Nathan Cole (Resident)
Hi-Hat Cafe

As Nathan spent the afternoon searching on his laptop at the quiet Hi-Hat Cafe, the news he read had varying opinions on the whole recent developments regarding the induction of Pokéballs, battles, and what was to become of Ryme City's future. It begged the question whether the human and Pokémon tradition of living in harmony would have to change. He knew Megans Technologies was sweeping in, seeking to put the old ways down. There was likely to be a transition period. A time when it was both okay for people to have Pokémon out in the open as partners, and okay for people to own Pokémon in Pokéballs. But he had a feeling it wouldn't stop there. He had a feeling it would only be a precursor to what could come next: Pokéballs being mandated for security reasons. With the rogue attacks and the recent incident involving the Machamp attack on the public official, they had ammunition to justify it.

He had been there hunched over a laptop computer for the last three hours with his pure black coffee finished long ago. All while thinking his next move and what the options were. There was varying opinions about the situation. Some felt there wasn't a problem and Pokéballs would be fine. Others believed this was the first step toward eventually forcing everyone to contain their Pokémon and the wild Pokémon of Ryme City being subject to capture. It got Nathan thinking how the line would be drawn and who would draw it.

"But it works for many other cities and Pokémon trainers." It was often the response he heard to those questioning and undermining the principles that made Ryme City the way it was. And as Nathan thought about it, sure, it worked for them. Trainers were often going around with a whole team of Pokémon. In some cases, those Pokémon loved their trainers and it was fine. But in others, there was still subject to abuse. Members of gangs like Team Rocket and Cipher had a history of using abusive practices on their own Pokémon.

But even in the defense of Pokémon trainers, there was a whole variety of reasons a person would have Pokémon as companions. In Nathan's eyes, there was nothing wrong with that. If he wanted to, he could have easily proposed to Kano, his Cinccino, if he wished to take part in some kind of activity or something like that. Despite it still being illegal in Ryme, some Pokémon liked a good battle, though collateral damage and possible participant and spectator injury were always a risk, even in regulation stadiums. Others wanted their Pokémon to perform in contests, musicals, or whatever competition their owner had in mind. And there were plenty of Pokémon that were clearly happy and enthusiastic to participate in such.

It was primarily the use of Pokéballs that concerned him. He had seen plenty of citizens live peacefully with their Pokémon for decades without even touching a Pokéball. Having Pokémon out free on the streets wasn't a problem in the past. And the citizens were aware and accepting of the risks. And he understood that Ryme City wasn't for everyone. Not everyone would be cozy with having powerful creatures out in the streets among them. They could, after all, discharge fire and electricity, or cause devastating earthquakes and fissures. Some could debate how could Ryme City even still be standing while running those kinds of risks?

Nathan felt the answer was simple. These Pokémon and the humans they lived with, if they lived with a human, all shared the same thing. Ryme City was home. A Pokémon wouldn't just devastate their own home and the homes of other Pokémon that lived here. Sure, it took a great amount of faith and trust in the system to make it work, but he knew responsibility and care was what made it happen for all those years. The system, while fragile, was incredible when it worked.

Which was why the induction of Pokéballs was something that he felt was the problem. All the Pokémon in Ryme had never known about these strange and bizarre capture devices, and that there was a level of fear to them. What happens to the Pokémon inside? There were some that compared it to being in a coma, being blind and deaf, or other fearful states. But the thing that clued Nathan in on the problem was that almost always, Pokémon tried to avoid capture. To capture a Pokémon, a trainer had to weaken them to the point where they could no longer resist the restraining power of the Pokéball, and would eventually give in and submit to the trainer. To Nathan, it seemed harsh to subject a Pokémon to that abusive duress and put them into submission against their will. Why not try to just bond with the Pokémon instead? Why even resort to using a capture device in the first place? He felt a natural bond was the ideal way to befriend these creatures. If it was clear the Pokémon didn't want to bond and wanted to stay independent, that should be respected.

"Weren't you around seven years ago?" when one of the university students was conducting a survey panel to all the cafe's patrons for a class assignment. "And if so, how did it make you feel?"

Nathan looked at the young college girl's eyes after she had unintentionally broke his train of thought. Those brown eyes, long brown hair, comforting visage, they all spoke of a girl that was looking for the right answers just as much as he was. She had her own Pokémon, a very clingy and bubbly Floette, perched happily upon the girl's shoulder. That sign made it clear she was a regular Ryme City citizen just as much as he was.

"I was here," Nathan replied to her. "Let's just say it came and went, but we all got back on our feet."

"Was this Cinccino your partner at the time?" the girl asked, noticing the white and gray chinchilla Pokémon relaxing on the table besides him. "Were you among those that were affected?"

It wasn't exactly the most ideal question to ask Nathan, but he figured there was probably a good reason why this girl was doing this survey. She seemed to take the assignment personally. As though there was something more she was hoping to accomplish with it and not just hoping for that A+ from her professor. Maybe take it to the next level. Maybe get the message out there far and wide that Ryme City needed to stay the way it was supposed to be. Maybe it was worth opening up this one time.

"Right, Kano is and was my partner both now and at the time," he told her, recalling the events of seven years ago. "We were on Charti Street when it happened and the streets went up in panic because nobody knew what was really going on. I believe you probably already know what happened shortly after the incident started, so I'll spare you the details. Let's just say it made me see things in a different perspective during and after the crisis. But that whole incident stems from someone being irresponsible, not because we can't trust the Pokémon who live with us."

"In the wake of what happened," she asked him, "do you feel anything should be changed about the way Pokémon and humans live in Ryme City?"

"No, we've all moved on from it," he told her. "If it bothered me, we would have moved elsewhere by now. We're willing to accept the risks. It's why we continue to stay."

"Thanks, your input has been really helpful," the girl told him with an appreciative smile. "I hope you have a good day."

The point of it all was he felt you couldn't just give up on something you've believed in most of your life just because of some incident like that. To him, that was like giving up on a car just because of a flat tire, or giving up on a child's life just because they got a fever. Giving up on what made Ryme City the unique and special place it was for humans and Pokémon just because of a single incident was a terrible practice. He admitted it wasn't the perfect utopia, but no place in the world could attest to being that. And other crisis events occurred all around the world, so this wasn't just a Ryme City problem. He could easily bring up other international crisis incidents involving Team Rocket, wayward legendary Pokémon, and the like. But they were stopped and life went on. And in terms of the new incidents popping up, while Nathan didn't have the evidence yet, he had a hunch the stray, wild Pokémon living in the city were feeling pressure and stress from the new presence of Pokéballs, and that was why there were rogue attacks now. But it was only a hunch, and he knew he didn't have the veterinarian skills to confirm that. Of course, he knew Megans Technologies wouldn't stop their venture because of a theory. Not unless there was hard, confirmed evidence. Of course, how does one interview a Pokémon to get their side of the story?

The incident seven years ago gave him a different kind of empathy for the creatures and what they might be feeling and thinking. His main argument against the new presence of Megans Technologies and their Pokéball manufacturing was on the basis of "if you were a Pokémon, do you think you'd want to live in a Pokéball, or out in the open?" And if the reply was in the later, then how could that same person justify using them? And he knew that some Pokémon just didn't mind being in a Pokéball. But what about preference? What if things were changed and the Pokémon had the choice instead of the human?

For now, Nathan had his sights set on one core objective. He needed to figure out ways of keeping Megans Technologies at bay and stop the circulation of Pokéballs. For the time being, the Ryme City Police Department still considered wild Pokémon capturing to be illegal. He needed to make sure things stayed that way, but there was still plenty of work to be done beyond that.

It was time to take that first, critical step. And he knew he wasn't alone.