THE MOMENT
"I can't be gone for too long...," Abby greeted her acquaintance the timeframe instead of 'hello'. She was in a hurry, and neither one of them would call the other a friend. But, in a small mountain town with an abundance of odd happenings and strange residents, they trusted each other. "...so, what's the emergency?" she asked.
"Thanks for coming," Janelle nodded and encouraged Abby to follow her outside. Abby arrived through a portal, and Janelle deliberately chose an indoor location so she could explain before the big reveal. They met in a basement; but, it wasn't Janelle's; she'd had no reason to invite Abby to her home. There were more than a few abandoned houses in town, not everyone could handle the weird goings-on. Both of them were used to it though, and it wasn't a small thing that Janelle asked for help.
"Something new," Janelle shrugged as they climbed the stairs and walked through the empty living room. "I mean that literally, I don't know when it happened," she added. "I noticed it after New Year's, but usually when stuff like this happens I can tell it's new. This feels like it's been there forever," she said.
"Wait," Abby asked her to stop. "Are you sure about that? Like, a billion percent sure? Before I even see it, I need to know you're positive about that feeling. You're sure it's new, but you feel like it's not?" she asked.
"As much as I can communicate the feeling...," Janelle nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. Did something happen?" she asked.
"We think so...," Abby nodded. "... no idea what."
"Maybe it'll be a clue..?" Janelle asked and took a step toward the door again. She was more eager than ever to show it to Abby.
"Maybe...," Abby nodded and started forward again to follow her out the door. Once she was outside under her home sky, the issue was easy to spot, and that made it more worrisome.
It wasn't anything more sinister than a purple and black water tower, Janelle's school colors. The metal tower rose up behind the school with the bulbous top decorated with an array of graffiti in different colors and styles. The spray-painted designs seemed to give credence to it being there for years already; but, she immediately felt what Janelle had described.
Abby knew it was a brand new structure; but, it seemed determined to force itself into her memories. As if insisting it had been there all along. She'd lived in the town her whole life and even though she'd gone off to a boarding school, she was positive it wasn't there the last time she was in town. The longer she looked at it, the more at ease she felt with its presence.
"Thanks for letting me know," Abby nodded at Janelle. "I'm not sure what kind of clue it is, but yeah. Something happened over the holidays."
"So it's not just here?" Janelle asked. Abby shook her head.
"No. Some of the students have noticed things are different, but it's impossible to say what caused it. Whatever it is, something happened to change things across the entire multiverse."
"Well, duh, that means Sharp Development, right?" Janelle smirked with the comment. Sharp Development was the largest corporation in the multiverse, and the company had a known history of tampering with reality.
"Monday says no...," Abby shrugged. Monday was someone she would definitely call a friend, and they were teammates. Monday's mother, Dana, was the owner of Sharp Development.
"She's a Sharp, you're not just going to accept it at face value, are you?"
"I was planning to....," Abby sighed as she flicked her wrist up and summoned her Slate. The opaque glass pane was completely legible to her even if Janelle couldn't read it, and she navigated through a few menus with taps and swipes. Then, after a moment, her shoulders dropped, and she dismissed the Slate. She stared at the unknown, familiar structure in the distance trying to consolidate what she'd learned. According to the timeline of her Earth, that structure was built decades ago and had been there for her whole life. She was sure that it hadn't, but official records confirmed that it had.
"Since before the Pineapple Cup, I'm pretty sure...," Janelle nodded. That was an entirely unexpected comment, and Abby turned to her with a tilt of her head.
"Did you scan it already? How the hell do you know that?" Due to certain privileges, Janelle's personal Slate didn't have access to all the information Abby did. And, they were too young to remember when the tournament actually happened almost 15 years ago.
"Uhhh," Janelle stared at the tower and squinted her eyes a bit. "Ohh, maybe it's on the other side," she shook her head. "There's a mural celebrating the Magi-Knights win at the tournament."
"The Magi-Knights won the Pineapple Cup?" two things happened when she voiced that particular thought. In her mind, she was asking the question because it didn't seem like the right answer. But, just like the water tower, reality was trying to force the knowledge into her timeline and she was compelled to agree with that assessment. "Oh yeah, now that I think about it, I remember...," she said. She was walking a mental line trying to let the new knowledge settle without forgetting what she already knew. She decided she'd seen enough, and needed to report it to someone that would remember it better and be more helpful.
"I need to get back and talk to Turbo," Abby said.
"Wait, but... it's safe, right?" Janelle asked.
"It's not part of an evil master plan, it's just a water tower that's been there for years," she shook her head. "But, this is way too small to ignore."