Chapter 35
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Common
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Years had passed since the night Ethan decided to quietly jumpstart the modern technological revolution from the shadows.
At twelve years old, Ethan was taller, sharper, and considerably better organized. The secret base he'd dug into the underground, popping out by twinleaf town, thanks ot his pokemon he was able to get around quite alot faster than most people assumed.
He pulled the camouflaged hatch shut, kicking a layer of damp moss and fallen leaves over the steel frame until it vanished completely into the forest floor. He wiped a smudge of machine grease off his cheek and adjusted the straps of his pack.
"Vee!"
His Eevee bounded onto his shoulder, shaking out her tail as she caught the crisp autumn breeze sweeping through the high canopy.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll head home soon," Ethan muttered with a faint grin. "Just need to make sure Aunt Cynthia doesn't catch us smelling like industrial solvent again."
He took three steps down the trail before a tinny, muffled burst of heavy rock music rattled through the quiet woods.
Ethan paused, blinking.
Sitting on a mossy boulder right at the edge of the clearing was Dawn. She had her long blue hair tied back, wearing oversized boots, a thick scarf, and a look of absolute, unbothered concentration. Clamped over her ears was a pair of chunky black foam headphones, connected by a thick gray wire to a portable cassette player clipped to her belt.
The girl jumped nearly a foot off the boulder when Ethan appeared to emerge from absolute nowhere, her hands flying to her headphones and yanking them down around her neck with a sharp, startled gasp.
The tinny, muffled audio from her tape buzzed furiously against her collar, rattling out heavy guitar riffs and crashing drums into the quiet forest air.
"Hey! Where on earth did you just come from?!" she squeaked, clutching her chest as her blue eyes went wide. "You literally just manifested out of the bushes! There wasn't even a trail there!"
"I didn't manifest, you were just jamming to heavy metal at maximum volume," Ethan said, a slow, amused grin breaking across his face as he gestured toward the chunky cassette player clipped to her belt. "Where did you even get a tape like that?"
She quickly slammed her thumb onto the stop button with a heavy, metallic CLACK, shoving the player deeper into her side bag as her cheeks flushed bright pink.
"From the network!" she huffed, crossing her arms defensively to recover whatever dignity she had left. "A seller on the local bulletin board was trading physical tape dubs. I mean, if Goldenrod Records wanted the money, they should've released it earlier and not let the radio rips leak!" Dawn said, defending herself.
Which, honestly, was fair. In an era dominated by radio broadcasts and dual-deck cassette recorders, piracy didn't require high-speed lines—just a blank tape, a steady signal, and a little patience.
Although it was the first time Ethan had ever run into a pirate of technically his music.
Ethan blinked, a sudden wave of quiet hilarity washing over him.
Goldenrod Records? He hadn't even thought about the corporate side of things, its just at the time he decided to share earth's music thats the only record place he could think of in the Pokémon world.
"So what brings you all the way out here? This is kinda far down the trail." Dawn states
"VEE!" Eevee cheers.
"Eevee wanted to explore a bit although I think we are qutie far from Celestic City."
"Celestic Town?!" Dawn's eyes went wide, her jaw practically hitting her boots. She looked Ethan up and down again, taking in his grease-smudged jacket, his scuffed shoes, and the surprisingly unbothered Eevee sitting on his shoulder. "Are you crazy?! That's all the way on the other side of Mt. Coronet! You walked through the entire mountain pass just to 'explore a bit' with your Eevee?!"
"Vee!" Eevee chirped again, puffing out her chest as if taking full credit for the cross-regional trek.
"We like long walks," Ethan said smoothly, throwing his hands into his pockets with a completely straight face. "Besides, the trails aren't so bad if you know where the shortcuts are."
Dawn stared at him for a solid five seconds, utterly convinced he was either a total liar or completely insane. But then she let out a long, dramatic sigh, shaking her head so hard her blue hair swayed against her scarf.
"Unbelievable. You Celestic kids really are as weird as the rumors say," she mutters, though her curiosity clearly won out as she gestured down the dirt path. "Well, since you're already all the way out here in Twinleaf's backyard, you might as well walk with me toward Sandgem. Professor Rowan's lab is down that way, and if you're actually planning on trekking all the way back home, you look like you could use a proper route map."
At twelve years old, Ethan was taller, sharper, and considerably better organized. The secret base he'd dug into the underground, popping out by twinleaf town, thanks ot his pokemon he was able to get around quite alot faster than most people assumed.
He pulled the camouflaged hatch shut, kicking a layer of damp moss and fallen leaves over the steel frame until it vanished completely into the forest floor. He wiped a smudge of machine grease off his cheek and adjusted the straps of his pack.
"Vee!"
His Eevee bounded onto his shoulder, shaking out her tail as she caught the crisp autumn breeze sweeping through the high canopy.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll head home soon," Ethan muttered with a faint grin. "Just need to make sure Aunt Cynthia doesn't catch us smelling like industrial solvent again."
He took three steps down the trail before a tinny, muffled burst of heavy rock music rattled through the quiet woods.
Ethan paused, blinking.
Sitting on a mossy boulder right at the edge of the clearing was Dawn. She had her long blue hair tied back, wearing oversized boots, a thick scarf, and a look of absolute, unbothered concentration. Clamped over her ears was a pair of chunky black foam headphones, connected by a thick gray wire to a portable cassette player clipped to her belt.
The girl jumped nearly a foot off the boulder when Ethan appeared to emerge from absolute nowhere, her hands flying to her headphones and yanking them down around her neck with a sharp, startled gasp.
The tinny, muffled audio from her tape buzzed furiously against her collar, rattling out heavy guitar riffs and crashing drums into the quiet forest air.
"Hey! Where on earth did you just come from?!" she squeaked, clutching her chest as her blue eyes went wide. "You literally just manifested out of the bushes! There wasn't even a trail there!"
"I didn't manifest, you were just jamming to heavy metal at maximum volume," Ethan said, a slow, amused grin breaking across his face as he gestured toward the chunky cassette player clipped to her belt. "Where did you even get a tape like that?"
She quickly slammed her thumb onto the stop button with a heavy, metallic CLACK, shoving the player deeper into her side bag as her cheeks flushed bright pink.
"From the network!" she huffed, crossing her arms defensively to recover whatever dignity she had left. "A seller on the local bulletin board was trading physical tape dubs. I mean, if Goldenrod Records wanted the money, they should've released it earlier and not let the radio rips leak!" Dawn said, defending herself.
Which, honestly, was fair. In an era dominated by radio broadcasts and dual-deck cassette recorders, piracy didn't require high-speed lines—just a blank tape, a steady signal, and a little patience.
Although it was the first time Ethan had ever run into a pirate of technically his music.
Ethan blinked, a sudden wave of quiet hilarity washing over him.
Goldenrod Records? He hadn't even thought about the corporate side of things, its just at the time he decided to share earth's music thats the only record place he could think of in the Pokémon world.
"So what brings you all the way out here? This is kinda far down the trail." Dawn states
"VEE!" Eevee cheers.
"Eevee wanted to explore a bit although I think we are qutie far from Celestic City."
"Celestic Town?!" Dawn's eyes went wide, her jaw practically hitting her boots. She looked Ethan up and down again, taking in his grease-smudged jacket, his scuffed shoes, and the surprisingly unbothered Eevee sitting on his shoulder. "Are you crazy?! That's all the way on the other side of Mt. Coronet! You walked through the entire mountain pass just to 'explore a bit' with your Eevee?!"
"Vee!" Eevee chirped again, puffing out her chest as if taking full credit for the cross-regional trek.
"We like long walks," Ethan said smoothly, throwing his hands into his pockets with a completely straight face. "Besides, the trails aren't so bad if you know where the shortcuts are."
Dawn stared at him for a solid five seconds, utterly convinced he was either a total liar or completely insane. But then she let out a long, dramatic sigh, shaking her head so hard her blue hair swayed against her scarf.
"Unbelievable. You Celestic kids really are as weird as the rumors say," she mutters, though her curiosity clearly won out as she gestured down the dirt path. "Well, since you're already all the way out here in Twinleaf's backyard, you might as well walk with me toward Sandgem. Professor Rowan's lab is down that way, and if you're actually planning on trekking all the way back home, you look like you could use a proper route map."
