Linkage

6

Cynthia watched as Wes fled. She wasn't surprised. He was probably scared. She was scared. Were they fugitives? She didn't know. Cynthia could never imagine herself committing a crime. So then something terrible was going to happen. And then there was the other thing. The thing she refused to think about. Cynthia had no clue to do with any of it. Perhaps they would have to seek answers. But would that matter? What were they going to do? The water was gone, but Cynthia was soaked from head to toe. She saw her grandmother come in, and for a moment Cynthia felt as if it were all unreal. That perhaps her and Wes had never been there. Like it was all a bad dream. The ritual of time felt like it didn't happen. She prepared to walk out, trying to keep composure as best as possible. With a deep breath, she left.

Upon leaving, the festival was in full swing. The regular crowd had grown, for those who knew to come after the ritual part of the fest. Cynthia looked around. Nobody seemed amiss. But she had no clue how far in the future the vision was, or even if it was guaranteed to come true. She didn't even know where Wes lived, much less who he was. She walked to her grandmother's home, to change into the normal black she wore. Cynthia kept thinking. Too stupid to realize. What did that mean? The champion sighed and opened the door. She saw the soaked pants of Wes folded in a crisp, neat pile on the table. Cynthia found that hilarious. Her grandmother was about as messy as she was, so he folded them before he left. But then she noticed something, on the floor next to the  couch of her grandmother's living room there were a pair of metallic glasses. Wes's glasses.

She picked them up and clasped them. There was no doubt that he would want them back. Cynthia could tell that the possessions he had on him were the ones that he treasured. From the visions of his past she could tell that he moved around a lot. And oh so much more. There was so much she was amazed about. No wonder he the best of the best in his class. He was actually a warrior beyond champion level strength. Cynthia wondered why he came to Sinnoh. Wes had said for answers, but what kind of answers? She thought of the book he handed her. Engineering. Why would a no-nonsense kind of guy be reading about engineering? He was a good guy and Cynthia felt bad about the intuition that he wasn't.

She put the glasses down on the table and stripped out of her wet dress. Compelled to fold it like Wes, she left her dress on the table. Cynthia went in the back room and to put on her signature black dress. She looked at a purple dress laid out on the bed. With a chuckle she folded it up and put it back down. Color was not something she wore. She liked black. She never understood why, even if it had been sworn to her that she would look good in purple or red or maybe even blue. The only time she wore anything other than black was when she had to. And it was rare when she had to.

The ex-champion headed out into the festival. She smiled, something fake she'd perfected for special occasions, and socialized with the people of Sinnoh. There were some people that weren't there that Cynthia had recognized year to year. She shook her head this had been happening a lot. People not having the time for traditions. But it didn't matter. Those who did got to enjoy the food, the fireworks, everything. Despite believing in the rituals, there was something to be said about forgetting. She recognized she needed to find Wes before anything else happened. But he needed time.

"Champion Cynthia!" A little girl who liked to come to the festival called Cynthia.

The young red-haired child waved her over from a dunk tank. "Come here! I need help, and you're really good at catching Pokémon!"

To Cynthia that was hilarious. What a genius little idea. She smiled and took a white poke ball and threw it at the tank. A person got dunked, which turned out to be Roark. It seemed that instead of ending up in the shrine, he ended up there. Cynthia's grandmother, the festival organizer, must have figured it would bring some appeal.