a thing

“So… how was your little… trip…?”

“Intriguing, to say the least. There were a surprising amount of ghosts there, you know.”

“Oh… uh… were there now...”

“Oh yes. Took a bit of doing, but I was able to lay them all to rest.”

“That’s… that’s good...”

“I’ve a question, though. And don’t feel pressured to answer.”

“Go on…?”

“Is that why you acted so skittish, and refused to join me on the trip out there?”

“...Yes. That’s exactly why. How much did you find out...”

“I heard about the rift. I was told that you gazed into it, and you lost yourself, and so all of those people lost their lives.”

“Yeah… listen. If you never want to even look at me again, that’s okay. I don’t want to look at me after that, either. Just please, treat the puppy nicely. Give him to a good home, if you must. I understand if you don’t want anything to do with anything I’ve touched.”

“I waited on judgment. I wanted context.”

“Well… I guess I’ll try to explain it as best I can. I owe you that much. When we arrived there, when the girl was kidnapped, I was already upset. I have anxiety problems, I’ve told you that. When we reached that woman, and she tore open the rifts… I made the mistake of looking inside. I saw… myself. I saw myself in a dozen different lifetimes and a dozen different circumstances. And it felt like I was a bunch of different splinters, it felt like… like I was being overtaken by a thousand different forces and powers from all of these splinters, I saw.

“And there were some constants. I saw you in those splinters, I think… not all of it is clear to me, even now. The one that stuck out most, that I remember clearest, was… was a child. And somehow I knew. The Pokemon that woman was going to kill, she was… she was my daughter, somehow. And then all the different forces started boiling over. I felt a rage, and it wasn’t mine, but at the same time it was.

“I felt something wrap around my heart and I felt time itself twist and the shadows and the light all screamed out in anger and all I could do, all I could think to do with all of that sensory mess was to grab hold of that static that grabbed my soul and the next thing I knew… next thing I knew I was waking up to Kris tossing bodies into the rift. I wasn’t covered in blood, but… my Kommo-o was. They told me I shooped into her body, but… I don’t remember anything. I really don’t. But I know I did that. So, it’s okay if you never want to speak to me again. I’ll just… go, I guess-”

“Poppet, listen to me. You were not in control of yourself. And those who died did some terrible things, whether they knew it or not. I want to ask you one more thing.”

“Yeah..?”

“Have you learned to control it, and do you regret what you’ve done?”

“Well… I’ve been trying to learn how to control it, I guess… it stuck with me, whatever I did. That… possession thing. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it… and… and I do. I regret it every day of my miserable life. I know there’s no making up for what I’ve done. As far as anyone knows, all those people disappeared into the rift, but me… I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life. Please, bring me to justice. I will gladly lay my head down right here and pay my own life for all of those people.”

“I’ll say once more, poppet. You were not in control of yourself. There will be no laying down your life today.”

“I’m sorry that you had to find out this way...”

“It would have come up, one way or another. Now, would you care to travel to the next island, with me…?”

“If you’ll have me, then… sure, I guess.”