A tiny screen wakes with an eightbit glow
A small town morning in the hush before I go
A quiet desk of notes and lifted lids
One small choice and a ball that weighs like a promise
I step past the fence where the world turns wide
A green bud in my pocket and fire at my side
Tall grass shivers like it knows my name
My thumb hovers over Save and my heartbeat plays the game
I hold my breath when the first click lands
Cold metal circle warming in my hands
If it breaks free I rewind my nerve
I save again and tell myself I will learn to swerve
Badges are stars I chase on a paper map
Each step a pulse as the bassline claps
I hear the menu blip like a starting gun
And I walk like I am still becoming someone
Kanto draws itself behind my eyes
In pixels and wind and unspoken skies
Soft footsteps echo down the road
Between a screen change pause and the weight I hold
A bicycle hums through evening air
A Pokédex breath counts what is there
Not just the monsters but the me I find
Each route turns forward and rewrites my mind
Through the first gate the green feels new
A rock town hard like stone under my shoe
A water city smells like summer skin
A harbor town whistles metal where ships roll in
A tower town is quiet like a held back tear
A neon garden city blinds till my vision clears
A marshy town is damp where the shadows stick
An island furnace burns and makes my courage quick
My bag is full so every choice hurts
I toss the wrong thing then search the dirt
I loop the same map till the night feels thin
And swear I saw a doorway that was never in
Graph paper lists in blocky lines
A dog eared guide in borrowed time
Rumors traded low at after school
A link cable waiting like a secret rule
I keep my TMs like sealed up gold
Afraid to spend them till I am old
Flash is a fear in a cave of gray
Then Strength answers with a steady way
A black R drifts through a crowded floor
An underground maze that begs for more
I take back something I cannot name
And step out lighter though I feel the same
Badges keep ringing but the reason shifts
From beating the next to bearing the gifts
I read my own reflection in the light
And learn to adapt without losing the fight
Kanto draws itself behind my eyes
In eightbit arps and marching low replies
Soft footsteps echo down the road
Between a screen change pause and the weight I hold
A bicycle hums through evening air
A Pokédex breath counts what is there
Not just the monsters but the me I find
Each route turns forward and rewrites my mind
Years later I hear that transition space
A half second silence like a saving place
I remember sweaty hands before I try
When red HP blinks and my heart says why
There was a long road where battles stack
Breath getting shorter with no turning back
A shadow of a friend up on the line
Only a back and a question I will not define
Once someone whispered of a truck and myth
I smile and let it stay a fragile gift
If I could write to the kid I was
I would say you are not lost you are becoming because
Kanto still lives in the way I choose
In how I bend when I cannot lose
I learned to grow by changing my frame
To keep my core without needing a name
A high plateau wind still chills my skin
Not for the crown but the breath within
Hallway of light and a held up stare
A door that opens into somewhere
I do not say what the last fight was
I only remember the tremble because
I saved before it and laughed after too
Both the fearless child and the adult in view
I came for a win and I left with more
A map in my chest and a steady shore
What I held then I could not hold tight
What I hold now is the way I walked through night
The eightbit arpeggio fades to a line
One final Save and the screen goes dim
In the quiet dark the journey stays near
A soft old world that still calls me here