Chapter 4

The screen flicked on. Pixels flew upward on the screen and the chiptune melody began, highlighting a battle between two creatures the boys had never seen before. They were huddled around Ren's cot. They decided on his cot as Ren slid the cartridge into the GameBoy. It was bright red—the label showed the orange dragon—a Charizard—on the front.

They loaded up the game and sat on the screen immediately after the title rolled—various creatures—Pokémon—scrolled past a boy just like them. They stared intently at them as the theme song ingrained itself into their brains.

"This...is...wild…" Azzy said. "Are you going to start the game?"

"I...I wanna see them all. I think if I sit here they'll all come through," Ren said.

"But you can't do anything. You're just sitting there watching."

"Is that so bad?" Ren asked.

"Here, lemme see it," Azzy grabbed for the console and pressed the start button. The creatures faded to white and the game prompted for NEW GAME. Azzy clicked and after a few seconds they were met with the POKéMON PROFESSOR. They both watched as he introduced the player character, and then asked for their name.

"Uh...do you want to name it?" Azzy said, "I stink at making up names."

"Just name him after yourself."

"What? But you won."

"Yeah, but you're the one playing. I want to watch—to study."

"You're so weird."

Ren grinned, "I want to watch you make all the mistakes so I can come out on top in the end."

"Ah, there's your motive."

"What can I say? I aim to play the long game."

"Well, okay then, here I go."

A Z U R E.

"Oh, you're going formal now," Ren joked.

"Well, I figured it didn't ask for my nickname."

"Fair."

Azzy clicked the button once more and the professor returned on the screen. He introduced the two boys to his grandson, and both of them exchanged confused looks when the same name prompt appeared for the grandson.

"He doesn't know his own grandson's name?" Ren asked. "And this guy is still allowed to be at work?"

"He's not real," Azzy rolled his eyes.

"No, but they're trying to get me in the mood, suspend my disbelief, you know?"

The look on Azzy's face was clear that he did not know. "Like…" he tried, but couldn't find the words.

"It's just weird. I dunno, pick another name," Ren said.

"Oh, okay, that'll be easy."

R E N.

Ren looked over with an interested look, "Hm, I wonder what this person will be like."

"Oh it doesn't matter! You're in the game too!"

"We'll see," he says, scanning the pixels of the boy's face. "I guess he looks more like me than the other one."

"None of them look like you," Azzy laughed.

"I said more."

"Whatever you say," Azzy said, continuing through. "Come on come on let's get going." He pressed the button faster and faster now, skipping through the dialogue. "AZURE" appeared on the screen once again and shrunk down to an almost comical size. The game began, and the boys explored the mystical town of Pallet.

When Azzy attempted to leave the town from the north after leaving his house, he was stopped by the professor.

"I don't see any wild Pokémon in the area. What's he so worried about anyway?" Ren asked.

"It's like…a game thing. I think the battles aren't here."

"Here?"

"Like...it goes to a different screen when they pop up."

"Oh, okay...but how does he know that? I'm calling it, the professor knows more than he's letting on."

"I think he's just an old man," Azzy chuckled.

"Hm...just you watch. He's going to have the absolute strongest Pokémon. Watch him be like...ooh, watch the end of the game have you come back home and bam, fight the professor."

"We are not beating up the old man," Azzy was full on laughing now, drawing attention from some of the other kids around. One of Azzy's friends, named Harper—a younger boy with long and thick black hair that looked like it could never be tamed—stepped over and leaned over the edge of Ren's cot. "Do I have to be concerned or can I leave you two birds alone without getting yourselves arrested?"

"It's just in a game," Azzy said. "The one we were saving up for."

"Oh the monster one," Harper said. "I heard they were selling that one twice...is that true?"

"They have two versions," Ren said. "The box says you can trade between them and battle."

"Hm...didn't work enough to get two?" Harper asked.

Azzy punched his arm, grinning. "Man if you wanted to pitch in your efforts—you and Manny and maybe we could have. Nah, we just got the one."

"Tch," he tapped his fingertips together. "How many do you think they're gonna sell? Don't think people will fall for buying the same thing twice."

"Kevin said it exploded over in Japan. It's like...the thing over there," Ren explained. "Dunno how he knows that, though."

"Probably whoever gave him the games to sell. You saw how few copies they had left," Azzy said.

"Maybe," Ren thought. He turned and cocked his head toward the GameBoy. "C'mere, if you're going to chat, I'll get us farther."

"Hey!" Azzy called out. "I thought you said you were just going to watch."

"I have my limits on how long I can stare at you getting yelled at by this old man."

"Oh, this the one you're going to beat up?" Harper asked.

"We're not beating anybody up," Azzy repeated.

"Right...our Pokémon will...or more specifically, ours will beat up his."

"Nonono, that's even...worse I think when you put it that way," Azzy said, deflated.

"It's fine, it's fine," Ren stated, his eyes focused on the screen. Professor Oak led AZURE to his lab, where they find REN already waiting.

"Oh look," Harper was now pointing at the screen, "those three there are the balls." Azzy smiled at his friend's new increased interest in the game. Harper rolled on his side, this time closer to Ren. "I heard about this, you get to choose between three of them, but they're really small."

"Who did you hear that from?" Azzy asked.

"Jamie. He was talking about it a bit ago—said his friend's uncle worked at Nintendo."

"That's weird...Nintendo made the GameBoy, not the game, right?" Ren asked, his eyebrow raised.

"How'd you say that?" Azzy asked.

"It said so at the start. Game...uh…" he flicked off the power switch and flicked it back on. Azzy and Harper both shot forward calling out.

"NO!"

"What? We didn't get far at all, we stood still longer than we played. Calm down," Ren said.

The strange image appeared that looked like a fish and there said the text:

GAME FREAK.

"Game Freak...that's it."

"Why'd you go back just for that?" Azzy asked, still looking deflated.

"I'd hate to be wrong about the people who made it. I...have a feeling I'm going to like this very much. I wish to remember who made it."

Harper continued to look confused, but Azzy understood. "It's like your books, isn't it?"

Ren smiled. "Exactly. I always like to read more about the authors of the books I like. I want to eventually look more into this...Game Freak."

"Do you think it's a person?" Harper asked.

"Doubt it, games take more than one person to make," Ren explained.

"Yeah it's probably a lot of people," Azzy agreed.

Ren clicked through the prompts until he made it back to the game proper. When he walked downstairs he found interest in the television in AZURE's living room.

"Huh. That's neat," Ren said, clicking through.

"Huh, what'cha find?" Azzy asked.

"Your mom's watching Stand By Me."

"...The movie with the kids and the dead guy?"

"Yeah I think we got a copy of it around somewhere around here," Ren said. "It's based on a—"

"Yeah yeah a Stephen King story. You told me that before."

Ren blushed and chuckled. "Right. It's neat it's here, at least." Playing through the introduction, Ren made his way to Professor Oak's Lab. Inside, he handed the GameBoy back over to Azzy. "Looks like your choice is here. I don't want to make it for you."

"O-Oh, okay, let me see."

Azzy was given the choice between Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander. His eyes were glued to the screen as he saw each individual one. "Woah, what's this one…" he stopped on Bulbasaur. "This one...doesn't change into the turtle or the dragon, right?"

"No, I don't think so," Ren said. "I think Squirtle and Charmander evolve into both of those."

"Evolve...huh, guess they get stronger and grow up?" Azzy asked.

"Yeah...well, evolution isn't quite like that," Ren mused, more to himself. "Guess it's more like...metamorphosis."

"Meta…"

"They evolve," Ren settled on.

"Right, you could have just said that," Azzy said.

"You really gonna pick the dumb flower?" Harper asked, rolling until he was staring at the screen upside-down. "I think the other two are cooler.

"Well, I dunno...I think I want to," Azzy began. "It's like...a secret. Like, they're pitting the other two against each other, but you can choose this third option. I like that."

"I would have gone for Charmander, personally," Ren said. "But I respect your decision. It's you to a 'T'."

Azzy selected Bulbasaur.

REN walked passed AZURE and stood in front of Charmander.

"No way," Ren started laughing. "He's reading my mind."

"Well then," Azzy began. "I guess that's both of us getting what we want."

"I wonder if we'll have a battle here and now," Ren wondered.

"Aren't those battles supposed to be like, big? How can you do it in this tiny little lab?" Harper asked.

"Dunno, he doesn't seem to say anything when I talk to him. I'm gonna head out."

As Azzy started to walk out, he was stopped by REN, and the boy's grin started growing even wider. "I'm a genius, man. What can I say?"