I can't help but smile as Shinx sniffs at my bag.

"Yeah, yeah; I know," I inform him. "You always know when it's time for dinner, don't you?" He mewls happily in response. I chuckle lightly as I present him with a bowl and give him some of my homemade Pokémon food. He waits patiently as I prepare the second ingredient for his meal.

"Here you go," I coo to him as I let the Oran berry slices tumble into his food. "Go to town, buddy." He happily obliges.

I lean back on a rock and watch the branches sway in the gentle moonlight. I'd say it's about eight or nine o'clock by now, which means that Shinx and I should be getting to sleep within a half hour or so. I look over and smile as he finishes inhaling his food with a yawn.

"Tired?" I ask as a yawn of my own erupts forth. He nods before picking up his bowl and placing it by my bag. "Good boy." I reward him with a gratuitous amount of scratching behind the ear. "Now, c'mon – let's get some sleep."

He nods, and I put out the campfire with a kick of dirt. I pick up my field notes and my Pokédex as I collect my belongings. Shinx helps by picking up various instruments and leaping over to me so I can put them away. I have to teach him to leave certain things out, as they're meant to record the habits of nocturnal Pokémon, or attract Pokémon so I can study them later. He learns quickly. I make sure to set up the bait myself, lest he ends up getting peckish.

Shinx and I enter the tent at the same time. He hops onto the bed I got for him, and gleefully circles on it, patting down the material with each step he makes. I marvel as he curls into a ball and begins to fall asleep. For a Pokémon with the physiology of a cat, he has the personality of a dog; which is exactly why I chose him as my partner during my studies.

Shinx's traits display my theory almost perfectly: the idea that each Pokémon is not just an animal with special powers and emotions, but an individual. This means that a group of Pokémon could form a society just as diversified as a human civilization. It's quite the controversial theory – mostly because it means that Pokémon Breeders are making two individuals fuck for monetary gain, which wouldn't exactly be...smiled upon. That, and groups of radicals would have new research to back up the idea that Pokémon battling is wrong – despite the fact that the Pokémon clearly enjoy such activities.

While I could abstain from testing this theory to keep the world in order, I am a scientist – which basically means I'm a curious fool. For me, this theory is too damn...huge to let go. I've got to test it – which is why I'm here.

Come morning, there will (hopefully) be a Pokémon in one of the traps I've set up. (The trap won't harm them, but that's not to say they won't be harmed – wild Pokémon tend to hunt one another.) In order to either prove or disprove this theory, I'm going to have to calm the trapped Pokémon – probably with an offer of food – and befriend it. And I won't do so by catching it in a Pokéball – I'll do so by actually bonding with it, like you would a human. If it gets to the point at which the Pokémon will act like my Shinx does – not hostile to me whatsoever, that is – then my theory has been proven correct.

And I will be the Pokémon Professor that changed the world; Peter the Fool.