Humans and Pokémon are colonising Mars, but good people aren't the only ones with their eyes on this new world.
The first spaceflight of the Ares program launched 49 years ago. So far, the red planet hasn't been kind. Without spacesuits, few Pokémon...
Altair and his colleague, Osbert, took Mercury to photograph Courtney's abandoned studio. Mercury had to admit he was curious. It was in an older building, where many residents still liked Pokémon, if the doormats were anything to go by. Courtney's Houndour-face doormat was faded. There was a hole in one of its eyes after years of being trodden on. The sliding silver door was wide open. The first thing Mercury saw was the Team Magma flag over the bed. There were several logo stickers on the wardrobe. He expected to see photos of Firmino and perhaps some Team Aqua memorabilia, but the photos were all gone. Courtney never owned Team Aqua memorabilia. She was determined to get Firmino back in to Team Magma.
'Hey, dude... if I can use these photos in my documentary, I'll do it for free.'
'Anything you photograph for us is classified unless stated otherwise. We'll pay you. But nothing is classified forever. Do whatever you wish with the images when that time comes.'
What was Altair's problem? It wasn't just Jin. He was curt with everyone. Mercury photographed the flag and stickers. Then he turned to the framed photo of Maxie on the wall. He saw the sticky marks, from floor to ceiling, where the photos of Firmino once were, but it surprised him that there was ever a photo of anyone else. He zoomed in on the sticky marks.
'It probably tells y'all something that she looks up to Maxie.'
'Yes.'
Altair didn't elaborate. Osbert's Chesnaught opened the wardrobe. Courtney left most of her clothes. Mercury didn't expect clothes to tell them anything, but when Chesnaught and its teammate Flygon shook them out, a photo of Firmino did fall from a pocket. It was faded from an accidental spin in the washing machine. Mercury snapped a photo before Altair's Blaziken stowed it in an evidence bag.
'Can I take a photo of you guys?'
'Why not?' Osbert replied, to Mercury's surprise, 'Let's take a selfie!'
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His Rotom Phone was already shooting out of his pocket to snap the selfie. Altair wasn't looking at the camera. His eyes were on a basket stuffed under the bed. It was full of hard drives. Dates were scribbled over their Team Magma logos in metallic pink ink. Osbert's smile disappeared.
'Not gonna lie... this has April Schultz vibes.'
That certainly wasn't a compliment. April Schultz was only famous for stalking one of the greatest Trainers of all time, Leon. Altair plugged one of the hard drives in to his laptop. He found what he expected: footage from the cameras Courtney set up to spy on Firmino. She never deleted any of it.
'If she was willing to leave this here, I'm sure there are still cameras.'
'Bro... should I let him know?'
Mercury blinked. It surprised him, even more than the selfie offer, that anyone called Altair 'bro,' let alone that Altair apparently didn't mind; though he would learn later that those two were old friends. They went to university and played football together.
