babel_hacker | Day 39

[Now that’s a familiar face. For anyone that’s been paying attention, Atsuro wasn't seen on the network for a while, which is usually odd even with distractions. He looks at his PokeGear, the young man looking a bit baffled if anything.]

So, guys. Just verify this for me. Today is September 18th, right? And not August 27th? ‘cuz last I check, it was still August. I don’t know if it’s just me, the dates got changed or the world got hit by a fast forward button.

[A pause, before he continues. Behind him is a Jumpluff drifting around, going up a little higher when the Pokemon Center’s doors open and the breeze flows inside.]

And I’m pretty sure I was about to leave for Cerulean from Pewter. But somehow, I’m over at Cinnabar Island’s Pokemon Center the next moment.

[His mind is buzzing with various ideas, speculations based on his theories he made about this world. A world that literally works on video game physics, a virtual reality simulation aimed to train Pokemon for an army (his personal favourite theory, yet to be proven)...

Some kind of "glitch"?]

So I could’ve gotten hit by a random teleportation, but I need an explanation for going from August to September. I know I didn’t go into those comas, since my Pokemon can back that up. Or I went home and returned, because my roster’s numbers is still the same.

[As Atsuro talks, or rather speaking his thoughts out loud, his Jumpluff landed on his hat wearing head and shake her cotton-like spores like a cheerleader. The screen shake a little when Atsuro set down his PokeGear, freeing his hands to reach up and take her off his head.]

If you have any possible ideas, let me know.

(OOC: To explain away Atsuro’s absence, he got hit by the Glitch Technique.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't mind if it's a Legendary Pokemon, as long we get some sort of proof. [Granted, blaming the deities is more likely in his world. As much as some people would like to blame it on them.] What they got for them are the Legendaries' powers and mythology behind them as their basis.

[But very understandable.]

It's mainly two different theories, if you get down to it.

[Did someone ask for Atsuro's Speculation Hour?]

The first one is directly tied to the nature of this world. My theory is that this world is a virtual reality simulation for training. Since it's virtual, it goes to show it can have glitches. I might've got caught up in a "glitch" and somehow got out. If the purpose of this VR is for training, it's better not to lose "players" like us by accident, so whoever maintains this fixed it. Or not if I glitched back here.

Otherwise, this is a real world that runs on its own physics and laws. Since if this is a VR, I doubt they'll leave someone stuck without a good reason.

[He pauses at this point, in case this man have any questions or counterpoints.]

Virtual reality...

[Dist lets that roll off his tongue as he considers that theory. He had not once considered it since that sort of thing doesn't exist in his home world, but this boy's reasoning explains the time lapses well enough. A technical glitch certainly could cause such a thing to happen. However...]

My only concern with that idea is why would the people behind such a program need people from other worlds to participate in order to test it? That is an awful amount of trouble to go through for such a thing. Not only would they need to develop a highly-functioning virtual reality world, they would also need a way to connect all of us. That would require bringing this technology to many different worlds or creating a device to transport us all to a single location.

That said, your second hypothesis seems the more likely of the two. Though there certainly has to be a reason for it to happen. Some sort of trigger...

I bounced the theory off another person, and we guessed it's to have us trained Pokemon for them. We run directly towards the issue with limits.

[How much is enough, why them having volunteers from their native worlds, so forth.]

But if it's not VR and something else, the trigger would be either caused by someone, or something, else... Or I accidentally triggered something back in Pewter.

[Did he accidentally do a certain sequence and do the equivalent of stepping on a certain tile? Or an area in Pewter.]

What do you mean by having us train them? Under the assumption that the virtual reality hypothesis is in fact true, what could they possibly need powerful virtual creatures for?

[He ponders the possible triggers again.]

I have not been to Pewter City so I cannot comment on any possible triggers there, but it has also happened to someone in another part of the world. Therefore, location could not be a factor at all.

Like maybe we're training the Pokemon, and once they're sufficiently strong enough, they would upload their experience and training into real monsters?

[Digging back into his memories about that discussion. Been a while since he talk about it... More like a few months by now.]

About that other person you mentioned...what's their circumstances at the time?

Hmm...I don't know. That just sounds awfully convoluted if you ask me. They could've gone about that in a much simpler fashion. Why not simply microchip them to do the same thing with less steps?

As for that person's circumstances...actually, I'm surprised you didn't see it on the network. It wasn't that long ago. Our beloved, loud Cobra Commander found himself declaring war on the Fourth of July when it was nearly September. He explained that he was in the middle of creating that post on the correct date, but it was suddenly a completely different date when the post was completed. He felt no change in time at all, much like your situation.

Who knows? Maybe they prefer a "real person's touch" to it?

...Huh, I must've missed it. I was probably too busy to see it at the time. [It's very easy for Atsuro to tune out the world if he's in the middle of programming. ~~The mun forgot to tag in~~] But that makes me even more curious about the exact trigger, since there's probably not a lot me and that Cobra Commander guy have in common.

[If...there are, he will just take it as it is. Anyway.]

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