Sorry about the false update, accidentally posted without editing. Woops! If you see any more mistakes, please correct me, it's almost half past midnight and I should be asleep.
Second part for people because you seemed to enjoy it? I'm going to start taking prompts, leave a review if you have an idea or if you just like this story. Someone take Professor Sycamore away from me because I'm just having too much fun with this.
I apologise French speakers. I really really do.
Previously in Professor Tales; Professor Sycamore gate crashed, and yet was invited, to the Annual Summit. Through a sequence of amusing conversations, the collected Professors have now been herded towards a late afternoon snack, without actually ever being aware of agreeing to it.
Café Kanto, a small uptown establishment in uptown Saffron City was the now apparent site of the Annual Summit. It was quiet, cosy, with a Chandelure holding onto the low ceiling, threatening to bash visitors on the head and a Charmander keeping a selection of pastries warm whilst occasionally eating one.
The five Pokémon Professors of the regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova had no say in the matter, it seemed. Professor Augustine Sycamore had booked the table already; it was impossible to say no to a man who was so good-natured that he would probably understand that you didn't want to go to a restaurant with him, despite the fact he'd booked the table- this didn't help. This wasn't a good point to his name. In Professor Rowan's point of view, this counted against him- it made you want to dislike the man but then feel bad for doing so because he was so damn charming!
The late afternoon snack was rapidly hurtling towards a full on dinner- so far, they'd spent an hour watching Sycamore greet the Kalosian restaurant owner- there was a great deal of hugging involved.
"Ah, Professor Sycamore! What a surprise to see you way over here in Kanto, oui?"
"Oui, oui! I am here for the Professor Summit. Perhaps you could find a table for my dear friends and I? And drinks too, s'il vous plait! Merci!"
The owner had guided them around his glorious establishment and Rowan had to admit, it was a lovely café, with a peaceful, calming atmosphere, despite Sycamore's loud proclamations of how he missed a traditional Kalos café, even though he'd literally been in Kalos that morning. They finally settled on a table, Birch looking increasingly uncomfortable about the fact he was wearing still wet shorts and sandals rather than anything classy.
Sycamore sat at the head of the table, still talking to the restaurant owner. Occasional flashes of the Kalos native tongue would slip in, right before Sycamore burst into laughter, without even trying to explain in to his awkward looking companions who shuffled in their seats until Sycamore realised he was neglecting the people he saw as his guests- after all, he was paying- and apologized with a great deal of genuine sadness.
"Ah, sorry, I forget, not everyone speaks like we do in Kalos… Perhaps you'd feel more at ease with some drinks, oui, to whet your appetite before a good meal. Garçon, perhaps you could bring us your finest red wine? Oh, and a glass of water for dear Professor Elm." He requested, casting a bright look towards Elm, who shrank in his seat and fiddled with his glasses.
As they were waiting for their drinks, Rowan cleared his throat.
"Well, while we're here, I suppose we should carrying on discussing-"
Sycamore shook his head, his hair flopping madly as he waved his hands to stop Rowan. He leaned back and cast them all a relaxed gaze.
"Non, Rowan, that will not do. Business is for after the meal, oui?" he corrected, nodding self assuredly. "Rowan, monsieur, I do worry about you. All business and no relaxation. In Kalos we take things easy, oui? You will live longer!"
He met Rowan's icy glare with an oblivious, friendly look of his own, nodding knowingly when Rowan muttered something under his breath and sat back, rolling his eyes, slumped in his chair next to Oak, who looked worriedly at him as if to say, 'If Rowan can't stop him, who will?!'
There was a horrible awkward silence that seemed to affect everyone but Sycamore, punctuated by Elm nervously taking a small piece of bread from the bread basket and buttering it with shaking hands as the waiter and the owner arrived with a large bottle of red wine and a small, but nonetheless magnificent, glass of water.
The glasses were poured, Sycamore murmuring in foreign excitedness at the vintage of the wine. He took his glass, standing on long legs and giving each of his fellow professors a long, bright look as the waiter and the owner went away again.
"I propose a toast, to Pokémon."
4 hands holding glasses of red wine and one holding a small glass of water obediently raised themselves into the air, despite their owners not really telling them to.
They all drained their glasses on Sycamore's signal. Professor Elm, three year teetotal, once upon a time a depressive alcoholic who used to drink to clear his head for research, was looking longingly at the bottle of expensive red wine that Sycamore was justifying as being for "A special occasion, oui?". He reached for it, and Sycamore slapped his hand away lightly, tutting.
"Non, Elm! Think of your family! Of your research, monsieur! Do not fall to such petty temptation!"
Elm's lower lip wobbled, and he laid his head on the table, staring blankly into the middle distance. Juniper patted him on the back, before turning to Sycamore to breach the eternal question in order to break the monumentally awkward silence the table had fallen into.
"Ah, Sycamore, what sort of meal are we having?"
He turned to her, smile practically sparkling like he'd deliberately buffed his teeth. He probably did do that, Rowan mumbled silently to himself, leaning his chin on his elbow despite the affront to good manners. Oak did the same thing, seemingly relying on his mentor to give him guidance in this troubling time. Sycamore winked one eye slowly at Juniper, who flushed, more out of embarrassment than anything that such a thing would happen in front of her colleagues. Realistically, she should have been used to it by now. It happened every summit.
"Ah, Juniper, please, call me Augustine. I insist." He told her, patting her hand so she writhed in half anger and half shame that some part of her squealed like a girl. Some very small, very immature part.
She sighed.
"Augustine, what are we having to eat?" she repeated, rolling her eyes. Sycamore, oblivious to her strident annoyance, clapped his hands together and nodded to each of the assembled professors.
"I shall bring us some menus and you may order anything! It's all on me, as my treat." He declared. Normally, they'd all be happy about this. The fact that it made it even more difficult to dislike Sycamore made it worse, especially when you reminded yourself that you'd have to face him and swallow your pride as you said through gritted teeth 'thank you' and he assured you it was no trouble at all. At all. It was his pleasure.
Sycamore disappeared to find some menus and there was a groan as Birch collapsed onto the table, looking at Rowan desperately.
"I can't take it anymore, Rowan, I can't." he hissed very quietly under his breath. The professors leaned their heads in so they could talk without being overly obvious about the fact that they were disenchanted with the good Professor Sycamore. Birch rubbed his face roughly with calloused hands made hard from years of fieldwork. "Being chased by a Zigzagoon is a walk in the park compared to this."
There was a nodding from each of the assembled professors, and Oak nodded bravely at Birch.
"Just a little bit more, Birch. As soon as we're done here we can go back to finishing this discussion and then head back home to recover until next year." He told him, before promptly realising that next year was an actual thing that could happen- would happen, his face crumpling. "Another year to prepare, to perhaps bring lunch of our own. That would be an excuse, surely…"
"I found the menus!"
The professors sprang back to their seating positions, looking nonchalant, apart from Elm who failed to look anything other than guilty, earning him a strange look from Sycamore. The negative expression seemed out of place on the professors handsome face.
"Are you alright there, Elm?" he asked, laying 6 menus down and settling himself back into his chair, not catching the pained squeak from Elm has he was viciously elbowed in the ribs by Rowan. Sycamore distributed the menus, laying his own out flat and perusing it. "You are in for a treat, mes amis! I would suggest the Magikarp as a main course, the chef here is a master. Although you are vegetarian, Birch, so for you I would recommend a healthy ratatouille. 5 different kinds of berries!"
He flicked to the starters.
"No meal would be complete without starters, oui? Perhaps the soup of today? Tamato and Spelon berry, I recall."
"I'm allergic to, um, Tamato berries." Oak mumbled. "Although the Lansat berry salad seems nice…"
Sycamore grinned, rubbing hands together and summoning the waiter. He, of course, ordered the soup of the day, along with Elm and Juniper, who earned a wide and unwanted grin from him for doing that. Oak ordered the salad, and Birch, a Nomel berry sauce soaked Chesto salad. Rowan ordered, feeling slightly guilty, Shellder marinated in Iapapa sauce, feeling even more guilty when they arrived and they were still in shells, eyes closed peacefully. He prised them out, trying to ignore Birch's horrified stare.
"No offence to any of your regions, mes copains, but Kalos food trumps yours every time." Sycamore announced after he was done. "And we're not even on the main course yet."
He paused, looking in interest as another group of diners came through the doors, greeted by the cheerful restaurant owner. The other professors made a point of looking like they were examining their menus as Sycamore's attention was drawn to an attractive looking woman standing with what Rowan hoped was a boyfriend. That way, he noted rather sadistically, he would be able to watch Sycamore's charm get shot down for once.
"I'm going to have the honey drizzled Farfetch'd, I think." Oak said cautiously as the waiter approached them. "Sorry Birch."
"Oui, oui… And your House Magikarp for me. No bones." Sycamore muttered absent minded, eyes fixed on the pretty woman now laughing with her table. He noticed her get up to go to the bar, before nodding to the professors and getting up too. The professors strained to get a glimpse of what was going on, ears straining to hear what was being said, Elm taking advantage of the quiet to sneakily pour himself a glass of red wine. And then another, with none of theprofessors none the wiser.
Rowan watched in disbelief as the young woman shook Sycamore's hand and then laughed at something he said. How was this even happening?
They sat there for a while, a good half an hour, entranced by what they were all watching. Sycamore was making the woman laugh, making her smile, and almost everything he said was punctuated with a wink and a smile. A well timed nod, a well timed flick of the hair. It was like watching a Goldeen being reeled in by a prime fisherman, knowing what was going to happen at the end and practically feeling the Pokémons eventual fate.
It was interrupted by a belch and a hiccup, so loud that even Sycamore turned in surprise back to the table. The waiter was putting down their impressively fast made meals, and Elm had promptly passed out in his spiced Ducklett. Sycamore, glancing at the lady, who seemed confused and worried by what she had seen, made a decision to come over, immediately taking in the fact the bottle of red wine left before was now missing a considerable amount.
"Monsieur Elm, what have you done?" he exclaimed, shaking the Johto professors shoulder. "Non non non, this will not do at all. What should we do?"
He seemed genuinely worried, casting anxious looks at the other professors.
Rowan sighed; once again, up to him to take charge.
"We should have been paying attention to Elm's drinking habits. It seems the Summit will have to be postponed until tomorrow- we shall have to book Elm into a hotel room and hope he sobers up."
"We can't leave him by himself, he might be seriously ill." Juniper pointed out. "One of us will have to go with him."
Sycamore nodded immediately.
"I take full responsibility for this, I should not have got that wine when Elm was suffering so… so… much with the vin rouge. I shall go." He decided, nodding, before glancing back at the young lady at the bar.
Oak, surprising even himself, realised that someone would have to chaperone the chaperone, and shook his head.
"It's a two man job, Sycamore, I'll come with you." He volunteered himself, causing the other professors to look at him in surprise. "What? Elm is a good friend and will need careful monitoring."
Sycamore nodded.
"Exactly!" he cried, completely missing the stress in the Kanto professors voice as he moved to sit back down at his seat, eyeing the meal in front of him. "I'll pay for the meals, of course, but what matters now is that we take care of poor Elm here. But it would be a shame to waste good food, so let's finish up here, oui?"
Elm snored on, unaware that 5 Pokemon professors were eating Kalos cuisine whilst he slept in it.
Crappy ending is crappy. Enjoy and review it!
