Broken Souls

Grinding

To make a long story short, they don't have pancakes.

The sushi was pretty good though.

I settle back into the Pokemon Center, blankly watching the ceiling and the reflected light of the gizmos behind the service bar shimmering on it. All of the Nurse Joys have to be proficient in a few thousand languages of code to operate those things, I'm sure of it. It's funny how quick service and that preppy nurse uniform hides the amount of work they must have to do.

As usual, I'm about to drift off when a Pokemon crawls up onto my stomach and tries to catch my attention. "Can this wait?" I groan.

"Well..." Ten says bashfully. "I just wanted to ask- if- golly, this is awkward-"

"It is ten o'clock right now." I mutter. "Please just spit it out."

"Ten o'clock isn't that late. Aren't you fourteen? I'm pretty sure you were fourteen when we met."

I sigh. "Currently I'm thirteen years old, and I guess that's an acceptable bedtime for my demographic. In two years I'll be seventeen mentally and fifteen physically, so I plan on taking the best of both worlds and just never sleeping at all."

"That sounds inconvenient." he tilts his head.

"Not at all. I have plenty of things to do at night."

"Such as..."
"Reading fanfiction," I offer, "Probably screaming internally. Look, what do you want?"

He hops onto his other foot. "I was wondering if you'd heard anything. From... them."

"If you mean all of the team, they're all erased from existence." I try to bury my head into the couch cushion to show my extreme lack of interest in the conversation.

"They aren't," Ten says. "They can't be."

"Yes they can." Tears are welling up in my eyes and I can't choke them down. "The world can be that cruel. Ten, just leave me alone and-"

"What if... it's only this existence?"

I sit up in the darkness, facing towards him so that he can't see the tears in my eyes. Even his own face is obscured by my shadows. "Ten, g-go to sleep. I don't know what you're on about."

"Other worlds. Other dimensions. Entire planes of existence where they could have been transferred. Just think about it Ashley, we could be-"

"Go to sleep." I choke back a sob. "Please."

"They were my family too."

"You barely knew them."

I don't have to see every contour of his expression to know he's hurting. I see him hop away and hear the faint click of a Pokeball as he withdraws himself.

A machine beeps in the distance, possibly signifying some period of time or that some medical device is ready to function. A subtle whirring starts up and brightens the room slightly, revealing Reginae's red eyes glistening in the darkness.

***

Morningtime. I'm woken up by the glare of sunlight and a door slamming open. Some rookie trainer clamors in clutching at least five Pokeballs.
Nurse Joy sits cheerily behind the counter. "Welcome to the Pokemon Center. How may I help you?"

The trainer sighs, practically throwing all five onto the counter. "Almost wiped to Falkner. If you can save any of them I- I-"

Nurse Joy frowns and scoops them all up. She gives him a reassuring smile, but her eyes are sad. "I'll do my best."