Symbiosis

Chapter 7

At last. After six hours of walking around all day. Or was it seven? It was so long that Alex couldn't tell. Especially without a clock or a watch. Well, one that he could look at without draining the battery life. Either way, it was an incredibly long time walking out in the heat of summer. But Alex's apartment complex was in sight at last. He started walking towards his building with increased vigor. Fifty yards. Forty yards. Thirty five. Why do the endings of long walks always feel like the longest parts? Alex took out his keys. Finally he can get out of the heat. He unlocked the door, quickly stepped inside, shut and locked the door, and let the cold blast of air overtake his body...

...

...where was the cold blast of air? Yea, it definitely felt cooler than it was outside, but not by that much. Alex blinked and walked over to the thermostat to see what it was set to. 'I wonder if Isaac turned off the thermostat after we both left again.' He looked at the digital display of the thermostat. It was blank. What? Alex pressed the down button. Nothing. "You can't be serious right now." Alex quickly walked over to the kitchen to check the microwave clock. It was blank too.

"Great. Juuust what I needed. A fucking power outage of all things right now." Alex pulled out his phone and saw an alert, but before he could unlock his phone to find out what it was, it started powering off. "Fuck me, are you joking?" Alex complained out loud. 'Oh hold on, portable charger. Duh.' Alex hurried to his room, took out a portable charger and USB cord, and hooked it up to his phone. Thankfully, Alex knew he could get a full charge out of it. It'd just take some time.

"Alright, while that's going on," Alex trailed off as he stepped out of his room. "ISAAC! You home, dude?" Alex called out as he made his way towards his roommate's room. He gave several firm knocks for good measure. Nothing. 'He's still not home? Jeez, I hope he's okay.'

Alex pondered what to do now that he was home and on his own for the time being. He let his thoughts run as he quickly grabbed an orange from the refrigerator, a packet of crackers, and a bottle of water, all the while being very careful not to let too much cold out. He sat down at his dining room table and started to snack at his refreshments while he got his mind in order. 'So. Seems like I'm gonna be stuck here for a while. The next couple days at least. I guess at some point I have to start learning my capabilities and limits as Mew, in case I really do need to defend myself for whatever reason. Might as well be now since I've suddenly got a lot of free time on my hands now.'Alex took a large swallow of water after munching on a few crackers and orange slices. 'I've just got to make sure Isaac doesn't find out when he gets home. My room can lock, but if the power isn't back on by the time he gets back and it happens to be the dead of night, he may notice the glow when I change back into myself. Hmm...' Alex took another swallow of water, ate the last of his orange, and threw the peels away. 'Guess I've just got to pay very close attention to the front door unlocking.'"Also, holy fuck it's still hot as hell in here," Alex complained, voicing that last thought in his head aloud.

After going through half a large packet of crackers, Alex put what was left back into the pantry and grabbed a second water bottle which he brought to his room. 'It's gonna be murder doing this with nothing to cool myself with, but I'll just have to tough through it.' Alex stepped into his room, locked the door behind him, and before he could will himself into his pokemon form, his eyes went to his phone, which had been charging on his desk for the past ten minutes.

'...Training can wait. This is more important.' Alex powered on his phone and waited impatiently for his home screen to show so he could unlock it. Alex examined the notification he received earlier, and his eyes widened to discover it was a voicemail from his dad. Alex didn't think he had ever opened up any app quicker than he did just then.