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Electricity crackled inside the distorted space. Kaname could see foreign Pokemon and other objects, their appearance twisted by the film between them. She looked over at the normal landscape beside her and back at the distortion again.
“This is terrifying,” she mumbled.
“Never said it wasn’t,” Ginter grumbled back as he strolled past her and into the distorted space.
Kaname sighed and stepped in behind him. She couldn’t help but put her arm up as if she was pushing back a curtain.
The sound inside the distortion was deafening. The energy whipped the wind around; confused Pokemon cried out. Kaname heard a noise that she swore was a car going by.
There were shards and stardust scattered everywhere, as if pieces of the universe were being torn up...Kaname heard the car noise again. She heard a Pokemon scurry into a bush near her; she barely caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared. Was that..? no... She crept around the bush. The Pokemon stuck its head up to peak outside the bush for a moment. Two almost rabbit-like ears blew around in the wind.
It was a Trubbish.
Kaname didn’t think her pulse could beat any faster, but it sped up. She heard a car go by again, then in the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of tires screeching on pavement as it came to an abrupt stop. She turned in the direction of the noise.
Several books and magazines were scattered on the ground, their pages whipping back and forth in the wind. She slowly made her way over to them. She stared at the English on the pages as the paper flipped around. A stronger gust blew by, and one of the magazines flipped shut. Elesa stared at her from the front cover. Kaname picked it up; she felt like she was in a dream...she noticed the date on the magazine was several months after she had disappeared...
Through the chaotic noise, a soft voice made its way to Kaname’s ears...
“Ellie..?” Kaname whispered. She frantically looked around; tears welled up in her eyes.
The ground around her looked more like pavement now than grass. Kaname couldn’t believe her eyes; she started to shake, warm tears rolled down her face. In the distance, she could see Elesa standing at a flower cart on the sidewalk, talking to the attendant. It was obviously real, but still so fake; the Hisui landscape still moved in the wind, but she was seeing a paved street in Unova.
Time is so fucked up...
Kaname took a few deep breaths to stop the shaking. She took one more to gather her best Battle Subway voice:
“ELESA!”
*************************
Elesa tilted her head slightly in curiosity, and turned to look behind her. A car drove past on the street.
“Elesa?” the florist asked her.
“Sorry...I thought I heard something,” she gave a little laugh, even though she could’ve sworn she had just heard Kaname’s voice...
“I should be able to deliver these up to your mother later today,” he said as he wrapped up the flowers she had picked out.
“That would be great, thank you,” she told him.
Elesa continued her walk down to Gear Station. Her grip on her shopping bags tightened. She wasn’t confident in her ability to remember Kaname’s voice just off the top of her head, but it was so easy to recognize when she heard it. It was hard to believe that her brain had just made it up, but there was no way she had actually heard Kaname...
She tried not to dwell on it...especially since she was going to see Emmet. He was probably going to be mad at her. Since Kaname wasn’t here, Elesa had gotten him something small for Valentine’s Day...even though Kaname herself never would’ve done that. Elesa knew first hand that Kaname had no idea how to be romantic...and she wasn’t good at getting people gifts either.
Her heels clicked on the staircase as she made her way down into the station. Several people tried to stop her for photographs. “I’m in a hurry, sorry!” “I can’t today, I’m sorry!” She dismissed stranger after stranger.
Elesa knocked on the door to the boys’ office.
“Oh, Elesa!” Ingo said as he opened the door. “Come in. How is your day going?”
“It’s...” she thought for a moment about telling them about hearing Kaname’s voice, “...okay.”
“Just okay?” Ingo asked. It wasn’t like Elesa to answer like that.
“I don’t have a whole lot of time,” she said as she pulled a small gift bag out of one of her shopping bags, “but I wanted to bring Emmet something since Kaname can’t.” She set the little red bag down on the desk in front of Emmet. He barely even looked up at her.
“Kana wouldn’t have gotten me anything,” was what Emmet wanted to say, but he wanted to be able to appreciate Elesa’s gesture. He didn’t want to get upset at her. Again. He took a deep breath. The words she said hurt, but she probably didn’t realize that....”since Kaname can’t”...
“How unlike Kaname,” Ingo mused.
“I know,” Elesa admitted. “I just wanted to do something nice for you, Em.”
Emmet sighed. “Thank you, Elesa,” he said, still not really looking up from his paperwork. “Rrreally.”
“I have to catch my train,” Elesa told them, “but have a lovely day, boys.”
Ingo glanced at his watch, and grabbed his coat from his chair.
“I’m also departing Emmet,” he told his brother. Emmet gave them a weak wave as they both left.
Emmet sighed as he reached into the bag Elesa gave him. He pulled out a heart-shaped box of chocolates. “You’ve got me caught in your web” it read, with two Joltik on their web. He chuckled a little. It had felt like there wasn’t anything else in the bag but he reached in again.
He pulled out two polaroid photos. Emmet didn’t recall this moment but he appeared to be asleep in them. One of the photos was of him, asleep with his head in Kaname’s lap while she stroked his hair and smiled at him. This must have been at Elesa’s house. The second photo was Kaname noticing she was being photographed and holding her hand up in front of the lens, but a silly little smile on her face could still be seen.
Emmet set the photos down, and leaned back in his chair, his face in his hands.
*************************
Kaname fell to her knees as the distortion dissipated around her. She clutched the magazine with Elesa on the cover in both of her hands; tears ran down her face. The wind from the valley slowly replaced the space-time energy. The noise faded.
“Kaname?” Tuli trotted over to where Kaname was. She knelt down next to her. “Kaname?” she said again, putting an arm on her shoulder.
“Tuli,” Kaname’s voice shook. She swallowed and took a deep breath. “I don’t think I should go into the distortions with you guys any more.”