Symbiosis

Chapter 19

Alex slowly made his way through the University of Texas campus, taking multiple glances towards the football stadium as he walked past it and approached a roundabout with a pair of sidewalks leading to a set of stairs on each side, leading to higher ground where the majority of the campus buildings are. Alex continued to look down at his phone nervously, paranoid that he'd make a wrong turn and get himself completely lost. Even though his phone's GPS pointed out there were only two more turns he had to make. Otherwise, it was mostly a straight shot.

Or at least, that's what the GPS claimed it was. Alex paused and kept glancing back and forth from his phone to the sidewalk in front of him. His gaze shifted into confusion. "Okay, it... led me to a dead end? Where am I even supposed to go after- oh." Alex continued to walk even as he muttered to himself, and saw that the staircase, in fact, did not lead into a dead end like he assumed it did on first glance. There was still a sidewalk on the upper level. Alex let an annoyed and slightly embarrassed exhale out through his nose and pinched his eyebrows together. "That's what I get for not exploring any part of this campus outside of the football and baseball stadiums... and maybe a shop or two on Guadalupe." Alex just shook his head and proceeded up the stairs, continuing past many of the university buildings.

It may also have been his nerves making him more absent minded than normal. Alex kept on uncomfortably shifting his posture, even as he made his way towards the biology building as quick as possible. With the job introduction on his mind and little else to take his mind away from it, Alex felt himself getting more and more tense the closer he got. But he knew it had to be done. The opportunity that the job offered was just way too good to pass up. Especially with him being a mew. He could find a lot of extremely important information on what makes pokemon biology tick. Maybe even a lead as to why they transformed in the first place... maybe. Alex was very doubtful on that front, however. Maybe they could find out a lot about pokemon biology, but the act of transforming itself seemed like pure magic. Alex was at a loss as to how anyone could even begin to explain it.

Alex glanced around him as he walked along the university campus and did a double take as he finally noticed something unusual. Alex was slightly perplexed to see the large number of young adults populating the school grounds. Almost as if... 'Did they actually start the semester on time? Why?' Alex made an uneasy face and his pace slowed ever so slightly. 'The guy on the phone did mention something about them being busy starting up the fall semester, but I thought he meant in preparation to start on a revised schedule. Not starting this very moment. Why on earth did they delay football season but not the fall semester?' Alex scoffed and shook his head. 'That just seems absurd.'

But what caught Alex's attention even more than the school semester being in progress was the students populating the university campus. Or to be more specific, what the students even were. Alex was surprised to see a handful of pokemon making their way from building to building. Some using their increased running speed and new flying power to get places quicker, while others seemed to just be casually strolling around in their pokemon form like it was normal for them. They were still very few in numbers- far far less than the one-in-fifty rate that supposedly took place. 'Even so,' Alex thought, 'the fact that there are people carrying on as pokemon at all... I guess that means people are becoming more comfortable with the idea of pokemon?'

He flashed a small smile and decided to briefly look around and see what kinds of pokemon he could find that were out and about. He saw a noibat flying overhead towards one of the buildings, though seeming to struggle the slightest amounts keeping itself in the air. Alex saw a lounging tyrogue in the shaded area under a large tree, resting its eyes with its arms also crossed. And Alex also spotted a vaporeon and a jangmo-o casually walking alongside each other having a conversation of some sort. The magic of the scenery before Alex was not lost on him. Alex felt his heartbeat speed up and his excitement levels grow as the pokemon fan in him cherished what was happening. 'It's like... wow, every dream of pokemon being real just seems so small now, compared to actually seeing it in person.' Alex didn't kid himself. It wasn't perfect. Not even close to it. The world was still a giant mess for the most part. And yet... it was small moments like this that made Alex remember why he loved pokemon in the first place. It was one thing to imagine it, read about it, or browse fan art online. It was another thing entirely to actually experience living in a pokemon world in person.