Our Alternate Ending | | A Pokemon Adventure

Chapter 39- When Things Fall Down

It...it hurt. There was no other way to describe the slash of torment that struck itself deep within my gut. The feeling spread, concurring my heart and lungs, until even my finger tips were numb off the wretched emotion. It pinched every nerve, until I'd forgotten how to speak. Silence filtered into the space, holding every dismay at a higher amplitude until they screamed at the very corners of my scull.

"Ash?" Professor Oak asked dubiously, and rightfully so. My fingers almost dropped the phone in my consternation. I gulped down a much needed mouthful of air before speaking again.

"W-what happened?" I somehow managed, pleasantly surprised I hadn't chocked on my own words.

"She was out late last night grocery shopping...no one really knows exactly what happened. The drivers of the vehicle are still in shock. They were young, Ash, and the car spun out of control. It was on the small roads of Pallet, you know they could have been avoiding a wild Pokemon that had wondered onto the road..."

"Wait!" I cut off the professor, needing confirmation that I was hearing right. "She was hit by a car?"

"According to officer Jenny's reports, yes."

It was too much. It was all too much. Too much to drink in. Too much to comprehend. My head couldn't help spinning on an axis, blurring my vision for brief moments and plunging my legs into a rattletrap. The morning was too young. My brain had been kept far too safe from these things. And I couldn't bare to think for the future.

"I-I need to come to Kanto." I stammered. If there had been any way to rip me from my threads to Kalos, it would be this. This was how I dropped everything--

And left.

"Ash, how far are you from Lumious City?" The professor asked, gears now turning and alertness jumping into his tone.

"Not far, we've been headed there lately." I responded, nodding and trying to push aside the aches that tore through my chest. I tried to gather my thoughts and arrange them orderly, at least until I got to Kanto.

"There's an 8:30 flight from Kalos to Kanto at Lumious Airport. It's five o'clock now, you might be able to make it."

I didn't care if I had to sprint until my legs went numb, I would make that flight.

After biding Professor Oak a hurried goodbye, I began packing everything I owned into my backpack. Hastily and rushed, with so little care it almost didn't zip up. I stumbled out of my tent, legs still weakened with shock. I could barely hold myself up right, my body twitching with sudden reminders of the horrible news I'd just heard.

The sun was breaking over the horizon, beading drops of sunlight into the bittersweet sky. A series of corals, mauves and magentas bled across an empyrean. Every detail dripped in shine, lacing tangerine through the forest trees. Wisps of fibrous clouds stretched through the watercolors like pulled cotton.

It was a beautiful morning. Nevertheless, the day was anything but.

After pulling down my tent and stuffing it amongst the chaos of my belongings, my gaze fell upon the tent to my right. The one that held Serena and Elaina. The one that I should visit, before I leave. The one I needed to visit, before I tore myself away.

With as much care as I could summon to my trembling fingers, I unzipped the tent and poked my head through the gap. Both blondes were found sleeping, turned towards opposite sides of the tent, unmoving, save for the steady rise and fall of their chests. Both were so peaceful, so at ease. It seemed a crime to disturb them with such horrible news. To turn those faint sleeping smiles into troubled frowns.