#lietexts

The lab. Katherine didn’t spend much time down here--hell, for the longest time she was scared of going down here. But as time had went on, she was brought to it a little at the time, shown around the lab and given a basic explanation of what the various instruments did. It came to a point where she didn’t think much of it. After all, when you get involved with a scientist, it would only be natural they have a laboratory somewhere. Most of the time, she came down here to see if Colress was asleep again or check on him to see if he needed anything. One would be hard pressed to get the devoted scientist away from his research if he were focused entirely on it and that included basic human needs such as eating. Today however she was actively going to see a bit of the testing process. It couldn’t truly be called experimenting if the outcome of the tests were known, after all.

“The process in which we’ll be using is very humane, I assure you.” Colress continued, having been talking for awhile. “It’s just a few scans--Solosis won’t feel a thing.”

“I didn’t have any doubts it wouldn’t be safe.” Katherine responded. They rounded the corner toward the door that led into the lab.

The large metal door before them was shut tightly. Colress pressed a button and a holographic keypad came up. He entered the number in and the doors released, sliding open for the scientist and his partner. The duo walked in and the lab doors shut. Clutched in Katherine’s hands was Solosis, the small Pokemon letting out a trill. After starting up a computer that appeared to be connected to something similar to a device found in Pokemon Centers, Colress gestured to the circular shaped table. The surface flashed to signal its readiness, the machine awaiting its next command.

“Just place Solosis on that and we can get started.”

The Trainer nodded, walking over and setting the orb Pokemon down. It frowns, appearing displeased that it was no longer in Katherine’s arms. She stepped back and walked toward Colress, who was stationed next to the machine. He clicked a button on the keyboard and suddenly a glass covering enclosed Solosis on the table.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” Katherine demanded, panic setting in rapidly. Even more rapidly than she was prepared for. Memories of being shut in a glass case herself came rushing back when she saw the Solosis disappear from view. Unease settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Don’t worry, it’s just for scanning it. Usually Pokemon are in Poke Balls and those act as a cover themselves, but since Solosis isn’t, the table has to be covered.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “The Pokemon is okay, Katherine.”

She touched his hand with her left hand and nodded, though she didn’t look away from the machine.

“With a few of these keys, Solosis’ image should appear on the screen. Ah! There it is.”

Katherine jerked her head up in a very rigid movement, large worried eyes meeting the frustrated eyes of the Solosis. It was looking right at them, not happy about its current predicament. The unamused expression made Katherine feel a little bit better. Colress announcing what everything would do as he did it helped, too.

“It is quite the unhappy Pokemon when it’s not around you, isn’t it? Let’s see what the preliminary scan came back with.” The scientist tacked away on the keyboard, opening what appeared to be an overview profile. “Looks like we have level, nature, gender, and ability. It would appear Solosis is a male with the sassy nature. Can’t say that is surprising, given how he acts.”

“According to that computer, his ability is Magic Guard. Only level four? Seems a bit weak for maturity.”

“Maturity in power can come in all different forms of leveling. Besides, he’s still just a Solosis and given on his attitude I didn’t expect he was too much older than having been recently hatched. Solosis are generally speaking, clingy, but this one seems even clingier than that of regular Solosis.”

“Oh my Jirachi,” Katherine frowned, putting a hand to her mouth. “I ruined a family. I stole their kid!”

Colress chuckled, “I don’t think that’s quite what happened. It’s more likely that he wandered away from his family and then happened to follow you. Like… a Ducklett would impression on the first thing it sees, which is usually its mother. Though I have a hard time believing that a recently hatched Pokemon would get lost from its nest so quickly, which is why I say it had matured enough to wander away from home. Plus… Pokemon don’t typically have feelings like you or I. I doubt the mother of this Pokemon is worried beyond anything more than trying to spread strong offspring.”

There was actually another reason Colress had thought of as to why the Solosis was alone, but he’d rather not say it out loud. Not when Katherine was already on edge and planning on giving the Pokemon away. He pressed a few more buttons. A few more screens came up that Katherine really didn’t understand. She’d just have to take Colress’s word for whatever they meant. A lot of what appeared seemed to be moving graphs, heartbeat and an internal scan of Solosis. She stood beside Colress and looked at his facial expression as he looked up to the screen in studious silence. It was hard to tell, but something about him looked content.

“Solosis appears to be in peak physical condition! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with him.”

“That’s a relief. Can we get him out of that glass prison now?” Katherine hissed. It came out a little more toxic than she intended, but Colress understood.

“In a minute. I just want to look at his move set. Aaaand, you still need to think of a name for him! He can’t be nameless all his life, Katherine.”

“For the LAST time…”

“Yes, yes. I know,” Colress stopped typing and put up his hands to do quotations. “‘You’re not keeping him.’.”

The Trainer rolled her eyes and watched as Solosis’ move set came up. It knew Psywave and Reflect. Not bad for such a small Pokemon--Reflect would help it well.

“There you have it. Psywave and Reflect. I can transfer this information to my gauntlets so that once your Rotomdex comes back from the shop, I can in turn transfer the information to it, if you’d like. Keeping track of this stuff will be imperative for training and leveling.” He turned to face her and leaned back on the console. “But, I’m sure you already knew that.”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely need that. Seeing as my Rotomdex has all the other information about my Pokemon on it.”

Colress turned back around, typing in a few more commands. The screens turned off and the glass rose up above the Solosis. The Pokemon immediately floated to Katherine and demanded her attention. She was actually pretty happy to see him. The last time something came out of a glass case, it had been broken beyond repair. Then, as if a lightbulb went off, she narrowed her eyes to Colress.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself? I’m not--”

“--going to give Solosis to Aether? Sounds like a grand plan, Kitten.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“You keep saying that,” Colress replied as he walked past, making sure most things were in sleep mode or shut down. “but I have to say, I really don’t believe you. I don’t think you have the heart to give him up. Or, rather, the lack thereof.”

As he began to walk out, she followed him with a glare.

“I’ll just have to PROVE myself then.”