Zam's body was tired. He usually never slept but these last few days, his sleep had been deep, refreshing and revitalising. He'd woken up several hours after what he was used to and whilst it took time out of his exceptionally busy schedule, it felt good. It restored his brain's strength. His feeble body, however, was suffering from recent changes. He often found himself completely out of breath and with very little strength.

This morning was no different. When his eyes finally shot open, his entire body was aching. He let out a painful groan as he rolled over, bringing several flares of pain to the muscles in his back. He had expected to come into contact with Taylor's soft skin but instead, he just flopped down onto the empty side of the bed. She must've already got up. Now other people were waking up before him, just how tiring was intercourse?

Zam forced himself to sit up. After a few moments stretching his arms to try and shake away the aches he constantly felt, Zam eventually pulled himself out of bed. He stood up and put on some loose fitting shorts and wrapped his dressing gown around himself before making his way to the source of noise within the flat which seemed to be coming from the kitchen.

"Morning!" she chirped. Taylor was busying herself with a frying pan, cooking some breakfast for the two of them. She didn't appear to be wearing all that much. A pair of very short shorts and a loose-fitting, white t-shirt.

"Morning," he replied as he approached her from behind, embracing her, placing his head on her shoulder so that their cheeks touched. She turned her head slightly so that she was able to give him a small peck on the cheek.

"What's the plan for today then?"

"I need to head down to the lab and work on a few things and then whatever I want to," Zam shrugged, "Hopefully there's some kind of mass murder that Emily needs help with, that'd really spice up my day."

"You know, none of my previous boyfriends started their day by hoping for mass murder."

"Well none of them were me, were they now?" At that moment the door to the flat swung open and a familiar man in a leather black trench coat stepped inside. Taylor instantly tensed up and her face immediately turned completely red.

"I should probably go have a shower," Taylor mumbled before quickly dashing off. Even as she left, Tristan followed her carefully with a grin etched on his rugged face.

"Now, I may not like the idea of a more than one nigh' stand bu' I gotta say, she don't 'ave an 'alf bad pair of Saffrons."

"A pair of what?" Zam asked. Tristan was always just making up words.

"Saffrons!" Tristan exclaimed. "Saffron Cities? Titties?"

"How does that make any sense? How can Saffron possibly refer to breasts?"

"Bleedin' rhymin' slang innit?" Tristan sighed, shaking his head. "You gonna 'ave to learn all dis eventually."

"Or maybe you could just learn to talk properly."

"From where I come from, dis is proper," Tristan replied. "You still good for tonigh'?"

"Unless something more exciting comes up."

"Good, I'll mee' ya down the ol' rub-a at eigh'."

"The what?"

"The rub-a-dub-dub! The pub ya fackin' idiot!" Without saying another word, Tristan turned on his heels, trench coat swirling around his feet, and exited the flat, slamming the door behind him. He was, of course, talking about his next lesson in the art of being a man. Apparently, Zam's alcohol tolerance level was lower than his chances of winning the lottery and he didn't even have a ticket. Tonight was supposed to fix that problem.

"Not a bad life," Zam grinned to himself as he began eating the breakfast that Taylor had made. "Doing whatever the hell I want to during the day, learning how to be a bloke in the evenings and copious amounts of sexual interactions at night." If only it could go on forever. Of course, Zam knew that it wouldn't last long. He sighed and looked up at the calendar on the kitchen wall. He'd missed another appointment. Still, he didn't see what the point was in people who weren't nearly as clever as he was trying to diagnose what he already knew.

"How is it?" Taylor smiled as she bounced back into the kitchen, now fully dressed in an almost equally revealing blue dress.

"The food? Not as good as when I do it." Zam paused for a moment and looked at a slightly crestfallen Taylor. "I meant that as a compliment."

"Well, thanks I guess."

"No honestly, it's really good! It's just when I do it, it's perfect but that's not to say that this isn't perfect! Well, it isn't, it's very slightly overdone around the edges..." She cut him off by suffocating him or kissing him or something... Zam wasn't entirely sure, all he knew was that he couldn't breathe but it felt good? It was confusing.

"Shut up you idiot," she smiled at him. If Zam had any idea what human beauty was like then he'd probably think that Taylor looked at least mildly beautiful right now. The way she looked at him with a slightly guilty smile, with her golden hair in a plait laid on her shoulder and her hands slightly nervously linked, she looked like a little school girl who'd been caught doing something she knew was naughty. She wasn't proud of it and she didn't know why but she liked it.

"That's the second time in about ten minutes that somebody's called me an idiot. That's some kind of record." He wondered what he was doing wrong. Possibly he needed to remind people that he was in fact, exceptionally clever.

"Well, you are a bit of an idiot."

"Technically I'm a genius," Zam responded. "Now have some breakfast, I'll have a shower and then it's off to the lab!"

*

An electronic screeching filled the air. The sound reverberated around the room before the note changed. Now the noise was constantly changing as Zam rapidly ran his fingers down the neck of the guitar, producing a harsh, adrenaline pumping melody mixed in with his maniacal laugh.

"Dance!" he yelled over the incredibly loud music.

"I can't dance!" Taylor yelled back.

"And I can't sing but it's fun!" Zam grinned. "Get on your dancing shoes, you sexy Piloswine!" Zam jumped up and down dramatically as he played, strumming on the electric guitar with all his might. He shuffled over to Taylor who reluctantly had begun swaying her hips in a slightly rhythmic fashion but by the time he had reached her, his contagious grin had spread and she started to actually enjoy herself. In a flash, Zam threw away both guitar and a Pokéball on his belt, unable to resist her.

"Snowpoint Monferno dude?" Magnezone buzzed as it emerged from the ball, catching the guitar with its magnets. With a nod from Zam, Magnezone used its golden rod to power the guitar so the immense noise could continue.

"What are you doing?" Taylor tried to ask but Zam cut her off, taking a hold of her body and pulling her in close before lifting her in the air. He couldn't really tell if she screamed or laughed over the music but he didn't really care. The music had taken control of his body and there was no stopping him. He couldn't help but spin Taylor around when she was eventually reunited with the ground before pulling her in close again and planting a passionate kiss on her lips. The music suddenly stopped.

"Dude, don't try and eat it, you don't know where it's been!" Magnezone warned.

"She's a she, not an it and I actually do know where she's been," Zam sighed, shaking his head.

"Still pretty disgusting dude."

"What's he saying?" Taylor asked.

"He says you're very disgusting," Zam informed her. It then suddenly struck him that there was a slight possibility that she might take offence from that. "Actually, he says you look very nice."

"Oh, well thanks I guess."

"What's a he?" Magnezone asked. Magnezone's entire species was genderless.

"It's just a cool nickname, don't worry about it."

"Hey Zam?" Taylor started. "I thought we came to this lab to do lab work."

"Yes, yes we did," Zam responded, "I just had to get myself in the mood for inventing."

"Don't you think it's a bit disruptive for people in other labs?"

"No, the walls are soundproof... probably." They were in one of the labs at Goldenrod University, specifically the one that Zam had paid good money to use on his own, with no interruptions. As such, he was now the only person with access to this lab. In a sense, he owned it and all of his inventions were created here.

"What's this?" Taylor asked, pointing to a kind of exoskeleton in the middle of the lab.

"That is the beginning of my car," Zam explained. "It's only the outer frame at the moment but me and Tristan have been working on it for a while. He jots down his cool ideas for... features and I go about making them practical. I'm definitely going to add in the voice commands but I think that transforming it into a helicopter might be taking it too far."

"Cool," Taylor said with the tone of voice used when people were trying to convey an interest in something they had absolutely no interest in.

"Here's today's task!" Zam announced before unexpectedly taking off his favourite red sneakers.

"You want some new shoes? We could've just gone to Clark's."

"No, no, no, not just any old shoes," Zam grinned. "Do you remember when I kicked those bank robbers in the face?"

"You mean on the day we met when you took me to an armed robbery on purpose without telling me? Yes, I think I do happen to recall that minor event."

"Well, I realised that using Magnezone's magnets for flight was really cool but it's a tad unreliable and I want to fly again." From that moment on, Zam got to work. He practically danced around the pristine tabletops, still barefoot, cackling to himself every now and then when a brilliant idea struck him. Small plates of metal were constantly in hand and he was never far away from a soldering iron or a welding machine. It wasn't a particularly complex mechanism, involving only clips, hinges, springs, a fuel chamber, wiring and a few other very complicated things that nobody else could comprehend. In hindsight, maybe it was quite complex after all.

Eventually, Zam had worked through his overly complicated mechanism and had the finished product in his hand. All it looked like was a silver, metallic tube that was no longer than three inches. He filled up the tiny canister with fuel and attached it to the metal clips which secured it to one of his sneakers at the heel. He then ran a wire from the cylinder up his trouser leg and hooked it up to his utility belt.

"Ready for a test run?" he grinned at a not so convinced Taylor.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked.

"Probably not," he shrugged, "But then again, safe's boring." He slammed the button in the middle of his belt buckle, igniting his new jet boot. Despite its small appearance, the little canister kicked off with some force, throwing Zam completely off balance and pushing him backwards, flying over worktops, through the car exoskeleton until he finally collided with the back wall. "It may take some getting used to."

"Are you okay?" Taylor gasped as she rushed over to him.

"Yeah I'm fine," Zam groaned. The damage done was very minimal although he still accepted Taylor's kiss.

"Dude! Gross!"

"We are romantically involved, we're allowed to do that!" Zam shouted at his Pokémon. He slumped against the wall, still breathing heavily from the impact. He needed a second one for balance and a lot of practice. Still, his invention had worked. Soon he would possess the ability to fly.

"Stupid idiot," Taylor sighed as she sat next to him. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight cuddle, resting her head on his shoulder. "If you're not careful, you'll die from doing something stupid and reckless."

"Where's the fun in being careful?" Zam asked.

"Sammy..."

"Don't worry Taylor, I can take care of myself," he smiled. For a while they just sat there in each other's arms, enjoying the peaceful moment. It was oddly soothing. All Zam could feel was the rising and falling of her chest when she breathed, all he could hear was her exhaling. He didn't really know what came over him in that moment. Nor did he really know what had come over him in these last few weeks with Taylor. She just did something to him, he couldn't even try to explain it, that made her completely irresistible. Normally boring moments like this became precious seconds to look forward to and he supposed that was a good thing. Quite possibly for the first time in his life, Zam felt genuinely happy.