Breccia's fears were realized when she reported for duty the next morning. Not only was she the lone Lab Assistant, AKA a glorified coffee courier, she could hear Lars barking orders the moment she arrived.

The Lab was a small contained area next to the Operation's Building. From the looks of it, it appeared to be nothing more than a large storm shed.

The equipment within was sub par at best and with Lars' experiments being tossed out, the other scientists were pondering what to do next.

"They're heading out to the tundra soon." Lars said to another woman. "We need more Pokemon for new initiates."

"Easier said than done with all the trainers poking around." The woman responded. "It was a mistake for the league to set gyms in these parts. There's barely enough room for those of us who live here."

Breccia entered, her purse over her shoulder and a case of several different coffees in hand.

None acknowledged her, and considering how pissed everyone had been over Caleb's death, she was more than happy to be ignored.

"I put in a transfer request." Two other scientists were murmuring at a table in the corner. The one speaking was a middle adged man with a stock of red hair. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Lars wasn't listening in. (Breccia was busy handing him his latte and tried to appear disinterested.)"If Riker thinks I'm going to take orders from that pompous windbag, he has another thing coming. I'd rather be doing grunt work in Kanto." When he turned to take his drink, Breccia got a close look at his ID badge.

Neil.

"Here." The last of the scientists, the woman Lars had been talking to, handed Breccia a broom. The woman, Tess, was the only person who had been remotely nice to her. (Aside from Morice). "It's best you keep yourself busy. You don't want to give Lars a reason to yell at you."

As she took to an area of the lab where the floor was littered with dirt and debris, Breccia kept her head down and her mouth shut.

The day progressed at a Slakoth's pace from then on. Lars and the others made plans to assist in the trip out to the Tundra. Tess and Neil worked on the van for such an occasion.

As for Breccia, she swept, took out the trash, made a lunch run to the local subshop, and kept to herself.

Turning the lights off before leaving that night, she did a final sweep of the area before taking her broom to the back.

Upon opening the door, she was greeted by a dark utility room lit by a single incubation chamber. Inside sat an egg, the same egg she had rescued from the cave in Verandi.

"I forgot all about you." She pressed her hand to the glass. "You're kind of cold...let me check..." She glanced at the thermometer and shook her head. "No wonder. At this rate you'll never hatch." Fishing around for the knob, she bumped it slightly.

She liked to think she knew more about eggs than the average person. It wasn't uncommon for travelers to bring them to her Father's clinic back in the day. Most were Magikarps, some were Pidgeys and Taillows, a few were Pichu's. She recalled a Magby at one point. Though the most surprising had to have been the Larvitar Breccia's dad gave to Shale when he took her over the gym.

"It must suck...being stuck here all alone." Breccia hung her broom on it's wall hinge. "At least you aren't going on coffee runs..." Thinking about how her life was going, having pissed Riker off and what not, she found it hard to feel pity for herself. This tiny creature had more of a reason to be upset having been plucked from it's home. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow." The egg, an off white with several spots of orange and green, was the last thing she saw before leaving.

With every day after, through all of the errands and cleaning, she developed a habit of checking on her new friend.

As sad and pathetic as it sounded, it was a consistency she could count on. She was basically ignored...by everyone.

Having not heard from Vanessa since her accident, the only other person Breccia saw was Morice. He would swing by the apartment where she spent her evenings cleaning and tending to Vanessa's Koffing.

As for the Koffing, she figured the creature must've known something was wrong with Nessa because it had fallen into a constant melancholy.

Breccia would swing by the local mom and pop store to buy their fresh baked poffins on occasion. It would cheer the poor thing up, but the joy was always fleeting.

"She's awake." Morice said, sitting at the dining table with a glass of water in hand. He glanced about the place before kicking his shoes off and chucking them towards the closet.

The apartments in Aurora were all the standard with a bedroom,living/kitchen/dining area and a small bathroom. Much like the Organization Building, the walls were stale white.

Nessa had a few chairs of different varieties thrown about the place. There was also a stone hard army cot in the bedroom and a sheet hug over the window.

It was bare otherwise, save for a small TV that Koffing stayed glued to daily in order to quell his depression.

"She's starting in Cerulean once they cut her loose. Secretary work." Morice sat his cup down. "It'll be another couple weeks still. She'll likely be wheelchair bound."

"That's the best news we could hope for." In the kitchen, Breccia was in the process of making dinner. "You might as well stick around for supper. I made too many rice balls and Koffing won't eat them."

"Rice balls?"

"It's all Nessa had in the cabinets." Grabbing a couple of plates, Breccia frisbee tossed them onto the table. "Life gives you lemons, you make lemonade." She sat across from her friend. "Or in this case, if life gives you rice, you make rice balls." She started eating without hesitation. Her stomach was growling and her long shifts at the lab only compounded her hunger. As for Morice, he picked one up, examined it, then sniffed it. "Stop being picky. It's all I have."

"Aren't you adorable, being feisty and shit."

"What? You like a girl with an attitude?" Breccia received a middle finger as a retort and laughed. "Such a gentleman." She reached for her Transceiver, it's loud chime drowning out the last of their conversation. "Hello...who...oh, Tess..." She appeared surprised that anyone from the lab would call her. (Or that any of them cared). "Really?... I'll be right over!" She hung up and stood, leaving her plate and food abandoned. "The egg is hatching!"

"Egg..." Morice rose an eyebrow.

"You know, that egg we found?" Breccia scooped up the coat dropped next to Morice's shoes. "I've been keeping an eye on it over the last week. Tess was shutting down for the night and saw it moving around. You wanna come and see it?" She was in such a hurry to get out the door that she didn't bother zipping her coat. Instead she buttoned the top button around her throat. "You're like, practically his godfather."

Morice followed her out of the apartment, leaving their dishes where they lay. "Don't go volunteering me as someone's daddy."

Breccia twirled about, showing the first glimmer of happiness since her arrival in Aurora. She giggled. "Sorry, I'm just really excited."

Morice was already halfway down the flight of stairs. "Well c'mon. Stop dancing around and lets get going."