"You ready to go yet?"

Brian hopped in the car, wearing his little backpack. He had to be buckled in by his father instead.

Seth waved goodbye to Kate and he rolled out of the driveway.

The drive wasn't too long, a mere thirty minutes, but it was enough to get Brian excited.

"Yeah! Mudkip fights!" He pulled his plush out of his backpack and made punching motions with its feet. His energy was off the walls today, and he didn't put away his prize-winning smile either. He was practically jumping out of his seatbelt by the time that they arrived at the building.

They held each other's hands while they crossed the parking lot. Even from here you could tell that there was going to be a pokemon event. Children, and adults as a matter of fact, were sporting Pikachu hats, pokeballs attached to their waists, and each and every one of them had their 2DS or 3DS.

When they stepped in, they found that they weren't alone by a long shot. There were a few hundred people there. Booths selling pokemon merchandise lined the walls, trying to sap a little profit from the popular event. And then there was the line to register.

Seth couldn't believe how long of a line it was. It must have stretched 200 people long! Thankfully, the line split off into several smaller ones down the line, so it was moving somewhat quickly, but the enormity of it still caught him off guard.

The father and son waited patiently in line.

"Thomas!" shouted Brian, pointing to a boy across the room.

The other boy heard the call and rushed over, mother in tow.

"You came!" said Thomas. "Hey, l-look at my team!"

The two boys were already playing the game and they had hardly stepped into the building.

After the boys exchanged greetings and chatted about pokemon for a minute, Thomas and his mom took a spot at the back of the line.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of waiting, they reached the registration desk.

"2 registrants?" asked the worker, already starting to fill out the paperwork.

"Oh no," corrected Seth, "just one."

"That's not what your son holding two systems has to say," the worker said with a laugh.

Seth looked down at Brian and saw him not only holding his 2DS, but also Seth's system.

Brian presented the system to his father. He had apparently stashed it away in his backpack before they left. "You play!" he commanded.

"I guess that settles it," the worker said, handing over the rest of the forms with a wink.

Seth sighed. "Alright, fine." He took up a pen and filled out the forms for the both of them.

"Yay!"

"Alright," said the worker, taking back and processing the forms. "Mr. Hartmann, you'll be in the Master division. It's our biggest one. Brian, you'll have to be in the Junior division."

Brian didn't seem to understand what was being said, but Seth picked up on that.

"It means I won't be battling with you," he explained.

That didn't seem to deter him. "Okay!" he said.

Seth was surprised that that didn't have an effect on him. He gave Brian his little badge and walked him over to his spot, letting him meet with Thomas. "Hey Thomas, can I ask you to watch over Bran and make sure he does things correctly?"

The shy boy nodded.

"Alright. I'll be over in my division then."

"Y-you're comp-peting, Mr. Hartmann?"

"Yeah. I didn't think that I would, but it turns out that Bran wanted me to."

Thomas smiled. "Yeah of c-course!"

Seth didn't quite get why it was an "of course" kind of situation, but he didn't let it bother him.

After a few minutes, the host of the competition explained the rules, contestants were assigned numbers, and everyone got set for their first match.

Seth's first battle was with a girl in her mid-twenties, who didn't bat an eye when he sat down.

There was very little interaction between the two until the battle started. It didn't take but a few turns for Seth to realize how outclassed he was. The girl, despite her detached demeanor, appeared to be setting and executing all sorts of strategic moves constantly, and these strategies were incredibly effect, effectively wiping the floor with Seth.

The battle was over before he knew it, and he was dumbfounded.

"Good game," the girl said, sticking her hand out nonchalantly.

Seth shook it. "Good game." He was still processing what had happened. This was a completely different game than what he was used to. He had thought very little of the strategic elements up until now, but especially in this style of battle referred to as "double battle," there were very complex variables to be tinkered with. It wasn't just her move choices either, but even her pokemon and their held items that appeared to be finely tuned. It also didn't help that Seth knew only a few moves and pokemon.

The next battle was like that too. His opponents seemed to predict and outplay Seth's every move. Many of them didn't appear like they needed to resort to such mental trickery, as they could devastate Seth's basic team just as easily with their simpler strategies. It was like they were the chess grand masters and he was just learning the various ways in which a knight could move.

In one of the last rounds, Seth came up against a fellow older than him, which really surprised him. The man must have been in his sixties, but here he was, playing a videogame in such a high energy and teenager filled environment.

"Is that your son over there?" the old man questioned, gesturing behind Seth.

He turned around to see yet another thing that he never expected. There, surrounded by other kids was Bran. He seemed to be having a grand old time talking to the other kids, and the other kids were very patient with his limited speech capabilities. In fact, they seemed very interested in him. Perhaps it was his kind nature or his loud voice.

Seth turned back. "How did you know?"

"Saw you two walking in together," the old man said with a smile. "Your son must be very happy to have a father like you. Most parents would be reluctant to bring their kids here, let alone play the game too! You must really care for him."

Seth blushed a little. "Well, he is my son after all. And I'll warn you, I am very bad at this game apparently."

The elder laughed. "Don't worry, so am I."

"Then why are you here? Not that I'm saying you can't be here or anything."

"I understand what you mean. Why am I here... that's a good question. I guess I'm just a kid at heart. My grandkids got me to play a little bit and old retired me ended up getting hooked and using his endless free time to keep playing."

The announcer signalled for the next round to begin.

"Well, guess it's time to play. Best of luck to you."

"Good luck to you as well."

This battle was much more laid back than the previous ones, and it was actually as somewhat close battle. In the end, Seth came out on top: his first and only win. If there was one that was for sure after all these battles though, it was that Seth had underestimated the complexity of these games.

The last of the rounds came to a close, and the battle results were posted. Seth was at the very bottom of his division, only beating two other people. He shrugged and went to find Brian.

When he met up with Brian, his child was smiling to no end. Several kids were handing him strips of paper and waving goodbye.

"Well Bran, how did you do?"

He gave a big thumbs down. "Lost all!" Even though he said that he lost all of them, his face would have convinced anyone that he would have won the entire thing instead.

"Me too. What do you have there?" He pointed towards the strips of paper.

Brian presented them to his father. Every one of the small stack had a phone number written on them. "New friends!"

"Are these all from kids you met today?! Wow, I'm happy for you Bran!"

Brian smiled. No amount of new friends could satisfy him as much as his dad's attention.

"Well, how about us losers head home? I hear that your mom is making pancakes tonight."

The boy shouted with glee, but no one really seemed to mind. "Yeah!"

They walked across the parking lot, fingers locked, winnings low, but heads held high.

This is the story of father and son, of Seth and Brian Hartmann, and the connection that they have.