II. Silence

Jack read the name on his desk plaque repeatedly, skimming over the golden shimmer and black lettering. Under his name was a sentence that almost gave him an eye twitch when he read it: "President of Advertising". This was the title he had had for five years with the Devon Corporation, a title he had wanted to throw off and stomp on with his uncomfortable work shoes. It was the word equivalent to a ball and chain, keeping him from branching off to other, more ambitious work. But the stubborn mule in the next office wouldn't give him the saw to break his ties to the department.

The head of Devon Corporation was a hardened businessman who saw in only the direction that the company faced. His employees were his underlings, by every meaning of the word. When they called for him with problems or questions, he gave them a pre-written e-mail that read, simply: "I will get back to you on that as soon as I can". The perfect example of arrogance.

His reputation did not stop Jack from demanding his freedom when he wished to, though he quickly found that it was like a scratch on a diamond. Presents, bribes, and even threats did not bode well either and only put him higher on the boss's list. It seemed to Jack that he was stuck in a maze without an exit. To make it worse, there was his wife.

Margaret had been wed to Jack for many years longer than his devotion to Devon, but her resentment lasted much longer than that in his mind. She believed that, even with his dead end title, the company worked him too hard and he spent very little time at home with her. Margaret's mind was prone to worry and common migraines, so Jack became very guilty whenever she spoke of the company's puppet-like control of him. If she only knew how right she was.

Jack reclined in his chair while the symphony of creaks echoed from its base. The day had been just as long as they all were, and full of lengthy periods of time where he had virtually nothing to do. He spun the chair around and watched the drab white walls become a swirling mass. This only reminded him of his lunch revisiting him, so Jack stopped and sat upright. Above his usual focal point of his desk's nameplate was a window, currently closed and covered with blinds, to the right of the door. How he wished that he had the ability to open it and breathe in the sweet scent of fresh air paired with the Sweet Scent of local Hoenn-native Roselia… But the tyrant next door required that all windows be closed to save money with their air conditioning. Just one of the many reasons the Boss's leadership did not make sense.

Lunatics aside, the actual job Jack was forced to do was more of a waste of time than something beneficial to Devon. As President of Advertising, he oversaw all the different pitches and ideas that were thrown at him by the others in his department. He was able to give the final yes or no, but found this to be extremely repetitive instead of interesting. Most pitches were old, uninspired, or were aimed at the completely wrong audience. As meetings only came about once a week, Jack found himself with a lot of downtime. He just did not feel like he was doing anything significant or worthwhile, and that had to change.

When the hands on his watch finally hit five o' clock, Jack left his chair and exited his office only to find an unwelcome sight approach him at an alarming speed.

"Jack! Wait, before you go, I wanna chat! So, how's the family…?"

Standing in front of him with a precariously leaned Styrofoam coffee cup was a woman that was five feet of pure caffeine. Her hands jittered and her face moved aimlessly around and had yet to settle on one thing in the bleak hall.

"Um, I don't really have time to talk, Shelly," said Jack as he readied to turn around and continue the walk to the elevator, "maybe…tomorrow."

Shelly quickly grabbed hold of Jack's stiff shirt collar and kept him from moving any farther. He sighed and turned around, strangely attentive.

"No, I'm not gonna let you just walk away, no, no... You're gonna talk! So? Family? Tell me every little detail or-" Shelly quickly found herself interrupted by a billowing cloud of dark smoke. As she coughed she could see Jack dashing down the hall, a round shadow behind him.

"Nice work, Koffing, that was the closest one this week," Jack said as he entered the elevator with a floating purple Pokemon by his side. The creature rubbed a pair of its odd protrusions that covered its body on him gleefully. Jack, slightly disgusted, returned it to its Pokeball with a brilliant flash. As the elevator door shut he heard the fire alarm sound loudly paired with the pouring of the automatic sprinkler system. Although chaotic, the scene was quite enjoyable for him.

When he had arrived at the bottom floor, the newly built parking garage, he strode to his vehicle in much improved spirits than earlier that day. Shelly deserved what was coming to her, Jack thought as he surveyed the lot for his car, always annoying everybody… But in his thought, he had ignored what was in his path. As if karma was getting the best of him, his foot caught on a moving object below him and sent Jack falling hard on his side. He looked to both sides and saw to his right the top of a small creature who was bouncing down the aisles of the parking lot. Its blue vines that covered it glistened in the dim lighting of the structure. Jack, unable to move at the moment, just stared at it.

Jack had determined it to be a Tangela, but did not understand fully what it was; he had had a very short Pokemon training period, so was a little unclear on what was a Pokemon and what was not. Nonetheless, the creatures were everywhere and a person couldn't go by a billboard these days and see one of them advertising some product. In fact, Tangela was remotely familiar to him because of a recent campaign he headed for Devon's Scopes starred a Tangela that was given a voice so it could say, "See the unseen with Devon Scopes!". It didn't sell many of them.

This internal rage from loss of sales led him to at last finding his feet and rising off the pavement. Jack found that the Tangela had stopped and readied for his attack, but once he saw the little green bow that rested on its head he halted. He remembered that the boss's favorite ad campaign was that one…

Now with a just reason to catch the Pokemon, Jack crept closer towards the Tangela. His shoes, a bit scuffed up from his fall, were almost silent as he walked nearer and nearer. Other cars coming in were a blip on his mind's radar at the moment as he thought through his plan. If he gave the creature to the boss as a present it might be enough to tide him over for a possible- No, no, he won't fall for it, Jack thought, he hasn't fallen for anything before. But the possibility was so faint that… he went for it.

Jack reached for a Pokeball from under his suit jacket and gazed at the sharp glare it had from the lighting. With a quick throw it revealed, once again, his Koffing with a plume of purple gas. The Tangela, for some strange reason had yet to move a single vine.

"Okay, Koffing, it seems… distracted?" Jack questioned as he began to address his Pokemon in battle. "Whatever… Use Tackle, I suppose…"

The creature floated back a few inches and then thrust his body forward towards the Tangela with impressive force. Its girth whacked the Pokemon fully… but Tangela was still unmoved. Jack gave it a confused look and then returned his Koffing in a blaze of red light. Placing his Pokeball back on his belt strap, he thought. So, if you want to be stubborn…

Jack then grasped another Pokeball from his belt, this one lighter than the first. He took a step back and hurled the sphere at the Tangela, enveloping it inside, the white light lighting up the dim structure. After a few shakes from the ball, it froze in place. Jack went over and grabbed it, dreaming of the freedom it may bring.

The next Monday was the day that Jack would present his newly caught Pokemon to his boss, in hopes of a favorable outcome. But favorable was a relative term.

"A Tangela?" the man behind the desk asked in a harsh tone. "You know I've never fallen for any of your schemes to rise to the top before… you are quite the persistent one." Jack, sitting comfortably in the boss's office, rolled the Pokeball across the desk to the rather stern-looking man. He reached out and took the ball and released it, the Tangela quickly seizing the moment by doing a strange dance in front of him. He stared at it. Stared at it probably enough to singe the ribbon right off of its head. After his brief staring contest, he looked up at Jack.

"You do know that…" Jack braced for the worst as his boss's mouth opened. "Tangela is my absolute favorite Pokemon?" Jack nodded as the creature ended his dance and collapsed on his back. "You are quite the brave one to even come in here, Jack… the average person would have been stopped about a year ago. But… I thank you. This Tangela will be a wonderful addition to my daughter's Pokemon collection."

Jack cringed.

"Now go, out, before lunch break is over!"

Jack ambled down the hall of the building, stopping every now and then to lean on the wall. At first, the encounter was a good thing, him finally getting on the boss's good side. But, in the lines of the original plan, it was utter failure. He was still stuck at the starting line without any gunshot to tell him to advance. He could only wonder about the consequences he would receive form his wife… Time could only answer. That, and the cold silence that seeped into his life after that cruel day.