Midnight Shoot

“I heard they took out most of the originals. They only have Charizard.”

“Well, i mean it’s a new Pokemon game, of course they need to promote the newer ones.”

“There’s four hundred plus in the Pokedex dude, what harm were six more. I really like Blastoise.”

The other shrugged.

“And also, some of these new ones, Trubbish, Pokedex description ‘Garbage Pokemon’, come on. At least the other ones had good concepts.”

“Did you know Alcremie turns into a wedding cake when Gigamaxed?”

“Exactly! That’s my point. What’s next a Ballpoint Pen Pokemon?”

Another shrug. They were standing in line. The atmosphere was electric, the mood jubilant. Above them, a midnight moon twinkled. As the clock neared twelve, people began looking at their watches more frequently, more impatiently. It was a diverse array of people, and it was also not. There were people of every color, mostly white. There were people with different colored hair, some wore their Pokemon shirts, and Pokemon socks, and Pokemon caps, and wore them with pride. Others had on discreet jeans and hoodies. There were three white girls, two wearing glasses, two with different colored hair, one pink, the other a shocking purple. Most of these people had been bullied in school for their obsession. Some of them hid it, even at work, even as grown ups, taught as they had been to fit in with the crowd. Here, they could be themselves. This was more than a midnight release. This was a communal gathering. Here, they could smell the sweet scent of their crowd, their people. Here, they could taste the excitement in the air, and not just because of them, here they could almost feel the games in their hands, and it was made even better by the fact that there were people around them that understood.

A car honked a few streets away. An ambulance rushed by. This city did not sleep. People farther behind in line began clapping. Others in front craned their necks around looking back, without moving their feet. What was this? Excited murmuring began. Some sort of promotion? People were clapping louder. They had not mentioned it. A Mimikyu came around the corner. The costume was immaculate, a dirty, grey yellow Pikachu, with blank eyes. That’s what Mimikyu was, a ghost Pokemon that was jealous of the attention Pikachu got, so it wore a costume. All it wanted was love. Kind of like the people present. They hadn’t mentioned it on the banners. But it was this city, anything went.

“Wait, is Mimikyu even in the Pokedex?”

“I think… so?”

They too began clapping. The night was beautiful, moonlit streets, excited chattering, across the river, the other boroughs slept. Here, here, everyone, mostly everyone was still awake. The smell of late night pizza, alcohol was in the air. The sounds of some cars rushing about. Few. The taste of excitement.

The employees that were setting up inside heard the clapping, and one poked his head out to watch. He reported, “there’s a Mimikyu outside.” The others would be shocked, they hadn’t been told, it wasn’t part of the release, but it was probably an overzealous fan. They’d see him when he came inside. Then screaming. The shots were muffled. The thud of bodies on pavement was loud. Slowly, the screaming dimmed. None remained.