DAY 51 - [Action] | Some...route! 4th Wall!

[babel_hacker]

[It’s very, very cold.

Well, why wouldn’t it be? This route is practically covered in snow. Wait, where did the snow come from? The weather is just foggy, not snowing.]

Hee hoooo!

[But before anyone can ponder it for too long, snowballs are flying! It’s a snowball fight! And these strange snowmen are throwing them! (Which may be somewhat familiar looking to some people…)

Not that far from them, Atsuro can be seen playing, er, competing in the snowball fight with the Jack Frosts and hiding behind a tree. If he notices someone, he would call out to them before he throw a newly made snowball at his opponents.]

Hey! Get out of there, unless you want to get hit!

[Why is he playing along? Why not? At least the Jack Frosts aren't actively trying to kill people, and he can keep an eye on them.]

Comments

[crouching_sin]

Interesting.

[He glances over at the... well. Glowing floaty thing.]

And I imagine this is one as well.

[babel_hacker]

That's right! Everyone who shows up here have their own Pokemon starter.

[He looks over at the Pokemon with Naoya. Hm, what's that one...]

Looks like you got yourself a ghost type.

[crouching_sin]

It... does seem like it.

[Appropriate. He holds a hand out to it, but it doesn't seem to care.]

... Not the friendliest. I see.

[babel_hacker]

I can check its Pokedex entry if you want.

[Thud. Another snowball hit the tree Atsuro's hiding behind.]

[crouching_sin]

You might as well.

[The Spiritomb just kind of... glowers at Atsuro. Go ahead. Just you try.]

[babel_hacker]

[Eheh... Atsuro pulls out his Pokedex and turns it on.]

"Spiritomb, the Forbidden Pokémon. As punishment for misdeeds 500 years ago, it was imprisoned in the fissure of an Odd Keystone."

[crouching_sin]

[... Naoya just laughs at the description.]

It sounds more like a demon than a Pokemon, doesn't it?

[babel_hacker]

[He chuckles.]

Yep! Honestly, a lot of ghost types have their own freaky entries.

[crouching_sin]

It would make sense.

[He crouches down next to the Spiritomb and inches forward. It stares, but doesn't try to move away when he pats it on the head area.]

There you go. Not so bad, see?

[babel_hacker]

It seems like an alright Pokemon. If you stay, it would make a pretty good starter.

[It have a pretty good typing, actually.]

[crouching_sin]

Oh? I see. It's not like I chose to come here, so I'm not sure how long I'll be staying.

[babel_hacker]

Right... If it's like the last few times, you'll have a few days at most here.

[crouching_sin]

At least it's a nice break. The Lockdown is... survivable, but it's a lot of pressure, isn't it?

... Though it looks like it's been a while for you since that happened.

[babel_hacker]

Yeah. Here, you can work and buy supplies. Of course, things can happen while you're travelling and camping. But...life's easier here.

[There's a brief pause, before he smiles and nods.]

That's right. It's been...over three years since I arrived here and never returned home yet.

[crouching_sin]

Do you miss it? Home, I mean.

[This is leaning into territory that he's not the most comfortable talking about, but... whatever.]

[babel_hacker]

[He expected that question, but Atsuro's quiet for a moment.]

...Yeah, I do. Like, I know home means a normal life and there's no Pokemon, just demons under control. But there's the rest of my friends like Kazuya and Yuzu, who are no longer here. I miss home because I feel--['lonely sometimes']--I just miss everyone from home.

[He made a lot of friends over the years in this world. But none of them can really fill in the hole left by his best friends.]

And honestly, the last time both Kazuya and Yuzu or the others are here, I was completely okay with staying because they're around.

[crouching_sin]

... I see. It sounds like you've adapted well, though. It can't have been easy for you.

Who's shown up here from our world?

[babel_hacker]

I admit, the first few weeks are tough since I wasn't used to camping.

[He's an otaku city boy, what else?]

...You, Kazuya, Yuzu, Midori, Keisuke and that gigolo guy used to be here before.

[crouching_sin]

[... That last one makes him pause.]

He was here, too?

[babel_hacker]

Yeah. He never really traveled with us, since Fly isn't as widely available among us and travelling took longer back then.

[...Wow, he feels like he spent too much time here to remember that.]

I don't think he was around for that long. [He was too upset by Yuzu's departure to notice.]

[crouching_sin]

Hm. I suppose this place was probably very interesting to him.

[babel_hacker]

Probably? We never really talked.

[crouching_sin]

I see. Are there a lot of people here?

[babel_hacker]

There's a lot... I think over a hundred of us?

[crouching_sin]

Hm. From all different worlds?