“Yonny”

A voice whispered in his mind. A faint call between clouds made of wine and spirits. It was familiar. Yannick thought about getting up. The intention was there, but somewhere along his spine the electrical message dissipated. And then so did the intention.

“Yon, honey. It’s time to get ready.”

There was the whisper again this time. But this time it was accompanied by the slightest stimulation on his cheek. A feeling he knew well, and as it turned out, would prove to be the beacon capable of leading him out of the fog. Yannick rolled over to find a blurry Kou beside him.

“Let’s just cancel the thing.” He mumbled.

“You’ll feel much better once you get going.” She smiled at him.

She traced her finger around his brow, mopping the sweaty silver strands out of his eyes. Her index finger was a magic wand, writing an inscription onto his skin. She came into focus. The devices that had pressed against his cheek drew his attention before it was then diverted by her fingertips burying themselves into the roots of his hair. Her nails like a match striking the matchbox ignited his motivation.

“Okay, Dear. I’ll do my best.”

Her cheeks bunched as they drew the corners of her mouth away from each other while simultaneously wrinkling her eyes. Yannick placed his hand on her head, mirroring her motion. If only they could stay like this. He took a mental picture of this moment. An oasis in a desert. He must drink while he could.

He drew her head closer to this and their lips met. Seconds passed. Kou began to draw away but Yannick insisted. He needed to draw every last morsel of energy that he could like the leech that he was. She giggled and accepted for a while before pulling away completely.

“Come on now. Get dressed.” She laughed at him before throwing his tie at him. The woven strand of fabric fell over his face, making him out to be a pirate late for his 5:30 with his shareholders. He folded himself out of bed, now starting to laugh himself. He threw the tie back at her and then headed for the shower.

In the bathroom, he saw Mimi, Kou’s Mime Jr. He was brushing his teeth with an invisible toothbrush while balancing on the sink.

“Good morning.” He said, bowing his head before the small creature. It bounced up and down upon seeing Yannick before promptly returning the bow. It turned and handed him a crystal snifter with a brown liquid in it. He must have given it to him before passing out.

“You didn’t have any of that, did you?” Yannick whispered, cringing a little. The small clown had a penchant for copying him so the last thing he wanted was for him to pick up on his bad habits. Mimi shaked his little head but returned his cringe which made Yannick suspect that maybe he had tried a few drops and decided against this particular vice. He quickly took the glass.

"You know this is very bad for you, okay?” Mimi nodded vigorously. Yannick smiled and patted him before lifting him off the sink and onto the floor. Mimi put up his arms to be easy to lift.

“Okay let me have my shower.”

Mimi waddled through the doorframe before turning back and peeking in.

“I don’t think so.” Yannick shut the door on the Mime Jr. He knew Kou let him shower with her but he wasn’t quite there yet with his relationship with the pokemon. Apparently, he was very good at washing hair, not that Yannick ever intended to find out.

He turned on the shower, letting the hot steam fill his lungs. Before stepping into the shower, opened the medicine cabinet. He opened a couple of packets of pills and sprinkled a few into his drink. He faced the mirror and held up his glass. “Cheers, prick.” A greasy loser celebrated his toast with him. With one practised motion, he downed his favourite type of cocktail. His stomach bubbled. Ahh that was the stuff. His whole career hinged on the genius of the pharmaceutical industry.

An hour later he was standing in his warehouse, facing a large shard of brilliant orange. It was a massive fragment of amber that his company prospectors had pulled out of a swamp in Sinnoh. It towered to eight feet, four feet wide and a foot in depth. Even a small amount of light that filtered through the warehouse windows was able to light up the glittering auburn of the stone. It was beautiful in its uneven translucency.

But the real prize was what had been trapped inside. Half a dozen roughly spherical stone-like objects were suspended midway through the medium. Some of them could be mistaken for ordinary stones, at least to the untrained eye, but some had a distinctly pokeball shape. A shape that didn’t come naturally, like they had been crafted by intelligent hands. The prospectors had been murmuring about what this could be and had decided to rescue it from the site.

“Morning boss. What do you think it’s worth?” Haymitch, one of his security guards asked from over Yannick’s shoulder.

“Mmm. Amber isn’t worth much to us. But a piece this size might find a collector. Not really worth the trouble.” Yannick stepped closer. His reflection appeared warped in the irregular facets of the stone. The greasy drunkard that he had seen earlier that morning had been replaced. A crisply dressed and well-groomed figure of a career man had replaced him. The difference was so vast that you would do well to pick them out as the same person.

“It sure is pretty though.”

Something caught Yannick’s eye. He bent down. A small chunk of amber had dislodged from the base. And inside was a small flower that the man knew well. “Forget me not.” The characteristically blue flower appeared a deep purple within the orange tint. He pocketed the stone and turned back to Haymitch. “I guess it is.” He said with an uncharacteristically bright smile.

It took a bit of effort from a couple of handymen as well as Haymitch and Star, his Gurdurr partner, to load the stone onto the back of a truck. Yannick decided to ride beside the driver while the others looked after the specimen in the back. Soon they were off to the Slateport Museum.

Driving around the back of the Museum, they would be let into the loading bay. This delivery had been set up a week in advance, so the museum staff would know they were coming.