Chapter 4
Rowan is a Liar
Azer arrived in Sandgem with fifteen minutes to spare. The public transportation was unusually punctual, but Azer didn't mind. He went to a vendor and looked for a magazine to hold him over. He saw a bunch of junk magazines, but couldn't find his favorite magazine: EVOLUTION. It was a magazine that was specifically focused on how to raise Pokémon to their maximum potential. He enjoyed reading the articles on the featured Pokémon. An article on Ampharos is what sparked his interest in finding a Mareep. He asked the vendor if they had it in stock, but he was informed that they were waiting for the newest issue and were out of stock on the previous one.
Azer shrugged it off and headed for Professor Rowan's lab. It was just a short walk away from the train station, which Azer was happy about.
The lab was a very impressive edifice. There was a huge gold plaque outside that identified it as Professor Rowan's lab. As Azer approached the door, it slid open for him. He found himself inside a rather large reception area. There were two couches, a small fountain, several trees, and a reception desk. Azer walked up to the desk.
"Hi, I'm Azer Gitel, Professor Rowan's new assistant." He said with a smile.
The girl behind the desk jumped up.
"I'm Harley, the receptionist! We're all very excited to have you with us Azer! Please follow me!" She was bubbly, sort of like Tyrla. Azer speculated that Harley wasn't as smart, however.
He followed her over to a spiral staircase. They climbed up it. It was made of a very finely polished metal. They walked down a hallway and came to a stop outside two impressive oak doors.
"This is Professor Rowan's office, go inside and have a seat! Would you like coffee or breakfast or anything else?" She said, opening the door.
"No, thank you. I ate before I came." Azer said, remembering Tyrla's delicious breakfast.
"Okay. Just to let you know, I'm sort of everyone's assistant. I get coffee, bagels, and doughnuts, whatever you want! Let me know! Have a great first day!" She said. She then turned and walked back down the hallway.
Azer inhaled and walked into the office. He was disappointed to find it empty, but he sat, as instructed. He glanced around the office. There was a humongous bookcase, filled with loads of books. Various diplomas hung from the wall. There was an impressive array of trophies and awards displayed on the windowsill.
He wasn't sitting long when Professor Rowan entered. The Professor went and sat at his desk without noticing Azer. While seated, he looked up at Azer and let out a cry of surprise.
"Oh! I didn't know you were here yet! Punctual! I like that!" He said extending his hand. "It's good to see you again, my boy!"
"Great to see you too, sir." Azer said accepting the handshake.
Professor Rowan stood up and walked over to Azer's side.
"You brought the Munchlax, right?" Professor Rowan said excitedly.
Azer took out Nom's ball and opened it.
"His name is Nom." Azer said as Nom left his ball.
Nom looked around, then shut his eyes and went to sleep. Professor Rowan chuckled. He went around to his bag and took out a doughnut. He snapped his fingers at Nom, who sleepily opened an eye. Nom then caught sight of the doughnut and both his eyes shot open. Professor Rowan laughed again and gave Nom the doughnut. Nom devoured it in one bite, and then shut his eyes again.
"Very healthy Munchlax. Some trainers find them too difficult to raise. It's difficult to know just how much to feed them; however, you don't seem to have any trouble at all! That's splendid. He's ball trained too, which is difficult for Munchlax sometimes. He's a great height for his age." Rowan said, bending over to examine Nom.
He picked up the Munchlax and judged his weight.
"Excellent weight, as well!" Rowan said putting Nom down. "You have an excellent Pokémon here, son."
Azer blushed. He got that compliment a lot, but never got used to it.
"I just do what I feel is right, sir. Nothing more." Azer patting, Nom on the head.
"Hearing you say that makes me feel more confident in a decision that I've just made." Rowan said smirking.
Azer was confused.
Rowan sat down in his chair. His smirk widened. His eyes were fixed on Azer.
"What would you say if I told you didn't dress right for this job today?" Rowan said with a smile.
"I'd be confused, sir." Azer said honestly.
"I have too many Lab Assistants, little monkeys that run around and do nonsense work all day. I need someone with a brain. I need someone who can think. That's why I picked you. And now I have a confession to make. The job description on the application was a lie."
Azer shifted nervously in his chair.
"I need someone to be a trainer for me." Rowan blurted out.
Azer nearly fell over.
"I want someone to take a Pokedex, go out, fill it up, get the Badges, work their way through the Pokémon league, all the stuff." Rowan said, staring at Azer.
Azer was speechless.
"I'll assume you're up to the task?" Rowan said, smiling again.
Azer nodded. No words could come out of his mouth.
"Great! Here's how it works. You take my Pokedex and some gear and get to it! You'll be completely funded by me, of course. I'll give you a basic salary, and throw bonuses your way whenever you hit something major: concur a gym, hit a certain mark in the Pokedex, evolve a Pokémon, etc." Rowan said standing up.
Azer was finding it hard to breath. Rowan glanced over at Azer and noticed that he was red in the face.
"Are you alright, son?" Rowan said, offering Azer a glass of water.
Azer chugged down the glass.
"Yeah, I'm just finding this all a bit…surreal." Azer said in disbelief.
Rowan chuckled.
"I promise you, Azer. It's really happening. Now, follow me. I'm going to give you your equipment and get you on your way. And take that silly tie off, boy!" Rowan said as Azer complied.
They walked down the hall and entered a door on the left. Azer found himself in a room overlooking all of Rowan's estate. There were countless researchers chasing around Pokémon with measuring equipment and clipboards. He felt like a kid in a candy store.
"This, for the most part, is my main lab." Professor Rowan said smiling. "I take great pride in all the work that is done here. At any given time, I'm responsible for supervising over twenty research projects. Our lab does about nine-hundred projects per-year, making us the busiest Pokémon in Sinnoh and the second busiest lab in the world, second only to Professor Oak's main lab in Pallet Town."
The door shut behind them and the capsule they were in began to move, much to Azer's surprise. He gasped a bit.
"Relax, it's just an elevator." Rowan said as they were lowered to the research floor. Azer was reminded of the floor of a stock exchange at its busiest. They elevator came to a gentle stop on the floor and the doors slid open.
As Azer and the Professor walked by, every researcher stopped and bid the pair a good morning. Azer felt important while he was walking next to Rowan. They came to a halt outside a door. Azer saw a plaque that read "Trainer's Lounge." The doors slid open and Rowan bade Azer to enter. He obliged.
He suddenly found himself in a very calm room. There were comfortable-looking sofas, a few computer stations, an ATM, and a Pokémon healing machine. Rowan turned to Azer.
"Have a seat, I'm going to get your equipment, have a seat. I'll be back in a few minutes." Rowan said as he walked through a door that read "Equipment Closet."
Azer sat down. He took out his phone and began to text message Vax. He tried to cram as much as he could into one message and tried to make it coherent. His excitement made both of those seemingly impossible. Azer sent the message and gazed up on the wall.
There were pictures of loads of trainers with their starting Pokémon and there were two of each picture. Azer guessed that they were of trainers when they first started and then once again towards the end of their journeys. There were at least thirty pictures on the wall. There was a huge variety of trainers and their Pokémon. Azer recognized a few of the more famous names. There were a few gym leaders, a news anchor, an actress, and a member of the Elite Four.
Rowan walked back through a door with a backpack and a huge grin on his face.
"You'll have to forgive my excitement, Azer. It's not everyday that I get to start someone off on their adventure. It's something I really enjoy." He said handing the pack to Azer. "Open it up."
Azer complied and was almost blown away at how much was in the pack. There were at least fifty pokeballs, a lamp, a first aid kit, a canteen, a compass, a map of the Sinnoh region, a pack of batteries, a reusable silverware set, a retractable clothesline, a notebook, and a pack of pens.
"Look at the bottom." Said Rowan.
Azer zipped up the bag and turned it over. Attached to the bottom were a sleeping bag and a tent.
"Professor Rowan, this is awesome!" Azer said.
"Put it on, see how it feels." Rowan said.
Azer complied. He was amazed at how light the pack was. It couldn't have weighed more than five pounds. It felt great on his shoulders. He gazed at Rowan.
"How is this possible?" He said agog.
"I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. It's patented technology." Rowan said smirking. "I have two more things for you."
Rowan handed Azer a huge leg holster.
"Here's your Pokedex. This is a leg holster for it. There's an extra battery in there, and a charger. It's all you'll ever need for that. Do you know how they work?" Rowan said helping Azer put it on his leg.
"No, not at all." Azer said honestly.
Rowan withdrew the device. He opened a pokeball that was on his belt and out came a Pikachu. The Pikachu stood at attention.
Rowan bent over and opened the pokedex.
"There are some customizable options on here, you can play with them when you get some time. Basically, all you have to do is take it out, line up the camera and take a picture. There's a red dot on the screen, you have to make sure the red dot is centered on the Pokémon; otherwise the picture will be pointless. The pokedex takes over the analysis from there. It may ask you to do some additional analysis tasks, so just comply if it does. Its instructions will be very clear, I promise. It will automatically transmit any new data back to the hub here at the lab. Accordingly, you can retrieve data from the hub on any species we have in the database. You try it." He said handing the pokedex to Azer.
Azer lined up the red dot on the Pikachu and took a picture. The pokedex went right to work. Rowan took the device and looked at the picture.
"Hmm…excellent. Nice shot. Obviously getting a shot of a moving Pokémon will be difficult at first, but you'll get good at it the more that you do it." Rowan said handing the device back to Azer.
"Now this device is your Mokena. This is a multi-purposed device. It's a phone, a camera, a web browser, a GPS, and loads of other fun things. You can take the SIM card out of your phone and put it in here, so all the information on that phone will be transferred." Rowan said handing the device and its charger to Azer.
"We have three more things to go over. The first is this: you're PRT Card." Rowan said, handing what looked like a credit card to Azer.
"The PRT Card gives you access to your finance account. You are authorized to spend $40 per day on meals, $500 on lodging per week, and you are given $1500 in expenses. This card gives you access to that money, as well as your salary. Second: normally I don't pay trainers salary, but yours is a special case. This IS your job, so I'm going to give an annual salary of $125,000. I'm going to give a bi-weekly paycheck of $5220. That will be directly deposited into an account created for you that is accessible via the PRT Card at any ATM. Your pay will be issued every other Friday, starting this Friday. I'm going to give you a $2500 bonus today since this is your first day on the job, and I'm sure you'll want to celebrate. Whenever you hit major accomplishments, I'll throw you some bonus money."
Azer was shocked. He went from being a student in debt, to making half as much as his father, a Silph Co executive, makes in about five days. It was very overwhelming.
"Finally, your Trainer Card. This is your license to be a trainer in the Pokémon League. Don't lose it. Sign it right here." Rowan said pointing to the back. Rowan handed him a pen.
Azer signed the back and his signature was immediately converted to an electronic image.
"Yes, the card is electronic. Don't lose it, they're expensive. There's a slot on your PokeNav for it, slide it in there." Rowan said as Azer complied.
Rowan stood up.
"Take today and tomorrow off. On Wednesday, I want you to head out in the field and gather a couple of Pokedex entries as well as do some training. After that, it's all up to you. If you haven't made progress in a month, we're going to reconsider all of this. But I have a great feeling about you. Let's make a deal, get your first badge in sixty days or less. Is that fair?" Rowan said extending his hand.
"I'll have two badges in sixty days, Professor." Azer said confidently, shaking Rowan's hand.
Rowan chuckled.
"That's what I like to hear, boy!" Rowan said breaking off the handshake.
"Now, I'll assume you can see yourself out. I have to get to work." Professor Rowan said.
"Yep, thank you so much Professor! I'll call you Wednesday to let you know how I made out!" Azer said exiting the room.
"Very good, my boy. Talk to you then!" Rowan said exiting and heading down the hall towards the main research floor.
Azer spied a door marked exit and ran to it. He burst out and when he was sure the door had shut, he burst out in laughter. He was screaming and jumping up and down. He thought he saw a field researcher looking at him, but he didn't care. He had never been this happy before.
