Pokémon Mars

Chapter 8: Unforeseen Reasons

Joshua was under a bench by then. He wasn't stalking them – just trying to get out – but he still didn't want them to see him, especially because the situation seemed dangerous again. He considered calling Callerya. She probably wouldn't look at her phone. He asked a curious Hoppip to find his friends instead. Once Callerya and Firmino were gone, he crawled back out and sat on the bench. Hoppip was already leading his friends there.

'He's taking her out! Out of the city!'

'What?!'

Nyx grimaced. 'Why didn't you stop her?!'

She tried to call Callerya, but Joshua was right. She didn't pick up.

'Surely this isn't normal? Where's Courtney?'

They looked around, but the binoculars were no longer anywhere in sight. Courtney couldn't tell them if this was a normal date idea. Nyx sprinted off to the parking lot. Where was she going? Her friends worried they wouldn't catch up before she took off, but she waited for the Team Aqua rover to depart before climbing into theirs.

'Fucking idiot! Who lets a total stranger take them out to a deadly wasteland?!'

Thalassa looked like she was about to cry.

'Has she got her spacesuit...? A random Aqua Suit won't even fit her properly...'

Before their rover screeched away, Joshua noticed that Courtney's rover was already gone.

'Creepy Magma-Aqua music starts...'

Thalassa looked up. An especially bright star, slightly bigger than Venus appeared from Earth, was actually Deimos. Phobos, which looked like an even brighter, cratered potato, raced past it. Then they were both obscured by dust. They couldn't see the moons at all when they landed, so their appearance suggested the dust storm was coming to an end. That was positive, but...

'Where are we going?! We can't just – go out there – to chase an experienced astronaut! We need Courtney! Or at least Eden!'

'Who knows where Courtney is?!'

Once they established which exit Firmino was taking, Nyx parked at a furniture store to pull on and securely seal her spacesuit. Her friends could either do the same or go home. None of them wanted to risk letting Callerya leave the city with a potentially dangerous stranger, so they did the same. She did have her spacesuit. It was already on when their rover reached the gate. The guards were about to open the doors to the airlock, but they saw the other rover approaching and waited. It was dark. Neither Callerya nor Firmino saw the names on their spacesuits. They didn't suspect they knew the people in the other rover.

'Purpose of exit?'

'Practice,' Nyx replied, 'Driving practice. The conditions out there are getting better, right?'

'Yeah. Visibility's pretty good. But this isn't like anything you knew on Earth. Stay safe, kids.'

The doors slammed shut behind them. The airlock was depressurised. Then the outer doors opened. Firmino drove off smoothly, but Nyx stalled the rover before its tyres even hit the Martian soil. She forgot to switch on her headset. None of her friends heard her cursing, but when she did switch it on, she heard them arguing over who was breathing so heavily. It was obviously Thalassa. Mercury seemed to think it was Joshua and vice versa.

'Shut up! All of you!'

Dust slapped their helmets. Though their suits were heated, every hair on their bodies stood on end in the biting cold. When the rover rattled over rocks, the weak gravity – only 38% of Earth's –  made them feel like they might be flung out. Nyx lost sight of the Team Aqua rover. All she saw was dim, rugged red ground until Ironville's lights faded and the horizon was swallowed by darkness. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light of Deimos, Phobos and the stars, but the other rover must have disappeared around a rock formation, because they couldn't see it.