It had been roughly two months since the Team Rocket fiasco had finally been settled, and every stolen Pokemon had been returned to where they came from, be it their Trainers or back into the wild.
It was getting colder now, around the start of February. There had been a few brief sightings of snow, but it never stuck around long enough to set on the ground. On one such cold day, I was at home with Nelly's little brother Maruki, whilst she and her parents had travelled out of town to a bigger supermarket than the one in Fuchsia. I had volunteered to stay behind and watch Maruki since he seemed to detest the idea of travelling in the car for so long just to go shopping.
It was just past midday, and the boy was sat on the living room floor, playing with his toys whilst his pet Amaura, Rainbow, watched intently. I was sat on the sofa across from them, glancing up occasionally to check that all was fine. Meanwhile, I was playing a popular gacha game on my phone.
Maruki was almost four years old now, and seeing him grow and noticing his speech develop was both incredible and a little bit saddening to me. On the one hand, it was amazing to have seen this child grow up since his birth and learn new things, like how to walk and talk. But on the other hand, he wasn't a baby anymore. Most of his cute speaking mannerisms had been lost as he began to articulate points at least somewhat coherently. Part of me had never wanted him to grow up at all, wishing he could remain as a toddler forever. Of course, I realised that such a sentiment was not unique to me. I was sure Darragh and Alexis had thought the same thing. They probably had felt the same with Nelly, too. Perhaps it was just a natural affinity for infants that some people have. Despite how annoying they may be, you never really want them to grow up.
That said, Maruki was by no means a bad child at all. He had been brought up well, and knew when to use his 'please' and 'thank you's and when he had done something wrong. Darragh and Alexis knew how to be stern, but they hardly ever shouted at their son, and they never hit him as a form of discipline. The way I saw it, he was going to grow up to be kind and considerate, as well as inquisitive and curious. He was very affectionate towards the family, including the pets, and he liked to ask a lot of questions, always seeming fascinated by the answers.
"Ughhh." Maruki sat upright, dropping his toys.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I bored."
"Yeah?" I looked around. "Wanna play in the garden?"
"Yeah!" He got to his feet. "In the garden!"
"Put your shoes on then."
I helped him put them on, then I put my own shoes on and we went through the kitchen and out into the back garden. As I slid open the door, I felt the cold air against my face, but Maruki didn't seem too bothered. He rushed out and said hello to Leo the Arcanine, the family pet. I shut the door behind me and patted the Pokemon's head before reaching into my pockets.
I brought out a few PokeBalls and opened them up. My Steenee, Buizel and Meowstic appeared, and Maruki ran over to play with them.
Meanwhile, I sat down on the steps next to Leo and stroked his fur. He glanced back at me and presented his ear, which I scratched for him.
"Good boy. How are you for food...?" I looked down at his bowls. "Fine, it seems. Though I can get you some more water."
I got up and retrieved the almost empty water bowl, looking to see that Maruki was ok. Buizel was making an Aqua Ring and Grace was manipulating it with her psychic powers to make bubbles float out of it. Maruki, Nectaria and Rainbow danced around, trying to pop the bubbles before they hit the ground.
With a smile, I headed back inside to the kitchen sink.
A glance at my watch told me that Nelly and her parents had been gone for about two hours so far.
As I held Leo's water bowl under the tap, I heard a voice coming from the living room.
"Whoops, I left the TV on." I realised, turning off the tap and placing the now full bowl on the side.
I went back through to the front room to see that the television was indeed still switched on. I looked around for the remote, spotted it on the coffee table and went to pick it up.
The news was on the TV, which seemed strange to me, since this wasn't the usual time for it to be broadcast. As I grasped the remote, I looked at the screen. It was some sort of breaking news bulletin. A woman was speaking from the centre desk, and a bold headline ran across the screen below her. It read 'Prime Minister Reported Missing'.
"Huh?" I stared. "How do you lose the Prime Minister?"
"Following a meeting at the U.N. Offices in New York, USA, Japanese Prime Minister Eijiro Saito has gone missing." The reporter spoke. "Attendees of the same meeting all agree that Mister Saito was present at the meeting, but he hasn't been seen since. All attempts to contact him have proven fruitless. Police are conducting an ongoing search, and Mister Saito's deputy will take over until the Prime Minister is found. More on this story as it develops."
"Wow." I watched for a few more seconds until the broadcast ended, then switched the TV off. "Weird. I hope he's ok." I put the remote down and made my way back into the kitchen.
*
About an hour later, we were still out in the garden. Maruki wasn't bored yet, and seemed to be having fun watching my Meowstic control my other Pokemon's moves with her powers. I had been watching them for a while, sat beside Leo once more. I glanced down at my phone and scrolled slowly through my newsfeed. Sure enough, the majority of it was full of subjects relevant to my tastes – news and jokes about video games for the most part, with general humour and occasional videos as well. As I had thought, the Prime Minister's disappearance was on the lesser-visited trending tab, but there was something else that I didn't expect to see.
'Dash-cam captures footage of the moment the Sun turned off'.
"What? We'd be dead if the Sun turned off." I frowned, sceptical. But something compelled me to tap it anyway. I was taken to a brief summary of what the video below showed.
"In the morning hours today, the skies over New York City turned pitch-black, despite clear weather and no solar or lunar eclipses expected." I read in my head, pausing briefly before continuing on. "The footage below comes from a police officer who had been on duty when the incident happened. His car's dash-cam catches the fleeting moment that the city was plunged into darkness, only to light up moments later."
"What is this...?" I played the video. It was about thirty seconds long. It had been cut down to show the essentials. For the first five seconds, I could see the streets of what must have been New York City, from the camera inside a police car. It seemed to be driving through traffic normally when, out of nowhere, the whole scene was engulfed in total darkness. The officer behind the wheel swore in surprise and confusion, and presumably stopped driving.
Watching the video, I felt a sense of unease and awe all at once. I could just about make out the lights of the buildings around the street, and hear the muffled screams of people panicking outside in the open. And then, almost as soon as it had turned dark – about ten seconds or so later – it was like the light switch had been flicked back on. The darkness was completely gone, and everything was back to normal.
The officer swore again and asked what the Hell was going on. Then the traffic started moving again and the video ended. There was some text below the video too.
"It is not yet clear what caused this phenomenon, or just how far it spread. Reports suggest that the loss of light did not affect areas beyond a one mile radius around New York City."
I blinked twice and glanced over the page again.
"The heck...?" I frowned.
"It's snowing!" Maruki cheered, breaking me from my focus. The way he announced it was so cheerful, and yet...
Snow hadn't been forecast. In fact, there had been clear skies all day.
I looked up to see that it was actually snowing. Small white snowflakes dropped from the sky slowly, coming from grey clouds that had appeared from out of nowhere.
"Hahaha!" Maruki jumped around as the snow came down, and Rainbow joined him.
Nectaria and Grace watched happily, but the mood was off for some of us.
I glanced down to my side and Leo's eyes were narrowed at the sky. I heard a faint growl seep through his teeth. Buizel didn't look amused either, standing back with his arms folded, looking up at the clouds.
"Bui bui..." He frowned, looking back at me.
"Hey, Maruki, I think we should head back inside now." I said to the boy.
"Huh? Why?"
"Those clouds look nasty." I pointed. "I think the weather might get bad soon."
The snow started to fall faster and heavier, slowly shifting into hail.
"But-!"
"Inside. Come on." I said, sliding the door open and waiting on the steps.
"Okayyyyuh!" He said, clearly displeased. He walked past me and into the house.
"Come back in, guys." I recalled my three Pokemon to their PokeBalls as Rainbow trotted inside. I watched the hail come down on the grass and the steps in front of me and saw it bounce away.
"Leo, come inside." I pushed the door open wider, and the Arcanine needed no further encouragement. He went inside and I picked up his food and water bowl, carrying them in and shutting the door behind us.
*
My judgement had been correct. No less than five minutes later, heavy rain was lashing down outside. It was so heavy that we could hear it hammering down from inside. From the window, I could see it falling diagonally, pushed by the strong winds that had picked up. It had turned from a clear day to a cold and stormy one in a matter of minutes. Maybe I was paranoid, but a part of me was scared that the sky would go completely dark at any minute.
I checked the time and saw that Nelly and her parents were due to return soon, if their estimates had been right.
Maruki was sat on the floor again, and, seeing the rain, accepted that being told to come inside was for the best.
"I hope they're all right..." I brought out my phone. "I should call her-!"
As I said it, my phone began to ring. I answered it in a heartbeat. "Hello?"
"Toby?" Nelly's voice came through. "Are you and Maruki ok?"
"We're fine." I was relieved to hear from her. "How about you?"
"Yeah, we're ok. We just got back to the car, but it looks like there's a lot of traffic out here now... I don't know how long we'll be."
"Oh..." I felt my heart sink. "Well, just be careful, ok?"
"We will be. Oh, Mum wants to speak to you, hang on."
I waited as she passed the phone over.
"Toby?" Alexis' voice was now at the other end.
"Mum?"
"Is Maruki behaving?"
"Yeah, he's been fine." I glanced over at him as he was building things with his toys.
"Oh, good. We might not make it back for a while, so do you think you could make him dinner?"
"Uh, sure, yeah." I replied.
"Thank you. There should be some pasta he can have. And don't let him have any ice cream unless he eats it all."
"Got it."
"If we don't make it back by seven, please could you put him to bed? He might make a fuss, but he'll only be more agitated if he waits up."
"Ok."
"Thank you, Toby. Really." Alexis sighed.
"It's no problem, really." I shrugged.
"Ok, I'll pass you back to Snowflake."
Nelly took hold of the phone and I could tell that she scooted back into the corner of the car as she spoke.
"Hey, so, we're just leaving the car park now."
"Ok. I'll see you when you get back, then..."
"Yeah... Love you."
"Love you too." I smiled.
"Ok, bye!"
"Bye!"
We hung up and I turned to the kitchen. "Right. Dinner..."
*
Without as much hassle as I was expecting, I managed to make Maruki's dinner and persuade him to go to bed. We were in the bathroom, and I stood by the door as he brushed his teeth, looking into the mirror above the sink as he stood on a small stool. He pushed his brown hair away from his brown eyes and rinsed out his mouth.
"Good boy." I smiled. "Come on then."
He walked out and I turned off the light. We went into his room, where he climbed into his bed. I picked Rainbow up and put him up there with him. The rain was still pouring down outside as the night began to draw in, and it could still be heard from inside. I shut the curtains.
"When Mummy and Daddy comin' back?" Maruki asked.
"Soon." I smiled. "They'll be back when you wake up."
"Ok..."
"All right, then... See you in the morning."
"Wait!"
"Hm?"
"My teddy!" Maruki looked around in mild panic, searching for his favourite toy.
"Here he is." I spotted the soft bear with a blue bow sitting beside the wardrobe. I picked him up and handed him over.
"Yay! Thank you Toby."
"That's ok." I patted the boy's head. "Goodnight."
"Nuh-night." He closed his eyes and held the teddy close as Rainbow curled up by his feet.
I lingered for a moment and smiled, before turning off the light and closing the door.
*
I went into mine and Nelly's bedroom and got out a fresh set of pyjamas, changing on the spot. As I pulled the top over my head, I went to the window and looked out.
"Hah..." I sighed, feeling lonely. "It's weird. I spend practically every minute of every day with you... But when you go for just a few hours, I feel... Empty..." I looked back at the bed where the two of us would lay and talk together. No matter how much time passed, we would always have something to say to each other. The conversation never seemed to run dry. And maybe I had taken it for granted, somewhat. "Look how pathetic this is... We're both human beings, yet, when I don't see you for one day, I break apart... That's not a healthy relationship, is it...? I'm... So dependant... If you ever said to me that you wanted space, I don't know if I could cope. Because it feels like all I've ever known is life with you around." I felt a lump in my throat. "Damn it... What an idiot... I know you're coming back, and I'll see you really soon." There was a heat in my cheeks and I felt my heart racing. "But I still miss you." I breathed. "As... Childish and stupid as that sounds..."
And so I stood, leaning on the windowsill, alone. The rain pouring down outside was the only noise I could hear. I closed my eyes, and all there was was the sound of it, hammering down relentlessly, battering the ground and the walls. It even splashed against the window, trickling down like tears. It felt like I alone was caught up in a storm. Like it wanted to surround me – engulf me and drown me on the spot. In the dark I imagined it, the black waves rising up, striking me from all angles and weakening me, wearing me down. The power of the water was too much. All the time, the only thing I could hear was the beating rain, like white noise on a busted television or a thousand un-tuned radios. Wet. My face was wet. Was it raining inside?
I took a sobbing breath and opened my eyes. The same rain through the window was there, made visible by the lights in the night. My face was like a mirror image of the window, with actual tears running down my cheeks.
"Wha...?" I sniffed, straightening up. There was a wet circle on my top and another on the floor where my tears had dripped down. I wiped my eyes and felt the tears on the back of my hand. "Why...?" I swallowed, my other hand curling into a fist on the windowsill. "Why do I feel so alone...?"
I stood there, jamming my eyes shut and gritting my teeth. "No..." I groaned through rasping breaths. "I don't... Want to be... Alone..."
The sound of an engine sliced through the night like a foghorn in the dark, and I opened my eyes. Through the window I saw headlights – a lighthouse in the storm.
The car pulled into the driveway and I sprinted out of the room.
I ran downstairs, hearing the engine stop as the car parked outside. As I came through the hallway, I realised that I must look a right state, but there was no time to clean myself up. I couldn't wait any longer. The door handle turned as I walked towards it and the front door swung open.
Nelly stood there, almost as surprised to see me as I was to see her. She had only been outside for mere seconds, from the car to the door, but her hair was soaking wet. Her face was too.
My heart jumped and my mind began to clear. I was so happy to see her standing there. One look in her eyes told me that she felt the same way. I ran to her and threw my arms around her, not caring at all about how wet my pyjamas would get.
"I missed you." I mumbled into her shoulder, holding her tight.
She was taken aback at first, but wrapped her arms around me just as securely. "I missed you too."
The sound of a car door shutting fought back against the rain.
"Can we get some help with these bags?" Darragh's voice rang out.