Jace 1

The dining room of Restaurant Le Wow was dimly lit as evening started to fall over Kalos. Despite a lack of light and people inside, the dining room still smelled like freshly-baked bread and various other scents from food that most people couldn't afford even with a full-time job. For that reason, it was amazing that a Pokemon Trainer off the street could afford a battle course here, but having scuffles with each others' Pocket Monsters brought in more money than a regular, non-trainer person would think.

While the chefs in the kitchen were finishing up closing preparations, the wait staff were cleaning up the front room. One of the male waiters, a young man named Jace, had taken it upon himself to make sure the tabletops were spotless. When the restaurant had guests, most of the time the Pokemon would sit on top of the tables to dine. Even if a tablecloth was usually covering it, Jace took special care in making sure the Pokemon eating spots were cleaned.

At least, that was his reason for doing so. His manager would just say it was a way of being lazy while getting away with it, and that would probably be correct. Jace loved Pokemon as most people did, but if there was some way of getting paid while not having to move much, he would find it. As he finished polishing the same spot for the fifth time - to the point where the rest of the table looked old compared to a sparkling circular spot - Jace sighed in exhaustion and placed a white, dirty cleaning rag in his pants pocket.

"I'm out of here, boss!" Jace called throughout the room, knowing the kitchen staff could hear him. Without waiting for his manager to pop their head out of the doorway and agree, Jace walked towards the restaurant's front door. Casually tossing the cleaning rag into a bucket behind the front counter, he headed outside. A bell chimed as he pushed the door open, leaving the rest of the staff to finish cleaning up and preparing for the next day. They didn't need a single waiter's help to prepare vegetables or something, he couldn't do that without messing up. No, Jace had something much, much more important to attend to: a night of new TV shows.

"Hey! Get back here, you thief!"

The familar, angry sound of his boss's voice rang through Jace's ears. He turned to look back inside, but before he could so much as move a step, the front door was pushed hard and two dark-colored blurs ran past him. The blurs' speed was fast enough to make him dizzy, causing him to stumble before leaning against the wall for support. As Jace finally regained his vision and took a deep breath, he looked up, seeing a tall, furious-looking chef with a long, grey beard and curled grey mustache looking down at him. The man's green eyes were fiery from rage.

"H-Hey, boss." Jace stumbled over his words. "What was that about? Some Pokemon take a cookie again?" He had to squint through his messy brown hair to see the chef--he had spent his paychecks on more junk that essentials, ignoring a haircut. His boss, unfortunately, mistook that blue-eyed gaze as a glare.

"You were lazing around out here and you let those thieves take my food?!" The chef bellowed, reaching down and grabbing Jace's collar. The man's thick fingers almost tore right through the white, button-up shirt that Jace was forced to wear as a 'waiter's proper attire' as it was called. "Not only do you leave early again, but you let me money run out the door! I've had it with your laziness, boy! As of this instant, you're gone!"

"What?! But I didn't even do anything!" Jace protested. "I was just taking a breath and going home! I didn't do it!"

"Exactly! You don't do anything!" The chef replied angrily. "If you had been inside helping as you should've, maybe we could have caught the theives together! You're wasting my time by making me lecture you again, and in the time I'm wasting here, we could have all went home for the night! I've had it with your laziness and your excuses! Restaurant Le Wow doesn't need your kind!"

Without giving him a chance to respond, the chef entered the restaurant, slamming the door behind him. Jace stared at the door, his mouth agape, still trying to understand what had just happened.

"What the hell?!" He shouted to no one in particular, ignoring the stares of a few rich-looking passersby. Clenching his fists at his sides, he stomped in the direction the two blurs had dashed off to: towards an alley across the street. The only thing more overpowering than his own frustration at being fired was the extremely horrid odor coming from between the alley's two brick walls. "Whoever you are, you're gonna wish you hadn't stolen from me! I mean, from the restaurant, but--you know what I mean!" Jace muttered as he walked into the alley.

"How is it, Sunny? Is it a good cookie?"

"Espurr! Purr!"

Jace paused as he heard two voices: one that sounded like a very nervous-sounding female, and another that was clearly from the Pokemon Espurr. Jace went from angry stomping to soft steps, tip-toeing as quietly as he could. When he peered around a dumpster that had clearly seen better days, he saw something so filthy, so smelling of trash, so beautiful that he didn't think anything else could ever compare ... and the Hex Maniac attached to them.

Since she wasn't looking at him, Jace's gaze was fixated on the Hex Maniac in front of him, or more precisely, her massive chest. Her curves were easily noticable through her old, dirty purple dress. Next to the purple-haired occult fiend stood an Espurr, one that looked absolutely thrilled with the Eevee-shaped cookie it held in its paws.

"Huh, so a Pokemon did steal a cookie ..." Jace muttered. Unfortunately, that mutter was easy picked up by the Espurr's better-than-human hearing. The Pokemon quickly jumped in front of the Hex Maniac, its arms spread out to guard her while the cookie dangled from its mouth.

"W-What is it, Sunny? Is someone there?" The Hex Maniac asked the Pokemon, both her voice and body trembling in fear. The Espurr nodded and its eyes started to glow with psychic power.

"Espurr!" The Espurr called, as if it was daring Jace to approach. Jace thought about this for a moment: if he showed himself, the Espurr could seriously harm him. Also, he could get a better look at the Hex Maniac and maybe figure out why she felt the need to get him fired. He could also run away and go home, considering one of his favorite shows would likely be starting soon. Talking to the Hex Maniac and her Espurr could be the start of a new adventure in his life.

He had always thought about doing something with his life instead of being a waiter, and here opportunity was, knocking at his door.

Now or never, boy!

...

"Coming up tonight, on 'Great Detective Pikachu!,' Pikachu discovers something odd about his favorite coffee house ...!"

Eh, adventuring's for suckers.