"Blip! Blip! Blip!.... Blip! Blip! Blip!...."
Alexander reached for his phone on his belt, recognising the number he answered.
"Yes! Jennifer! This had better be good! I'm more than a little busy here!" Rather impatiently he spoke to his personal assistant. She was sat some several thousand miles away in an office being paid far too much a day to do far too little.
"Harry called, said he wanted to talk to you, something..." Jennifer began to speak in her usual slow manner, which really ticked Alex off. He was only half listening to her.
"So Harry called." Alex interrupted, summarizing the conversation so far."Wants to talk. Tell him I'll talk next week when I'm back!"
"Well..." Jennifer started.
"Well! What?!" Alexander yelled down the phone.
"He's already on his way out to you." Replied Jennifer with a sigh of exasperation.
"Right!" Alex yelled down the phone so he could get on with some real work. He examined the stone door some twenty meters in front of him. It had only been discovered earlier this morning after careful examination of the south-east corner of the ruins revealed a concealed passage way. Beyond which was a stone door engraved with a number of glyphs, much of Alexander's morning had been consumed scrambling about the chamber searching for a way to open the door. So far he hadn't been able to make any progress towards opening the door.
"Mr. Marsh," A Hoenn man beside him began to speak. "what do we do now?"
"Firstly it's Thornmarsh!" Alexander began to say with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Then he gave the man a simple instruction. "Get the dynamite! Blow the door!"
"Mr. Thornmarsh!" A rather short Hoenn man stepped forwards. "The Hoenn heritage preservation council hasn't permitted the use of explosives on this site. May I remind you that it is an offence to damage any part of this ruin!"
"Pipe down pipsqueak! Your fund will be compensated for any losses!" Alexander said to the official, doing little to comfort him. "Let's get this door down pronto!" He ordered his men. Then turning back to the official he said. "You may want to stand back just a bit for this." He wrapped his arm around the man and forcefully walked him outside. The Hoenn desert sun glared down on the two men as they emerged from the ruins, a mild wind blew across the open sands. The sound of an approaching helicopter could be heard in the distance.
"Now if you'll excuse me I have business to attend to." Alex said composing himself and leaving the official behind.
"Boom!" There was a loud explosion from inside the ruins that made the official cringe before running back inside.
"Harry!" Alex greeted an ageing and somewhat overweight gentleman who was climbing down from the recently landed helicopter. "It's so nice to see you again!"
"Alex!" The old man took his hand with out asking and embraced the younger man. Alex was rather annoyed at being called Alex. No one called him Alex. " That's uncle Harry to you son! I've got some important news for you! A very big opportunity has opened up! I'm sure that you will be very interested when you have to hear what I have to say!"
"Not another wild Farfetch'd chase of yours! I hope not it's not. As you can see here," Alex said waving his arms around himself at the camp. "I've got quite a good thing going here." Alex approached a tent holding the flap open so Harry could walk inside. "Drink?" Alex offered his friend a drink of liqueur. Harry nodded, so Alex poured some whiskey into a couple of glasses. He walked over to Harry, who was stood next to a table and handed him the drink. "So what's all this about Harry?"
"Pandora!" Harry almost yelled in excitement, giving a hearty laugh.
"If I didn't know how brilliant you are Harry, I would way you were crazy. Pandora is nothing but a children's story. I should know I spent long enough searching for it."
"I knew you would say that!" Harry laughed, drawing a folder out from under his arm. "Before we talk any more. I want five percent of everything you find." He opened the folder and pulled out a satellite image of an island, handing it to Alex.
"Is this real!?" Alex said in disbelief, feeling a rush of excitement that he hadn't had since he was a child. He studied the map again. "This is real!" He raised his glass. "To Pandora?"
"To Pandora! And the riches it hides!" Harry toasted before taking a swig of his drink.
**
Several hours later Harry had finished informing Alex of all he would need to know and was ready to depart. The two quickly said their goodbye's before Harry departed in his helicopter.
"Jennifer!" Alex yelled into his phone. "Get me a flight back to Kanto! And find out where I can meet Jude Laughner!"
"How should I find out where Mr. Laughner will be?" Jennifer asked, she needed have.
"You know I don't care how you find out information for me! I know you can do it and I don't ask any questions! So do your job and find out!"
**
One week later.
"So this is the place?" Alex asked Jennifer through his phone.
"Yes. Mr. Laughner has a dinner reservation there for 1:30 today." Jennifer replied, to Alex who put down his phone without thanking her. But she had had gotten used to it by now.
Alex walked inside the fancy restaurant, standing out quite a bit in his usual attire. He walked straight past the waiters who tried to stop him. He already had an idea what Jude looked like from photographs he had seen of him. Once he had located Jude he went over to introduce himself.
"Mr. Laughner. It's very nice too meet you sir." Alex was doing his best to be polite but it wasn't easy. Jude was eating a steak but he humoured Alex placing his knife and fork down and finishing his mouthful.
"Sit down, is this about Pandora?" Jude said gesturing to an empty chair opposite him. "So what's your name?"
"Alexander Lance Thornmarsh, sir." Alex said.
"Oh, so you know Harry then!" Jude seemed a little surprised. "He has spoken about you in the past, I knew your father. Well then I appreciate your gusto for coming to me directly. I'll negotiate a deal with you but do remember that friends are powerful allies." Jude said giving a knowing wink. "Now shall we get down to business. I can give you supplies and equipment for a trip to Pandora, but I have to be reassured that my investment will be repaid."
"I understand that, sir. I am willing to negotiate your share of my finds." Alex said smiling with confidence.
"Oh. I think you misunderstand me, Mr. Thornmarsh. I'm not open to negotiations. My cut will be fifty percent, what I am asking of you is to convince me that you are worthy of this opportunity." Which got rid of the smirk on Alex's face, Jude noticed this. "If you've got a problem with this then the door is right over there. But if you're going to go it alone, as it were, then you've got to convince me of your talents yourself."
"No problem sir." If he was required to kiss a$$ for this opportunity then Alex would. The opportunity to explore Pandora would be more than worth the humiliation of grovelling. Still Alex was reluctant to do that unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn't want to look weak now did he. He took a deep breath before talking. "Throughout my career I have sought treasure in no less than ten regions, form which I have gained hands on knowledge of twenty seven different ancient civilizations. Aside from that I have consulted on an innumerable list of projects, including but not limited to classifying artefacts for the Pewter City museum and other such organizations. Working in the field has given me experience in survival and tracking."
"Enough," Jude said calmly. "What experience do you have with Pokemon?"
"I can ride a Rapidash or other quadruped. And have enough experience tracking, hunting and defending myself against them. Any Pokemon that gets in my way finds a lump of lead wedged in it sooner rather than later." Alex said regaining his confidence.
"I see." Was Jude's only reply, which disturbed Alex. For a minute Jude though on the matter leaving Alex to stand idle. This bothered Alex, as he was used to being in charge and having to wait around while Jude ignored him was rather annoying, to say the least. Being stressed Alex began to grind his teeth. "I accept you onto this project."
"Thank you sir." Alex said smiling as politely as he could manage, he was about to turn to leave but was stopped by Jude coughing.
"Mr. Thornmarsh, before you go I want you to take this." Jude said placing a Pokeball on the table.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't work with Pokemon!" Alex said pushing the ball back into Jude's hand.
"I insist." Jude said handing the ball back to Alex who took it if only to prevent causing his employer any upset.
**
Later that day Alex was in his flat packing for his trip.
"Jennifer! What are you doing in here!?" Alex said dropping a pile of clothes as he jumped in surprise.
"You gave me a key so that I could clean while you were away. I came to see you off. Ohhh!" She said spotting the Pokeball on Alex's bed. "You got a Pokemon, can I see it? Please!"
"Go ahead!" Alex said picking up his clothes and shoving them into his case. "The snivelling thing won't stop crying!" He added as Jennifer released the Cubchoo onto the bed.
"Aww! It's so cute!" Jennifer said, tickling it's chin.
"If you like it so much you can keep it!" Alex yelled as he took his gun and knife out of his draw and placed them in his case.
"But it's your Pokemon?" Jennifer said looking at Alex sternly, you have to look after it.
"You know I don't work with Pokemon!"
There was a loud banging at the door.
"Alex I know your in there! Open up!" Came Harry's angry voice. Alex walked over and answered the door. "What do you think your playing at! Going behind my back on this! Your father would be ashamed of you!" Harry barged into the room.
"Oh so it's OK for my father and you to go gallivanting of halfway around the world with out me but not for me to cut out the middle man." Alex said quite calmly, for which Harry slapped him round the face.
"Don't make this about your father! Anthony was a good man! And you would do well to show some gratitude for my taking you in after his passing!" Harry said, Alex was about to reply with another argument but Harry simply held up a hand. He turned and walked away.
"Harry!" Jennifer yelled as she chased after him giving Alex a stern look. By the time Jennifer returned Alex was gone and he hadn't left a note. She had to let herself in to check if he had noticed...
**
Alex was aboard the boat to Pandora and was feeling somewhat bored so he decided to clean his gun. He took out his case and opened it. He searched for the heavy metal of his gun but he couldn't find it. He searched for his knife too but that was missing. What he did find was a Pokeball and he knew exactly who had put it there. Jennifer...