The world didn't feel any safer aboveground.
I staggered out of the cave, blinking against the late morning sun. Everything looked… normal.
But it didn't feel like it.
My skin tingled with invisible static. My Poké Balls were warm against my side. And in my mind, I still heard the fading voice of the Guardian.
"The system persists… in the memory of things forgotten."
The Cerulean hills were quiet. Too quiet.
Broken Normalcy
When I reached the outskirts of Cerulean, it was clear something had changed while I'd been underground.
Trainers were gathering in tight knots, whispering. Wild Pokémon had fled the routes gone completely, not a rustle of grass or chirp of Pidgey.
At the Pokémon Center, the nurse ran diagnostics on my team twice.
"Everything's normal," she said, handing back the Poké Balls. "But your registration number… that's strange. It doesn't trace through Indigo servers. Did you transfer from another region?"
I lied and nodded.
She smiled politely, but her eyes were wary.
I left quickly.
Cerulean Docks
I thought maybe I could catch up with someone anyone who might understand. Maybe even Ash or Leaf.
But when I got to the ferry docks, the wind carried only disappointment.
"You just missed them," the dockhand told me. "Couple trainers boarded the Vermilion route early this morning. Headed south."
So I was alone again.
Not for the first time. Probably not the last.
System Stirring
That night I camped just outside town, along a craggy ridge.
As the moon rose, the Cobblemon system pulsed in my vision:
[SYSTEM MESSAGE – INTEGRATION CONTINUES]Current Progress: 52%Pokémon: StableEnvironment: Partial SyncWarning: Unknown Fragments Detected Nearby
Nearby?
I looked out across the land. In the far distance, the rock-cut paths leading to Lavender Town shimmered with low fog, like the mountain itself was breathing.
My system map updated automatically.
New Area Marked: Lavender Fracture ZoneFragment Detected: Relic Signature ActiveRecommended: Proceed AloneSuggested Pokémon Level: 22+
I wasn't ready.
But maybe I'd never be.
I glanced down at my team Bulbasaur, Pidgey, Charmegabyte. They all looked up at me, tired but steady.
Even if the world saw them as normal… I still saw their blocky outlines. Their pixel-perfect edges.
Only I could see them this way.
Only I carried the remnants of another world.
And someone or something was still watching me.
Final Line
I packed up camp in silence.
The road east was long. But it whispered my name.
Next stop: Lavender Town.
Not to bury the past
but to find what had never truly died.