39: Unsung Hero

The morning sun has risen. The time has come… I must leave this world behind. And everyone in it. A part of me is tempted to say “screw it. I’m staying.” But I know what will happen if I do that… I look to the other end of the room. Thunder lies in bed. Still asleep. 

“Hey, Thunder.” I say quietly. Not wanting to wake him up. “I know you can’t hear me, but it makes me feel better to do this at least. It wouldn’t matter anyways… You wouldn’t remember..” I start feeling choked up. Thunder has been my friend and companion from day one. To leave him behind… It feels like I’m losing a part of myself.

“Before I go… I… I wanted you to know how grateful I am to have met you. We have a bond that has endured everything this world has thrown at us. I’m going to miss you. Dearly.” I pause to gather my thoughts. I reach for the table and grab my team badge and bandana. “I want you to keep this” I say as I gently slide it under his hand. “I guess I just want to leave something tangible behind… Alright… I’ve stalled long enough…” I get up and walk slowly to the door. I take a look back, knowing that this room will be etched in my memory for years to come. I fight to stop the tears from falling. No. Not now. There will be a time for crying later… “Goodbye, Thunder. I’m going to miss you.” With those final words, I close the door.

Thunder

With Alex gone, Thunder lets the tears loose. He had in fact been awake. He heard everything. And he already knew what he was talking about. As much as he hated to see his partner leave, he knew it was for the best. “Goodbye, Alex…” He says to the closed door, holding Alex’s team badge tight.

Alex

Walking through Paradise brings back many memories. Building the house with Gurdurr. Getting our team badges. Watching the town grow. Things that I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. All in all, I’m glad I came to this world. It’s an experience I won’t soon forget. 

It doesn’t take long until I reach the hill in post town. Hydreigon’s partially physical form is there waiting for me. 

“Are you ready, Alex?” He asks me.

“As ready as I can be.” I respond. “But before we go, I have a question. We usurped fate when we beat the Bittercold, right? So… Is it possible with that same force of will to keep remembering me?”

“…I’m sorry… But that is determined by strict physical laws. Just as nothing can stop the sun’s rise and fall, they cannot hold on to their memories. It’s physically impossible.” Well it was worth asking, at least.

“I understand… Well, let’s do it. Let’s send me back.” Hydreigon nods as a yellow energy envelopes me. The same light I saw rising into the sky atop this very hill. The ones holding the deceased humans that fell to Munna or Kyurem. It feels thick in the air, slowing my movements. “Is… Is this it? Have they forgotten me?” 

“They have, Alex… No one knows you even exist.” Even though I knew this would happen, I still feel my heart break. I just can’t imagine the people I have lived with for so long would look at me like I’m a complete stranger. All our relationships… Gone…

“Then there’s no going back…” I fight to hold back my tears. I’m not entirely sure why. But I do. I feel the orb that encases me ascending. I watch as the horizon falls beneath me, showing the vast stretches of land that occupy this world. And there, hovering above the sky, the Rainbows of Hope. At least this is what I leave behind. A world returning to peace. With my friend at the helm of the change. 

“Alex, soon I’ll have to leave. You’re going too high for me to follow. Before I go, Thunder wanted you to have this in the event that you did have to leave.” He pulls out something with his jaws. A frism. Thunder’s frism. He gave up such a rare and priceless artifact for me? And… There’s a recording… Hydreigon reaches through the orb, handing me the frism. “So… It’s time that I leave. Goodbye Alex. I wish you well.” He said as he fades away. Now I’m alone… I feel so, so alone… Wait, what’s the recording on the frism? Out of curiosity I melt the ice on the opening and listen.

“Alex? Can you hear me?” It’s Thunder’s voice… I feel tears well in my eyes as I hear the voice of my dear friend. “So… Hydreigon tells me you have to go… And that we will not remember anything about you…” Hydreigon… Why did you have to tell them? “I understand why you didn’t tell us yourself. And… I’m sorry that it has to be like this. But before you go, I have to tell you something… You mean so much to me… More than you even know. I don’t remember my childhood. I don’t remember my parents or ever living in a real home. Before I met you I was a wanderer. Never staying in one place very long. Never taking the time to make friends. But then you dropped into my life. Literally. And… You were the first person I could ever truly call a friend. Someone I would be comfortable telling my darkest secrets to. Someone who I can trust to have my back no matter what. And… I’ll be honest. I’m afraid to forget that…

“But what’s done is done… I want you to keep this. Something to remember me by. To remember us by. Who knows? Maybe we will cross paths again. Now, the others want to say some things.”

“Alex…” Gurdurr? “Because of you, I am back into my old life. I cannot express how grateful I am for that.”

“You helped me through a hard time in my life.” Virizion… “Without you I’d be the same callous Pokemon I was when we first met. Thank you.”

“Not only that, but you saved my sister.” Umbreon… “I assure you, we are both eternally grateful for that.”

“And you created New Hope to help clean up this world.” Emolga… “And I know you’re gonna miss me. You can’t lie.” Of course I will Emolga… I’ll miss all of you…

“So farewell Alex.” Thunder says, apparently wrapping the recording up. “Whatever path life leads you, know that we support you every step of the way. No amount of memory loss will change that. Goodbye, Alex… Thank you… For everything.” …silence… 

I can’t hold it in any longer. The tears fall in force. My emotions spill out. The only thing I have left of this world is the frism. Now empty. Without the voice of my best friend… “Thunder…” I sob. Floating higher and higher into the sky. And I feel light headed. I guess that means I’m just about to return home. Goodbye, Pokèmar… Goodbye, Pokemon Paradise…

Goodbye, Thunder…