The boy followed suit, sitting a distance besides the man, his arms hugging his knees. Amor, he repeated in his mind. ”It is nice meeting you too, Amor,” he replied with a gentle smile, though his eyes were still fixated at the Pokemon playing amongst themselves. 

     Mason giggled a few times watching the Pokemon playing with each other, amused by their adorable behaviours. Vesty and Twiggy had always been friendly and they love to play with other Pokemon. Contrast to their trainer, who found it a bit hard to engage in social situations, most of the times relying on others to start a conversation with him.

     The question asked by the older man made his cheeks flush. ”Err... I think it had been a couple days, but definitely not a week in.” he answered while intentionally avoiding eye contact with Amor. Mason tried to put the spotlight away from him by immediately asking the man, his body now turned to face the man he was questioning, ”How about you? How long have you been a trainer?”. The boy guessed that the man had definitely been a trainer for years, judging by how he and his Pokemon coordinated. 

    Mason turned his head to look at the older man, his attention undivided. He was a bit surprised to hear Amor giving him some tips on becoming a trainer. ‘Is he really helping me out?’, he thought. Which is what was happening and what was good for him as well. Amor looked even cooler now in his eyes. Doing something is better than doing nothing. That line rang clear in his mind, and would be so too throughout his journey. For a second, he thought, ‘I am very lucky to came across Amor,’. 

     At first, the boy didn’t believe that he was actually listening to Amor’s childhood days. But as the story progressed, Mason couldn’t help but to feel a little bit sad. ‘Starting from the age of six...’ he thought. ‘Isn’t that a little bit cruel?’ he ruminated for awhile. ‘I couldn’t even focus on one task when I was six, I used to play around... Like what kids are supposed to do...’ Mason began to empathise with Amor without noticing it. He could only look at the other man’s eyes and ask himself what the man was hiding beneath all that masks.

     Mason set his gaze onto the setting sun, the sky changing colours of beautiful hues of orange and purple. He didn’t find anything humorous when he heard the man chuckling. To Mason the man’s chuckles were a little bit melancholic, or perhaps that was only due to his own previous thoughts. ”Twenty years... I haven’t even been alive for twenty years.” he stated while he played with the grass near his shoes, his chin rested on his knees.

---

Amor Rose

    Amor’s words were in his mind, kinda. He thought about it for awhile. A path he wanted to follow. Never had he considered such questions before. He had always lived life following the flow, just being kinda okay wherever it takes him. But, as Amor said, he had a lot of time to think about it. At the moment he must stay alert of the alien-like Pokemon. 

     When Amor laid low, Mason became more aware of the surroundings. When he was asked to get his Pokemon ready, he turned around, to see the two little creatures entranced by a small ladybug they found somewhere on the grass. Mason said to them, as quietly as possible, ”Hey you two, get ready and stay alert,”, and they did as told, slowly walked towards Mason’s side. 

     Mason watched the older man searched the sky, and he followed suit. If it were not of their current situation, Mason would’ve found the sky most lovely. With all its stars decorating the black blanket of the night. But then he saw something peculiar, something that didn’t look like the rest of the stars. It was flashing. There was no mistaking it. He quickly pointed it out with a finger, ”There,”.

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Amor Rose