"Oh, that's right!" said Ira, stopping in the middle of the road.

"What?" asked Elron.

"There's someone that I need to say goodbye to before I leave."

He shrugged. "Alright, I guess we can drop by."

"Great!" she said, doing an about-face and walking a different path.

She lead him back into the sea of concrete and towering buildings that was Castelia City, and after a while they arrived at a big futuristic building, with its almost entirely glass side recently cleaned and its metal bones shining slightly in the sunlight. They walked forward, and the doors slid open to greet them.

Ira waved to the receptionist, who seemed to recognize her, and they went to the elevator on the other side of the floor. She pressed the button for the second basement floor.

When they stepped out, it was like they had arrived at the future itself. Computers with hundreds of small flashing light littered the room and machines of strange shapes and unknown purposes were scattered throughout. She snuck up on a man that was alone and hunched over a circuit board, referencing paper blueprints to figure out what was wrong.

"Hey Lyne!" she said.

The man jumped a little, then turned around. "Oh, Ira!" he said with a smile. He was a not particularly tall freckled man with brown hair, and his glasses without the top rims peered with enlarged glances at the world around him. His lab coat was a little worn, as were the rest of his work clothes, but it seemed like the lab itself and his paperwork had their own senses of chaotic organization and were in perfect condition. "What's up?"

He saw Elron with her and his hands fidgeted a little, as if he had something to be afraid of.

"You won't believe it, but I'm about to go out on a pokemon journey!" she said gleefully.

"Really?" he asked with disbelief. "You can hardly take care of yourself in the city, how can you expect to do so out in the open world?"

"Well, I managed to get Elron here to let me come with him!"

Lyne's heart skipped a beat. This can't be happening! he thought to himself, internally in turmoil. I never thought that she would actually find him! He straightened his glasses to fake confidence and strided up to Elron. "Can we talk for a minute?" he managed to squeeze out.

Elron looked at him curiously. "Sure?"

"Okay."

Lyne and Elron moved just out of earshot of the clueless Ira.

Truthfully, Lyne didn't want to say this, and there were a hundred thousand other things that he would rather say, but he knew that he couldn't think selfishly here. His heart fell as he faced his reality and pushed forward. "Listen, I don't know why you would let her go with you, but promise me that you'll take good care of her!"

"That's it? I mean, yeah of course."

Elron's blank expression and reaction ticked Lyne off a little. Is he acting like this isn't a big deal? Or is it maybe not actually important to him?! He managed to keep his internal conflict internal. As a man of science, he tried his best to not let his emotions take control of him. He spun around and went back to Ira.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing, just a little man to man talk," Lyne replied.

I assume you are the "little man" in that expression then, Elron retorted in his head.

"Hey Rotom! Come out for a second!" Lyne yelled into the laboratory.

There was the zipping of electricity erratically around the room, then a small red pokemon that looked like a fishing bobber came out of a machine and grinned mischievously at the crew, glowing in sparkling blue energy.

Lyne picked up tablet-like red appliance from a desk and held it out in front of him. "Here, show Ira what we've been working on!"

Rotom charged at the device and was sucked in by it. The device burst to life, and Rotom's arms and smile awoke on the screen of the device. Small red, paddle-like appendages formed on both sides of the rectangular device.

"Ta-da!" cheered Lyne. "It's a new model of pokedex that I've been working on!"

The animated pokedex ripped itself out of his hands and floated in the air in front of them. To Elron and Ira's surprise, it started speaking in a very static filled but almost human voice. "That's right! I'm awesome aren't I?!"

"That's incredible!" Ira exclaimed.

Elron wasn't as impressed though. Don't encourage it! It's head it already too big for its body; it doesn't need to get any bigger!

The floating pokedex took a bow. "Don't let my heavy presence frighten you."

"Don't get too full of yourself, Rotom," said Lyne. "Anyways, there are still a few bugs in the system, but I'm working with a team in Alola to make these sorts of pokedexes commonplace! I mean, think about it! This takes human-pokemon interactions to a whole new level!"

"But aren't there pokemon with telepathy?" Elron asked. "How is that any different?"

"The Rotom pokedexes can fit in your pocket!"

"I mean, so can all the others when put into a pokeball. I'm pretty sure that the word 'pokemon' was derived from the words 'pocket' and 'monster.'"

This guy, who the heck does he think he is?! Lyne buried his frustration the best he could. "It's a huge technological advancement regardless!"

"Yeah!" shouted Rotom, looking like it was about to burst a fuse. "Creating machinery specifically for me to bleeeeegh--"

Smoke billowed out of the device and it fell to the ground. Rotom angrily popped out of it and continued its rant, but it only came out as static noises.

Lyne quickly ran to pick it up and stuffed it in his coat's pockets. "Well, it is still buggy after all." He picked up a piece of paper and scribbled on it. "Note to self: when Rotom gets too hot of a head the system overheats." He put down the note and remembered something, as if mentally reading over a different note. "Oh, that's right! I have something for you, Ira."

"For me?" she said.

"Yeah, wait one second and I'll find it." He searched around for several minutes, only to later stuff his hands in his pockets and find it there. He handed the normal pokedex to Ira and then stepped back as if to get the full picture of her reaction. "What do you think?"

"Woah! Two gifts in one day! Lucky me!" She held up the red box and looked intently at it. "What's this?"

"Ira... It's a pokedex... Just like the thing I just showed you..."

Rotom's lightning bolt arms dropped in disappointment and it floated to somewhere else in the lab.

"Oh I see! It's different from the ones I'm used to seeing so it threw me off a bit!"

The device was a flat, slate-like touch screen that was mostly transparent in the middle, with a light blue casing on the top and bottom of the device.

"Well, it's the current Kalos model, so that's why," explained Elron. "I've seen several trainers carrying them around. I'm pretty sure it's prone to butt-selecting entries at inconvenient times though."

Can't you let me explain my own gift?! Wait a second! He finally noticed. She said "two gifts in one day." What does this mean?! He looked at Ira's backpack straps, and saw two pokeballs strapped there. He gave her a pokemon?! Lyne's self confidence plummeted. He really was no good at this. He gave her a pokemon when I only gave her a piece of plastic that people hardly ever use...

"Thanks," said Ira with a smile gleaming like the sun. "I've always seen everyone else with them and wondered what it would be like to have one of my own!"

"It's nothing," he said somewhat melancholically, but some of the rays of sunshine definitely brightened his hidden mood a little bit.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while, Lyne," Ira said, her smile loosening a little. "Don't get yourself into too much trouble now." She gave him a wink.

"Since when have I ever gotten into trouble?" He laughed. "I should be the one worried about you instead." In fact, I am.

Ira giggled. "I suppose you're right. Well, later Lyne!" she turned her back and made her way towards the door. Elron followed her out.

And then the door shut closed.

Lyne hobbled over to a chair and melted into it, looking up at the ceiling blankly.

Rotom zipped around the corner and fused into a computer terminal. "WHAT ABOUT YOUR LETTER?" typed itself out on the screen.

He rolled his head over slowly and glanced at the screen. "No way could I have given that to her."

"ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LET IT ROT IN THAT DRAWER? IT'S BEEN THERE FOR OVER A YEAR."

"Maybe," he answered. "Maybe I should never have gotten too full of myself and thought that I could have a future with her in the first place. I'm just a nerd that holes himself up in an underground lab with her work all the time anyways."

"..."

He sighed. "Be glad that you can't experience this sort of pain, Rotom."

It was true that Rotom was a pokemon incapable of romantic attraction, but that didn't make it feel any less empathetic. "IT HURTS SEEING YOU LIKE THIS, LYNE."

"Does it?" He let out a single, sad laugh. "I guess that's probably true." He sighed one last time, then stood up in a sudden fit of energy. "Well, in any case, I have work to do. The next cutting edge technology doesn't create itself you know!"

Rotom knew what he was doing, and what was to come. He was trying to cover his feelings up with his work, and for the next several weeks he would likely hardly leave the metal clad basement. He was the type to hide behind walls of all sorts, but just like the glass walls of his eyes, this wall could easily be seen through.

Lyne got to work, ignoring the short lived next message on the screen.

"NEITHER DOES HAPPINESS."