[X] My Assistant

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Once they were all safely out of the potential drowning situation, Justin's pokemon walked/waddled (Tyrogue and Bonsly, respectively - Nincada was still in her ball) over to his legs. "You guys were so awesome. Thanks for saving us." He held his fist out to Tyrogue, who followed suit by punching Justin's fist lightly. Then he rubbed the green branch things on Bonsly's head and turned to Pan.

"I appreciate you saving my life, Miss Pan," he said with a smile. "We're even." He didn't mention it, but he had also stolen a gold nugget from the historical landmark he was trying so hard to preserve. It was just one little piece though. Larry was trying to destroy the whole damn thing. So he didn't feel too bad. He did feel bad enough to not say anything at all to Pan.

She thankfully agreed about heading back, and they did so after some questioning and official nonsense. Lots of paper signing and Larry was going to jail. Hopefully the site would also be preserved.

Which brings us to breakfast at the Green Dragonite. He got himself a stack of three pancakes, plenty of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage and a chicken fried steak with cream gravy. The man was hungry. He was perfectly willing to pay for the whole thing, especially given his newfound toy, but Pan insisted, and that worked for him. However, he still had to be polite about it.

"No," he said. "I can't let you pay for me. I got way too much food." She insisted and finally he allowed her to win. Not like he actually wanted to win that argument anyway.

"So," he continued before fully swallowing a mouthful of pancakes. "What's your plan now? Go back to Petropolis to turn in those artifacts you found? If so, we could probably head back together. That's where I live after all."

[Toogee]

“Actually, I’m staying in town to take care of a few things,” Pan replied to Justin. “I’ll turn the fossils in through the computer. From there, it all depends on what the professor wants me to do next.”

As her pokemon finished their meals, Pan returned all of them back into their pokeballs. She then released her new cleffa Lima and presented her with her own bowl of sliced mushrooms. Lima, however, was far more interested in the feast Justin had ordered for himself. The tiny creature started licking her lips at the sight of the meats and pancakes; she would have climbed across the table to them if it weren’t for Pan.

“No no, eat your own food,” she said, placing Lima into her lap. Though the cleffa obliged and started eating the food offered, she never took her eyes off of Justin’s plate. Luckily, the two were alone on the outside terrace, so the cleffa wouldn't go after other patrons' meals.

Lima was starting to like her new human. Of course, all it took was to offer her a good meal and she would have happily followed anyone, especially the man in front of her. All that yummy food…

Pan stared out towards the view. They were on the ground level of the town, so she had a good view of the busy activity around town, particularly those getting on and off the elevator.

“What about you?” Pan asked Justin. “I guess you have to get back soon. Let me know when; I’ll walk with you to the elevator.”

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"Not that soon," Justin replied, pulling his plate a little closer to himself. If the cleffa did happen to dart across the table towards his food, it was not like he was going to actually defend it. Pan paid for it, after all and smacking her new rare and fragile pokemon around was not a healthy way of saying "thank you,"

"I don't start back at work again until next week," The thought of it would have made him lose his appetite if he weren't so damn hungry. Like he'd been doing every few minutes since he grabbed the nugget, he let his fingers rest on it in his pocket, just to make sure it was still there. This would not be an effective ticket to living life unemployed, but maybe it could get him started on a better path, one that didn't require 55 hour workweeks. "But I'm thinking about putting in my two weeks notice anyway. Maybe I'll go back to school or something."

I'd be lying if I didn't say the "or something" Justin mentioned was professional thievery. Something so simple as grabbing something that didn't technically belong to him which was worth thousands? It made him giddy. And you do not want to see a large, muscular man giddy. Trust me. Especially when it comes to breaking the law. That was another thing he did not mention to Pan.

"Anyway," he continued, downing his last bit of steak, "I guess I should go back to get started on my new life, huh? I think I'm ready to head back."

They talked a little on the way back to the elevator, but it was pretty close to the Green Dragonite, so there wasn't much of it. When they did finally arrive, Justin held out his right hand. "I appreciate you letting me tag along, and saving my life. I hope I wasn't too useless in this whole ordeal."

"Anyway, it was really great to meet you. We should keep in touch?"

[Toogee]

After paying the bill, Pan walked with Justin to the elevator, her chubby cleffa tottering on her other side (she needed to start some sort of exercise regiment).

“Well, if nothing else, you at least have a good story to tell your girl back home,” Pan said. “And thank you for all of your help. If it weren’t for you jumping on that machine thing, I might have had a new hole in me.”

She laughed at what could have been a very serious injury. Needless to say, Justin played a big role in her adventure. This wasn’t even counting the time he helped her dig up the old amber.

“Cleffa Cleffa Cleffa!”

Lima felt that she wasn’t getting enough attention from the other humans. Pan picked her up, holding the pokemon in one arm. Rather than shake his hand, her other arm wrapped around Justin’s back in a “half-hug”. This also served to allow Pan to slip her e-mail and blog site into Justin’s pocket.

“Good luck on your school…or something,” Pan said smiling. “I really hope it works out.”

She stood for a while to watch Justin ascend back to the surface. Once he disappeared into the darkness, Pan turned her attention to Lima. The cleffa was busy sucking the last morsels of food from her fingers, only turning to Pan when the human held her with both hands.

“I think it’s time for you to meet the rest of the crew.”

The two headed for the pokemon center for a formal introduction to the team. Pan had a ton of other work to do: filling in the professor on her findings and the incident in the temple as well as return Zulu back to Darryn. After all of that was over, perhaps a nap was in order.

It had been a long couple of days.

In the back of the police van, Larry pondered on how he would get out of this mess. His rash plan to get rid of the witnesses didn’t quite pan out. Somehow, the authorities found out about the activity underground. He wondered which of his underlings ratted him out.

The van started to slow; they must have arrived at police headquarters. It was about time; the trip seemed to have taken forever to get there. When the pair of officers escorted him out, Larry found himself in the middle of nowhere. A vast desert encompassed the entire landscape, with no landmarks in sight. The only other living things around (besides Larry and the officers) were a man entirely clad in black and his alakazam close behind him.

The man wore a heavy wool trench coat, buttoned up shirt, a pair of dress pants, and a pair of leather shoes. His face was hidden under a fedora and a ski mask with no eyeholes. Considering he was entirely drenched in black, one would think the man would be quite uncomfortable out in the blazing heat. He showed no signs of such discomfort as he walked over to inspect Larry.

It was clear the authorities did not apprehend Larry, for he was staring at his boss.

“Hey, thanks for the bailout, Boss,” Larry smiled.

“You are to refer to me by my name and title: Lord Deimos.” A robotic voice emerged from the cocoon to utter Deimos’s commands. Larry cringed at the sound. It was the scariest voice had ever heard come forth from a human being.

“Yes, milord,” Larry said, fixing his attitude. “Did you recover our find?”

“Indeed I did. All of the artifacts are in our possession. Most importantly, the Red Orb is now within the hands of our master.”

“So, I suppose I did pretty good job,” Larry smiled. He was really hoping for a raise.

“Good job? Not at all” The robotic voice was somehow able to convey anger, despite being quite monotone.

“You had witnesses Larry. Rather than follow protocol, you decided to try to kill them. Need I remind you that, within our circles, murder is the last resort? Did you not have fake documentation? Had you done what was necessary, your witnesses would have gone away by themselves without a hint of suspicion.”

“Look, it was a long night, a lot of stress to meet the deadline, and theses two brats showed up.”

Larry tried numerous excuses, but Deimos ignored him as he approached the pair of fake officers.

“What do they know?”

One of the officers took off his hat to wipe the beads of sweat off his forehead. He then delivered his report, based on the questioning given to Pan and Justin.

“They suspect that Larry and his crew were treasure hunters looking for artifacts under the guise of water drilling. They knew something significant was in the area, but also believed that the police recovered the artifacts and all members of the operation were arrested.”

“However,” the second officer continued, “one of the witnesses, a girl by the name of Pandora Gibbs, was under the employ of the Petropolis Museum. Should she tell them of what happened, the museum may ask local authorities about the artifacts. The truth will likely come out, though our identity remains hidden.”

“And by then, our operations will have left the area long ago. Well done.”

Deimos then turned back to Larry, who seemed to have a smug look on his face.

“I want a raise,” he asked Deimos.

“For what I must ask?”

“For hazard pay. I have to deal with all these kids sneaking around! Plus, you can’t fire me or I’ll squeal about everything. About the real organization at work, all the bases hidden across Furoh, and about your master. I’m sure there’s more than a few people who want to hear that story.”

Deimos stood still, seemingly glaring at the victorious scowl of Larry. He remained in position even as this scowl turned into a horrified gasp as two brown hands grasped Larry’s head. As if mixing up a Rubik’s cube, the alakazam used his psychic abilities to jumble his subject’s mind. All his memories were lost within his own mind: They were broken into several pieces, each piece being randomly placed in a different portion of Larry’s mind. Even for a psychic pokemon of his calibur, putting Larry’s mind back together would be the equivalent of working on a jigsaw puzzle, in which all the pieces were microscopic and of the same color. When the alakazam released his grip, Larry fell onto the sand in a state of shock, laying in a fetal position. He mumbled incoherently as Deimos knelt down to the former grunt.

“You know nothing, Larry.”

Deimos and his alakazam climbed into the back of the van. The fake officers went back to their front seats and drove off, leaving Larry to deal with the desert in addition to his lost mind.

Their efforts remained under Deception.

“Larry knows nothing… Larry knows nothing … Larry knows nothing …”

End of RP