Harry waited impatiently beside his father in front of the lab. His father had been both ecstatic and immediately worried that Harry wanted to go back out into the world and complete the League challenge whilst following his dreams to one day study a legendary pokemon. Harry had been able to literally see the litany of emotions as they crossed his face, and he knew that his father's most immediate reaction was to deny him, before acceptance and then an idea crossed his mind. So now Harry was here. Waiting. For his father's peace of mind.
It wasn't as though Barry Palmer, or rather Barry Peters as he was currently going by, was late, as it was quarter after six in the morning, but Harry's father had wanted to greet the young twenty-three year old before he became Harry's journey companion. Personally Harry believed he didn't need a babysitter but his father believed otherwise, and to calm his father's worries Harry acquiesced to the arrangement. Barry Palmer, along with a trainer whose identity was protected due to stricter League publishing laws concerning underage trainers in Hoenn, had been involved in the apprehension and takedown of multiple high up members of the terror group that called themselves Team Galactica. Because of this Barry and his mother Sonya had relocated from their hometown in Twinleaf, Hoenn to Pallet Town, here in Kanto. They had also changed their well recognized last name, Palmer, to Peters. Unfortunately Barry's father, Sonya's ex-husband, Tower Tycoon, Tyler Palmer couldn't relocate with them, but given that he was currently serving in Sinnoh as one of the five Frontier Brains he was deemed to be relatively safe where he was.
Harry took in the slightly older man as he approached the lab on foot, a beautiful specimen of a Xato who stood at shoulder height hopping with little wing flutters beside him. Barry had yellow gold blond hair, and amber brown eyes and as he drew closer Harry could see that the innermost ring of the iris was a burnt umber color.
"Young Barry," Samuel greeted. "Welcome to Pallet Town, how have you and your mother been settling in these past couple days?"
"Quite well actually," Barry answered with a trace of an accent that had Harry still been in Britain he'd have described as Norwegian or perhaps Swedish. "Pallet Town has many similarities to my hometown, my mother agrees."
"I'm glad you like it," Samuel said as he gently nudged Harry. "This is my son, Harry, whom you agreed to accompany." Holding himself back from outright sighing or rolling his eyes Harry held out his hand. Barry took it and gave it a solid firm shake, gaining a bit of respect from Harry that the man wasn't treating him any different despite the very visible brace that wrapped around his leg below and underneath his shorts.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Harry Oak," Barry answered, "Professor Birch has many good things to say about you and your work."
"Likewise to Professor Birch, I find his research into Pokemon habitat's fascinating," Harry answered politely. "It has many unique facets applicable to multiple areas of science that intersect my own interests."
"Perhaps we can discuss some of those interests as we travel together," Barry said, just as polite, but Harry caught the sarcastic edge. Likely the twenty-three year old was no happier about being on babysitting duty than Harry felt about being babysat.
"Lovely," Samuel said, either naively dismissing the tension as anxiety or oblivious to it entirely. The older pressed a kiss to the side of Harry's head and backed up a step towards the lab doors as he gave one last parting statement. "I'll let you two get to know each other better. Do call me when you get settled tonight son." And with that he was gone, back into the lab.
"Look," Barry began the moment Harry's father was back in the lab. "I took the opportunity provided by the League to be relocated here for safety, in Kanto instead of Sinnoh, due to its centralized location in the Eastern Republic meaning that I could explore and take on the League challenge here before moving on. I didn't sign on for babysitting. Your father however had other ideas and offered to house any excess pokemon I may catch while here in Kanto since I only have a single extension for my party and already carry six pokemon, if I traveled with you."
"Can't exactly say I'm all that enthused with being babysat myself. I'm seventeen, considered an adult even in your home region," Harry answered. "But it'll soothe my father's fears about my safety and unfortunately my experiences have not proven those fears unfounded."
"Well then we're on the same page," Barry said. "I don't want to be a babysitter, and you don't want to be baby-sat, but I don't mind having a travel companion." Harry wet his bottom lip.
"Jury's still out on that, but I won't ditch you yet, provided you don't annoy me too much," Harry said in a slightly snide tone. "You packed and ready to go?"
"Yup, I assume you have a route you want to take?" Barry asked. Harry snorted.
"How do you feel about going off route?" Harry asked rhetorically as he started walking.
"Testing me already?" Barry asked, following.
"Something like that," Harry said. "When we hit the outskirts of town I'm going to let Goldfyre out, you should warn your Xatu, or recall him if he's reactive."
"How'd you know Synchrome was male without scanning him with your pokedex?" Barry asked, genuinely surprised.
"He's got three lower stripes on his lower torso, females only have two," Harry answered blandly without pausing his step.
"This is gonna be a fun adventure," Harry heard Barry say sarcastically under his breath towards the Xatu.
Nearly nine and half hours later, having eaten their lunches while moving rather than stopping, found Goldfyre padding like an enormous prized pooch beside Harry, Barry and his Xatu a few feet behind. They'd been walking in near silence along the The Pal River heading east from Pallet Town, at Harry's direction. Harry wished to go through the mining towns on the Sunstone Road that had been destroyed and those that had been evacuated six months ago. Apparently Stone Town was being rebuilt by a few stubborn citizens who were moving back hoping to get their lives back. Plus there was the added benefit of several sightings of the Fairy Pokemon line and the Balloon Pokemon line, in both their unevolved forms and secondary evolved forms on the lower ridges of Mt. Hideaway which rose over the lazy Pal River directly to their left. Mt. Hideaway was barely considered a mountain with a peak height of six hundred and twelve meters above sea level but it still held a multitude of rock type pokemon.
"Do you mind if I let out a few more of my pokemon?" Barry asked. "Casadance and Tidedoll don't often get to travel out of their pokeballs with me because I so rarely take paths that follow water for great lengths of time."
"You don't travel off of official routes very often you mean," Harry asked with a tinge of contempt for the older man crawling through his tone.
"No I can't say I often seek out dangerous situations in order to cause my parents worry," Barry answered snidely. Harry whirled around and shoved the older boy.
"Go fuck yourself," Harry hissed. "The only reason you're even in Kanto is because you pissed off the wrong people, evidently you aren't such a goody fucking two shoes yourself. At least my father didn't have to abandon his life and move to a whole new Region because I had to be a hero, like your mother had to." Harry really should have seen the punch coming. Pain bloomed across the lower left side of his jaw as he stumbled. A second later Harry threw his own punch, more of a close fisted slap given how off balance he was from the hit Barry had given him. It quickly devolved into little more than a childish hair pulling and slapping match as they rolled around in the dirt their pokemon watching on.
"Idiots," Synchrome called out mentally.
"You're telling me, you know, for a genius, my trainer can say the stupidest things," Goldfyre growled. The two pokemon watched in solidarity, not stepping into what had basically turned into a slap fest. Eventually the fight ended with both panting in the dirt, Barry straddling Harry as he held Harry's hands in one hand above his head. In light of the boy's hot blood and position, as well as their age and resultant hormones it was no real surprise that certain pieces of anatomy were reacting. Harry bucked up in a last ditch attempt to throw Barry off of him only to gasp at the sudden shock of pleasure the movement resulted in, a gasp that was echoed. Both boys froze momentarily staring at the other in shock. The moment seemed to stretch on before they both moved at the same time; Harry grinding up as Barry ground down, both gasping as they chased their pleasure. Then Barry's hands were no longer holding Harry's own above the green eyed boy's head and were instead pulling at Harry's shirt and Harry's own hands were tugging at Barry's shirt, pulling it over the taller boy's head almost as though they were racing to undress the other.
"Fuck," Barry grunted as he pressed himself down again, curling over Harry easily as he finally managed to relieve the smaller boy of his own shirt. The angle was slightly awkward and it was a testament of Harry's engineering skills that the brace on his left leg didn't get in the way. Barry's hands ran down Harry's chest causing the green eyed boy to arch slightly into the touch as they shifted to a more comfortable position, one of Barry's legs pressed between Harry's own and Harry echoing the position.
"Please," Harry whisper-begged, too far gone in pleasure to care that minutes ago they'd been trying to harm each other as he shifted his hips up again. Barry pressed himself in close as he continued grinding into the cradle of Harry's hips even as the younger shifted upwards. Their bare chests brushed against one another and Barry's hands wandered the pale skin just above Harry's hips where the edge of the cargo sports shorts had slid down. Harry's own hands gripped tightly to Barry's arms as he gasped and whimpered in pleasure as they thrust their hips together. Their breath mingled as they both drew closer to the inevitable climax. Barry's teeth were gritted together as he groaned through his peak, Harry coming apart beneath him. Barry rolled onto his back, laying in the dirt beside Harry.
"Fuck," Barry said quietly. Harry curled on his side looking away from Barry, eyes watery as he was overwhelmed with emotion. It was as though every emotion he'd been trying to push through over the last few months had poured over him in the afterglow. "Hey?" Barry moved, sitting up to lean over Harry. "You okay Oak?"
"M' Fine," Harry answered, forcing himself to sit up, and forcing Barry to lean away or be headbutted. "Let's just clean up in the river and then make camp," Harry said, voting for practicality and logic rather than emotional conversation.
"Yeah, okay," Barry said, attempting to search Harry's face for something, even as Harry ensured the other man could only see his profile before he stood and made his way to the water. He tossed his pokeballs to the side and let his little beasts free, barely caring that he hadn't bothered to warn Barry. Pollux and Castor were the first into the water as Harry stripped himself free of his cargo sport shorts and shoes, the dark gray of his leg brace stark against his skin. It was waterproof and Harry would not be removing it, as lazy as the Pal was it was never wise to underestimate nature or the dangers that lurked there. Both young Dratini had grown a good deal, both of them nearly six feet in length and as thick as a closed fist. They were both clearly close to evolution, scales on their neck and tail tips slowly raising where they would eventually become the dragon pearls their species was known for. Pollux's white scales were still as pearlescent as ever, though Castor's pastel blue had slowly darkened with each shed until settling at the color he was now, a beautifully vibrant cobalt blue. Dorothy was next into the water, the water splashing as she plunged her body in.
Shortly after Harry had returned to Pallet Town Dorothy had evolved and rather than the adorable two and a half foot tall Totodile she'd once been, she was now a gorgeously fierce four foot tall Croconaw. Unfortunately even with her evolution the League had determined that the internal injury she had sustained, though now healed, prevented her from any official competitive battle. This did not however mean she was unable to participate in non-sanctioned battles in the case of an attack or an emergency. She could also battle against lower level wild pokemon. Unfortunately even as hardy and extremely self regenerating as pokemon could be and with as many advancements as they'd made in pokemon physiology and healing, once an organ, as in Dorothy's case, her nearly shredded kidney, was dead, there was little that could be done with the exception of removal. This was due to the fact that many potions and similar healing products were mildly poisonous, even if their benefits outweighed these factors, Dorothy's filtration system, centralized more fully around her kidneys like most water type pokemon, with one missing kidney, anything even mildly toxic could devastated her internal systems.
Goldfyre preferred to remain out of the water and dug himself a small pit on the sandy bank of the river and coughed up a few embers before curling up and resting his head on his paws like a forlorn golden retriever watching his master do something particularly stupid.
Harry's last pokemon also preferred to remain dry. The Vibrava he'd caught was a ground and dragon type pokemon and hated water. She was a proud dragon but her battle with Harry and his pokemon along with the friend-ball had ensured her respect for him and her Calm and Quiet nature along with her most powerful attack provided Harry with the idea for her name.
His pretty Lady Light or simply Lady for short stuck close to Fyre soaking in his warmth.
Barry had the same idea or rather given the conversation that had occurred, Harry had had the same idea as Barry and let his pokemon loose as well. Synchrome Harry had already met, a healthy Xato, Casadance and Tidedoll were absolutely gorgeous pokemon, Harry was sure they'd be extraordinary even amongst others of their own species, Miotic and Prinplup respectively. Basalt and Torrance, a Lairon and Torkoal, much like Harry's own Goldfyre and Lady Light, preferred to stay on the dry sand, though they dug their own shallow burrows rather than join the Arcanine and Vibrava. Barry's last pokemon, Soile, was a small one, barely even knee height. The little Seedot didn't go far from his trainer, bumbling around the shoreline as the elder of the two humans stripped and dove shallowly into the water. Not to be outdone, Harry was quick to join.
Dinner together was awkward and rife with sexual tension. While their pokemon were quick to get along with each other or at least tolerate each other, their trainers seemed to be tiptoeing around each other. With only the minimum required speaking to one another the two set up their tents and readied themselves and their pokemon for sleep.
"I'll take the first watch and keep an eye on the firepit," Harry said even as he set up his laptop and the antenna that would allow it to connect to wifi via one of the low orbit satellites the Devon Company had recently launched. "My father wanted me to give him a call anyways."
"Sounds fine," Barry answered, glancing at the fire pit. Goldfyre and Torrance were curled up together far closer to the flames than Harry would ever attempt to get, so it was unlikely that Harry would actually have to watch the firepit, but it wouldn't do to get complacent. The spring season of Kanto, usually a rainy wet thing, had been unseasonably warm, and the beginning of summer had followed suit. Unwatched campfires were always dangerous things, but with the heat and dryness of the recent weather it was even more so. "Wake me when the moon is high." Barry said as he was crawling into his tent, the sun only just barely beginning to disappear behind the Coastguard Mountains in the distance.
Harry's computer only rang once, before his father answered the video call. Harry suspected that the man had been waiting all day for the call, but didn't tease him about it when he saw the way the man's eyes lit up upon seeing Harry and the sudden release of tense shoulders.
"Harry!" The man shouted almost in surprise. "Are you okay? Where are you? None of the Regional Rangers saw you on Route One and then you didn't turn up in Viridian. I almost sent out search teams but my assistants convinced me you had probably just found something interesting to study."
"Sorry Dad," Harry said guiltily. "We didn't take Route One, we're following The Pal. We're probably only about seven, maybe eight miles west of Sunny Town. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I'd be going off route, but would you have let me even leave the lab if I had told you? You already sent me off with a babysitter. I didn't mean to worry you, honest."
"Harry James Oak!" Samuel Oak's voice was firm and raised and Harry couldn't help but wince. "Even if I don't agree with it, you absolutely should have told me you were planning to go off route. What if something had happened? We'd have been looking in the wrong place entirely."
"Sorry Dad," Harry answered, contrite. Then his eyes lit up. The elder Professor Oak snorted.
"I know that look, what just rattled loose in that mind of yours?" the elder asked.
"Why do we carry flares?" Harry asked even as he began digging around in his expanded space backpack.
"So you can alert nearby Rangers or fellow trainers if you're experiencing an emergency and need help and can't send a message via your pokedex or pokephone because you're out of range," the Professor answered his son, slowly trying to follow whatever leap his son had made.
"Exactly!" Harry said excitedly as he plugged in his pokedex giving Helix hardwire access to his computer and immediately typing.
"Slow it down and run me through the thought process like I'm a new research assistant because I'm not following," the elder man said amusement coloring his words as he watched his son's newest burst of creative energy.
"Flares!" Harry said excitedly as though it explained anything, fingers flying over the keyboard. "Attach it to the trainer alert system maybe? It could be a problem if it's always active, so emergency access only? Maybe with a permissions system? Like the buddy-system? " Harry rambled.
"Harry," Samuel tried to interject. Then louder, "Harry!" Nothing. "HARRY!" Harry was thrust out of his haze.
"What?!" Harry said.
"Slowly this time son," Samuel lightly reprimanded his son. "I think I've got a bit of an idea now, but please explain to me exactly what you're trying to do."
"I want to make an electronic flare, one connected to a trainer's pokedex and the Regional Alert System. With Devon Companies new satellites even those beyond the reach of the cellular towers would be able to send out an emergency flare linked to their location. If I can create a program that is implementable on even the most basic of pokedex just think of all those who could be helped. Instead of having to purchase and carry a bunch of flares, or pay an obscene amount for a pokephone with an extremely large range or even just risking having neither when you step off route, all trainers young and old could have the ability to call for immediate help to an exact location. It could even be used for those underground or who are diving, or even in heavily forested areas where it's difficult to use arial pokemon to try and locate people. Sure in some cases physical flares work but they require large search parties and it still can take hours and sometimes days for the person who sent off the flare to be found, and for someone who is completely out of sight range a physical flare runs the risk of not even being seen," Harry answered excitedly.
"That would reduce the risk to many trainers, especially the young ones," the elder Professor said thoughtfully.
"That isn't the only thing it could be used for," Harry continued excitedly. "An encrypted version of the program could be used for the military. The Northern Range is only minimally mapped due in large part to the risks combined with the inability to easily use flares or launch emergency rescues in the forested area. Sure Kanto has claimed that territory but its nearly four million square miles of unexplored territory. It could even be used commercially to sooth parents' worries. A tracking application that with a user's permission could give a parental figure the ability to pinpoint their child's location, or at least the location of their pokedex would be a phenomenal safety feature. It would need firewalls and safety features of course as it could be severely misused but think of the benefits!"
"Harry, you never cease to amaze," Samuel said, "What can I do to help?"
"You have military contacts and I don't, and do you know anyone in the Emergency Response and Alerts office?" Harry asked. "I'll need access to the system in order to know the best way to integrate a domestic emergency program into the alerts and to see if a commercially based program for active tracking is even possible without overloading the system. For security purposes I'll likely need to build a code from scratch for the military but if they have anything I could use as a base that would speed things up significantly and also allow me something that is at least somewhat familiar for them to use."
"I can do that," Samuel said as he jotted down notes on a pad beside him. He looked back up at Harry, face neutral and nearly unreadable. "You know they'll likely run at least part of these requests by your brother right?"
"I thought he was being transferred to Pasio?" Harry asked, confused. The elder sighed.
"He was reassigned to Oblivia, as trainer," Samuel said. Harry sweatdropped.
"Who in Ho-oh's name thought that was a good idea?"
"Honestly Harry he's not that bad," Samuel tried to reason. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Okay he's that bad, but he's teaching several accounting classes so he can't do that much damage."
"Why'd he get shafted back to Oblivia anyways?" Harry asked.
"You mentioned believing young Barry to be your babysitter," Harry's father said after a moment of silence.
"Sure," Harry said with a shrug, "It was kinda obvious, I decide I'm going to head back out on my journey and less than twenty-four hours later you've arranged a travel partner for me. I don't blame you, I haven't exactly given you reason not to worry. But it did make me feel a little, well childish, especially since you didn't do the same for Ashtred and Gary, I mean I know they're traveling together but they're both underage, I'm not."
"I think they're going by Red and Blue at the moment, and doing the gym challenge as a team, but that's not important. While I can't lie, I did like the thought of sending someone older with more field experience with you on your journey that is not the reason I arranged for Barry to travel with you. Understanding that not a lot of information about what happened that resulted in Barry's involvement in the destruction of Team Galactica is readily accessible to the public nor was the take down itself public, there were a few ACER Rangers Involved, including your brother. During the after action assessment it was ruled that due to mismanagement of personnel and resources two civilians were put in significant danger. It was also deemed that due to the aforementioned mismanagement, that Team Galactica's take down would not have been possible without the intervention of the two civilians. Because of this he and two others that held higher positions in the taskforce were demoted and three others were discharged. I arranged for Barry to travel with you, and I am also providing him a place to send his excess captured pokemon at cost as an apology for the mistakes of my son in hopes that he and his family will not take further action against our family," Harry's father said.
"So basically, if they wanted to, the Palmer family could sue Dawson for incompetence and you're cleaning up after him," Harry asked, cutting straight to the point.
"I suppose when you cut it down like that," Samuel said with a tired sigh. "Yes."
"Well, I guess I better be nice to my babysitter then," Harry said with a sigh.
"You aren't getting along?" Samuel asked.
"More like we both have some preconceived notions about the other," Harry said with another sigh. "I uh, I said something I shouldn't have," Harry looked up at the slowly darkening sky and away from the screen. "He didn't take it well, punched me, and well I hit back and then well," Harry went red. Samuel raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Did I ever tell you how I met my dear wife?" the Professor asked. Harry laughed.
"Only a half million times dad," Harry answered. "I don't think this is that dad, it was just hormones and stuff."
"Maybe that's for the best," the professor said, grinning all the way to his eyes. "I prefer this one to the last. I expect to be reintroduced to the boy if you two decide to make something of this."
"DAD!" Harry protested. "I'm hanging up on you," Harry said before grinning back at his father. "I'll call you again tomorrow night?"
"You'd better," the Professor playfully demanded. "Oh and call Gary, he and Ash are in Pewter. They're challenging Brock tomorrow, a team challenge, they could use some advice, and some encouragement."
"I'll call him tonight," Harry promised.
"Bye son," the Elder said, and Harry answered it a beat later before they both logged out of the call. Harry wasted no time in calling Gary though unlike Harry's father it took the eleven and a half, nearly twelve year old several rings before he answered.
"Harry!" Gary shouted excitedly. "Where are you? Ash! Wake up you lump, it's Harry!"
"You don't have to wake him up Gary," Harry said laughing, only to laugh more when he saw Ash. The poor bedraggled boy had clearly been in quite a deep sleep before Gary had awoken him, and the Pikachu sitting on his shoulder looked no better.
"Sorry Ash, sorry Pikachu," Harry said, not bothering to hide the fact that he'd been laughing. He raised an eyebrow at the Pikachu's tirade, to the two boys it sounded like annoyed versions and variations of his name, to Harry it was words, and quite foul ones at that. Pikachu had quite the mouth for the pokemon of such a young trainer and Harry could only hope that it had learned most of his vocabulary before becoming Ash's.
"It's alright Harry," Ash said with a yawn.
"Where are you? Dad said you never made it to Viridian, and wanted to know if maybe you had ridden Goldfyre to Pewter earlier," Gary said.
"Yeah I talked to him before I called you," Harry said. "I didn't take route one, I'm following the Pal with Barry Peters, a new research trainer that Dad has taken on."
"Seen anything interesting?" Gary asked.
"My travel partner's pokemon are gorgeous specimens but I haven't had the opportunity to get a closer look. We, well, we don't exactly get along yet," Harry said.
"You will!" Ash said happily. "Me and Gary do now."
"So I heard," Harry said. "Team Red and Blue as I understand it."
"Yeah!" Ash said punching the air even as his Pikachu let loose another round of swears and zapped the boy lightly for jostling him as he dozed.
"So what's the plan for battling Brock?" Harry asked.
"Well we are team challenging him, but you already know that," Gary said. "We watched a bunch of his challenges yesterday and he tends to use the same line up, usually he uses a Geodude to start off with and then a Manchop or Graveler though we noticed if his challenger gives him a bit of a harder challenge he'll swap that out for an Onix. We haven't been able to see him answer a team challenge in person but we watched a few of his online ones. Neither of us have badges yet so he probably won't bring out anything stronger than an Onix but we registered for a two pokemon battle each so we'll be fighting four of his. We think he'll start with Geodude and Manchop with Graveler and Onix as subs for the second line up."
"Okay, and you've formed a strategy for that line up?" Harry asked.
"Yeah!" Ash said excitedly. "We stayed in town an extra week so that I could train the new pokemon I caught in the forest!"
"And pray tell, what pokemon did you catch?" Harry asked, grinning at the boy's excitement only to sit up sharply when he saw the pokemon Ash lifted. He'd expected a bug of some sort, a Weedle or maybe a Caterpie, or even an Oddish perhaps, not a Bulbasaur, let alone one with Shiny coloration. Most Bulbasaur were a spotted greenish blue in body with a deep green bud on their back. The Bulbasaur Ash held was purple in color. A deep royal purple, the bulb on its back was still deep green but Harry suspected the flower that would one day burst from its back would not be any variation of the shade pink or red.
"I've named her Gypsy!" the boy said excitedly.
"Gypsy and Hellfyre are going to go out together as a team. I know that Hellfyre will have a disadvantage against the rock types but his Sunny Day helps Gypsy put more power into her moves and he's learned Protect and Helping Hand and can use it to protect Gypsy while she uses the attacks. Plus his fire attacks will be somewhat effective against Machop. He's also learned how to direct Smokescreen attacks into underground holes if Brock has one of his pokemon uses Dig," Gary explained before Ash took over.
"Pikachu and Octavian are going to be our subs and second line up," Ash said. "Pikachu has a disadvantage just like Hellfyre but he's learned Iron Tail and can use it to shoot a stronger Thunderbolt and if Octavian can get a good couple of Water Guns in to make them all wet and it'll shock 'em even more!"
"Brock also seems to favor using Iron Defense, if we time it right, we can turn his pokemon into wet lightning rods," Gary said, eyes glinting with devious excitement.
"Sounds like you guys got this in the bag," Harry said. "You'll call me tomorrow and tell me how the battle goes?"
"Of course, promise," Gary said as Ash said,
"Absolutely!"
"Alright while I'll let you two go, you need to get some sleep if you want to battle at your best," Harry said.
"Finafuckingly," Ash's Pikachu grumbled.
"Goodnight!" the two boys said at the same time and Harry echoed it before disconnecting. It was dark out now, the stars glinting in the sky, and the lights on the skyscrapers of the surprisingly small Sunny Town in the distance above the treetops. Goldfyre and Torrance had shifted to actually be sleeping within the hot coals of the firepit and Harry resigned himself to having to give his Arcanine a proper bath when they reached town tomorrow in order to clean the soot out of his fur.
The stars in the sky above him were so different from his homeworld. It was never truly dark in this world, even on nights of the full moon the sky was always coated with a dusky pink and purple of the galaxy making itself known and making the world seem so much brighter than it was. Briefly Harry wondered how many pokemon lay out in space waiting to be discovered. There were already theories about the Clarfairy and Jigglypuff lines but Harry wondered just how much there was left to discover about Pokemon.