The crashing noise was the very first thing that registered within his hearing range—he knew that somehow, the roaring Salamence had managed to stave off the impact of the first, after the winds had very nearly knocked them down to the ground.
However—not everything would go as planned, divine ‘providence’ aside.
The sounds of ‘glass’ shattering echoes all around them, a sign—an ominous sign—that the defensive barrier had sustained too much damage.
Try as the Salamence might to summon up another, he’s smart enough to know that’s
not how this shit works, and roars at the young woman—frankly, the only one between their crazy little party of three doing some semblance of good so far—to keep his human safe as he’s struck by a beam of light and just—
Gone.
Erased.
The last thing Alexei hears from the draconid is aforementioned roar, before it gets cut off abruptly, like—like something was playing on full blast but the speakers then cut out.
“What… what happened?!” he began, before an equally-loud whinnying noise ripped through the space too close to him, as the guide ‘unicorn’ is also hit by the same beam of light—
The hand fisted into the mane feels like it’s losing traction, as the hairs dissolve and his balance finally gives way, him tipping over to one side (unknowingly if it’s the side Kaida’s on) as yet
another loud noise rips through the space, shattering the gloom.
And then, after that moment of silence—the same self-inane voice rings out over everyone’s heads
again.
His brain’s too fried, too frazzled to care—he’s not sure where the lady (Kaida) is at the moment, but if anything’s for certain, it’s that the loud roaring noise of the draconid had forever been burned into his ears.
(Maybe it really WAS a good thing he couldn’t see what was going on around him.)
He
knows he’s still facing the wrong direction, but, really…
“Young miss…” he began in
Kaida Adachi’s direction.
Why couldn’t he get that loud, defiant, draconic screaming out of his ears.
If she would turn her attention to him, she’d notice that something was
happening. Despite the sightless void of black that she would see, she would definitely notice that he was… he was crying. Despite him
not knowing.
What was going on? Why did he feel something wet staining his skin? Honestly, really…
“Thank you.”That was what he would tell her, first of all.
Djinni forbid what was coming next.
“You… if you can… find, the owner, of that mare. The one… the mare that helped us out…”His words falter; he could still feel the candy floss-like strings of the Galarian Rapidash’s mane between his fingers.
“Can you… give this to him?”His fingers slip and fumble across something—something small, and cold, wound around his neck. Instinct was guiding him at this point, sightlessness aside, as he removed two chains from where they rested—one was a battered, tarnished bird whistle; the dark blue metal flecking and fading in places.
The other—a pair of dogtags, one of which was hollowed out and held a Key Stone in its place. The other had a small piece of metal inscribed with his name on it, in both Common
and in his mother language, along with his date and place of birth—written not as Fortree, Hoenn; but Mistralton, Unova.
“Don’t…hold it against him…please?”He could tell she was angry, but there was… the lingering thought of
something inside him, something that not even the erasure of his memories could take away from him, the feeling that there was something… something
else the other man traveling with their little crew could still do.
Another familiar shout rent the space close to where they were rematerialized, and if
Josh Devlin would care to take a look, he’d see someone headed right his way, letting the black-and-greenness of his field of vision guide him towards one of the glowing white pillars of energy he could see amongst the gathering of people.
Even if the younger man was shoved aside, mostly by accident, it’s like his feet—sensory deprivation aside—are letting him take this walk across the rubicon, straight into the pillar the other was most likely going to dive into if nobody fucking stopped him.
Before he stepped into the light, he turned around—all he could really see were just figures.
No discernible features.
Just outlines of data that denoted a person standing right there.
Outlines of individuals he didn’t recognize or anything. Individuals he couldn’t recall name or face of. In the end, they were all that—just—
figures.
“Maybe I can get a new body out here,” he says more to himself than to anyone else, and while the words that came out of his mouth weren’t understandable by anyone (as he said them in Russian) he walked straight into the light.
• Gabriel the Salamence goes out with a bang, roars in Kaida’s direction to keep Alex safe (haHA)
•
unfortunately this also meant that their guide point, Zuza the Galarian Rapidash, is also eliminated• erryone warped back to where they were, at the terminals
• for some strange reason, he seeks out Kaida again, and hands her two things
•
maybe not everything in his memories was deleted after all, because his emotions are still there…•
‘don’t hold it against him.’ (is what he really wanted to tell Kaida, but yeah, he really can’t remember anything so…)
• is headed in the same direction Josh#2 is, accidentally yeets the young man aside
•
oh djinni above, Alex, what are you doing• takes one last look around, doesn’t register that his own doppelganger is waiting for him on the other side of the light
•
CEEJ I SWEAR IF YOU SEND MEMO AFTER ALEX I WILL YELL AT YOU• :dorime: