BLEEEEEEP...whirrr!
"Dammit, that's the last gadget Daisuke will ever talk me into buying," Ricka groaned as she fumbled for the light switch. "'We need a fax machine', says the poor little rich kid...and some weirdo faxes the damn office after midnight." The lights finally flickered on, and Ricka plodded over to throw the message away.
Blinking woozily, Ricka picked up the cover sheet - "What the hell?!..." She'd seen that logo before, the red/silver-gray feather slanted behind a white flower. Below it, an ornate scroll with three words in some language she couldn't read..."Webdex is your friend," Ricka muttered as she typed the strange phrase into the search engine. "Here we go... Styrka och sirlighet: 'strength and grace' in the archaic language of the...holy shit, Thule region?" Now she remembered: that lady who'd booked Building #3 almost a month ago. "Karin of Thule", as Ricka had called her. Why was Karin's school involved in this craziness? Placing the cover sheet to one side, Ricka began reading the fax itself.
You and your guest are invited to this year's World Conference on Inter-Species Psychology. The conference will take place during the week of May 2-6, 2016, in Kingsfort City in the Thule region. Scheduled guest speakers and topics include the following...
Ricka opened a desk drawer nearby and retrieved a dark glass bottle, still a third full judging by its weight. "Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia...I need a drink!" She unscrewed the tiny silver cap and took a swig, then skimmed the list of conference information. "It's crazy what scientists will ramble about to get grants..." Some geeks from the Mossdeep Space Center claimed that all Fairy types were aliens. A doctor in Nimbasa City had been studying the long-term trauma caused by devices called Burst Hearts. ("Whatever those are, they even sound deadly," Ricka grumbled.) She was about to throw the fax out when a familiar name caught her eye.
When One Life Meets Another: A Multi-Regional Study of Feral Child Behavior and Human/Pokémon Communication...Prof. Renata Linden, Lycea Town Trainers' Academy, Thule Region
"'Invited,' my ass! I'm not letting a bunch of strangers in white coats treat Rei the way Mr. What's-his-name treated Mewtwo." Ricka fumed and took another swig from the silver-capped bottle. "If the Teenage Witch thinks we'll fly halfway around the world to go through that, she'd better think twice." Tossing the now-empty bottle into a recycling bin, Ricka turned out the office light and staggered back to bed.