Solosopher & Solosophy

By Tyler Nator and Solomon Li

Foreword and Acknowledgements

How do I begin to describe what experiences have been shared by the friends I’ve made, and lost, playing PoGO? There’s the franchise itself, along with the original story creators, not to mention the fact that I was lucky enough to witness the television series when it first aired in the 90s. In terms of writing this story, however, I must thank my co-author Tyler Nator, whom inspired this book, which I originally intended to be a tribute to his largely unrecognised greatness.

While the story is completely fabricated, despite borrowing from real world sources, I really was quite a Pokémon noob when I first began playing in 2016, yet my investment into GO made me appear otherwise to friends who had played the main series games, but were new to the app. It was Master Tyler who provided me with remarkably detailed context on practically everything and anything related to the Pokémon franchise, thus this book is solely dedicated to him. Admittedly, he was crucial in designing the character of Redwood; it was his biting wit, and well-adjusted crusty resentment to the incessant casuals who worship PoGO (not unlike myself), that also reminded me of Antonio Salieri (portrayed by the great F. Murray Abraham) in the classic film “Amadeus”. Master Tyler and I share some of our insights in the novel, and the characters/themes/controversies, at the end of the story, which better elaborate the whole creative process regarding Redwood.

In terms of my general PoGO experience, I could name a great many people and corporate/public entities, but would specifically like to thank the following for the personal impact they’ve had on me.

• YouTube Channels: FLW Videos, Ace Trainer Liam, and Dorkly’s ‘Pokémon Rusty’ (as well as their many hilarious videos regarding the absurdities of literally-interpreted Pokémon lore). There were others that contributed to my crash course in Pokémon lore, but those mentioned were particularly significant to me.

The following are comprised of dear friends and chance encounters who played the game with me, including but not limited to:

• Ron, Shu Hui, Ben, Will, Kyle, Shirley, Tiffany, Calvin, Brock, Jakov, Courtney, Renae, Ash, Tony, Chris, Angela, Maddie, James, Cait, Kevin, and of course Master Tyler! The time we spent adventuring together, trading, and battling, were simply wonderful as I never played, and still haven’t played, any of the Pokémon games before or after GO.

While they didn’t play the game with me, these people are also must receive a special mention:

• Oscar, for driving not just myself, but many of the aforementioned friends around town so we could maximise our playtime.
• Dan, for accompanying me for those long walks around parks and foreign neighbourhoods (it must have been less fun for him as he wasn’t playing the game)
• Leona, for introducing me to the game in the first place.

“Redwood” published 2022, all story copyrights reserved.

This novel is an original work which is not sanctioned nor approved by the makers of Pokémon. Pokémon is a registered trademark of, and is owned by, Nintendo Co. Ltd, Creatures Inc, Game Freak Co. Ltd, The Pokémon Company, and all other respective owners, which do not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this book. All characters, names, places, and other aspects of the franchise herein are trademarked and owned by their respective owners. All references to pop culture and real-world references are the intellectual property of their respective owners, such as “The Animal in You” quiz featured via https://animalinyou.com/

Pokémon ®/ ™ & © 1995 – 2022 Nintendo, Creatures Inc, Game Freak.

“Memoirs of a Pokémon Master” is a fictional story that borrows from real life elements of the Pokémon franchise. Any resemblances to these fictional persons are purely coincidental, barring mentions of public figures related to the diverse Pokémon franchise.

The phenomenon of “PoGO” sparked a global resurgence in the “Pokémon” franchise’s mainstream popularity, and the mobile app itself is significantly popular with a fanbase which may have had very minimal interaction with any other aspects of the “Pokémon” franchise, such as the core series video games, the original animated series, the various manga, or the Trading Card Game.

Our story actually takes place about two years before the first chapter, as the Prologue details that Thomas and Nathan reunite during a Raid. During lunch, Nathan reminisces about when he first met Tom, at St. Anne’s Hospital two years ago…

Thomas was around when the original animated series first aired, which he loved, but had since lost interest in the franchise, having never had the opportunity to play any of the video games until he discovered Niantic Inc’s “PoGO” in July 2016. It was his love for grinding (levelling a character via repetitive activity) that saw him hooked to the game as he fell in love with the world and lore of Pokémon. As he waited for his test results at St. Anne’s Hospital, contemplating his decision to visit Japan a second time, he was fortunate enough to meet the infamous ‘Professor Nathan Redwood’, a true Pokémon Master who teaches him just how much he never experienced, shares his wealth of knowledge, and more importantly, imparts his lifelong passion for the entire Pokémon World.

Once his interest spread to the general lore and storyline of the franchise, Thomas discovers through Nathan’s own perspectives that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to being so deeply invested in the world of Pokémon, and not all tales are happy ones. Even though Thomas is a “filthy casual who only plays GO”, and Nathan is an “OG expert Mega-fan”, the two respect each other’s particular manner of enjoying all the adventures and growth that comes from their own unique Pokémon journeys.

Prologue: A Joyous Reunion

“Well, well, well… I should have known it was you, Tom. No one else, in the history of any Pokémon game, would ever face Mewtwo with a Toxicroak, let alone a whole team comprised entirely of Fighting/Poison types – didn’t I teach you anything?”

He remembered that voice, a husky-sombre tone that was just shy of being apathetic, which could be perceived to carry some ironic amusement. Tom turned to face the man behind him, his own face already showing signs of rapturous delight; this was normal for his unabashedly enthusiastic self, and while it was a bit much for a lot of new acquaintances, Nathan had gotten used to it when they first met in that hospital. Almost two years had passed since their initial encounter, but between them, even though they had made considerable personal growth over the last two years, it was as if they were still both at St. Anne’s. In Nathan’s case, he was still an avid Pokémon fan, renowned throughout the international Pokémon community as “Professor Redwood”, the unofficial authority on all things related to the franchise. Meanwhile, Tom had come back from Japan, had left for the desert soon after, and returned from said desert some time ago, embarking on a new career. Deceptively perceptive, they could see that the other had matured: it was as if they had made peace with their previous inner turmoils.

“A rare stroke of good fortune finds us reunited! How goes the hunt, Professor?”, asked an unctuous Tom, as he started walking towards his old friend. Nathan toggled his sleek, ergonomically-customised wheelchair, adorned with an uncharacteristically cute array of Pokémon stickers, tags, and keychains, until the two were waist-to-face, and Nathan did something Tom had never seen him do before; he stood up, an arm outstretched, and smiled as Tom’s look of surprise only added to the elation of seeing Nathan again. Taking the other man’s hand in a firm grasp, though quickly adjusting the pressure to not overwhelm Nathan’s grip, he exclaimed, “Hey – you can stand! Since when?!”

“Oh, you know, since forever. I’m just faking it, for the money and benefits- remember what I said to you years ago? The chicks dig a great set of wheels like mine!”

Both laughed uproariously, though Nathan soon released his hand and returned to his wheelchair, at which point Tom could see that it had taken some effort for Nathan to do what he just did: he was immediately touched by the gesture. As it turned out, Nathan had been regularly attending physiotherapy, and while a walk in the park was perhaps a tad too much to ask of him, he could move very short distances without needing his wheelchair. Tom’s attention quickly returned to his phone, focusing on trying to catch the Mewtwo they just had defeated.

“Argh! It escaped, that tease! How the hell did it manage that? I used a Golden Razz Berry each time, and half my throws were Excellent! How about yours, Nathan?”

“Fled as well, but I don’t mind. I’ve already gotten it, both on GO, and in my core series collection.” Nathan shrugged. “There are more Raids starting up soon, if you still want to stick around – this is the Royal Botanical Gardens, after all.”

At the mention of where they were, both of these two PoGO veterans looked around, nostalgically musing at the pointed lack of other players; the only reason they were able to win Legendary Raids was due to spoofers (whom Nathan despised), and the newly introduced Remote Raid Passes, both providing the much-needed numbers to defeat such powerful Pokémon. Once, at the height of the game’s popularity, this place would have been swarming with GO players excitedly hunting or Raiding Pokémon, banding together for common objectives, despite most of them being complete strangers. If war breeds camaraderie in the trenches, then interactive games, such as this, certainly fostered a sense of community during peace times, especially helped by a dose of friendly rivalry between the three different teams: Instinct, Mystic, and Valor. Though Mystic and Valor had a working relationship somewhat closer to the Sith and Jedi.

Unsurprisingly, Thomas was the epitome of Instinct’s image, which was very relaxed and focused more on the gaming experience. In contrast, Nathan was truly the heart of Valor, a Pokémon aficionado fuelled by the passions that made Valor arguably the most competitive team back when the game was introduced. Nathan had since become noticeably less gung-ho about the metagame, and thus, thankfully, more tolerant to be around in general, but his zeal for the franchise was a love eternal. The two decided to join another Mewtwo Raid, while continuing to catch up. It may have seemed unusual, but Tom was pleased to readily listen as Nathan ranted about the state of the franchise, from the impact of Crown virus, his struggling crusade to remind people where the fanbase’s true loyalties should lie, and his utter contempt for the latest Pokémon anime season involving a character that served little more than as an advertisement for the mobile app.

“His stupid name isn’t even original: it’s Goh. A literal representation of ‘GO’, considering he doesn’t even battle Pokémon in the normal way, he just throws a bloody Poké Ball at them! The worst thing about it is that it was clearly forced onto the anime staff by some upper management folks who enjoy counting their fat stacks of digital cash, generated by the hype-train that is PoGO… as if PoGO players even watch the anime. Look, Tom, I’m sorry to sound elitist-”

“Not at all!” Tom said amusedly, and not necessarily sarcastically.

Nathan continued, “Thanks, but as I said, not to sound elitist, but… sometimes it is just necessary to gatekeep a community. I’m not trying to stop the franchise, or people from enjoying the franchise, but there are still people out there who think the anime came before the core series games, and I have to be honest: those people shouldn’t be receiving preferential treatment when the hardcore gamers are barely getting the support we deserve!”

“Well, in defence of those ‘evil’ corporate higher-ups, we’re still enjoying an ad-free mobile app, aren’t we? How rare is that, especially in this day and age?”

Nathan couldn’t help but smile at how Tom played devil’s advocate, as it suited him so perfectly. He decided to humour Tom.

“Yep, that is one good deed that almost redeems the corporate panhandling of the game, even if they’re already making so much money that they don’t even need ads. How surprising, that the company with the biggest media franchise in the world focuses on what will continue to be profitable, instead of putting money towards improving the quality of the core series games, the things that made them what they are in the first place.”

“My dearest Professor, are you familiar with ‘The Parable of the Prodigal Son’?”

Nathan pretended to retch at the topic of religion being brought up, but he nodded, indicating that Tom should continue, which he did with his iconic trickster’s grin.

“Well, not to cast you as the elder brother, who refused to celebrate when the wasteful younger brother returned home, but aren’t you channelling that kind of vibe right now? Before, you told me that you were originally very pleased at how GO brought the franchise back into the mainstream spotlight. Why so salty about the fact that PoGO brought new blood into the community? I’m sure it was something of a gateway drug to the wider Pokémon franchise.” Tom sounded very reasonable, but a glint in his eyes told Nathan that his friend was curious to hear what Nathan would say in response. As for him, Tom’s logic snapped him out of the obsessive fixative mood that had crept upon himself while spurned by the tirades, and it was with a graceful compromise that he answered.

“I’m sure it’s been a gateway for some, but you’d be surprised at how many people think that PoGO is the be-all and end-all of the franchise, and honestly, I’m just so sick and tired of hearing about it. Online, the forums are always buzzing about it, and a lot of the Internet traffic I get is coming from people who clearly never grew up with the core series games.” Nathan paused for a moment. “Oh, sorry, Tom. I… didn’t mean it like that. Just for the record, I don’t think you’re in the same class as those scum.”

Tom laughed heartly, seemingly not at all put off by Nathan’s statement. “Oh Nathan, you’ll never change, will you? I could listen to you until the Miltanks come home, but I just realised that with all this fascinating vitriol, we’ve missed the Raid!”

Nathan looked down at his phone, his reaction blank, but blunt. “Oh, shit.” He looked back up at Tom, genuinely apologetic. “Sorry, Tom. Uh, let’s see what else is available… There’s another Raid Egg hatching in thirty minutes. Wanna wait for that one?”

Thomas declined Nathan’s suggestion of continuing to Raid, as he was getting hungry, and instead opted for a visit to Jack’s Burger Junction, which he would, of course, insist on covering.

“Isn’t that the place with the massive burger challenge?”

“Yep. It comes with a side of fries too, altogether almost two kilos worth! Feel like joining me?”

“You’re on, but if I finish first, I’ll pay! Deal?”

“Hah! If you finish it at all, Professor!”

Nathan and Tom leisurely made their way to Jack’s, catching random Pokémon that appeared, and discussing the impact of Crown virus on PoGO. The combination of fair weather and easy-minded chatting seemed to hasten their journey, and it wasn’t long before they had made their way to the heart of the city, where Jack’s was located. How fortunate they were, that the Royal Botanical Gardens overlooked the Central Business district, providing a majestic view of the capital. During the day, spectators could enjoy the clear blue riverbank, upon which the capital had originally been founded upon, and at night, the buildings offered an ethereal neon glow further enhanced by then darkened waters. But Tom and Nathan, while appreciating the scenery, were more immersed in their mobile hyper-reality of PoGO, so the natural splendour of nature did not make the impression it ought to have. Since Crown virus had not made much headway in their state, it was one of the few places worldwide where Niantic had decided to reintroduce EX Raids, so the two were trying to qualify for that invite-only event by doing Raids as often as possible. Nathan, as Professor Redwood, had his own thoughts about that decision, but those could be addressed once The Pokémon Company finally accepted his offers to fix their issues (as a contractor/advisor, which they surely would accept, any day now). Tom chuckled sympathetically as Nathan told him about the “obvious” changes that would dramatically improve PoGO, but as Tom was only a casual Pokémon fan, Nathan dropped the topic as soon as their meals arrived.

They munched through their fries and respective burgers (each a colossus of sliced cheese and angus minced beef), and drank deeply from their glasses, especially Nathan, who was adamant that each food item had to be consumed entirely before moving onto the next; this was the opposite of Tom, who fondly nibbled on everything intermittently. Slouching back in their chairs to help aid digestion, Nathan looked around his surroundings in greater detail. The restaurant was loosely themed on the U.S. burger joints of the 1950’s, equipped with chrome tables and chairs, and offering nothing remotely ‘healthy’, but that made it all the more appealing to Nathan, who scoffed at the notion of diabetes or heart disease. For a man in a wheelchair, he was surprisingly lithe, which Tom complimented him on.

“You know, Nathan, I train regularly, which could explain why I’m not suffering diet-related health problems, but what’s your excuse? Metabolism?”

“That, but I’ve also been doing physiotherapy – you know, for my condition. I started it a little after we first met, actually. Oh, speaking of which, how’s the gout? Active lifestyle or no active lifestyle, isn’t this kind of food meant to be bad for you?” Tom smiled rather smugly, and told Nathan how he had been tweaking with his biochemistry, and no longer suffered from gout attacks, even without taking the medication recommended to him years ago, before remarking on how surreal it was that the two met at St. Anne’s. Both had been wheelchair-bound at the time for different reasons and had proceeded to bond over PoGO. Perhaps it was the blood pooling to his stomach, a consequence of his heavy lunch, but Nathan became rather lightheaded as he recalled the circumstances in which he became acquainted with Thomas Kei, who was such a Pokémon noob that he hadn’t even heard of him, Professor Redwood, the Pokémon extraordinaire! It really did seem like another lifetime ago…

Chapter 1: Au Revoir, Professor Redwood

Perhaps it was not uncommon to look so sullen and dejected in a hospital, even one as nice as St. Anne’s, but his demeanour had little to do with the fact that he was involved in an accident yesterday. In fact, if ever a wine were to be modelled after Nathan Redwood, it would be somewhat sour, with hints of a bittersweet aftertaste: an almost metallic, copperish vintage that spoke of a sanguine and tortured existence… and he was barely middle-aged! Although he hadn’t seemed to have sustained any life-threatening injuries, the accident had done some damage to his wheelchair, and the doctors wanted to be absolutely sure that he was fine, even though the car had inflicted less damage on him than it did either his wheelchair or the pavement. Having just turned thirty, and despite the considerable amount of virtual well-wishes he had received, Nathan’s actual social life was next to non-existent. As such, his recent birthday had passed without a single phone call or birthday-themed outing.

Casual observers would not see anything particularly spectacular about what he had done that day: he stayed inside, watching online videos, enjoying a bachelor’s feast of take-out pizza, burgers, and fried chicken (it was his birthday, so why not live a little?), and doing what he had done for most of his life as far back as he could remember: play Pokémon. Maybe other people would call him a loser with no life, but they didn’t know the real Nathan, or “Professor Redwood” as he was more famously known as in the extended Pokémon community. Which, all things considered, had been a comparatively niche community until just over two years ago, when the world received PoGO.

It began as an idea that Nathan was already well aware of, being the type of person to listen to anything relating to Pokémon with keen interest, and at first, he wasn’t too impressed. An interactive mobile app that allowed players to synchronise their real-world locations with in-game mapping data and augmented reality? Interesting, but surely not revolutionary. Nathan was, after all, already aware of Niantic’s previous game Ingress, as well as Pokémon’s own Pokémon Dream Radar, both of which used augmented reality as a main component of their gameplay. Nathan imagined that PoGO would be amalgamation of the two, and while augmented reality was interesting, it was also in its infancy, little more than a gimmick.

No, the realPokémon community would always be the loyal and hardcore players of the core series games, such as himself, who had stuck with the franchise from its initial release over twenty years ago, not people whose only interaction with Pokémon would be through a watered-down smartphone app. Any gambler worth their salt would have bet on Professor Redwood’s opinions regarding anything related to Pokémon, as he was practically the authority on the subject. Said gambler… would have lost that bet, because PoGO had inexplicably taken the world by storm! Within the first week, the developers had no choice but to seriously overhaul the game’s parameters: the influx in volume of players worldwide was simply too much for their systems to handle, going far beyond what they had estimated in terms of interest for a mobile app!

And it was, in fact, this surge of interest in this mobile app which had surpassed that of the core series games, supplanting itself both to casual Pokémon observers, and monetarily for The Pokémon Company, as the main facet of the franchise, which forced Nathan Redwood, documenter and writer of all things Pokémon, to write something he never thought he would: his ‘retirement’ letter:

“To my fellow Pokémon Trainers and enthusiasts,

I cannot overstate just what a profound impact Pokémon has had on my life. At thirty years of age, Pokémon has been there for most of that. I started with a copy of Pokémon Red when I was seven years old, and I immediately latched onto the fascinating creatures and immersive world shown to me in that game. And from that point, I became a huge fan of Pokémon.

Perhaps it was because of my circumstances that I was so drawn to Pokémon in the beginning, and as I grew older and became more technologically-minded, I began my own blog – this blog, writing essays on the game and the franchise. Over the years, I became fortunate enough that this blog became one of the highest-viewed Pokémon info sites out there. People came here because of my insight and interest in the World of Pokémon, and I continued to play Pokémon because I enjoyed the games and the experiences, the journeys I’ve had because of them. Recently though, with PoGO, I’ve become quite disillusioned. Not just with the games, but with the franchise as a whole. I’m not a Genwunner by any means. I’ve been there since the beginning, but every Generation of Pokémon has brought something new to the table – good and bad. I feel, unfortunately, that PoGO has done more harm than good for the Pokémon franchise – even with my recent accident notwithstanding.

I don’t want people to dismiss me or this as someone who just doesn’t understand PoGO. I have just recently managed to reach Trainer Level 30 in the game, which I know doesn’t sound very impressive, but those who know me and understand my circumstances will realise that this is quite an achievement. In any case, I’ve given the game a fair shake, and have been with the franchise long enough for me to see that Pokémon is heading down a road that I don’t want to follow it down. So, with that said, this post will be the last update I make to the blog. I wish to thank each and every one of you who has visited this site, commented, shared, and all that you’ve done over the years. It’s incredibly humbling that I’ve had a home here, and people were interested in what I’ve had to say. The blog will remain up, so feel free to look through my back catalogue, but this will be my final post.

I’d lastly like to thank you, Pokémon Trainers, for all that you’ve done. Thank you for coming to my blog and sharing with me your passion for what I loved, what I’m sure you still do. And I wish you all the best of luck in your continuing Pokémon journeys.

Catch ’em all, Trainers,

Sincerely, Prof. Redwood.”

He had gone over the words so many times, processed so many iterations of what he wanted to say, and yet still, Nathan wasn’t satisfied. Something was holding him back from posting what would likely be the final entry in a journal, on a journey, that had spanned his lifetime. “Professor Redwood” was his moniker, but at the end of the day, despite the fans, and the flames, he was, is, and would always be, Nathan. Just a guy who loved Pokémon. Emphasis on loved.

Where had this apostasy come from? Perhaps it was when PoGO first launched? No, that was not entirely accurate, because despite the overload to Niantic’s servers, which resulted in less than stellar gameplay, he did love the concept. One of the biggest criticisms of video games in general, aside from the accusations of encouraging violence, was that the players were not being physically active, and as a result, enabled obesity as well as general unfitness. But this game was different! Imagine the nostalgia of the original Pokémon games, which had been a consistent top seller for Nintendo ever since the initial games were released back in 1996, being harnessed to motivate players to actually step outside and explore the real world! Such a novel premise, but one which had become lucratively successful for all parties involved in the development and maintenance of GO. For a time, it was almost as though world peace had been achieved, global harmony as children and adults alike ventured around their neighbourhoods and cities, hunting for different Pokémon, and forging camaraderie in Gym Battles between the different teams (mainly between Valor and Mystic). It would not be overly generous to say that an increasingly cynical generation was now experiencing a wonderfully fresh sense of adventure, going so far as to roam the streets at night, just like the ‘good ol’ days’. There would, after all, always be a childlike yearning for adventure, no matter the decade. The 80’s had ‘The Goonies’, and the 90’s had Pokémon.

Of course, as with all things promisingly utopian, Human Nature began to do what it does best, and corruption ensued. It began simply enough, with players creating multiple accounts (which violated the game’s Terms of Service) to get a leg up over other players by getting more items, filling up Gyms with more Pokémon, as well as getting more opportunities to catch rarer, Legendary Pokémon, than law-abiding players who only had one account. Then, players started using third-party software to fool the app’s GPS location-tracking features, commonly referred to as ‘spoofing’, which allowed players to supersede the limitations of physical location, and play PoGO from the comfort of their own homes.

While a nice thought in theory, this act (while once again violating the game’s Terms of Service) completely defeated the purpose and point of the game, which was to encourage players to go outside and explore the real world to find Pokémon. This was a particular sticking point for Nathan, as the rest of Pokémon’s video games, core series or otherwise, did not require players to go outside or walk around to play, and so the fact that there were apparently people who wanted to play the one Pokémon game that required you to be outside, whilst inside, was perplexing to him.

And this was to say nothing of the discourse between players that took place outside the game. There were legitimately harrowing real-world issues, such as the abuse of game items to lure unsuspecting players to remote locations in order to rob or assault them. The playerbase also experienced a degree of toxicity when a strong rivalry between Team Valor and Team Mystic culminated into pseudo-gang warfare between their respective team members, with Team Instinct largely dismissed as a ‘witless casual faction’.

However, Nathan’s biggest personal gripe with PoGO was how it seemed to hold itself superior and distinct from the rest of the franchise, as a large majority of players, especially those who were introduced to Pokémon through GO, held little to no interest in anything other than what GO offered. It seemed baffling to Nathan that the arrogance of such players could be allowed to run unchecked, when the undeniable truth was that those players had experienced but a fraction of the Pokémon franchise, and were acting as though PoGO was the be-all and end-all of a franchise that had existed for over two decades, as though until that point, the core series Pokémon games were obscure indie titles, when they were what made the franchise the second best-selling game series of all time. His blood boiled whenever he found himself mulling over those thoughts for too long, something that was unfortunately frequently recurring, and certainly not good for his health.

There was something almost too cliché about a man in his middle-ages, albeit just barely, disgruntled and emaciated due to a health condition, socially withdrawn (though very active online), with a passion for something that no one else could possibly understand to the degree he did. That something was Pokémon. In consideration of all the years he had played the games, watched the anime, participated in fandom, and remained invested in the franchise, PoGO, to him, was almost a slap in the face. PoGO brought a wealth of new players into the fold, and indeed a new aspect with which to experience Pokémon. But that aspect, that experience, began to be seen by most, not as a new aspect, but the only aspect by which to experience Pokémon, especially by nature of it being the most casually accessible.

And none of this was helped by the almost miasma-like ignorance that came from some of the more vocal members of the PoGO fanbase, saying such things like ‘Niantic should have made this Shiny better!’, or ‘Why isn’t there an in-game chat option?’. Again, to say nothing of GPS spoofing!

No, to Nathan Redwood, it was agony.

Taking several deep breaths, Nathan reminded himself, with a crusty acceptance, that it was the nature of things, and he tried not to dwell on such depressing thoughts. Ever since he was a child, he fell in love with the core series Pokémon games, and stayed in love as he matured into a young man. During his early adolescence, when his condition worsened significantly, and he was forced to start using a wheelchair, those games saved him from the Hell of feeling isolated and imprisoned within his own body, because they allowed him to, even though they were only video games, explore new places and journey throughout the Regions featured in each new Pokémon game.

Eventually, he started a simple HTML 4 blog, where he would document his playthroughs, and catalogue various aspects of the games. A small community developed over time, but it was the advent of online Battling and Trading in the games that was the catalyst for a surge in popularity and traffic, and what eventually led him to do a complete overhaul of his blog, to facilitate the growth of an online worldwide Pokémon fan community.

It was here Nathan found his place with other like-minded people, people who shared the same passion for Pokémon he did, and with this, he no longer felt trapped or alone. He was free, his spirit able to soar unburdened, unbroken.

Until now.

Now, Nathan was disillusioned and disgruntled, having only just now turned thirty, and in his mind, among everything else, it was an appropriate time to retire. Finally overtaken by mental and emotional fatigue, he drifted off into an uneasy sleep in his hospital bed.

* * * * *

St. Anne’s General Hospital was a nice place, not a particularly big hospital, but one that was very inviting and rather hospitable (unlike those surreally sterile, overly modern institutions). The nurses were not as underpaid here compared to some other hospitals, the architectural design had been implemented with a simple elegance that allowed for a non-labyrinthian pedestrian flow, and most importantly, the administration team took great care to maintain beautiful open courtyards filled with the most pleasing arrangement of flower bushes, like a botanical garden. When Nathan woke up the next day, he was greeted by the young medical receptionist stationed outside his ward.

“Good afternoon, sunshine!” She beamed. “You must be quite the night owl to sleep in until lunch time!”

The smallest of smiles crept onto Nathan’s face. “Hello, Mary. How’re things?”

“Oh, you know, the glamorous life of a medical receptionist is nothing to brag about. You?”

“Just doing my usual thing,” Nathan shrugged, “but, likewise, nothing glamorous either.”

Mary laughed, very openly and rather endearingly at Nathan’s response, twirling strands of her blonde locks between her fingers as she smiled.

Nathan’s smile grew. He didn’t mind Mary. He appreciated that she didn’t fuss over him or give him pitying looks like some of the other nurses. He hated that, as though they were defining him by his condition, and that made him almost feel like less of a person. But Mary was different. She was approachable, easy to talk to, always pompously taking charge of the room when she entered, though very endearingly of course.

It also probably helped that she too had an interest in Pokémon, albeit a more cursory, casual one. Whenever Nathan would share his passion for Pokémon, Mary would mention whichever one she decided was the cutest that day, which Nathan always found quite amusing. Though cuteness was something Nathan could appreciate, to him, there were other, far more important factors to consider when it came to Pokémon. Of course, Mary wasn’t so vain as to only like a Pokémon for its cuteness. She was also interested in their in-universe lore, which was probably why she was particularly sentimental over Cubone of all Pokémon. Being a nurturing and caring young woman may have been a stereotype, but it definitely suited her.

“I think it’s really nice what you’ve been doing, setting up all the Lures to attract more Pokémon. I know it’s made some of the kids in the Children’s Ward really happy. I’ve even heard a few adults say how much they appreciate it, and it’s definitely made my break times more fun.” Mary leaned just a little bit closer to Nathan. “Oh, speaking of, there’s a new patient we’ve had check in, and he’s been really happy about the extra Pokémon you’ve made available as well! I think he’s about the same age as you too – want to meet him?”

Nathan’s eyes narrowed; his curiosity piqued. In the week or so that he’d been at St. Anne’s, Nathan had seen a few people around playing PoGO on their phones. And he knew they were playing PoGO, because the number on his Picnicker Medal would go up every time he put down a Lure Module at one of the PokéStops within the hospital grounds. That meant people were catching Pokémon spawned by the Lure Modules he’d been placing.

And that was the point, after all. That was why he was doing it. Nathan had come in with dozens of Lure Modules. He didn’t need them. Best for other people to get some use out of them, rather than have them ‘rot away’ on his account, forever unused. Especially kids. A hospital, even as one as nice as St. Anne’s, was still a hospital, and if Nathan could provide even a little bit of enjoyment for the kids here while he was here, he’d do it.

But what struck Nathan about this, Mary’s comment, was that this was the first time she’d mentioned another PoGO player aside from herself. Mary was more or less aware of Nathan’s identity as ‘Professor Redwood’, though Nathan wasn’t sure Mary quite grasped exactly what that meant. She knew at the very least that Nathan was ‘above’ most other Pokémon fans. Or at least, that’s how he saw himself. So, she never really brought up anybody else, and the fact that she now had had to mean something.

A short breath escaped Nathan. He didn’t really believe in God, or anything like that, but there was a little part of Nathan, the tiniest part, that wondered… was this something? Fate, trying to pull him back from the brink and revitalise his interests, revitalise him, once more?

“Yeah…” Nathan licked his lips. “Sure…”

“Great!” Mary beamed as she moved out from the reception desk. “I’ll take you to him. He usually hangs out in the courtyard, near that bunch of Stops.”

“Y-You don’t need to take me. I know where the courtyard is-” Nathan began.

“Nonsense!” Mary continued to smile. “I know I don’t need to take you, but I want to.”

“But-”

Mary waved Nathan’s objection away. “I won’t be long.” She said simply. “Now, come on.” She ushered Nathan to follow her. And with a sigh, he did. St. Anne’s was not a particularly large hospital, so it would not be too long before the two young men would become acquainted, but still, trepidation rose within Nathan as he and Mary drew closer to the courtyard, and he wondered to himself if his expectations would meet this new reality.

Chapter 2: Chance Encounter of Polar Opposites

Thomas Kei was known for many things, but the notion that he could be bedridden was not one of them. That’s what getting older meant, he supposed. In two weeks, he would be off to Japan, for the second time, to carry out a grand surprise for a dear friend. The last time he travelled alone, for the most part, as he sought to make sense of himself, and it was a growing experience, to say the least. This time, he would be traveling with special gifts, though referring to Toby and Louise as “gifts” may be slightly demeaning, albeit appropriate, as Naomi had no idea that the other two would be coming. His ‘gifts’ displayed more excitement than he did, being a man of private feelings, but if they could read his mind, they might be surprised to learn that he was anxiously going over the details to ensure everything went to plan. However, a few days ago, he had suffered his worst gout attack ever, and was forced to see a doctor about it as – going to Japan was important to him, as he planned it to be the last time he would ever see Naomi. Thus, he would not risk being incapacitated at this stage. Months of meticulous planning was now being jeopardised by his unexpected illness!

Originally, he had not planned to be here at St. Anne’s, because men in their late twenties generally did not suffer ‘the rich man’s disease’, commonly known as gout, so-named ostensibly due to medieval nobles being plagued by it as a result of their excessive indulgences. Surely some painkillers or maybe strong diuretics would do the trick? But his doctor grew concerned as he questioned Tom’s lifestyle, which indicated nothing that normally triggered gout, so eventually Tom had been checked into St. Anne’s for a few tests, just to be on the safe side. In the end, his bloodwork had revealed a slightly alarming degree of blood toxicity, so he was being kept here a little longer while they monitored his condition. Tom was indifferent to the results of his bloodwork: as long as he was functional enough for the big trip in two weeks, little else mattered. One good thing about being here at St. Anne’s was the flora – the hospital had emphasised a healing environment as it used to specifically treat patients with terminal conditions, especially children with such conditions. The hospital Board of Directors had wanted to allow them to enjoy as much colour and natural beauty as possible during their recovery (if the prognosis was good), or be as comfortable as possible (if the outcome was not so favourable). It had been two days since he was admitted, and he was meant to be out by the end of the week, so he simply corresponded with Toby and Louise over email, not disclosing his condition or location of course, and played PoGO.

How he had first gotten involved with the app was rather curious, if uninspired, because it was Naomi who had contacted him out of the blue, asking if he was involved with the new global phenomenon that was taking the world by storm. He said that unfortunately he was not, but the memories of watching the early anime as a boy, along with Naomi’s indirect recommendation, were enough for him to download it soon after its initial release (almost two years ago). Thus, he had rekindled a previously neglected sense of childlike adventure and fascination with the game.

Thomas had too much grace to admit that he had started playing because he wanted to build a stronger connection with his romantic interest, even if it was pretty natural for humans in general to do so. He stopped after an intensive month of binge-playing, but had resumed after he got back from Osaka. If it came up this time in Japan, perhaps he could surprise her, maybe even impress Naomi with his progress. As a friend, of course.

At St. Anne’s, there were a few PokéStops, PoGO item replenishment stations, located around the hospital, and Thomas was having a lot of fun traversing the area in his wheelchair; unfortunately, as Thomas’s gout prevented him from easily moving around, he had initially been reduced to limping at a pitiful pace. But the wheelchair that he’d been provided with was so much fun to use! If he was confined to one permanently, perhaps he would have been less thrilled with the arrangement, but in the meantime, being in a wheelchair was still a choice, so he didn’t feel bad about it.

The blending of PoGO’s augmented reality, and the physical reality of the real world, was something that Tom was absolutely delighted by, due to his interest in the esoterica of metaphysics. He supposed that augmented virtual reality, which is what the game offered, could be stepping stones toward future implementations of hyper-reality. But that was still a while away, and Tom was getting ahead of himself – he needed to go for his rounds, to collect more items from PokéStops, so that he could catch more Pokémon, and earn more Experience.

He made his way to a particular spot that was his ideal haunt, the courtyard. It was cool and shady, gave Thomas a wonderful view of the gardens, and was conveniently within range of a great number of PokéStops. The spawns, the Pokémon appearing in the area, were rather lacking, but another player had occasionally been activating Lure Modules that attracted more Pokémon to the area, and Tom was grateful for the extra creatures that, while usually were sparce, now littered his screen.

While he couldn’t even be considered a novice at any of the core series games, having never played them, nor any of the Pokémon games that had released up to this point, he had taken to PoGO with all the fervour of an asexual doing laundry. Of course, it wasn’t that he was aroused by the game, but it had certainly been something that had captivated his attentions, and Thomas felt compelled to play daily ever since he returned from Japan.

Though, if he was being honest, Thomas simply enjoyed ‘grinding’, a gaming term that referred to performing repetitive actions that gradually accumulated enough points or resources for character advancement or resource acquisition (though the latter was more often referred to as ‘farming’). Once a player had reached the mid-levels of PoGO, approximately from Level 20 onwards, the Experience Points required to level up seemed almost ridiculous. Currently, players of PoGO could advance no higher than Level 40, but the Experience required to go from Level 39 to Level 40 was equal to the Experience that players would need to advance from Level 1 all the way up to Level 39! Instead of being discouraged however, Thomas Kei was incentivised to power through the so-called ‘monotony’ and reach Level 40 in such a fashion. To him, it wasn’t a big deal at all – he used to play Nexon’s and Wizet’s MapleStory, an online multiplayer role-playing game, back in the days of Dial-up Internet, so he barely felt PoGO’s steepening levelling process.

As Tom approached, he saw people occupying ‘his’ PoGO spot, much to his surprise. Not that he minded, but he wasn’t as sociable as he normally appeared, due to his predicament of being here right before he was scheduled to leave the country. While he briefly considered leaving, heading to a more private and secluded area, he recognised one of the two: it was Mary, the medical receptionist, and she was speaking to someone in an electric wheelchair.

Deciding that he should be friendly, as Mary was very nurturing, if a little vapid, and reminded him of a big sister (not his, one that he could actually like), so he rolled towards the two, catching a snippet of their conversation:

“Getting anything good?” Mary asked.

“Eevee…” the man grumbled. “I’m… actually really sick of Eevee, to be honest…”

Thomas’s ears twitched. Did his ears deceive him, or were they talking about Pokémon?

It was certainly intriguing, especially as Tom took in the sight of the other man on wheels and realised that they were probably around the same age. Tom wasn’t particularly stealthy in a wheelchair, and the two heard him approach, Mary beaming at him with delight.

“Tom! I was wondering what happened to you! I was just telling Nathan that you’re normally glued to this spot when you’re not seeing the doctors.”

It was hard not to smile back when Mary was so chirpy, especially as she had very warm features and golden locks that were distinctly tinted, but otherwise natural-looking. The other fellow had a striking look with bushy eyebrows and facial stubble that suggested the ability to grow a magnificent beard, which Tom was mildly envious of. Those features contrasted well against his pale skin, and a demeanour which seemed almost brooding, but his eyes were bright and alert, as he smiled politely at Tom, who decided that he should show some exuberance.

“Please, Mary, we can’t keep meeting like this! The other staff are starting to get suspicious!” Thomas smiled a suave but jovial smile. “But maybe you’re two-timing me with this gentleman here? I see you have a type!”

Nathan momentarily blanched as he took in Tom’s personality, but then started laughing almost as hard as the other two. It was difficult for him, meeting new people. There was always awkwardness in the beginning, his condition, other peoples’ preconceived notions because of said condition. But not this time.

This time, Nathan was disarmed in a different way. Tom’s boldness had totally blindsighted him. It was honestly refreshing. And Nathan didn’t get the sense from Tom that it was because they were both confined to wheelchairs either.

Nathan smiled, joining in with banter of his own. “What can I say? Girls go crazy over a set of hot wheels. I’m thinking of adding some rims, maybe a spoiler on this thing. What do you think?” he joked.

“You, sir, are truly a man of sophistication and fine taste!” Tom grinned. “Thomas Kei, pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Nathan Redwood, equally charmed.”

“But you can call him ‘Professor Redwood’, Tom.” Mary spoke up.

Nathan watched as Tom’s expression changed, brows furrowing, eyes going wide. Nathan nodded knowingly at Tom’s reaction. After all, as Professor Redwood, Nathan’s reputation preceded him. His site was used by countless Pokémon fans across the globe, from all different parts of the fandom; even those only interested in PoGO. And even though he rarely gave interviews, aside from the occasional candid take on Twitter, Nathan used the handles ‘Professor Redwood’, or ‘Redwood’ across his entire online presence. So while the name afforded hima degree of anonymity for those that weren’t in the know, for those that were, namely in the Pokémon fandom, it was easy to connect the dots.

The information that Mary had volunteered, the simple namedrop, would have been enough to tip-off just about anyone in the Pokémon fandom.

“Professor Redwood…” Tom verbalised, looking down at his phone screen for a moment. His face beamed with a sudden realisation as he looked back up at Nathan. “Oh, you’re the guy that’s been putting down all the Lures around here!” Tom exclaimed. “Thanks so much, my good yeoman, I really appreciate it! You must play a lot of PoGO too?”

Well, almost anyone.

Nathan’s mouth dropped open slightly, blinking in rapid succession, akin to a hard-drive that was trying to process alien data. That was it? To Tom, he was just a ‘guy putting down Lures’?

Nathan licked his lips, slightly baffled by the lack of recognition. While it was great he was being appreciated for using his Lure Modules, it was hard for him not to have an ego and just expect anyone within the Pokémon fandom to know who he was. Anyone that took Pokémon even a little bit seriously would have used Nathan’s site occasionally at the very least, looking up where certain Pokémon species could be found in one of the core series games, looking up game mechanics across all the games, summaries for episodes of the anime, or just general Pokémon news, among much, much more.

Perhaps, Nathan thought, Thomas simply hadn’t been playing for that long? But then, Nathan wondered, why would Mary have brought him up in the first place?

“Uh…” Nathan readjusted his posture as he sat in his wheelchair. “Yeah… I play a fair amount of GO.” Nathan said, frowning slightly. “I’m Level 30 at the moment. What about you?”

“Nice!” Tom praised. “I’m Level 39, and I plan to hit Level 40 in about a month.”

Nathan let out a quick “What?” under his breath as Tom showed him his phone. Tom was right on the cusp of reaching the Level Cap. It destroyed some of the preconceived notions Nathan had, but it also seemed to confirm some as well. Notions which caused a pit to form in Nathan’s stomach. He continued his inquiry, “And, uh, if you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been playing GO?”

With a frown, Tom might have seemed somewhat offended by Nathan’s blunt questioning, but he was actually trying to recall specific periods of his PoGO experience, before slowly calculating it out loud,

“I started roughly when the game launched, but I played for a month and got to level thirty, same as you. After that, I stopped, and picked up again about half a year ago, so let’s say in total… about seven to eight months?”

“Are you Team Valor, or Team Mystic?”

“I am an Opti-Mystic player: so, Instinct! Yellow Mellow is just my style. You?”

Nathan shook his head at the pun, before revealing that he was, “Valor. Red or Dead, that’s my motto.”

“And I’m Blue,” interjected Mary, who felt that everyone present were obligated to declare their team allegiances.

“Neat!” said Tom, still beaming with enthusiasm, expressed, “It’s great meeting other players! Hey, I just realised! The three of us, two guys and a girl – we could be like Ash, Brock, and Misty!”

“Oh, like the cartoon!” Mary smiled.

The sinking feeling in Nathan’s stomach started to lessen. “So, you’ve seen the anime then? Or at least the first series?”

“Definitely. The adventures of those three, and Pikachu, were what made my mornings as a kid. But I stopped watching around the end of Johto.”

“Right, right.” Nathan nodded. It was like he was gathering information. “And have you played any of the games? Aside from GO, I mean.”

Tom scrunched his nose just a little bit. “Nah, I never played any of the games. Never had a Game Boy or anything growing up. Still, nostalgia hit hard with PoGO!”

There was a twinge as Nathan swapped his phone between his hands. Nostalgia for what? He thought. The thought of a gatekeeper.

“Oh, yeah?” Nathan asked, his tone now almost dismissive.

“Mm.” Tom nodded, either not picking up on it, or not caring. “How about you?”

Nathan pondered for a moment, wondering how he could possibly answer such a question. But he didn’t need to answer. Mary answered on his behalf.

“Nathan’s actually very well-known in the Pokémon community.” She said, a smile creeping onto Nathan’s face. “Haven’t you heard of his Redwood website? It’s got info about all the Pokémon, the games, episodes of the cartoon, the comics, the cards-”

“Just documenting the cards and the sets.” Nathan felt the need to interject. “I don’t actually play the card game. I mean, I think the card art’s nice, but the gameplay… it just doesn’t gel with the rest of the franchise.”

Tom chuckled as Mary continued. “Yeah, well, there’s a lot of really cool stuff on it. I’ve even used it to look up stuff for GO.” Mary turned back in the direction of reception. “Anyway, I really should be getting back.”

“No worries!” Tom smiled. Mary smiled in kind before heading back to reception. “So, Nathan, you’re like a super-mega-fan then?”

“I guess you could say that.” Nathan said.

The sound of a Pokémon spawning in their games drew both men’s attention back to their phones. “Ooh, a Pidgey!” Tom said excitedly.

“You like Pidgey?” Nathan asked. “They’re really common.”

“Yeah, but they only take twelve Candy to Evolve, so they’re great for grinding.” Tom explained.

“Oh, right.” Nathan nodded. In his head, he was putting puzzle pieces together to figure out who Tom was, or at least how he played PoGO.

* * * * *

The two of them stayed like that well into the afternoon, flicking Poké Balls at any Pokémon that appeared in the courtyard. And whenever the Lure Module expired, Nathan would replace it with a new one.

Tom was especially lucky to have caught a Shiny Caterpie, which he offered to give to Nathan, though the latter declined on the principle that Shiny Pokémon were rare and valuable. Nathan thought that Tom was surely only offering it to him to be polite, even though he sounded quite sincere, citing that his inventory was always getting full, thus forcing him to cull his stables.

Speaking of politeness, Tom was happy to let Nathan go off on tangents about Pokémon. Whenever a new one appeared in-game, Nathan would spout off some random trivia about it. Its Pokédex entries, its real-world inspiration, if it was ‘good’.

“…But yeah, that’s why Splash isn’t a Water move.”

“Huh…” Thomas mused. “I could have sworn Splash was a Water move.”

“It might be in GO, but in the core series, it’s Normal.” Nathan finished explaining. “Sorry if I’m boring you. I know I can go on and on about this stuff. If you want me to shut up, just say so. I won’t be offended.”

“No, no, this is fascinating!” Tom insisted. “I’d love to hear more – after a bathroom break!” Tom quickly skirted off to the bathroom. The truth was, while he didn’t mind listening to Nathan carrying on, he had started to feel more and more uncomfortable as time went on. With Tom’s gout, it felt as though there was glass inside his legs, shredding him up every time he moved, and all he could really do to ease the condition was keep his fluids up, and avoid aggravating his foot.

Thankfully, Tom was able to use the bathroom without issue, and promptly returned to Nathan, who found the young man looking as though he was deep in thought.

The sound of Tom’s approach seemed to pull Nathan back. “Hey…” he said softly. “Why are you… here, at St. Anne’s…?”

Tom’s brows furrowed for a moment. They’d been talking about Pokémon all day, and this was the first time that Nathan had asked him something not Pokémon-related. “Oh, just gout.” Tom answered simply. “It got pretty bad a few days ago, so I came to see a doctor, but everyone I’ve seen has been pretty puzzled. I’ve done some tests, but everything’s come back fine. They can’t really figure out why this has happened. So, I’ll be staying here in the meantime to do some more tests, while they figure out what’s going on.”

“So, the wheelchair…”

Tom grinned at Nathan. “I’m a fraud. I can walk if I want to. The wheelchair’s just a comfort thing.”

“Same here.” Nathan said softly. Tom’s eyes went wide for a moment, taken aback because Nathan’s wheelchair was a customised, personal-looking, electric wheelchair, slightly outdated and dented, but clearly not a loaner. Meanwhile, Tom’s was a loaned manual wheelchair, which forced him to use his arms for travelling. Trying to find the right words, Nathan elaborated, “I… can walk, but it’s hard. I’ve got, um…” Nathan stopped, and Tom looked down at his legs.

They were thin. This was the first time he’d really noticed. He didn’t need to ask what it was; he could tell. Nathan wasn’t an amputee, or someone whose legs just didn’t work. It was a degenerative disease, one that would eventually imprison him inside his own body.

Sympathetically, but with nary a trace of pity, Tom asked “How long have you had it?”

“All my life.” Nathan looked at the wall for a moment, before returning his gaze to Tom. “But it… really started after I turned ten. My legs would get really sore from just moving normally. And by the time I hit my teens, I was in this wheelchair. Well, not this exact wheelchair, obviously – I’ve grown since then.”

“Ten years old…” Tom mused. “That’s rough, buddy.” The two of them sat there in silence for a little while, until Tom asked, “Isn’t that the age when Ash Ketchum set off on his journey to become a Pokémon Master?”

“Yep. Ironic, hey? Back then, that was when I wanted to set off on my Pokémon journey too…” A short breath escaped Nathan’s lips. “I mean, I think that’s what any of us kids who saw the anime or played the games back then wanted. To go off on adventures of our own with our friends.”

“To be the best, like no one ever was?” Tom asked with a smile, trying to inject some levity, concerned with how Nathan’s mood had changed for the worse.

“Yeah…” Nathan smiled slightly. “I mean, Pokémon weren’t, aren’t real. But… I did go off on my own journey. I got Pokémon Red, picked Bulbasaur as my Starter-” Nathan was cut off by Tom’s sudden laughter, his heart jumping into his throat. “Let me guess, you like Charmander more, right…?” he asked softly.

“No, I picked Bulbasaur as my Starter in GO!” Tom grinned.

Nathan’s smile returned, and there was a moment of great relief. The anxious feeling, the need for Nathan to feel as though he had to defend his choice of Starter Pokémon, was almost automatic. It was something he’d done many times before – most of the core series games give players a choice between three different Pokémon to start with, and much like PoGO’s ‘pseudo-gang warfare’, players could become particularly loyal to one specific Starter Pokémon, almost to a fault, and denounce the other two, especially if that one would prove to become more popular. Case in point, of the original Starter Pokémon, the Fire type Charmander, was much more popular than either the Water or Grass Starters, Squirtle and Bulbasaur respectively, probably due to its Stage Two Evolution, Charizard, being prominently featured in the anime.

This would be the case for every Generation, every new set of core series games, three new Starter Pokémon would be featured, and one would most surely always rise above the other two, or fall below the other two.

Now, Nathan wasn’t the type to be contrarian for the sake of it. He liked what he liked, and sometimes that would fall squarely with the majority, or impossibly removed from it. Of the two most recent Generations, he ended up choosing the most maligned Starter Pokémon for one Generation, Fennekin, and then the most popular Starter Pokémon, Litten, for the next Generation.

But the first Generation seemed to be the most contentious, and there was a clear drop in popularity from Charmander, to Squirtle, to Bulbasaur. Which was what made Tom’s statement so surprising to Nathan, especially when Tom’s ‘involvement’ with Pokémon stemmed from the anime. However, Tom threw him another tangent by mentioning, jokingly, that he would have picked Bulbasaur as a boy because he was a vegetarian, so it was his only “option”.

Nathan chuckled. “I can’t figure you out, Tom.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, being who I am, I interact with a lot of Pokémon fans, and… I’ve noticed certain…” Nathan stopped, carefully thinking of the right words to use, “patterns, how different people… indulge in different aspects of the fandom. The core fans, the anime fans, the spin-off fans, the card game fans. And GO, even though it’s a spin-off, is its own self-contained community, almost.” Nathan licked his lips. “But they’d still come to my site. Only looking for the GO-relevant information, of course. It’s fascinating that you’re almost at the Level Cap, but you’d never even heard of me, or my site.”

Tom continued to grin. “Oh, there’s not much I need to know, Nathan. I’m in it for the grind. Catching and Evolving Pokémon, Lucky Eggs. Getting those massive XP gains! That’s what I’m in it for!”

“But it was the anime that drew you to PoGO in the first place?”

Tom’s smile faded for a moment, his eyes momentarily blanching, before his lips were drawn into a thin smile which had a rather disconcerting effect on his features. Very simply, he answered “A friend recommended it to me.”

Nathan nodded knowingly. “That’s how I hear most people got into PoGO.” He said, his tone almost dismissive, before lightening up as he asked “Does your friend still play PoGO? Have they played any of the other games?”

“You know, I actually have no idea. But I’m seeing her in about two weeks, so maybe I’ll ask her then.” Tom ended his statement with a forced laugh, which, combined with his body language, was enough to let Nathan know that it wasn’t really something Thomas wanted to talk about, why he started playing PoGO.

Thankfully, new Pokémon had spawned in-game, which allowed the developing silence to not feel anywhere near as awkward, as the two of them focused on catching all the Pokémon around them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nathan noticed Tom pull off a particularly spectacular-looking Curveball throw. “Nice…” Nathan complimented.

Unlike in the core series games, where the act of catching a Wild Pokémon involved Battling it with one of your own to weaken its HP to increase its Catch Rate, before throwing a Poké Ball at it, catching a Wild Pokémon in PoGO simply requires throwing a Poké Ball, similar to the game Paper Toss, with the accuracy and technique of the throw increasing the Catch Rate.

More experienced PoGO players would perform Curveball throws, giving them a greater chance of catching the Pokémon, as well as bonus XP and Stardust, resources used for Levelling Up, and Powering Up Pokémon respectively.

The most hardcore PoGO players would use what’s known in the community as the ‘Quick Catch Method’, an unintended exploit, allowing players to skip past some of the game’s interface and catch more Pokémon at a quicker pace.

“Thanks.” Tom smiled, too glancing at Nathan’s phone. “Do you do the Quick Catch Method?”

Nathan shook his head. “I don’t have the dexterity for it, I’m afraid. What about you?”

“Oh, no, no. I love catching Pokémon, but my skill is average, and besides, I’m just happy using my regular throwing technique.”

“Really?” Nathan sounded incredibly surprised. “I would have thought someone like you, so close to the Level Cap, would have surely taken advantage of Quick Catch. You know, to maximise those ‘massive XP gains’!”

Tom laughed boisterously. “I wish! It’s hard enough when the Pokémon fight back anyway, right?!”

Nathan sighed. “You’re telling me. The other day, I lost a bunch of Poké Balls just trying to catch a freakin’ Golbat!”

“Did you get it?”

“Nah, it fled.” Nathan twitched. “And after I wasted so many Balls and Berries on it. Never again.” Berries were another type of in-game item players could use to improve their chances at catching Pokémon. “I mean, it’s not that I needed it,” Nathan felt the need to defend his failure, “but… sunk cost fallacy, you know? After using so many Balls, I had to keep trying to catch it. I couldn’t give up.”

“Oh, so you try catching every Pokémon?” Tom asked.

“Don’t you?” Nathan raised an eyebrow. “I thought, as a grinder, you’d-”

“Oh yes, I do, make no mistake, though I only get excited about Pokémon like Pidgey and Whismur; Pokémon that don’t take a lot of Candy to Evolve. If I catch them with a Pinap Berry, I’m halfway to Evolving them, and the more I Evolve, the more XP I get.”

“You really are all about the grind…” Nathan chuckled. “In that case… did you want to add me as a Friend? That way, if we play together in-game, you’ll get even more XP, and reach Level 40 a little quicker.”

“Is that how that works?” Tom laughed. “I didn’t even know!”

Nathan laughed in kind. “Maybe check out my site sometime, yeah?”

* * * * *

Night came quickly, and before the bourgeoning friends knew it, it was time for dinner.

While Nathan would occasionally have lunch with Mary, he’d always spend dinner alone in his room, so he was quite surprised when he was asked by Tom to join him for dinner.

The two of them sat together in the hospital cafeteria, Tom staring down at a meal tailored for his gout (no meat, lots of vegetables, and a disappointing lack of salt), while Nathan enjoyed a more conventional meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Tom couldn’t help but be a little bit envious of Nathan’s meal, a lengthy sigh passing his lips. “I wish I had some potatoes right now! Maybe not mashed potatoes, but some fries or something! There’s nothing like hot, salty French fries, wouldn’t you agree? Maybe we could arrange a midnight McDonald’s delivery or something?”

“You’re a food connoisseur, Tom,” Nathan teased, “but best not to aggravate your gout, yeah? ‘Sides, even if you could, and didn’t want what they’ve got here, you’d probably get in trouble if you got a delivery sent here. The other day, one of the guys down the hall, the one with the busted liver, tried to get booze delivered here, and Mary reamed him out. Probably best not to risk it.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Tom sighed, picking at his salad. Though he’d never admit it to Nathan, Thomas had also invited him to dinner with an ulterior motive: he wanted to find out more about him. “Hey, so what were you saying earlier? About going on journeys, and Bulbasaur?”

Nathan’s brows furrowed for a moment. “Oh, it was…” he hesitated. “Just, you know, people… kids who watched the anime back then, you know, would… would fantasise about going on their own Pokémon journeys, but, as someone who played the core series games, I did that. Went on journeys, I mean. I know it’s a game, I know it’s not real, but… it felt real. Travelling around, exploring those worlds in the games.” Nathan’s eyes averted Tom’s. “I know that’s really corny, but when all the other kids are off playing sports, and riding their bikes, and you can’t do that…” he trailed off, shrugging as he played with some mashed potatoes on his plate.

When his eyes returned to focus on Tom, the man was smiling warmly at him. “I think that’s beautiful.”

Nathan pushed some air out. “Sure…”

“And you’ve loved the franchise ever since?”

Nathan hesitated once more. “I love the core series games. The rest of it comes and goes in waves for me. I mean, from a website perspective, I have to stay up to date on all things Pokémon, but as for the aspects of the franchise I actually enjoy… it’s more or less the core series, and any games that can connect to the core series.” Nathan couldn’t hold himself back from unloading. “I… see it as one big cohesive journey, like… I know it’s a game, and I’m playing a character, but… I like to imagine that… the character is me, and I’m the same character across all the different games, travelling all around, and taking all my Pokémon with me through each game. I transfer all my Pokémon up between each game – Pal Park Migration, Poké Transfer, Poké Transporter, Pokémon Bank. But I know I’m the outlier. Most people I speak to play each game as its own self-contained thing.”

“Wow!” Tom sounded amazed. “I thought my Starter from GO was old, but you must have some really old Pokémon then!”

“Oh yeah. I’ve still got all my old Pokémon from back when I first played Ruby and Sapphire. They’d be about fifteen years old now, but the Game Boy Advance had no internal clock, so…” Nathan shrugged.

“So, where does PoGO fit into everything for you?”

“Honestly, when I first heard about it, I didn’t really care. Like, obviously from a website perspective, I was going to play it and document it and everything, but very much in a sense like Pokémon Snap, or Pokémon Conquest, where I play it, but if it doesn’t connect to the core series, then I’m not personally interested. Then I heard that PoGO was eventually going to be compatible with the core series in some way, and… that’s what got me onboard. I’ve been playing ever since. Now I’m just waiting on the connectivity…” Nathan frowned.

Tom laughed, wolfing down some salad. “Honestly, I had no idea GO was even a thing until my friend told me about it!” Tom beamed.

Nathan made a sound, his expression becoming firmer, and he went back to eating. Despite being less than fond of his meal, Tom still ate everything off his plate, as did Nathan. As the two of them finished their meals and returned their plates and trays, Thomas mulled over his observations and thoughts about Nathan, a pedantic but passionate, savant-level intellectual emitting crusty resentment over the thing he claimed to love. It was truly fascinating, hearing about all the different facets of the franchise, but also Nathan’s experiences within the fandom, and just how different his experience with Pokémon was to Tom’s own. There was however one thing that Tom wasn’t quite able to get his head around. Rather than trying to relate it to Pokémon, he decided to come at it from another angle.

“Say Nathan, correct me if I’m wrong, but you strike me as the kind of guy who reads the Terms and Conditions from start to finish before clicking ‘Agree’. Am I warm?”

Nathan’s face broke a smile. “Scalding hot! Again, I know I’m probably the outlier, but I always make sure I know exactly what it is I’m agreeing to before I agree to it, especially in this day and age.”

“Well, I actually studied a little bit of Contract Law back in my day, and I think that there are limitations to what those contracts can make you legally responsible for. I’m not a lawyer, though I’ve befriended quite a few; they can come in handy apparently!”

Nathan shrugged. “I just like to know what I’m signing up for, and what the boundaries are. I know you don’t use it, but with Pokémon Bank, players technically forfeit the right to use it if they transfer in illegitimate Pokémon. And with PoGO, it goes against their Terms of Service to share accounts, create multiple accounts, spoof their location. People still do all that stuff o’course, but they don’t have any leg to stand on if they get caught. No pun intended.” They smiled, for Tom was a lover of puns, before he noticed the time.

“Anyway,” Tom stretched in his wheelchair, doing his best to stifle a yawn, “I could listen to you talk about this for hours, but while my spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Care to continue this tomorrow?”

“You… want to talk more tomorrow?” Nathan asked, surprised. Even he had to admit, he was probably going on a bit too much. To hear that Tom wanted to hear more, that he was receptive to his ramblings was… interesting, especially considering Tom’s understanding of Pokémon was so comparatively minimal.

“Of course!” Thomas spoke jovially, almost theatrically. “I mean, you speak in such a disciplined way that I assume it must be deliberate. But when you talk about Pokémon, I can hear how sincere your passion is. Such a love is rare and should be encouraged!”

Nathan’s mouth had become slightly agape. It was not what he said, but how he said it. It sounded like Tom was mocking him, and it made Nathan self-conscious, thinking back to his younger years, in school, when he was bullied for ‘still’ playing Pokémon. Like his love, his passion, was stupid, misplaced. Pointless.

And yet, there was something about Tom’s attitude, the way that he carried himself that robbed his words of any discontent.

“Right, well, um…” Nathan cleared his throat, “I’ll… see you tomorrow then…?”

“Yes, yes, very good! Let’s meet at the courtyard to replenish our items, catch some Pokémon, and then head to the cafeteria for some food and some Gym Battles. What do you think?”

“Alright, I’ll… see you tomorrow then…”

Thomas laughed, unabashed. “Excellent! Excellent!” And with that, the two bid each other goodnight.

Chapter 3: What He Never Knew About Pokémon

Nathan woke with a panic, hurriedly switching his phone on. In spending yesterday with Thomas, he had completely neglected his website!

Updating his site wasn’t really something he could do comfortably on his phone (the best he could do was respond to comments, or post basic text updates, like his still-pending retirement letter). He much preferred the comfort and ease of his PC, but given his present circumstances, that was out of the question.

Nathan stared at his typed-out retirement letter for a moment. He hadn’t, or perhaps didn’t want to, come to a decision about retiring yet, and so carried on as though it was business as usual, as best he could.

It was, surprisingly and thankfully, a slow day in terms of news. Nothing pertinent that he needed to post on the site, or missed by failing to update for a single day, and most of the traffic at the moment was speculation about the upcoming Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! games, discussions on the upcoming Celestial Storm set for the TCG, and a cavalcade of anger and confusion over the rollout of PoGO’s new Friend and Trading system.

Nathan pursed his lips and sighed, responding to as many of the comments as he could while being respectful and nonconfrontational, doing his best not to get bent out of shape over some of the more asinine comments, such as the anger of Level 20 players being unable to Trade when Niantic clearly said they were rolling out the functionality over time to ensure minimal stress to their servers, and Level 10 and up players would be able to Trade eventually!

Nathan put his phone down and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. He’d lost track of how many times he’d repeated the same information to people over and over again. He had huge archives and databases on just about anything anyone could think up when it came to Pokémon on his site, including all known information about how Friends and Trading worked in PoGO. It was all easily accessible, though it was of course much easier for people to just rant about it and ask questions in the comments that had already been answered across the site’s dedicated and detailed sections.

Nathan tore the bedsheets away from him, grunting as he swivelled his legs off the side of the bed and stretched them. He did his best to lean forward, taking a moment to do some light flexibility-focused exercise, before inevitably confining himself to his wheelchair for the rest of the day.

Finishing his exercise, he settled into his wheelchair, grabbing his phone and responding to commenters, reminding them to check the relevant sections of his site, before signing off.

This was just how it went with PoGO, he had to remind himself. With the game being much more accessible than other Pokémon games, due to it being a free-to-play Smartphone game, unlike the core series games (which while being far more full-featured, were only released on Nintendo consoles and cost a decent amount of money). Thus it made sense that there were more people playing PoGO, just by virtue of it being free. And more people playing meant more opportunities for people to ask stupid questions because they just didn’t know any better.

Nathan sighed, and on that train of thought, he remembered that he’d promised to meet with Tom again today. He straightened up, moving out from his room, flecks of morning light moving past him.

* * * * *

Mary walked briskly, following the doctor, along with the rest of the team through the corridors of St. Anne’s. Her eyes quickly darting between the attending doctor and the notebook she held in her arm, she continued to scribble down notes and information about the patients, making sure to not lose sight of the doctor she was shadowing.

It would have seemed strange for a medical receptionist to participate in grand rounds, but Mary’s job as a medical receptionist at St. Anne’s was in fact only a paycheque to her, though there are worse ways to make ends meet.

It wasn’t really what she wanted to do. In her heart of hearts, she knew it wasn’t her true calling.

What she really wanted to be, was a veterinarian!

She didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth though, no pun intended. Her parents had helped her secure a position at St. Anne’s, expressing disapproval of her desire to become a vet, insisting that becoming a ‘doctor for humans’ would be a much better career choice, due to them receiving higher salaries.

And while that was true, it wasn’t why she entered the medical field in the first place. She loved animals, but she knew that simply loving animals wasn’t ‘enough’ for her to be a vet, which was also probably partly why her parents had helped her regardless. Either way, she’d get some sort of experience working in the medical field and be able to make her mind up after being better-informed of the reality of her career choices.

The group moved past the cafeteria, and Mary paused at the sound of two voices:

“Hey, you did good there! You switched out at just the right time, Nathan!”

“I didn’t plan that! That was just lag!”

Mary smiled, looking in at Nathan, who was like a child engrossed in his toys. She knew he and Tom would be able to hit it off!

Her eyes went wide as she realised that she had overindulged in the moment, and she quickly rushed off to catch up with her group.

“Are you sure? That switch was way too precise!”

“I meant to switch a little earlier, before your Espeon’s Psychic went off.” Nathan stated to Tom.

Tom shook his head. “If my Pokémon weren’t all higher Level than yours, I’m pretty sure yours would have beaten mine. After all, aren’t Ghost Pokémon strong against Psychic Pokémon?”

Nathan hesitated to respond. He could have given Tom the simple answer, but it wouldn’t have really answered his question.

He wasn’t wrong – Ghost Pokémon were strong against, and resisted, Psychic Pokémon, but Tom and Nathan had just Battled with Espeon versus Gengar, the latter not only being a Ghost type, but a Poison type as well, and Psychic was strong against Poison.

“Yeah, but Gengar’s a dual-type Ghost and Poison Pokémon, so Psychic attacks, like the ones your Espeon use, are super effective against it.”

“Ah, right.”

“But usually, yeah, Ghost versus Psychic, Ghost would win. Except in the first Generation, where Psychic Pokémon were immune to Ghost Pokémon.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah.” Nathan nodded. “Actually,” he began, shuffling about in his seat, “this is a good opportunity to tell you about how absolutely broken Psychic-types were in the first Generation of Pokémon. See, back in the first set of games, not only were Psychic-types immune to Ghost-type attacks, but Dark-type Pokémon didn’t even exist, so the only weaknesses Psychic Pokémon had were against Bug-types, and well… Bug-types weren’t very good in the first Generation either. And that’s to say nothing of the Special stat, which back then was basically Special Attack and Special Defense combined, so Psychic-types would not only hit like a truck, but tank damage really well too. Needless to say, most players back then used Mewtwo on their teams, if they caught it. Those that couldn’t, used Alakazam, or Kadabra if they couldn’t Trade, or Hypno. Pretty much everyone ran at least one Psychic-type back then because they were, more often than not, statistically the best Pokémon type to use.” Nathan shook his head. “It’s a little melancholic honestly, how we used to have only one hundred and fifty-one Pokémon, and how broken the old games were…”

Thomas nodded, following along. “Oh, that explains the craze early on in GO, when everybody went mad over any Abra that spawned, right?”

“Well, yeah, that, and how they adapted it from the core series games. In those, Abra would use Teleport to flee from random encounters. And so, what they did when it came to GO, was they gave it the highest chance of fleeing, so if it ever broke out of a Ball, it would flee straight away.” Nathan scratched the side of his head. “But even now, Alakazam, the Stage Two Evolution of Abra, is still a top Psychic-type, if a little bit fragile thanks to all the different Physical moves that Pokémon have access to. Still, I used Alakazam when I played through Pokémon Sun, so…” he trailed off.

“Oh, a ‘glass cannon’?” Thomas chuckled. “I have a soft spot for those. I feel like one myself sometimes, in that I have very poor stamina, though my toughness is quite high… Is glass cannon the right term?” he wondered aloud. “I should read up on character tropes more often…”

Nathan hummed as he looked Tom over. Tom was very broad-shouldered, and looked like he was a strong, powerful individual, though such appearances wouldn’t really indicate endurance, one way or another. Not that Nathan could really judge, when he himself was confined to a wheelchair with a debilitating dystrophinopathic disease.

Nathan shook his head and smiled. “I’m sure you’ve got fine stamina!” he said, not at all meaning it in the way it sounded. “Okay, so now that we’re done Battling, let me tell you why GO is almost nothing like the core series games.”

Tom grinned. “Lay it on me!”

“First off, the big stuff: number one – you don’t put a Pokémon in a Gym, and then it becomes computer-controlled, and then your friends get to Battle it. It’s a proper battle between two players. And number two – it’s turn-based. I don’t know how familiar you are with other RPGs, but basically, each Pokémon takes turns attacking like party members would in a traditional turn-based RPG, as opposed to PoGO where it’s more ‘real-time’ and dependent on move animation frames, dodging at the right time, damage per second – that sort of thing.”

“Oh yeah, I know of RPGs. Though I only used to play MapleStory back in the day.”

“When I say RPG, I don’t mean games like MapleStory or RuneScape. I mean games like Dragon Quest or EarthBound.” Nathan said, not meaning to denounce or downplay Tom’s gaming experience, despite his tone suggesting otherwise. “Anyway, which PoGOes first is based on a lot of different things – their Speed stat, the move’s priority, they might be holding an item like Quick Claw, or they might have an Ability like Quick Draw. Stuff like that.”

“Uh huh,” Tom nodded, following along with Nathan’s explanation.

“Now, Speed: Speed’s not a Stat that’s in PoGO. GO only has HP, Attack and Defence, and there’s no differentiation between Physical and Special, so certain Pokémon that are really good in the core series games aren’t as good in GO because of that, and vice versa. That’s not even accounting for the difference in movepools. A Pokémon’s movepool can and has changed between games, and GO is no different, but GO has a…” Nathan pondered for a moment, “let’s say ‘tailored’ movepool for its gameplay. Not only that, but some moves have different effects in GO – Splash and Yawn do zero damage in the core series, but in GO, every ‘Fast Attack’ as you’d call it, does at least one damage.”

Tom laughed. “Oh, that’s why a bunch of people were confused about Slaking getting Yawn and doing damage with it!”

“Well, that’s another thing – we don’t have Fast or Charged Attacks in the core series, but some moves inflict status conditions. Yawn does zero damage in the core series, but it puts the opposing Pokémon to sleep on the next turn, which means it can’t move, making it easier to capture or defeat.” Nathan frowned for a moment. “What else?” he asked himself aloud. “Honestly, there’s too much to cover, really. I mean, there’s also stuff like Abilities, which each Pokémon can have that’s inherent to that Pokémon – separate from its moveset, and Held Items, things that you can give a Pokémon to hold, like Berries and Leftovers that can give them more of an advantage during Battles, or, you know, depending on the item, things like breeding. There’s also Natures. Every Pokémon has a Nature that also affects their stats, so a Pokémon with a Sassy Nature would have increased Special Defence but decreased Speed, for example. There’s twenty-five Natures, four of them don’t affect anything, but all the others increase or decrease a certain stat basically. So even if you EV Train and IV Breed your Pokémon, if you don’t get the Nature right, you can still be at a disadvantage. Oh, yeah! EVs and IVs! So, I mean, IVs, or Individual Values, you probably already know about those, with the whole appraisal system that GO’s got.”

“Yes. Yes! I do!” Thomas said, sounding delighted to hear Nathan name a game mechanic that he recognised.

“Well, IVs exist in the core series as well, but there are also these things called ‘EVs’. EVs essentially allow you to customise your Pokémon even more. You have, like, a threshold of five hundred and ten extra stat points that your Pokémon can earn by defeating other Wild Pokémon, Trained Pokémon, by feeding it Vitamins, or making it use certain items. You can ‘spec’ into a certain stat or a specific build of a Pokémon, you know, depending on what the Pokémon is and what you want. For example, with Espeon, if you wanted to do a ‘Calm Mind’ set, you would max out its Special Attack and Speed. But, if you were building a ‘Dual Screen’ set, you’d max out its HP and Speed.”

Tom clicked his tongue. “Okay, so it’s like Min-maxing?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Nathan smiled. “You spec into whatever stat you want, to ‘build’ that specific Pokémon or role. Of course, some Pokémon, like Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, are just flat-out better than others. They have higher base stat totals. You wouldn’t come at a Mewtwo with Krabby, for example. And look, I’m barely scratching the surface here, but all this stuff really only comes into play in competitive battling. It’s not really an issue for AI Battles or casual matches between friends, unless you’ve got some really competitive friends. And, I mean, I used to do competitive battling myself. Not a lot of it, but I dipped my toes in to see how it worked. You know, I wanted to understand how it all kinda came together – every aspect of the battle system. You play the story battles against the AI, all you really need is a higher-Level Pokémon that’s got a type advantage, so you don’t really need to focus on anything else, which I guess is fine. You know, people play Pokémon for different reasons. You might not want to do competitive battling, you might just want to play through the story, try and complete the Pokédex, or do all the ‘extracurricular’ stuff like Contests, the Pokéathlon, Musicals, PR Videos. They might not have any interest in competitive battling, and that’s fine! That’s one of the best things about Pokémon, in my opinion, that everyone can play it for different reasons, and everyone sees it just a little bit differently.” Nathan sat back in his wheelchair. “But anyway, yeah, that’s… that’s um, that’s really kinda just scratching the surface, but those are the big differences, I think, between PoGO and the Battle system in the core series.”

There were a few moments of silence between the two young men, until Tom finally asked “So, are you saying that the Battle system of the main Pokémon games is better than PoGO’s?”

Nathan once again hesitated. The answer wasn’t black and white. “Well, on the surface, I don’t think one is inherently better than the other. They’re two different gameplay styles. It’s like comparing Baseball to Tetris. You can’t really compare the two. But that said, PoGO’s Battle system is barely even a Battle system. The closest equivalent to GO’s Gym system is just Battling against the AI in the core series games. The depth in the core series comes from Battling other human players who know what they’re doing. And I’m sure there would be a lot more depth to GO if they introduced real PvP, but I honestly don’t even think GO needs PvP. The system they have for Gym and Raid Battles is fine, that idea of cooperation. PvP is inherently competitive; you’re competing against someone else. I think that flies in the face of what GO is, personally. You work together with players as a team to compete in Gyms and do Raids. I mean, sure, you can do some of them on your own, but the game’s designed around cooperative play, the idea that players will seek out others and team up together.”

“So, you don’t think PoGO will ever get PvP?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Nathan said simply. “I mean, they’ve just announced a new set of games for the latest Nintendo console, the Switch, which will let you transfer Pokémon from GO into them. I feel like anyone that wants to Battle properly, with all the nuances of the core series games, will transfer their Pokémon into that and Battle with them there. Besides, GO was never designed with PvP in mind. You go back to when they unveiled that first trailer three years ago, and did the first interviews and all that, before the game even came out, they mentioned three big features that’ll be coming sometime after the game launches – Trading, Raid Battles, and connectivity with the core series. Trainer Battles, or ‘traditional PvP’, isn’t even on the roadmap, and as far as I’m concerned, we don’t need PvP – that’s what the core series is for. The whole point of having connectivity would be that you can catch Pokémon in GO, and then you can Battle with them properly in the core series.”

Nathan sighed, continuing, “But people are asking for a ‘traditional Battle system’ like the core series has, and I don’t know why. The Pokémon Company isn’t going to cannibalise the sales of the core series games, understandably. They can very easily make a full-featured Pokémon game in the style of the core series on Smartphones for free, but that would make the core series Pokémon games that are on Nintendo platforms all obsolete, so they’d just never do that. GO is built the way it is on Smartphones to take advantage of the hardware, with all the AR and GPS stuff. Red and Green on the Game Boy were built the way they were to take advantage of the Link Cable. It’s something Pokémon’s always done.” Nathan stopped, realising he had gone completely off-topic, spiralling into another rant. “So no, I don’t think PoGO will get PvP, and if it does, it certainly won’t be anything like what it is in the core series.”

Tom’s mouth dropped open as Nathan’s answer to what he thought was quite a simple question went from cordial explanation, to rant, to tirade. His look of shock became a smile, and the smallest chuckle became jovial boisterous laughter. “Well said! Thank you for all that, Professor! I wish I could tell you that I got everything, but perhaps you’d like to make a podcast about it? You know, explain the basics for those of us who didn’t spend years tryin’ to catch ‘em all?”

Nathan huffed. He didn’t know if Tom’s comment was a dig at him, but that was how it came across. “If I did make a podcast, I’d just be regurgitating all the information that’s already on my website. And even then, no one would listen to it. They’d much rather spend time complaining. This morning, I woke up to hundreds of complaints about the Friend and Trading functionality in GO, when I’ve explained to people dozens of times that it’s rolling out. You know, the average casual PoGO player doesn’t go to the PoGO section to check what’s going on, they just spam the front page asking the same thing over and over again, and then get angry when I disable the comments.”

“Well, I mean, to be fair, if it’s a feature, should it not be on the front page of the website?” Tom asked.

Nathan’s tone changed, immediately becoming confrontational. “Let me ask you something, Thomas: when you go to a library to read a book, do you expect to find the book waiting at the door as soon as you walk in? Or, do you understand that the book would be in its own section?”

“Well, if you’re saying that your site’s like a library, and it’s a PoGO library, then-”

“It’s not a PoGO library! It’s a Pokémon library!” Nathan quickly shook his head. “Site. Website. It’s not just GO, everything’s on there. Core series, anime, TCG, spin-offs! And whenever there’s news for any of it, it goes up! I don’t see any of the TCG people complaining about Forbidden Light in the comments for GO updates, or anime fans complaining that the games get more focus-” Nathan stopped, realising that wasn’t strictly true. There were plenty of anime fans who frequented his site that made it known they couldn’t care less for the games, despite the games serving as the basis for the anime in the first place. “Okay, yeah, some of the anime-only fans can get a bit testy, but that’s nothing compared to the PoGO-only fans. Whenever I post anything, it’s ‘Are you gonna talk about this thing that just happened in GO?’ or ‘No one cares about this thing! Where’s Kecleon?’ It drives me insane! That sort of stuff is exactly why I…” Nathan trailed off. There was a darkness there, he realised. Nathan was seething, holding his tongue at the horror of what he almost professed.

Thomas, ever astute and in tune, immediately recognised this was a particularly sore and touchy subject for Nathan, and so, rather than fight him on it, try to play Devil’s advocate, or even try to come to a compromise, Thomas decided to drop the subject entirely, by changing it,

“You know, I spent a lot of time in the summer playing GO, and let me tell you this: sunscreen and hats are essential! One day, after a particularly sweltering morning of grinding, I walked into a library to get some shade, and recharge my phone- this app drains battery like a bitch, don’t it?”

“Oh boy, you wouldn’t believe how much these things suck the life out of phones. But then again, that’s probably because the game is so hardware intensive. You need a constant Internet connection, your location is constantly being tracked. If you use AR, you need access to your camera. Plus, you’re outside, so you’ve probably got the screen brightness turned way up. So, it makes sense it drains through batteries. But do go on.”

“Well, I was just minding my own business, catching up on the latest issue of ‘New Scientist’ and ‘Cleo’, but an elderly librarian was giving me funny looks, then actually followed me around the library, and asked me if I needed any help- but in a manner that suggested I shouldn’t be there. I thought maybe she was racist, which is rare nowadays, but I grew up with it in this country, so it’s not new, though very unusual as tolerance is the new creed. Then, as I went to use the bathroom, I noticed that my face was sunburnt, my hair dishevelled, and I had sweated into my clothes, making me look like a vagrant hobo!”

“No way?! No fricking…! She thought-”

“She thought I was homeless, yes! Such an affront to my honour too- I’ll have you know, Nathan, that when I am not in hospitals, or out hunting imaginary creatures, that I am normally very well-dressed and give off a cultured air- for her to imply that I didn’t belong in a library of all places, well, that wasn’t the impression I wanted to have!”

They laughed, but the final words made Nathan think about the impressions that he gave off, and the impact that he had made. To Thomas, he was ‘The Lure Guy’, and to the PoGO players who frequented his site, he was ‘The PoGO Guy’, but neither of those things were who he was. He was Professor Redwood, academic, fan, and documentarian of all things Pokémon, a person who had been invested in the series long before these casual clout-chasing PoGO players came onboard, proclaiming their fandom and how much they loved Pokémon. And he would be there long after PoGO would inevitably die, as assuredly the supposed PoGO fans would also then abandon the franchise.

Long after, he hoped.

But blind hope was nothing in the face of the truth. And the truth was, though he was barely middle-aged in comparison to most people, the life expectancy of someone like him, someone with muscular dystrophy, was not very promising. Nathan would be lucky to make it to forty, and so having recently turned thirty, he only had a few ‘good’ years left at best.

What sort of life had he led? And what legacy was he leaving behind?! He didn’t want to be remembered like this, someone whom Mary looked at with such pity! ‘The Lure Guy’, ‘The PoGO Guy’.

If he couldn’t take it away by throwing himself away, then he hoped he would at least live to see the end of PoGO.

He deserved that.

The absurdity, the injustice of it all caused Nathan to titter in his wheelchair, Thomas frowning, narrowing his eyes. “Everything alright, Nathan?” he asked.

“Fine.” Nathan smiled an unsettling smile. “Just… fine…” Nathan licked his lips, sitting back in his seat, his voice much softer as he asked, “Do you have a favourite Pokémon move, Tom?” in an almost eerie tone, soft, as if nursing a deep wound.

Tom tilted his head to the side, wondering what had brought on this question, from seemingly out of the blue.

“Huh…” Tom mused. “I’ll be honest, I like moves that are powerful, but cost effective, so I guess my favourite would have to be… Solar Beam!” he shouted with exuberance and gusto.

“Solar Beam?”

Tom nodded enthusiastically. “I really like the way the animation looks. Plus, I imagine the move is an environmentally friendly one.”

“Right…” Nathan chortled. To him, Tom’s way of looking at things was simple and innocent.

“And, and,” Tom readied, “it’s like a nuke!”

“Oh.”

A nuke was definitely not environmentally friendly.

“Are there any other Pokémon moves like Solar Beam?” Tom asked.

“Oh, yeah, over a dozen.” Nathan explained. “All of different types and categories. There’s Bounce, Dig, Dive, Fly, Freeze Shock, Ice Burn, Meteor Beam, Phantom Force,” he took a breath, “Razor Wind, Shadow Force, Skull Bash, Sky Attack, Sky Drop, and Solar Blade. I think that’s all of them.”

“Oh, wow,” Tom sounded greatly impressed by Nathan’s seemingly encyclopædic knowledge. “But wait, what about Hyper Beam? A nuke is a nuke, right?!”

“I guess in GO it is, but I was going by the core series. In that, Hyper Beam is a move where you hit first and then have to recharge, whereas Solar Beam is a move you charge up first and then use. So, the Grass equivalent of Hyper Beam would be Frenzy Plant, which is a Physical Attack, but functions the same as Hyper Beam.”

“Aww…” There was genuine disappointment in Tom’s voice. “But I wanted the nuke attacks of each type! Still, I guess it makes sense that Solar Beam needs to charge up, just like solar panels in real life. You know, back when we had the old Gym system, and players could just put in multiples of the same Pokémon, all of mine were too weak to take out all the Blissey players would fill them with. I figured I just need to make my Venusaur keep firing off Solar Beams, and eventually I’d take them down, but…” Tom trailed off, shaking his head. “These days, I use Dragonite with Draco Meteor to blast chunks off their HP.”

“Oh, yeah…” Nathan sat back in his seat. “The old Gym system…”

In the old days of PoGO, the main gameplay element, aside from catching Pokémon, was controlling Gyms, virtual representations of real-world landmarks. The three teams – Instinct, Mystic, and Valor, would vie for control of these Gyms, and place Pokémon inside to defend them. Players on the same team could train against them, earning more ‘Prestige’, unlocking more slots to allow more Pokémon to defend the Gym, or players on opposing teams could knock them out, reducing that team’s Prestige, before claiming the Gym for their team.

The longer you had a Pokémon in a Gym, the more coins you could earn. Essentially, it functioned the same as a giant game of King of the Hill, with teams controlling different territory.

It was a system that encouraged cooperation and exploration, in theory, but in practice, the system alienated newer or lower-level players. All it took was one high-level player placing one powerful Pokémon into a Gym, and then training against it until the Gym’s Prestige was maxed out. Then, other players on the same team could fill the Gym with their own powerful Pokémon, which newer players would have no hope of bringing down on their own. Pokémon like Blissey were common Gym defenders because of their incredibly high HP and Normal type, which most players had no chance taking down.

This ‘Prestige System’ was eventually replaced with a ‘Motivation System’, where Pokémon defending a Gym would gradually become weaker over time. Additionally, players were no longer able to use the same species of Pokémon to defend a Gym – only one Pokémon species per Gym. This gave lower-level players a much greater opportunity of taking down and defending Gyms, and made the game a lot more accessible in that regard.

However, Niantic also changed the way players could earn PokéCoins, the in-game currency, from a per-Gym cap to an overall cap, which meant players controlling multiple Gyms and teams controlling territory became far less prevalent. None-the-less, as Gym locations could be in unexpectantly isolated areas, players might still see their Pokémon remain in one for lengthy periods, even with the new system. Tom, who may have been joking, told Nathan about a Growlithe he had left at the edge of a forest, when he was assigned to a job near the area. Apparently, he did a lot of travelling for work, and while initially pleased that his fire-doggy was accruing many a PokéCoin, it had been about four months since he left it there, and there wasn’t any way to recall it short of another player stumbling into the same Gym to defeat it. Though spoofing would make it easy to recover his Growlithe, Tom and Nathan refused to use such dark magic (although Tom also admitted that he wasn’t invested enough to do so anyway). However, being a sentimental type of guy, with a penchant for wordplay, he had decided that when his Growlithe would eventually return, he would Evolve it into its Stage One Evolution, Arcanine, and then rename her ‘Joan of Arc’anine’.

There were swings and roundabouts, pros and cons to both systems, which Thomas and Nathan discussed at length, before Tom took the conversation in a surprising and unexpected direction.

“Do you think Niantic made the game more socialist in that regard?” Tom asked. “I can see how some would think it, but I would also propose that they introduced radical capitalism mechanics as well.”

“Well,” Nathan seemed almost ready to answer, “I think Pokémon’s always been socialist. I mean, it’s a multimedia franchise, it’s a business, so, obviously not, but within the franchise, ‘in-universe’, the core series and the card game have always encouraged Trading and socialising with other players. In that sense, you could consider the National Pokédex to be a socialist construct, getting together with other players, pooling, sharing information. You’ll never be able to complete the National Pokédex with just one game – not that you have to do that, of course, but if you want to do that, you’ll need to communicate with other games, and Trade with other players. That’s just how it’s always been – you have a Growlithe, your friend has a Vulpix, you Trade them.”

“Growlithe and Vulpix?”

“Yeah, those two are typically split between games.” Nathan commented. “And it’s the exact same with PoGO, only instead of having version-exclusive Pokémon, you have Region-exclusive Pokémon, Pokémon split between different Regions of the world.”

“Like Farfetch’d and Kangaskhan-”

“Exactly!” Nathan shouted, thrusting out an elongated finger, delighted that Thomas understood. It was clearly something that, even among Pokémon topics, Nathan was very passionate about. “It is so irritating, seeing GO players complaining, going ‘If there were no Region-exclusive Pokémon, I’d have already completed my Kanto Regional Pokédex’ or whatever, like The Pokémon Company wouldn’t have just separated the Pokémon between the Android and iOS versions of the game instead. They could have easily done that: have Android act as ‘Red’, and iOS act as ‘Blue’, and each subsequent Generation release would equate to a version for both operating systems. But then, you’d have people complaining that ‘Me and my friends all have Android devices’ or ‘Everyone I know has an iPhone’, so The Pokémon Company couldn’t win no matter what they did. I like the decision they went with, splitting Pokémon up in different Regions to fit with the theme of exploring the real world. I mean, it makes sense. In the core series, you can’t catch Marill in Kanto, and you can’t catch Scyther in Hoenn, so you Trade with people ‘from Kanto’, or ‘from Hoenn’, or who ‘travelled there’, to get what you need. It’s the exact same thing with PoGO, only transposed into the real world. Don’t have a Mr. Mime? Trade with someone who’s got one, or travel to where you can find one yourself.”

“Yeah, but that’s going to cost a lot of money, isn’t it? Travelling to other countries, let alone travelling just to catch Pokémon. That’s not really feasible or financially viable for the majority of players.”

“Neither is buying every single game, multiple consoles and peripherals so you don’t have to interact with other players and can just Trade with yourself. That’s not the intended way to play, that’s not financially viable, but some players do that.”

“Of course.”

“Players spend money no matter what they do. Free-to-play PoGO players might not spend any money on in-game microtransactions, but they pay for a device to play on, they pay for Internet access and data usage, they pay for transportation to and from certain places, and they pay with their time. If a GO player wants to pay for a plane ticket to go to Australia and catch a Kangaskhan, instead of buying a 2DS and Pokémon Yellow off the eShop to catch one in the Safari Zone, that’s their choice. But trying to complete the Pokédex with only one game is stupid. Whether it’s Red or Silver, Ruby or Pearl, GO or Ranger, you’ll need to communicate with other players and games to get everything. That’s how it’s always been. And Junichi Masuda said that connectivity between GO and the core series was going to be a thing before GO even came out, so no one should be surprised by any of this. I never assumed I’d be able to complete any Pokédex through PoGO alone – I just used it to plug holes in my National Pokédex. And now all I’m waiting on is the connectivity.” Nathan shrugged, sighing. “Yeah, it’s a capitalist marketing thing, but it’s also a social thing, Trading with others, for the benefit of everyone.” Nathan sighed, sitting back in his chair. “Look, Pokémon is typically social. If you can’t do it, or don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. You can still play; you just won’t be able to do certain things without connecting with other players. That’s just how Pokémon is. There are plenty of other, more self-contained Pokémon games you can play – they just came out with Pokémon Quest on Switch, and it’ll be coming to mobile later this month. There’s Pokémon Magikarp Jump, Pokémon Duel. Those are Pokémon mobile games too. Or even outside of Pokémon, if you’re into RPGs, as I said, there’s Dragon Quest, EarthBound, Final Fantasy. Those are all single player games. Heck, there’s a mobile game coming out soon called Orna, which is going to use GPS tracking, like PoGO and its contemporaries, but’ll otherwise be a traditional turn-based RPG that you can play at your leisure, without needing to ‘rely’ on other players, or go out and walk around if you really don’t want to.”

“Hmm…” Tom sat back in his chair, looking Nathan over. “Maybe they need a fresh perspective? Someone like yourself, who’s been with the games since the beginning, who’s seen the trajectory of the franchise, to make improvements that benefit the community as a whole?” Tom said, with a coy smile.

Nathan smiled too, but inwardly, at the thought. The suggestion itself, as blatantly sycophantic as it was, was a nice gesture. “Thanks… but the PoGO community isn’t who I’m thinking of when I consider how to help the franchise; it’s the fans who have stayed with the core series for years. People act like PoGO brought the franchise back from the dead, but the games are consistent top-sellers on every Nintendo platform, and even the TCG, which admittedly I’m not a fan of, is among Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! as one of the top three best-selling trading card games of all time. Pokémon was doing pretty well for itself before GO came out. GO just made the franchise more popular and accessible to the masses.”

Something that Nathan had said seemed to pique Tom’s interest, because he asked him “Why don’t you like the card game, out of curiosity?”

Nathan paused. “It’s a personal thing, I’ll admit, but it just doesn’t mesh with the rest of the franchise to me. Some Pokémon have different types in the TCG than they do in the games, anime, manga and everything else. Like, Scyther’s a Grass type, when in the core series, and the anime, and GO and everything, it’s a Bug and Flying dual-type. There’s no real ‘training’ aspect – Pokémon have set Levels, and, to me, a big part of Pokémon is training the Pokémon. There are mechanics like Benched Pokémon and Prize cards that aren’t reflected anywhere else in the franchise. You know what I mean? You look at something like Yu-Gi-Oh!, which I don’t know a lot about, but in that show, they play the card game. The monsters battle through the cards. Whereas in Pokémon, it’s the monsters themselves that battle. The characters don’t play the card game, but they refer to core series game mechanics all the time.” Nathan explained, trying his best to sound impartial, which was immediately ruined when he added “Plus, the TCG was originally made to promote the core series games in the first place, so…”

Thomas laughed. “I love your passion!” he declared, but once again, Nathan couldn’t tell if Tom was being serious or not.

“Are you a fan of the card game?” Nathan asked.

“No, I never really got into it, though I loved the card I got from the first movie that came out. Do you remember that? I assume you of all people went to go see it.”

“I did, I did.” Nathan nodded. “The Black Star Mewtwo card, I remember.” Nathan smiled slightly. “That was alright. I much prefer the later Mystery Gift distributions, where you’d bring your game to the cinema, and they’d send you whatever Pokémon’s featured in the movie, or send you an item that let you encounter the Pokémon yourself in the game.” Nathan cleared his throat. “Anyway, sorry, we got way off-topic. Capitalism. Socialism. I think as well, since we’re on the subject, the fascist qualities actually-”

“Yeah, let’s not get into that- in public,” grinned Tom, wickedly, and with good timing too as their party of two was now a trio.

“Gosh, are you two still going?!”

Tom and Nathan turned to see Mary looking at them, hands on her hips. “Oh, h-hi Mary…” Nathan mumbled.

“You two had better get something to eat.” She said sternly. “I don’t want to see us being sued for malnutrition injuries and negligence.”

“Y-Yes, Mary…” Nathan agreed.

Tom sighed. “Yeah, alright.”

“Don’t look like that, Thomas.” Mary smiled. “I’ve actually been told you’re progressing well with your treatment. You can probably eat something just a little bit extravagant today.”

“Really?! ‘Cause I’ve been holding out for some French fries and a Vanilla Coke. I’d love that.”

“Uh… I guess a small amount of French fries would be okay, but let’s not overdo it with the soda.” Mary suggested, her eyes wandering to Nathan’s Smartphone, and then to Nathan himself. She bit her lip; the young man was so engrossed in his screen. “You know what? I’ll go and get your meals for you. Nathan, what would you like?” Mary asked, her voice full of saccharine yet also sincerity.

Nathan blinked, looking up from his screen for a moment. “Um… a beef burger, please?”

“Sure. And Tom, I’ll get you some juice instead of a Vanilla Coke. Apple or orange?”

“Apple,” said Tom, narrowing his eyes. “Everything okay? You’re being… weird…”

“Hey!” Mary pouted. “I’m not being weird, I’m being nice!” She insisted. “And I’m always nice, aren’t I, sunshine?” Mary turned to Nathan.

“Huh?” It took a little while for Nathan to realise that Mary had asked him a question. “Yeah, you are nice, Mary.” He agreed.

“That’s right!” Mary said with playful assertiveness. “So, a beef burger, and what drink would you like?”

“Could I get a Vanilla Coke?” Nathan asked.

“Absolutely, sunshine!” Mary beamed, turning and leaving the boys to their games at the table.

Mary’s effervescent smile faded as she left. Outside of her usual duties, she wasn’t normally one to play hostess. Not like this, anyway. But those two, particularly Nathan, had grown on her since they arrived, and watching them so engaged with their game, unabashedly enthusiastic, obsessed even, made her think of whether or not she had anything in her own life that was as engrossing.

Chapter 4: Pokélitism

Several trays were placed down onto the table, between Thomas and Nathan. Oven-baked fries, a Margherita pizza, a beef burger, a Caesar salad, and two Vanilla Cokes. Mary stood over them, looking apologetic and forlorn.

“Mary, is everything okay?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah,” Mary nodded. “Everything’s… everything’s fine. I, um… I have to go and take care of something, but I’ll be back. Please, enjoy your food. I didn’t mean to, um…” Mary turned away, as a passing glance was shared between herself and Nathan.

Thomas shrugged, happily helping himself to the massive bowl of fries, which were presumably to be shared between the two young men. “So,” Thomas began, his mouth full of potato. “There’s something I don’t quite understand, Professor.”

“Ooh!” Nathan sat to attention at Thomas’s form of address, quickly swallowing the bite of his burger. “Mhm?”

“About certain forms of Evolution. I understand that it is just a game, or cartoon or whatever, but all the same, I expect there to be a certain degree of consistency, and, well, some Pokémon Evolution pathways are so bizarre!”

Nathan nodded. “I get that. When you hear the term ‘Evolution’, you think of something like real-world evolution, where things occur gradually over millions of years, not abrupt ‘Oh, I’m this, now I’m that’ sort of thing. It’s more like a metamorphosis than an actual evolution.”

“Right, but what about the ones like Slowpoke needing a Shellder to Evolve?”

“Right.” Nathan licked his lips. It had become clear to Nathan, from getting to know Tom through their conversations, that his knowledge of Pokémon was not exactly limited to the older Generations, but he was certainly more familiar with the older Pokémon than he was the ‘newer’ ones. There were far more complicated Evolutions than Slowpoke, after all. But Nathan couldn’t expect Tom to learn everything in only a few conversations. That said, Slowpoke was a bit of an oddity. “Well, that’s more of a visual thing, rather than a gameplay thing.” Nathan began to explain. “You don’t need a Shellder to Evolve Slowpoke in the core series. Or in GO, as you know. You just Level it up, and it Evolves. Well, Slowking requires a King’s Rock, and Trading, but… that was the second Generation, when they introduced held items, and they wanted to show that off as a big thing.”

“Oh,” Tom sounded surprised. “So, it’s not a case of animal mutualism?” he asked, referring to the real-world act of two different species working together and benefitting each other.

“Well, I guess in the anime and game lore, yes, but the gameplay itself doesn’t really reflect that.”

“Animal mutualism is something I have a penchant for, as I think it can teach people to live together more harmoniously. But if we don’t consider Slowbro or Slowking to be true examples of it, there must be others. And certain Evolutions seem to be more psychological than biological. For instance, with Dugtrio and Magneton-”

“Oh, I see what you mean!” Nathan exclaimed. “How Slowbro and Slowking undergo more biological changes, but Dugtrio and Magneton are just… three Diglett and three Magnemite glued together.”

“Exactly!”

“Well, that’s also a gameplay thing. You don’t need three Diglett to make a Dugtrio, or three Magnemite to make a Magneton. You just need to Level them up until they Evolve.”

“Okay, well, forgive me, Professor, but in my mind, I am just trying to clarify whether or not sociological changes, such as becoming a hivemind, can really count as ‘Evolution’ in a real-world sense, as well as in a Pokémon sense?”

“Well, I don’t really know about that in the real world, but in Pokémon, anything can count as Evolution, if that’s what the developers want. We thought Stage Two was the end, then they came out with Mega Evolution, which, I guess is symbiosis between a Pokémon and its Trainer. We thought Legendary Pokémon couldn’t Evolve, then they came out with Cosmog. There’s probably going to be a Mythical Pokémon that Evolves at some point, the way they’re going.” Nathan shook his head. “But, speaking of symbiosis, I-I mean… you and I are in these chairs, these… machines. We… rely on them. Do you think that humans working together with machines could be a form of evolution?”

Tom proceeded to explain his views on futurism, especially cybernetic-ergonomic integration, which Nathan found interesting, discussing the principles Tom brought up. It was fascinating to see the shoe on the other foot, as it was the other man’s turn to passionately discuss niche ideas and concepts. It was during this point, as Tom lowered his mental guards and persona-mask, becoming enraptured by the new hypotheses he formed even as he was explaining the subject, that Nathan truly realised that the younger man was actually smarter than his demeanour suggested, if that was even possible – perhaps it was intentional? How intriguing, to see someone so deftly shifting between forms, almost like a Ditto! Eventually, Tom was forced to admit that, while very intelligent himself, Nathan’s interest had plateaued, and he subtly parked his conversation by suggesting “I think we both agree that ‘evolution’ in a Pokémon sense is far more nuanced than the creators had originally intended, right?”

“Definitely.” Nathan concurred.

“If only Mary was here! Working in a hospital, she must have studied biology.”

“Probably…” Nathan muttered.

“Yeah, she’d back me up on kids growing up learning about evolution through Pokémon and being in for a sobering surprise once they were old enough to attend high school.”

“Not just on evolution, but biology in general,” Nathan said flippantly. “Though, I remember getting ‘the talk’ when I was a kid, so I wasn’t going into high school thinking that breeding worked like it does in Pokémon.”

“But you can’t get a girl pregnant unless she’s in the same Egg Group as you, right? Right~?!”

“Oh, you know about Egg Groups?” Nathan was legitimately surprised, as Egg Groups weren’t exactly common knowledge, nor were they easy for players to understand.

“Oh, no… just… Pokémon Rusty…” Thomas admitted sheepishly, not wanting to misrepresent his titbit of lore.

“Ah…” Nathan nodded, recognising the name of the popular parody series. To Nathan, it was a fun series, sure, but much like Minecraft Pixelmon, it was an unofficial fan series, and it didn’t, nor shouldn’t, really hold any sort of weight within the Pokémon community. It was as important as an orphaned spin-off, which was to say, not at all. “Well, yeah, you… you gotta be in the same Egg Group… to… to breed.”

Thomas grinned, either not noticing or not caring about Nathan’s rather milquetoast reaction as he continued. “And by that point, of course, if you’re talking of children, you would already be married. After all, no one can have sex before marriage; It’s a Sin.”

Once again, Nathan had difficulty deciphering Thomas’s demeanour, wondering if what he said was something he truly believed, or if he was speaking how he was to poke fun at the kinds of people who did believe that.

As such, Nathan didn’t really know how to respond. He himself wasn’t religious, but he didn’t want to step on Thomas’s toes if he was. So, he decided to keep the topic firmly within Pokémon. “Well, breeding’s a pretty big mechanic in core series Pokémon, and I can only think of a few instances where Pokémon married each other.” Nathan helped himself to a few fries as he recalled “There is actually a story, in-universe, of Pokémon and humans marrying each other.”

Thomas raised his brows as he bit into his slice of pizza. “You’re kidding.”

“No, seriously. A big proponent of the fourth Generation was history and mythology. There’s a library in one of the cities where you can read the in-universe folktales, like the one I mentioned, and a lot of the Legendary Pokémon that were introduced that Generation were these big, grandiose God-like beings. Dialga represents time, Palkia represents space, Giratina represents antimatter, and Arceus sits above them, as their creator, and the creator of everything. Arceus is pretty much the Pokémon equivalent of God.”

“Wow…” Tom muttered. It must have seemed to Nathan like Tom really was just letting him prattle on, but Tom was genuinely interested, and it was intriguing how the series had, no pun intended, evolved from its humble beginnings. Mewtwo, after all, was simply a genetic clone, ‘Legendary’ by nature of their being only one of them, in-universe. For Legendary Pokémon to hold Gods within that classification was truly remarkable. “Do you think there is a God, Nathan? Are you religious at all?”

The question had thrown Nathan completely off-guard. It was something he didn’t want to answer, out of fear of offending his new friend, but since he was asked, he decided to answer.

“No, I’m not religious, and I don’t think there’s a God.” Nathan answered truthfully. “At least, not a caring, loving God. There can’t be, not when I’ve had to go through what I’ve gone through. Not when I’m in this chair.” Nathan sighed, relenting. “It’s selfish, I know.”

Tom’s brows furrowed. “No, I understand how you’d think that. I have a friend who used to play PoGO, as well as some of the original games, until they became a devout born-again Christian, and suddenly, Pokémon, with its focus on Evolution, and, I guess, as you’re saying, PoGOds… it wasn’t something they were okay with anymore.”

A small smile found its way onto Nathan’s face. “I’ve heard that before…”

“Would you follow any Pokémon Religions or cults out there? I don’t know if there are any, but these days, there’s a group for everyone.”

“Nah, not really.” Nathan shrugged. “I mean, I’ve got a fair few diehards that frequent my site, and I have unfavourably been compared to a cult leader by a number of my detractors in the past.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah.” Nathan nodded, wolfing down a handful of fries. “But… I dunno. If I had to follow a Pokémon cult, it would be the ‘core series cult’. ‘Cause when it comes to Pokémon, that’s what came first. The anime, the card game, PoGO – none of it would exist without the core series. People keep forgetting that, and they act like PoGO is the be-all and end-all of the franchise, or that Pokémon was dead until GO ‘brought it back’. It did bring Pokémon back into the limelight, sure, but I wouldn’t say that was for the best. Most of the interest PoGO garnered was from clout chasers. You remember the YouTuber, PalEnigma? He acted like Pokémon was his life, going on and on about how hyped he was, and then GO came out, and he played it for a little bit, but as soon as the ‘hype’ started to die down, he jumped ship to Fortnite. And now he’s playing Stick Wars.”

“One of my friends and I played Stick Wars.” Tom said, recognising that game.

“You know what I mean. I’m not saying that PalEnigma needs to be obsessed with Pokémon like me, but you go back through his channels or online history – nothing about Pokémon, like it doesn’t exist. It’s all Clash of Clans stuff. Then, suddenly ‘Ooh, PoGO! I love Pokémon!’, and now… nothing.” Nathan sighed a long sigh. “You see it in his channel, and thousands of others like it. Clout chasing. Moving to whatever’s ‘the new hotness’ for their ‘brand’, rather than playing a game for the love for the game. Pokémon’s better off without that.”

“Maybe, but…” Tom’s eyes averted Nathan’s for a moment. “Is it not enough just… letting people enjoy the games they want to play…?” He asked earnestly, without any reproach. When he turned back to Nathan, he was surprised, almost taken aback, by the other’s steely-eyed conviction.

“Is it? I was bullied because I never ‘grew out’ of Pokémon. I was ridiculed, because I kept playing ‘a game made for children’ when everyone else had ‘grown up’. In the leadup to PoGO, I was busy playing through Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. And then, all of a sudden… PoGO releases, and it’s suddenly ‘cool’ to like Pokémon again. I’d see people who used to bully me in high school, and tell me how much of a loser I was, now posting about how they found a Snorlax over at the Botanical Garden, or how desperate they were to catch a Pikachu.” Nathan suddenly smiled. “Some of them even came to my website, asking me for help!” Nathan shook his head. “Of course, I helped them. I try and help everyone who comes to my site – that’s what I’m there for. But I can guarantee none of those people who were playing then are still playing now. Pokémon’s better off without those people too…”

Silence hung in the air for a little while, Thomas unsure if he’d brought Nathan out of his funk, or pushed him further into it.

“Maybe it was nostalgia?” Tom posed softly. “I mean, that’s what drew me in. Not just that, but… the fact that we got to roleplay being Pokémon Trainers, or Masters in your case,” he teased, watching a slight smile return to Nathan’s face. “That was a huge part of the initial appeal, right? And the whole real-world augmented reality angle showed that the series is evolving, and isn’t afraid to try new things…”

“Pokémon’s always tried new things, if in no other way than hardware. They started with two-way cables, then infrared, mobile phone connectivity, then four-way cables, Wireless Adapters, wireless consoles, Bluetooth, Internet connectivity with voice chat. There’s a Pokémon that literally Evolves by holding your 3DS upside-down.” Nathan sighed. “But, I get what you’re saying.” Nathan nodded, smiling. “You’re pretty cool, Tom. You get me.”

“I could hear you from the other side of the hospital, Nathan.” Mary’s quasi-stern voice made the two men jump in their seats. “What are you two going on about now?”

“Sorry, Mary…” Nathan apologised.

“We were just talking about the nostalgia of Pokémon, and why some people play GO.”

“Oh, okay.” Mary sighed, turning to focus on Nathan. “‘Cause you were getting really animated, Nathan. I thought-”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure-”

“I’m fine.” Nathan insisted.

Thomas looked between Mary and Nathan, smiling happily before turning to Mary. “What about you, Mary? Why did you start playing GO?”

“Um… I wanted to catch a Pikachu…” Mary admitted. “They’re just so cute! Them and Eevee!” Mary shook her head. “But yeah, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to play GO without watching the cartoon way back when, so I totally get the nostalgia thing. I’m like that with heaps of stuff. Whenever I hear a song by ABBA…” Mary trailed off for a moment. “What about you two? Any songs that just hit the spot?”

“‘Eagle’.” Nathan was quick to answer, his tone as firm and absolute as when he’d spout off Pokémon factoids, as though ‘Eagle’ was definitively ABBA’s best song. “You’re… You’re talking about ABBA, right? Or in general?”

“I just meant in general.” Mary smiled, scrunching her nose.

“Oh.” Nathan blushed. “In that case…”

Nathan and Tom looked at each and, in unison, without the need for rehearsal, started singing:

“I wanna be, the very best, like no one ever was~!”

“Duh dun da dun!”

“To catch them is my real quest, to train them is my cause~!”

The two of them could have sung the whole song, but Mary’s face was beet red with second hand embarrassment, so they stopped, graciously sparing her and the rest of the cafeteria their impromptu performance. “Nah, I’m kidding.” Nathan sighed. “There are way better Pokémon themes than the first English one.”

Tom turned to him. “Well, that’s sacrilege.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows. “That’s just nostalgia.”

“Gosh, you two are such dorks!” Mary commented, exasperated. “Honestly, why do I even sit with you?”

“You came back.” Thomas remarked.

“Yeah, and I’m not getting paid enough!” Mary retorted, with a huff. She didn’t mean to sound indignant, of course, it was all just playful banter.

“We’re doing you a favour. Surely our karaoke’s better than doing filing or forwarding phones.”

“I’m not just a receptionist, you know? I also help out part-time as a nurse.” Mary told them. “Speaking of which, what do you do, Tom? I never asked.”

“Oh, Mary, I’m not a rich man, unfortunately. So don’t feel like you have to waste any time on me.”

“Don’t worry about that, Tom. I’m only with you for your body.”

“Same.” Nathan agreed with a smirk, unable to resist joining in with the banter. The three of them laughed, but after the laughter subsided, Nathan asked “But what do you do, Mr. Kei?”

“Oh, you know. A little o’ this, a little o’ that.” Thomas non-answered. “I’m a philosopher by vocation, but I’ve never made any money from it, so it may not count. For the last six months, I’ve been managing a kid’s entertainment business. It’s small, but I’ve sort of climbed the ladder pretty quickly. Last month I became the overseeing manager, which means more work with not much more pay, but it feels nice calling myself ‘The General Manager’!”

“Huh…?” Nathan verbalized, licking his lips. To him it was almost… underwhelming. From the way Tom spoke and carried himself, Nathan had imagined his job having much more… personality. Potentially even a provocative one.

“What do you do at this ‘kid’s entertainment business’, Tom?” Mary asked.

Tom shrugged. “A bit o’ this, a bit o’ that.”

“You’re such a fricking tease! Give me a straight answer, Tom!” Mary almost pleaded.

Tom laughed jovially. “It’s definitely not a front for something more sinister than kid-related events.”

Nathan chortled. “Like Team Rocket. Any ‘secret switches’ in your place of work?” he teased.

Tom smiled warmly, playfully shushing Nathan. “That’s a secret, Professor!” Tom blinked. “Oh, hey, your last name is Redwood, like the tree. And you’re a Pokémon Professor, like Oak, and Elm, and Willow.”

“I’m better than them, but sure.” Nathan boasted.

“And Mary, you could totally be Nurse Joy!” Thomas sounded incredibly enthused by the idea. “Too bad you’re a ‘people nurse’. Then again, maybe it’s a little demeaning, we all need nurses in the world of today and tomorrow. Oh, maybe become a vet nurse, or even a vet?”

“Actually, wise guy, that’s what I plan on doing. Once I’ve finished my studies, and finished here, I’m hoping to become a vet.” Mary sighed wistfully. “I wish I could be a Pokémon nurse though; that would be a dream come true!”

“Woah, this is kinda uncanny, folks,” Tom chuckled, “Are we sure we’re not the protagonists in a new Pokémon series?”

“Nah, if we were in a Pokémon series, or game, we’d just be NPCs or one-off characters.” Nathan said, sounding legitimately disheartened. He would be the first to jump at the chance, if he could jump. “We’re a little too old to be ‘main characters’. We’d just have supporting roles to help the real main characters.”

“Guess that’s sort of what you’ve been doing already, huh Nathan? Putting down Lures for the Children’s Ward. What’s the next step then? Keeping an eye out for any enterprising kids around the Children’s Ward?”

“No one is hunting for any children in my hospital, Tom!” Mary sounded aghast, but she knew Tom was joking.

It was interesting. For some, it was certainly about nostalgia, reclaiming a lost part of childhood. While for others, it was something that simply had persisted, remaining a constant throughout their lives. Whatever the case, it was certainly ironic: These three were a Pokémon Professor, an aspiring veterinarian, and someone whose business model revolved around children. Life imitating art. Truth was surely stranger than fiction. They could have continued to discuss Pokémon, but for Mary’s sake they changed the topic to something she would want to talk about, namely animals. Real animals, that is. She even got them to do a personality quiz called “The Animal in You”, praised by media heavyweights such as Oprah Winfrey, and Dr. Phil.

“What’s the address, Mary? Or should I just Google it? Yeah, dumb question, of course we should just Google it!”

After a moment of silence, and varying levels of introspective contemplation, they all shared their results, starting with Tom.

“I am a Sea-Lion! ‘Enthusiastic, Flirtatious, Charming, Plucky, Obstinate.’ Yep, that’s me! ‘These charming pinnipeds are agile, sleek and energetic with an eagerness of spirit that’s irresistibly compelling’… And hey, look Nathan! A collective noun of me is called a Splash! Definitely a Water-type move.”

“Huh? Oh, right! Yeah, I already said it was weird, okay!?” Nathan took a moment to realise that Tom was referring one of their earliest conversations, but didn’t press on the matter as Mary was around, and they didn’t want to exclude her, so he resumed looking over Tom’s results, further commenting, “Hmm, but it also says that you’re somewhat unmotivated, or underachieving… interesting. You should aim higher, like World Domination-levels of higher!”

“Maybe I will, Professor… Maybe I’m just biding my time!” Tom took a moment to clear his throat. “So, what about you, Nathan?” The other two eagerly awaited the results, and Nathan finished his questionnaire, consequently revealing that he was a bear.

“‘Confident, Ethical, Protective, Blunt, Overpowering. Gruff and powerful, while its herbivorous side reveals a sensitive and intelligent individual…’”

“Totally you, Nathan! Hey, there’s a matchmaker component too, let’s see… we have great synergy! 75% for both Friendship and Sex, with a 50% compatibility in Love, because we have different backgrounds, according to the site. Ah well, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, hey?”

Tom was teasing, and Nathan couldn’t help but go along with it, which Mary secretly enjoyed. She revealed that she got a Badger, which were, according to the site, “‘Protective, Passionate, Blunt, Aggressive. Possessing extraordinary physical and emotional strength and tenacious approach to life’s challenges. Good looking, small to medium sized individuals, they walk and talk as if they own the world and their powerfully built bodies and dominating personalities back down for none, even for the much larger personality of the lion. Badgers will confidently enter the territory of others and woe betide anyone who blocks their path.’ Well fellas, does that sound like me? I’m not that bossy, am I?”

“Oh no, ma-am. Not at all.” Tom said quickly. “Please don’t hurt me!”

“Tom! You’re such a fool. A Tom-Fool!” If she meant to insult him, which she didn’t, then it backfired as Tom applauded her wit,

“Very nice, Mary! They clearly missed out on ‘Observant’ when defining badger traits. Let’s see how well you pair with Nathan… same for Friendship, oooh, only 25% for Love, due to power struggles, apparently… but hey, a whopping 100% in Sex! I’m jealous.”

“Ha ha, Tom. Well, what about our compatibility? Any future there?”

They didn’t have to wait long, as Nathan had guessed her mental trajectory, and had already input the results.

“Same score as with mine. I guess you do have a type, don’t ya, Mary?” Nathan joined in the teasing, and Mary blushed faintly when Tom mentioned that an orgy between the three of them should be a night to remember, according to the quiz. Trying to regain her composure, she resumed her mock authoritarian mannerisms, and dismissed the boys back to their beds, as it had gotten late without anyone realising. She continued to think about the quiz results, however, especially delving in the respective profiles of Nathan and Tom.

Chapter 5: Pokémon Romances

Another uneventful day passed by, with Nathan and Tom continuing Pokéology 101, and Mary dropping by when she could. That night, dinner saw an unwelcome course correction and disappointing return of healthy food for Thomas, in the form of a dressing-less green salad and water, while Nathan had a nice very cheesy mac and cheese. Nathan used to eat his dinner by himself in his room, but that all changed when he met the man he was growing fonder of by the day.

Thomas picked at his food, wishing he’d relished the French fries while he had them, even though they weren’t deep fried. Stuffing some carrot down his throat, he posed an inquiry to his dinner buddy. “Forgive me for asking this so suddenly, Nathan, but I was thinking a little bit more about what you said yesterday, how in Pokémon’s past, humans and Pokémon used to marry each other.”

“Mm.” Nathan nodded. “We don’t really know a lot about that yet. Haven’t really had a game set in the past, aside from Pokémon Conquest, but that’s kinda iffy.”

“Well, I was thinking… you don’t love Pokémon, do you?”

Nathan nearly gagged at the implication. “What?!”

“Well, you know a lot about Pokémon. You’re clearly a super-ultra-mega fan of the franchise. I take it you love the franchise, I just wanted to know if that love…” Thomas paused, “translated to… another kind of love.”

“Uh… no.” Nathan was quick to wanting to shut down Tom’s speculation.

Unfortunately for him, Thomas seemed to want to keep the topic going. “Because see, thinking about it more, I can understand the idea of someone being sexually attracted to fictional characters or creatures-”

“Is this… an appropriate topic…?” Nathan mumbled as Tom continued.

“I was just surprised that it’s something that exists in an official capacity. I mean, I know ‘Rule 34’ exists, and some Pokémon can have quite suggestive designs, like Jynx, Gardevoir, and Lopunny-”

“Listen, if this is you coming out to me as a furry or scaly, that’s-”

“Hey boys! What are we talk-”

“Jesus!” Nathan got the fright of his life as Mary appeared, spilling some of his dinner on his pants. Nathan was blushing, flustered and embarrassed, owing more to the current topic with Tom rather than spilling his food. “You startled me there.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she apologised. “What were you guys talking about?”

Tom grinned. “Oh, I was just asking Nathan if he was sexually attracted to Pokémon.” He explained it like it was nothing, almost fashionable!

Mary laughed, but Tom wasn’t laughing. Smiling, but not laughing. It clicked in her mind, “Oh. You’re serious.”

“I’m not.” Nathan insisted, looking away. “Tom was the one who brought it up. I just told him earlier that… in the games, it’s canonically accepted that some humans and some Pokémon used to marry each other. That’s all.”

“Really?” Mary’s tone suggested less legitimate disgust and more genuine intrigue as she pulled up a chair, sitting down beside Nathan. “Like, that’s a real thing, in the games?”

“Yeah.” Nathan scratched the back of his head. “Well, sort of. That’s in the original versions of Diamond and Pearl, but it’s usually translated as humans and Pokémon ‘being very close’ or ‘eating together at the same table’ – much less explicit.”

Tom swallowed some salad. “I was just curious about how some people sexualise certain Pokémon, if it’s anything to do with how they were designed, or if it’s just human nature. I mean, in the anime, Ash used to camp out and share the same sleeping bag with his Pokémon, like Pikachu, but I have to admit, I’d be weirded out if I saw a human sleeping with a humanoid Pokémon, like a Machoke. Those buff, burly muscles are the fuel of ‘Choke me, Daddy’ memes.”

“Is that what you get up to on the Internet, is it?” Mary jokingly remarked.

“I mean, isn’t that ‘Rule 34’ in a nutshell?” Nathan shrugged. “That some people will sexualise everything? Not that Pokémon hasn’t done itself any favours, of course. There are certain designs that illicit certain reactions from people. This Generation, we saw it with Incineroar and Primarina. Incineroar worked up the furries and anti-furries, and Primarina’s more ‘female-coded’ appearance, combined with its eight-to-one male-to-female gender ratio, pissed off the people who want their male Starter to look identifiably masculine.”

Thomas and Mary looked at Nathan somewhat dumbfounded, and Nathan realised they had no idea what he was talking about. Since neither of them were familiar with the most recent Generation of Pokémon, the names ‘Incineroar’ and ‘Primarina’ just sounded like nonsense to them.

“What about the anime?” Tom asked.

Nathan felt a twinge of elitism, his gatekeeping nature boiling up as he thought, probably only the ‘original series’, fighting back the urge to roll his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the anime’s had plenty of episodes where Pokémon are shown crushing on humans and vice-versa. Remember Ash and his Chikorita? Or Ash and Latias? Or that Ninetales that fell in love with Brock in that one episode?”

“‘Just Waiting On a Friend’.” Nathan recalled it by name, nodding, impressed. “Deep cut…” he noted to himself.

“And that’s not even getting into Meowth’s homoerotic fantasies of Giovanni.” Tom stated.

“Alright, I think this is my limit…” Mary said, getting up from her seat.

“Oh, come on! That’s your limit?” Tom chided. “That’s in the show!”

“Well, it’s interesting that Pokémon are also shown to be like that. Not… ‘yandere’ exactly, but some Pokémon species do have certain dispositions. A lot of Gardevoir’s Pokédex entries in the games talk about how it will protect its Trainer at all costs, distorting dimensions, creating black holes, expelling psychokinetic energy.”

“What’s ‘yandere’?” Mary asked.

“It’s a Japanese term meaning a girl who is obsessively attached to someone, even to the point of being homicidal. Basically a psycho-chick, which you aren’t, because you’re cool, Mary.” Tom answered on Nathan’s behalf.

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Tom.” Mary grinned. “But thanks.” She hesitated, and against her better judgement, returned to sitting down in her seat, attempting to bring the conversation back to slightly more salient grounds. “Are there any strictly human romances? Age-appropriate, mind you!”

“Oh yeah!” Tom turned to Nathan. “Nathan, whatever happened to Misty? I used to ship her with Ash all the time, but the show keeps adding new girls each season, doesn’t it? Are they going for a harem angle or something?”

“Ugh, you’re a PokéShipper?”

Tom laughed. “What? Famous Pokémon Superfan doesn’t like Pokémon ships?”

“I don’t mind Pokémon ships. I just don’t like bad Pokémon ships.” Nathan grumbled. “Like PokéShipping. You know most of that stuff was just in the Dub, right?”

“You mean, like, relationships?” Mary asked.

“Yeah.” Nathan nodded. “Ash and Misty. The English Dub had a way of adding in things that weren’t there originally, or embellishing things to make them more… important. I mean, there’s always a little bit of ship tease between Ash and whoever the current female companion is, but the English Dub really went into overdrive with Misty. Do either of you remember ‘Misty’s Song’, or ‘Pokémon Live!’?”

“Wasn’t Misty’s Song one of the songs from the soundtrack?” Tom asked.

“I don’t know what Pokémon Live! is.” Mary said.

“Well, they were just things the Dub did.”

“Alright, Mr. Anti-PokéShipper. If PokéShipping’s the worst, what’s the best?”

“I don’t think PokéShipping’s the worst.” Nathan admitted. “It’s just basic and generic. The epidemy of ‘Genwunning’, the ‘original one hundred and fifty-one’ because that’s what you, and I’m not saying you you, I mean people, grew up with. That’s what they remember, so that’s what they like. I’d say May or Dawn are better than Misty, but AmourShipping’s definitely the worst. That’s Ash with Serena.”

“Yeah, I don’t know who that is.” Thomas shrugged.

“Basically, she’s supposedly in love with Ash, but she’s actually in love with the idea of being in love.” Nathan remarked, licking his lips.

“I like Ash with Misty. I mean, sometimes it’s less to do with compatibility, and more to do with raw chemistry. When you mentioned to me in one of your lectures about how Pokémon actually weigh ridiculous amounts, yet are picked up by a ten-year old kid as if they were nothing special, well, Ash must be shredded! Like, with an eight-pack!” Tom sat back in his seat as he momentarily mused about whether or not he could take Ash in a physical confrontation, before Mary remarked that she thought they were quite a cute couple, even if that was only the machinations of the dub team.

“Excuse me, I’m going to go grab myself a drink.” Nathan said, moving out from where he sat at the table.

Mary smiled. She could admit to herself that she was a hopeless romantic, but for someone who ‘didn’t mind’ Pokémon ships, Nathan sure had a lot of opinions on them.

Both Tom and Mary took a moment to process what Nathan had said, the idea of being in love, as they were both hopeless romantics at heart. Amongst themselves, they began to discuss the fragile nature of romance, especially with budding adolescent feelings, and the fact that even with experience, both love (and unrequited love) were such mysteries to the human condition.

“Do you have anyone waiting for you outside, Tom?” Mary asked curiously.

“Oh Mary, such a typical girl, asking about my love life~” Tom spoke in a whimsical sing-song way.

“Oh Tom, such a chauvinist, getting to know someone isn’t a gender-based question~” Mary mirrored with her own sing-song response. In a more level tone, she followed with, “I just want to know, because gossip is fun, and deflecting is not!”

Tom sighed, admitting defeat, becoming somewhat more forthcoming. “Well, I have a fiancée.”

“Oooh!” Mary was intrigued. “Tell me more!”

“Well, my parents and hers betrothed us, kind of like an arranged marriage, but we did have some say in it. I’m getting old, almost thirty, and duty tells me to marry and start a family soonish.”

“Nathan told me you were going to Japan after you get out of here. Is that where she is?”

Thomas thought about his words carefully, weighing how to express the complicated nature of his romantic life, but as he saw Nathan returning, he leaned forward, whispering a promise to Mary to “Tell you later…” although he wasn’t sure if he would.

“Sorry.” Nathan apologised, wheeling back into his spot at the table. “Gotta stay hydrated.”

Tom laughed exuberantly, his gentle seriousness discarded to the wayside. “That’s alright, Professor! So, you were saying, Ash and Misty, and Ash and Serena, aren’t your top picks. Who then, is the ‘best girl’ for our would-be Pokémon Master?”

Nathan sighed. “It’s a toss-up between May or Dawn, I’d say. But, disregarding the fact that we’re talking about an eternal ten-year-old, we’re assuming that Ash deserves to be paired up with anyone just ‘cause he’s the protagonist, which… I don’t think he does.”

Mary shifted awkwardly in her seat. “When I was a kid…” she mumbled, “I kinda… had a crush on Ash…”

Nathan laughed. “Really?”

Mary nodded, looking down. “I dunno… he was cute, he was nice, he treated his Pokémon kindly. I can kinda see why girls in the show would fall for him…”

“Hmm.” Nathan was interested in knowing Mary’s type, though pretended otherwise.

“What do you mean by Hmm?” Mary asked in a very direct manner.

“Oh, well, I mean, Tom said it earlier- the guy must be jacked to be able to pick up the Pokémon he does with such ease. Girls like abs, right?” Nathan said, a little dejected as he was reminded of his lack of female relationships. Mary consoled him by saying that powerful bodies were a male-fulfilment fantasy, and girls weren’t as interested in that kind of stuff as guys thought they were. It made him feel a little better, or at least he acted as if he was slightly cheered up by it. Tom agreed, mentioning that it was different for gay men, which made him think of Jim, a friend who had struggled with his body image for the longest time before finally making peace with his impossibly high standards. After affirming that everyone was in their trio were conventionally hetero, Tom flashed a toothy grin, nudging Nathan, trying to re-establish the fun energy and rhythm of the conversation.

“Hey…”

“Yeah?” Nathan asked.

“What are some good double entendre Pokémon moves?”

“Uh… you mean moves that have a sexual connotation? Double Team is one.” Nathan began to answer, not needing to think very hard. “Lick, Slap, and Pound are pretty classic. Wood Hammer if you’re going for deep cuts. Also Cut, if you’re kinky-”

“Okay, boys,” Mary decided now was the best time to rein the conversation in, “I think it’s time for both of you to head to bed, before this conversation becomes any more explicit.”

“Mary.” Tom beamed at Mary, with the biggest smile on his face.

“Yes, Tom?”

“Did you just say, ‘be-cums’ more explicit?”

Mary’s voice was deadpan. “Why do I even sit with you?” She sighed, once again rising from her seat. “Go on, off to bed, both of you. You’ve been talking about a ten-year-old’s adventures, you’re starting to act ten.”

“Alright, alright, we’re going.” Thomas waved Mary away.

“I’ll behave myself, Mary.” Nathan promised. “Have a good night.”

Mary softened her features. “You too, sunshine…”

Chapter 6: Who is Giovanni?

“People like there to be clear lines between good and evil, right and wrong. When I carry out my evil schemes, some people in this world profit. Some people are helped in other ways. You probably think it’s wrong to cause trouble for people and Pokémon in general. But when people wave their self-righteousness around like a giant flag, that causes its own trouble, too. Right, wrong, good, evil… People think everything has to be black and white, but that’s just not how it is. There’s one thing I do know… I’m drawn to strength. I like power. And that’s because neither strength nor power are inherently good or evil. The strong will win. It’s got nothing to do with right or wrong… That’s the real truth.” – Giovanni, Pokémon Masters EX

“The greatest heroes require an equally compelling villain, wouldn’t you agree, Professor?” Thomas grunted, emerging from the bathroom. Walking in fact, albeit stiffly; the damage to his joints would take some time to fully recover, as apparently regular bouts of gout could lead to permanent joint damage over time. He was certainly regretting having had all those fries and slices of pizza for lunch this week.

It was weird to imagine Thomas being a cripple, but hopefully the medication he was on would prevent that apocalyptic outcome. Nathan had no clue what had led to such a question being posed – their conversation topic before Thomas had excused himself was whether or not the Pokémon World was an alternate Earth, or another planet entirely.

“Tom, I don’t want to pry about what happened in there, but are you okay?” Nathan asked, frowning.

“You mean my legs? Yeah, they’re stiff, but I’ll manage. I was just wondering about Giovanni.” Thomas sighed, sitting back down in his wheelchair.

“Oh, you mean the head of Team Rocket?” Nathan shifted in his own seat. “What do you want to know about him? He’s pretty one-note. Appears as an antagonist in the Kanto games, fairly big role in the anime until the end of Johto, pops up throughout the Adventures manga-”

“There’s a manga?! Oh, I guess that makes sense- there is an anime…”

“There are several manga.” Nathan smiled. “But he’s the same as every character: depending on the medium, he’s got a slightly different story. I mean, you’re probably most interested in the anime, right? And you said you stopped watching around Johto? Well, that’s when Giovanni’s presence sort of dipped. In the games, Giovanni’s not some sort of overarching ‘Big Bad’. He’s in Red and Green, mentioned in Gold and Silver, and that’s kinda it. Actually, they did do something really cool with Giovanni in the newest games, but he’s not the ‘Thanos’ of Pokémon, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“But he was shrouded in mystery for a little while, right? Like Thanos.”

Nathan thought for a moment, realising Tom was probably referring to Giovanni’s first few appearances in the anime, which had his face obscured by shadows, and how he conveniently ‘missed’ Battling Ash for his Gym Badge.

“No, you’re right.” Nathan admitted. “I’m pretty sure that’s to do with ‘Pokémon Shock’, the episode that caused all those seizures, so PoGOt taken off the air for a while. The first movie with Mewtwo was meant to coincide with a certain point in the anime, and I think that was going to be Giovanni’s big reveal. It certainly got fan speculation going, why Ash and Giovanni didn’t cross paths.”

“That’s ‘cause Giovanni’s Ash’s father, right?” Tom remarked.

Nathan knew he was being facetious, but… “Well…”

Tom’s face fell, before becoming enraptured with delight.

“No way! Seriously?!”

“No, but… do you remember what I was saying yesterday, about Pokémon Live!?” Nathan asked. Thomas nodded. “Well, that’s a musical. An American musical, so it’s not technically canon, but, in it, the musical reveals that Giovanni and Ash’s mother Delia used to date.”

“Holy moly…”

“They explicitly state that Delia and Giovanni were together before Giovanni formed Team Rocket, and before Delia met the man who would be Ash’s father, but in the original anime canon, Giovanni didn’t form Team Rocket, he inherited the organisation from his mother, Madame Boss.”

“Wait, what?! What episode was this?”

“This was a radio drama broadcast in the leadup to the first movie’s release in Japan. It was written by the anime’s showrunner, so it’s about as canon as it can be, at least for the time.”

“You’re… you’re pulling my leg.”

“No, I’m serious. In fact, the same radio drama reveals that Jessie’s mother Miyamoto was a top Team Rocket agent, and that she was looking for Mew before she disappeared.”

“Nope.” Tom shook his head. “You’re making all this up now. You’re just saying random words.”

“You’re hopeless!” Nathan chortled. “Come on, let’s go and spin the other Stops around here.”

It was quite easy to catch Pokémon at St. Anne’s, but it was also quite easy to run out of items. In fact, both Thomas and Nathan were running low, and so decided to tour around, moving across the ‘circuit’ of Stops to replenish their items, Nathan taking care to equip all the Stops within the vicinity of the Children’s Ward with Lures.

“So, what were you saying, about the new games doing something cool with Giovanni?” Thomas asked.

“Oh, I was just saying… how I said Giovanni wasn’t Pokémon’s Thanos. Like, a big overarching villain. Well, the newest games actually kind of have him be that. It’s gonna sound as insane as the stuff with Jessie’s mother, but basically, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon take place in a Region called Alola, and after you beat the main story, Giovanni arrives through a wormhole and takes over the Aether Paradise, which is, like, those games’ evil hideout. But it’s not just Giovanni; he brings the leaders of every single evil team with him. Aqua, Magma, Galactic, Plasma, whatever. All of them united as ‘Team Rainbow Rocket’, and they’ve all got their big game or story-specific Legendary Pokémon on their team, so Archie’s got Kyogre, Maxie’s got Groudon, Giovanni’s got Mewtwo, and it’s implied they all come from different universes where they succeeded with their plans. It’s wild.”

“Okay, that sounds like it could be Avengers.”

“Oh yeah, I really liked it.” Nathan nodded. “Not everyone did, but that’s fine.”

“So, how do you win?”

“You take ‘em down, one by one-”

“Of course!” Tom couldn’t help interjecting, as Nathan continued,

“-And what I did was really cool. I included old playthrough Pokémon on my team when I got up to that, so my whole team was an amalgamation of Pokémon I’d used throughout previous games and stories, to re-beat those alternate versions of bosses. Sceptile, Empoleon, Delphox, Sableye, Lucario and Hawlucha. It really made it feel like the culmination of a massive storyline.” Nathan smiled, reminiscing over the events of the story he’d experienced seven months ago. He’d play the core series if he could, but he was stuck in hospital, so he had to make do with PoGO.

“…And so, what happens at the end?” Thomas asked after a while.

“You-I-” Nathan cleared his throat. “I’m just gonna say ‘I’, ‘cause I did it. I beat Giovanni, and he said, ‘Team Rainbow Rocket will never fail’, and disappears. Now, the other members of his team were all sent back to their own universes, but Giovanni’s disappearance feels open-ended, like it could be picked up on again in another game.”

“Cool.” Thomas nodded, the two of them gradually making their way around, making a full loops of the hospital grounds’ PokéStops and Gyms, not catching anything, just refilling their items. “Do you think we’ll get Giovanni in PoGO?”

Nathan shrugged. “Maybe. I’d definitely like to see the Team Rainbow Rocket stuff picked up again, but Pokémon’s never really had overarching stories in its games. Which is a shame, ‘cause I like to pretend it is an overarching journey. But that’s a ‘me’ problem. Sort of makes it hard to care about certain characters though. By the way, why were you asking about heroes and villains earlier?”

“Hmm…” Tom pondered for a moment. “I kinda, sorta, maybe… forgot!” Tom didn’t forget, but he no longer wished to discuss it. Instead, he asked Nathan, “In real life, I suppose you are kinda like the Elite Four, the authority and guideline for community standards within Pokémon-related activities. But when you told me about hackers, and spoofers, and all those skirting the fringes of what is legal in PoGO, are there any examples of Team Rocket-esque co-ordination? For instance, do we have people selling counterfeit PokéCoins in the shop, or maybe stealing accounts?”

“Yep, those degenerates all exist, Tom, but as far as I know, there isn’t a major scam organisation, like with Apple iTunes cards, or whatever. Even people who sell accounts are mostly freelance independent providers. I suppose that’s a good thing, as it means that Niantic have enough control over their operations to reduce this kind of thing.”

Thomas pondered over his next question, leading with establishing how much Nathan respected the sanctity of the law. “I know you are on the straight and narrow, but if you allow me to play Devil’s Advocate, then I must ask you if there is a strong reason that accounts shouldn’t be sold, or that expert players should be penalised harshly for obtaining high value Pokémon, for those who wish to pay for such services? After all, it’s a free market, and every industry has those who operate in the black and grey areas. Similarly, what gives you the right to adjudicate these other players who wish to enjoy the game differently to you, and are probably not hurting anyone by doing so.”

It was fortunate that Tom had built such rapport with Nathan over the past couple of days, because the other man immediately flew into a tirade about his justification, as well as the axiomatic adherence to the Terms and Conditions of PoGO. He was impassioned, and wilful, but made several good points defending his position of righteousness.

“What gives me the right? Well, nothing, really. Well, if they’re not affecting anyone, then I think it’s fine. That’s really where I personally draw the line, if it affects other players. And, I mean, I know nothing gives me the ’right’, but… look: I’ve genned and cloned Pokémon, I’ve hacked my games before, but I’ve never used anything I’ve obtained through those means on anyone else, and I’ve never Traded or transferred them to other games, because that invalidates the hard work and time investment that other players have put into the games. If you want to spoof, or hack, or gen, whatever, do it. But the moment you involve someone else, especially someone who doesn’t know, or thinks they’re getting something legit, that’s where I have a problem!” Nathan sighed lengthily. “Sorry for venting like this, Tom, but I see it as my prerogative to get angry with those kinds of scum, as I’ve been with the franchise from the start! If people want to call me a gatekeeper, then so be it! If we allow hacking to be acceptable, then what’s to stop us from spiralling into advocating for counterfeit money? Where do we draw the line? Spoofing, hacking, cloning: they benefit the person or party doing them, but when an unsuspecting person or party is involved, that’s when there’s a negative impact. And that’s especially the case with GO, which is all online, versus the core series, where you can mess around offline and not negatively impact on other players. Paying someone to get you a Mewtwo with perfect IVs because you can’t do it yourself is a problem in PoGO’s black-market, and it negates the effort, as well as both the time and money spent by legitimate players who work to get it. The modern world is full of comfort-seeking, pleasure-addled mediocrities, and troglodytes with entitlement issues!” Nathan took a massive breath. “But, I will say, using third-party sources for maps and things, especially when Niantic removed the ‘Three-Step tracking’, and we didn’t have any way of actually searching for Pokémon until they came out with the ‘Stops and Sightings tracking’… I didn’t do that myself, but I can understand why people would use maps, at least at that point in time. A big part of the game is hunting for Pokémon, and Niantic failed to provide us with a way to do that for a significant period of time.” Nathan softened his tone, and tried to show some leniency to certain questionable practices, but was otherwise firmly entrenched in his ideal, which Tom respected.

Tom diffused the lingering tensions, by stating “You’re the hero that PoGO needs, if not the one it deserves.”

“Thanks Tom, but some people who have read my views online, which I am not shy in expressing, have suggested that perhaps I am the villain that PoGO deserves, not the one it needs… whatever that means.”

“I think I get it… Wanna go grab something to eat? You must have worked up an appetite just now. I know I did!”

Nathan agreed, grateful that he hadn’t ostracised the first true friend he had made in a long time, and Tom revealed that Nathan’s strong views reminded him of a student named Jake, who he was certain to get along with, and unlike Tom, had played the games as a child.

Chapter 7: Pokélysium

A tunnel of darkness stretched on forever, a dull, guttural sound responding from the ground as he walked.

Thomas had no idea why it was so dark, but he was overjoyed as a sudden, shimmering golden light appeared way off in the distance, stars twinkling, strange energy surging, moving toward him.

And then, a familiar voice called out from beyond the light. The voice of God.

The voice of Nathan.

“Welcome! You are about to embark on a journey into the World of Pokémon!” Nathan’s voice was deep and ethereal, sending shivers down Thomas’s spine.

“Nathan, is that you?!” Thomas called out to him, looking around. But there was no one. Just him.

“Yes, my name is Nathan.” Came the answer. “But I am known by most as the Pokémon Professor.” A flurry of sound seemed to focus in and narrow on Tom’s position. “Now, tell me, are you a boy, or a girl?”

“Uh…” Thomas hesitated. “A man, so a boy, I guess… but just letting you know, nowadays you can’t ask questions like that. You’ll get in trouble with a lot of people!”

There was a pause. “…Okay, so you’re a boy with an attitude. What is your name?” The question was asked in a very droll manner, which Tom recognised as something he did when he was putting on a show for the crowds.

“Uh…” Thomas frowned. “Thomas? … Yes, I am Thomas!”

Smoke and lasers began to coalesce together in front of Tom, the young man’s expression hardening, as the amalgamation of colour and light took the shape of Louise.

“This is Louise. She’s been your rival since you were both babies.” Nathan explained.

“What the hell is going on he-”

“And now, Thomas, it is time for your journey to begin…”

Nathan’s voice faded away, as did Louise, the light, and the ground beneath Thomas’s feet, and he found himself falling, descending down into the quiet black.

* * * * *

Thomas thrashed about in his sleep, his body drenched with sweat as his subconscious mind shifted between different states.

Nathan and Mary convened outside his room, as she explained to him “His temperature’s flared up. I don’t know why it’s happened, but we did blood tests and he’s usually high in- uh, I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that, to be honest, it’s his medical file after all. And it just can’t be his diet either, we’ve monitored everything since he came in here; although having all that pizza probably didn’t help.”

“That was my fault.” Nathan said grimly. “I let him have half, and I shouldn’t have. And yesterday, he wasn’t looking too good either. Is he in any danger?”

Mary shook her head. “As I said, I don’t think so, but we’ll monitor him.”

“Can you let me know what’s going on whenever you hear anything?” Nathan asked.

Mary nodded. “I promise.”

* * * * *

“Stop!” Nathan called to Thomas when the latter decided to take a single step outside of town. “Wild Pokémon live in the tall grass! You can’t go out there! Not without a Pokémon of your own!”

Tom turned to see a grey-haired, slightly older-looking Nathan approaching, walking, dressed in a purple T-shirt, brown pants, and draped in a white lab coat. “Nathan-”

“Come back with me to my lab. I’ll give you a Pokémon.” Nathan offered, only it wasn’t an offer, as he grabbed Tom by the hand, practically dragging him back to his laboratory – one of only three buildings in town.

Tom pursed his lips as he came through the doors, catching sight of Louise standing there, tapping her foot. “There you are, Nathan. Are you gonna give me a Pokémon now, or what?” she asked.

“Of course! Sorry to keep you waiting!” Nathan smiled. “Now, Thomas, as you can see on the table over there,” Nathan motioned to a table, which almost certainly wasn’t there before, “there are three Poké Balls. Each one contains a Pokémon. Please, take a look.” He instructed, releasing the three Pokémon from their Balls. “The first, Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon.” Nathan said thusly, the little brown creature tilting its head as it looked at Thomas. “It’s a Normal and Flying type.”

“What’s a ‘bird’?” Louise asked.

Nathan frowned, turning to look at Louise. “…I don’t know.” Nathan shook his head. “Anyway, next, is Agumon-”

“That’s not a Pokémon.” Louise pointed out.

Nathan once again turned back to Louise. “Sure it is!” He laughed jovially. “It’s a Reptile Pokémon, and it’s a Fire and Vaccine type.”

Agumon shook his head. He most certainly was not a Pokémon.

“And finally,” Nathan motioned to the last, “this is Kuriboh, the Chestnut Pokémon. It’s a Dark type.”

The doe-eyed furball cooed and crooned softly to itself.

“Whatever…” Louise sighed.

“And now, Thomas, you may pick one to be your Partner Pokémon.” Nathan smiled.

“Alright…” Thomas looked over the three for a moment. It was a big decision, after all: choosing your first Pokémon. “I’ll pick… this one!”

* * * * *

Mary looked up from her desk as Nathan approached. “Find out anything?” Nathan asked quickly.

Mary nodded, a reassuring smile on her face. “He’s just running a fever.”

Nathan sighed with relief. He’d feared that Thomas might have overdosed on his medication or something. There was the tiniest, smallest utterance of something he’d never thought he’d ever say.

“Thank God…”

Mary’s smile widened. “He’ll be fine, I’m sure. He’s… he’s not going to die…”

* * * * *

“Ah, the secret fourth option, Kabuto! Good choice!” Nathan smiled warmly as Thomas received his Starter Pokémon, which was totally, always a choice he could make.

“Hmph.” Louise shrugged. “I’ll take this one then.” She said, taking the secret fifth option that was also always something she could do.

Professor Nathan clasped his hands together with delight. “Splendid!” he grinned. “I’d also like to give you both a Pokédex. It will record data on any Pokémon you encounter out in the Wild.” He explained, handing Tom and Louise each a small, red, plastic-coated tablet computer.

“Um…” Louise ran her finger across the screen, scrolling through its contents. “Why’s it empty?”

“Because you haven’t seen any Pokémon yet.”

“Right, but aren’t you a Professor? Shouldn’t you have seen-”

“Louise,” Nathan was suddenly sharp, his voice much more younger sounding. “Can you, like, shut up?! This whole thing is going to fall apart if you keep asking questions!” He snapped.

Louise’s eyes widened. “Y-Yes, sir!”

“Good!” Nathan’s joviality and older voice returned immediately. “Now, the two of you are free to venture out into the world and catch Pokémon. After all, you can’t catch ‘em all by staying in the same place.” He said wisely.

Thomas nodded, and Louise smirked, turning and locking eyes with her Rival. “There’s more to being a Pokémon Trainer than just catching them.” She says, clutching her Poké Ball. “And I’ll show you just how much better I am than you!”

And just like that, Rival Louise wanted to fight!

She tossed her Poké Ball, calling out her Pokémon, a Level 5 Shiny Charmander.

It was kind of adorable in its own way – the short Louise backing her two feet tall flame-tailed lizard.

And Tom responded in kind, calling out his Kabuto.

Tom, of course, was taller than Louise, but his Kabuto was smaller than her Charmander.

“Jeez, Louise!” Nathan shook his head. “You’re going to have a Battle right off the bat? Fine, but be careful.” He warned.

Louise grinned. “Charmander, use Scratch!” she commanded, and of course, her Pokémon dashed forward… totally missing Tom’s Kabuto. “What?!”

“Looks like your attack missed.” Nathan commented.

Thomas frowned. “Okay, Kabuto, use Scratch.”

Kabuto gurgled, moving atop its bony little legs as it lurched forward, striking Charmander across the face. Charmander screeched a bloodcurdling scream, the fire on the tip of its tail going out.

“What?!” Louise’s clear blue eyes went wide with shock. “Charmander is…?”

A sharp breath escaped Nathan’s smiling face. “Well, would you look at that… a critical hit…”

Of course, the truth was much worse than that.

“I don’t believe this…” Louise blubbered, tears welling in her eyes.

“You did awesome, Kabuto!” Tom praised his Pokémon, who moved its little legs about happily. “I think I’ll call you… Jim…” he decided on a nickname.

Kabuto danced on its little legs, clearly liking the name.

“That was incredible, Thomas, especially for your first Battle.” Nathan praised.

“Thank you, Professor.” Tom bowed, recalling Jim to his Poké Ball.

“I dare say, a Pokémon like that, out there, you’ve nothing to worry about. But, if you ever do need assistance, you can use your Pokédex to call me. And now, Thomas, it’s time: get out there and go!”

* * * * *

“Do you think I’d be able to… go in and… sit with him?” Nathan asked Mary.

“I don’t see why not.” She smiled. “Just be sure to be quiet, okay?”

“Of course…” Nathan whispered, wheeling himself around to the door of Thomas’s room, slowly opening it.

A stream of light made its way inside, running across Tom’s face. But the young man didn’t stir, continuing to lie face-up in bed, mouth slightly open, dead to the world.

Nathan invited himself in, closing the door and using his phone as a light to wheel himself over to the foot of Thomas’s bed, before turning the light off.

* * * * *

“A Pikachu!” Thomas shouted excitedly, throwing an empty Poké Ball at the iconic electric mouse in an attempt to catch it.

“Pika?” its yellow ears twitched, turning as it was gently bopped on the head, shrunk and taken into the Poké Ball. The Ball shook once, before releasing Pikachu. The capture failed.

“In order to successfully catch a Pokémon, it helps to weaken them in Battle first.” Tom’s Pokédex offered a very helpful suggestion to him.

Unfortunately, it was for nought, as the Pikachu fled, disappearing into the tall grass amidst the sea of trees.

“Darn!” Thomas scrunched his nose and bared his teeth, but it couldn’t be helped. Maybe next time, he thought to himself.

“You, Trainer!” a voice carried itself across the forest, causing Thomas to turn, his eyes meeting those of a stout young boy with a round face. “Verily, now that our eyes have met, it is time for Battle! Go, Metapod!”

* * * * *

“Metapod…” Nathan whispered, sighing, his eyes moving from his Smartphone to Thomas, and then back to his Smartphone, as he continued to absentmindedly sling Poké Balls at the in-game creature.

It had been a few days since Thomas had been admitted to St. Anne’s, and in that time, Nathan hadn’t seen anyone come to visit Thomas. No family, no friends.

He felt kind of bad. They hadn’t really talked about anything other than Pokémon, although to be fair, Thomas didn’t really seem to be the type of person to talk about his family, or his upbringing. And there was nothing wrong with that, of course, people were allowed to be private.

And it wasn’t as though Thomas was feigning an interest with him when it came to talking about Pokémon. Or at least, it didn’t seem that way to Nathan. If he was, Thomas would be an excellent gold-digger.

No, Thomas had to have genuinely enjoyed talking with him, surely. He would have said something otherwise. He wasn’t like those fair-weather friends from back in Nathan’s school days, using him for his Link Cable and then going off on bike rides, leaving him by himself with nothing but his Pokémon to keep him company.

Tom was his friend, he asserted. And he’d wake up.

He would.

* * * * *

Thomas recalled Jim to his Poké Ball, victorious in yet another Battle. His opponent slinked away, but not before handing him several hundred dollars, which would only end up buying a few Poké Balls.

Tom sighed. “Alright, I suppose I’d better take you to a-”

“Stop right there!” Came the demand of a sinister voice.

Tom turned to see a man dressed in black and grey from head to toe. He had dark green hair, and a multicoloured ‘R’ on the front of his shirt. Red, yellow, green, and blue. “Who are you?” Tom asked.

“Who am I?” The man seemed surprised by the question. “I’m a member of Team Rainbow Rocket, and I’m here for your Pokémon!” he announced.

“Not a chance!” Tom snapped back.

“If you won’t give him to me, I’ll take him from you!”

Tom’s eyes narrowed as the man punted a bright purple Poké Ball into the grass, releasing a creature that Tom had never seen before. “What’s that?”

“This is a Peridot! A truly unique, non-fungible creature!”

Tom grimaced. He had no choice but to call out his weakened Jim for another Battle, despite the fact that the opponent was using a Cryto-nite Coin Held Item to further debilitate Jim’s stock options. But he had faith.

 “Fine…!”

* * * * *

Tom groaned, Nathan looking over at him. Tom rolled over, sighing, continuing to sleep.

Nathan licked his lips, wondering if anyone was talking smack about him online, as people were wont to do. He knew this for a fact; He had bots set up to comb through websites to check for either his online moniker, or the name of his website, and the pedantic part of him feared his ‘absence’ would cause speculation and facilitate the sort of discussion that he was not fond of.

But it couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t in a position to find out, and there were far more important things going on that he had to deal with.

* * * * *

The automatic doors of the Pokémon Centre opened as Thomas rushed in, cradling Jim in his arms.

A pink-haired Mary greeted him as he hurriedly approached the desk, a Chansey by her side. “Hello, welcome!” she greeted.

“Please, you have to help me!” Tom begged. “My Kabuto, it’s…” he struggled to say.

Mary nodded. “Yes, I can see your Pokémon’s in critical condition. However…”

“What?” Tom asked.

Mary’s eyes veered behind Thomas, and he turned, gasping as he saw a bed in the middle of the Pokémon Centre.

In the bed, was Naomi.

“…She’s in critical condition too.” Mary explained.

“What?!” Tom turned back around to face Nurse Mary.

“We only have enough power to save one of them.” Mary confessed. “The other will die.”

“N-No, that’s…”

“You have to choose which one you’ll save, Thomas.”

Thomas’s breaths were long and drawn out. He gently placed Jim atop the desk as he retrieved his Pokédex, pressing a button to call Nathan. “Ah, hello, Thomas!” Nathan jovially answered. “Have you called to update me on the progress of your Pokédex?”

“Nathan! Nathan, listen!” Thomas’s voice burned with desperation. “I was attacked! My Kabuto is… I have to save it, but… Naomi… Naomi’s here too… I can’t save them both! Help me, Nathan! Please!” he begged.

Nathan’s voice was grave and serious. “I can’t make that decision for you, Thomas. This is for you, and only you, to decide. But know, whichever decision you make, whomever you choose… vengeance is inevitable…”

* * * * *

“Nathan…” Tom mumbled in his sleep, drawing the man’s attention away from his Smartphone.

“Thomas…?” Nathan whispered back.

And then, there was a long sigh, as though Tom had taken his last breath.

* * * * *

Tom’s heart was heavy, his movement slow but determined as he walked with half-open eyes toward the ominous building that climbed into the clouds, towering above the cityscape. Behind him were the bodies of countless Team Rainbow Rocket Grunts.

He wasn’t a violent man, but they drove him to this. They forced him to bury someone very dear to him, and it was only fair that they be paid back a thousandfold.

One of the Grunts had let slip that the team’s Boss, Giovanni, sat at the top of the skyscraper, but when Thomas arrived at the top floor, he was surprised to find the room was a veritable hall of mirrors. At the end of the hall, in Giovanni’s seat, sat a Meowth.

Tom stormed up to him, passing by the mirrors. “Where is he?!” he snapped.

The Meowth tilted its head, responding in English. “Who?”

“Giovanni!”

The Meowth smiled a Cheshire Cat-like grin as his eyes gazed deep into Tom’s soul, before gleefully proclaiming,

“Whaddya mean, Boss? You are Giovanni!”

Tom gasped, taking a step back as he glanced at his reflection in one of the mirrors. He now found himself dressed in a black suit, the Rainbow Rocket insignia stitched onto the breast pocket.

Though his eyes still displayed shock, as he crumpled into a foetal position, the young man’s reflection merely stood there watching him before erupting with laughter.

* * * * *

There was a sharp intake of breath as Tom’s eyes opened, his dream immediately slipping away. His eyes found Nathan. He stared at him, smiled, and asked “Hey, what did I miss…?”

“Tom…!” Nathan’s breath was ragged, relieved beyond belief that Tom was awake.

He’d thought…

“I just had the weirdest dream…” Thomas sighed, his voice dry and crackly. “There was you… and Mary, a-and Louise… Naomi… Jim…” he trailed off, sighing once more.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright…” Nathan cooed, but he was assuring Thomas as well as himself. “You can tell me about it later.” He smiled.

“Yeah… when we’re back in Kansas…” Tom agreed.

Words that Nathan wanted to say were caught in his throat, and he fought back a blush, wheeling himself around. “I’ll, um… I’ll go and let them know you’re awake…” he mumbled, deftly wheeling himself out of Tom’s room, to let Mary or someone know that Tom was awake.

That he was okay.

* * * * *

Mary and Nathan sat in the cafeteria, each enjoying a meal after a long, nerve-racking day. Mary once again helped herself to a salad, while Nathan gingerly ate sausages and mashed potatoes, washing it down with a can of diet soda.

Mary smiled at him while they ate.

“What…? Nathan asked softly. “Have I got something on my face…?”

Mary’s smile widened. “That was really nice, what you did today.”

“Oh.”

“I knew he was going to be okay, but… just having someone there… that was very sweet…”

Nathan nodded, words hanging on his lips as he hesitated. “When I was younger… I had to have a lot of tests done… so I spent a lot of time in hospitals like these. I’d bring my Game Boy with me, but I never really had anyone… you know…” he mumbled. “And even though he was asleep… I didn’t want him to feel alone… If… If he did wake up…” Nathan sighed. “I’m over-reacting… you know what I mean…”

“You’re a good guy, Nathan.” Mary told him, her eyes wandering behind the man at the sound of approaching wheels.

“Mind if I sit here?” Thomas asked.

“Of course not!” Mary beamed, Thomas sliding in beside Nathan. “I’ll go and get your dinner for you, okay?”

“Thanks.” Tom smiled. Mary got up out of her seat, Tom’s eyes watching her as his smile slowly started to fade, and he turned to Nathan. “And… thanks…” he whispered.

Nathan frowned slightly. “What for?”

“You…” Tom stopped, reflecting on his possible choice of words, closing his eyes for a moment. “In my dream… you said I’ll have to make a decision… and you’re right…” he said simply.

“Here we are~” Mary returned, placing a plate of various vegetables down in front of Thomas. “A gout-compliant stir-fry, with brown rice. You’ll thank me later.”

“Thanks, Mary.” Tom smiled. “To be honest, I’m fine with not having any rice. I’m used to eating the rice from my father’s restaurant, so anything less than the rice he cooks would just taste… odd to me.”

“Oh!” Nathan was surprised at the mention of Tom’s father. “I didn’t know your father owned a restaurant.”

“He did, but he’s just been a head chef for the most part.” Thomas explained.

“Oh, wow, that’s amazing.” Mary smiled, sitting back down in her seat.

“Everyone tells me how lucky I am, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t eat most of my father’s cuisines until my first girlfriend convinced me to try meat and vegetables – the things we do for women, right?!”

“So, you were a vegetarian?” Nathan asked.

“That’s right.” Tom smiled.

“…Huh.” Nathan tilted his head, looking Tom over. “I… you know what? You told me that before, but I just can’t picture that…”

As they ate, Tom continued to elaborate on the rather fascinating and somewhat unbelievable nature of his childhood diet, and Nathan listened keenly, but he realised that Tom wasn’t actually telling him very much about his personal life, just biographical information that gave little away about the essence of the man before him.

It was nice. The first non-Pokémon-centric conversation the two of them had had. It was long overdue.

And Nathan would have been happy to keep it going. Tom was certainly in high spirits, but it had been a mentally exhausting day for Nathan, and so, as the cafeteria was closing, the two of them parted ways.

“Alright! I’m going to go catch some Pokémon! Make up for lost time!” Tom grinned.

“I’m gonna call it. Have a good night.” Nathan smiled.

“You too!”

Chapter 8: Gratitude That Glitters

It had been a few days since the little scare with Thomas, and his health had improved dramatically, thanks to both Mary, and even Nathan, looking after his meals for him. Tom was less than enthused by the saltless, ‘flavourless’ meals he was forced to eat, but it was all for his benefit of course. And now, any residual concerns over Tom’s health had subsided. In fact, he was able to walk around quite easily, as long as he took regular breaks.

Tom and Nathan sat in the courtyard, where the two of them first met, alternately equipping the PokéStops around them with Lure Modules to increase the Pokémon spawning in the area.

“Ugh, another one?!” Tom groaned, tapping away.

“What?” Nathan asked.

Tom sighed, showing Nathan his phone screen: a Wild Shiny Shellder.

His third Wild Shiny Shellder.

“These genetic freaks just keep coming!” Tom grumbled.

Nathan pursed his lips together. He wasn’t sure if Tom was genuinely annoyed or not. Nathan certainly was. Tom seemed to have amazing luck with Shiny Pokémon. First the Caterpie the other day, and then three Shellder today! “What can I say, Tom? You’re really lucky.” Nathan shrugged.

“You think so?” Tom asked. “These Shiny ones don’t seem to be any better than the normal ones I find. What’s the deal with them? Are they supposed to be superior?”

Genially, Nathan answered “They used to be stronger, back when Shinies were first introduced. A Pokémon’s Shininess was determined by its IVs. Nowadays, Shinies can have whatever IVs they want.”

“That makes sense. I’ve been catching a Shiny every day since I’ve been here, and they’ve all had pretty garbage IVs-”

“You what?!” Nathan’s eyes burned.

“Yeah,” Tom shrugged, showing Nathan his collection of Shiny Pokémon. “I mean, usually, I find at least two Shinies a week on average, so I don’t get why people lose their minds over them.”

Nathan looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he stared at Thomas’s phone. Shiny Kabuto, Shiny Aerodactyl, a freaking Shiny Ho-Oh, among many, many more.

“Y-Y-You’re kidding…” Nathan stammered. “Do you know how long it took me to hatch a Shiny Hawlucha in Alpha Sapphire? Months. Months of constantly hatching Eggs with a Flame Body Talonflame, and that was with the Shiny Charm!”

“What’s a Shiny Charm?”

“It’s an item you can get to increase the chance of encountering or hatching a Shiny Pokémon.”

“Wait, there are ways you can get more of these genetic freaks?”

Nathan thought he was going to have a heart attack. “You’re unbelievable…!”

“I am?” Tom tilted his head to the side, shrugging. “Oh, hey, my Shiny Ho-Oh also has perfect IVs.” He realised.

Nathan raised his hands in defeat. “Okay, well, that’s just unfair…!” he sighed, almost bristling as he angrily exhumed air out of his nose. “People can go their whole Pokémon-playing careers without encountering a single Shiny, let alone a Shiny that’s actually worth something!”

“Oh, well, then… let them eat cake!” Thomas laughed boisterously.

The smallest smile made its way onto Nathan’s face as Tom carried on. He couldn’t be angry with him. It wasn’t his fault that Nathan hadn’t caught a Shiny since Larvitar Community Day earlier on in the month (and Community Day Shinies were much easier to obtain), while Tom had been averaging a Shiny a day since arriving at St. Anne’s.

In truth, Shiny Pokémon were much easier to obtain in PoGO than they were in the core series games, and even then, the older core series games had Shinies at a one in over eight thousand chance of appearing. Moreover, Thomas certainly wasn’t selective with the Pokémon he caught. He caught anything and everything, no matter what it was. He was after those massive XP gains, after all. While other players certainly could have been selective, only catching Pokémon that, visually or statistically, appealed to them in the first place. They might not participate in Community Days, or even play PoGO at all, which has a higher average Shiny rate. They might not be like Nathan, obtaining the Shiny Charm to increase the chances of finding a Shiny, or the myriad of other ways in which the chance to find a Shiny can be increased, like chaining Pokémon, having Pokémon of different nationalities breed, or just soft resetting a Legendary encounter thousands of times over for the shot at one.

Maybe it was all just luck. Maybe it was all player choice. Or maybe Thomas was in the pocket of Niantic, and they were secretly feeding him Shiny Pokémon!

Nathan’s smile widened. “You know what, Tom? If anyone deserves a Shiny Ho-Oh, it’s you.” He said with absolute sincerity.

Thomas smiled in kind. “Thanks, Professor. But, you know, I’ve been walking with this Ho-Oh as my Buddy for close to a thousand kilometres, and I think I’ve raised its CP as far as it’ll go, so… I’m thinking it might be time to release it back into the wild.”

Nathan blinked. “What?” It was an odd thing for Tom to say, and difficult for Nathan to process.

“Well, I plan to go to Mt. Fuji when I’m in Japan, and I can’t think of any place better to act as the stage where I set my Pokémon free.” Tom explained with a smile.

“You…” Nathan was almost speechless. “You can’t be serious. That’s fucking insane.”

“Nathan! Language!”

Mary’s voice caught Nathan off-guard, and the young man flinched as the woman came over. “Mary, I-”

“Good thing you’re not by the Children’s Ward, my goodness!” She sounded aghast, and Nathan couldn’t tell if she was joking around, or genuinely taken aback.

“Sorry. Sorry, Mary,” Nathan apologised, and although there was no excuse for swearing, Nathan attempted to explain “Tom just told me what he was planning to do. Did you know he’s got a Shiny Ho-Oh with perfect IVs, and he’s going to go to the top of Mt. Fuji and delete it?”

“What?!” Even Mary, a casual PoGO player, recognised how outlandish that idea sounded. “Why would you do that? Aren’t Shinies, like, really valuable?” She asked.

Tom shrugged. “I guess I’m just not as materialistic as you, Mary.” He teased.

Mary unabashedly responded. “You’re being stupid, Tom. If you don’t want it, couldn’t you just give it to Nathan?”

There was a moment before Tom’s face fell. “Oh.” It was as though the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. Of course it was obvious, now that she’d said it! “Yeah, I guess so… You want it, Nathan?”

The nonchalance in Thomas’s voice, much less the gesture itself, shocked Nathan. “Th-That’s a very nice offer, Thomas, but I-I couldn’t accept it.”

“Huh? Why not?” Mary asked curiously.

“Well, I mean, usually, Shinies are so precious-” Nathan began to explain.

Thomas chuckled. “Trust me, Nathan. Ho-Oh looks cool in gold, sure, but I don’t look at Shinies the same way you do. Maybe it’s because I never played the other games growing up, but… at the end of the day, isn’t it just a different colour? I don’t really care about that sort of thing. Honestly, you’d be doing me a favour if you took it. Then I’d know it’d be going to someone who values it, rather than just deleting it.”

“It’s not just that.” Nathan said, causing Thomas to frown. “The new Trade system. It rerolls IVs, which means your perfect Shiny Ho-Oh won’t be perfect anymore. Out of respect for you, the effort you took to get it, and… Ho-Oh,” another small smile made its way across Nathan’s lips. It sounded silly, but he was being serious. “I can’t take it.”

“Hmm…” Thomas furrowed his brows. He was disappointed that Nathan didn’t want his supposedly rare Pokémon, but he was touched by his reasoning. It was honourable. As honourable as one could be about a video game, anyway.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it!” Mary joked, causing Tom to burst out laughing.

“Do you even have enough Stardust to Trade?” he asked.

Mary blushed. “Probably not…” she mumbled.

“Just keep it, hey?” Nathan suggested. “Don’t delete it when you’re over there in Japan.” Nathan licked his lips. “Oh, hey, speaking of which, when are you going over there?”

“In a few days, actually. If I’m right by tomorrow, I might be discharged.” Thomas explained.

“Oh.”

Things had been going really well for Thomas, aside from the small blip a few days ago. Nathan couldn’t really explain how he felt. He was glad that Thomas was getting out, that he could get out, but, at the same time… there was a part of him that didn’t want Tom to leave.

He genuinely liked Tom.

“Yeah, this whole gout thing really threw me, and I didn’t want to cancel or postpone. I honestly didn’t expect I’d be here as long as I was, but… it’s been great. You two have been, well, a real ray of sunshine in the dark,” Tom said, with a smile.

“Aww~” Mary cooed.

Nathan’s heart skipped a beat, as he and Tom revelled at her response with great amusement, but also an undeniable degree of poignancy.

* * * * *

Just as Thomas had hoped, the next day, he was discharged from St. Anne’s. Mary and Nathan went with him to the exit.

“Just so you know, I’ve never spent this much time with any other patients.” Mary told them.

“I suppose yours is worn thin now.” Nathan remarked, Mary raising an eyebrow. “Your… your patience.” He elaborated dumbly.

It was a dumb joke. At least according to her.

“Ah, Professor! It has been a pleasure!” Thomas assured him. “Thank you for keeping me company, and educating me on the world of Pokémon.”

And despite Tom’s mock-haughty tone (or what Nathan perceived it to be), he knew he meant it. “You’re… You’re welcome…” Nathan hesitated for a moment. “Hey, um… did you wanna, um… when you get back from Japan, I mean, did you want to meet up? I dunno… do Raids or somethin’?”

“Of course!” Thomas placed a hand to his chest. “Raiding with a Master, such as yourself, would be an honour!”

“That would be nice.” Mary agreed. “We should all play together sometime. You know, outside of the hospital.”

Nathan nodded, although he would be staying at St. Anne’s for a little while longer – he had his own demons to slay.

“How ‘bout I, um… give you my number, and email address, and website, all that stuff, and when you get back from Japan… you can hit me up…?” Nathan offered, nervous. His website was public knowledge, but his private phone number? His personal email address? Many of Nathan’s detractors would have fought tooth and nail for that kind of information. But he knew he could trust Thomas.

Thomas in kind gave Nathan his phone number, and Mary shared her contact information as well. Though it wasn’t like she was leaving, or that she wouldn’t see Nathan. No, she still had plenty of opportunities to engage with him.

The goodbye was short and sweet, and just like that, Thomas Kei was gone.

* * * * *

It had been years since Nathan Redwood had felt alone, but when Thomas Kei left St. Anne’s, Nathan had found he’d been feeling more and more alone each day. The only upside was that it gave Mary and him a chance to hang out more, as they subconsciously tried to fill the void left behind by their friend. The two even got very close: without Tom’s exuberance, which was jovial but impeded a degree of depth during conversations, the two got to know each other better, although they would often reminisce over Tom’s antics. Still, it wasn’t the same, and it certainly didn’t help, on his last day, that the cafeteria was playing Harry Nilsson’s ‘One’ through the overhead speakers.

That said, Thomas’s absence was only physical – the young man had continued to exchange Gifts on PoGO with Nathan every day since departing St. Anne’s. Even much later on, after Thomas reached Level 40, and his overall playtime decreased, he always remembered to send a Gift. Mary also kept in touch, but she had travelled overseas to study her passion, and Nathan realised that he was witnessing someone take the first true steps towards their own life journey, while he was forced to stay where he was, for the time being.

Nathan looked back over his retirement letter one more time.

The last time.

And promptly deleted it.

The actions that led to Nathan’s admittance to St. Anne’s were reckless and stupid. He knew that, Mary knew that, but it wasn’t until he met Tom that he really understood why.

The future was undetermined, and the people living in the present needed guidance. Nathan had truly loved imparting his knowledge of Pokémon to Thomas over his time at St. Anne’s, less an excuse to flex, rant, or vent, but instead, truly imparting something about this wonderful thing he loved so much.

Truly, no one knew what the future was going to hold. Nobody expected Dexit. And nobody expected Crown virus.

And perhaps, most surprising, nobody expected Ash Ketchum to finally win a Pokémon League.

What a wonderfully unpredictable world.

Chapter 9: Denouement

After they had parted ways from St. Anne’s, Nathan and Thomas had continued to exchange online correspondence, and, of course, they continued to play PoGO daily, which resulted in them achieving ‘Best Friend’ status not long ago. Unfortunately, Tom had moved to the desert shortly after his return from Japan, and so now, their meeting at the Botanical Gardens and Jack’s Burger Junction was the first time they had met in-person since St. Anne’s.

To be fair, it was more than what most reunions could hope for, with good food, fun conversations, and an easy, familiar atmosphere between them.

“We can never do this again, Nathan!” Tom groaned, regretting all the food he had eaten. “Look at us, more gluttonous beasts than men! I’m dying here from all that cholesterol! I need something to wash it down – you want anything?”

“You know what? A Vanilla Coke would be awesome.” Nathan grinned.

Tom laughed. “Of course!”

After waving down a waitress, Thomas was brought along a sparkling water for himself, and for Nathan a Vanilla Coke.

Nathan took a sip of his drink. “So, did you hear? PalEnigma’s into Minecraft now.”

“I get that.” Thomas said understandably. “It’s been getting pretty popular since Crown.”

“True.” Nathan nodded. “But I give PalEnigma about four months. You know he didn’t even play Sword and Shield, right?”

Nathan’s comment sparked something in Thomas, and he took a sip from his drink, leaning forward. “You know Nathan, I mentioned the Prodigal Son earlier, and to be honest, I’ve always had sympathy for the elder brother, even though I realised what the father meant when he explained that they should welcome back his younger son. Rather than fall down into the obvious pitfalls of Christians using gatekeeping as a means of salvation, which is pretty ridiculous as it goes against the founder’s ideals, I want you to know that I deeply respect you for not being a hypocrite about it.”

“Yeah?” Nathan licked his lips, intrigued.

“It’s not that you’re gatekeeping. You want people to play, to enjoy the games, to be a part of that social community. Not like a high school clique who doesn’t allow ‘losers’ to join in their events, more like a party where you keep out the druggies, psychos, gatecrashers and clout chasers. I mean, I was the very meaning of a casual player, and instead of shunning me, you enlightened me to the marvels of the Pokémon franchise!”

“I suppose…” Nathan mused. “But you’re not like the others, Tom. Hundreds of people just like PalEnigma have cropped up since Crown virus, all taken in by the changes Niantic’s made to the game, and I know that if that were all to vanish, if the game was to return to the way it was, there’d be an uproar, because people don’t want to play Pokémon Masters, or Pokémon Quest – free Pokémon mobile games that don’t require walking; they’d rather play the one where they need to walk without walking.” Nathan twitched. “They don’t like Pokémon, but in that same breath, they won’t play Ingress or Orna, so I don’t know what they want. All I know is Niantic made the choice it thought was best, but honestly, I don’t agree with it. I’m not sitting in my wheelchair, running Incense after Incense every day, desperately fighting to play a literal mobile game while stationary. I’m playing the core series and Pokémon Masters, games that were designed to be played while stationary.”

“Do you think all that can change, with enough time?”

“Oh, I’m almost certain it will. Niantic’s focused on its AR, real-world stuff, which I personally think the game should lean more into, to differentiate itself from other Pokémon games. But the playerbase isn’t into that. It’s only a matter of time until the other shoe drops.” Nathan shook his head. “Thank God for Pokémon HOME.”

It was a question that Nathan answered with gusto, with certainty. But what did the future of Pokémon hold? The evolution of technology, both hardware and software, added new dimensions to Pokémon. And now, with the Pokémon HOME cloud service, the games had the potential to all be connected. The future was unlimited. But that also meant that, in time, even PoGO would be usurped, and when that time would inevitably come, the landscape of gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, perhaps even reality itself, would be changed beyond recognition.

“We’ll fight the good fight, one day at a time!” Thomas said boisterously. “You deserve something for your devotion – I have more-” he stopped, his Smartphone vibrating.

A message from someone called “Becky-Hime”.

Tom smiled, but it was a different, ‘real’ smile, Nathan noticed, than the beaming grin he normally had on his face, and Nathan felt the tiniest twinge of jealousy, though he’d never admit it.

Tom’s eyes quickly returned to Nathan, and he cleared his throat. “Oh, forgive me Nathan, I’ve got to head off soon. But before I do, I have something for you: my latest batch of freaks for your menagerie!”

Nathan’s lips showed a smile, but his eyes showed reluctance. Despite Tom’s insistence that he didn’t care at all about Shiny Pokémon, Nathan still felt as though he was taking advantage of him. Like someone giving away gold and jewellery because they didn’t understand the worth of such items.

“Tom, I’m very happy to take them off your hands, but you know you don’t have to give them to me, right?”

“If you don’t want them, which I completely understand, I’ll happily delete them to make space for Pokémon who hold more value than them, like Pidgey.” Tom smiled, playfully goading him. “What do you say, Professor? Is there any room on your Ark for these mistakes of Arceus?”

Tom’s sardonic grin was infectious, and Nathan felt much easier accepting what he considered an extremely valuable gift of off-colour Pokémon. It would become something of a routine between them. Nathan, who understood the value of Shiny Pokémon, would welcome Tom’s Shinies into his Pokémon HOME with open arms, and in return, Tom would slowly amass an army of Pidgey.

Nathan smiled as he received a Shiny Togetic for a Raichu he’d caught in a Max Raid Battle. “You know, Tom, I wrote about you on my site.” Nathan admitted.

“You did?”

Nathan nodded, smiling, glancing from his phone screen to Tom. “A guy who didn’t care about Shinies.”

“Oh?” Tom had a massive grin on his face. “What happened?”

“Well, when I told people what you told me back at St. Anne’s, and showed off what you’ve been doing, transferring all your Shinies into Pokémon HOME and Trading them away, I was met with a lot of pushback. I had core series fans arguing that those Shinies were genned, hacked, or spoofed, but what pissed me off most were the GO players who said that Trading away the number of Shinies you had was impossible, because of the amount of Stardust you’d need… even though Pokémon HOME Trading doesn’t use Stardust. Only GO does.”

“Hey, I’m glad that there’s no Stardust cost – It makes it easier for me to dump them on some other poor sap.” Tom winked. “Though the whole ‘GO Transporter Energy’ thing is pretty annoying. I’d like to move them all over to HOME in one go. I’d even pay for the Premium Plan if they let me do that.” Tom cleared his throat. “But, speaking of home, I need to go, my friend!”

“Of course.” Nathan nodded. “How did you get here?”

“Oh, I took the bus.” Tom explained.

“Then I’ll come with you to the bus stop.” Nathan smiled.

* * * * *

“Until we meet again, Professor Redwood.” Tom beamed at his companion.

“Catch ya later.” Nathan smiled back, the two of them sharing a quick handshake before their hands parted, and Thomas stepped onto the bus.

Nathan watched the bus begin to move, until it was out of sight, disappearing into the darkness.

He sighed. It was a night just like this.

Being taken to St. Anne’s Hospital for surprisingly light injuries was nothing medically alarming. No, what was worse was the listless shock afterwards, which had more to do with his feelings of failure, than the accident itself. Was he depressed? Spending the leadup to his birthday completely alone certainly gave people reason to infer so, but he wasn’t depressed enough to kill himself. That wasn’t his reason. His reason was simultaneously far less, and yet far more, personal: something that made perfect sense at the time, as he wasn’t doing it because of how he was personally affected, but rather, by how his magnus opus had been sullied. Such a delicate, fine distinction, but one that made all the difference.

Man is born to die. Nathan had accepted that from an early age. No matter what anyone did, does, or will do, everything ends the same. And what Nathan wanted, above all, was a meaningful death. What was meaningful in his life was Pokémon.

Despite a general sense of knowing what he needed to do, his supposed ‘master plan’ had been formulated quite spontaneously, when he had noticed the driver of a vehicle playing PoGO, and he allowed himself to slip onto the road at just the right moment.

Imagine it: Renowned Pokémon influencer and webmaster of the biggest fansite, Professor Redwood, killed by a distracted driver playing PoGO.

Surely, publicity like that, someone of his status being involved, when PoGO had already garnered such a negative reputation from incidents like that, would tip it over the edge. Whether or not he lived or died, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company would surely withdraw their support. The game would close, and bring to an end the cancerous bandwagoners and clout chasers.

But it was not to be. Nathan exited the affair almost entirely unfazed, his wheelchair taking most of the damage. And the accident didn’t ignite any sort of backlash. Indeed, it wasn’t even mentioned in mainstream news, and even in online circles, it was barely a blip – nothing like the scandal he’d hoped.

That hope almost faded.

Sitting there in his room at St. Anne’s, he was faced with the only other thing he could think of: his retirement.

And then… he appeared.

Perhaps it was Fate that he met Thomas Kei, and that he was indeed pulled back from the brink. That he was renewed with a sense of purpose and perspective.

Thomas Kei embodied the best of Pokémon. That willingness to learn. That appreciation. Sure, he had some oddities; for as long as Nathan would live, he’d never understand Tom’s willingness to part with so many Shinies, but all in all, without hyperbole, Thomas saved Nathan’s life, and he had no idea.

Or perhaps, maybe, Tom knew more than he thought, because Nathan’s own words revealed a truth Thomas was forced to face in Japan.

Thinking back to the time he was admitted into St. Anne’s, he realised that gout is a lot like love, not so well understood, but prone to the same sermons. You can mask the lingering agony, but eventually, when you outgrow your suffering, you accept the pain, and want to embrace what your body is telling you. Then, when it’s over, you can finally begin to heal.

Funnily enough, Tom left the hospital with the knowledge that he hadn’t been suffering from gout, but something more sinister. Still, that was all behind him for the most part, and he didn’t think of the past any longer as he sat on the bus, messaging his girlfriend Becky, telling her that he was almost back from his visit to a haunted hospital that had closed down decades ago, and that he hadn’t left alone. She told him to stop goofing around, and that dinner and was waiting for him. Apologising, he reassured her that he would be home soon.

Tom: I’ll be over right away.

Do you have anything for dessert, or should I pick something up on the way?

Becky-Hime: I have dessert covered

A very special dessert, IF you get here quick enough.

Tom: Special? Sure, but I like to take my time

You like it when I take my time too, right? 😉

Becky-Hime: 😉

The End…?

Afterthoughts By Solomon Li and Tyler Nator

Solomon: “Redwood: Memoirs of a Pokémon Master”, is undoubtedly a tale about Obsession. Tom was obsessed too, but in a different way to Nathan, as someone who gets to lvl 39 in a year has to grind like crazy, especially as the buddy system was still newly introduced when Tom and Nathan first meet.

Another interpretation is: did Nathan die? There is certainly an allusion to his whole day with Tom being a sort of purgatory. Thomas is somewhat established as a spiritualist in the greater Osaka Universe, and can see dead people- he was helping Nathan move on, perhaps? No, that is just the authors having fun with the audience, though there are plenty of darker themes concealed amidst the frivolities. While it would be fun to keep it ambiguous, Nathan isn’t dead. That last part was Tom being a joker.

Tyler: I’m absolutely thrilled that I was chosen to be a part of this project. I’m a huge Pokémon fan, so to be able to get to write about it, and my experiences with the franchise, is very special.

Nathan’s a very interesting character. On the surface, he seems like an asshole, but I hope I was able to explain why he was the way he was, and ground his character in the reality of his existence.

Solomon: It simply cannot be stated enough that this book was a tribute to Master Tyler’s zealous expertise and could not have been possible without his cooperation and fastidiousness. Why, even as he was dying of Crown Virus, he still instead upon finishing this in a timely manner. Of course, while I was able to draw a great many characteristics from him, I must also make clear that I based the character of Redwood on Antonio Salieri, from the film Amadeus: at this point, a disgruntled and partially decrepit miser in a wheelchair would draw many parallels to both Redwood as well as the wizened and embittered Salieri of the film.

As stated before, this story is about unhealthy obsessions, and how they might manifest in one’s life, but while Thomas Kei is the character more prominent in my extended universe, this was a novel that was determined to focus on Redwood. Often, Master Tyler urged me to elaborate on Tom, but I refused because those are details that are explored in other novels that feature the character. Instead, I was so captivated by the concept of Redwood that it was my goal to share that vision of an innately complicated character, seemingly unloved yet capable of loving so deeply. To clarify, Nathan wasn’t an incel, nor was he a virgin, but he was unable to foster a lasting meaningful relationship with others due to his heart belonging solely to the Pokémon franchise.

Tyler: For the record, I’m fine! I never had ‘Crown Virus’, I’m totally fine!

Originally, Nathan was presented to me as a foolhardy ‘Joe Merrick’-type (until Solomon told me he had no idea who Joe “Serebii” Merrick is), so the topic of his suicide attempt came as a surprise to me. Though I felt comfortable in my ability to portray the darkness of Nathan’s mindset, Solomon and I had a bit of back-and-forth on how best to foreshadow the reveal at the end of the book. It’s a tough thing to talk about, certainly.

Solomon: Even though I am but a casual player who did manage to power-level into the 40’s, I was honoured to have been tutored by the greatest Pokémon Master of my generation: Master Tyler. Pokémon is life, that’s the message. In fact, GO brought so many strangers together, that I felt it was a compelling angle to discuss the alienation of certain individuals who are experiencing the worst form of loneliness, which is when you’re surrounded by others. Camaraderie, friendship, and growth [Evolving] are central themes to the story as much as depression, ennui, and resignation to the great Abyss. Someone like Master Tyler, who is so filled with hate for the app-

Tyler: I don’t hate PoGO! As of right now, I’m Level 42, and still playing! I wouldn’t still be playing if I hated the game. Sure, it’s not my favourite way in which to engage with the franchise, and I don’t see it as the be-all and end-all that so many others do, but at its core, it embodies a lot of what sets Pokémon apart from other games, the social-communal aspect. Some of my favourite memories with Pokémon come from PoGO, well beyond the ‘Summer of 2016’. I don’t hate it at all; It’s one of my favourite spin-offs.

Solomon: Everything Master Tyler has related is true, and I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps in the future, we may collaborate again. But in the meantime, I leave you with these words: Confutatis Maledictus!

Tyler: I’d love to collaborate again in the future too. And I’d also like to take a moment to thank you guys, the readers, for reading “Redwood”. I hope you enjoyed it!

Philosopher, author, and proponent of Human Potential, Solomon Li self-identifies as a “Villain for the Greater Good”.

As someone who dabbles in seemingly random and diverse fields, most of his friends have given up questioning his motives, and have accepted that he just “does things”, such as write about PoGO.

Tyler Nator is a Fanfiction Author and Pokémon Superfan. When he’s not writing, he’s probably playing video games, and if he’s playing a video game, it’s probably Pokémon. So writing about PoGO seemed like a natural fit.

You can find Tyler currently on FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4168763/

https://archiveofourown.org/users/TylerNator/profile