Timeline of Errors

Part 1 - Assistant Director of the Pokemon Association

I stopped in front of a two-stories building with a pair of red wooden arches adorning its entrance. A wooden sign was nailed to the wooden doorframe, etched with Japanese katakana saying 'Restaurant'. With a hand on the slide door, I slid it open to reveal a restaurant with white polished marbles walls. Most of the customers inside the restaurant were sitting around a big conveyor belt extending from one side of the room to the other, except for a few who hung around the noodle bar on the right-hand side. I made my way towards the right corner of the restaurant and sat down in an empty chair, right underneath a big fan where no one was around. As I always do. The corner is the best spot in the whole restaurant, where I can eat without any disturbance.

"Ah, Val, you're here," said one of the employee, "what can I get you today?"

I turned to the direction the voice was coming from and instantly recognised the employee. The girl with back-length cool brown hair and big round glasses called Lucy. She used to be my neighbour, but she moved away to the Sinnoh mainland about ten years ago. Recently, however, I started meeting her again because she just always happened to be around when I came for lunch, working as a part-timer.

"Umm... anything new?" I asked.

"Well, we started adding soba to the menu," she said and put down a menu on the table in front of me, "there's quite a demand for soba these days. Our store's expanding, more customers, more menu, more employees..."

"I see..." I said and looked at the menu.

"In addition..." she said as she leaned closer to me, "a guy with similar hairstyle with Yaotome Gaku,"

"Haha really?" I asked.

"I'm serious! He's really good-looking! And working on a noodle shop too! Totally your type, right?" she asked, smiling from ear to ear, "come by an hour or two later, that's around the time he starts working,"

"Nah, I prefer the real Yaotome Gaku. A humble soba man just doesn't hold a candle to the real deal," I said with a forced chuckle, "and I'll just go with today's special,"

"Alright, then..." she said and scribbled my order on a piece of paper, "anything else?"

"Nah, I'm good," I said and shook my head.

"Sure. Ten minutes, Val," she said, "and never mind what I said before. That new guy's a total jerk - good-looking, sure. But nobody likes him here. Just thought you'll smile at the idea,"

I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. Lucy smiled back as she turned on her heels, leaving my table. As soon as she did, I opened my bag and found my brand new white Pokegear sitting on top of the pile of stuff inside my bag. I quickly took it out and checked for new messages. Sure enough, there was plenty of them.

"Permission granted. We could start building tomorrow,"

"Do you have any particular trainer you want to invite?"

"Should we invite the gym leaders overseas too?"

I quickly replied to each of them. Before I knew it, a bowl of noodles in piping hot soup with boiled eggs and seaweed was placed in front of me. I looked up to see Lucy ticking the receipt that was plastered on the side of my table.

"Oh, thanks," I said.

"No problem. Miss assistant director sure is busy today," she said and smiled.

"Haha... well, I have a new project coming up... we plan to build a theatre in the northern island where the battle frontier is," I said, "I think it'll accommodate more kinds of hobbies, this time for people who like performing with Pokémon. And since Unova has had a theatre for a similar purpose for ages, we're working closely with stakeholders from Unova as well..."