Prologue
The phone on the wall chirped.
Professor Juniper briefly turned away from her work to answer it.
"Hello, this is Juniper," she said, wedging the phone on her shoulder. The professor then returned to her research, examining sample after sample and writing down the data on her clipboard.
"Hey, Professor," greeted the voice on the phone.
"Birch, you can always call me by my first name," Juniper said, smiling. "We're all professors here." She put down her clipboard and sat at the table. Flicking a pen around in her hand, she began entering her data on one of the lab's computers. "I was speaking to Elm the other day. His advice about genetics has been really helpful."
"Really? How so?"
"Every Pokémon's genome has some information about the species in the past. I'm doing a few experiments alongside him."
"Are you going to propose the theory of perpetual evolution?" Professor Birch asked over the phone. "Elm has been bragging about it for a while now."
"Depends on whether I finish this sequence by the Science Festival. We were going to reveal it then." Looks like Birch was on top of things.
"Well, I called to let you know: two kids, friends of mine, are going to be visiting you in a week or two. I told them to meet up with you before you head out to SciFest. One of them has a Pokémon that I'm sure will interest you."
"You know them?" Kids visited Juniper all the time.
"They're pretty cool guys. I shouldn't have said kids, but they're not really adults, either. One'll probably wearing a blue hat, and the other one is always walking around with his Manectric. They'll introduce themselves." Children's voices were audible through the phone. They were yelling and cheering. Birch must have given some lucky kids their first Pokémon.
"I look forward to it, then," said Professor Juniper as she walked back to the phone's place on the wall. "I'll see you there?"
"Count on it." Birch hung up on the other side.
As she set the phone down, she glanced outside the window. She had never expected herself to have anything to do with Pokémon genetics. But here she was. In the end, everything in science linked together. As she glanced around the lab, she spotted another sample that needed processing. It was on the reverse side of the paper on her clipboard.
"Dangit!" she said to herself, laughing nervously. She hadn't hustled like this for her work since she had been studying under her father. Grabbing a pipette for the umpteenth time, she continued her experiment.
I sure hope Birch is right about those kids, Juniper thought as she went through her routine absentmindedly. I could sure use a distraction. Or an excuse to stop working. She worked diligently for a couple more minutes, but soon left the lab for a well-deserved break anyway.
Professor Juniper is out right now, the sign on the door said. Sorry for the inconvenience!