Broken Souls

Proxy

It's raining when we enter Pallet Town for the third time. Daisy Oak's windows gleam with light, but after the battle with her brother, I have no desire to enter her house again. Instead, I take in the city, the rain touching my face and pooling around my eyes and chin. The weak lighting and dreary homes remind me of New Bark, though the air is stiller here. The waters to the south are calmer than the ones to the east of New Bark, to an almost unsettling degree. It's as if the world is falling asleep.

My Pokemon are quiet around me... too quiet. I sense their absence in the way one might react to suddenly having all the oxygen stolen from the atmosphere around them. Panic fills me as I swing around to come face to face with Red.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"I don't want them here." he says.

"Your mother is in her house. Oak is in his lab. I can run for safety." I warn him. "I still have Celebi's powers. You can't corner me here. You can't cheat. I-"

"She's not, he won't hear you, and that really won't be necessary, Ashley. I've come here before. This part of the world is easiest to change." He doesn't even need to pull up the interface. Instead, he weaves his fingers through the air, like he's trying to pull the damp air around, and the world responds to his command. The sun comes back up in the sky, pushing through the clouds, which dissipate beneath its cruel grasp. The air grows warmer around my skin, but the sunshine is fake, with an unsettling, glaring tint to it that makes it feel more like someone fixing a hot lightbulb on my skin.

"I'm ripping the world apart, Ashley, and all I have to do is fix it. Get rid of anomalies. Remove shortcuts. It's like pulling out weeds that have grown in between the cracks of a sidewalk. Just a small touch-" he gestures towards his house, fingers glowing with the reflection of light from an invisible screen, "and the roots come up. Just like that. Now, care to go inside?"

It's not a question. I cast him a pointed glare but follow him into his house. He treats every item he touches with an almost playful, mocking respect, taking a good few seconds to open the door, holding it open for me and bowing as I go inside.

The house is similar to Daisy's from a construction standpoint, and even some of the furniture items are close to the same, but while Daisy's house bustles with signs of life, Red's is close to empty.

"Where's your mom?" I ask, my voice echoing through the empty house.

"I moved her out of the way." he tells me. "Wouldn't want any witnesses. I've been missing for years, you know.

"You're disgusting."

"I'm not the only one who cut their mother out of their life," Red says. "I seem to remember a certain someone cutting off all contact with her until it was convenient for them. Had Elm not dangled the Master Ball over your head, you might have never talked to her again."

"I would have come back." I reply, though Red's noted every second that it took me to come to the realization.

"Sure you would," he says. "But you'd be like me. A ghost, too dangerous and vengeful to inhabit her house or her world anymore."

I stay silent, half in the hopes that he'll go easier on me while he's gloating and half in the desire to get this whole ordeal over with. I know he's not here to judge my life choices, although picking on me does see to be a kind of hobby.

"No one's coming for either of us." he says.

"Blue's still looking for you."

"Sure he is. Blue's a jackass. Always was. I considered knocking him out of the way around the same time I got rid of that kitsune bitch who kept sending people up the mountain after me, but..." Red narrows his eyes. "Well, now that you've bought it to my attention, I guess I could 'talk' to him again before the end of the world."