victory_road | Video 1: Oh God WHY CALI!?

Cali has no intentions of attempting anything on her own thankfully as she bearhugs that tree tightly, making her look like a deranged komala. Upside though with that hugging style, Cali is hanging in there good with her Applin. So long as no wild pokemon encounters happen in the tree anyways.

“Pretty long, I hold the record back home for longest bear hug. Upside, I can pass the time with some old camp tunes until then.” Cali happily chirped…at least she’s optimistic about the whole danger tree situation, downside…camp songs..oh Holy Megaplex help us all…

“Oh shoot! I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Calliope, but everyone calls me Cali for short!” Cali’s thinking goop finally clicked on what she forgot to do, oh Cali….

"Alright, hang on then." Jotaro pulls on his coat and shoes and heads out the door, PokeGear in hand. Once he's out of the Petal Gym, he sends out his Mudsdale and gets on him. The horse-like Pokemon whinnies and Jotaro gestures for him to start running forward while he looks up and searches the trees.

He almost tells Cali to not start singing but he thankfully doesn't have to because she stops herself.

"Cali. Okau. I'm Jotaro, but some people call me JoJo," the man grunts. "And this is Freight, the Mudsdale. You'll also meet Orquesta shortly. He's that bird you might have seen from my video earlier."

"Oh! Jojo is a fun name! It's nice to meet yah Jojo!" Cali's happy chirping tone came off as a sound liken to a squeaker toy as she went to wait for help along with a massive bird coming to her aid.

Of course...Cali kept her word on singing horrible old Camp songs to pass the time. Something about a lady named Susie who apparently went to heaven but her poor steamboat went to what was implied to H E double hockey sticks before quickly switching to the operator.

Thankfully for him, Jotaro has been trained in the art of tuning out inane nonsense ever since he went on his roundabout trip to Egypt with his grandfather and associates. Even though Freight does give him a look, he does not go insane as Cali sings and stays online so he can reference the video and her location.

But the singing does actually help, somehow. A few minutes later, Orquesta finds Cali. He gives a small chirp in greeting.

"You should wait until I get there, but when I do, we'll have Orquesta help get you down. How are you holding up?"

Cali is absolutely surprised and in awe of how massive the birds are in this world as Orquesta arrived! Truly, birds where she came from were rarely bigger than a barn owl and often had two heads with multiple eyes from the toxic waste sites. This bird, however, wasn't a monstrous sin against nature and was rather nice looking. Good news, Cali still had a vice grip on the tree and isn’t going anywhere just yet!

“I’m holding up pretty well! I didn’t know birds could get this big here or have one head without multiple eyes! They’re amazing here!” Cali finally stopped singing thank the lords of the megamart as she looked at Orquesta.

"... You come from somewhere weird, huh?" Jotaro asks finally. "Orquesta is a Pidgeot. There are bigger birds here but they're not to common. Oh, and there is one bird Pokemon that does have more than one head, if I recall correctly."

Orquesta himself preens at the praise. He flutters around the tree, making sure he shows every angle of himself off for Cali. Yes, he is impressive, thank you very much, human.

"Orquesta," Jotaro says loudly. The Pidgeot quickly looks towards Cali's screen. "Come find me and then lead us back to Cali." The Pidgeot gives an affirmative cry. With a nod to Cali and Sweet Sixteen, the bird flies off. It'll only be five minutes before the bird finds JoJo and returns.

"I suppose Orion 34 would be considered weird, though this world is a whole lot nicer and less radioactive. Pidgeot is absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see more birds here." Cali is a little ball of sunshine still as she watches Orquesta show off every angle of himself before having to go back to Jotaro.

Cali and Sweet Sixteen stayed on that dreadful plague doctor eating tree, it shouldn't be too long until liberation would arrive to save this technicolored weirdo. Upside, she's a very nice weirdo that's taking things well...maybe a bit too well but it's a step up from her home planet.

"... Good grief." Radioactive. Well, that explained it. Jotaro would rub his temples if he wasn't holding onto the reins of his Mudsdale. But Jotaro prefers her being cheery over her panicking, so he says nothing more than that.

"I'm here," he says. His voice seemingly echoes since Cali can probably hear him in real time and from her PokeGear. "Okay, we're going to get you down. Orquesta, get up there. We're going to use you to help her down and catch Cali if she falls."

And the Pidgeot is back next to you, Cali. Hello.

"I can see a path, somewhat. What we're going to do is get you to slowly move down. You put your feet where I tell you and then you're going to slowly shift your weight to the support. Can you do that? My Pokemon are there to support you, and catch you if you need."

Cali looks down to see Jotaro and waves happily at him. It is clear in person that Cali is absolutely a shortie of sorts even in platforms (how she managed to scale a tree in those things is hard to say). It was also clear, even with that plague doctor mask on, Cali was super happy to see Orquesta once again.

"That sounds like a good plan to me, I'm ready whenever you are!" Cali chirped, Sweet Sixteen was clearly ready to be done with the tree and be on solid ground soon.

Jotaro had initially thought that it was the camera angle making Cali look extra small. He did not expect that Cali would be sooo tiny. He briefly wonders how old she is as he scans the tree.

"Alright... Orquesta, lower yourself down. Be an armhold if you must. Cali, move your right foot down first. You're going to move it outwards away from your body. There's a foot hold for you right there. Then move down. Your left foot can go down until you can get to that branch."

The instructions will be slow and patient. He'll only give her two movements at a time so she doesn't get too overwhelmed (or more likely, too excited). As she descends the tree, Orquesta will swoop lower and lower, ensuring he will at least break Cali's fall if not catch her entirely.

When she gets closer to Jotaro, Jotaro's going to reach up can try pick the girl off the tree. He's pretty tall, she's pretty short... should be easy enough, hopefully? Unless something happens on Cali's end?

Cali would do as instructed, carefully climbing down as per instructed by Jotaro. She would continue to have some good luck until the tree voiced its opinion on the matter as her backpack got tangled up in a low hanging branch. Sweet Sixteen made some pretty interesting sounds like an annoyed grunt from a middle age man upon finding himself still stuck in a tree thanks to Cali. Cali froze for a moment as she realized her backpack with Sweet Sixteen inside was now dangling in a tree branch. Thankfully, Cali is becoming close enough to grab up from the tree...how she managed to survive for this long is beyond anyone's guess at this point.

"Oh shoot, Sorry Sweet Sixteen! Jojo should be able to help you get down from the tree too!" Cali called up only to get the gruff middle age hiss of a salty Applin.

"Am I close to being able to leave the tree?" Cali turned her masked face over to Jotaro to see where she's at.

Jotaro's eyes widen as he sees her stagger and for a second he thinks he needs to catch her. But he sighs in relief as it seems it's nothing dire, just inconvenient. The man shakes his head.

"Very. You could probably jump down," Jotaro says. However, he still reaches up for her. She's no longer that high up and Jotaro's very strong so the man plucks off the tree as if Cali was a particularly colourful, ripe fruit. "But better to not risk an accident. Orquesta, go get the bag."

The Pidgeot gives an affirmative nod and flaps his wings. He finds himself eye-level with the Applin and he smirks as much as you can with a beak. Need a help, Sweetie?

Picking up Cali is very much like picking up a young puppy where it feels like the bone structure is pure noodles. Upside, she doesn't do the puppy flops that some tend to do when being picked up and Jotaro gets a scratch n' sniff sticker that smells like pineapple in return!

"Thank you so much for the help down and for getting Sweet Sixteen down from that tree." Cali cheered as she looks right up at Jotaro.

Back in the suspiciously cotton candy scented tree, Sweet Sixteen looks right back at Orquesta. Weirdly enough, Cali didn't get a young starter for some reason, instead, she got an older middle aged Applin for a starter. He certainly could use some help, poor Pokemon got drafted to the circus...

Oh... she's light. Jotaro didn't expect any trouble picking her up but Jotaro's still surprised at how small Cali is. Ignoring the sticker plastered on him, he puts Cali down onto solid ground.

"Are you okay?" He asks her. "You were up there for a while."

That is a strange scent on the tree. Now Orquesta's close, he can really smell it. The Pidgeot would investigate if there wasn't an old man to rescue. Orquesta chuckles and picks up the poor Applin in his mouth by the apple, before he flies down to return her to Cali. Tah dahhhh~

"Thank you so much for helping me out and I should be fine after moving about for a bit." Cali beamed happily, having already moved passed the plague doctor eating tree.

Sweet Sixteen was ready to escape the tree the moment Orquesta picked him up. Oh boy, the Applin strongly smells like cotton candy after being in that backpack this whole time. Cali happily accepts her cotton candy scented old man Applin as Orquesta delivers him to her.

"Yay! Sweet Sixteen, you're alright. Thank you Orquesta!" Cali cheered as her Applin gave a gruff huff at being stuck in a tree of all things, Kids...

Orquesta drops Sweet Sixteen into Cali's hands and then flies back to Jotaro's side. Jotaro pets the big bird on its head.

"Good job, Orquesta." Jotaro glances at Cali and her Poemon and shakes his head. "Good grief, you have energy," Jotaro mutters.

Orquesta laughs. The Pidgeot says Sweet Sixteen reminds him of Jotaro. Just slap a hat on him and they'd be indistinguishable.

"... Now. Can you read a map?"

Somehow, Cali managed to look confused with the mask on. It never popped into mind that having too much energy was a thing as she held her clearly very tired apple dragon as he gets laughed at, I'm too old for this....

Though..now that the hats are mentioned...that would look great on Sweet Sixteen who reflects on this as Cali thinks for a moment before asking, "Oh, is the map on the fancy phone?"

Jotaro also thinks he's too old for this, and he's only forty. But he patiently nods in response.

"Yeah, your Pokegear. It's not the most accurate thing in the world but it gives you the general gist of where you are. You can use it to navigate the shorter routes like this one. People... usually don't usually get lost between New Bark Town and Cherrygrove City." He gestures for Cali to pass him her Pokegear so he can show her how to open the app.

Cali hands Jotaro the PokeGear as this is pretty fancy tech right there, the fabled digital device that she's heard about in rumors, "Oh, that's what it's called! I figured it was just a very fancy Tuppi."

Sweet Sixteen for once made this weirdly gruff laughing sound from Jotaro pointing out how very bizarre it was to get lost between New Bark Town and Cherrygrove City. I think this Applin has appreciation for dry humor...

"What the hell's a Tuppi?" Jotaro asks as he pulls out the Pokegear.

He leans over so Cali can see what he's doing and shows her how to get into the menu. Then shows her how to open the map and see her little flashing icon.

"There. See? New Bark is here," he says pointing, "this is the route, and this is the next City. You can just follow the route."

"Oh! A Tuppi is sort've like the PokeGear here, but modified to function out in space. They're nowhere near as nice as the PokeGear though." Cali explained in an upbeat manner and more than happy to explain what a Tuppi was.

Cali goes to watch Jotaro on how to use the PokeGear carefully, wanting to learn now that she knows this isn't the paradise planet Earth. If it weren't for the mask, you could tell Cali's eyes were lighting up at how neat the map feature was.

"I see, so that's the route! This is insanely cool! What's the next city called?"

"I see... So you're a space traveller?" Jotaro asks curiously. The ocean is his first love but Jotaro's always liked space. As his attire may suggest, he's always had an affinity for stars.

The man passes her PokeGear back and nods.

"Cherrygrove City," he repeats patiently, pointing to the next city with his finger. "Use these buttons your cursor around to look at the names of the City. It's relatively close, all things considered. After that, is Violet City which is much further away. You should stock up on supplies once you get to Cherrygrove."

"Not exactly, I used to live on a colony on the exoplanet, Orion 34. The magnetic field there is strong enough to mess up digital devices, so we tend to rely on analog devices like the Tuppi. I heard the Mars, Moon, and Europa colonies have a better luck with some digital, but I'm not entirely sure on the Venus colony." Cali answered in a casual, upbeat manner as though she was talking about the weather.

Cali perked up big time after learning on how to use the buttons on the PokeGear along with the city names, "Oh! Okay, so I want to be at Cherrygrove first, do you know if they carry self-cooking hotpots or ramen at the grocery stores there?"

"... Orion 34. Never heard of it. But I've heard of the others before... Sounds like you're from somewhere pretty advanced." Jotaro nods along, fascinated but accepting the new information for what it is. He's not one to emote much anyway. "Well, there are plenty of digital devices to get used to here. Thankfully, not too many though." He's never been a big tech guy himself.

"They'll carry ramen but the hotpots won't self-cook," Whatever that means. "You'll have to cook manually yourself. Will that be a problem?"

For once, Cali was stumped on something after her hyperactive entry: What year was this and they don't have self-cooking (sometimes labeled as self-heating) hot pots? It takes Cali a moment or two before she collects her rampaging thinking process before asking the question:

"I realized I forgot to ask and it's gonna sound super weird, but is this the year 2288?"

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