Adam swore to himself as he pushed his body against the door and it failed to open. Locked. There were several other glass doors next to the one he had tried first, but he soon found that they were all locked as well.
He looked down at the soft glow from his phone. His avatar stood at the edge of the square campus building, a finger's width from the Pokéstop in the buildings central courtyard—in the real world, it was a distance of sixty feet or so.
He checked the nearby Pokémon screen and found the wild Blissey still staring back at him happily, the courtyard's statue of Shakespeare in the background.
It was 9:00 on a Tuesday night, so it wasn't surprising that the building would be locked. But he had rushed out from his dorm room in the hopes that either his GPS would drift enough to let him in, or that the custodial staff had forgotten to lock one of the many doors at the building's front.
He turned to walk back when someone else approached the doors, pushing against one to no avail. Her size was the first thing he noticed—Adam himself was six foot four, so most people looked small to him. But she was particularly tiny, likely no more than five foot. She had a slim build, and was dressed in a loose white t-shirt, extremely short gym shorts, and flip flops. She had a small drawing backpack on her shoulders.
"They're all locked," Adam explained defeatedly.
"Fuck," she exclaimed, checking her phone, just as Adam had just moments ago. "I need this damn Blissey."
Adam smiled to himself. He hadn't seen her at any of the Pokémon GO events before. But he was always happy to see new players. And she was certainly a cutie.
"I thought I could get it with some drifting from the GPS..." Adam explained with a shrug.
She paused in thought.
"Have you tried the side door?"
"Side door?" he replied.
"Yeah," she said, already walking off, her face buried in her phone. "It's, like, a handicap ramp thing that leads into one of the classrooms. I took western civ here last semester and a girl in a wheelchair would come in every day from that door."
She hadn't looked back as she marched on, but Adam had followed. He had had western civ in a different building, but he trusted that she knew what she was talking about.
She was surprisingly fast, considering how short she was and Adam had to really stretch his long legs to keep up with her.
They rounded a corner and a cement ramp came into view, a metal door at its end. She raced to the top but paused for Adam to catch up.
"Moment of truth," she said with a grin, her hand hovering in front of the large metal button that would trigger the motor to open the handicapped accessible door.
She pushed and the door slowly swung inward.
"After you," she gestured with ironic formality.
Adam stepped into the darkened lecture hall. The only illumination was the green glow of an exit sign. He turned on his phone's flashlight and held it aloft. His companion stepped in behind him as the automatic door slowly shut behind them.
"Still not close enough," she said, face in her phone. "But at least we can get to the courtyard now."
She again took the lead, striding confidently up the steps to the entrance of the lecture hall as Adam held the light for them.
The building hallway was slightly better lit, from the glow of vending machines and occasional windows that let in the moonlight from outside. But no offices or classrooms were lit.
It was a little eerie, but not exactly scary. They hadn't really broken in, so if they did run into someone else, they could just say that they didn't know the building was supposed to be closed.
He continued to follow as she made her way to the courtyard. They both slowed and concreted on their phones as their avatars came close enough to allow them to spin the statue Pokéstop. Still no Blissey...
"It might be on the other side of the courtyard," she said, taking the words right out of Adam's mouth.
"It's probably faster to cut through the courtyard than walk around," she declared. No argument on Adam's part.
They came to the glass doors that lead to the courtyard—thankfully unlocked. They made their way through the footpaths that wound through the garden, focused on their phones more than anything else.
They had almost arrived at the other side of the courtyard when she stopped with a whoop of excitement. A second later, the Blissey popped up on Adam's screen too.
"Damn, it's a big one," she exclaimed.
Indeed it was. Weather boosted to a CP of 2292.
"Worth a golden razz," Adam evaluated as he fed it the rare berry. Even with the berry and the best Pokéball, its capture ring was still orange—there was a decent chance of it popping out and running away.
He waited patiently for its capture ring to get small enough for an excellent throw before letting loose a curveball. It landed true and, after 3 shakes of the ball, it was caught.
His companion wasn't as lucky.
"Fuck!" she swore.
"Broke from the first ball?" Adam asked, stepping closer to watch her screen.
"Yeah," she said, not looking up. She fed another golden razzberry and threw an excellent curveball.
The Pokémon broke out after two shakes, but did not flee.
"FUCK!" she swore louder.
She applied another golden berry and hit another excellent curveball.
Adam was impressed. He assumed that because he didn't recognize her that she was new to the game. Maybe she was, but she was pretty skilled nonetheless—she was just having bad luck.
This time, the Pokéball shook three times before sealing—it was caught.
"Fuck yeah," she exclaimed with a pump of her fist.
Adam smiled to himself again. Something about the combination of her foul language and her small size was amusing to him.
"Damn, I need to sit down after that," she said, making her way to a nearby bench.
She sat and immediately stood again.
"Fuck, it's all wet with dew. Aw, to hell with it." She sat again.
She stared in admiration at her phone.
"This bastard is goin right into the gym in my dorm. Show my bitch roommates who's the boss."
Adam chuckled at this. Blissey was undoubtedly an annoying gym defender to have to fight.
"So, are you heading back to do that right now?" he asked. He silently hoped that she wasn't—he was enjoying her odd company.
She looked around for a long moment before answering.
