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Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

= = = = = = This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

= = = = = =

Chapter 10

The rest of the week was a rather easy going for Alex and Aelita, as was the next week when the rest of their finals took place. As usual, Alex wasn't worried at all, easily finishing all of his finals with time to spare, but Aelita still had a bit of trouble with some of her finals, still having a bit of trouble with some of the harder math equations and a bit of trouble with history. In the end though, she felt rather confident herself about her finals as well.

As soon as their last final was done though, school was over for the seniors and they headed back to his place. Giving it another try, Aelita did her best to convince Alex to attend the graduation ceremony with her, but he had no plans to attend it at all, never even bothering with anything for graduation, just wanting to be done with school. He still made the counter point that she was more then welcome to attend herself, but she just shook her head, it wasn't worth going if he wasn't with her. She still hung onto the hope that she could get him to go though, after all, the ceremony took place in three weeks just after the rest of the school got out.

As they got back though, Alex called in a ride to Kartonu City. When questioned about this decision, Alex quickly pointed out that Kartonu was the best place to find all the furnishings as well as everything else that they would need for the bathhouse. He also wished to check to see if anything more of his various bits of dungeon findings had sold yet, as they would no doubt need the money if they had.

As Alex finally got through, he was a bit surprised at the reaction he got compared to the usual run around of asking if anyone had time to pick him up that day. Johnson was more then willing to give them a ride, even claiming he was going to head out to meet them even if Alex hadn't called. This caught Alex's attention as well as Aelita's as they began to pack up some clothing wondering what Johnson seemed so eager to tell them.

Johnson arrived around late afternoon and the rest of the day was spent traveling back to Kartonu. Johnson kept telling them that they had to wait for what he was going to tell them though, saying that he was waiting for a package to show up first before he could tell them this big news he had. Already a bit tired from three more days of finals though, both Alex and Aelita went to bed that night when they arrived.

--

As Alex woke up early the next morning, he went through his usual routine for being at the penthouse. Get up a bit early, take a shower, grab a quick breakfast, and then he headed back to his room. With Aelita still sleeping a bit, he decided to try and quietly move a few things aside next to his bookcase. As he did though, he quickly learned that the place could use a tad bit of dusting. Although Johnson and the others often tried to keep his room clean for him, they often didn't like to move his things around too much and every once in a while, missed a spot that needed cleaned. Not wanting to wake Aelita seeing that it wasn't even seven o'clock yet, he would put off the small bit of dusting and moving a few of the large stands for now.

Even though he decided to put that off though, he did have one little problem. The book he was looking for, a book that just so happened to have a fair deal of information on the people who built the bathhouse, the Dragonians, was on the far side of the shelf, behind a very large wooden crate, nearly as big as the wall mounted plasma he had in the room. Alex flipped it open wondering why he still kept it in his room, having been a while since he last opened it. He easily undid the lock on the top and opened it before smiling. It was a very old painting of a large waterfall scene of a Spellsworn temple. He had planned to have it restored and hung up, but constantly kept putting it off. Thinking about it, he would probably do a lot better by putting it into a storage closet for now. Thinking upon that same subject a bit more, he realized that most of the stuff he had in his room could do well being put away for a little while. He had been so busy with school that he hardly had time for most of it, but that would soon change, after he finished up with the bathhouse.

He finally realized just how much free time he was going to get now that he actually out of school. He could finally put some real time into his hobby and do all the real research he had put off over the years just collecting all the trinkets and odds and ends he had in his room. He was sure Aelita would like a little free space here as well, after all, this was where they would be spending a lot more time now rather then just on the occasional school break.

Taking a seat in one of his chairs though, he leaned back a little too far while looking around trying to decide what all could be put away. He fell backwards with a shout, toppling a stack of books and waking up Aelita.

"Alex!?" She cried out hearing him yell and seeing the mess of books.

Cheryl opened the door a few seconds later only to see Aelita helping him up and quickly rushed over to see what had happened.

"Sorry." Alex said rubbing his head as he got up with Aelita's help, still coughing a fair bit though from the dust he had kicked up.

"Alex, what happened." Cheryl asked seeing the mess.

"Leaned too far back." Alex replied slowly, getting a small sigh of relief from Cheryl.

"You need to be more careful." Aelita stated as she slowly began to help pick up the books.

Johnson walked in a minute later to see them picking up the mess. "Alex, I thought you were more careful then that?" He smiled holding a pair of yellow envelopes. "Either way, you both have a payday."

"Payday?" Aelita looked at him confused. "But I don't even have a job." She questioned.

Alex just grinned. "He means that your first dungeon run paid off. That bit of your treasure you left with him to sell has sold." Alex quickly put the books back and took the two envelopes, setting his down and taking a set. "Here's how it works."

Alex opened the envelope with her next to him and he slid the contents out onto the bed, five small stacks of bills, as well as a few documents.

"This is the breakdown of what you get." He found the sheet he was looking for with a list of things that Aelita had left with Johnson to sell for her, namely gems and a few smaller pieces of jewelry that she didn't want to keep from her first dungeon run. Alex pointed to a set of four numbers down on the bottom. "The top number here is the total amount that was received for everything that has sold up to now." Alex pointed to the number directly below that first one he pointed out. "This number is Johnson's share. He takes a little bit to cover the shipping costs and other fees since all of this is done in his name." Alex then pointed to the third number. "This amount here lists all the taxes and what's left over is yours to spend however you like." Alex stated showing her that she had a good 1100 dollars profit just from the few gems that were sold. "The items remaining on the next page are things that haven't sold."

"You mean I just got over a thousand dollars to spend as I like?" Aelita questioned not believing that she was just given that sum of cash.

"That is your money." Johnson stated. "Try not to spend it all at once, you'll want to save a good chunk of that for later anyway."

Alex looked at him, something about the way he worded that, without so much as a hint as to why or the usual its best to put some in the bank idea made him a bit more suspicious as to what Johnson was not telling them.

"Say, what's this big thing you said you'd need to tell us anyway?" Alex asked.

"Can't tell you that yet." Johnson replied. "Still waiting on paper work first." He quickly walked off before Alex could make any other inquiries. Instead he looked to Cheryl, but she just smiled.

"Sorry Alex, he said he'd fire any of us if we told you anything." She said walking out herself. "Besides, you two need to get ready to head out anyway. That little payday of Alex's should be enough to get the basic furnishings for your new place."

Alex looked to his envelope at the mention of his large payday and opened it up. In comparison to Aelita's payday, his was a great deal larger, all of the gems he had taken had sold, some of them much more valuable then he had anticipated. A collector had not only paid top dollar for them, but also sent a letter to Alex thanking him for completing a rare set of gems he was collecting and even asking if he had any addition gems of the sort to complete a second set.

Alex checked his documents for it, before pulling them out as well as Aelita's, putting them both into a small desk he had in the room filled with similar documents. "Well, with that done, I guess we had better set you up an account here in Kartonu." Alex stated as he quickly got dressed, letting Aelita take her shower and get dressed herself while he took care of the small bit of dusting.

It was a quick walk to bank, and Aelita soon had her account set up. Aelita had deposited 300 into the account herself, and Alex helped her out a bit, transferring 700 from his account to make it an even grand to start her off with. She questioned Alex about it, but he smiled and told her it was perfectly all right. Aelita tried to argue again, but Alex just had the clerk pull up a copy of what all was in his own account and she quickly had to question him again.

Alex already had nearly 80,000 in his account, but he kept telling Aelita that most of that was spent on many things, actually really only having about 7,000 to his name that he could spend, still more then give her a nice start for her bank account. When Aelita questioned him again about how most of that was spent, he gave her the small list of things he already had plans for. This included a car, which he was determined to pay with his money for everything rather then let Johnson chip in as well as try to pay him off for all the other help Johnson had given him. He also pointed out the estimates he was given concerning everything else that needed done with the bathhouse, and a few other things.

From there, Alex and Aelita made a few stops around the town, Alex convincing her that it was okay for her to spend a bit right now. It was her first 'paycheck' of sorts given to her by Johnson after all, which Alex assured her would be far from the last as well.

The two of them spent most of the next three days looking through the many various furniture stores in Kartonu City looking for furniture that would fit the style of the bathhouse. Aelita made it a partial point to try and keep in the same style of furniture for as much of the place as they could. Alex happily helped her try to achieve her goal, but it proved difficult as hand carved wooden furniture, while common, rarely came with dragon like designs.

--

Alex and Aelita had just finished their third day of looking around, finally heading back to the Dragon's Den, Aelita even now having her own card key for the pent house. As they entered into the lobby though, they ran into Samuel.

"Oh, hello Aelita." He smiled walking up.

"What are you doing here, Samuel?" Alex as he walked up.

"I didn't know you knew about this place." Aelita questioned him, but was happy none the less to see him.

"Johnson requested that I come up here with this." Samuel stated holding up an envelope from the Nenwill High School. "He said that yours had come in late last night as well."

"I see." Alex said as he moved over to the elevator. "Well, I guess we better go see what our finals looked like." Alex smiled still very confident with his grades. Aelita smiled and nodded herself as Samuel joined them.

As soon as the doors opened to the pent house though, Johnson and the others were already waiting for them, the place redecorated a bit. In addition to the usual crew, there was also a rather well dressed luxray.

"Alex, I'd like you to meet the mon responsible for funding the majority of our digs." Johnson stated as he walked up.

Alex looked over the luxray. "So, you are the unofficial member of Johnson's crew, who I've been paying extra health insurance for at the digs." The luxray held out his hand towards Alex

Aelita looked him over as well as Alex waited for a few, before shaking his hand. "Alex Whitewing, and you are?"

"David Belkin." The luxray replied. "I'm the one who got William into this business and introduced him to the greatest historical mystery there is, what happened to the Spellsworn."

Johnson quickly stepped up before David could continue though. "I'm sure there will be other times for that. In the meantime we have other business to attend to."

"You are correct." David said as Johnson walked over to Samuel.

"Glad you could it Samuel." Johnson shook his hand and took the envelope containing Aelita's grades.

"Of course, like I could really miss a chance to meet the full team." Samuel nodded to each of the other members of the dig crew. "And given the nature of this job, I'd kind of like to get to know the group that my daughter will be working with, she's still technically my responsibility for another year even if she has found a mate." Aelita blushed a bit at her father's comment.

"I'm more then capable of taking care of myself now." She quickly stated.

Johnson laughed a bit before handing both of the envelopes to David. "Alright you two. I don't just hire anyone. This is a full time job, you won't have much free time in any one place, and I really don't see you being able to take college courses while working with Johnson. This is not a job for everyone and I'd rather that you have a good education as a fall back plan." Alex gave him a bit of a confused look, but understood things for the most part, already knowing that Johnson had some sort of real partner paying for the start up on most digs. Aelita on the hand was much more confused, still not entirely sure who the mon was. David opened the envelope containing Alex's grades and quickly looked it over. "Very nice Alex." He nodded towards Alex lightly, impressed with the grades. "A's across board with an A- in Advanced Survival, a must have course if you ask me."

Alex smiled a bit, his grades more then acceptable to him. He was partially expecting a B in Advanced Survival though for not completing as many of his tasks as he would have liked, not to mention the problem the tent continuously gave him.

David then opened up Aelita's sheet of grades handing Alex's his for him to view. David looked over Aelita's sheet for a few before handing it to her. "Hmmm, B in history overall, but I'm sure we can teach you a everything you need to know. Johnson assures me you've taken a real interest in our line of work as late. I'm rather impressed with your A in Advanced Survival though."

"Wait?" Aelita quickly looked down at her over all grades, her advanced Survival Final higher then Alex's. "Alex, I thought we would get the same score since we paired up."

"No, we were both given separate tasks remember, and we managed to get more of yours done then mine." Alex smiled. "But look at this way, you know you're prepared to camp out with the team now, A's on the final for that class are hard to come by after all."

Aelita smiled herself as her father looked the sheet over himself. "Hmmm, I thought we agreed nothing lower then a B+, but I can live with that." Samuel grinned.

"Johnson, you said you wanted to add two new members to your crew which means higher up front costs on my end. A bigger team also means that we don't need to talk about hiring as many extra hands for this suppose High Temple you've found." David stated.

At the mention of a High Temple, Alex quickly looked up from going over his grades a second time. "High Temple?"

"Nothing to worry about right now Alex." Johnson replied. "We've only got a few ideas on where it might be."

Alex just nodded. "He seems rather eager." David grinned. "I think I'll take the risk and leave whether or not you hire them to you, you have the approval on my end."

Aelita quickly looked up herself now. "Are you saying that me and Alex are actually part of the team?" She asked a hopeful.

"Yes, you and Alex and now both on my payroll." Johnson grinned. "That was the news I was waiting to hear, making sure that David here was okay with. And since you both have just graduated in addition to now being part of the team, I think a celebration is in order." He pointed around to the various decorations that had already been set up, Cheryl already walking out of the kitchen with a large cake while Andrew pulled opened the wine cabinet.

"Alex, Aelita, you're technically part of the team now." Andrew stated. "Feel free to try something if you want, just take it lightly." He opened up a small bottle and handed it to David. "I stocked up on a little something for you, extra heavy on the caramel." David quickly gave his thanks for the drink, pouring himself a small glass.

"No, I'm good." Alex smiled. "That Silver Sun is more then good enough for me, but I'll still pass even on that tonight." He smiled.

Aelita looked over though, kinda thinking about it, but decided against it herself. She did however quickly go for the cake that Cheryl was cutting up. "I made this myself, my father's recipe." She said as she cut off a piece for Aelita, the cake having three layers, a light blue layer in the middle with two pinkish layers around it.

Aelita tried a small bite of it, nodding happily at the taste. "It's so soft." She smiled as Cheryl cut up a few other slices.

"My father still makes it better" Cheryl said as Bryan came up for a piece as well Alex, Cheryl more then happy to give them each a share.

"So, Aelita, Alex. Now that your part of the team and finally out of school, I image you'll be spending a lot of time up here." Andrew said walking over with a glass of coke for them both. "I hope your up for the job, its always fun having a new recruit."

"Thanks." Aelita took the glass and took a sip as she slowly ate her piece of cake. "I just hope I can keep up. Alex keeps telling that one place we were in is nothing compared to some of the real temples you guys have found."

"Yea, that was a kind of small initiation chamber, but as you can see, that last trap they had in place was a rather vicious one." Andrew stated. "Of course, they don't often use traps like that for most of their places, only in select areas."

"That's good to know." Aelita smiled as Johnson came up.

"Now don't scare them off too soon, Andrew." Johnson joked a bit. "But you still need to be careful with kind of work. Only half of it though is exploration, the other half is done here." He motioned to the library. "There's a lot of study and research involved with our work. Most groups only do the studying part, we're just one of the more active groups out there."

Aelita nodded. "Relax, I'm sure she can handle it just as well as I can, it will just take her more time to get into the proper flow of things." Alex stated.

"It's perfectly alright." David had walked up to the group now as well. "I never expect someone new to this line of work to just fall into the act, it takes time and we have plenty of it. She's young, she'll learn."

"Thanks." Aelita smiled at the encouragement she was getting.

"You don't need to thank us." Cheryl said. "Alex thinks you'll do fine and we're all willing to give you the chance. If you want to back out at any time, it's perfectly alright with us."

"Cheryl speaks the truth, this not a job to be taken lightly, but its not like your being forced into it. We'll help you work your way up, start small and build up into bigger temples and dungeons." Andrew stated.

"Enough talkin." Bryan smirked as he walked up to them. "Dis be a party, work can be waitin, have some fun."

"Bryan's right." Johnson stated. "Tonight is a time for us to celebrate your graduation and welcoming you to the team."

--

The party really got going after Johnson's last comment, and continued on for a while, Johnson even ordering a new movie for them to watch and enjoy, which technically wasn't suppose to be out for another month yet. After the movie, Johnson brought out a few more snacks, David having his own little snack as well. Most of the team didn't like the taste of the small homemade candy, although the outer coating was nice and sweet, it had a rather strong tasting center that all of them minus Bryan found to taste too much like a very strong, but bitter coffee.

"I wouldn't try one of those Aelita, they may smell sweet, but trust me, its not." Alex told her.

Aelita looked at him. "But it smells so sweet." She took one of the smaller ones and gave it a small lick, finding the outer coating much to her liking, quickly popping it into her mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about, they taste very nice, like a mix of honey and lemons." She smiled.

"Just give it a few, that filling will make you change your mind." Alex smirked as she bit into the candy to see if really was that bad. As soon as she did though, she quickly grabbed a napkin and spit it out, the fillings strong taste quickly her mouth. She reached back for her coke and took a drink, only to cough a bit.

"What all was in that?" She asked, her coke tasting very off, but she merely passed it off as the after taste of the candy.

"Just a secret recipe I picked up from a friend." David laughed. "Don't worry, the taste passes after a little bit."

Aelita quickly took another drink of her coke as she walked over to try and find something sweet to replace the taste of the candy.

Alex didn't think too much of it, or anyone else for that matter, but that only lasted a few minutes when Aelita stumbled into the coat rack and knocked it over.

"Aelita? You okay?" Alex asked quickly walked over.

"Has anyone seen my drink?" David asked, his question going ignored for now.

Aelita just giggled a bit, turning to face him. "Oh, hey." She smiled and quickly kissed him.

Everyone turned to see this, Johnson a bit worried by the way she wasn't standing steady. "Aelita..." Alex was caught a bit off guard by her actions.

"What's wrong?" she asked smiling as she leaned on him a bit.

Alex quickly took her cup and sniffed it, smelling something else besides the coke in it. "David, what did you mix up for self again?" Alex asked recalling his comment a minute ago.

"A coke with some of that coffee in the case, what brand was it?" David turned to Johnson who quickly sighed.

"It was that bottle of coffee rum or something like that I picked up in Sinnoh when we first got the place, I thought it got thrown out years ago." Johnson stated as he quickly walked over to help Alex when Aelita stumbled over her own feet again.

"Just how strong was it?" Alex asked as Aelita kissed him again.

"Too strong judging by the way she's standing." Johnson said.

"Letsh play a bit." Aelita smiled trying to kiss Alex again, but her breath was a bit strong for him.

"David, why didn't you keep your drink closer to you?" Alex asked a bit annoyed with him.

"What makes you think I'm at fault. I would have thought as strong as that stuff was, the smell alone would let people know it wasn't there's, much less that first sip should have been enough." David quickly picked up his near empty cup. "It was nearly full when I set it down, how did she not notice it wasn't her coke."

Alex just sighed as he once again helped Aelita up. "Come on, I wanna play." She giggled again. "I promish I treat you nicely."

"Aelita, you're drunk, snap out of it." Alex tried to get her to stand back up and walk her to their room.

"I'm no drunk... hic." She smiled. "I don't drink."

Alex doubled his pace a bit when he felt her hand on his belt. "I wanna play." She repeated looking at him as they got into his room.

"Aelita, just sit down, relax." Alex said trying to move her to the bed, but she was more interested in him then sitting down.

"Whas wrong." She giggled a bit trying to kiss him again, but he leaned his head away.

"I told you, you're drunk." Alex repeated himself managing to get her on the bed for a few, but as he turned to go head back out, she got back up and lightly hugged him from behind, a hand reaching around to his groin.

"If you play with me I'll give you special treat." She kissed his cheek lightly as she walked keeping her chest against his back before stumbling a bit and nearly knocking them both down.

Alex quickly caught her as she smiled a bit more. "Oh kind of you." She grinned a bit.

"Aelita, just calm down a bit." Alex stated as he once again tried to get her on the bed. "Now's really not the best time for this."

"Awe, is my mate a little shy." She giggled a bit. Alex just shook his head a bit.

"You told me when we got out here that you were starting to enter your fertile period." Alex reminded her, but she wasn't listening, already trying to take her shirt off, with a few problems.

Aelita just laughed a little bit more. "Oh, we don't havesh to worry." She finally got her shirt off once again hugging him. "I won't be ready for pup til tomorro." She kissed him again, the taste of the coffee mix still very strong in her mouth.

"Geez, just what all was in that stuff." Alex backed up a bit, quickly popping open a can pepsi he had on the counter next to them to try and wash out the taste.

"Yea know Alex," She pressed her chest up against him again as she fumbled with his belt. "I could get real use to letting you play with me... hic." She giggled at the small sound she made. "I want to play so much." She growled a bit using her claws to try and cut the leather belt, forgetting that she liked to dull them daily, keeping them for show rather then use. Alex once again tried to back up, but in doing so, caught one of her nails on his belt clip and chipped the end off. Aelita quickly checked her nails and whined a bit. "Oh, you broke one."

"Aelita, please sit down." He said. "I promise that I'll play with you, but not right now. Neither of us are ready for pups yet and you are in your fertile state. We're still rebuilding the bathhouse, we need time make some more money to help raise our child when the time comes."

Aelita booed a little at his constant turning her down. "Maybe I'll just ask someone else to help to me." She giggled. "That mawile guy seems nice enough."

"You mean Cheryl?" Alex looked at her rather dumbstruck. "She's already with someone... I think." Alex stated recalling that she had mentioned a guy a few times, but never offically said whether they were together or not.

"Oh, I've never been with another girl." She giggled. "Wanna watch." She went for the door, but Alex quickly stopped her.

"No, bad idea, just sit down and take a few deep breaths, you're not yourself right now." Alex quickly tried to talk her out of leaving the room as she was given what all she was doing. As she turned to get up though, she had some how managed to undo her pants and they fell down as she started to walk. She once again fell over, but alex caught her, quickly helping her to the bed.

"But I wanna play with someone." She whined a bit as she worked her pants off the rest of the way. "Come on, please." She tried to get up, but Alex once again insisted she stay seated, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Fine..." Alex sighed a bit. Even when drunk, she was still very stubborn. "But we have to be careful." He stated

"Carefuls no fun." She smiled getting up and kissing his neck lightly. "I want to have fun, real fun." She grinned.

Alex just sighed as he slipped a finger down to her panties. "I'll play with you here, but I'm not going to..." She stumbled again before he could finish his phrase or really begin to do anything to her, they both fell backwards. Alex managed to stop them for the most part, but Aelita still hit her head as well as her side. "Aelita, are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"Ow... I think I'm just going to lay down now." She said slowly holding her head. Alex gave a small sigh of relief, quickly helping her up to the bed and getting an ice pack for her head.

Alex smiled a bit that she was okay, a little bit more that she had calmed down. "Aelita, I promise we'll play later, but just lay down okay." Aelita nodded lightly, the bump on her head already really starting to get to her a lot.

Alex quickly walked out to get her something for head, but as he came back, she had passed out. He covered her up before walking back out.

"Are you okay?" Johnson asked him as he walked back out. "That didn't sound too good with all those thuds I heard."

"Aelita couldn't exactly stand up straight." Alex replied. "She could certainly speak alright for the most part, but that was about all..."

Johnson nodded. "I'll have something for her when she wakes up. That bottle actually had a expiration date on it and it expired last year."

Alex was a bit worried by the comment, but nodded. "Don't worry, David already said he'd be willing to pay for anything if that drink did anything to her. Why he went ahead and made another glass of the stuff though is beyond me."

"I can't even begin to image why he made another glass." Alex added as he walked back out to the others letting them know that Aelita was okay for the most part.

With Aelita out for the night though and Alex not really one to party much, doubly so without Aelita, the group slowly began to clean up and put things away. David left soon enough as well, with the words that he continue with the journal he had found mentioning a Spellsworn High Temple. Alex asked about it again, but like before, David stated that he didn't know enough to tell if it was just speculation or if there was an actual temple detailed in the journal.

= = = = = =

Alex mostly let Aelita sleep in peace that night, careful not to disturb her as he went to bed himself. He still woke up a bit later then usual, but being up as late as he was last night, that was understandable. Aelita was still sleeping, and Alex covered her up again as he went through his morning routine with the addition of preparing a small concoction that Johnson helped him with, saying that it would do good for Aelita. He was already expecting her to have a massive hangover when she woke up. Alex was inclined to agree, the way she was stumbling around and wanted to have some fun, there was no doubt in his mind that Johnson would be right.

He took his time waiting for her to get up, while carefully cleaning up his room a bit, but only moving the lighter stuff, mostly just packing it back into the large boxes he had in his room. When he finally heard her start to stir, he turned to look at her holding her head and covering her eyes. "Alex... is that you?" She asked a bit weakly.

"You okay?" He asked quickly opening his fridge and getting out the small shot glass with the concoction in it as well as a can of cherry soda to help her wash it down.

"What happened?" She whined a little bit as Alex took a seat next to her. "And what's that smell?"

"Here, drink this." He said holding up the shot glass. "Just hold your nose and down it fast."

She quickly pushed it away though. "Johnson says it will help with your hang over."

"Hang over?" She looked at him confused.

"After you tried that candy of David's last night, you took his drink by mistake." Alex told her. "It had some kind of coffee and rum mix in it, really strong stuff."

"What?" She looked at him not able to recall much of anything from last night after the movie.

Alex sighed a bit and set the small shot down as he gave her the short simple version.

"Why do I still recall something about puppies and some mawile?" She asked.

Alex stayed quiet for a but finally spoke up. "After your drink, you kept saying you wanted to play."

Aelita gave him another confused look, until Alex elaborated on it. "You started to flirt with me, wanting to share some personal time." He said as she shook her head very much aware of the fact that she was in her fertile period now. "You weren't yourself and I turned you down for that reason." He said. "As for puppies, you tried to argue that you couldn't have any until today and you kind of mixed up Cheryl for a guy..." Alex said that last part a bit slowly and Aelita looked at him.

"Please tell me I didn't do anything stupid..." She whined a bit from the way he was quiet.

"You asked if I wanted to watch you make out with her." Alex replied slowly but quickly added a second part. "I made sure to keep you in the room though."

Aelita kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She said smiling a bit.

"Come on, try that drink now, Johnson says it will help a lot and we've still got a few things to do later on if your up to it." He once again picked up the shot glass and Aelita growled a bit, not liking the way the thing looked, but her head was pounding and she still tried it only to nearly threw it back up seconds later. Alex quickly handed her the cherry soda and she downed that just fast.

--

Aelita spent the next few hours just laying back as her head slowly got better and she left the room. Samuel and Johnson were both quick to check up on her as she got out making sure that she was okay. She was feeling better, but her head was still pounding hard.

Even though she was up, Aelita was a bit sluggish that whole day with Alex checking in on her from time to time while he took the chance to clear up his room a bit with Johnson's and Bryan's help. Aelita mostly stayed out of the way, but Alex did give her the book that had the Dragonians in it. It wasn't as detailed as many of the other cultures that Alex had studied, but then again, the group wasn't around very long, which Alex explained was due to a large war that started shortly around the time that they had appeared. Aelita was bit sad to hear that they vanished during the war as she found what she read of them to be very interesting.

Late in the afternoon though, Alex was moving another box when Johnson got another call, but this time, it was a rather long one with that Alex quickly caught on was about this Spellsworn high Temple.

As soon the call was over though, Johnson quickly put some of the team to work. As for Alex and Aelita though, they had the task of going out to get new gear for themselves and some replacement gear for the team while they were out, for which Samuel had volunteered to give them a ride.

Even though it was a bit late, Alex knew just where to go for the basics. All the climbing gear was at the extreme sports shop and Alex made sure to check all of the gear like Johnson had taught him, even giving Aelita a few good tips. The trip there was relatively quick just like with the outdoors fishing shop which also sold plenty of other goods, in this case tents and few odds and ends. They also had time for one more stop that night to the pharmacy where Alex gathered up the usual set of bandages, anti-venom, and a fresh set of four first-aid kits.

Andrew was gone himself when they got back, Johnson having sent him out to collect a few harder to find supplies. It was a quiet night for the most part, aside from the usual talks of what all they were going to find at this site David had been trying to track down.

--

The next day though was a lot harder. Aelita was very glad that she had gotten over her hang over as Alex was once again tasked with taking her out to get new gear. Rather then the basic set up he had though, this time they both needed complete independent sets of gear.

Samuel again volunteered to help out as Johnson handed them both a check for about a grand each, saying that this was why they both needed to save up a fair deal of money. In addition, they needed all their gear picked out by the end of the next day so that they could have it all packed up and ready to for shipping by the end of the week.

Alex was easily able to navigate the city, helping point out a few short cuts here and there to the places that would provide himself and Aelita with the best gear. Alex helped Aelita pick out everything they needed, from some very heavy grade hiking packs and some thermoses that even had a small heating element to them to keep their contents warmer even longer. Alex also made sure that they had canteens, and the basic survival gear. Aelita was a bit shocked by the some of the things though, including a the survival bowies that came with the kits Alex had bought for the whole team having forgotten them last night. He also made sure that they had fishing line, some hooks, and matches even though they had lighters as well.

Alex made sure that they tested and checked every last thing they bought, even the thread he got them for sewing incase they needed it. Recalling his problems with his tent during his Advanced Survival Final though, he also grabbed some last minute tent patches as well.

Aelita was surprised how well he easily managed to find everything, and how many tips he was giving her the whole day though, but she was very grateful for them. Alex was more then happy to share everything he knew and by the end of the day, they had most of the stuff they needed ready to go.

As they got back, everyone was busy. Cheryl was going over all the medical supplies while Johnson was in the study looking over a copy of the region they were suppose to be heading to on the Liquid Projection table, trying to get a feel for the general area. Even Bryan was busy, packing up several boxes with supplies.

Alex and Aelita quickly began to help out as Johnson gave them all the general idea of where they were going. The rest of the week was filled with packing up boxes of supplies and continuous phone calls from David giving them a bit more information as he got he. By Saturday though, the team was ready and all of them were on a plane as Samuel headed back Nenwill.