Growing up is hard. It's even harder, seeing that your idols and heroes don't age. They certainly grow in character; become stronger, better persons with each episode. The hardest part is to acknowledge that you eventually grow older than them - while still not having achieved anything noteworthy yourself.

Welp, my tenth birthday is long over, and there never was a single call, no message, no professor getting in touch with me to hand me my starter, so that I could finally head out into the tall grass, into a world of action, exploration and fame.

I awoke what seemed like a few seconds before the alarm rang. Just as I opened my eyes, the dreaded, high-pitched melody pierced my ears relentlessly.

My room was pitch black, apart from the section where the irregular blinds touched the windowsill, and the thin stripe of light emitted by the phone's display, lying face down on my bedside table.

Brrt - brrt - brrt. I always hated how the vibration alert was out of sync with the rhythm of the sound.

My phone was silenced by a quick movement of my hand. I glanced at the screen like every morning. It read 6:50 AM, 1 Apr 2021. No messages. No missed calls. The countdown timer to my tenth birthday read -2192 days.

Merely a small parcel symbol push notification next to the countdown (which actually was more like a count-up of frustration) indicated that I've just begun wasting yet another year of my life. Happy birthday to me. Sweet sixteenth.

I yawned deeply and stretched, just to gain a few more seconds beneath my warm blanket.

Well - today was the same as ever; just another stupid, boring day of school. Even worse, my actual birthday was apparently a joke, so I was going to endure all the pointless smalltalk and meaningless wishes next to all the faux "Reeeeeaallyyyy?" commentaries.

While waiting for the bus number 42, I wondered - or rather hoped - that my classmate Norah would board the same three stations later. I thought of her cute smile, the freckles on her gently tanned face, her open, shoulder long hair running alongside her wonderful body... I blinked and shook my head in disapproval of any further thoughts, and distracted myself by swiping my smartphone to collect my loot from the PokéHalt.

With the next gen of AR, my phone projected two virtual crates of items over the sidewalk's crumbling concrete, simulating light reflections through GPS coordinates, date and the time of day. As usual, there were merely a handful of default Pokéballs, healing potions and an insignificant amount of in-game currency in the first, with the second requiring a key to unlock. I grit my teeth and dismissed the "Happy Birthday" -30% offer, as well as the -20% offer titled with a generic Poké-pun regarding April's Fools.

While I was slightly annoyed at such fake presents that only meant to extort money from little kids or their parents, the finally arriving bus came to a squeaking halt.

I shut off the display to save power, and inadvertently caught a glance of the current time - 7:17 AM. This meant that the bus was 2 minutes late. Again. If it had to be late it could at least be late enough, so the loot would refresh in the meantime.

Also, it being delayed would raise the chance of meeting Norah.

This inconsistency let mild anger bubble inside me.

Hissssssss… The doors opened, and warm air reeking of food, sweat and tobacco amongst other things made me wrinkle my nose - perhaps even a bit exaggerated to show my disapproval. If the driver really wanted to end his life prematurely, couldn't he at least do it for the greater good and spend enough time on his cigarette for Norah to reach the bus in time?

Wordlessy, I showed my student bus ticket, presenting the same faux smile and QR-code as ever. I shifted my way through the bus, wishing for an acceptable seat. I passed some random strangers, a few vaguely familiar faces and a boy chewing on pizza, until my heart almost skipped a beat.

There they were: Two seats, next to each other, and both of them unoccupied! I immediately tossed my backpack over to the windowside, myself taking the aisle seat.

Three stations to go. Enough time for a little battle. I turned on all the combat options on my phone, internet, bluetooth, even NFC, just in case.

Looking for an opponent...

Obviously, nobody was in range just yet. I stared out of the window, playing with my vision to put the passing fence in and out of focus, while the various conifers, extending towards the distant mountains, remained clearly visible at all times. As the next station approached, I sneakily pressed the red button labeled 'STOP'. That would buy her some time.

Hissssssss… Two stations to go. Why would they make an app limited by range, when there should be millions of players worldwide, looking for an opportunity to get their butt kicked. I've given up on the losers in my city that were afraid of losing some in-game cash, afraid that they'd have to spend the entirety of their cheap healing potions on their team, sourced from the only PokéHalt they'd pass maybe once a day.

It certainly wasn't easy in Austria, where PokéHalts were unfairly rare, compared to the rest of the world. You had to play it smart to find a halfway decent route. Or you could just be lucky and live near a hot-spot.

One day, I'd finally escape this place to become the very-. Actually, it felt weak to borrow the motivation of a character, but I've never come up with anything better.

Again, I reached for the STOP-button, making sure that the busdriver wasn't looking in my direction. Good thing that these interior mirrors worked both ways. Heh.

Hissssssss… One station to go. A quick glance at the current time confirmed that I've successfully delayed the bus for another minute or so.

I never really understood Norah's tendency to be late, it almost felt as if she didn't care. Though it *did* make for a pretty cool special encounter, whenever she actually made it. I mean, if she decided to walk the longer route to get another PokéHalt, she might as well wake up earlier, too. It's not like I'd skip that opportunity, if I was her...

But if I were, would I even know her PIN? Would I know how to walk in her shoes, literally? How could it possibly feel like to be-

Again, I blinked and shook my head in disapproval of my thoughts. Why would my brain inject such vivid images again and again? A superior use would be to memorize all the attacks, all the debuffs, pro strategies, metas…

While trying to think my brain into being more efficient, I suddenly felt a shiver down my spine.