CHAPTER 4

With our mini Q&A session finally out of the way, I could finally go back to what I was supposed to be doing around this time of day: training.

Stein surprisingly asked if he could watch. I didn't mind the extra company, so I let him stick around to observe. He finally hopped off that floating rock of his and sat down next to me on the ground. The rock fell with a loud clatter now that it was no longer needed. Meanwhile, Stein's Magnemite floated around aimlessly in the background. What a chill little guy.

First up on the agenda was stretching exercises.

"Ooh…" Stein watched with fascination as I verbally guided Bell through basic stretches. It wasn't that exciting given that Bell simply stretched her wings back and forth in different motions, but it was important to warm up.

When Bell finished, she flew higher up into the air. Olive green eyes watched curiously as I squeezed my Daystone with all my might.

Intense light poured out from the rock and flooded the tunnel.

"What's this for?" Stein immediately asked, squinting briefly from the change in lighting.

"It's part of Bell's training," I explained. Without me needing to tell her, Bell was already flying through the air. She quickly weaved in and out of hanging stalactites. "Zubat are weak to sunlight, so I have Bell fly an obstacle course while exposed to light from a Daystone. It helps strengthen her resistance, wing muscles, speed, maneuverability, and stamina all in one go. When we explore the surface in the future, she needs to be able to fight during the daytime, too."

A small sound of appreciation left Stein as he stared at me with wonder. "You've really thought this through, huh?"

"Of course," I snorted. "Like I said, I don't plan on dying out there. I'm going to prepare a lot first."

There wasn't really anything for me to do while Bell got her daily exercise in, so I set the bright Daystone aside and chatted idly with Stein.

A little bit of persuasion went a long way. I was granted permission to look at the tattered notebook he always carried around. Just from the worn leather alone, I could tell this object had seen a lot of use. It obviously meant a great deal to Stein.

I flipped through the notebook at a snail's pace, and there was a reason for it.

"Whoa…" I breathed out loud.

Every single page was chock-full of detailed drawings and information. Most of the entries were about Pokemon Stein documented around town or the caves, but there were some about machinery like the watchtowers.

It didn't help that Stein's handwriting was the equivalent of chicken scratch. Jeez, how was he able to read anything? How was anyone supposed to read this?

The contrast between his drawing and handwriting abilities was like night and day.

Still, everything was interesting. Stein's observations about wild Pokemon revealed a lot of things I didn't already know. He wrote everything from biology to behavioral patterns and even average heights or weights for species. I would have believed him if he said this was a textbook and not a personal journal.

"You weren't kidding when you said you liked collecting knowledge, huh?" I wondered out loud, eyes tracing an incredible rendering of a Geodude. "You're really good at drawing by the way."

Stein beamed at me. I didn't see it, but the tips of his ears had reddened from sudden praise. "Thanks! It's fun learning new things. A lot of the records in the city's library and archives only cover basic details, so I thought I'd do my own research."

What inevitably followed was an animated conversation about Pokemon since that was our main common interest.

Stein wasn't as interested in training or battling like I was, but we still had plenty to talk about. He liked discussing deeper things like what type energy was or how some Pokemon were capable of living way past their natural lifespans. Lots of stuff kids our age didn't typically think or care about. I was pretty sure I surprised Stein at numerous points in our conversation. I didn't think he'd expected me to show such interest in more abstract or philosophical topics or be able to contribute as much as I did.

Talking to Stein was fun. Really fun. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would to the point that I lost track of time passing.

Bell eventually flew over and flopped onto my shoulder once she tired herself out, and that was my cue to wrap up training. We usually included some move practice every day, but we were running out of time because of my earlier trip to City Hall. The Belright Guards were due to patrol the upper levels of the city soon, so unless we left now, we'd run into them outside. It wouldn't take them long to figure out we were perhaps sneaking around where we shouldn't be. Stein knew it, too.

A thrill ran through me as I recalled Bell with her Pokeball for the first time. I was going to have to get used to this. Stein didn't do the same with his Magnemite, and I knew why even before we ran back to the cave entrance.

He needed Neon to float him over the cliff.

"Want Neon to do the same for you—?" Stein quietly called out from the other side, but he clamped his mouth shut as I landed with a heavy thud next to him. Like usual, I'd made my flying leap back to city limits.

I now brushed nonexistent lint off my clothes with a grin.

"You were saying?" I asked innocently as I ran a hand through my hair.

Stein shook his head at me and recalled his Magnemite. He, too, was in possession of a modern Pokeball courtesy of his ancestors. "Can't believe I just witnessed that. I'll have you know my stomach flopped a bit from anxiety. I keep forgetting how crazy you are…"

He muttered more to himself as we hurried away. Luckily for us, we made it back before the bells rang and signaled a shift in patrols. We didn't come across any guards by the time we reached the lower level of the city.

We now stood awkwardly facing each other in the corner of a random, empty street.

Just this morning, we were classmates who'd never spoken a word to each other before. We'd since upgraded ourselves to acquaintances… maybe even partners in crime given that we were aware of each other's secret now.

"Well, uh… I guess I'll see you around," I said first, breaking the silence.

Back to my ordinary routine or so I thought.

"Orion!" Stein blurted out after I turned away. I paused mid-step to glance over my shoulder. The other boy blinked several times in rapid succession, facial features twisted with some sort of emotion I couldn't quite place. Was he nervous? Hopeful?

"Yeah?"

In one big, rushed breath, he asked, "Do you wanna come over for lunch? And hang out some more?"

My mouth moved faster than my brain.

"Sure."

That one word made Stein's whole face light up. In fact, he even chatted my ears off about random things as I followed him to his family's place. I was only half-listening.

This was new for me. Talking to a kid my age, hanging out with them, and being invited over for a meal. All of that.

I usually only worked, studied, and trained. I knew how to socialize with people, but I never really went out of my way to forge long-lasting relationships. Why bother? There was no point when I was going to leave the city someday and probably never see any of these people again. I was too focused on the goal ahead of me to care about anything else.

This should have been a waste of time. I should have gone back home to study or run errands for people in exchange for contribution tokens.

Oddly enough, I didn't think that way. I was actually looking forward to talking to Stein a little more.

Hmm.

Stein's place was back the way we'd come and much closer to our school than mine was. It also happened to be near a few different entrances that led to the mines deep below the city. We passed by miners taking pulley lifts back up to the city's ground level for late lunch breaks of their own.

Belona was a city built in a massive underground chasm, one near veins of miraculous stones and crystals we'd literally shaped our lives around. Each of them had different properties that had made life here in the underground sustainable in the first place.

Cinderstones, which generated heat akin to a small fire. Daystones, which could produce warmth and light comparable to the sun. Clearstones, which absorbed pollutants and could purify water. Powerstones, which contained a mysterious energy that acted like electricity or fuel. Most were fairly easy to activate. Usually, you just needed to apply some pressure.

There were dozens of other stones that could be found in the mines, but most of them only looked useful. Behind their beautiful shells were useless hunks of rock. There were plenty others with negative or unknown properties that we still didn't know what to do with years after settling down here.

The point was this: those stones were the reason the earliest settlers had chosen here of all places to bunker down. Even before the Longest Night, the regional League had started building a military base here to mine these wondrous stones. The country we lived in, Eires, was a region rich with unique natural resources. Supposedly, we'd been on our way to breaking into the ranks of the most affluent regions like Hoenn or Unova.

That was before the Longest Night happened and civilization as we knew it ground to a halt.

Most able men or women worked in the mines or fields. They were about the most important jobs in the city and directly related to our collective livelihood. If not for my grand ambitions, I probably would have joined them someday and slaved away day in and day out until my last breath. They were admirable jobs worthy of respect, but—

By no stretch of the imagination could that be considered an appealing future for me.

I thought Stein was going to take us to one of the wealthier districts, but we ended up stopping in front of a house that was only marginally wider (and nicer looking) than mine. It had a second floor at least, a luxury I could only dream of.

Still, this wasn't what I'd expected. People with important jobs or those who came from reputable families were granted the largest and most comfortable residences in the innermost parts of the city—generally where it was considered the safest from potential wild Pokemon attacks. Considering Stein's grandfather was an esteemed scientist who'd done a lot for the city in his youth, I'd expected him and his grandson to be more well-off.

My surprise must have shown on my face because Stein chuckled. I had no idea how, but he deduced what I was thinking.

"I didn't always live here. After grandpa was… overwhelmed by grief and quit his job, City Hall made us move places," he explained.

He had already turned away to fiddle with the front door's lock, but I frowned at his back.

I could fill in the story's blanks on my own. Essentially, after his grandfather lost his mind from the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law, the city's administration had tossed him aside because he was no longer useful. They had conveniently forgotten the fact that he'd made countless contributions for the sake of Belona's future and kicked him and Stein out of the nicer districts.

I hated that.

Sure, earning one's keep around the city was fair and all, but I still found it cruel how easily City Hall could cast someone away. It almost made me wonder if that was the price we had to pay for continued survival: sacrificing our humanity.

Stein finally got the door open and flung it wide. For now, I kept my thoughts to myself and followed him inside. Already, his place looked much more cozy than mine. There was a lot more furniture, tables and chairs polished to perfection with colorful cloths hung over them, and even a rug that must have been made from fur shed by Wooloo.

"GRANDPA, I'M HOME!" Stein shouted at the top of his lungs—much louder than I would have ever expected him to be. He caught me staring and leaned in to whisper in my ear. "His hearing's, uh, a bit bad."

Case in point, an old man who was clearly related to Stein appeared suddenly from around the corner and scratched his head.

"Eh? You bought a bone, Miles?" Anthony Colson asked in a scratchy, confused voice.

Ah.

"No, I'm home, grandpa. It's me, Stein! Your grandson," Stein said patiently, and he ushered me inside while smiling at his relative. "This is Orion. He's a classmate from school. Hope you don't mind if he eats lunch with us."

"Lunch," Anthony muttered, and he repeated it a few more times before tilting his head. "Yes, yes. Okay. Let's eat together. Miles, bring your friend to the dining table."

Stein coughed, side-eyeing me as he inched toward his grandpa. "Classmates, grandpa, classmates!" he corrected in a cautious tone.

I wondered if he thought I was offended by his grandpa's assumption. I wasn't, but…

Friends? No, we were just… classmates. Yeah.

Classmates.

I followed Stein deeper into the small, crowded first floor of his house, but not before greeting and bowing my head respectfully to his grandpa. Showing respect to one's elders was important, more so if said elder was a scientist who had helped make living conditions for the younger generation much more bearable. I wasn't like the City Hall administration. I knew to show gratitude and respect where it was owed.

The display of manners evidently got me some brownie points from Stein because he said I could have anything I wanted for lunch.

Instead, I left it up to him as the host and, because I didn't want to freeload, offered leftover fruits and Berries in my bag for dessert. Stein got started on a simple stew while I sat down at the table and kept an eye on his grandpa shuffling around randomly in the corner. It felt awkward to sit around like a bum, but Stein had insisted on doing the cooking himself.

"Miles is my dad's name. You'll have to forgive my grandpa," Stein quietly explained. He didn't take his eyes off the bubbling pot in front of him. "His mind's kind of muddled, and he often says strange things. Grandpa does have some moments of clarity, though."

"…"

I didn't say anything and continued staring at the man the townspeople had dubbed 'Crazy Anthony.' It was probably hard taking care of both himself and his relative, but Stein didn't seem to mind. There was a certain affection in his voice whenever he mentioned his grandpa.

In a way, I felt envious. My family was gone.

When it was time to eat, I helped seat Grandpa Anthony at the dining table. The hearty potato stew Stein made was good. Luxurious, even, because it had ample amounts of beef in it. Apparently, they could afford it because they had some savings tucked away from when Grandpa Anthony still worked. We let our Pokemon out to eat with us. Neon the Magnemite siphoned energy from a charged Powerstone Stein handed him, and Bell got a plate of her own at the table that she ravenously tore into. I had to wipe little chunks of sauce and potatoes off the bat's mouth. She was a messy eater, but it was cute. While the Pokemon ate, I chatted with Stein and humored odd questions from his grandpa like if I'd ever tried eating paper before.

Warmth blossomed in my chest at some point. This was… kind of nice. Eating and talking together with other people. Smiling, laughing… genuinely having fun. At home, I ate by myself in a barren space enclosed by earthen walls.

It made me think of mom.

Grandpa Anthony left us to go clean upstairs while Stein and I washed plates. I thought we were going to hang out in the living room area afterward, but Stein shook his head.

"Over here!" he whispered.

I doubted any of the neighbors could hear what went on behind these walls anyway, but I still questioned his secretive behavior. My confusion only grew when Stein pushed a wooden chest across the floor.

To my astonishment, there were planks hidden underneath. A small trapdoor.

Stein pulled it open without much fanfare and shimmied through the hole, hands and feet laboriously grasping at a ladder attached to the wall below. His Magnemite was quick to follow.

"Are you coming, Orion?" I heard him ask.

This was as sketchy a situation as any, but my gut told me Stein was a decent guy.

One, my instincts were almost never wrong. And two, my curiosity won out.

"Yeah," I hollered back, already moving towards the opening in the floor.

Bell valiantly dove into the gap first saying she would scout for potential threats, but her squeaks sounded more cute than threatening. I found myself chuckling as I lowered myself into the hole after her. I descended much faster than Stein had.

The ladder went a lot further down than I thought. Eventually, I hopped off onto solid ground and looked around in wonder. I was in some sort of underground room.

This wasn't a simple basement like I initially thought but a whole research lab.

Bottles and ceramic pots full of unknown substances filled crude alcoves in the walls. Strange contraptions made from metal scraps adorned countless other shelves. Across the floor, glittering stones littered the ground as if they'd been tossed aside. Overheard, bright lights rained down from Daystones in the ceiling.

Illuminated by those rays was a rickety table at the back of the room. Faded leather journals were stacked precariously on top of one another like towers on the verge of collapse. Sticks of charcoal and graphite had been shoved inside stone cups resembling ashen bouquets. Above the desk, papers full of messy writing and equations were attached to the wall from nails hammered into them.

It gave me the image of a mad scientist's hidden lair, but a single splash of color drew my attention above anything else.

My gaze was locked onto a bright red you didn't normally see in the underground, and it wasn't blood.

"No way," I gaped, transfixed by the rectangular object lying casually on the table. A blue Pokeball logo was emblazoned on it. "Is that a Pokedex?"

Author's Note: Thank you for your support!