victory_road | [Video/Action for anyone in the Goldenrod suburbs] Backdated to immediately after everybody woke up.

HELLO?

HELLO!

HELLO HELLO HELLO!

HELLOOOOOO?!

_{[Assuming you didn't just mute the video INSTANTLY because the audio consisted of a child hollering into the mic, what follows is some very uncertain sniffling. The kind where the kid in question is still kind of working out whether they have a reason to be crying or not.]

[The video display is going from room to room of what looks kind a generously-sized suburban house-- nerds who have gotten familiar with the architectural aesthetic of each city might be able to note that it looks like one of the typical for-rent Goldenrod homes in those sprawling neighborhoods on the southern end.]

[There doesn't appear to be anybody else home but the camera-holder (and a few Pokemon here and there, but he's not paying attention to them), who seems to be getting more panicky with each empty room he finds.]}

Where is everybody?!

_{[THE SEARCH GOES ON.]

[Until, five or ten minutes later, the feed finds him sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. Without a shirt. Eating sliced bread straight out of the bag.]

[While crying.]}

All my friends are go-o-oooooone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Um.]

Wrath, where did your shirt go?

I lost it.

_{[Another big bite of bread.]}

Just like my friends.

_{[Actually, it can probably be seen just barely in the frame, wadded up on the floor behind Wrath.]

[He got so upset that he took it off and then forgot about it.]}

... I think it's behind you.

[Sigh.]

Look, I'm... near Blackthorn? I think. So it might be a little while until I can get back. I'm... doing what I can, but one of my friends is with me and I need to make sure she's okay, too.

_{[Sniffing loudly, he looks over his shoulder.]}

Oh.

_{[That's nice but IT DOESN'T BRING HIS FRIENDS BACK.]

[But at least he's not so devastated that he'd try to demand Micchy stay on the line with him. He nods, replying with a warbly]}

... Okay...

... I'll be back when I can, okay? I haven't seen you in a long while, so maybe we can hang out when I do get back. We could go to the park or something, if you want.

[Because Wrath will probably break fewer things if he's outside.]

I would like that.

I don't see you in the base anymore.

_{[He knows Micchy left. He still doesn't really get why, but he's too upset right now to want to start yet ANOTHER "but why did you decide to be a TRAITOR" conversation. Which is probably for the best.]}

... I know. I left. I can explain a little more when I get back, okay?

Okay...

_{[More sniffling. Micchy already knew Wrath was a huge crybaby, so this probably isn't a surprising turn of events.]}

I think you might like Mai. She's probably going to be coming with me, if that's okay with both of you. She's... really nice. She's a very important person to me.

... Mai?

Is she someone from your world?

She is. I've known her for a while. We used to be on the same dance team.

... You dance?

... Not so much anymore, but I used to, yeah.

... When we go to the park, can I watch you dance?

[He's tempted to say no, but...]

... Okay. I'm a little out of practice, though.

_{[At long last, Wrath offers up a thin, watery smile.]}

I won't mind.

I don't know anything about dancing.

It's not like formal ballroom dancing... I know a little bit about that, but it's not the same. But I'm sure Mai would be happy to help teach you, too.

... I used to be the youngest person on my dance team. A lot of them treated me like a little brother.

[Even when he told some of them to stop that...]

I didn't know there were different kinds of dancing. I thought it was all just moving when music plays.

It pretty much is, but there's different sorts of moves for different sorts of beats. Like classical music tends to be slower, so there's more slow and grand movements with it. Pop music is faster, so it's more quick movements.

I like quick movements more.

That's how I fight.

You might like the sort of music we used to dance to, then. But we didn't fight with it. Not with punches and kicks, anyway.

There's lots of ways to fight, not just kicking and punching.

You could stab people, too.

That's another kind of fighting.

... Well, okay. That's true. But that's not what I meant. I meant people performed different routines and the people who got the most applause from the audience were the ones who won.

What?

People don't applaud fighting.

They mostly just scream and get in the way.

It was more a competition than an actual physical fight. That's what I meant.

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