A/N: I am SOOO Sorry for the long wait! I moved to a No Internet Zone, which took me FOREVER to find places WITH Internet, and then I got hit with WRITERS BLOCK, with is EVIL, and then Holidays popped up…
Ugh, I need some hot chocolate…
R&R~!
Wizard: Happy Holidays!
Rage: Merry Christmas!
Harry: Blessed Yule!
Giovanni: Happy Hanukkah!
Erika: Cheerful Quanza!
Mary: MANY PRESENTS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD TOY!
Sarah: Honey, that's not how that goes…
Charlie: TOYS'R'US BLESS US, EVERYONE!
All But the Children: …
Author: Meh, close enough.
Honorable Author Mention!
…
Emma Iveli
PhoenixCatcher
FrontlinersShadow
All three of these Authors were Tagged one time, so each deserves recognition!
And now, my PERSONAL Tag!
For giving me a review I both love and connect with in a serious, yet funny way, I TAG
Picabone99!
Thank you for playing~!
Now we're going to play WOULD YOU RATHER, Pokémon Style~!
WOULD YOU RATHER…
BUY a Specific Pokémon Egg
OR…
STEAL a Mysterious Pokémon Egg
Answer through review~!
Reviewers' who give the best explanation for their choice, get an Honorable Mention and a character in the next book (Unless they want a Pokémon, and then it can be covered in this one.)
R&R!
"Talking"
"Pokémon Talking"
Thinking
"PokéDex Talking"
"PokéGaze Talking"
"Egg-Reader Info"
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Harry and his new friend were laughing at the cafeteria table, the boy's earlier mood restored thanks to the girl's friendly and chatty personality.
"So the only reason you didn't get to fight past the second round of the Orange League, was because you and your Spearrow got into a fight about Manga?!" He gasped, wanting confirmation, which he got from the older psychic in the form of a giggling nod.
"H-he was so put out, because I named him after a character in my favorite manga at the time, namely one of the lead antagonists, yet I named two other Pokémon for the same manga, and my remaining two I named from my favorite video game! I still don't know what his problem is!" The two laughed some more, before slowly calming down to the occasional chuckle between pants.
"So," Harry finally managed, slumping in his chair, a silly grin still on his face. "What are your Pokémon's names, anyways?" Amalthea smiled.
"Well, the Spearrow's name is Aizen, named from one of the major antagonists in Bleach. Then, there's Ulquiorra, who's a Rapidash with black and green flames I got in a Rarity Trade-that's a trade between Trainers who have rare or shiny Pokémon-and he's named after another antagonist from Bleach. The last Bleach-named Pokémon I have is Stark, who's a Mighthyena. My other two Pokémon are named after antagonists in the game, Kingdom Hearts, which is freaking amazing, by the way! One is a shiny, silver Eevee named Sephiroth, and the other is a Lapras named Demyx."
"And you can talk to all of them?" Harry asked hopefully; Amalthea nodded happily.
"I've been able to talk to Pokémon since I started on my journey with Aizen, after I got hit in the head when a wild Geodude hit us with a Rock Throw while we were passing through a cave. The only other ability I have, I guess, is finding rare and shiny Pokémon in their natural habitats."
"That's handy for an artist," Harry noticed; Amalthea shrugged easily, smiling.
"It makes for some great conversation starters, at least." About that time, Jerry Joy entered the room with five pokeballs, smiling as he handed them to Amalthea, making her face light up once more.
"They're all good to go, miss," the male Joy said warmly. She thanked him and he left. Still smiling, the older girl plucked up Harry's PokéGear.
"Hey!" He complained half-heartedly. She promptly stuck her tongue out at him, and continued pressing buttons rapidly. After a few seconds, it beeped a few times, and she handed it back to him looking decidedly smug.
"There," she declared cheerfully. "You now have my number. If you're ever looking to Journey in Sinnoh or Unova, don't hesitate to call! Those are the only two Regions I haven't been to yet, and I'd love to travel around there for a while." Harry smiled and promised to do just that, before hugging her goodbye and walking her out the door. Once she was gone, Harry sighed wistfully and returned to the cafeteria, getting himself a new bowl of fruit (this one a fruit salad, with strawberries, green grapes, fresh pineapple, and kiwi.). Settling down with a fork and his food, he wondered what to do while waiting for his friends to go through Whitney's maze and battle, since there was an on-site Nurse Joy to heal the Gym Leaders Pokémon, as well as that Bikini-Lady's.
As if someone somewhere was listening in on him, his phone went off, Shadow's familiar voice coming from his pocket. Quickly, Harry pulled it out and answered it, setting it on the table in front of him. Immediately, the familiar face of Josephine Doyle greeted him.
"Ms. Doyle," he greeted, confused; she gave him her usual placid smile.
"Mr. Morsinger," she said, briskly, "it has been several days since we last spoke, and I thought it would be prudent to continue the negotiations with the other Racers you wish to hire."
"Um…"
"And, furthermore, I also have the current statistics for Havoc & Harmony Inc. here with me, as well as the stock reports, and the newest designs that need to be looked over for approval or dismissal."
"Um…"
"And you should also know, that your presence is required in a board meeting concerning the complete overhaul your company has done to the former Ginostashi Corp. and all the lesser companies owned by them. I will be patching you through via video once the rest of this business is done."
"Um…"
"On a personal note, I have been informed by your father that your friends Heather and Roger with to speak with you concerning a recent, unforeseen development, but that it could wait until you had caught up on everything else. Also, you should know that your cousin Mary's birthday is in a week, and, while you are unable to physically make it yourself, she requires a gift and phone call to make up for it. Do you have any questions, sir?" The smile never twitched, faltered, or shifted, remaining that blank, business-like, placid smile, her eyes calm and serene and focused on his gobsmacked face, even as her fingers never stopped their rapid typing.
"…How much, exactly, are we paying you, Ms. Doyle?" Harry finally asked; the accountant didn't hesitate in naming the fund. "Huh… Well… I'm adding an extra third of that to what's already there, okay?"
"Thank you, sir," she said easily; Harry shook his head and rubbed his face.
"How about we start with a Racer, do a few forms, look over the stocks, call another Racer, sign me into the meeting, and then we'll see what's left from there, alright?"
"That would be acceptable, sir," the woman said easily; Harry sighed and nodded, he went back to his bowl of fruit salad as the accountant/scary-secretary-lady, went back over the Racer's contract with him, as well as the details of one Felix Dwight, the next on the list to call. By the time he had finished his fruit; she had split the screen and was calling Mr. Dwight.
"Hello?" A sleepy, irritated-looking man answered the phone, frowning at the screen as he rubbed at his jade-green eyes with a scarred hand, before that same hand dragged up to run through his wild, messy mane of red, orange, and yellow hair. His face was kind of plain, with a square jaw, straight nose, and proud forehead. His lips were a bit on the thin side, and the only thing that stood out was the shiny burn scar on his left cheek.
"Mr. Felix Dwight?" Harry asked formally; the man scowled.
"Yeah?" He asked; tone aggressive and green-eyes narrowed.
"My name is Harry Morsinger, and I am contacting you in regards to your employment on my racing team, Geraint's Seren…"
"Ah, yeah, yeah, you're the one Hacket was babbling about, got it," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "Listen, kid, as much as I'd love to stick it to that jackass Moore, I also want to keep my reputation in tact and, working for a brat? Yeah, that's going to pretty much make me and any other Racer look like an idiot, so thanks but no-thanks."
"I understand," Harry said calmly, and gave him a cool smile. "After all, it's not like there aren't others who will accept, though I am slightly disappointed that you're leaving without even hearing the contract, but," he shrugged, "oh well! I'll be going, now, I still have others to call."
"You must be really busy," Dwight said sarcastically. "Calling all the hum-drum Racer's left over and such…" Harry arched a brow.
"Hum-drum?" he repeated, amused. "I would hardly think the likes of Thomas Geoffrey and others like him deserve the title of hum-drum, Mr. Dwight." Something glinted in those jade-colored eyes that Harry pretended to ignore.
"Geoffrey?" he snorted in derision. "That man is nothing but an idiot! You're going to hire him?!" Harry gave a small shrug.
"We were hoping that the Racer with the most experience would sort of guide him," he told the Racer, and then gave him a polite smile and a nod. "Well, I'll leave you to your day, then-"
"Let me hear the contract," Dwight stated, trying to look nonchalant. "It couldn't hurt, after all." Harry smiled easily at him.
"No, sir, it couldn't."
After thirty minutes explaining the contract, editing it for Dwight's personal wishes, negotiating certain things, the Racer agreed to join the team, and, without much fanfare, they ended the call.
"Well done, sir," Ms. Doyle stated; Harry nodded. "Now, I've taken the liberty of faxing the required papers to the Pokémon Center there," she started, just as Jerry Joy walked through the cafeteria doors with a stack of paper nearly half a foot tall; Harry stared at it in mounting, disbelieving horror, "and I believe we should start with the contract with the PokéDoll Company…"
Six hours later…
"Thank you, Thomas, and welcome to Geraint's Seren," Harry said calmly, voice slightly hoarse from all the talking he'd been doing.
"No problem, Harry!" The blond-haired, blue-eyed Race chirped, smiling and showing off his dual dimples and straight white teeth, which gleamed out of his mocha-colored skin. With mutual goodbyes, the two hung up.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Mr. Morsinger," Ms. Doyle informed him easily; Harry nodded and sighed as he could finally close his phone, sitting back and rubbing his face tiredly as he left it on the table, where it was charging thanks to the cord plugged into the center.
After he had (finally) managed to fill out all the papers needed to confirm his contracts with PokéDoll Company, Imagine Inc., and Giovanni Tech., the business meeting had to be moved up, because the Head Scientist's wife was having a baby and he wanted to be there to witness his daughter's birth. That had been three hours of pointless and confusing legal-babble that Harry had to have translated by Ms. Doyle every few minutes through text at the bottom of the screen, which worked as excellent subtitles that only he could see. Then something had happened to the stock, and he had had to work damage control, needing to call his Dad and get help because he was way over his head in that situation. Then he had had to call Thomas Geoffrey, which, thankfully, only lasted half an hour.
His friends had stopped by two hours into the business meeting, all with pale, annoyed faces, even Davis and Melantha, though they didn't fight. But, as soon as they listened to him start talking about loop-holes, anomalies, vernacular, and stock market… Well, they got their food and went back to their hotel rooms. Nurse Joy had dropped off his Pokémon with him, and he had let them out to eat while working with the stock-damage. Now, he slumped and pressed his pounding head to the table-top, whimpering pathetically to himself. His phone rang and he whimpered again, before grudgingly opening the screen, a tired smile lighting his face as Heather and Roger appeared on one side of the screen, his Dad appearing on the other.
"Hey you guys," he greeted warmly, even if his voice was slightly hoarse.
"What happened to you?" Heather asked worriedly; his Dad smiled.
"Harry has found out the wondrous world of the businessman is not all rabid-fans, happy customers, and a bank account," Giovanni informed them with a smirk. "There was a small crash in the stock market, and we had to pool our resources and do damage control. As it is, we're still both out a couple hundred-thousand dollars." Heather winced and Roger gave the eleven-year-old a sympathetic smile.
"It'll be fine," Harry assured his friend and her boyfriend with a smile. "Now, what did you guys need to talk with us about?" The two of them shared a hesitant look.
"I… I guess we should just, say it all in one go… Right?" Heather said uncertainly. Roger nodded nervously.
"All at once. Like ripping off a Band-Aid," he affirmed tentatively. Heather took a deep breath.
"Giovanni's Persian is pregnant!" Roger blurted; Giovanni blinked.
"What?" He asked.
"And Lord Persian is the father!" Heather cried out; Harry blinked.
"What?" He copied.
"Well, that's what we needed to tell you, have a nice day!" The two Breeders-to-be exclaimed with strained smiles, before abruptly hanging up. The father-and-son-duo stared at one another uncomprehendingly for a few minutes.
"…Congratulations?" They both managed uncertainly. "…"
"I've got a business meeting," Giovanni excused; Harry nodded rapidly.
"I've got… Shopping! Souvenir shopping. To do. Right now."
"Right."
"Yeah."
"So…"
"Um…"
"Love you, bye!" They both exclaimed, before hanging up. Harry shut off the phone entirely, and stared at it for a few minutes, before Donner crawled into his lap with a yawn.
"Come on, Donner," Harry said, finally standing and shoving his phone in his pocket, the charger going into to his bag. "We've got shopping to do…"
A/N: It's short, I know, but it's Christmas, so…
Oh well.
Oh, and here's a bit of Q&A for you guys!
Q: When is Harry going to actually meet Sirius and Co.?
A: In the fourth book, when he goes to Sinnoh. I've said this several times.
Q: Why didn't Harry keep his Pokémon with him, or at least Shadow, like Ash's Pikachu?
A: I am following the games more than the Anime, and you always got new Pokémon each Region. Hence, Harry had to leave his Pokémon… If you want to get realistic/technical, think of it like this: To bring your pet to another country, you have to go through customs, fill out loads of paperwork, get your animals lots of shots and things, as well as register them in the government's file-system or whatever. Imagine doing that with Pokémon. It would just be more logical to get new Pokémon while you're there, visiting, and do all that paperwork and such to send the animals to your house in the other country.
Q: Why didn't Harry just use the PokéGaze to determine the sex of the Oddish?
A: First, I would like to say that the PokéGaze will be barely used in this fic, and the others. Harry prefers person-to-person (or, in most cases, Pokémon-to-person) interactions. Next, as Professor Elm was right there, I thought it would be best to describe how I believe you should be able to determine the sex of a baby Pokémon in a logical, scientific way, with Elm! So, there we go.
Q: Where is Gem?
A: Gem, from When a Phoenix Interferes, was the albino Taurus. Now, in complete honesty, I forgot her name, and wrote her in here as Jewel instead. An explanation you can use for this in HARRY'S case is that he hired a Name-Rater and had her name changed.
Q: Do you live in South Carolina?
A: Nope! I live in good ol' Missouri! Sorry, Reviewer!
Q: Is Sirius going to be Snape and Lupin's Trainer?
A: At the moment, he will be, because he is trying to teach the other two how to return to their human form, as neither of them had an Animagus form and so don't know how.
Q: What about Lilly and Scorch?
A: Lilly and Scorch will be joining Sirius and Co. on their adventure through Sinnoh, evolving and making friends and playing pranks at will.
Q: When will the other Tricksters transform into their Pokémon forms?
A: As the other Tricksters aren't inherently psychic, it will require something very stressful to force them to transform. After that, it will come easier to them.
That's all the time we have for WSI: Q&A WITH WIZARDSGIRL! Tune in next time to read more, and Review with any comments/complaints/questions!
THANK YOU FOR READING!