Perspective Shift: Pewter Joy

You find yourself in your normal rhythm while cleaning up, something that feels almost wrong given that tonight isn't anything like normal. You can't remember a previous time where you were involved with making the mess you cleaned up. Regardless, you and Chansey cleaned it up quickly and efficiently, just the same as always.

It's once you have nothing to do that your mind starts to wander. As you get behind the counter, you find your hand drifting down towards your stomach, absentmindedly rubbing the space in front of your womb. You had never really thought about when you would be having your child before, and now it was done. Or at least, you hoped it was done. You couldn't think of a better father, after all.

By the time you truly snapped yourself out of your thoughts, you looked up to find it is well into the dead of night. A yawn forces its way out of you, as if checking the time was enough to remind your body that you did in fact need to rest at some point. Walking out from behind the counter, you look around for one last once-over to make sure there was nothing else you needed to clean up before you took a break.

Just as you are getting ready to close up, you hear the jingle of the door opening, almost startling you. You look up, questioning who would arrive this late at night, and find quite the strange answer. The individual walking into the room looks like they were just mauled by a Pokémon, their clothing covered in slashes and stitches. They also were wearing excessively baggy clothing, their hood hiding their face from you as they looked down at something in their hands.

Following their gaze, you see them staring at both a Pokéball and Pokédex, nothing out of the ordinary for it to have completely consumed their attention. So absorbed are they that they walk straight past you, absentmindedly stumbling forward towards the empty counter you normally staff.

Slightly amused, you clear your throat to get their attention, an action that causes them to pause for a moment. They slowly look up, though their hood does not move to reveal their face, before turning to you, seemingly still somewhat distracted by some thoughts within their head. For a moment you both just stand there, staring at each other within the lobby of your Pokécenter.

Deciding to do your job and break the ice, you put on your classic customer service voice and speak up. "Good evening, may I help you?"

They just stare at you for a few moments before looking back down at their hands. When they at last speak, they sound full of uncertainty. "I would... Like a room." Their voice sounds hoarse and rough, but not painfully so, like someone who has been in the mines and caves too long.

Putting on your best smile, you walk back behind the counter and open up the drawer of sorted room keys. Looking back up, you are not surprised to find that they are still somewhat out of the moment. "Ahem," You clear your throat, getting them to look back to you again. "May I see your license?"

It takes a moment for them to fumble through their personal device, clearly not used to it in the least. Eventually, they pull up their license and pass it over to you, something slightly strange to you as most just show it from the other side.

Their license is apparently brand spanking new, something that explains their weird behavior. As you look it over, absorbing the assorted strange details within. Despite the license being issued by Brooke mere minutes ago, it says that they are from Celadon. Confused and intrigued you decide to ask them about it. "It says here you're from Celadon? What brought you all the way out here to start your journey?"

They turn slightly away from you, their voice telling a slight anger as they speak. "Celadon has not been my home for a long time. It's just the place I was **** to grow up in." They seem satisfied answering with that statement, despite the fact it was not actually an answer to your question.

Smiling through the strangeness, you look over the rest, deciding it isn't worth the awkwardness of trying to make more small talk before nodding and handing over a key to a first-floor room. "Here you are, I hope you enjoy your stay here!"

They slowly pick up the key, staring at it as they had the items previously in their hands before pocketing it and slowly meandering away towards the rooms. You watch them with a confused interest, wondering just what is going on with this bizarre individual.

Before you can spend too much time dwelling on it, your tiredness returns and you get up to resume your last sweep of the place. You find a few scraps you had missed, brushing them up and collecting it all into the bin where it belongs. With a little mopping, the place looks good as new and you return to the counter one last time.

The moment you sit down, you find yourself struggling to keep your focus and slowly your vision blurs and shifts, getting caught off guard by your own fatigue after quite the long and eventful day.

You find yourself drifting off into a form of trance, filled with strange dreams. For a moment, everything is normal, just you manning the center. Then, someone grabs you from behind, wrapping you in a hug. You turn around, finding an older-looking Red staring down at you lovingly. You go to speak, but suddenly something else has gripped your leg. Looking down, you see a little girl gripping your leg. As she looks up at you, you see a near exact clone of you, except with Red's brown eyes. Your heart melts, and you reach down to touch her-

When you are suddenly awoken by the sound of something. You jolt back upright, blinking rapidly to clear the fatigue out of your eyes as you look forward. It's still late, but you don't know how long it has been since you fell asleep. Looking across the counter, you see the same strange figure that you had just been speaking with moments before.

Just as you are about to speak, they place something down on the counter. "Sorry to bother you, it just... It doesn't feel right... To sleep in a bed." You squint your eyes, confused and your vision slightly blurry.

With no further words, the stranger walks away, out of the door accompanied by the jingle of the bell. Looking back down to the desk, you see the room key you had given them not long ago. Confused but too tired to care, you pick up the key and return it to its place in the drawer before getting up and walking into the back.

Hopefully, if you went back to resting fast enough, you could return to that wonderful dream.