Some Things Just Can't Be Understood

"Sorry about all this. I brought you here for fun, but this world does have some serious problems as well," Maple said, wrapping one arm around her. "I should have told you all this beforehand."

"Its okay. Being around sad people makes me sad." Pheobie asked

"I'll try to be happier then," answered Maple. He used his free hand to pull his mouth up into a smile.

Pheobie gave him a small smile.

"Here you are," said Professor Oak as he walked into the room with a small red machine. "Your very own Pokedex. It provides you with information anytime you scan a Pokemon. It also keeps track of what Pokemon you have caught."

"Okay" Pheobie accepted it. "Thank you"

"You're welcome," replied Professor Oak. "I wish you luck on your journey."

"Thanks" Pheobie smiled

Maple's GS rang. He pulled out his earbuds and mouthpiece and listened. "Okay. Thanks. We'll be back in a minute."

He turned to Pheobie. "That's the lab guys letting us know the ship is fixed."

"Okay. We still have to go to that other place" Pheobie reminded lightly

"Leaving again so soon?" asked Oak.

"Yeah. This isn't the only place I have to work on," replied Maple. "Sorry to have such rotten timing."

Oak shook his head. "This happened several months ago. Anytime after that would have been bad timing."

"Good luck" Pheobie murmured sincerely

"Thank you," Professor Oak answered sincerely.

"Sorry that we couldn't stay longer," said Maple, looking around. "Now where did Ka-"

"Zam," barked Ka, appearing right in front of Maple and nearly causing him to fall backward in surprise.

"...Stop doing that," grumbled Maple. "Ready to go Pheobie?"

Pheobie nodded, standing as well.

"Then off we go!" announced Maple, as Ka teleported them back to the Cinnabar lab.

Pheobie blinked in surprise. "I'll never get used to that."

"You will if you teleport constantly," replied Maple, going forward only to walk into a support beam. "...Though it does mess up your spatial perception some."

Pheobie burst into giggles "A-Are you okay?" she snorted

"Yeah, nothing I haven't done before," Maple answered. "Corruption can mess with perception too, so if you start walking into things for no reason you might want to check on that. Anyway...where is everybody anyway? I guess they're down with the ship or something."

"Okay" Pheobie smiled sadly at the mention of corruption. "Let's go and say our goodbyes I guess"

Maple headed downstairs, and sure enough that was where most of the people were. It looked like they had a party set up.

"Hey, look who finally got here," called Bob. "We were about to start your coming-back feast without you."

"What?" Pheobie asked cluelessly. "What's that?"

"A feast you set up to celebrate somebody coming home," Maple explained. "Though you might as well call this the going-away feast, since we'll have to leave shortly."

"What? But you just got here!" said Bob.

"I know. It sucks. My boss sucks," Maple answered. "But never mind that. Let's just eat."

Pheobie moved over and sat in an unoccupied chair.

Maple was just cutting himself a piece of cheesecake as other coworkers spread out to other parts of the food table. "Aren't you hungry Pheobie?"