My Uncle Sal once said to me, 'Now's not the time for that, you fucking numbskull. You little dipshit.'

Serves me right for trying to ride my birthday present indoors. His voice still reverberates inside my head at times when I think about doing something I shouldn't. Any thrill of rebellion, any thought of doing something outside the norm, and Uncle Sal comes a calling. You little dipshit.

I'm not exactly complaining, though. It's nice to hear his voice. Keeps me from missing the guy too much. So as I stood at the baggage carousel at Pewter City airport, I imagined myself doing all kinds of devious things, like riding a bicycle, or using a fishing rod when I'm nowhere near a body of water, or throwing a Poke Ball at that baby that wouldn't stop crying for the whole 12 hour flight. Again and again, with renewed vigor and outrage, Uncle Sal chastised me.

'Now's not the time for that, you fucking numbskull. You little dipshit.'

Now is never the time. That's something I learned about being an adult. Most of life is spent remembering what's already gone or waiting to escape from what already is.

United Airlines lost my bags. Same as it ever was.

'So you're telling me my Pokemon are in Unova now?'

'Yes sir. We apologise for the inconvenience.' The airline receptionist gave me a practiced, sympathetic grimace, followed by a long bow.

'And you have no idea when they can be flown over here?'

'It's very difficult to say, sir. We apologise for the inconvenience.' Grimace and bow.

'And my clothes. All my changes of clothes were in those bags, too. And the last two months of my salary.'

'Yes sir. We apologise for the—'

'Inconvenience, right. Can I at least use your phone to contact my company in Paldea?'

'That is not possible, sir. Problems with the Power Plant have meant all non-essential electricity use is strictly controlled by the Kanto Pokemon League. Currently, all backup generators are being used to run the Pokemon Storage System locally. We apologise for the inconvenience.'

Grimace grimaced extra hard, and bowed her head twice as long. Try as I might to stay angry, I couldn't help but feel impressed by Kantoan customer service. I nodded to myself and walked over to an empty chair, opening my messenger bag. At least I still had that. I'd been travelling light. 5 Poke Balls, some Lemonade, the refill pad and pen I use to write this, my trainer ID, half a pack of grape Hi-Chew, and a comic book, The Whimsical Adventures of N, I'd picked up at the airport and found mystifyingly unfunny. The last belongings of one of Paldea's Elite Four. Another man might have wept at the idea, but I felt strangely cheerful. It was like another thing Uncle Sal told me—the sweat of a man's brow is a fruit sweeter than any peach.

So what if I had no money, no Pokemon? I stuffed a Hi-Chew into my mouth and grinned. It tasted all sweaty. I'm a man. I'll make my own money, catch my own Pokemon. The world was my Cloyster.

Wait, where am I gonna sleep tonight?

DNA of an ancient Pokemon, Aerodactyl. It has been preserved in Old Amber for centuries past and to come. Imagined to have been the king of the skies...

The king of the skies, huh. Preserved for all eternity. I wonder if I could fall into some amber pit tonight to sleep in. Looks all gooey and comfortable. Maybe I'd wake up in 2000 years' time and people would say 'Wow, it's a real Larry, right before our eyes!' Maybe somebody'd be happy to see me.

Wait. 'Imagined to have been...'?

Imagined to have been the king of the skies, recent research by Professor Garnet and her team has showed that, due to the incredible weight of its rock-solid wings, mature-age Aerodactyl could not fly any higher than two feet off the ground before collapsing from fatigue.

Mature-age, huh. We are not so different, you and I... I put my palm on the glass case separating a mature-aged salaryman and mature-aged prehistoric Pokemon, united across millennia in the brotherhood of ageing ungracefully. My back twinged, as if signing off on our union.

'Sir. Please do not touch the exhibits.' A security guard warned me.

Same as it ever was. I moved onto the Moon Stone exhibit as my stomach ached. All my Hi-Chew were gone at this point, and the Moon Stones were beginning to look like those sulphurous black onsen eggs I'd had with my ramen in Medali once. There must've been twelve or so stones in the exhibit, and no glass case this time. Surely no-one would notice if I—

'In the name of Team Rocket, everyone put your hands up!'

Wow, this sure is a noisy museum. Don't they have rules against shouting? Anyway, those Moon Stones...did they really look as delicious as those black ramen eggs? Or was I so hungry I was willing to stuff my mouth with charcoal? Probably not the worst thing I've eaten.

'You, scientist! Hand over all your Pokemon Fossils! And your spare change, empty your pockets!'

Nah, I probably shouldn't eat any. They'd upset my stomach.

'T-team Rocket! You've returned?! You scum will never get your hands on our Fossils! Or my bus fare!'

'Right, Dr. Stone! On my honour as a Pewter City Museum security guard, I challenge you to battle, Team Rocket! Go, Nidorina!'

I looked over at another exhibit. A Kabutops Fossil. 'Kabutops was a prehistoric predator that sliced its prey apart and sucked out the fluids. It was a fearsome hunter in the Antediluvian oceans, but when its prey adapted to land, it followed suit. It lost its killer instinct living on land and quickly went extinct.'

I know the feeling, Kabutops. I know what it's like to get promoted into a job you can't really handle. Before all that Elite Four nonsense, when I was just a Gym Leader and La Primera's dogsbody, I kind of felt like I had a handle on things. Sure, I was busy, but I seemed to be good at what I did. Having to train both Normal and Flying types became such a pain...besides, I've always been scared of heights. My Uncle Sal told me a man should work with his feet planted firmly on the earth, and not roam around like some flirtatious vagabond. Thene he sighed and got a faraway look in his eyes. I wonder if that was around when the marriage crisis started.

'Hahaha! You lose, puny guard! Hand over your wallet and get out of here, before your Nidorina really gets hurt! Now, Dr. Stone, the Fossils, or you'll be next!'

Evolution is a weird thing. People think that their Pokemon gets bigger and meaner looking and it must be better, but look at Kabutops. He would've been better off drifting under the sea as a cute little Kabuto. Maybe I lost my way, too, putting so many burdens on myself. I ought to catch a new Pokemon, start afresh. I might not have food, money, or a home, but if I've got a Pokemon partner, life can't be so bad. Yeah, I better go catch one right now. I better—Excuse me. Sorry, go ahead and look at the exhibit, I'm just leaving. Interesting museum. I'd thank the security guard, but I don't see her anywhere. Maybe there's a library in this city. I can leave a review online. Cool fossils. 3/5. I guess that's where I'll go next.