Phil shut the door to his house and took in a breath of crisp Autumn air. He had turned fifteen over a week ago, and he was sick of waiting. Today, he was going to get a Pokemon.
There weren't many people out on the streets of Seldo town this morning. Here and there, Phil's neighbors raked leaves or ran errands, but for the most part the streets were empty. Phil walked the path to the Lab with confidence. He certainly knew it well; he had marched this way countless mornings, ever since he was ten years old, and had trodden back home in defeat just as many times. But today was going to be different.
Phil passed the Pokemon Center, the biggest building in town. He looked up at its glass panes and red roof in admiration. He almost didn't see the boy kneeling in front of him in time.
The boy was down on one knee, feverishly gathering papers and stuffing them into a brown folder. He had neat, short black hair and wore glasses, which he pushed up the bridge of his nose as he saw Phil coming.
"Need a hand?" Phil asked innocently. He stooped to gather papers before waiting for a response.
"I suppose…" said the bookish boy.
Although there were a lot of papers, it didn't take long to clear them all up with two sets of hands working on the task. Phil skimmed the last page he picked up quickly before he handed it to the other boy. He caught the phrases "legendary pokemon" and "rare, perhaps unheard of" in a messy scrawl. His curiosity piqued, craned his neck to see more as the other boy straightened a stack of the papers and put them into the folder. The boy who had dropped the papers glared at Phil and blocked his view with his arm, then relaxed his stern face and said,
"Thanks." He paused, then said, "my name's Nick."
"I'm Phil." Phil smiled as the two got to their feet. "You wouldn't happen to know Professor Larch, would you?" Phil regarded Nick. He had dark rings under his eyes and bore a very proper, old-fashioned demeanor (and clothing).
"I'm his assistant."
"Oh!" Phil perked up. This could be just the edge he needed. He had been trying on and off to get the Professor's approval, and by extension, a Pokemon from the old man, but Prof. Larch was always busy. It seemed that he had spared the time to reject Phil in complete sentences only a handful of times over the years.
"I just started a few days ago," Nick said.
"Do you think you could do me a favor and get him to talk with me, just for a couple of minutes?"
Nick considered the request. "I suppose I can try." The two started walking toward the lab. "You must be that boy he warned me about."
"Warned you?" Phil cocked his head with a mischievous smile.
"He said there was a boy that tried to get into the lab once in a while. He said not to consider him a threat, but not to let him in, either."
Phil frowned, then said, "oh, come on. I'm sure he can spare, like, five minutes. Can't you do me this one favor?"
Nick thought some more, then said. "I suppose I do owe you one. I'll try, but I hope you realize that I just started working for him. I probably don't have much more sway than you do."
"Yeah, but I might as well try." Phil said, looking back at the Pokemon Center, his eyes filled with purpose.