Timeline of Errors

Part 18 - The lake, once again

I turned my head and caught sight of the young man with golden bangs framing his temples and covering his forehead. With his gaze locked on mine, I could see a tinge of gentleness in his face.

"...you're being really nice to me today," I said and turned to the water once again.

Though you probably know better than anyone else... it doesn't work like that. There's no such thing as 'once this is all over', I thought.

"Hmm? Am I?" he said, chuckling.

 Right then, I felt a tug on the fishing rod and quickly reeled it in. A Gorebyss jumped out of the lake. I quickly got Golbat out.

"Golbat, Toxic!" I ordered.

Swiftly, Golbat swooped in and used Toxic on the Gorebyss. The Gorebyss shrieked and quickly used Aqua Ring.

Well, that'd be problematic, I thought.

"Supersonic," I said.

Golbat unleashed soundwaves and soon, Gorebyss looked around in confusion. As it tried to move, it tripped and hurt itself.

"Now use Astonish," I said.

Golbat then jumped out and used Astonish on Gorebyss. Gorebyss flinched and started wheezing from being badly poisoned.

Okay, that looks good enough, I thought and took out a Great Ball.

I threw the Great Ball to Gorebyss' forehead, and the south sea Pokémon was quickly sucked into it. The Great Ball rolled once to the left, then to the right, then to the left... then it stopped moving.

I picked up the Great Ball and straightened my back.

"There we go, the sixth Pokemon," I said and turned around, "thanks for accompanying me today,"

When I did, a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Anytime," he said, "alright then. Shall I walk you back?"

"Sure," I said.

~~~

As soon as Salamence landed, we got off his back and found ourselves standing on a very familiar street with two-stories stores standing on either sides of the road. While tucked in the darkness, the soft orange glows from the street lights illuminated the path ahead. A big clock as tall as a four stories house stood in the middle of an empty space. Several benches were placed on the bottom of the clock, as well as on the perimeter of the space. The clock, however, looked as if it was made out of glass, along with the pavements and benches one metre radius from it. However, the rest of the park materials were made out of dusty bricks and concretes, like most parks.

"Guess those ice really never melted, huh," he remarked.

"It's here to stay," I said, "just like the war memorial,"

"...say, what memorial is that again?" he asked.

"I don't know. Nobody knows at this point that people just start having fun making things up," I answered, "someone once told me, when the clock in this square struck twelve... you might just..."

"...meet the person who will change your life forever?" he continued.

Suddenly, the clock struck twelve. The bells hanging above the tower started ringing a melody that I've been hearing since I was young. When I looked up, the side doors on the left and right of the clock face had opened up. Then, small wooden dolls in traditional clothes walked out of the clock and marched to the other side of the clock.

The young man fell silent, probably didn't know what to say in reply to that. His gaze was locked onto the clock tower as he watched the wooden dolls going back into the tower.

"You know, speaking of her," he suddenly said, "that reminds me. A long, long time ago, she told me about a magical person,"

Right then and there, I could feel unease rising from the pit of my stomach. I felt my head growing warm as I turned my gaze to the clock tower.

"With the snap of her fingers, she could save everyone she wishes, turn enemies into allies, frowns into smiles, but then bruises and scars appear," he recounted, "and so, she was..."

"...her hero," I continued and looked down, "if there's something no one has been able to do, then she'd be able to do it - one way or another,"

"She told me about her so many times, back then I've always wondered what kind of person she was," he said.

"The truth's often quite disappointing," I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Why do you think so?" he asked.

"I told you before how some people were jealous of me or come to me just when they need something and tried to gaslight me if I say no," I said, "that girl was... a bit different. You could say I... kept her entertained in some ways. And I loved when she sung me praises and told me I can go further, and so I kept going and going to do more," 

Sighing, I put my hands inside my coat's pockets.

"But that's all there is to it," I said, "it's just a role-play,"

"Of course it is. You're no hero," he suddenly said.

I turned to him and spotted his solemn face as he looked towards the distance.

"You're just a random talented passerby who decides to help out. Sometimes things work out, but sometimes it doesn't. Then your life goes on, and there's nothing wrong with that," he said, "perhaps much like that clock tower, maybe we should start looking at you as who you really are,"

...

"You stepped in because you wanted to. Not because it's your responsibility," he added, "and that's why it counts. And why people like Azul and I appreciate it,"

"...it doesn't mean that butting in is always the right course of action," I said, "when things go from bad to worse-"

"Of course it doesn't. Doesn't matter if you only have good intentions, if you're trying to put out a fire, you're still gonna have to deal the consequences for splashing gasoline instead," he said, "but that's not what happened back then, or with that girl with the Giratina. And I'm sure, nobody thought of you that way,"

"...perhaps," I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Anyway, I'll let you get some rest. Let me know if you're around the area and want to hang out," he said and turned on his heels.

I turned around and watched the young man waved me good bye and hopped onto his Salamence, before disappearing into the sea of stars above.

Perhaps.

That is true.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pokémon mentioned above as they belong to Nintendo and Gamefreak.