Pokémon Mars

Chapter 6: Loneliness

The group were housed in a wide, 12-storey block on the same street as Delta Lab 1. Some of their balconies had views of the colourful street, which included a pastel-shaded café, Pokémon Center, metro station, convenience store and an import shop selling expensive groceries from Earth. Others had views over a billboard – where Damson advertised the tinned food sold at the import shop – to the canal and shopping district beyond. Joshua was the only one who got a two-bedroom apartment to accommodate his family. The others had studios.

There was free wi-fi all over Ironville, but it often cut out during dust storms. Devices automatically connected and adjusted to the new timezone by then. A Martian day, or sol as it was officially called, was 37 minutes longer than a day on Earth, so if they were still awake at midnight, they would see the clocks freeze for 37 minutes before ticking on to 1 AM.

Boxes of food and other essentials waited on kitchen counters. Once a week, the boxes were delivered to all astronauts employed by the Ares program. Any extras had to be purchased, as did anything for the passengers invited by the astronauts, who would soon find themselves being called 'strangers.'

The residences contained basic furniture: beds, Pokémon baskets, desks, wardrobes, tables and chairs. Any extras like TVs also had to be purchased, as did bedsheets and towels. Thalassa already had some. Her parents insisted on sending her off with some from home. Courtney took their extra orders – mostly sheets, towels and trays for shoes – and sent Grunts off to fetch them. She gave Callerya directions to a pizza parlour. Jin ran after her. He didn't want to miss out on Martian pizza.

They both released all of their restless Pokémon. Callerya's Cinderace jumped around to stretch its stiff legs. All of Jin's Pokémon were excited, even his Decidueye, who usually pretended it was too cool to get excited about anything. Callerya's Pheromosa was the only one who looked uncomfortable. It tiptoed over the concrete that was so clean, it almost shone.

Callerya knew Pheromosa hated dirt. It found Earth filthy, so it usually wore gloves and boots. She expected it to like Ironville, though, since every street was cleaned multiple times a day to ensure no toxic dust ever spread across the city. Cinderace ran back to the apartment to grab Pheromosa's boots from their suitcase. It was slightly happier, but not entirely.

They were obviously Ares astronauts. They never changed out of their spacesuits. So they assumed it was obvious that their Pokémon were well-trained, but some passersby still recoiled. It was as if they were afraid of Pokémon. Jin finally felt like Thalassa did. If people were scared of Pokémon, they were going backwards, not forwards, no matter how great a feat it was to live on Mars... so what was the point?

'Hope Nyx finds Volo. Maybe he can rip open space and time again so we can prove Pokémon are friends.'

'Um... I'd rather he didn't...'

Callerya sighed. 'You don't really think she's going to find him, do you?'

'I haven't really thought about it. It's none of my business. Why? Do you think she won't?'

'I mean... he was born in 1786... and even if he somehow survived for a while... he'd be 97 by now. Most people born in 1786 didn't live to 40, let alone 97... and they weren't on Mars with an unprepared evil team... I've told her that, but...'

'Horace is definitely dead. Or he's a Nihilego. I've told Mercury that, but he won't listen.'

Jin hesitated. 'I guess I don't believe they're on Mars. Or if they are, they're probably on the Mars of an alternate universe. It's not exactly gonna be easy for an "unprepared evil team" to pick the right one in an Ultra Wormhole, is it? But I guess they might be able to somehow get to that Mars from this one... I dunno. Ultra Space isn't my forte. Anyway. We just walked past the pizza place!'