__________________________________________________________________________​

Peria is not particularly ashamed to admit when she heard the light ring of her message notification there was a lot of screaming and flailing like a bug had landed on her and then a lot of sheepish smiles to the old couples wandering through the gardens. It took another three minutes to find out what had made the noise. As adept as she was at flipping through books, navigating the simplistic menus seemed unreasonably hard for some reason. Then again, maybe it would have been better if she had never read it at all.

When she first read the letter, her first reaction was to panic. Why was she chosen? She didn't even know pokemon that well! Quickly, her philosophy for the first month of playing MAO was driven out of her head. If she was going to survive, she needed to know the ins and outs of Pokemon. She moved to contact her friends, who she knew were experts willing to feed her information, but realized with a start she didn't know their identity in the virtual world. She had decide against contacting them because she knew they would probably spoil her with rare, powerful pokemon that would ruin her "experience".

I'm having an experience of a lifetime, now, Peria thought somewhat grudgingly, wishing she had decided on asking her friends who they were. Now, she didn't have a chance to. Instead, she had to gather information from everyone around her, whether it be by begging or what. But for now, she had to get a move on, now. She glanced around frantically, before spotting the way out of the city into the new route. At least, she thought it looked like a new route... Nevertheless, she ran out towards, driven by a sort of franticness that made her want to hurry, hurry, you're already so behind so run run run ...!

Did she think she would win? Realistically, not really. But she didn't want to white out unexpectedly. She wanted to at least be close to accomplishing the goal.

She wanted to be in control of her fate.

«Philippa Watson»

​

Looking back, it probably wasn't the ideal approach to take in that situation. There were a variety of more logical, peaceful options to utilize in order to come to an understanding of one another's position. Yet when it came to that crucial moment in time when a decision had to be made she chose the only route that made sense to her: hit first, ask questions later. The minute her virtual fist collided with the digital flesh of her opponent she knew somewhere in the deep trenches of her morality that perhaps an in-game physical fight was a bad idea. A really bad idea.

Hence why she was now going against the instincts that have been ingrained into her from childhood. Rogue was, to put it mildly, running down the sandy walkway towards the approaching Dewford Town in a nimble haste. She had forgone any dignity and streaked wildly to her destination like a stampeding Rapidash, while the furious player behind her (who would be supporting a bruise on the right cheek were it the real world) gave chase.

The girl had one goal and one only in mind, and that was to reach the Safe Zone. There was absolutely no way she was whiting out now, not when she was so close to making it to the town. With that thought in mind she put on an extra burst of speed. She took a moment to be thankful for the mechanics of the game for not worrying about her beloved newsboy hat toppling off her head in the frenzy.

Her destination was so close she could almost taste it. Just a few more bounds and there was no way her pursuer would be able to retaliate.

Then again, these kind of these hardly go as planned.

"What th—Oh for the love of Arceus!" Rogue cried out in frustration as a flashing white light shot from her utility belt.

From the tiny red Pokéball emerged a small goofy looking Charmander. Its tail wagged happily like a puppy greeting its owner. Most of the time she found the little guy adorable beyond reason. Now though he had somehow managed to escape the ball and appear directly in front of her path, and she had neither the time nor power to stop herself from colliding with the digital beast. They fell like dominoes into the embrace of the hard ground.

She grunted in protest as her breath was forcefully extracted from her lungs from the impact. Though it was merely a virtual simulation the creators took all means necessary to make the experience as real as possible, aside from the pain of the real world. Something she was highly grateful for as of this moment. Her legs tangled themselves in the limbs of the Pokémon while her arms were effectively trapped underneath her body. It was a rather humorous position to onlookers, especially the player who had just been chasing her.

He approached with an air of confidence and a sickly triumphant smile. "Seems like you have yourself a programming problem with that one, miss." He gestured to the now trampled Charmander.

Rogue put on the best I-will-destroy-you glare she could muster in her position and started to slowly untangle herself. "His name is Glitch, and if there is anyone here with a data chip loose it's you." She rose to her feet with the Pokémon wrapped in her arms and an eyebrow raised in defiance. When the player took a threatening step towards her the Charmander—finally noticing the opponent—let out a feral growling noise and the boy ceased in his advance. He eyed the Pokémon wearily before swiping his hand in the air to bring up his personal menu. After a few silent flicks a pop-up appeared before her eyes.

"I deserve a real fight after your little show back there."

Rogue took a brief moment to analyze her opponent. There was a possibility that he was a daily level grinder, and if that were true she would potentially be outmatched by his party. Then again there was a chance he had little experience with MAO and leveled only to the equivalent of the Gym Leader's Pokémon. In that case she would have the upper hand with superior knowledge. Declining wasn't an option, as she would appear weak to this lowlife. The decision was a tough one, but she had made up her mind.

The girl dragged her hand to the pop-up and was about to accept the challenge were it not for a familiar third-party laugh. Whipping around, Rogue watch with mild surprise as her friend Cyberious walked casually up to the quarreling pair. He had spiked blond hair and wore his signature green pea-coat atop a yellow striped shirt. His smile related to that of Glitch, in a dorky lopsided way.

"I am dearly sorry my good man," Cy said in a mocked apologetic voice, "for my colleague here. She tends to get herself in quite a few spots of trouble. Whatever it is she has done or said I would like to personally apologize on her behalf. She is a little off in the rocker, if you know what I meant." The last phrase was emphasized with his finger moving in a twirling motion by his head.

"Excuse me? Who are you?" the player asked.

Cy put a hand to his heart as if hurt by the man's words. "Why, I am Cyberious. THE Cyberious. You must have heard of me, all of MAO has by now."

Rogue took a sideways glance at the boy. She knew he was pulling this nonsense out of thin air, and though she felt irritated at him coming to her defense when she obviously didn't require it, the display amused her.

The opposing player's face turned from confusion to horror in a matter of seconds. He fumbled around for the right words and helplessly ran a hand through his blue haired head. "No, no, please. I am the one who should be sorry. I didn't know she was with you, uh, mister Cyberious. It is a pleasure to meet someone so renowned."

Cy patted the man in the back and pulled him close. "No need friend," he said, "the pleasure is all mine. Now how about you let us be on our way? I have been waiting here a while for my friend to arrive." He gave her a wink and spun the player around back the way he came. "Goodbye now!"

The dazed player meekly waved and immediately disappeared, signaling his logout.

"The Cyberious?" Rogue snorted and recalled Glitch to his ball.

The boy nudged her with his elbow, "Don't criticize my methods, Louise. I have just saved your life. That's twice now, you know, if we were counting."

She punched his arm in return and gave her first genuine smile of the day. "I didn't realize my life was in danger, and I could have taken him." Her Pokémon were strong enough to stand against a puny threat like him and she felt confident in that. She didn't require any saving, thank you very much. The girl put her arm through Cy's as he escorted her down the remaining path to town.

"Oh really? Even with the fiery spaz on your team?" he teased.

"His name is Glitch, and he has been getting better. I would gladly go into battle with him any day." she huffed in defiance.

The boy simply laughed and ruffled her exposed light blonde hair. He was a good head taller than she but there was no doubt Rogue could take him on. Normally she would be uneasy with the close proximity of other people. However, when she first met Cy he was determined to be the exception to her no-touchy rule. Eventually she learned to find comfort in the way his arm would brush hers as she sat down, or the playful shoves in attempt to get a rise from her. The hesitant acquaintanceship slowly became a brother-sister bond through their first month in MAO together. He was one of the few people who she allowed close to her. Close enough to know her true identity outside the virtual world. She trusted him with her life, and that in itself was an impossible feat for anyone to accomplish.

The two friends continued on their way before finally coming to a stop at the Dewford Town Pokémon Center. They breezed through the sliding glass doors and took a seat at the far corner of the building. Cy, sporting a physical messenger inventory bag, took out a loaf of digital bread. He broke the fresh smelling carbohydrates in half and offered one to her, of which she gladly accepted.

They talked about their day while gaining resting points in the Center. Rather, he mainly talked while she watched bread crumbs disintegrate into digital matter before they hit the floor. Soon enough a reminder message dinged her inbox. Molly was getting out of school in an hour. Logging off was one of Rogue's least favorite part of the game, but she had a responsibility to her sister.

"It's that time again," she sighed.

Cyberious gave a sad nod. "When is that girl going to learn how to drive herself?"

"When I deem her old enough, she only just turned fifteen." She swiped the air in front of her with two fingers to bring up the menu. "I guess I will see you later?"

"Yeah, I'll be here. Grinding levels for the upcoming Gym and being an overall boss."

She shot him an unamused look which he returned with a cheesy grin. He began pelting her with the leftover bread pieces while she fiddled with the menu. Yet no matter how hard she swiped up and down the list there was one thing that was clearly absent. Her eyebrows creased in concern and her hand movements became more erratic. It was then at the peak of her onset anxiety that another message flashed in her inbox. Rogue saw the it came from an anonymous sender. That was odd. She never received messages apart from reminders, Cy, and the occasional hate mail.

She pursed pale pink lips and clicked into the message.Her reaction to the message happened in stages. First, there was a wave of horrifying realization. It settled in like a storm over a city, ready to wage its war on the innocents below. Second came the denial. It had to be a prank played by some punk kid. There was no way she was literally stuck here, that just can't happen. Third was acceptance. No matter what she tried the LOGOUT button would not appear in her menu. Through these emotions her normally carefully guarded facial expression changed to a sudden deep terror, and Cyberious noticed instantly.

"Louise? What's wrong?"

"Did you get this message?" she asked.

"What message?"

"The anonymous one."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you okay?"

The fourth and final stage hit at this moment. Determination. She was now imprisoned within virtual walls. The very walls she put herself in just to get away from those of her own house. The walls that kept her from her sister, the one precious thing she had in life. Rogue quickly scanned through the message once more before knowing what must be done.

There was only one way out, and she would get there. No matter the price she had to pay, because the only thing that mattered now in that moment was seeing Molly again.

"Cy, I need to ask you a favor."

​

The Pokemon Center at Cerulean City. Some say it's one of the most serene buildings in the Kanto region, and some say it was just an excuse to go out and profess someone your love from them. Either way, no one could ever hate a pokemon center. That goes especially for the young player, Natsumi, who was waiting in the Pokemon center's lobby. Natsumi already started to play this game for a month now, with good accomplishments backing her up: a Boulder Badge won from Brock, and she even got to have great trades for rare pokemon as a side quest. While she was proud of her feats, she knew that she had a long way to go as a semi-new pokemon trainer. Soon the room was filled with the sounds of the healing machine beeping.

"Excuse me miss!" the local nurse called to Natsumi, carrying a tray that holds Natsumi's pokeballs. Natsumi rose from the soft chair that she was resting on, and approached the center's front desk. "Your pokemon are now fighting fit!" the nurse then said with her signature smile. She then took a bow. "We do hope to see you again soon!"

"Thank you very much, ma'am!" said Natsumi, also taking a bow as a sign of gratitude. "By the way, miss, do you have a name? I'd like to thank you properly..."

"Oh, just nurse is fine!" the nurse replied. "After all, I'm the only nurse her in Cerulean City, so, trainers simply refer me to nurse anyway, and I'd accept that!"

"Isn't that a little bare, though?" said Natsumi in concern. "Is it okay if I refer to something different? For instance, I'm sure that you bring a lot of joy to the hearts and souls of the different trainers and pokemon here alike, so, how about... Joy? Or Nurse Joy?"

"Nurse... Joy?" the nurse pondered. "Hm, that's sort of a odd name, and to be honest, I'm not sure that would stick. However, I also feel it's a nice name! You're free to refer me to that too!"

"Ah, great! Well, thanks for this, Nurse Joy," said Natsumi as she finally took up all her pokeballs. "And I do hope we can see each other again really soon! Natsumi waved good-bye as she exited the center, leaving the nurse.

"Hmmm... Nurse Joy, huh..."


Meanwhile, a young woman was training her Slowbro. Or at least, trying to. She kept on giving it stern commands, but her Slowbro still had that same blank stare on it's face.

"Use your Confusion!" she ordered. But her Slowbro did not reply. "NO! Don't act confused! Okay then, use your Withdraw!" But, her Slowbro did not reply. I wish I could WITHDRAW from this day, ugh.

Finally outside, Natsumi stretched her arms in the air, and took in the positive energy of the outside. The air was clean, the pokemon played, and the telemarketers were bothering people about special deals. No thanks, chump. It was almost time to prepare for Natsumi's second gym match, but first, she wanted a little R&R with her pokemon, so, it was time to bring them all out. She went to the nearby free space in the park near the city, and released all her pokemon: her Wartortle, her Growlithe, her Eevee, and her Nidorina, all healthy and ready for action.

"Growwww!?" (Is it time to BURN something?!) her adamant Growlithe barked. "Grow? Rooow!" (Wait, no trees nearby? Lame!)

"Ee!" (Isn't everything just perfect today!) her cheerful, yet quirky Eevee cried. "Eevee!" (It's likethe trees are alive and dacing with candy OMIGOSH I want to play!)

"War, War!" (Yeah, Growlithe, and they simply don't like you!) Natsumi's bold and fiesty Wartortle cried and laughed after. "Tortle!" (Better not get em' too angry!)

"Nido," (It is indeed a nice day,) then cried Natsumi's sassy Nidorina. "Rina, Nidorina." (And if any of you ruin it, I'll give you a swift double kick. That means you, Growlithe.)

Growlithe simply growled at Wartortle and Nidorina, as Natsumi squatted her her pokemon. "Glad to see that you're all better! Our next battle is going to be at the Cerulean Gym," Natsumi explained. "I hear that the gym is going to be water pokemon based, so, I want you all to do your best, okay?"

"Ee, Eevee?" (Wait, we're battling again?) Eevee remarked. "Vee?" (Are we getting paid for this?)

"Lithe!" (Quiet you!) Growlithe barked at Eevee. "Growlithe! Grow! Grow!" (As a solider of fire, I will BUUUUURN the cool heads of those water pokemon! Let them douse my BURNS! Let them try!)

"Looks like you're all ready to go in!" said Natsumi, opening her menu to check on her pokemon. Everything and everyone was AOK! "Now then, let us prepare for the match, as the power of the friendly hokai surrounds us all! I am quite certain the gym leader will proudly accept our match, as she awaits us inside the Cerulean Gym!


"The gym leader is away?" said Natsumi in a disappointing look. She was inside the Cerulean Gym, only to be stopped by a man wearing thick-framed black glasses. Strangely enough, he looked oddly familiar for an NPC. "But why? Isn't she supposed to be here? I have my pokemon really and everything..."

"I'm sorry there, she said she had plans today, you dig?" the man said in a rumpled tone. "...Plans that did not involve me... She was going out with a, um, special someone of hers."

"Huh? Special someone?" Natsumi repeated. "Can gym leaders really do that? I mean, the junarki hokai of grains of bread usually punishes people for unannounced plans."

"Here's the thing," the man started to explain. "One of the famous things about this city is that it's basically one giant love nest--"

"WHAT?!"

"Come now, keep your mind out of the gutter," the man began again. "Couples rouse'around here every now and then, especially in this season. The gym leader has a date too, hence why she, unfortunately isn't here right now."

"Ah, that's what you meant," replied Natsumi, followed up with a breath of relief. "Hm, but.. what should I do now?"

"Well champ-in-making, how about I give you some friendly advice?" suggested the man, as Natsumi nodded in agreement. "See, the gym leader here is named Misty, the aquatic mermaid. She uses the cooooool water pokemon, so, all you gotta do is zap them with your furious electric attacks, or maybe soak em' all up with your grass pokemon, see? Oh, but, I wouldn't use Fire, Rock, or Ground pokemon here, as water pokemon are super-effective against all of those types."

That means that Growlithe will have a tough time here... Natsumi thought. Poor thing, I hope he doesn't throw a fit...

"Hm, as for Misty herself," the man continued. "Perhaps there is a place on where you might be able to find her. Ever hear of the Cerulean cape? That's were all the couples go, y'know? There might be a good chance to reach her there! Ah, but you know, first you gotta cross the Nugget bridge just north of here, and trust me - it's a little rough there."

"Ah, thanks for all that info," said Natsumi with a bow. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for her! And thanks again!"



Route 4 was pretty serene with its rich water, and the wild grass near it. Loads of grass pokemon were around who enjoyed this scenery as well, as they watched the Goldeen and Magikarp swim through the warm water. Natsumi arrived in, taking a liking to the atmosphere as well, until she spotted a bridge - the Nugget Bridge. There were NPCs nearby, as one of them spotted Natsumi: a young lad wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap.

"TO PASS HERE, YOU MUST TAKE THE NUGGET BRIDGE CHALLENGE!" the youngster announced. "Defeat all five of us for a very awesome super special spectacular chocolatey fudged coated prize! ARE YOU UP TO IT?!" Soon a pop-up window appears her eyes. She never really was used to the surprise and always thought it was the cause of the Impo spirit:




"Very well, I accept!" she said as she pressed the 'Yes' option, thus making the window vanish. "But, I can hear you just fine; you don't need to shout-"

"THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT BATTLE MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!" the boy yelled. "I AM GOING TO WIN AND MAKE MYSELF THE BEST EVER AND EVER AND I'M JUST GOING TO SEND MY POKEMON ALREADY!" he brought out his pokeball and threw it. "GO GET EM, MANKEY!"




His Mankey came out quickly with it's trademark anger. "MAAAANKEY!" (WHERE'S THE STARFISH, GIVE ME THE STARFISH!) it cried. Yup, it was just as loud as it's trainer.

A Mankey, huh? That's a fighting type! A good thing too, since now I can give Nidorina a little experience! Natsumi stood in thought. She soon selected her Nidorina and released it in the Nidorina readied her claws for battle.

"Nido? Rina!" (A Mankey? Pffffft!) cried Nidorina, reading her claws for battle. She and the enemy Mankey leered each other in anticipation for their orders.

"Nidorina, use your Scratch attack!" Natsumi ordered for her first attack. Nidorina brought out her claws, charging in towards the opposing Mankey, and then quickly scratched the base of it's face with her claws, making the Mankey tumble a fair bit, until it regained its composure.

"Not too bad!" replied Newman. "BUT NOW! MANKEY USE YOUR LOOOOOOOOW KICK!" Mankey retaliated by swiftly using he base of its um, stubby legs to hop swiftly up and down and quickly swiping Nidorina's legs, making it lose it's balance and making it drop on the ground. Soon it rose back up, feeling fine. The attack wasn't very effective on Nidorina.

"Nidoooo!" (That just made me mad!)

"MANKEYYY!" (BUT HAVE YOU GOTTEN THE STARFISH YET!)

"Quick! Nidorina, now attack with your Double Kick!" Natsumi then ordered. Hopefully we can unbalance it's movement with this double attack before coming for the final attack...

"OH YEAH?! MANKEY USE YOUR KARATE CHOP TO COUNTER!" Newman responded. His Mankey readied it's palms and charged in for a blow. It chopped Nidorina on the head before Nidorina got to react. Then, from the sudden burst of rage from Mankey's annoyance, Nidorina managed to retaliate by kicking Mankey on it's side legs with Nidorina's hind legs once, and then kick Mankey on the nose again with it's other leg.

"Yes! Now Nidorina, finish it off with your Poison Sting attack!"

"Nido...!" (This is going to be fun...!) it cried, as it let loose a barrage of it's trustworthy poison needles. All of them struck Mankey as they then explode in poisonous gas. Soon Mankey was completely poisoned, and took various poison damage, as it soon collapsed on the ground. It was now unable to continue.



"Urgh!" Newman said disappointingly, kneeling on the ground near his fallen Mankey. "I... I... I DID MY BEST! I HAVE NO REGRETS! YOU ARE STROOOOONG!"



"Thanks, Nidorina! you were great!" Natsumi thanks, returning her Nidorina back into her pokeball. She then turned to her defeated opponent. "And thank you for the battle! I do hope we could battle again someday!" She then looked ahead towards the Nugget Bridge. Only 4 to go...

​

Perhaps it was sad to be happy about not getting lost, but so be it. After the month-long nightmare that was the first route (then again, maybe it had seemed fun at the time, but not considering the time constraints she was under now), Peria thought this route was refreshingly straight forward. She had been walking for ... some undistinguished amount of time. It felt like a long time, though. There was a day/night system set up in MAO, but Peria hadn't been particularly adept at telling time in the real world. As far as she was concerned, there were only three parts of the day: sleep, school, and stuff. Maybe I should invest in a watch, Peria mused, before quickly rejecting the idea. After her surge of panic, Peria had begun to think out a game plan to make sure she wouldn't white out and buying things wasn't in the cards. She would have to find things or do missions for others for things, and rely on Pokemon Centers.

Just as Peria was considering this, she stumbled into what appeared to be a miniature orchard in the middle of the route. It was vaguely overgrown. Large acorn-ball things in various different colors bloomed from the larger plants, hard to notice between the swathes of green leaves. On the other hand, an assortment of uniquely shaped and colored fruits and plants grew in between. Peria looked around, before giggling and spinning around in the flora. Although she hadn't been very big into gardening (although she had wanted to for a long time), her mother had, (leading to her name) carefully tending to a forest of tiny red peppers and oranges bigger than her fist in their backyard. Even though the forest looked nothing like her mother's, it reminded her of home and happiness and made her giddy. So lost in the moment, she didn't even notice the man watching her with a fond smile until she stopped of dizziness.

"Hello!" Peria beamed without the slightest bit of regret. The man just chuckled.

"Hello there, girl," the man spoke in a gravelly tone, although his eyes twinkled with mirth. "What are you up to?"

"Just enjoying the plantlife," she responded, before something occurred to her. "Is this all yours?"

The man nodded. "I'm the expert on Apricorns and Berries around here, although the latter seems to have died out a bit. You can only really grow Berries in certain areas, such as here."

Peria was confused, and jumped at the chance for potentially helpful information. "Apricorns and Berries?"

The man gave her a wide-eyed look, stunned. "C'mon over to my house, little miss. You have a lot to learn."

------------------------------------------------------------​

An hour later, after an interesting discussion/lecture on Apricorns and Berries, Peria was very, very excited. Berries seemed like a perfect thing to fit into her game plan. They seemed relatively inexpensive, and although didn't restore quite as much health as Potions and the like they worked well. Plus, pokemon knew how to eat them automatically during battle! Apricorns were a bit eh, but they were still pretty cool.

"Thank you so so much for telling me about Apricorns and Berries," Peria told the man. "Berries seem like they will be very helpful on my journey, particularly." It was a bit of a shame they didn't grow very well in Johto nowadays, as that would probably make prices more expensive.

"No problem," the man seemed cheerier now, after sharing his expertise with someone. "Just happy to help." The man appeared to pause for a second. "But, I do have a favor that I hope you could do. I would reward you, of course..."

Peria seemed shocked by the question, even though she knew it was just an opening for a mission. "Of course I'll do a favor for you! What is it?"

"A teacher at the Pokemon Trainer School down in Violet City wanted a few Apricorns for a lesson on Pokeballs. Can you go deliver them to me?" Peria nodded. The man handed her a basket of Apricorns, which upon touching her hands disappeared into the virtual inventory she had opted for at the beginning of the game.

"Bye, now! I'll be back once I've delivered the Apricorns!" Peria called back as she left the cottage nestled in the middle of the grove. She skipped through the greenery, a smile on her face, making her way back to the entrance. Now, which way to Violet City again?

"Wait!" Cyberious called out to her. "Louise will you just hold on a moment?"

Rogue stopped mid-stride in the middle of the bustling Dewford street with a long, patient sigh. The slight ocean breeze ruffled her white blouse sending chills down her spine, and if she didn't know she was in a game she would've sworn this world was the real one. There were times she wished it were so. The girl stood stock still as various trainers and NPCs pushed passed one another to find their next opponent, to challenge the next set of Pokémon with a freedom to white out without a worry. They had no idea they were walking passed a woman on the edge of death's door should her last Pokémon fail her in battle.

A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her from her thoughts. Cy looked at her with green eyes full of confusion laced with an underlying tone of deep concern. "Let me get this straight. You are stuck here, in MAO, because the LOGOUT button has disappeared from your menu. You received some random message that states if you die here you die in real life because some lunatic decided to up and ruin people's lives?" During his speech, his voiced reached a panicked octave that had the potential of alerting those around them to her peculiar situation.

Rogue reacted quickly and clamped a hand over the boy's mouth, dragging him none to kindly behind a blue roofed building. She took a look at their surroundings before releasing her hold on the player. The girl turned unto him a deathly blue glare. "Was your intention letting the whole region known my problem or do you just like to shout?"

The boy grimaced at her words but refused to break eye contact. "I'm sorry," Cy breathed as he brushed off his ruffled coat. "I am just having trouble wrapping my head around this whole thing."

Her gaze softened and a pang of guilt instantly settling in her stomach. It wasn't his fault she was in this mess, she was the only one to blame here. "I know what you mean," Rogue sighed and slid down the side of the building to sit on the sandy floor. Cyberious shook his head and plopped down next to the girl. The blond boy wrapped a lankly arm around her shoulders and rested his head atop hers. The two friends sat there in silence as they listened to the noises of the townsfolk going about their business.

"So this favor," he began, "you know it will be tough. The flight alone takes at least three hours."

"I am all she has, Cy. She has no one else in this world to look after her, and I will be damned if I have to see her go into the system. I know this is a lot to ask and—"

"I'll do it."

Her head shot up to look him dead in the eyes. There were no signs of the trickery or falsehood she expected to see. Rather there was a sincerity that took her breath away. Here was a man she met online only a month ago, and from the look in his eyes he was willing to go to the ends of the earth for her. There was a part of her that felt unworthy to have him look upon her like that. She couldn't remember a single thing she had done for others in life other than take care of her sister, and even that she knew she could've done better at.

It was as if words scattered into the dark holes in her mind and eventually she could only find one thing to say.

"Thank you."

He smiled and tiled her chin up with his hand. "Anything for you, milady." He held his out in front of him, arranging his fingers like they did in Star Trek, and pulled up his menu. "I am going to LOGOUT now and start packing my things. I won't be able to get back on for a while so don't do anything stupid to get yourself killed while I am gone, Louise. You hear me?"

She nodded her understanding and regained the art of articulacy to reply. "Tell Molly that everything is going to be alright, and that I love her. Everything you need to know is on my personal laptop; all her medical files, school schedule, everything. I will win this game and get out. I can promise you that."

"I know you will. You're the toughest girl I know."

Cy gave her a final toothy grin before disappearing from the game. The whole month she had been playing this was the first time she had ever felt truly alone, and for once she didn't want to feel that way any longer. After a few moments of sitting behind the building she rose to her feet with a renewed determination. If she was going to win this game, she had better get started.

---

GRANITE CAVE

Not long after she left the comfort of the SAFE ZONE, Rogue found herself looking at the mouth of Granite Cave. If there was one thing she hated more than anything in the Pokémon games it was the relentless caverns. They also seemed to stretch on for miles and the encounter rate for wild Pokémon felt like it increased drastically. In other words it was a living nightmare. She knew that the move FLASH was more or less required to make it through the tunnels, but since she had yet to battle the second Gym Leader that was out of the question.

So Rogue thought up a different solution. She grabbed the third Pokéball from the left off her belt and clicked the small button. A beam of blinding white light shot out and Glitch appeared before her. Early on in the game she noticed that his tail illuminated the spaces around it as if a real flame would. She figured that perhaps taking a Charmander in the caves would work the same as a torch would in real life. MAO's mechanics were different than the average Pokémon game, after all.

"Alright Glitch, let's go."

The Charmander gave its trainer a small non-programmed wave (to which she was accustom too by now) and waddled forward into the rocky entrance. Inside it wasn't nearly as dark as she expected with the daylight shining through cracks in the ceiling, but her experiment proved to work as Glitch's swishing tail bounced light off the rock walls around them in a warm glow. Rogue allowed herself a quick satisfied smile before heading further into the cavern.

It took a little while going further in the cavern before they met their first wild encounter.

A terrifying screech echoed around the cave at an ear piercing decibel, causing the girl to clamp her hands over her ears in attempt to block out the horrific noise. A Zubat, she thought to herself, of course it was a Zubat, when is there ever not a Zubat in these caves?

The enemy Pokémon swooped down from its perch on the ceiling and entered into a battle with her. It was a chubby little creature to which she was amazed it could still fly. Rogue called out her Poochyena, who was in the most need of training, and threw him into the fray. "Bandit, use BITE!"

The dog-like Pokémon growled in response but the Zubat moved first, combating with an ASTONISH that did little damage due to its type ineffective nature. Bandit carried out the commander and took a decent chunk of the enemy's health stat, bringing its bar just inside the green. The battle continued with the Zubat attempting a SUPERSONIC and failing once while the Poochyena assaulted it with another BITE.

"Yena!" Bandit cried out as the Zubat hit with a WING ATTACK. She couldn't help the cringe as she watched her Pokémon's health bar decrease slowly. Before it was hardly an issue when they hit red, but now it would make her heart race in absolute terror. This was no longer a game.

"Shake it off buddy!" she called out to him.

Though it appeared the battling mechanics of MAO hardly changed from that within the handheld games, there were a few differences. For instance Rogue noticed that the Pokémon reacted like a real creature would when attacked, either in a dodging attempt or bracing itself. When a Pokémon would miss its move it would be due to poor aim or perhaps a distraction on the battlefield. It was interesting, but Rogue had yet to understand it in its entirety.

She and Glitch watched from the sidelines, every now and then calling out an attack order while she gentle petted the Charmander's head. The Pokémon seemed to purr every time her hand passed over its smooth head.

In all it was a rather boring, basic level grinding fight with the Zubat finally getting a hit on SUPERSONIC while Bandit brushed off the confusion to retaliate with a tackle, bring them both to the ground. Rogue watched as the enemy Pokémon's health bar receded into the red until it disappeared entirely. The Zubat faded out of existence in a flash of white data pixels.

"Nice job, Bandit," she said as she recalled him back to his ball. "One down, a lot more to go."

It was then though that she though she heard voices. Going on the defensive, Rogue plastered herself against a nearby wall and slowly crept forward. Up ahead she saw what appeared to be two players, a boy and a pretty blonde girl. They didn't seem engaged in a battle, and were rather having a friendly chat. She could slip by them easily with no worry. There was no need for them to bother her nor her to bother with them.

She put on her best I-have-better-things-to-do look and approached the two players with the intention to walk straight around them, Glitch following behind to light the way.