right".
"A mile away", the woman laughs lightly. Nearing one of the tables, she pulls out a drawer and starts diggimg through it. Seconds later, she's holding up three red boxes, waving them at the three kids as to show them off. "Your pokedexes", she says shortly, "I don't think I need to explain much". I could definitely use an explanation, but alas.
"Great, now on to the pokemon", Cassie snaps the box thing out of her hands cheerfully.
"Now wait a second", the woman wags her finger through the air, her expression firming. "I need you to know that pokemon are not toys you can forget about, they are living creatures...".
"Right, right, we'll take care of them", Cassie gives her a sweetest smile, "we're 18, we can handle it".
The professor looks around, a look of defeat on her face. Her eyes quickly land on Xander: "take good care of her for us, will you?".
"Done deal", Xander nods.
"Fine, here we go then", the woman says, walking over to the other table and pulling out yet another drawer. How does she keep track of all the tables is a mystery to me.
From it, she produces a few marble-like things, with white and bright red halves they don't look all that interesting, but I immediately recognise them as pokemon balls. A mere sight of them has my nerves running. Memories of being a kid and pretending that any ball small enough to fit my palm is a pokemon ball start immediately flashing through me.
For a bright moment, the world feels awfully light, as if I had just woken up in my childhood room and I was 10.
The sensation fades as quickly as it had appeared.
"Now, these two are for Cassie, I believe", professor Lydia says upon further inspecting the pokemon balls. She hands her two of the four, and Cassie hastily takes them.
Her face twists again, as if the light in her eyes had leaked out washing over her cheeks, making her lips twist into a soft smile. She looks just the way she did back in café, when she had told me she wants to be the greatest magician.
Holding the devices, one in each hand, she presses their buttons, making them grow larger. Her laugh is almost manic as she hurls them into the air, yelling: "Fennekin, Sprigatito, let's go".
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The two balls open their jaws in mid air, releasing streams of blue light. From it, two small animals, no, pokemon, appear, standing on the floor.
The first one looks almost exactly like a fox, save for much brighter coloured fur and much fuzzier ears. That one must be Fennekin, I decide. The second one, Sprigatito I assume, is just a green cat with big eyes and an interesting grass-like ornament around its neck.
Cassie squeaks in excitment as soon as she lays eyes on the pair, and the small fox is the first to react, swiftly dissapearing behind the first table it can find. The cat, in the meantime, starts sizing all of us up in what seems like utter disinterest.
The girl takes a few short and rapid steps forward, reaching her hand towards Sprigatito. The smile plastered across her face quickly disperses, as the cat refuses to let her touch it. In a daze, Cassie looks over to Fennekin, who, in turn, dissapears further behind the table.
"Aunt Lydia", Cassie lets out a high-pitched plea, "why are they both ignoring me?".
"This is what I meant when I said pokemon are living creatures", the woman laughs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Cassie, Sprigatito as a species are a tad bit untrusting, it takes a while for them to get used to their trainer", the professor explains, "and this particular Fennekin is a bit more shy than the norm, I figured it out as soon as she arrived".
"Ugh, but what do I do about it", Cassie protests this case as if she were an oversized toddler.
"You give them time", the professor offers simply.
"But I just want to pet them now", Cassie groans, "they are so cute".
"You'll need to be more patient", her aunt laughs knowingly.
"Hey, Sprigatito, did you hear me", Cassie turne around to speak to her cat, "I said you were cute, just let me pet you, please". The cat stares through her, swiping her head away the very next moment.
"Come on, why don't they like me", Cassie lets out a defeat screech.
"Calm down, Cas", Xander crouches beside her, "professor Lydia said it, you just need to give them some time".
"Fine", Cassie scoffs, standing up and fixing her skirt, "whatever". She gives the Sprigatito a very strange glare, stating: "just so you know, you will like me". It's strange that it sounds like a threat.
"Is it alright if I go next?", Xander turns to look at the professor.
"Fine with me", the woman looks between the two remaining devices she has. "This one should be yours", she says, handing one of them to Xander. How she differentiates between them, I have no clue.
"Alright, Rowlet, let's go", Xander wastes no time in jump starting his pokemon ball and hurling it into the air. I find myself quite curious to see what kind of pokemon Xander had chosen, and it doesn't help my case that I have no idea what a Rowlet is.
With Cassie, I wasn't too surprised, both Fennekin and Sprigatito looked cute, a perfect pick for any girl.
When Rowlet appears before us in a flash of blue light, surprise immediately courses through me. It's an owl, a very round owl with small beige wings. It doesn't fit a guy like Xander at all.
Rowlet starts jumpimg around as soon as it realises it had found itslef on the outside. Everything seems to peak the small owl's interest, as he spends a few seconds inspecting the table by pecking at it, causing Fennekin to run away in the process.
After a few moments it spots Xander, and rushes into him, only to bounce back after hitting the boy's leg. Rowlet's not the brightest, I conclude.
"Good, now calm down", Xander crouches down, carefully picking his new pokemon up. The bird starts trashing around, trying to escape his grasp, but Xander simply doesn't allow it.
"Nice to meet you, Rowlet", Xander says in a firm voice, "together, you and I will become the strongest". Just like with Cassie, his statement manages to sound like a threat, which Rowlet must realise, since the bird stops spinning around, reluctantly accepting its fate.
"Xander", the professor calls for the boy's attention.
"Yes?", the boy turns to look at her, still firmly grasping Rowlet.
"Just a heads up, Rowlets tend to be easy going", the woman raises her eyebrow in warning, "don't push him too hard, alright".
"Oh", Xander seems slightly dissapointed, loosening his hold on the pokemon just enough for the bird to make his escape.
"Yeah", the professor sighs, "frankly, I was surprised when I saw that you chose it".
"Eh, I was gunning for Decidueye", Xander scracthes his head.
"Makes sense", the professor sighs in defeat.
"Alright", Xander nods, turning to Rowlet. "We'll take it easy", he makes a promise that he's clearly not too eager to keep.
"Then I guess I'm last", Leo says, trying to make his steps firm. It doesn't help him much, as I realise how easy he is to forget about.
"Right, Leo", the professor nods, as she hands him the last pokemon ball.
I can't pay full attention to him, as I'm too busy watching over Rowlet and Sprigatitio. The owl is curiously jumping around the cat, flapping his wings around, meanwhile, Sprigatito is desparately trying to walk away.
To my left, I hear Leo say in a monotonous voice: "Here we go, Piplup".
Another lightshow makes a very wrongly-coloured penguin appear between us. Soft-blue cresture starts joyfully jumping in place as soon as it appears. The next second it runs, or does its best to run, towards Leo. It comes to a full stop in front of the boy, rasising its wings, gesturing for the boy to pick it up.
Leo carefully crouches down, petting it on the head instead. "Nice to meet you", the boy says flatly, "I hope we'll get along well".
Piplup's spirit visibly sinks in the moment, but it manages to remain at least somewhat cheerful, chirping what I think is supposed to be a smile at the boy.
Rowlet manifests beside it instantly, fallping his wings around in greeting, and Piplup is more than happy to respond. They start screeching at each other, and I assume they are having a conversation. Nevertheless, they make quick friends.
"Leo, in your case, Piplups tend to be very energetic, and friendly as well", professor Lydia asserts, "so keep that in mind".
"Yeah, I knew that", Leo sighs.
I can barely take it anymore. It's so easy to see how wrong their choices are. Cassie clearly should've gotten Piplup and Rowlet, they just fit her so much better. Leo should've gone for the shy Fennekin, and Xander should've gotten himself a cat with an attitude.
"Why would you choose a Piplup then, if you knew that?", I finally snap, failing to see the logic behind their choices.
Leo gives me an empty stare. "It evolves into Empoleon", he says, as if that explains everything.
"What does that even matter for?", I sigh.
"Empoleon is a water and steel type, it's an exceptional combo", Leo sends me a small scoff, "you should know that".
I stand back, realising that I truly do not know much about pokemon. However, one thing I know for certain - the personalities in this room are in complete dissaray.
I bite back my tongue. It's in my best interest to have them all convinced I know much more than I do. At least until I get my own pokemon, since my livelihood kind of depends on that right now.
"Alright, Rory, we will hear out your case in just a second", professor Lydia twirls her hand at me. "As for the three of you, just a single reminder", she clears her throat, "these pokemon are young, so take care of them, don't push them too hard, and give them time and space, is that clear?".
"Crystal", Leo says, as Cassie and Xander nod along in reluctant acceptance.
"Feed them, take care of them, train them", the woman claps her hands decisively, "if you can be good for them, they'll be good for you?".
"You mean, if we're good to them?", Cassie questions.
"Yeah", the woman's gaze finds some distance, "that's what I meant".
They are not particularly good at reading between the lines, I think as I stare through one of the windows. My time is nearing, I know, and it isn't good for my nerves. I am not good for my nerves.
The sky had started to darken during the short time we had spent in the laboratory. Branches on one of the trees sway downwards, caught in a breeze. It's gentle still, but in a way that winter rivers are. It's strange, that this world, real or not, has already decided to greet me with a storm.
Gritting my teeth, I decide - no lying, no truth. In case all of this is real, I have to exist somewhere in between, if I want to survive.
