I walked over to the edge of the large desk and took off my bag to dig out the fossil. "You'll forgive me if I take a moment to retrieve it , It hasn't been important until now you see." I explained while carefully removing things from my bag. "Not an issue at all Mr. Drake , in truth I have actually been interested in you seen the moment I learnt of that Pupitar in your possession thanks to you addition to the list." Mr. Stone said clearly in a good mood as I dug out the fossil.-

"I imagined you might given your position in the league and hobby involving rare stones." I said honestly without looking up. "It has it's perks despite all the trouble it can be sometimes and both my son Steven and I enjoy the various geological forms that exist in nature though his interest lean more towards metal than my own." Mr. Stone said with a warm tone. "You sound proud of him." I commented before finally reaching the fossil and removing it from the bag. "A fossil? No a variant fossil, what a treat!" Mr. stone said eagerly as he carefully looked over the fossil I set on the desk while I repacked my bag.-

"I'm not an expert in fossils but I have figured out it is an Anorith fossil with what appears to be an attack variation judging from the shape and design of the claw here." I said while pointing at what I meant. "Good eye! The species is understandably rare since few fossils exist that can be revived so variants are merely speculated appearance wise but the scientists theorized an attack variant would have similar structures on it's claws."-

We'd need to do some tests on it to see if it can be revived but I will pay top dollar for it without that reassurance as a show of good faith." Mr. Stone said with a friendly smile. "Are you sure? I will still be in town for another two days so you could test it before making such a decision." I offered since while the offer was very tempting accepting it outright would probably paint me as a greedy individual. While there was nothing wrong with being greedy so long as it wasn't taken too far I really wanted this man and his son to have a decent impression of me.-

"I have a good feeling about this particular fossil , a collectors intuition if you will. So while I can appreciate your integrity I must insist." he said reassuringly. "Alright I won't argue over a good thing then but since I am here already I happen to own another fossil though I can't carry it around due to it's size so I left it with professor Birch until I could find a buyer for it." I said honestly with a friendly smile of my own. "I'm a business man Mr. Drake so I know how to read people , you can stop acting friendly when you aren't feeling anything at all right now." he said sternly and I sighed before dropping the false expression.-

"What gave me away?" I asked curious since I was quite confident in my acting after spending years pretending to care about things. "Small details that would normally not be spotted if one didn't know them well but the biggest was your eyes , they are cold and devoid of that spark of life that most have. Like looking into the eyes of a corpse , it's frankly terrifying." he said honestly. "I am slowly recovering from a bad case of apathy." I said honestly.-

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"My pokemon are helping and I am trying to improve myself in this regard but you must understand that it's hard to go from total numbness to being normal. Honestly speaking I don't think I even can get to that point." I said calmly and he sighed. "Did you know that your condition is not as uncommon as you may think? Psychically gifted individuals tend to be in a similar state from the trauma that came with seeing the thoughts of those around them or gods forbid the future."-

"Some deal with the state of mind better than others but apathy is a fairly common trait for them to possess. The other group however I believe you fall into , those who have had bad experiences at a young age and simply lost the will to care. We don't know for certain though given the pokemon based amnesia." he said seriously. He was right too as that was exactly the case , not that I was going to openly admit it though. "Don't get me wrong young man I don't think any less of you for acting like you do or even your condition but I prefer to do business with transparency between both parties." He finished with a reassuring smile.-

"Can you keep this to yourself please? I would rather not have others find out if I can help it , I don't want pity after all." I requested and he nodded. "You have my word that this won't spread from this office but do consider confiding in Birch with it as he truly does speak highly of you." he suggested. "I will consider it but I believe we should go back to the topic of the fossils." I spoke calmly.-

"Of course. Do you have any requests for items or the like or is cash acceptable?" he asked getting serious. "There are a few things that I have need of at the moment. First I need a bag with the largest space possible that also has weight reduction properties. It needs the refrigerated pockets as well for storing food. Second I need an alchemy set , nothing fancy but strong enough to be used in the wilds. Third I would like a portable kitchen set for cooking on the road. "-

"Beyond that I would also like I way to get to Dewford and Slateford after my upcoming gym battle but I have no need for a personal boat if I am only going to use it twice." I said what I truly wanted calmly. "You know alchemy? That's a surprise to learn but I suppose all of your requests are doable without too much issue on my part. After all of that I estimate that the difference in funds to be around one and a quarter million poke` , is that acceptable?" he asked and I nodded. "Wonderful , if you will give me a day I'll have it all delivered to you , ah right what design do you want the bag to be in?" he asked before he forgot. -

"A satchel that rests on my hip." I said after some thought. Mr. stone nodded and smiled "I will see them delivered shortly and please do remember my advice." he said and I nodded before turning to leave after replacing my act. The rest of the day was fairly mundane as I focused my attention on helping Vulcan master his new move while Gaia kept at making herself a new move.