â€œOh, right, professor, hello!â€ Jack responded brushing himself off and extending a hand. â€œThe budding professor would be me, actually. Iâ€™m specializing in dark-types, which Kanto is quite lacking in. I want to write a hypothesis into my thesis about why they arenâ€™t native to the area.â€ He explained. Professors always seemed to have this worldliness about their motivations, and it always made Jack somewhat of an oddball to be so narrow in his focus. When heâ€™d met Oak back in Pallet Town, the veteran professor had urged him to just enjoy the experience and let his thesis grow from there. Useful advice, perhaps, but not for someone like Jack; he was stubborn when it came to his academics.<br/><br/>â€œI figured that since so many people think Kanto was sort of an evolutionary heartland, maybe dark-types were a later-stage deviation? They couldâ€™ve come around later, but with reports of some ancient legendary PokÃ©mon with dark-type as a primary classification, it couldnâ€™t have been too recent. Given the long-standing legend in Kanto that the moonstone meteorite the Clefairy worship had something to do with the origin of the regionâ€™s PokÃ©mon, I just thought it was an opportunity I couldnâ€™t miss.â€ Jack explained. â€œWhat sort of work do you need done? Thereâ€™s a few trainers here that I recognize that might be able to help with some more manual work; if you donâ€™t really trust the safety of the Clefairy, Iâ€™m sure Brock would send an officer Jenny up from Pewter to help enforce security.â€<br/><br/>That was probably the only means that Jack would push the issue; he wouldnâ€™t put his reputation on the line without some safety net if things went awry. Maybe the girl with the need to address the professor first with the tone of a Silph-Co door-to-door salesperson would get taken down by an officerâ€™s Growlithe when she decided to step in and help the Clefairy with their ritual. After all, maybe she had a habit of stepping on peopleâ€™s toes.<br/><br/>Jack blinked for a moment. Maybe Irvineâ€™s disposition was wearing off on him. He adjusted his grip on Kicksâ€™ hand so that the nervous little fighting-type would stop tugging on his hand so urgently. â€œJust a second, professor.â€ He excused himself, giving Kicks his best â€˜I love you but this better be importantâ€™ face.<br/><br/>The PokÃ©mon just stared up at him expectantly. â€œOh.â€ Jack responded, retrieving his friendâ€™s pokÃ©ball. â€œYou donâ€™t like crowds without Shades around, right. In you go.â€ He mentioned aloud before withdrawing the nervous little guy.<br/><br/>â€œSorry, well, actually, not really. Kicks is an interesting case; Iâ€™m also really looking into the wild disparities in disposition between species of Dark-Types, just general psychology. We canâ€™t really use psychic types to figure it out, right?â€ Jack explained, electing to leave out that he had a egomaniacal Murkrow, a socipathic Sneasel, and aâ€¦ gifted Sandile. He collected misfits, but they were all endearing in their own way.<br/><br/>For example, Irvineâ€™s glowering was reminding him of just how much time they were wasting. Such a practical PokÃ©mon, he was.<br/><br/>â€œIâ€™d happily just come along to observe if youâ€™re being as hands-off as possible, though. Even if itâ€™s not my intended specialty, itâ€™s something to tell upcoming trainers about, right?â€