"Exeggute is a bit affectionate," Margaret replied. "Very... cuddly. Don't be surprised if you get swarmed."

"Fine by me." Aleron said with a shrug. "I don't mind."

Margaret grinned and walked with her. The walk was only about ten minutes. Finally, she pointed to a house. "That's it."

"Nice." Aleron grinned as she looked at the house. "I like it. This view, at least." She followed Margaret over and into the house.

"I'm home!" Margaret called into the seemingly-empty house as she and Aleron walked in. There was a moment's silence, and then what sounded like a rattling bouncing down the stairs. Before she could blink, Margaret was swarmed by the six little heads of her Exeggute. They all chattered at her in high-pitched tones, clearly happy to see her. "Guys, really, I wasn't gone all that long," she said as they cuddled her. "I did tell you I would be gone a while, and Noctowl was here to keep you company. Where is she, anyways? I sent her back here." The Exeggute chattered at her again, and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't really been expecting to understand them.

Aleron looked around with a smile. She liked the inside of the house, too. It seemed very comfortable, especially with the Eggsecute there.

Margaret thought for a moment before taking Exeggute outside. Once she was outside, she released Metagross. Exeggute immediately started chattering and went over to start bouncing around on his head. It really did sound like rain drumming on a tin roof. She slipped back inside while her pokemon were distracted.

"Come on," she said. "My room is upstairs."

Aleron snickered when she heard that, looking at Exeggute and Metagross. "You're right, that does sound like rain," she said, following Margaret upstairs.

"And Metagross puts up with it," Margaret said. She opened the door to her room and went in.

The walls were a light lilac, and there were shelves up over the bed in the corner. Decorative rugs were on the floor, and opposite the bed was a dresser covered in various trainer items. On the shelf over the bed, a bunch of evolution stones were lined up in rainbow-color order. Next to the dresser was a desk with a fairly new-model PC. Margaret went over to the desk and grabbed a badge hanging from a lanyard on the monitor.

"This is what I needed," she said.

"Neat," Aleron said with a little grin, looking around.

"Did you want to hang around for a bit, or head over to Silph?" Margaret asked. "I'm good with either."

"I think we can just head over to Silph," Aleron said after a moment. "We can always come back here." She grinned as she headed down the stairs, clearly able to hear the 'rain' again.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Margaret said. Once she got downstairs, she released Natu and Espeon. "Natu, you're staying here with the others," she said. "Espeon is coming with me." Natu protested, and Margaret stroked her feathers a little. "She gets to come with me because they know her there. Besides, you haven't met Exeggute or Noctowl yet."

Aleron chuckled quietly and waited patiently, keeping both her pokemon in their balls for the time being. She figured that was better all around.

Once Margaret managed to placate her Natu, she motioned for Aleron to head out. As she went by, she let Exeggute and Metagross know she would be back soon.

"Silph Co isn't far," she said. "Middle of the city. It's a bit of a walk, though."

"I don't mind," Aleron said with a grin. "That just means I get to see more of the city." She let Margaret lead the way, since she didn't know which building Silph Co was.

The walk was about half an hour, not including the well-timed bus that the two managed to catch. Finally, they got to the front gate of Silph Co.

"We can walk right in, up to the front desk," Margaret said. "After that, there are security checkpoints, but that's what my badge is for. We'll get you a visitor's pass at the desk."

Aleron nodded, looking around as she followed Margaret in. This was going to be very interesting. She'd never been somewhere that had security checkpoints.

Once they got into the building, Margaret shooed Aleron up to the counter.

"Go on," she said. "You need a visitor's pass for the Interaction and Study department."

Aleron nodded and talked to the receptionist there for a few moments, pointing to Margaret briefly as if to say "I'm with her, blame her for my presence". The receptionist handed over a visitor pass after a few moments, which Aleron pinned to her shirt.

Margaret waved at the receptionist, who rolled her eyes. They knew each other by now.

"Come on," Margaret said. "Interaction and Study is downstairs."

Aleron nodded and followed her, looking around a few times curiously.

Margaret led the way downstairs. The doors going down the long hallway were all labeled with a different pokemon type. She lingered a moment in front of the door labeled 'psychic.'

"I kind of want to go in," she said. "I played with a lot of them as a kid, when they weren't participating in the studies."

Aleron chuckled. "That sounds like fun," she said with a little grin. "Sounds like you got to see a lot of different pokemon around here."

"My parents only let me play with these ones, actually," Margaret replied. "I never got to play with the others. Not that it's really a bad thing, though. It taught me how to handle psychic-types."