Samuel had arrived at the their preselected meeting spot earlier than expected and had decided to buy himself a cup of tea for the wait, the café he was in was the same one he had visited with Anya before, the one where she tried to teach the owner's Persian to read.
He was quietly sitting on a windowed seat trying to take small sips of the hot beverage, while also keeping an eye out for Anya.
He found himself liking this particular place, the atmosphere was calm and serene, with the added benefit of allowing Pokémon inside as long as they were well behaved and could fit without causing a disturbance, they were allowed.
Looking around the place caused his lips to curve into a small smile as all around him, other trainers were socializing with their Pokémon, a boy with a Pidgey there, a girl feeding a Rattata here, it reminded Samuel how things used to be when he was a child himself.
Now, Indigo was healing and he hoped that the next ten years would close all of the wounds that caused the discrimination of Pokémon.
Samuel could see it in his mind, how Pokémon were allowed to stay outside of their Poké balls inside the restaurants, his mind fixated on Anya, of how she could bridge the relations between Human and Pokémon, her surprising knowledge and helpful nature had the capability to flip the world upside down.
Samuel had noticed a lot of things about Anya, how she knew things she shouldn't know, how she kept some things deeply hidden, he had seen how she struggled to limit herself for some reason.
At first Samuel was curious as to why Anya would even want money for her information, a common Pokémon shouldn't really know the intricate value of money, well, Anya was anything but common, she was unique. So unique in fact that it scares him sometimes, now he just doesn't really care, he finds Anya's company nice and refreshing.
A nudge to Samuel's side, the Café's Persian, Persimmon nuzzling on his leg trying to get his attention, Samuel snapped out of his thoughts as his attention went to the Persian, he was so lost in thought that he actually missed Anya arriving in front of the place.
Noticing Anya arriving, a frown made its way to Samuel's mouth, something was wrong with Anya, he could tell, the miniscule differences on her persona itself, having spent a long while trying to understand his friend, he has learned many ques on how she felt.
"Oh, I better get going" he said to Persian as he hurriedly got up from his seat.
Leaving the Café the bell on the door giving a soft melodic chime along with farewell from the owner, he met up with Anya outside.
"Hey, ready to go?"
He said, snapping Anya out of her thoughts, her posture still felt off to Samuel
"Everything okay?".
Anya gave him a sigh, she couldn't really explain anything to him, not here, not without a typewriter.
Often had she found herself extremely annoyed by the lack of easy communication, this was one of those times. She could just rant out loud and make her mood known, but she knew that would not help at all, at worst it might make things worse, by causing Samuel to misunderstand some things.
Samuel gave a nervous chuckle, something about Anya's gaze gave him chills.
"Want to go home? or do you still want to do something now that we are still here. I do have the day off from work" after pondering for a while Anya gave an affirmative chirp along with a nod to signal Samuel that she was ready to go home.
Quick teleport later, they were in front of the laboratory. Something purplish appeared by the second floor window, Anya's lips curved into a smile as she saw Faesol sitting by the window looking at their direction.
Faesol was reminding Anya of her childhood pet, an orange cat named Cinnamon who used to watch out the window every time she came back home, somehow being able to know when she would be back.
"Well, would you look at that" Samuel gave out a good natured laugh, trying to further ease the mood.
"I'm not yet sure what to do with all of this space, I wish I could just hire some people, but I don't really have much to work with yet" Samuel said while they went past the mostly empty laboratory.
"[Yeah, just send 10 year old kids to gather data in the wild and have them deliver a report every now and then about their growing bonds with their Pokémon]" Anya said sarcastically, while trailing behind him.
"Huh, that is an odd tone you have there, can't really place it, something deriving? Sarcastic perhaps, yes, sarcastic" Samuel said, deciphering what Anya had said easily, a small testament to his skills as a professor.
He sighed "You don't make this easy, you are smart enough to not voice out anything as I can't understand Pokémon, but it goes both ways, the more you talk, the more reference I have to work with, understanding tones and meanings while missing the more intricate details. You communicate with-" He said while suddenly stopping at the first step of the stairs.
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"Wait, wait a minute" he had an epiphany "How come you know words" he said in all seriousness as he turned towards Anya. "Well, that came out bad, let me rephrase and give it context first." he said soon after.
"What I mean is that we know that Pokémon understand Human speech, the meaning of the words we speak or at least they can deduce the meaning to follow simple orders from a trainer, that is a known fact, but to understand words, that is a whole different realm of ability itself. Why haven't I noticed it before?"
Anya looking back at Samuel, she didn't want to deal with this right now, but unfortunately the person stopped in front of him was blocking the stairway.
Still she had to agreed that Samuel made a good point. She has not met any other Pokémon that could either.
Shrugging and indicating to Samuel that she doesn't know the answer to that question herself, a little white lie amongst the countless others she had given.
"Oh, alright then" he said, his mood a bit deflated.
Casually giving Samuel a poke to the side, trying to remind him that he is currently blocking the stairway and she would like him move.
"What?" he said, to which Anya pointed past him. Clearly wanting to go upstairs. "Seems like I have been blocking the stairs for a while, huh".
"[Oh really]".
In the living room, after a refreshing shower, Anya was sitting by the typewriter wearing a fresh set of clothes, trying to put into words about the conversation she had with Giovanni earlier today to inform Samuel. She groaned, maybe she should just be direct, she thought.
She wrote GIOVANNI OFFERED ME A JOB AND I PLAN ON ACCEPTING before crumbling the paper yet again, there hasn't really been a time where she was so out of words, countless crumbled papers littered the floor.
Samuel was passing through the living room while casually just picked up one of the crumbled papers and straightened it out. He let out an audible hmm, before commenting "I, see. Giovanni seems to have gotten his hands on you too, huh"
Anya lost in her mind only noticed Samuel after he was done cleaning up the paper from the floor and leaned over her to see what she was writing at the moment. Surprised, she let out an uncharacteristic yelp, the sudden noise woke up Faesol, who was casually napping on the sofa.
"I do not see the reason why you are struggling with this, it is just a job offer. Giovanni is an upstanding Kantonian and the company he is running is successful, I am more annoyed that you would even need a job in the first place."
After calming herself her eyes met Samuel's. "[If only you knew]" she said with a sigh.
"Well, seeming that you are this torn about the whole thing, it might shed some light to the situation if you would tell me about the meeting with Giovanni"
Another sigh later, Anya prepared herself and soon started to type on the typewriter.
THE WHOLE MEETING STARTED WITH ME ENTERING HIS OFFICE
THERE I WAS DIRECTED TO A CUSTOM MADE CHAIR AND A TYPEWRITER COMBINATION
THEY GOT THE BACKREST OF THE CHAIR SO THAT MY ABDOMEN WOULD NOT GET IN THE WAY
I TRIED TO DO BUSINESS WITH HIM AND WAS EASILY OUTCLASSED
DO NOT KNOW WHY I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED LESS
I AM GOING TO NEED YOUR HELP IF I END UP WORKING FOR GIOVANNI
Reading the last part gave Samuel an odd sense of foreboding, something in that sentence was making him uneasy.
"So, what do you need me for?" he asked cautiously
Anya noticing Samuel's tone, gave him a look before continuing to type.
I PROMISE TO STAY IN CONTACT WITH YOU
INITIALLY YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING SPECIFIC
I WILL LEAVE YOU ANOTHER OF THOSE LETTERS, WHERE THERE IS A CONDITION TO OPEN
THIS ONE IS IN CASE I LOSE CONTACT WITH YOU
WE CAN SET UP THE DETAILS LATER
"Why would you need something like that?" Samuel asked, trying to get a clarification from Anya. "This would suggest that something suspicious is going on with Giovanni and his business. Why couldn't I just read the message before if you know something".
Samuel's mind was drawing all kinds of wild ideas about Giovanni right now, embezzlement, tax evasion, but the one thing that gave him pause was that Anya still wanted to work for Giovanni.
"You aren't doing this to get a proof of anything illegal, I hope" he said, soon he got an answer from Anya
NO. THIS IS FOR INSURANCE, THERE ARE NO LAWS FOR POKEMON WORKING A JOB
NOR THERE IS ANY LAWS AGAINST IT
I HAVE NOTHING TO PROTECT MYSELF LEGALLY WITH
THE LETTER WILL CONTAIN SOME SENSITIVE INFORMATION, THAT IS BETTER LEFT UNREAD
IN CASE NOTHING HAPPENS
Still not exactly understanding the exact reasoning he decided to trust his friend. Before he could say anything to her, she was already typing more.
THE INFORMATION COULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO THE PROGRESSION OF FATE
THIS MIGHT BE A BIT SELFISH, BUT I AM NOT SACRIFICING MYSELF FOR THE WORLD
As noble things as that might be, Anya didn't want to lose her life.
"Woah, woah, woah, where did this all come from. I was going to leave this conversation a moment ago, but now I just can not anymore. This seems a bit more serious than I would have liked." he sighed steeling himself for the next part of the conversation.
"What do you know about fate?" he asked pointedly, hoping to avoid the conversation
NOTHING PRECISE, BUT ANSWER ME THIS ONE THING PLEASE
YOU NEED TO BE TRUTHFUL WITH ME
WHEN YOU WERE TEN DID OR DID YOU NOT HAVE AN ADVENTURE WITH CELEBI?
How does she know was the first thing that popped into his mind as he read through the paper. Her gaze locked on him, she was expecting an answer.
Samuel's mind whirred with action, countless scenarios played in his head, trying to decipher the meaning, has she seen his old sketchbook, if she had, then she wouldn't have to ask the question.
"Yes, yes I did. I would like to know how you know about this, I haven't told anyone nor do I plan to do in the future"
THANK YOU FOR BEING HONEST WITH ME, THIS MEANS A LOT TO ME
I HAVE AN APPROXIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF A POSSIBLE FUTURE
I WASN'T SURE HOW MUCH OF IT IS TRUE, IF AT ALL
NOW I KNOW AT LEAST SOMETHING MATCHES WITH WHAT I KNOW
SO I WILL HAVE TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS
Sudden feeling of vulnerability caught Anya off guard as she had finished writing, somehow she felt exposed, she has given Samuel one of her secrets and she wasn't sure if this was the correct decision, only time will tell.
"This" the word flew out of Samuel's mouth as he read the paper, Anya could hear the disbelief in his voice. They both stood in silence for a while, Anya was hanging her head low and Samuel was deep in thought.
"Somehow, this doesn't help at all" He finally said after a while.
"This just doesn't make any sense, of all the things, the information I had collected about you, knowing the future makes the least sense, it doesn't give you the ability to read or write nor does it directly explain the knowledge you possess either, at least in my understanding of foresight or in your case foreknowledge" He continued.
"Then you must be a time traveler, that would explain most of this" Samuel was quite confident in his statement. "Somewhere in the future, you had learned how to read and write in Unown script, I can see it now, it all comes together in my mind."
With an audible ding from the typewriter everything he was thinking about came to a halt as the next thing he read was a firm and simple NO from Anya.
"So no for being a time traveler?" he asked Anya, who confirmed with a nod. She started typing again and Samuel calmly waited for her to finish.
LIKE READING A BOOK IN A VERY REALISTIC DREAM
STORY ABOUT THE WORLD AND WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FUTURE
AS YOU HAD SAID, YOU HAD MET CELEBI WHEN YOU WERE TEN, THIS WAS IN THE BOOK
Changing the origins of her foreknowledge proved to be challenging to Anya as she struggled to put everything she wanted to say into words meant for Samuel.
She could not just say that her knowledge came from watching a cartoon on the television, the simplest solution she had was to change the show into a book and saying it was a dream was a way to hide her true origin and she was not sure how Samuel would react is she told him that she came from an another world.
"Okay, I'll have a lot to think about, we will continue this conversation later, right now, I am having a headache so massive that I can not think even straight anymore" Samuel said while rubbing his forehead, he soon left the living room and went back downstairs.
Anya saw Samuel leaving and noticed that her immediate vicinity was littered with paper, she decided to erase all of the previous conversation, only when there was not even a scrap of paper left she felt she was done.
