For the Love of Valor! (1/1)

“Agh! It ran away! No!”Confused stares are directed your way as you shake your phone around in frustration. The elusive, high CP Pikachu you had been hunting had fled from the catching screen, leaving you with less pokeballs and a slightly fractured morale. Adding insult to injury, after you tap the screen to look at the “Nearby Pokemon” list, you only see your standard fare of basic pokemon – Pidgeys and Weedles.You utter a pitiful moan and hang your head in disappointment. It had taken so long for you to track that Pikachu down, too. When you saw it pop onto the Pokemon list twenty minutes into your stroll down the walking trail, you knew you had to claim it as your own. The hunt had led you from the trail into one of the neighboring parks until the last footprint had finally disappeared. Fate, however, had other plans.Sighing, you turn around and make your way back toward the trail, passing a bench seating a couple of young women nursing their babies. You look around the park in appreciation of the cheerful ambience of the children’s playground. Squealing kids slide down short, colorful slides and push their friends on a swing set. Somehow, the sight of children playing seems more relatable to you as you stroll around playing Pokemon Go, which reminds you of the game you had been acquainted with since your youth.The release of the mobile game had given you a source of nostalgia and motivation to walk for long distances outside without the threat of inevitable boredom. The absence of air conditioning didn’t really seem so bad when the augmented reality app could allow you to see the pokemon you were catching through your own camera. The game was strangely addicting – if for no other reason than the amusement of seeing a Rattata standing on a slide. You had to be careful to not look like you were taking pictures of children, though. The mothers had already shot you with wary looks and the last thing you needed was to be banned from a park.You lift your phone to look at the list again and happily note that an Eevee had taken up residence someplace nearby. You continue to walk toward the trail, keeping a close eye on the single footprint. Your eyes glance toward the ground occasionally in order to prevent any unwanted accidents. After all, you could only imagine how embarrassing it would be to end up in some news story detailing yet another Pokemon Go-related mishap. You could just see the headline already – “Local Girl Falls into Uncovered Manhole while Capturing Pokemon”. Yeah, no thanks.“Yes!” a cheerful male voice whoops ahead of you. You look up curiously to spot a slim, tall guy clutching a phone with both hands. As he jumps excitedly, you jog toward him while holding your phone in front of you. As expected, an Eevee pops into the screen.“Sweet! Thanks for the heads up,” you grin as you tap on the small creature. You glance upward and see him regarding you with sheepish surprise. After turning your attention back towards your screen, you notice the brown creature standing on the ground beside his feet.“Hey! It’s right next to you!” you exclaim happily, pointing at the space beside his right foot.“Right here?” he asks, turning his body to lift his right foot above the space.You giggle at the sight through your camera. “It looks like you’re about to stomp on it.”“Take a picture! I wanna see,” the boy requests eagerly, maintaining his pose.You comply and take a quick screenshot of his nubuck Timberland boots poised above the small Eevee. “Got it! I’ll catch it now,” you smile, and fling a pokeball toward the cute pocket monster. Luckily, the one pokeball was all it took. After seeing the pokemon’s identification screen appear, you look up from your phone to get a proper look of the boy you ran into.Short, dark brown hair was swept over thick eyebrows, framing a pair of very innocent brown eyes. A plain white, oversized shirt hung well past his hips, over stylishly torn jeans, which were tucked into light brown, nubuck Timberland boots. He seemed to be close to your age.“Hi there. I’m [Y/N]. It’s nice to see another player out and about. What’s your name?” you flash him a friendly smile and extend your right hand in greeting.He smiles shyly and takes your hand to shake. “I’m Jungkook. Nice to meet you.”“Likewise! Would you like to see the picture?” you ask amiably. He nods silently, a subtle expression of excitement crossing his face. You open your photo gallery and bring up the screenshot you had just taken. “Check it out,” you grin, extending your phone to show him the amusing photograph.He examines your phone and laughs, clasping his hands together with a small clap. ‘He certainly seems sweet, you muse’, admiring his soft features. He looks away from the phone to meet your eyes, suddenly looking stricken with bashful reticence. A light pink tinges his cheeks, before he finally opens his mouth to speak.Before he can make any comments, a short tone is emitted by his phone. He lifts his phone to look at the screen and makes a quiet noise of surprise.“Sorry [Y/N], I’m needed at home.”“No problem, nice meeting you,” you smile kindly as he looks at you apologetically. He lifts his free hand to give you a small wave before turning around and running toward the park entrance, away from the trail.As you watch him retreat, you feel a small pang of regret from not being able to obtain his number. Resolving to not worry about it, you raise your phone to shift your attention back to the Pokemon Go app. There was a Pikachu nearby and you refused to let it get away again.