Flashing a glance at the PokeNav on his bed, he contemplated it.

Then he reached for it and scrolled down through the name in his text history. Probably ten or so in number, including a quick chat with Roxanne, and then there was Wally’s. A date sat by the last text Burris sent. Almost two weeks since Wally had last texted him.

He exhaled and his finger hovered over the conversation. A quick text, that was all.

[9:21 pm] hey, I’m in fallarbor

He typed, then deleted, then typed again. Words came and went, sometimes forming long paragraphs that bordered on apologies, but the better part of him deleted those. This trip had happened for a reason, after all. He scratched his eyes and yawned as he stared at the simple sentence in front of him.

Then he pressed send.

[9:30 pm] want to meet up tomorrow morning?

Burris set down the device, careful not to place it on top of the keys for fear of breaking them, on the wooden nightstand. He sat on the edge of his bed for a few seconds, the PokeNav lifeless and dead. The paranoid part of him wasted no time in suggesting that Aile might’ve failed to talk to Wally. Burris couldn’t completely shove those thoughts back into a closet.

He scowled and wrapped himself up in fuzzy blankets. Burris told himself he was trying to sleep. In reality he was waiting for that screen to light up again.

He tossed again and peaked outside. The moon sat higher in the sky now. He groaned and turned back towards his night stand. Nothing.

His eyes drifted towards a pair of Poke Balls haphazardly scattered on top of it. He grabbed for the two center ones, distinct scratches from years of use guiding him towards one while the other one was pure collateral. Twin flashes of light lit up all of the cracks and imperfections in the room, and small multi colored dots fluttered through Burris’ vision after the light faded.

Robby yawned and stretched his arms above his head. Jonesy’s half shut blue eyes regarded Burris with some measure of confusion. They followed Burris as he turned to his phone.

“I… hi,” Burris muttered, hardly above a whisper. Robby crossed his arms and chirped, head tilted. “Yeah, struggling to sleep.” He turned and reached for the PokeNav; maybe it just hadn’t lit up, technology was strange like that, maybe-

A pink and white ribbon snapped around Burris’ wrist, fingers an inch away from his device. “Wha- Jonesy!” Burris flashed an annoyed look at the Sylveon. “I just wanted to see if Wally responded!” he hissed.

Jonesy whined and managed the best puppy dog eyes he could at Burris.

It melted through Burris annoyed gaze as Jonesy rubbed his head up Burris’ side. It left his head just at the right level for pats from his trainer. Burris smiled and ran his hand through Jonesy’s fur, then Robby sat down on the opposite side of Burris, his small arms doing their best to wrap around Burris’ waist.

“Fine, you too,” Burris said. They sat there like that for a little while before Burris felt his eyes droop. The bedspring creaked as he laid down again, Jonesy and Robby curling up on both sides of him. Burris unrumpled his fuzzy blankets on top of him and his twin pokemon, his paranoia and worries set aside by the comfort.

And at the precise moment he nearly drifted off, his phone rumbled against the nightstand.

[10:58 pm] Sorry I was distracted! That sounds good!