The sentences that Anthony and Mary said were made up by them and then rehearsed with the suggestion of the head of the satellite lab, as they were tasked with properly giving the context of their visit, introducing themselves, and explaining the purpose of the stickers. They were also given a strict mandate to never force someone to list their Pokemons if they don't want to, as they're computing the census with a 5% margin of error, so some under- or overcounting is acceptable as long as the deficit is not so big.
However, Mary and Anthony don't have to worry about that as the Lavender Town people are hospitable enough to know that their agreement will make the job of the interns easier, so they just set aside some 5 minutes for Anthony and Mary to count their number of Pokemons. Pokemons in this world are very essential, as only 5 houses don't have officially domesticated cats (meaning they still feed wild Pokemons regularly, it's just that these Pokemons are not sleeping in their house), and most houses have. They are being used for therapy, retirement companions, security hounds, and more. It's a very harmonious scene.
"That should be all, ma'am. We will now give them stickers one by one."
Anthony said while making Miltank raise the shoulder bag where the clipboard is stored and pulled out 7 stickers, which are the numbers of Pokemons the old lady has. The old lady has 4 normal types: 1 Meowth, 1 Persian, 1 Skitty, and 1 Delcatty, 2 water types: Vaporeon and a Psyduck, and 3 grass types: one each Oddish, Vileplume, and Belossom. The old lady said that they were the children of her son's Pokemons, which are a breeder somewhere in Hoenn.
The old lady also said that she will most probably move to Hoenn with the family of her son's family, so she was especially nice to her 'last census' interns, giving Anthony and Mary two slices of chocolate cake. Because they were instructed not to be rude, the two just ate silently while their Pokemons also ate the food given to them. Anyway, Zubat is very sensitive to hostility, and it's not reacting, so it should be fine.
Well, what do you say, Anthony was already almost kidnapped, not even a month ago, so he has to be really careful with what he's doing and who he is interacting with. The reason why he accepted is that he would break the heart of the old lady if she were genuine, and 'everything is fine as long as no one is dead', as Elite 4 Agatha said.
While eating the chocolate cake, Anthony can't help but notice some faint silhouettes of Ghost types Pokemons like Gastly and its evolutions, Haunter and Gengar. There are also some Misdreavus, though there are no Mismageus. All of these Pokemons, upon seeing Anthony and Mary, will crane their neck back before making a scrunched up face and then slowly going away.
This scene has been going on the whole day and is the result of the long-lasting repels for Ghost types. Some people who saw this in their way looked at the duo strangely, which Anthony and Mary ignored. Seeing the ghost types made Anthony sigh.
_I really want to go to the Pokémon Tower... I wonder how different it is with the game, right, in the game there's no Misdreavus in Lavender Town at all... hmm, perhaps because of this world's efforts of introducing different regional Pokemons into a region where they're not endemic, some ghost types are also transported to the Indigo Plateau? Would there be Drifflon and Driffblim be here?_
For a moment, Anthony started to look around in interest for other Pokemons besides those that are in the original games. After all, this is the real world, and surely, some people have brought Pokemons from Unova, Kalos, or even Paldea and Alola. Unfortunately for Anthony, even when he finished his cake and said goodbye to the old woman, he wasn't able to see any other Ghost types.
_Perhaps they were in the Pokémon tower, or perhaps Ghost type Pokemons are left alone in the 'biodiversification' efforts of the world of Pokémon. After all, there's a ghost type that has resentment because it was thrown away as a doll and even a dead baby, so they are naturally unstable._
While Anthony and Mary, alongside their Pokemons, walked back to their inn, which is around 3 blocks away at the entrance of Lavender Town, the hustling and bustling of trainers who wanted to see the Pokémon Tower and most likely catch a Ghost-type Pokémon for their team can be heard. Some of them will go today despite the sun already setting, and some will wait for it tomorrow as they are quite afraid of facing Ghost-type Pokémon during the night.
In truth, Anthony also wanted to go to the Pokémon Tower to see what it was made of. Furthermore, he wanted to see if Red had already solved the Marowak ghost case or if he would encounter it himself. However, because of safety reasons, Anthony and Mary are forbidden to go inside the Pokémon Tower. As Prof. Josie said, the ghost type repels are for them not to need to deal with ghosts, so entering it would defeat the purpose.
"Sigh..."
Anthony and Mary sighed a deep one at the same time, seemingly thinking of the same thing, before entering their inn and going back to their room. As they did, Anthony made Miltank put the shoulder bag on the study table on the left side of their room, which Miltank did with a 'Miii' sound.
The inn where Mary and Anthony lodged is a simple room with two single-sized bed with also, two study tables, and no dining area or a kitchen. The two interns decided to use the left table as a storage for their data collection equipments while the other, which also has a PC for their use, which they can log-in their video conferencing account for their online meeting with their research adviser, Prof. Josie.
"Whose account will we be using?"
Anthony, who had already sat down on the wooden chair in front of the study table, started to set up the video conference and asked Mary.
"Just use yours, I don't have one since my dad doesn't know how to use the app."
Anthony nodded at this while reminding himself to log out after the video conference. After logging in, he looked at Mary.
"Then go take your bath, I will be next."
Mary nodded as she picked up her towel and change of clothes, and then put her lab gown into the washing machine that already had water and detergent inside. Anthony's own lab gown is also already there, being put on by the little lady. In the end, Mary took about 30 minutes to take her evening bath while Anthony took 25, after the two took a bath, they went to the inn's cafeteria and had their dinner, which is paid by the Center of Green Development, after eating they then brushed their teeth before going back in front of the monitor of the PC wherein they dragged the chair of the other study table.
Just as they did so, they saw the video conferencing app flare up, specifically the profile with a Flygon picture; it was Prof. Josie, whom Anthony immediately answered. prof. Josie looked at these two interns she handled as she sighed.
"I have been in online meetings for the last 4 hours..."
Anthony and Mary heard Prof. Josie's grumble, making their eyes light up a little before covering their mouths. Prof. Josie, seeing this, immediately realized that her mic was not turned off.
"Sorry about that, don't worry, you would have more complaints on your job since you're in the field more than me. Anyway, let's start. How do you want to change and finalize your title?"
Anthony and Mary nodded awkwardly, wondering how this professor could endure such embarrassment. However, in the end, they have to force themselves to forget it too, as Anthony started speaking.
"While we were going to the satellite lab, we thought of ways to further narrow down our contribution to the literature: first is to make it as it is, meaning the 10 year total biodiversity index of Fuchsia will be subjected to a correlational test, second is make it by district and then dissect every biodiversity index of every Pokemon types and lastly, make it only of a specific type. In the end, we chose the last one."
Prof. Josie's eyes under her prescription glasses squinted a little before tilting her head, making Anthony and Mary nervous for a moment. Prof. Josie, however, didn't rejected nor accepted their logic; instead, she asked.
"Why?"
This time, Prof. Josie's eyes are looking at Mary, making the little girl immediately answer.
"First of all, ma'am, the first one is too shallow and may not be accepted by the journal that we will pass the manuscript into, while the second is more of an Urban planning research rather than environmental science, because even though the one being tested is technically still a biodiversity index, the interpretation would segway to the design of the buildings and the districts themselves."
At this juncture, Mary paused to catch her breath while Prof. Josie and Anthony nodded. Mary continued.
"The last, however, is not deep and scattered enough for our rookie brains to explode while also being direct and narrow enough to make us able to properly interpret the results. Plus, normal types repulse but are not instinctively fearful of noises, so in the end, that's our consensus."
Anthony and Prof. Josie nodded once again, then the latter spoke.
"Indeed, choosing only one type among the most common types in a city is very plausible. However, I must say something that you, as future researchers should know: research that doesn't have an experimental research design can't be causal, the logic of you two on not choosing the district one should still be because you would need to dissect all of the common types in cities' biodiversity index, then you also need to have to correlate them to noise pollution and then the total, understand? You would get egged on in laboratories if you said that, please remember."
Mary and Anthony nodded at this seriously. Mary didn't realize that her search on the internet was not enough, while Anthony is not in a college program that needs any experimental setup, or at least only needs a limited amount of it. While they were not given instructions on the different methodologies, it's understandable on their parts that they have to study and learn them on their own since they're already interns and not students.
Only Prof. Oak wants to call interns his students, and Prof. Josie is obviously not Prof. Oak.
_This feels like we're college students... though it's understandable since we're going to work as the arms and legs of labs, not knowing when a jargon is used would be shameful..._
As Anthony thought of that, Prof. Josie continued after the two interns nodded.
"Going back, the type specific you mentioned... There shouldn't be a problem. What's your title?"
This time, it was Anthony's turn to respond.
"Effects of Noise Pollution on Normal Type Pokemon Biodiversity Index in Fuchsia City"
Prof. Josie again narrowed down her eyes.
"Hm, that 'effects' and 'index' shouldn't be there... this would be your final title: Noise Pollution and Normal-type Pokemon Biodiversity in Fuchsia City."
Mary immediately wrote it down, while Anthony immediately understood that 'effects' would immediately conclude the results as a universal truth, which is impossible, while 'index' is not needed since 'biodiversity index' would be mentioned in the methodology section.
"Any questions?"
Prof. Josie said in all seriousness, as if she didn't just complain about having to attend online meetings for 4 hours straight. Anthony looked at Mary, and when he saw that the girl shook her head, he responded.
"That would be all, ma'am."
Anthony and Mary sighed in relief, finally being able to revise the Introduction that Mary had created. However, after Anthony responded to Prof. Josie, the professor just nodded succinctly before sharing the screen of her laptop and flashing something similar to a PowerPoint, making the two students shudder in shock.
"Ok, now that you don't have any questions, I will be teaching you what IMRAD is, its contents, and how to construct them. I was supposed to give you this lesson when we met during the distribution of the new data collection task, but I was preparing for an online meeting that I have just finished about 10 minutes ago, so I will be doing it now."
Anthony and Mary wanted to say that they have already searched enough; however, remembering how their title still got dismantled by their research adviser despite thinking that it was already perfect, they decided to listen to the lecture. Indeed, Mary and even Anthony, who already wrote and published research in IMRAD format, were able to gain new insights on how to produce them with conciseness and rigor, especially since they would not be creating a thesis book before shortening it into an IMRAD.
They decided to start the Intro and the methodology tomorrow, after their data collection.