"So, looks like he's not here. Guess you were right."

When Candice and I get to the Pokémon Center, Red's nowhere to be seen. Looks like he did decide to ditch, after all.

"He's probably out asking more people, then." From the outside, and walking around the city with Candice, it's much larger than I expected, although most cities are like that.

"You wanna try calling, then?" I nod to her suggestion, and take out the PokéDex. I've never used it for calling that much; I've only really picked up when other people have called me. Still, pressing buttons is simple enough.

Twenty seconds after dialing, and no answer.

"Looks like he's not answering." I tell her.

"Do you know where he could be? The city's too large for us to walk around blindly for him, so if we had an idea, that'd help." Candice asks.

"Knowing him, he's probably already gotten enough information to find the area you were talking about, so how about we just head there for now?"

"Sure. It's not that far from here, anyways."

The two of us leave the Pokémon Center just as quickly as we entered, and Candice brings me around to the residential area that she was talking about. It only takes ten or fifteen minutes for us to get there, and I'm surprised at the area.

It's one of those areas where all of the houses look exactly the same, and are lined up one after the other. I've only ever lived in the same house for my entire life back on Earth, and it was nothing like this. Back there, we had a pretty large back and front yard, but here there's almost nothing. Not that I ever really wanted yards; it was just more land for us to have to take care of every year.

However, not all of the houses are exactly the same. It's more "tiered", for lack of a better word. There are several houses all in a row that look the same, for several rows, then after that the houses get larger and fancier for several more rows. After that they get better for several rows, and it goes on for a few more tiers.

"As you can see, there are the houses. There are still some more being constructed, but most of the finished ones are empty. We don't really get that many people moving up here, besides people coming to retire, as you could probably see just from walking around. However, even with the slow pace we were running out of empty houses, so we decided to build some more." Candice explains. "Over there," she points to the only unique building here, "is the information center. It's there that you can get information about the houses and look into buying one."

Candice walks me to the building and we step inside, only to see Red already speaking with the man sitting behind the counter. When Candice walks in, the man pauses his conversation with Red, greeting the Gym Leader.

"Hello, Candice. It's not that often that I see you in this part of the city." Red turns around at the man's greeting, and walks over to us when he sees me.

"I knew you'd eventually get here, but who's this?" Red asks, looking at the girl next to me.

"Candice; she's the Gym Leader here in Snowpoint City." I explain.

"Of course it'd be you who'd randomly run into a Gym Leader." Red laughs.

"So, what have you found out?" I ask him, looking at Candice, then the man behind the counter, then back to Red.

"Well, you probably know as much as I do about it, considering I just got here about five minutes ago. Plus, you came here with the person who probably knows this city the best." Red says, pointing to Candice.

"Well, not the best, but I do know it pretty well. Anyway, since you've found your friend, how about I get back to the Gym for now, and if you want that tour, come find me?" Candice says, and Red and I both agree. "Alright! The gym's easy enough to find, anyway."

As she leaves the building, Red and I are left with the information consultant.

"So, as I was saying," the man continues, looking at Red, "the houses here are tiered. We have basic level housing, Tier 1, which has just the necessities, a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. It's more of an apartment than a house, but the price reflects that. Tier 2 is a step up from that, including an additional bedroom, dining room, and sitting room, and is more of a normal house. Tier 3 includes an additional bedroom and bathroom, as well as two empty rooms for whatever you desire, and Tier 4, in total, has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sitting room, kitchen, dining room, guest bedroom, and four empty rooms. Tier 5, the highest tier, is currently still under construction, so we apologize when we say that it will continue to be unavailable for some time. However, we do have a transition plan, if you're interested." Once the man is finished explaining everything, he allows Red and I to talk things over while he goes in the back to do whatever.

"So, I'm leaving the decision making up to you, Red." I start.

"I knew you were going to say that, just as you're probably already guessing I'm going to say no. This is our decision, and I'm not going to take control." Red responds.

"Then I'll make the first decision that both of us probably already know: we're definitely not getting Tier 1." Red nods in agreement.

"Yeah. He even said it's more of an apartment. Tier 2 would probably be the lowest we'd go, right?" I nod. "Two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, and sitting room. But he did say that Tier 3 has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, right?" I nod again.

"But we're only two people; why would we need three bedrooms? I mean, if we have visitors, sure, but we don't know anyone right now. Even if we were to both use separate bedrooms, that'd only be two." I ask.

"Well, we can't be sure about the future, right? And I for sure wouldn't want to buy a house now, only to find out in the future that we would've been better off getting a larger one. He said there's a 'transition' plan, but we'd still have to move everything from one house to the other, and that sounds like too much work." Red whines.

"I get the planning, but... alright. So, not 2, either. Tier 3 already has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus two empty rooms. Wouldn't that be enough?" I suggest.

"Philippe, you should've already known which one we'd be getting from the start." Red says, grinning.

Obviously, he's talking about going as overboard as we can on spending.

"One, wouldn't that be going overboard? And two, do we even have the money for it? We don't even know how much the apartment would cost us, let alone an actual house." I remind him.

"Well, why don't we ask?" Red goes back to the counter and knocks a couple of times. A few seconds later the man walks back out.

"So, have you come to a decision?" He asks.

"We'd like to have some estimates, first." Red asks back.

"Alright. A Tier 1 would cost you around $5,000,000, for starters. Tier 2 would be $10,000,000, Tier 3 $30,000,000, and Tier 4 $75,000,000. Tier 5 is still under construction, so the actual cost is still not set, but our closest estimate would be $150,000,000." At this I am completely silent, but I stop panicking as much once I remember that a single pokéball here costs $200.

"What do you think about that, Red?" I ask.

"Well, looking at my current funds," Red begins, taking out his PokéDex, "I'd say it's whatever you want."

"If you're seriously considering it, the transition plan I was talking about earlier is simply putting down the money for a Tier 4, then paying the difference once a Tier 5 becomes available. Honestly, you could do that for any of the houses. Upgrade by paying the difference." The man explains.

"So, what do you think we should start with?" Red asks, still not letting me off the hook from making the decision.

"I still don't know, Red." I respond.

"I'll give you two some more time to talk this through." The man behind the desk picks up some papers and moves back to the back room, probably not even considering us "real" buyers and thinking that this is a waste of his time.

"Let's check how much money we have together, first. That sound good?" I nod at Red's suggestion, and he looks back to his PokéDex.

"Well, on my own I could afford up to a 3. Together we'd probably be just below a 4, but how about this. I get a 3 on my own, you don't have to worry about anything, and later on if we decide to do so, we'll upgrade. We'll probably have enough money by that time, anyway." Red offers.

"I wouldn't want you to buy an entire house on your own if we'd be sharing it, Red! I mean, that's kind of the opposite point of this entire thing." I say.

"But you don't seem to be coming to any conclusion or decision any time soon, Philippe. Besides, it'd be my house, so I can do whatever I want with it, including letting you stay with me." Red says, grinning.

"Well, I'm not going to let you have that satisfaction, so fine. We'll split for a 3. That way we'll both at least have some leftover, rather than you spend everything all at once. Besides, what if you happened to get separated from me again and don't have any money?" I inform him.

"Haven't we already talked about that? I'm not going to let that happen; we've been apart for far too long, and I don't want you going off saving the world without me again!"

I sigh, knowing that nothing's going to be able to get through to him, and just nod.

"Well, I'm still going to be paying for half of it. So with that, we'd have enough room for guests, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. Thinking about who we can invite for a housewarming party?" Red asks, knowing exactly where I was going with that.

"Because I still don't trust him, I was thinking about inviting Gold and Silver over for a bit. I know that he hasn't called me since the last incident, but I still want to know where they are." I admit.

"Yeah. Plus, couldn't we get Green over here as well? He hasn't really taken a break since becoming Gym Leader, and he deserves it. Plus, it'd actually get him here in Sinnoh with us!" It took Red saying the name of the region to remind me that we're in a place that hasn't technically been charted out or has any real path to and from the other regions.

"Speaking of Sinnoh... it really wouldn't work, considering the fact that it took us approximately a week to get here, and that was with Starly. If we asked them to get here, they wouldn't have any Pokémon guiding them." I remind him.

"How about Professor Rowan? I mean, he's working on some sort of communication system between this region and Kanto, right? Couldn't Professor Oak upgrade their PokéDexes with something that would allow them to communicate with us? Then wouldn't their PokéDexes be able to track ours and they'd be able to find their way here that way?" Red says, sounding surprisingly excited at the prospect.

"That might work," I admit, "but it would have a lot of 'ifs,' such as if Professor Oak would be able to upgrade their PokéDexes, and if they'd be able to track ours that way, and if it'd work over such long distances with just their PokéDexes. Remember, Professor Rowan said that we might be able to contact Professor Oak with our PokéDexes, but it'd be more difficult the further away we got from his lab. We'd be contacting Professor Oak's lab from here, but with everyone else it'd be from here to wherever they'd be, and they'd be travelling at the same time." I explain.

"Why do you have to keep ruining everything?" Red whines.

"It's my job." I smile.

"Well," Red says, after a few seconds of silence, "if we're done with that, how about we actually make the purchase before we start planning anything else?"

"You're the one getting ahead of yourself." I say, going up to the desk and knocking on it myself this time.

"So, have you made a decision?" The man asks, as if he wasn't just standing in the back room listening to our conversation. I'm not sure; it's just what I would've done if I were him.

"Yeah; if you heard, we'll take a Tier 3." Red announces, then walks back to the desk. "If possible, could you split the cost between two accounts?"

"Of course." The man extends his hand, and we hand him both our PokéDexes. He brings them back behind the counter and starts typing. A few seconds later he hands them back to us for signatures. Only now does the fact that I haven't really "bought" much of anything myself since I got here hits me.

I've never had to sign for anything, since it's either been staying at the Pokémon Center, which is free, including meals, since, you know, it's basic human and societal decency to make sure people can live, or it's been that Red or any of my other friends have bought things for me.

That's probably why the Pokémon Centers just keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Although, I don't really go back to cities after the first visit, so I really can't compare any befores and afters.

"Alright." He takes back our machines once we sign and finishes the transaction. "The transaction will take about a day to be processed, so you'll have to stay at the Pokémon Center for tonight if you don't have any other plans. Come back in the morning, and everything should be set by then."

"So, quick question, I know that it might not be possible and I'm fine with that, and I know that we probably should've done this beforehand, but could we see the house?" Red asks.

This is one reason why I let other people do things for me; I usually forget the important bits and precautions that should be taken for things that I've never done before. However, having Red as the person I let takeover is looking more and more like not such a good idea. Although, I wouldn't be much better, so it doesn't really matter.

"Because they're all the same, you can just go into any of the Tier 3s that currently has a sign outside if you want a look. Tomorrow you'll pick precisely which house you'll be getting, so look at the locations and make a decision." The seller responds, and shows us out.

"Come on, Philippe! Let's go look at exactly what we bought for all that money after we bought it!" Red says, laughing at his own forgetfulness.

"Well, we had already made the decision to live here, so we really had no choice but to buy a house here regardless of our options. It really wouldn't have made a difference if we had looked at it before or after, and like he said, we'll always have the option of upgrading to the next Tier if we want." I remind him.

"Yeah. And looking at the price differences, Tier 4 may be expensive, but it sounds like it'd be worth it!" Red exclaims.

"The difference between 2 and 3 is greater than the difference between 3 and 4, if you go by multiples, Red. Therefore, 3 would be the most expensive, comparatively." I explain.

"But that doesn't matter! The sticker price is what matters, and 3 isn't that bad. 4's more than what we need, which is why it's so expensive."

"But if it's more than what we need," I begin asking, "then why would we consider upgrading to it? I'll say it again; the chances of Gold and Silver, and even the others, making their way here and actually giving us a reason to have additional rooms is extremely low."

"But what about when we make friends here in Snowpoint? Wouldn't you want them staying with us?" Red asks.

"But if they're friends in Snowpoint, then wouldn't they have their own place? Why would they stay at our house, rather than just visit for a time?" I inform him.

"You couldn't have had many friends, then." Red says, and from the tone of his voice I know that he doesn't mean it in a bad way. "Even if they live literally right next door, it's still better having them stay the night than just visiting for the day. Plus, what if they're staying at the Pokémon Center? Then they wouldn't have a house."

The two of us continue to talk about our future prospects with potential friends and having people over while we make our way to the third section of houses. Once we actually get there, we find that the houses are decently sized; seeing them from a distance is very different from seeing them in person, and seeing them from the inside will probably be even more different.

"Well, let's head on in, shall we?" Red asks, opening the door and waving me inside.

When I first walk through the door, I'm a little surprised and amazed at the same time. Despite having this feeling before, I'm still shocked whenever I'm in a situation that, if you didn't know any better, could be happening anywhere. Just a normal house, with normal furniture, with normal people.

Well, sort of normal people.

"So... this is it." I say, trying not to sound as if I'm disappointed. It's just a fact; this is it, and this is where we're going to be staying for who knows how long.

"Yeah. Much different from back home, I can tell you that." Red agrees. "For example, we only had... what, three rooms? Until mom upgraded, that is. But even this is a bit more than that." Red starts heading for the stairs and moves upstairs, while I remain downstairs, looking around the ground floor for a bit.

Most of the furniture that's already here looks pretty standard; not much in the way of personality, but I've never really been one to personalize any of my belongings or my room. I make my way around through the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, and one of the empty rooms, noting much of the empty space, then make my way towards Red upstairs.

"So, what do you think?" I shout, my voice echoing through the house. Most of it's pretty open; at the top of the stairs the floor curves around in a square, allowing you to look over the railing and down to the bottom floor.

"Not bad. Like I said, even this is probably more than enough for the two of us, but go big or go home, right?" Red laughs.

"This is our home, Red." I mention, laughing myself.

"Yeah. This is our home." Red repeats as he walks towards me, switching emphasis.

"For now, at least. Hopefully we'll be able to stay here for a while before we have to go back to running around the entire region trying to save it." I remind him.

"I wonder what it'd take for us to be able to live normal lives for a change." Red says, sighing dramatically.

"Well, if we did, then someone else would have to save the world, otherwise it'd end. Right now, we're the only ones who are standing in the way between the end of the world – or at least the region – and continuity."

"Yeah. So, Philippe," Red starts, "think you've seen enough of the house to get a good feel for it? Or do you want to walk around a bit more?" Red asks.

"I think I'm good for now. I haven't seen the bedrooms, but we'll be sleeping there tomorrow night, right?" I say.

"Exactly! So let's head back to the Pokémon Center for now, then come back here tomorrow morning, okay?" I nod, thinking the same thing myself, and the two of us leave the house for our room at the Center, mentally taking note as to exactly which house is the one we checked.