[VIDEO]

[ironchef]

Hi. So. I'm Hunk. And I need help figuring out how to wake up. [Yup, he's going to be one of those people, utterly convinced that this is some flashback to school days dream except that it's an open woods adventure and he's not yet looked down to discover his pants missing. Which, believe him, he's been checking.]

[He's holding a little Nidoran under around her midsection and she's just kind of ragdolling in his arms rather than causing any sort of disruption, content to be carried.]

I left this one lady's house. And I mean, she seemed really nice. I think she's my new dream mom or something? And I traveled a while and just tried to enjoy it. Anyway, I need to wake up because this dream is a little too real and I really don't want it turning into a nightmare on me. It's fine so far, but, you know. Never know what that curry I had yesterday ['real world' yesterday] will do to me.

[He's obviously already made it to Cherrygrove, there is ocean backdrop happening, so he's been walking for a few days. He just wrote it all off as dream time. It's now starting to be a concern.]

Comments

[crystalmaster]

I think it's called a Mawile? And the cute head seems to be the first head, or at least, that's what you see looking at it straight on. The second head is more like a giant pair of jaws. What I'm picturing is it lures you into a false sense of security and then suddenly turns on you. But I have no experience with them.

[ironchef]

[Oh... oh that sounds like nightmare.]

Hold on, I need to look up 'Mawile'.

[Because now he knows this nightmare fuel exists and while Hunk is a very strong buddy, he's also a very soft one and something with a giant hidden face is something he wants to have adequate preparation for. AKA when he sees it, he needs to run like the big sheepish sir that he is.]

They don't get much worse than that, do they? [Please, please... let that be the freakiest. He's got the screen split so he can look up this info so he's obviously not focussed on the camera.]

[crystalmaster]

I think that's probably the creepiest-looking one, but I've heard some scary stories about some of the others. Of course, just stories ... they might not be true. People probably make stuff up about Pokemon like they do people.

[He had been misjudged so often back home because of gossip.]

[ironchef]

Oh, yeah. That's not just a human thing, either. It happens in space, too.

Well... I guess I should train Shay up a little more just in case they are accurate. You know. Because I'm used to scary overwhelming things but honestly I was happy to be away from the scary things.

[crystalmaster]

You mean with other species? Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Training to be prepared is a good idea. I'm not fond of battling, but I do want my Pokemon to be able to handle threats against them.

[He smirks a bit.]

Yeah, I guess there probably isn't a place without some negativity.

[ironchef]

So it's not just me, huh? Yeah, I've never been big on fighting. I'd rather work things out. But if these little guys are going to fight each other, I guess I need to prepare them.

[At least the panic about horror pokemon has ebbed down to the general exhaustion of having to memorize technicalities about whole new life forms.]

[crystalmaster]

I've had too much of fighting back home. I had to send a lot of people into battle.... It wasn't a traditional war and I wasn't any military commander, but it was real enough and some people died.

[He sighs heavily.]

So I don't wanna do that with cute little animals unless I have to. But at least nobody seems to die here, so there's that....

[ironchef]

Okay, with no one dying? I'm back in simulation or dream territory.

...But that said, any war is hard. Ours had more physical fighting than not, using technology, but it still cost a lot of lives. Glad to know this place has been peaceful so far.

Even if it has its creepy stuff.

And is kind of wierd.

[crystalmaster]

Yeah, after what I came from, no dying is pretty nice. Even though it definitely makes me wonder more where we are. I keep thinking "trapped in a video game," but I don't wanna believe that. The Pokemon all seem too real. I can't believe they're a bunch of pixels.

[He nods.]

That sounds rough. Yeah, I was the closest thing they had to a leader, so I had to step up. I had to make a lot of hard decisions. Even now, I don't know if it was right.

[Or whether he got too caught up in the prospect of wealth and power, for the wrong reasons....

He chuckles.]

That's a good way to describe this place.

[ironchef]

I've been in simulations before, this feels way more real than one of those.

[But still not real enough to be reality. It's just too strange.]

Our leader went through a lot. And... You know, I'm glad he's here. If it's true that this place is that easy going? And he won't miss anything, I think he deserved the down time. I just hope maybe it'll stick with him subconciously. The mood of it, you know?

He doesn't deserve to lose that peace.

[Shiro's been through a lot.]

[crystalmaster]

It sure does. That only makes it stranger, though.

That's great. I hope so too. Are there a lot of people here from your place? I've only met one from mine, and we didn't really know each other back home.

[ironchef]

I am... and we were close.

[Were. There's something in his tone saying he's a little lost and worried about where they stand now. People having been there for years. Just wait until he finds out more. He's really going to be thrown for a loop, even if at their heart it's still his friends.]

I just think I need to get settled.

[crystalmaster]

"Were"?

[He hopes there hasn't been a rift torn between them. He knows how painful that is with friendships.]

That might help. It can be overwhelming at first.

[ironchef]

Er... are. Sorry. They've just been here a really long time.

So I don't wanna assume too much. [He doesn't think they're the type to forget or reject them, he just doesn't know how much has changed.]

[crystalmaster]

Ahh, I see. Yes, I can understand that would be awkward. I've wondered what might happen if I'm here a long time and suddenly someone I know comes. I can't imagine I wouldn't be happy to see friends, but ... if it's been a long time, I might not be the same person they remember.