"Are you a boy or a girl?" the tinny Professor asked. Steel clicked the 'boy' button and a different message began to play. It was Professor Oak but the message frequently skipped or blurred. Steel held the pokégear up to his ear so he didn't miss a word.
"The war with Hoenn is becoming increasingly desperate and after seeing what some people here have tried to do..." there was a forlorn sigh, "...I fear they may be attempting the same in Hoenn and Kanto nor Johto could survive such an onslaught so we've constructed a base under the Indigo Plateau. It will allow at least a hundred people to survive the aftermath. My secret talks with Professor Birch have been nothing but troubling. Those two cannot be unleashed or Arceus save us all."
The message blurred but then resumed with a much more fragile sounding Oak with water churning and earth rumbling in the background. "They've done it! Those bastards did it!" there was a chocked attempt at a calming breath, "Kahto* is not safe. You must retreat to the Indigo base! We need your power here and there's no hope for Kahto anymore. Most trainers were sent to fight so I assume you don't have a Pokémon of your own."
Steel marvelled as the device whirred and revealed the small version of a pokéball. He grabbed it quickly as if someone was about to take it from him. "Use this Totodile to aid your journey though even with its help I cannot guarantee your safety. It's a young Pokémon but all Elm could find. He's reported gang rule so good luck on your journey." he stopped for the final time and a map flickered onto the screen. Steel hadn't seen a map of his so-called home before. His current location lit up but so did the Indigo Plateau. He was horrified to see how far away it was but the excited fire inside of him couldn't be put out so easily.
He strapped the pokégear to his cuff and clenched the pokéball in his hand. There was rarely reason for joy in his world so he was thrilled to find himself grinning. A breeze flew past him but it was recognisably thick grey. He looked over to the city and found the fog was going in noxious strands towards him. He grabbed the goggles and neckerchief from around his neck and pulled them over his eyes, nose and mouth. The hurriedly placed strap made his light blue hair bunch up weirdly but he didn't have time to worry about that. He sprinted through the cave entrance and slammed the steel door shut.
He came face to face with his father breathing heavily. His father hugged Steel and began talking in quick but incomprehensible strings of worry. Steel pulled away and pulled down the goggles and mask so he could reveal his smile to his father.
Steel's dad smiled weakly and grabbed his son's wrist to drag him inside their house but recoiled nervously when Steel whimpered. A quiet apology was whispered and the two rushed inside their house.
They lived inside Mount Mortar with a few others and their 'house' was a cube cut out of the mountain. It had a large blanket on the floor where they slept, a fire where they cooked and a chest to keep their possessions. Life here was difficult and boring since all they seemed to do was survive but Steel was about to change that for him and his father.
"So we've got some berries I could mash for lunch but we've run out of bread for today so we'll have to have berries for dinner too." his father kept making idle conversation about what to eat as if they had options.
Steel sat down and gently massaged his bandaged arm which was still very painful from where it was grabbed, waiting for his father to be not facing the fire. Finally Ferro walked over to other side of the small room and Steel stood up. He held his pokéball but looked at it confused. He'd never seen a Pokémon or a pokéball so he was unsure of how to use one.
He noticed the button and pressed it experimentally. Both Steel and Ferro jumped when they heard the metallic popping sound and flash. Ferro spun around to see what had happened and leapt backwards when he saw the upright, two foot blue crocodile with a yellow underbelly and red spines. Ferro whispered and closed his eyes, hoping that it was some sort of nightmare. He, like most of his generation, was terrified of Pokémon ever since the two Hoenn monsters had unleashed such disaster. Steel hadn't met a Pokémon until then since he'd lived his entire life in Mount Mortar so despite some anxiousness he was just curious and excited.
"St-steel, what the heck is that!?" Ferro stammered. His red hair seemed to be on end with fright and his brown eyes quivered. The Totodile yipped happily but could understand that the older human was afraid.
Steel approached the Pokémon and scratched its head affectionately. "Aww... I'm gonna call you..." Steel paused and looked intently at Totodile and chuckled. "How can I name you if I don't know if you're a boy or girl?"
He looked Totodile in its red eyes. "Boy?" he asked slow and clearly. The Totodile didn't respond. "Girl?" he said quizzically and the Totodile quacked cheerfully. Steel smiled but was slightly disappointed it wasn't a boy because Tyrone was an awesome name.
He looked up in thought and went through the names in his mind while looking to Totodile for a response. "Lin, Jenny, Karen?" he added the last one hopefully but Totodile didn't seem to like it. "Vivian, Brooke?" Totodile danced happily at the last one and jumped on Steel.
"Brooke the Totodile it is." he grinned.
"Steel..." his father began and Steel's smile shrank. "How...Where d-did you get that monster?" he stammered and Steel raised his cuff to show him the pokégear.
"I found this outside and it had Professor Oak on it. It was from the ..." Ferro's eyes became cloudy at Professor Oak's name and Steel choked on the words. He only knew of Oak from his father's tales but he should have realised that he died. No-one at seventy-two could have survived the flooding and earthquakes.
"...he was talking about a bunker below the Indigo Plateau and he gave me Brooke to help us travel there safely.
There was silence except for the light crackling of the fire while Ferro thought.
"I can't go." he said sadly.
"Why? Brooke can protect the two of us and..."
"I'm too old Steel. I can't live in the awful world out there. I can't even think about all the Pokémon out there." he shuddered but looked at his son with an uncommon look of determination. "I may not be able to go but I know you are."
Steel looked up sadly at his father but Ferro was having none of it. "Don't be sad. You deserve to have a fulfilled life and I know you have the willpower to have one." Ferro stepped forward and hugged his son despite the Totodile lurking nearby.
"Your mother got there and you are definitely your mother's son." They both had tears in their eyes at the prospect of leaving each other but there was no option. Ferro had always wanted his son to live with his mum but there had been a need for her elsewhere. Somewhere Ferro couldn't go.
Ferro gave Steel an old bag and all the food and water they had since Ferro could get some more from the Mount Mortar underground farms and well. He still had some pokédollars from the old days and though there would be little use for them on the outside there might be people who still accept it as a currency.
Steel and Brooke stepped outside to the cold fog that often plagued route 42 but he breathed deeply. He was now free.
