Report Number: 240
Date: 12/10/13
Location: Local sports Stadium
Time: 9:30 PM
Title: Observations on Alice
Data: I have had a lack of research material recently; with the national tournaments drawing near, there has been far too much gossip and excitement over the local favourites for me to work even if I was weighed down by research requests.
The investigation which my associate Alice began has not yet drawn to a close. We are at a standstill, what with the recent storms which have grounded all aircraft. If not for the hurricane winds, we may have been able to study a temple that has caught my particular interest, but that plan has been put on hold.
Do you know what she wanted to do while we waited?
Guess where I am right now.
She sucked fiercely on her straw, ignoring the rapsy bubble of her emptying drink. Her eyes were fixed down on the open sand, the cornered oval with its distinctive rectangle of white paint and the pokeball design in its centre.
He wondered where her passionate arguments against pokémon captivity and 'cockfighting' had gone.
They were sitting together in the middle of a crowded block of tired-looking adults, eager teenagers with their toy pokeballs held in sweaty fists, overworked vendors screaming their wares as they negotiated around carelessly outslung legs. The atmosphere was excited, but it was a mute excitement. The air was too thick for comfort. He wiped a stray droplet of sweat from his forehead and leaned back in the creaky plastic chair with a sigh.
"How did you convince me to come here again?"
Alice flashed him a grin. Her camera had magically reappeared in her hands. "I didn't convince anyone. You were bored, remember?"
He watched as she weaved to and fro like an ekans, camera held in front of her face as she tried to get a good shot of the struggling pokémon below. She must have abandoned her empty drink between the next aisle of seats. "You're not gonna get a good picture from up here. We're too high up, you know," Harry muttered.
Alice paused and looked at him. She smiled.
His stomach plummetted.
"Why are we down here? Are you insane?" Harry hissed.
She scowled and bade him be silent; this was tricky. He could only watch in stunned disbelief as she carefully levered herself between two security lasers and into the shallow alcove from which the competing trainers exited onto the battlefield.
"Just keep a look-out, okay? I won't be a second." She wasn't even looking at him. Harry shuffled his feet, wringing his fingers around each other as subtly as he could manage. This was so stupid! They were going to be caught! He'd be fired for trespassing somewhere no scientist would ever have a reason to go!
"Aliiiice..." Harry whispered desperately.
She was already gone. He leaned against the wall and stared at his shiny black shoes.
She was going to be the death of him. No, the unemployment and then the death of him. Harry wondered if he could even ask himself 'why' anymore. He didn't seem to act or think logically when the stupid girl was involved. He should have called the police the moment he'd caught her breaking and entering. What had she done that one for, again?
Oh, right. To make a map. So she wouldn't get lost.
That definitely didn't sound criminal.
It seemed that he'd waited for half an hour before she finally came back, cheeks flushed with success. She looked far too happy. "Got the pictures! The RSPCP will have a field day with these! Come on, let's go."
Alice somehow dove between the laser sensors without activating them, seized his wrist and took off on a lolloping canter through the hallways.
"W...w-wait! What!? Waaaaait!" he yelped as they slammed into a very surprised security guard. He didn't think the guard had managed to see their faces before Alice had dragged him around the next corner. He hoped.
"Alice! Slow the heck down! ALICE!"
She finally responded to his shout and slowed down. They were next to the bathrooms; Harry took the moment to rest, gasping, holding thick-rimmed glasses to his sweat-slippery nose. She huffed, not happy with his lack of athlete's physique. "You need to get out of your office more, man. You've got less endurance than a slakoth."
He glared from under his oily black fringe. "Y...you... take... th-that... back."
The girl smirked and gripped his wrist tightly again. "Not on your life. Ready for round two?"