Kai and Jo were at the hill’s limit, leaning on the parapet as they observed the sky and the world beyond.

  Night had fallen over Viridian.

  The moon vanquished the sun to take its rightful place as the queen of the night sky. She was followed by her many subjects, stars that shone timidly, complementing the moonlight that their monarch so generously bestowed upon the earth below.

  It was a beautiful night, he admitted to himself, feeling the wind against his face.

  “Cling!” A white light shone close to him as Jo opened a Pokéball, releasing her Pokémon.

  Green-Cuticle? Exoskeleton? He would call it skin, covered this pokémon, with some hints of white here and there, particularly in the scythes and wings.

  “Scy!” Scyther appeared in front of them, seemingly happy to be outside of its Pokéball.

  It was a big pokémon, standing at around Kai’s shoulders.

  It had grown very fast in the last month, doubling in size from the first time he had seen her.

  There was a “Lv 10” floating above Scyther’s head, which made it the highest level Pokémon in the club, and also the rarest.

  The Scyther line could be considered one of, if not the strongest, Bug-type lines in Pokémon. This particular Scyther was not caught in the wild, but hatched from an egg, most likely bought by Jo after joining the club.

  “You can go and play now!” Jo said with a smile, pointing toward the sky.

  “Scy!” Scyther flew fast, quickly turning into a shadow dancing against the moonlight. This was the happiest Kai had ever seen it.

  Jo also looked at her, and he saw sadness in her gaze.

  “Anyway, what do you want to talk about?” she turned to him and asked.

  “I don’t think you would come all the way here for no reason, so tell me~” Jo continued, her tone playful and curious, one that suggested that everything was normal, that she was ok, that there was no need for concern, that he shouldn’t be concerned.

  Never one to put his nose in other people’s business, Kai tacitly agreed.

  “It’s time for me to have a pokémon,” he said while taking a Nest Ball out of his bag.

  “Will you come with us to the forest tomorrow morning and… huh… help me catch one?” Actually saying that was more embarrassing than he expected; he wondered whether it was because she was a girl, he didn’t have many experiences communicating with girls or boys, now that he stopped to think about it.

  He had friends once, but it was before the situation with his parents, and his memory of this was hazy.

  Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait for long before Jo replied.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Of course I’m going!” Jo smiled with enough joy for both of them.

  “You scared me, man. I thought it was going to be something serious.” She punched him in the chest with mock anger and relief.

  “Anyway, we're meeting at the base?”

  “Yeah. Rick and Sammy agreed to meet there at 9.”

  “I’ll be there at 9 then.”

  The conversation ended like that, and they turned silent.

  Maybe out of awkwardness, Jo turned her attention to Scyther in the sky, looking at her Pokémon in a trance, her thoughts a mystery.

  Kai wondered whether to leave or not.

  Part of him wanted to, but he felt like he would lose something important if he did that.

  It was an intuition, a premonition that his relationship with Jo would be forever marked by this moment if he decided to leave. So he stayed.

  In this way, seconds turned into minutes, and after half an hour, Scyther flew down, appearing in front of them.

  Scyther then lowered its head, giving little headbutts to Jo’s hand.

  She smiled and began to pet Scyther before hugging it.

  “I’m not allowed to let it out inside the house,” Jo explained, with a voice laced with guilt and helplessness.

  Her hands continued to caress Scyther with a softness he didn’t know she was capable of.

  “William says that it’s because Scyther is too big,” she gave a self-deprecating laugh. “But I know that he is just covering for me. If my parents were to know that I have a Bug-type pokémon, they would be furious, they could even…” She didn’t finish, but she didn’t need to; her tears told him enough.

  It was a moment of genuine, raw emotion; it was real, heavy, and fragile.

  Kai felt his thoughts turn clumsy; his next words were important, and he couldn’t be careless.

  He looked at her, analysing her face as he tried to find the right words for a reply.

  The streetlights illuminated her orange curls, igniting them into a faint fire that flickered in the cold night wind.

  Her hair was crooked, much like his, both brought to the world by her “butcher” hands and school scissors, but he found that it looked good on her; at least it matched her tomboyish personality more than any professional cut could ever do.

  Her face was an active battlefield where pimples and freckles fought for dominance over her bronze skin.

  If peace were ever achieved, he wondered, then she would probably be considered a beauty in school.

  Her eyes on most days were of an energetic hazel, intense and defiant, easily capable of intimidating those with weak resolves.

  But today these same eyes were red from crying. Jo was hesitant, acting weak and being meek.

  Kai felt irritation burning in his stomach, slowly moving up to his mouth, wanting to get out at any cost, but he swallowed it back with difficulty.

  He didn’t understand why he was getting angry or even who the target of this anger was.

  Was he angry at Jo, her parents, or himself for not knowing what to say? Maybe it was a blend of all three. It was hard to say at the moment, but the feeling didn’t matter much; the important thing was to extinguish this fire before it hurt her.

  “It’s not your fault, Jo,” he said in the gentlest tone he could muster.

  “Scyther seems happy, don’t you think?” He looked at the Pokémon. Its eyes were closed as it received Jo’s care, wearing an expression of complete joy.

  “Everyone has their circumstances, some more challenging than others, that’s true, but we all need to deal with something.” His thoughts moved to his own situation. What will he do in this world? Can he go back? Should he?

  Save for his three friends, he was completely alone in this unfamiliar world, so if he could, he wanted to help them.

  And suddenly he knew what he could do.

  “Hey, did I tell you about Sammy’s disastrous battle today?” he imprinted some joy into his voice, battling his own thoughts over the control of his feelings.

  “No. Sniff! No, you didn’t.” She gave him a sad smile, ready to join the battle.

  His words drifted with the wind, accompanied by sobs and laughter.