punchandkiss | First Viking Assault

[When the camera turns on, it’s upside down, and shows a lovely pair of fur lined brown boots sitting on the ground, folded beneath a red leather skirt covered in…are those spikes? They certainly look like spikes. The camera shakes a few times, and then violently shifts to the left as though someone smacked it. And then there is a sigh.]

This can’t be right.

[The voice is female, and frustrated, and after a moment the camera moves wildly again, as it lifts up into the air, showing an image from above of a blonde teenager sitting on the grass somewhere, leaning her back against a tree, and there is a green pokemon curled up on the ground next to her chewing intently on what might be a rock. She looks like she’s about to throw the pokegear away, even make a little growl of frustration, but she happens to glance up at the last second and see that the screen is actually doing something.]

[She brings it back down, frowning at it (still upside down) as she taps the screen with her thumb a few times and finally turns it the right side over. After a few more seconds of poking and prodding, and a few more of pushing her Pokemon out of the way when it becomes a bit too curious about what’s on the shiny machine, she slumps down where she’s sitting and just stares at the screen.]

Okay. That guy. That professor said I can use this to talk to people. Other people, I mean, besides…everyone in this town…people who also woke up in a weird house with a little creature following them around, I mean.

[Some of her anger might be showing through there.]

So, hello. Hi. Whatever. I’m Astrid. I need- [She cuts off as the Axew suddenly pokes his head back into view again, and there’s more shuffling as she pushes him back off-screen.] Sit. Stay. Right there. Good boy.

Anyway. Other than some stuff that didn’t make any sense, all I know is I’ve got this guy following me around and something about training and collecting and…look, it doesn’t matter. I just need to know where Stormfly, my dragon, is…and my axe…and how to get home.

In that order. Thanks.

[Some more fumbling and after about fifteen seconds of a lovely shot of the palm of her hand, Astrid manages to turn the device off.]

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... I guess he could grow up to be deadly if he tried really hard.

Maybe. Hopefully. If I'm stuck here that long, anyway. Doing this...pokemon...thing.

[She still says it like it's a made up nonsense word.]

...Right. Okay, so, not a bear. Anything as large as a bear.

They're...safe, at least.

[Hiccup's heard by now that people from the same world can come from different times--he didn't get it, sure, but he knows that concept exists. Still, he can't help but sound a little wistful. Astrid still has Stormfly. The dragons hadn't abandoned them, for her. Not yet, anyway.

~~Because obviously you couldn't be ahead of him if you had a dragon.~~]

We're in Johto, though we're in different villages. Or cities. It's like this place that takes people from all different kinds of places and times, then gives them pets to train and breed.

[If he didn't feel like crap, he might be able to explain it better... But the world may never know.]

And I'm, er, sick. Which is why I have it set to only send you sound, instead of sound and pictures.

[The guilty tone in his voice alludes to an unspoken apology.]

I had adventure at home! I didn't need...another one. Without Stormfly...

Safe and not here.

[She wasn't thrilled with that. She never would be, probably. But she supposed 'safe' was better than 'vanished forever'...even if she knew it amounted to the same thing.]

Joetoes. [She says this wrongly, without necessarily meaning too, she's just not focused enough to care at the moment. Cities she's never heard of and villages she's never heard of...that she can roll with, she's sure there are lots. But it's still disorienting. And the pet stuff she'd picked up from other people. More importantly...]

Sick how, Hiccup?

[He was her only connection to home, she didn't want him catching something terrible and dying or something.]

It's clear this Stormfly is very important to you. Rest assured, it's fine; you'll return to things exactly as they were when it comes time for you to go back. Most likely, neither you nor anyone else will have ever noticed you were gone at all.

[He ponders.]

Though I wonder how your Axew must feel, that you're so concerned with your other dragon that you have no time to spare for its own sake. Do you suppose it'll think you're disappointed with it?

Why so obsessed with bears?

_{[... Dragon, huh? Heather knows one other person who talks about having a dragon.]

[... And wouldn't you know it, that dress code looks mighty similar.]

[But she'll wait to ask.]}

'Fraid you might be stuck here for awhile.

You'll probably have to get used to the scenery.

Someone told me they'd been here two years...

She is. And...what do you mean? How would that even work?

[Astrid's not exactly the sort to pay attention to it, but she does know Time pretty much only goes forward. She glances over at her Axew again, who has returned to chewing on a rock.]

...I'm not, though. Disappointed. It's just...

[A shrug.]

Unexpected.

They're just a good example of a large, angry animal that's not a dragon, that's all.

Two years?!

I can't be here for two years!

[Another person. They weren't kidding about this place being full of people, were they...]

The scenery's not so bad. A change from the snow, anyway.

I could draw you a diagram, but that's making things rather complicated, isn't it? Suffice to say, that's how it is, and most of us only vaguely understand why. If we understand it at all.

[He shrugs himself.]

My point is, nurturing an inferiority complex in your starter is a perfectly valid method of training, but it's also one better done with a deliberate hand.

[She pushes the time thing aside for now and turns her attention to her Axew, who stops chewing on a rock long enough to headbutt her lightly in the side and make a little weird growly noise. She gives him a pat on the back.]

I'm not neglecting it. Him. He's right here.

While wishing longingly aloud for your other dragon. They do have feelings, these creatures, as absurd as it is to believe.

It's not like he knows what I'm talking about.

You don't think so? They understand more than most people give them credit for.

Surprising though it may seem.

[Hiccup understands, which is why he lets her complaining go without judgement. He had been lucky enough to be greeted by Toothless when he arrived in Johto, though the Night Fury had long-since left. While he went through his day-to-day life feeling more than content, not having his favorite, bumbling dragon around anymore did upset him.

Also chuckling a little at that pronunciation.]

There's no 's'. But it is a weird name...

[Pause.]

Oh, you know. Nothing major. Cold. [Understating that quite a bit, but...essentially it was the truth.] It's been going around, too, so it's not like it's a case of 'Gee, look at that boy. So small, so feeble! No wonder he got sick.'

Johto. [She says the name twice before she's happy with it, and then back to the topic at hand.]

A cold that makes you hide from your little magic window thing. Just a cold. [Skeptical Astrid is Skeptical.] Besides, you're not that small or weak. [Erm. She probably could've reworded that.]

[She regards her Axew for a moment, giving it another pat, and then picks up the rock it had been gnawing on and tossing it. It goes running after it.]

How smart can they be?

You should really meet some of my friend's partners. I think they could put a bear to shame.

Lady's proven capable of planning and manipulation, so I wouldn't underestimate them. I'm told some even manage to talk; they certainly understand human speech.

Snow, huh?

_{[That's right, she's pretty sure Hiccup had mentioned a cold climate, too.]}

Come winter, it'll probably start looking a lot more familiar.

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