Pokémon Red (Book 3)

Cause and Effect

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Chapter - 37
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February 2, 2015

It was a different world. Enid could sense that this was not exactly the same world that they had left, and she wondered if Sabrina could sense it too. She exchanged glances with Sabrina, who was just as confused as she was. Sabrina turned to ensure Red and Leaf were distant enough to not hear a word. "I have a weird feeling. I feel suffocated by some different kind of energy around me. What is this?"

"The timeline has changed due to our short trip to the Distortion World." Said Enid, with all the seriousness in her voice. She was worried about how major the dissimilarities might be. "It's getting late, I suggest we hurry and find a Pokécenter. Once I have some time alone, I'll be able to tell how much variation this place has to the one we are used to."

"Wait, we're not gonna go back in this house to get back to our world?" Asked Sabrina, presenting a logical argument.

"That's not possible, since this variation in time cannot be controlled. We are not strong enough or advanced enough to harness the Distortion World's antimatter and use it to our advantage. Besides, this is our world." Enid explained. "Right now, I can only tell that we have not travelled across space but only time. So we might not be in our own time, but it's indeed our world."

"But, how are you able to do that?" Asked Sabrina. "Why can't I sense a thing?"

"That is only because my powers are pure, they are natural, I was born with them. While you obtained yours in a way that defies the laws of nature, they are unnatural." Enid explained. "The byzantium crystal that you once absorbed made you what you are today."

"How do you know so much about-" Sabrina was interrupted by Leaf, as she walked towards them along with Red.

"What's going on?" She asked. "Where are we? When are we?" Leaf was expecting a logical reply from Sabrina, but Sabrina was just as clueless as Leaf.

Enid's eye color turned purple from blue. The changed went unnoticed by the others. 'Ask her how she could tell that something is wrong, that way I would be able to tell you what to say next.' Enid told Sabrina, telepathically.

Sabrina stared at Enid in shock of how stronger and skilled she was as compared to herself. "How could you tell that something is wrong with this place?" Asked Sabrina.

Leaf turned on her Pokédex and showed it to Sabrina. "Look at the date." Sabrina's eyes widened. It said – February 2, 2015.

"You know what's more fun though?" Asked Red. "When you look at the badges."

Sabrina looked at the 'Badges Earned' section. "You have six badges. That would mean you need three more for the Hoenn League. But-" Sabrina was freaking out, she stopped and looked at Enid to tell her the right things to say at the very moment.

'Do not tell them about the Distortion World. Just tell them that that place was connected to another realm which fast forwarded the time. It's the same universe, so no need to worry.' Enid told Sabrina, telepathically.

"Well, that house existed inside another realm. The time is faster inside that realm, so it felt like maybe two hours to us, but it was about two months outside. Time has basically fast forwarded." Explained Sabrina.

'Now what happens is that, Distortion World is random, so it sent us back to a timeline where we all did not go inside the house and continued the journey. That's why they have those badges now. Basically, they skipped two months of their lives.' Enid told Sabrina, telepathically.

"And the reason you have those badges is that- think of it this way that you skipped two months of your lives and jumped into the future rather than time travelling into the future." Sabrina explained. "If we had time travelled into the future, we would have future versions of ourselves too. But this is not the case because we basically skipped two months, we did live those two months. We just don't remember it."

"Wow!" Red exclaimed. "This is more difficult to understand than time travel."

"Sounds cool actually." Leaf was excited. "Do we find a Pokécenter now or what?"

Enid and Sabrina exchanged looks. 'These kids get excited at basically everything.' Enid communicated Sabrina using her telepathy.

"I really gotta learn that." Said Sabrina, hoping to learn telepathy from Enid someday, this had now become the first thing on her bucket list.

"What? Optimism?" Red asked.

It was a long night, they made their way north to Mauville City. The city was somehow similar to Vermillion City from Kanto, with certain places having an electric-type theme. They stayed at the Pokécenter there. Red was very excited to fight the Mauville City gym leader - Wattson, who specialised in electric-types. While Leaf was trying to explain to him the changes in the timeline and how they had already defeated him and have the gym badge.

Sabrina and Enid were in one room. Sabrina was sleeping soundly on the lower bunk of the bunk bed while Enid was wide awake in a trance. Her eyes were glowing purple to blue and back to purple.

Red and Leaf started figuring out what all badges do they now require. "Alright, as per my deductions." Leaf began. "We still don't have the following badges: a Feather Badge, a Rain Badge and a Mind Badge."

"Meaning, now we have to go to Fortree City for the Feather Badge and figure it out from there." Red undertood the situation quite well, but still could not accept the fact that a couple of months had been taken away from his life.

"Basically, all the remaining cities that we need to visit are on the way of Pokémon League, which is located in Evergrande City." Leaf explained.

"Alright!" Red was finally excited after a long time. "So tomorrow we head to Fortree?"

"We'll figure that out tomorrow. It's already too late." Leaf patted Red's cheek. "Go to sleep, sleepyred."