Pokemon Max: Universal Delete

Part 4 Spectacle

Part 4 Spectacle

-Two Days until Todd's Birthday-

The next morning, I left the house early. I barely mentioned it to my mother, tried to keep Clover from asking about it, and was gone before anyone else was awake. The sun was barely getting over the horizon, and the chirping birds only occasionally broke the silence with a peaceful warble.

The walk was about twenty minutes. I hadn't been told where to go, but we both knew where I wanted to meet. It was the annoying part about having a clone: I always wanted to get on his case about being vague, but I always knew exactly what he meant. Regardless, after walking for a while, the coffee shop sat quietly in my view. It was one of those with an outdoor patio.

The sun cast lone rays of light across the sky, painting streaks in the sky while tinting the black a dark maroon. I found myself staring up at the few stars I could still see. I remembered when I found out the bright star that seemed to always be there was just a planet. I couldn't remember which one at the moment,  but the disappointment came back. What I had thought was a remarkable ball of light turned out to be simply rock.

I walked into the shop quietly. I was always grateful to coffee shops. They opened early, just in case somebody needed a pick me up before having what was sure to be a riveting discussion with their evil clone. I typically didn't drink coffee; the caffeine wasn't helpful with my powers. This time, however, I treated myself. The brewing beverage certainly smelled better than going into this on just my right-out-of-bed energy.

After a moment, I found my man sitting at a table just by the corner, away from the window. Dark smiled when we made eye contact. It wasn't sinister in any way. It wouldn't have seemed to hold the hostile intentions he doubtless had for me. He threw in a pleasant wave at me.

The barista gave me a small smile as I turned back to face her. I noticed her eyes, which were a dark, chilling blue. Her hair, pure black, drooped low behind her head, except for small red highlights near her face. She placed my drink in front of me as she completed the transaction. As she turned to go back toward the service counter, she winked and added, "You two have fun on your date."

I froze. "What? Wait, he's not-"

She was gone.

I grumbled under my breath as I sat myself down in a seat across the table from him.

Dark chuckled.

"What did you tell her?"

Now his smile changed to the sinister one. "Nothing much, just a little something to keep pressure off of us while we...chat. Just a heads up though, you even try to hold my hand and I will rip your beating heart out of your chest."

I nodded. "Glad we're in agreement."

We stared silently at each other, my eyes peeking at him over the lid of my coffee. I had decided to go with some generic black, so the bitter feeling in my mouth passed down my throat as I swallowed a few sips.

Dark lightly slapped the table. "Enough. We should get started. I thought we needed a better opportunity to chat."

"What the **** is wrong with you?" I asked him directly.

He shifted back a little. "Wow. That's a surprise. I thought you were trying to prove yourself the good guy."

I growled and leaned toward him. "I know what you're planning to do."

He chuckled. "Jirachi, huh? Pretty crazy. You ever think about how we keep escalating things? It's almost like we're living in some kind of story. You can never get a break. That'd be too boring."