ared resumed his walk through the alleys of what he had decided to call the *poor district.* Once he finally reached a real street he untensed his shoulders.

Feeling some relative safety again, as some people walk by, he double-checked the GPS and started making his way towards his destination.

Twenty-five minutes later, he's finally near the center of the city.

He was back in the *paradise* but the sight doesn't improve his mood, but rather fills him with a deep bitterness knowing that such inequality exists in his supposed *paradise*.

The streets grow a bit more crowded, and once again he finds people busily going about their day smiling, living their lives with the pokemon they love.

He feels his spirits lift when an adorable wooper skips past him along with a cute little girl in tow, but it never regains the heights he felt when he had first arrived here a week ago.

Standing before the Poke Bank he stops to take in this expensive structure.

Sparkly clean glass windows can be seen from the base of the building. They reached a few feet above eye level, while above even that were beautiful stained glass windows making it look similar to a church from earth.

Two Machokes in tidy white clothing stood guarding the door, the clothes barely hiding their muscular physiques.

(...Weird, I was under the impression that the banks were protected by dozens of Porygon... and didn't need guards. No... maybe they are just used as a deterrence, or perhaps to escort unwanted guests outside, maybe the reasoning is that a porygon without proper arms and legs isn't going to be quite up to that task.)

Jared scratches his head as he changes his train of thought, (While the building above reads PokeBank in nice and neat letters I still don't understand why everything is in english... Oh well... so does this bank store only money, or is it for storing pokemon and money? I wish google existed, so I could find an exact answer to any question I had... or I could.. god forbid... ask someone...)

Jared mumbled slowly, "Maybe I could invent google and become a pokemillionare"

(...No, that's stupid... considering how advanced this society is, there's probably some reason things are the way they are.)

He laughed when he realized he had just been staring at one of the machokes for who knows how long, (Those two guards don't seem to be happy about it, I guess it's about time I go inside!)

Ignoring the glances of the strong pokemon, Jared made his way through. He smiled when he once again felt the cool air from central air conditioning.

(...Ah sweet beautiful air conditioner, I'll work hard, and one day I too will have one of my own!)

Directly Inside were a few signs reading *No Smoking* *No Pokemon* *No Food or Drink* and further in was a wider open area. Some golden metal stands were placed orderly to form a line, and they were connected to each other by thick velvet rope.

Five marble counters stood proudly in the back, while nearly forty people waited their turn to be called up. Jared joined the line and quietly looked around in the hopes of spotting a porygon.

.(..I see the Pokebank follows it's own rules on *No Pokemon* tsk tsk... what a shame, at least the bank tellers are pretty... no wait, this must be a ploy, a honeytrap by the bank to keep people coming back! Well, I won't fall for it!)

Behind the bank tellers, it could be seen that the bank followed the same style as the police station, and all doors that lead further into the building were behind the service counters.

After ten minutes or so, a beautiful brunette with a nametag that reads "Jessica" called Jared up with a sweet voice.

(I'm already I'm on to your tricks Pokebank, I won't fall for your pretty bank tellers!)

Pulling the two papers from his front pocket, he brought himself before the service desk.

In a sweet voice, the brunette asked "How can I help you sir?"

(Ah... her voice really is adorable... no-no, damn you evil Pokebank, I bet you gave her special training to make her sound so cute didn't you! DIDN'T YOU...)

"I have a bank account, but this is my first time here, and I'm not sure how to go about withdrawing money," Jared felt his face get a little red from asking a question that a man his age should probably already know.

The teller looked this new customer up and down for a moment with undisguised surprise.

(Ugh, she's probably wondering how I'm so ignorant for my age isn't she!)

She quickly returns to her usual business smile.

"I see sir, may I please have your bank number and some identification?"

Jared directly handed the two pieces of paper over for her.

Holding the two pieces of paper she looked through it. After spending a few minutes jotting some information down, she hands the papers back with a frown.

"One moment please sir"

She leisurely made her way through one of the doors in the back, and ten minutes later she's back, this time holding a plastic card.

She passes the card over. "Here you are sir, your first and last name are on the front, and on the back is your bank number"

(Hmm! This seems quite similar to earth... It's impressive how they already printed my name on it in only ten minutes. My bank on earth never did anything like that, but then again why am I getting so hung up over a rectangular piece of plastic? I need to get my priorities straight and stop nitpicking every little thing... ah... who cares, this is all in my mind anyway!)

With a smile, the lady pushes forward some sort of bank card scanner complete with a small screen.

"Please insert your card in here sir."

A menu pops up on the scanner's small screen and gave a prompt asking the cardholder to hold their thumb on the screen for five seconds.

After doing so, the scanner gave a beep, and a new prompt took its place asking its recipient to create a password.

The screen stopped making demands after that, and now just showed the account balance along with any stored pokemon.

(Ah, so they do store pokemon here, but then that begs the question what are the pokemon centers for?? AHH EVERY TIME I SOLVE ONE MYSTERY, A NEW ONE TAKES IT'S PLACE!)

The account balance indicated that the account held one hundred dollars.

(I wonder if this is a little or a lot... well, I'm going to guess it's not a lot.)

Watching the man dally, Jessica spoke up without any impatience, but with less sweetness in her voice, "Is there anything else I can help you with sir?"

"I uhm, can I use this card to make purchases, or do I need to convert it into cash, and what are the denominations of the currency?"

(...Stop looking at me with those eyes! You know it takes more muscles to frown than smile! It's not my fault I'm an otherworldly alien from planet earth with pitiful knowledge of your world!)

"You can use the card to make purchases in stores that possess card scanners, and the currency is as follows, ten pennies is equal to a ten cent piece, twenty-five pennies is equal to a twenty-five cent piece, and one-hundred pennies are equal to a one-dollar piece, after that the money is in different denominations of paper money, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand.

(Another thing suspiciously like earth... but at least it's straightforward, it would be horrible if I had to learn an alien system along with a strange new language, but let's not question small blessings shall we...)

She pauses to think for only a second more, "You can also find your account balance online using your account number and password"

Jared nods in thought.

The lady quickly speaks up, not willing to let him take up any more of her time, "Is that all sir?"

"Ah... yes, thank you"

Passing the two guards outside, Jared can't help but examine them. They appear to remember him and give him a mean look.

(No need to look at me with such hostility! I'm a taxpayer, not a criminal! well, I'm not a taxpayer yet, but I'm definitely not a criminal... yet!)

(This sun is really making me feel parched though, but there's one thing I need to do before taking care of my physical needs!)

After finding a shady spot, Jared brought up his phone in an effort to locate the closest pokemart on the GPS.

Quickly orienting himself, he began walking down the sidewalk with long strides.

Feeling some excitement, his stride picks up and soon turned into a jog. Before long he found himself standing in front of a small store with a frown.

(For a place that's supposed to be for pokeballs and... accessories, I somehow thought it would be bigger... oh well, I'm just nitpicking again!)

Jared walked into the store with his enthusiasm only slightly dampened.

Once inside he looked around in confusion. The room was mostly empty, and there was not a single piece of merchandise to speak of!

After adjusting himself, he finds an occupied counter. A fat man lay slouched over it. His left hand propped up his head, while he reads a book with the other.

(Let's get over there and ask that no doubt hardworking gentleman about the price of pokeballs!)