8 Chapter 7

"Dude. Come on, we've got to find one," Azzy practically leapt into Ren's line of sight. His dark hair stuck up as if he'd just woken up from a crazed nightmare. Ren offered a raised eyebrow He was sitting against his cot with a Murakami book open halfway.

His eyebrows shifted up as he looked above the page and saw Azzy nearly out of breath. "Mind slowing down? What's going on?"

He heaved over and put his hands on his knees. He clearly had been running as hard as he could go. "Remember that sighting last week? The Eevee?"

"Yeah, was crazy knowing one was so close."

He came real close—closer than Ren was comfortable with, but that's because he was going in to whisper, "I think...I found one."

Ren's eyes slid over to him apprehensively. "You what…? You sure you're not seeing things like last time?"

"Okay, okay, I know I thought I saw it last time, but that balloon was really convincing."

"Koffing have those pores on its body, you know that right? Crater shaped. They're not perfectly smooth."

"Yes, yes, I know, I was rushing. I got excited."

"And you're not now?"

He shook his head rapidly. "No, I'm sure of it. Come on. We don't have much time. Someone else is going to see it. Worst case is Patrol is going to capture it and store it away in some lab."

"So you're serious?" Ren asked.

"The longer you question me the less chance you'll actually see it, come on!" He backed away and cocked his head as he began running toward the front door of the orphanage. Ren sighed and closed his book shut. Since the first Pokémon sighting, Azzy had "seen" three different Pokémon that ended up being nothing more than the imagination of an overexcited youth.

Ren knew just how much he had wanted to truly see something real, he was sure that the fervor of the real sighting—the event that the both of them had missed due to the police cordoning off the nearby street—had fueled Azzy's desire to not miss out.

Still, he would be lying if he had said he hadn't hoped that one of Azzy's sightings were actually real. He had dreams of having his own Pokémon—though he was sure he was far from the only person his age to have such.

He stood up and began to follow Azzy out the front door, but came across Mrs. Barbon.

"Ah—!" Ren had to slow to keep from running into her. The look she gave seemed to be as prickly as ever and suddenly he regretted not immediately hopping up to follow Azzy out. Just a few seconds earlier and I would have avoided her entirely.

"What kind of ruckus are you two getting into?" Her gaze was ice cold. "I have half a mind to hunt you down to fill your days to keep you out of the public's hair."

Ren knew that if she had caught Azzy running out instead of him she would have made good on her word and would have come stampeding out after him—but she knew that of the two of them he was seen as the good boy being influenced poorly. He didn't care much to think of himself as any better than anyone else, but he couldn't change how other people viewed the both of them. He'd have to use this to his advantage, though.

He bowed his head, "I'll make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. We were going out to go visit the library. I'm making him rent a book."

Unsure if his lie was going to work, she only exhaled and let it go. Maybe it was because it was the one thing they shared in common—Mrs. Barton had stacked the orphanage with so many books because of her inability to put a good one down when she got invested. It didn't so much make her like him, but in moments like these it offered its small graces.

"Make sure he doesn't steal anything. I don't want the police here again."

He nodded and took in a sharp breath. She finally turned and went into another room. He heard her scolding someone else through the closed door. He couldn't hear the details of who had done what, but he was glad the scope was off the both of them for the moment. He turned and made for the exit. Azzy was waiting for him just outside. The sun beamed high in the sky and nearly blinded him for a moment—the snow on the ground did nothing to help as it reflected the white-blindness up.

"Gah, hold on," Ren said, his eyes adjusting to the light.

"Dude, come on, we're running out of time," Azzy said, and ran down the street. He was barreling down—bystanders jumped one way or another to get out of his path. Ren followed behind and apologized for his friend. He was met with a mix of annoyed to understanding reactions. "Dude, come on, I said to hold on."

"There's no time to hold on!" He called from behind him.

Ren shook his head and increased his pace. "Where are we going? You can at least tell me that."

"You know the bike path off the park? The one by all those pop ups?"

"Yeah, is it there? I think it'd be found by someone else—"

"No," he shook his head. "Down that bike path, you know where the fence got busted? By that guy last summer?"

The thought brought a smile to his face. It was probably the funniest thing that had happened all that summer. A man was biking down the path like any other day, and he sees a woman sitting on a bench reading a book. So he's there on his bike calling and hollering to get her attention. Next thing he knows he's flung off his bike down a pretty steep hill. His bike smashed into the rail because he wasn't looking where he was going—and get this—he tried to sue the woman for distracting him on purpose. That was the best part—the man got laughed out of every court across the country. Ren thought the woman was able to make a hefty profit for her business from all the press that came of it—at least, in his ideal version of events that's how it went down. In reality he didn't know hide nor hair from what happened after that point.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"I want to show you, come on," he flashed a grin and picked up his pace. Azzy was always the faster of the both of them. Ren was running at his hardest now—at least that he could keep up, but Azzy could run around the world if he was given enough space and time. Still, Ren tried to pick up the pace, and the two boys dashed through the park. Their footfalls marked by the crunchy snow that was densely packed across the suggested walkways—although they weren't that much cleaner. The snow had been really thick as of late so any attempts to mark pathways for people to walk ended up only working half the time.

The people who came out here every day to work were braver than Ren could imagine. He hated being outside in the cold—especially in these past chilly months. It was as foreign a thought to spend so much time outside in such cold temperatures. As foreign as Pokémon being real, he thought.

Azzy reached the start of the bike path about half a minute before Ren. Ren's lungs were on fire by the time he reached the path. He sputtered and slowed as he bent over. He hacked up a throatful of spit and coughed out onto the snow.

"Gross, dude."

Ren eyed him fierce and coughed again. The cold only making it rougher on the way out. When he was able to regain his composure he was yanked aside—Azzy had pulled him out of the way of a cyclist. Ren could tell he was an extremely competitive type—even in this rough cold he was out in a skin-tight track suit. His head was bowed deep, making him like an arrow fired from a grand archer somewhere out of sight.

"Geez, never can trust people not to nearly maul people in the way," Azzy said.

Ren looked at him, "You mean like you on the way here?"

He let off a knowing smile and the two of them started laughing. To someone on the outside they may have looked like they were going hysterical because of the cold, but the both of them knew that images of the catcaller slamming into the rail like a cartoon character was the first thing that came to their minds, and that thought almost made it funnier.

The short break helped Ren's lungs. He was breathing easier and he even led the way forward until the excitement came crawling back through Azzy's body. He started jogging and then sprinting once again to Ren's chagrin.

"How do you keep moving so much?" Ren called out after him.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how do you have all that energy?"

"Well I'm not inside all day reading."

"No, you're inside playing the Gameboy."

He let out a chuckle. "I go outside sometimes. I'm not always in playing. 'Sides, if you want to play you know you only have to ask."

"It's not that," Ren let out a chuckle himself. "Just need time in between, you know? Besides, if your info is good and you actually did find one here..."

"Relax, I did. I swear it."

Ren didn't have anything else to respond to this with. They had just passed the bench where the woman had been sitting that day the rail was busted. Thinking on it, he wasn't even a hundred percent certain that there even was a woman there. After all, that was just the talk of the town and he knew intimately well how unreliable that could be.

After all, according to the talk of the town, he and Azzy were low-life cretins who deserved the lot they got. Now that he thought of it more, he didn't know why he had put so much stock in the public word.

The two boys reached the rail and they saw the twisted metal splinter out.

"Huh," Azzy said. "Now that I think about it, I don't know if a bike could have done this."

"Even if he was going at full speed?"

Azzy shook his head. "I think that part might have been made up."

Ren cocked his head, "Hm, I wonder what could have done this damage? Could it have been a Pokémon?"

Azzy's eyes opened wide. "Do you think it was maybe that Eevee that they found before?"

"I dunno..." Ren closed his eyes and imagined playing through the game. "If they can use the same moves as they can in the game...I don't think Eevee can learn anything that could do this kind of damage." He imagined the small, brown dog-like creature with its large ears and large floofy tail—end capped in bright white fur almost like the end of a paintbrush.

"Maybe it could have evolved into a Flareon? Burnt its way through?"

"Well, is the Pokémon you saw an Eevee?" Ren asked.

"Ahh....no, no it wasn't," Azzy said, deflated.

"Well I don't see how it matters now if that Eevee could evolve. I...don't think I've heard about any Pokémon evolving in real life, though..."

"Hm, now that you mention it...all the sightings have been of normal Pokémon—nothing's been evolved...well, we can wonder why that is later. Come on, we're almost there."

Ren sighed, and he followed Azzy down past the busted railing. The steep decline makes it so they have to go slow—they have to turn and almost climb down as to not slide all the way down.

"Better still be there," Ren grunted. "...for all that we're going to get it."

"It will, it will..." Azzy eased.

They got about halfway until Azzy turned and slid the rest of the way down, transitioning into a jog near the end. The snow was cold but he was already cold from the chill in the air. Ren slid just behind him and his dismount was a bit more sloppy—he overcorrected when he stood and fell forward to his knees.

Azzy chuckled and reached out a hand to help him up.

"Thanks," Ren said.

"You dug in your heels too tight. Next time lighten up a bit and it should feel normal coming up." He offered a smile.

"I'm not sure when there'll be a next time, but I'll keep it in mind."

Azzy continued forth and Ren followed behind, a small stream flowed to their left. Ren thought about the creatures that lived under the surface of the water—as much as he couldn't imagine working out in the cold, living out here and below the water was nigh impossible to empathize with.

"We gotta follow this stream, there's a drainage pipe down here."

"Eugh, we're going in a drainage pipe?"

Azzy slowed enough to turn to stare right at him. "You want to see it or not?"

"Well, when you don't tell me what it is, it's hard to get excited about it. I mean, to me it's just a vague idea."

He threw his head back and groaned. "Fine, if you want to ruin the surprise. It's got a tail."

Ren's whole expression changed instantly. "That hardly narrows it down! Lots of them have tails."

"Shhh, keep your voice down." He lowered his own voice to a near whisper and waved him forward.

Ren followed along and kept close to the ground as they kept close to the stream. As they got closer to the drainage system he noticed more and more of the brush flowing down the course of the water.

"What were you doing down here anyway?" Ren asked, keeping sure to keep his voice down.

Azzy didn't respond, and when Ren was going to repeat his question he offered a small "Followed it."

"Surprised you didn't scare it off."

"I don't think it could have gotten far, I think it's hurt."

Azzy reached the outer banks of the drainage pipe first. The leaves and sticks stuck with mud packed near the entrance to the pipe. "I kept these here so the pipe didn't start flooding. It's still in there."

"How can you te—" he was going to finish, but stopped when he saw a flickering ember emanating from the innards of the pipe. And suddenly his mind started to whirr. He looked over to Azzy and if pressed on it, Azzy would have said Ren had stars in his eyes.

"Is there a Charmander in that pipe?"

Azzy's smile was impossible to hide. He nodded slowly and braced himself against the pipe. "Yeah. Be careful if you go in though. Whatever hurt it I think got it good. It's probably scared. I didn't get too close but I don't want you to become fried chicken if you get too close."

Ren gulped and poked his head into the pipe. He saw the glowing flame that coated the end of a Charmander's tail flickering near the end of the pipe. He then realized why it would have crawled in here—it completely cut out the wind chill.

"Here, give it this," Azzy said, and Ren turned and handed him a hot dog. Ren looked perplexed at where Azzy had gotten it. "I had it in my pocket here," He motioned toward his jacket. "Got it on my way back. Thought about going back to give it, but that's when I figured you'd love to see it, so...here." He nodded and Ren held the dog in his hand, confused but also strangely touched.

"I mean...it's kinda gross that it was just sitting in your coat," he laughed.

"I kept it warm!" Azzy laughed too.

"Well, if the Charmander wanted I'm sure he could heat it up itself!"

"Yeah yeah, devalue my care," he crossed his arms and looked off to the side with a noticeable grin. "All right, get in there. I'll keep watch out here."