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12:30 PM

The front door suddenly slammed open and a blonde-haired kid blasted into the room. “Lucas, I just had a great idea!” the kid yelled, “Come to Lake Verity, and I’ll fine you if you’re late!” Then he ran out just as fast as he appeared.

“Mom?” Lucas exclaimed after finishing his chicken burger.

Johanna replied from the kitchen, “I heard him, you can go.”

Dawn stood up from her chair, “I wanna go too!”

“Sure, as long as you’re both back home before dinner,” Johanna replied as her children ran out the door in pursuit of Barry.

I had a pretty good idea as to what this was about. In Pokémon Platinum, Barry asks the player to go to Lake Verity with them to attempt to catch Mesprit, one of the legendary Lake Guardians. They don’t find it, but instead, they run into – Cyrus.

“Do you mind if I go and keep an eye on them?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, not at all.”

“That okay with you Elaine?” I looked down to see my Ralts sleeping in my arms. It made me content to see how comfortable she became with me so quickly. I grabbed my bag and ran after the kids, making sure not to wake up Elaine in the process. Thankfully, as I learned later, she’s a heavy sleeper.

One thing that quickly became apparent as I ran towards the edge of town, was how much stamina I had. It was far more than I was used to. As I pumped my lungs and legs, I realised it all felt just so easy to do, like I could run for hours and hours. I suddenly became overwhelmed with a feeling of liberation. I really, really should have exercised more back at home.

I was able to reach the group of kids outside of town, where they had stopped to talk. Well, it was more accurate to say that one of them was berating the other two.

“Too slow! Lucas, I’m sick of waiting!” Barry yelled.

“What was it you wanted me for?” Lucas asked.

“Before that, what’s your sister and-” he stopped to look at me for a moment, “this guy doing here?”

“What guy?” he turned around, “Oh. Hi, Jack.”

“Hello.”

Dawn turned to me and asked, “Why are you here?”

“I’m just here to keep an eye on you guys.”

“Well the more the merrier I guess,” Barry said as he nodded to himself. “I’m going to see Professor Rowan, so I can thank him properly. So, I had this great idea. Listen up, okay?” His arms were wildly flailing around as he spoke, “You know how they say a legendary Pokémon lives in the lake?”

“Yeah, what about it? Are you going to try to catch it or something?” Dawn asked sarcastically.

“You guessed it!” he replied, “Let’s catch that Pokémon.”

“Wait, really? I was joking. That sounds awesome!”

“Why do you want to do that?” Lucas asked.

“That’ll make Professor Rowan happy. I’m sure of that!” then he ran closer up to the three of us, “The four of us together, we’ve got nothing to fear! Let’s go!” He ran west towards the lake.

Dawn was hot on his heels, “C’mon guys! Let’s go!”

Lucas and I sighed and then ran after the two of them.

I didn’t have an infinite pool of stamina unfortunately, the run to the lake had left me short of breath, Barry was just too fast. Lucas and Dawn likely had years of experience with him since they weren’t as out of breath as I was. Maybe I need a better breathing technique?

“What’s going on?” Lucas asked as he met the unusually still Barry.

The answer was standing at the shore of the lake. A man with spiky sky-blue hair, and a strange suit that was reminiscent of a helmetless astronaut. His back was turned to us.

“The flowing time…” the man spoke his monologue to the lake, “the expanding space… I will make it mine one day… Cyrus is my name. Remember it. Until then, sleep while you can, legendary Pokémon of the lakebed…” Then he turned around and walked towards us. His face was square and stern, the scowl he wore seemed to be permanent.

“Allow me to pass. Step aside.” We were blocking the exit. The kids waddled sideways, following his orders, I didn’t. The man, Cyrus, stared at me, we stood eye to eye. His cold grey eyes reflected no light, they looked like the eyes of a dead man. The suddenly awake Elaine quivered under my grasp. “I said step aside,” he repeated. Begrudgingly, I stepped aside, and Cyrus left.

“What was that about? Weird guy…” Barry exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Dawn replied. “Okay, guys! Let’s catch that legendary Pokémon!”

“Wait!” Barry suddenly shouted.

“What?!” Lucas asked.

“We don’t have anything on us!”

“Have what?” Dawn asked.

“You know, Poké Balls! P-O-K-accent-E Balls! If we don’t have those, we can’t catch Pokémon or take them around with us!”

“Oh…” Lucas exclaimed.

“So, we came all this way to catch a Pokémon without bringing Poké Balls?!” Dawn shouted. “Seriously, Barry!”

Lucas said, “Do you think Professor Rowan would give us some if we asked him? He said to visit him in his lab if we needed anything.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” Barry replied. “Okay guys, I’ll race you! First one to the professor’s lab in Sandgem Town rules!” then he began running.

“Wait!” I shouted, “I have some Poké Balls!” the skid I heard probably meant that I somehow stopped Barry in his tracks. “I only have four though, so we’ll each have to hunt with only one Poké Ball.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that earlier?!” Barry asked indignantly.

“You were so impatient you didn’t give me the opportunity.”

“What are you talking about? There were plenty of chances for you to talk!”

“Such as?”

“Uh… I’m sure there was at least one, but I can’t think of any at the top of my head. Anyway, enough of that! May we borrow your Poké Balls please, sir?”

I sighed, “Sure, though I don’t think I’m old enough to be a ‘sir’ yet.”

So, the four of us split up, each with a Poké Ball in hand, in order to find the Legendary Pokémon. Well, more specifically, Barry, Dawn, and Lucas were looking for it, I was keeping an eye on all of them as they waded through tall grass and bushes. They were all still kids, after all.

“Hey, Elaine?”

“Vu?” She had moved from my arms to my bag, leaning over my left shoulder.

“What do you think of these kids?”

“Hm.” She nodded noncommittedly.

“Are you okay?”

She looked at the entrance of the lake.

“Are you thinking about the man with blue hair?”

She nodded again.

“Yeah… I understand.” Ralts can sense the emotions of others, and that man clearly didn’t sit right with Elaine. The cool summer breeze made waves out of my white shirt as the trees conversed with each other. “I’m certain we’ll meet him again.”

“Dammit!” I suddenly heard Barry scream. He was standing near the patch of tall grass where I met Elaine.

“What happened?” Dawn asked.

“I accidentally caught a Starly.”

“Well, you’re not getting another Poké Ball,” I told him.

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