He had not gotten much sleep after all of the hulabaloo from the lab. The return of Team Rocket was grim news indeed--enough for anyone to lose sleep over this news. The theft of Angelique's pokemon was also rather grim news; J. T. never thought that anyone would be so bold as to steal the pokemon of an elite, but it had happened regardless of his notions of common sense. He looked at his clock: four in the morning. Arceus, why could he not sleep now?
Perhaps it was due to his mind being fully awake this early after the events in Oak's workplace, but J. T. picked himself up out of bed, determined to shake himself awake however he needed to. If this meant leaving early to avoid potential Rocket-related activity in Pallet, so be it. Evee had not gotten back to him yet, so he merely shrugged and assumed that she would not be allowed to go with him. It was just something else he did not have to make sure stayed safe in his care.
The scraggy and tynamo were both sleeping in their respective capsules. J. T. smiled as he tucked them onto his belt and made sure that all of his supplies were packed away in his bag--books, some extra money, clothes, some food and water on the go... The intern told himself that he needed to make sure he picked up a pack of cigarettes just to make sure that he didn't run out in case Angelique tried to follow them and act all buddy-buddy with him... While he could act sociable if he wanted to, he would rather put the entire ordeal behind him and move on...
Throwing on his trenchcoat, J. T. wiped his glasses and lifted his bag, making sure that it was secure on his back. After this journey, he would be back and ready to work for Oak with a clear head and all of his other problems at home. Whether Evee was coming or not was... problematic, though. She had mentioned that she didn't have the money at this time--if he was to pay for a ticket for her, it would leave a huge dent in his underwhelming savings. Then there was further food, room and board, transportation costs, supplies--he shuddered as he tried to put all of this out of his mind.
The grass outside was covered in early morning dew as the intern stretchd and looked around the sleepy town. Nothing out of the ordinary for this time of the morning--except for the activity around Oak's lab. Of course, the police showed up to help survey the scene; J. T. expected nothing less from the law enforcement officials than to show up to a world-reknown professor's lab as soon as someone had broken in. He shook his head when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye--a rope of bedsheets draped outside of an open window--
"Oh no..."
The intern began to panic. Judging by the current situation, the young girl ran off in the middle of the night, which probably meant that she would not have been allowed to leave even if she wanted to. There were two huge questions on his mind as this image lingered: how long ago had she left, and how far up Route One had she been able to get in that time?
Fearing more for Evee's safety than the well-being of her parents at four in the morning, J. T. ran out to the edge of Pallet, hoping that the young girl had not given herself the opportunity to get lost out in the wilderness. Sure, the path to Viridian was rather straightforward, but that did not mean the wildlife would appreciate someone wandering around their habitat and disturbing their sleep. The rattata in the area were rather keen on ensuring their comfort in the evenings--they were not nocturnal by nature, but there was always the occasional pack that moved from one place to the other in the middle of the night. He hoped that the girl had not the misfortune of stumbling across a few dozen purple rat-creatures in her exodus; that would probably not bode very well for her first steps in her journey.
"Evee!" J. T. shouted as he picked up the pace through the tall grasses, hoping that the quiet night would allow his voice to carry through the air. "Evee, c'mon! Where are you?"
After picking up the pace for a bit, the intern found a familiar silhouette on the horizon. He picked up the pace, feeling the burning sensation in his lungs as he tried to suppress a cough on his approach. Damn, I'm horribly out of shape... Note to self: the moment you begin to plan construction of your own laboratory, include a fitness area for yourself... and cut the smokes.
"Evee! Arceus, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" J. T. sounded both relieved and terrified to see the girl out here by herself. "What were you thinking, escaping from your room like that? Don't you know how your parents are--" he paused, realizing that the last thing the girl wanted or needed was some hot-shot intern she barely even knew playing the role of overbearing caretaker.
He sighed, collecting his thoughts and readjusting his pack on his back before crouching down a bit to get to her eye level. "OK, let me start over... Evee, are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Even in the dim light, he could not see anything glaringly wrong with the girl, but he wanted to make sure anyway. The biggest concern on his mind, however, was whether or not she was going to return to Pallet with him now; if the bedsheet rope out the window had been any indication, J. T. highly doubted that she would go back without a fight.