Alex and Alice sat huddled together on one of the sofas in the Professor's sitting room. They petted the Shellos that hopped up to them for attention. Munchlax, Pichu, Ducklett, Turtwig and Ponyta lounged around relaxing. Turtwig got acquainted with Alice's pokemon. Turtwig got along well with Ducklett as they both had a rather relaxed nature. They started having a conversation that to Alice just sounded like a whole bunch of 'tur's and 'duck's. Alex stood up and laughed while looking over at the two pokemon. Alice was jealous of the fact that Alex could understand pokemon. He could have a full on conversation if he wanted. Alice thought that she would be rather grateful Alex came along when he could get them out of a bad situation with a pokemon. Alice could understand most of what Munchlax said and a bit of what Pichu said, but any wild pokemon she couldn't understand.
"Turtwig twig twi," Turtwig said.
"Ducklett ducklett," Ducklett said, surprised.
"Ah come on, you completely smashed Pawniard in that battle, no need to be so modest," Alex said. Turtwig laughed and smiled. Ducklett jumped up and patted Turtwig on the back. Alex moved into the room where his Eevee egg sat under a glass cylinder. He put his elbows on the table and placed his chin on his hands. Without looking at him, he said "how long do you think it'll be?"
The professor looked at a data pad that he was holding. His eyes flickered over the numbers.
"Give it...five, maybe ten minutes," Professor Larch said. Alex sighed. "Alex, Alice, I have something for you both. The two strolled over to a table where the professor was clumsily opening two packages. He pulled out two gadgets.
"What are those?" Alice asked.
"These are cross transceivers. You can call other people with these, well, as long as they have one as well. So it means that you don't have to pay for credit on your phones when you need to call another trainer," the professor explained. They took them from him.
"These will be really useful!" Alex said. Alice nodded in agreement.
"Alex, I believe you have a pokedex already?" Alex nodded. "Well I can send you the data we are currently collecting on the pokemon in the Kalos region in France. Alice, I have a pokedex that Professor Rowan from the Sinnoh region gave to me to give to trainers. Here," the professor handed the pokedex to Alice. It was a dark purple one.
"Wow! This is so cool!" Alice exclaimed. She ran out of the room to show her pokemon. Alex handed over his own pokedex.
"This is the pokedex that Professor Oak hands out! How did you get this?" Professor Larch asked.
"My mother gave it to me before I left on this journey. She went on a journey through Japan. The egg is from her Leafeon," Alex explained.
"Ah, very good!" the professor smiled. He hooked up Alex's pokedex and turned back to the egg. "Any moment now..." They stared for a moment. Alice walked back into the room, the pokemon following. The egg started to crack. The cracks got lengthier and bits of egg started to fall off. Alex pulled up the glass cylinder and got closer to the egg. A head popped out of the egg.
"Eevee!" the pokemon said. It hopped up to Alex and rubbed its head against his. Alex picked her up.
"You're so cute!" Alex said. Alice came over and stroked Eevee's tail.
"IT'S SO FLUFFY!" she shouted.
"Eevee weev!" Eevee giggled. Professor Larch held a pokedex up to Eevee.
"Wow! This is amazing!" Professor Larch exclaimed.
"What?" Alex asked.
"Eevee has a case of Pokerus!" he said.
"What's Pokerus?" Alice asked.
"A pokemon with Pokerus gains experience faster than normal! It's a very rare case, and normally only happens with pokemon that are used in battle," the professor explained.
"Wow, so Eevee is super buff right?" Alice said.
"Heh-heh, in simple terms yes," the professor laughed. Eevee smiled with teeth bearing.
"Eevee can evolve into loads of different forms right?" Alice asked.
"Yup, like Jolteon, Sylveon and Umbreon for example. They all evolve in different ways, Eevee is quite the pokemon," the professor explained.
"Alex, what do you think you'll evolve Eevee into?" Alice asked. Alex pondered for a moment while holding Eevee in his arms.
"I'll let Eevee decide whenever the time comes," he said.
"That's a nice way of thinking about it," Alice said.
"Now, since you caught a starter pokemon for me, you both can help me in the next part of my research on the Unown. If you go to Meath and look for Newgrange, that's the place where you may find Unown. Also I heard trainers like to train in Meath as there is a lot of wild pokemon, so expect challenges," Professor Larch said.
"No problem!" Alice burst in, "I love challenges!" The professor smiled.
"Very well! Here's a camera for taking pictures, and also some Dusk Balls for catching some Unown if you can," he handed over ten Dusk Balls and the camera, "I wish you both good luck. I will be here when you return." Alice and Alex returned their pokemon and headed for the door.
"We'll be back soon!" Alex said as they went through the door waving. They stepped out on to the street and started heading north. They walked briskly and with a goal. Eevee perched herself on Alex's shoulder.
"Next stop, Meath!" Alice chimed.