[Pokemon World] Mage Quest

Three of them hand over different colored markers, one of them a metallic permanent marker.

Meanwhile, Nick and Slope notice FLOWER springing towards them!
"Ohey FLOWER! You did incredible on stage earlier! Have you seen HAZEL?"

"Ah, got it." Nick says out loud in understanding.
Meanwhile Slope just has a warm vacant stare, as usual.

Suddenly, the front door opens, and a man with a labcoat and rather strong legs walks in.
He smiles fondly at the scene before him.
"Heh, some things never change."

One of the fans, having just gotten HAZEL'S autograph on their elbow, notices the new guy.
"...Professor Alder?!"

"Please, call me Kyle. My father was Professor Alder."

Nick looks over at him. Is that... Is that the same Kyle Alder that could have been their friendly rival if things went as before?
He must still ride his bike a lot, from the looks of it.

"What brings you here? Don't you have like, professor stuff to do?" the random fan asks.

"Funny you ask that. Work's been called off until a new batch of starter ditto can be found. The ones that were supposed to be handed out went missing!"

"This place still has ditto as the starter pokemon?" Nick asks, remembering that they were the only starter option even the first time.

"Well of course. It's a time-honored Pintonian tradition!" Kyle answers.

"What about if they get stuck in a battle against another ditto? Last I checked there's not much a ditto can do in a straight mirror match."

"Ah, I see you've done your studying! That issue was solved a long while back, though it's also why we can't just hand over any old ditto to the kids."
Kyle pulls a figurine out of his messenger bag. It looks like a potted plant with feet.
"We hand out special figurines which the ditto are taught to use as a transformation references. Sometimes we switch up the assortment every couple years, but yeah."

"Huh, that's pretty cool..." Nick looks at the potted plant figurine.

Meanwhile, a fair amount of the crowd around HAZEL has dispersed to a degree, some of them ogling Kyle instead.

"Is that what happened earlier? Dang. If you need to borrow my phone for whatever, just let me know," Nick reassures HAZEL.


"That it does! While many of them are somewhat common, there are some only found in this particular region. There's also recent research about regional variants that haven't been seen anywhere else!" Kyle reiterates the potentially obvious.

Nick watches Kyle. They never really thought that he would talk so much like an elementary school teacher upon growing up. Then again, when they had written him in, he was basically a half-baked Brenden flavored Gary Oak stand-in. A lot can change in 14 years, after all.
"Uh, Professor Kyle?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you kinda sound like you're in teacher mode right now."

"That's the third time this week I've been called out on that. Seems I'm so used to teaching literal 10 year olds, I forget to let my hair down!"

Nick laughs a little. "Heh... that reminds me. I'm gonna be taking a day-class tomorrow to get my trainer's license. Never really got around to it when I was younger, though I've studied a lot of out-of-region material."

"You do look like you'll be older than most of the class, but that's fine! You're never too old to train pokemon, after all. If you know your chops as well as you say you do, you should have no problem with the written test at the end!"

"That's actually, pretty reassuring. Thank you."

"No problem, always glad to help!"

"There's one on 2nd avenue, but they don't carry the older models anymore. I'd suggest paying a visit to a cool repair shop a couple blocks over, she fixes up all kinds of old tech. Tell her the professor sent you and she might give you a discount." Kyle winks.

"Wow, you still have that old pokegear and its worked for all this time? That's freaking incredible." Nick remarks, high-key impressed.
"slowpoke!"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. The place is still open at this hour, right?"

"Should be for a few hours. Jen usually closes up shop at 7. Just walk down Gulpin street until you see the sudowoodo statue out front. Can't miss it."

"Got it."
Nick in fact does not got it. They have no idea where Gulpin street is, though at least they know what a sudowoodo looks like.

"Sounds like a plan. Thank you Professor Kyle!"

"No problem." Kyle gives a thumbs-up.

And with that, Nick, HAZEL, FLOWER, and Slope depart from the contest hall and make their way to their next destination.

---

Chapter 8: To the Repair shop!

By some miracle, Nick and the gang managed to locate the repair shop with minimal issue. Sure, Slope did make them go slow, but it appears they've made it there with plenty of time to spare.
The shadows stretch longer as the sun begins to descend, but it's not quite sunset yet.

Slope stares at the life-sized sudowoodo statue out front. It appears to have some dents and wear on it, though has been repainted a couple times.

"Huh, we made it." Nick looks over the shop front.
The sign above the door says "Jen's Tech Repair". There's an older tv in the window, showing something from the news. The volume is off, but it switches to a view of the blackthorn gym for a minute. A reporter can be seen in front of it.
The sign on the front door of the repair shop says OPEN on it.

The shop is cluttered with various gadgets in varying states of repair. An aipom holding a screwdriver with their tail-hand runs up to meet the new customers.
"ai!" the aipom hops up on a table to greet HAZEL.

Behind a desk, a bit further into the shop, a woman in a tank top and jeans is busy replacing some wires in something. Her hair is up in short pigtails. A clay audino figurine sits next to a cd player, which is playing a funky disco song. She appears intensely focused on her work.

Nick taps their foot lightly to the beat, just sorta enjoying the groove.