Owen leaned against the wall, near the entrance of the pokemon center, waiting for his siter, Iggy, as he called her, to arrive. It was cold, though. Not really, totally, unbearably cold, but the sort of cold that dries your lips, and draws your hands to your pockets. Owen was growing impatient, where was she, anyway? Iggy'd told him she'd be there by 2:00, and it was already 2:15! Boy, was it cold. She always did this to him! Ever since they were kids, Iggy would give him a time to meet up, "difinitive", as she'd say, and every time, without fail, she was late.When they had been really young, it was because she was watching trainers battle, which she had done ceaselessly, always wanting to learn new strategies, even though she had no pokemon! Then, when she'd gotten her liscence, it grew worse. She'd actually go out of her way to find trainers to battle! The girl was impossible. Man, it was C-O-L-D, cold! If Iggy could be late, Owen reasoned, he could go inside.

Owen approached the counter, to ask the nurse a question, really just a ploy to talk to somebody. But, when he noticed that the nurse was nowhere to be found, and the bell was missing, Owen leaned back against the counter, and relaxed, twirling his bangs with his fingers, as he often did, when engaging in a thoughtful mood. Owen watched the different people going about their business in the center, some trainers going so far as to sleep on the couch in the trainers' area! He noted that this particular Pokecenter was rather extravagant, and must have been well funded. The Pokecenters Owen had grown up around were lucky to have anything more than a Nurse and a computer. Those places were mere shacks, holes in the ground, even, when compared to this Pokecenter.

As usual, when Owen started on one of his reflective moods, time passed rather quickly. By the time the thought occurred to him to check his watch, it was 6:30. Of course, standing for four hours would usually make someone's legs hurt like hell, but not Owen. He was used to standing and waiting. After all, he lived with Iggy. At that moment, she appeared in front of the Pokecenter. Owen ran out the door, in order to catch up with her, leaving the nurse, and the trainer she was talking to, behind.


"Where were you, Iggy?" Owen asked, when he caught up with his sister.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" She demanded, "Don't call me Iggy! Call me Sue, or call me nothing."

"Okay, Nothing." Owen replied, a smirk playing upon his features.

"Oy. Anyway," his sister said, changing the subject, "I was in a battle, and I lost track of time."

"What else is new?" Owen said under his breath. "Let's go. I don't wanna miss the anime convention!" He grabbed his sister's hand, and ran off, pulling her along with him.


That night, when the convention finally closed, and everyone was kicked out (some quite literally), Owen started heading for the hotel where he had booked a room. When he'd called in, he'd asked Iggy if she wanted to stay with him, but, for some reason, she preferred to stay at Pokecenters. Probably some sort of hard-core trainer thing. Owen was a trainer, all right, but he had no aspirations of becoming a Pokemon Master, as his sister did. Actually, he was quite content with the one pokemon he had, a Meowth he'd named Neko. They were like best friends. In fact, they were so good of friends that Owen had taken him to the convention. That Meowth had been so interested in the "Samurai Pizza Cats" exibit, that Owen had let him stay for a while. Actually, he'd-

"NEKO!!" Owen reached down to his belt, and confirmed his suspicion; he'd left Neko at the convention!

Owen raced back to the convention building, but it was closed for the night, without so much as a janitor visible to help him. A while back, he'd heard of new Pokegear that would allow trainers to contact their pokemon, even if they were kilometers apart, but Owen had dismissed it as unnecessary. What sort of trainer would be kilometers away from their pokemon? Of course, now he could see the use of such a thing. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, after all. Owen stood for a few minutes, deciding whether to go back to the hotel for the night, or stay at the convention center until they reopened in the morning. Eventually, he decided that Neko would be able to take care of himself, so Owen headed for the hotel.

On the way back, Owen found himself passing the Pokecenter he'd waited for Iggy at that afternoon, and breifly pondered surprising her. He dismissed the idea, as she was probably in her room with another trainer making out. Or something more graphic. Owen pictured walking in and finding her in bed with some guy. He knew just what would happen: He'd get embarrassed, she'd get pissed, and the guy would try to hide under the blanket. Of course, Iggy'd come home to find Owen in bed with guys a few times, but it hadn't gotten any less awkward. Funny, Owen had always thought Iggy wouldn't accept the whole gay thing, but, when he'd finally gotten up the courage to tell her, she had replied with, "And your point is...?"

Owen laughed at the memory.

Just as he was about to leave for the hotel, Owen heard a clatter from the back of the Pokecenter. It sounded like someone had slammed a big door, causing a bunch of metal pots and pans to fall. Then, he heard a screech, "MEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWTH!!!!!!!!" Owen ran to the source of the noise, and saw that it was trash cans, not pots and pans, that had fallen, though the big door was correct. The Meowth, however, was not in sight.

After a few minutes of investigation, Owen decided to leave. When he was only a few meters away from the Pokecenter, a figure leaped at him. Owen had no time to think, only to react. He grabbed the form, and was about to throw it to the ground, when he noticed its face.

"Neko?" He asked, "What are you doing here?"

The Meowth cast his eyes downward, and gave no reply.

"Well, then," Owen said, "I guess I should just put you back in your pokeball for the night. You've probably had an exciting day."

Neko blushed, and returned to his pokeball.