Essentia ||A Pokémon Story||

Chapter 8: Delta

"We need to talk, Emma," the strange guy said, glaring daggers at her. "Or should I say, Essentia?"

Emma moved further back behind her desk. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. How did you even get in here?"

"Bedroom window," he said casually. "Nevermind that, we're here to talk about you. And yes, I know all about you being Essentia. Perks of the job."

"Nevermind that you crawled through my bedroom window!?" Emma balked. "That seems like something I should very much mind about." At this point she wished Mimi was in here, but she was probably still being cuddled by Renée outside. Didn't she have, like, psychic powers or something to know when her trainer was in trouble?

The guy sighed and ran a hand through his strawberry blond hair. "Look, I'm not here to hurt you. Nor expose your identity or threaten you with it in any way. I'm just here to give you a warning."

Somehow that still didn't make Emma feel any better and kept herself behind the desk. She wouldn't be able to pull on her suit fast, but she did have a letter opener in the desk drawer. She gulped. "A warning?"

"Yeah," he said and unpropped himself from his leaning position. "You're getting dangerously involved at this point with things you don't fully understand."

"I-"

He stopped her by raising a hand and her own hand jerked towards the desk. He gave no indication that he noticed the reaction as he went on to say, "You're attempts at being a superhero are not only foolish but dangerous. And I'm not talking about to you, I'm talking about the people you're trying to protect. Did you realize that your fight today in that building nearly took out a passing pedestrian?"

Emma felt herself pale. Just the thought of having hurt an innocent again made her blood freeze. "Are they-"

"They're fine," He said. "But it's the fact that it could've very easily happened the other way around. You're too naïve. You don't even realize that by pursuing these criminals and their activities will result in a very huge target being put on your back."

"If not me then who else?" Emma spoke, trying to sound firm, but failing. "The police are seriously overworked right now, they're still dealing with the aftermath of the Great Disasters. If I can help at any way by taking criminals off the streets-"

"But that's not all you're doing," he interjected again. "You're playing detective and sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. As for "who else", I can tell you that a certain group is looking into these matters. Just because you think you're a hero doesn't mean you're the only one trying to make things right."

"You need to stop interfering with what doesn't concern you," he warned, his eyes now looking dangerous. "Unless you don't value the lives of those around you..." He let that sentence hang in the air for a couple seconds and Emma felt like her heart might stop. It could, actually, since she'd pretty much been holding her breath at this point.

"So stay out of what doesn't concern you," he went on, crossing his arms. "Or next time my warning won't be as polite." Then he turned and opened the door that led up to her living space and just went up without any hesitation. Emma stood, dumbfounded for a moment, before hurrying up after him, but there was no sign of him. The window was open and Emma rushed to it, hands gripping the windowsill as she scanned the ground, then above her.

"Hey, whatcha doing Emma?" Renée called from below, shielding her eyes with Mimi's body as she held up the tiny Pokemon.

"Uh..." Emma blinked, glanced up one more time, but when she once again didn't see where he'd disappeared to, she said, "Nothing. Give me a couple more minutes." With that she withdrew and triple checked to make sure her window was locked this time. While she was sure now that he hadn't meant to harm her, merely warn her as he had said, she felt vulnerable regardless.