The righteous care for the needs of their animals,     but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. -Proverbs 12:10 (NIV) Melissa’s mind was awash with questions as the Stoutland (it was frankly amazing she could even remember which Pokémon it was) and Bartleby the Slakoth sized each other up. The Stoutland (Commander?) had arrived to pick Kasayee up, only to be waylaid by spotting Bartleby and feeling honor-bound to do something about it. Through Kasayee, he’d said he “wanted to see what this whippersnapper could do,” which seemed a bit excessive. Weren’t there Pokémon that just… hung out? Cities or entire regions where Pokémon battling was verboten? Melissa supposed it didn’t really matter. This was just happening now. Her other questions were a lot more generalized. She’d been worried about the specific location of the fight -- thinking specifically about the people who were contracted to clean the building -- but they’d ended up outside, so that was answered. More importantly, though, did this really have to happen now? Couldn’t it wait until, say, after everyone had eaten? On the other hand, of course, a recuperative meal afterwards could be just what everyone would need after this, so as long as Fen could keep the food warm just a moment longer. That was most of the questions. Why, where, when? All that really remained was How? Bartleby looked at once intense -- a far cry from his usual lackadaisical demeanor -- and entirely lost. This mattered to him, but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. It was the sort of thing that Melissa could not help but rush to lend a hand. While Bartleby officially had the moniker of Team Pet, owned and cared for by anyone and everyone that lived there, if he had anyone as a trainer, Melissa had to admit that it was her. Not that she had any better idea at how to execute a Pokémon battle. All of her conflict skills had been relegated to either cards or computers. Melissa knelt beside Bartleby. “Alright,” she said. “What do you do?” Bartleby just stared at her. Melissa had spent more time memorizing Bible verses than the movesets of creatures that, at the time, she’d believed to be wholly fictional. Not that she regretted any of that time, of course, but they were already at an impasse. “Okay,” Melissa said. Fortunately, one thing that had stuck in Melissa’s mind was how useful her watch could be. Even if the watch didn’t know or have a way to know, it could point her towards someone that could. She didn’t even have to look that hard. A few swipes in, and there was a multi-use scanner ready and willing to accept Pokémon as an input. “Slakoth,” the makeshift Pokédex read, “the Slacker Pokémon.” The entry went on, but, in the interest of time, Melissa skipped ahead to potential movelists. Despite the Commander’s desire to put Bartleby through his paces, Bartleby did not seem like the type to have battled much at all before, so Melissa looked at the top of the list. “Scratch, Yawn, Encore… Anything else?” This time, Bartleby responded with a yawn. Not a Yawn yawn, just a normal one. Well, that was a strategy, at least. If Bartleby could get the Commander stuck doing the same thing over again, they’d have time to Yawn Commander to sleep and Scratch him into submission.  Her watch also warned her of Slakoth’s ability to be particularly lazy, as though she needed to be reminded of that! It was an uphill battle in front of them. Melissa braced herself for defeat, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t about to try her best, for Bartleby’s sake. Melissa said, “Give him a big Yawn, and we’ll work our way from there.”