punchandkiss | First Viking Assault

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First Viking Assault - [Video]

[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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[Hey, he's not complaining. Violence is his go-to finishing move. Usually through tennis. But hey, whatever it takes to get results.]

What, people encountering others that they already know? With startling regularity, yes. When I arrived, there were around five people here that I already knew from home; in the ensuing months, I watched another fifteen or so arrive on top of it.

Why, is there someone you're longing to see?

No. [A quick answer. Too quick? Maybe. But she wasn't going to admit anything like that to a stranger on a creepy magic window.]

I actually meant people arriving here. In 'Mom's' house.

[WELL OKAY THEN. The lady doth protest too much. Interesting, but not really of any concern to him, unless he decides to poke at it later.]

Ah. In that case, it happens just about every time, as far as I've heard.

So people from...somewhere else...just wake up in that woman's house, with her acting like she's their mother...and then they get a pet and are sent on their way?

Often?

Constantly. It's the nature of the world.

[Man, how does he explain Pokemon to someone who's baffled by the thought of a camera? Baby steps, apparently.]

There's a certain...game, I suppose you could call it, that starts out much the same way. Thanks to this world's sense of humor, people's arrivals here tend to mirror the starting conditions of that game.

[She doesn't know what to think about that fact that people come in 'constantly.' She would have to look around the town, maybe other people arrived at the same time.]

A game? What do you mean? What kind of game?

['Game' meant 'violent contact activity' to Astrid, generally.]

A rather inane one, as far as I'm concerned.

[Moving on.]

Think of it as an analogy. When you intend to play a game, there's always a certain way of setting it up such that every game starts out the same — the players stand in the same places, or one person is designated as "it", or everyone has a certain number of items to begin with, and so on. Every time you play the game, those conditions will always be the same.

Similarly, every new arrival in this world comes in under those same conditions: a greeting from "Mom", a partnership, and an instruction to go on a Pokemon journey.

[She is quiet as she thinks this through. It makes sense, in a way, and yet in other ways it is nonsense. Still, she couldn't necessarily say she agreed with it, really. But if it was true, it was unsettling.]

So it's a game where we start out with...some random woman as our mother? And then we go off with our new pet...or partner...to have an adventure?

...Why?

I don't know; that's simply the premise. Presumably it's designed for people who are longing for adventure.

[Or bored teenagers looking for escapism...]

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

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?

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.

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.

[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?

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.

Mm.

[She's not exactly skeptical...the dragons back home appeared intelligent sometimes too. But she wasn't necessarily convinced. As the Axew ran back with the rock and plopped it by her leg she scooped it up and threw it again.]

How long have you been here?

Over a year now. It was thirteen months just the other day, actually.

A year for you. Two years for someone else.

I can't be here that long.

Much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, I said the same thing on my first day, as well.

...Great.

[She sighs under her breath.]

What's your name, anyway?

I won't say you ought to resign yourself to it by any means, but for the time being it's an inevitability you'll simply have to accept.

My name is Yagyuu Hiroshi. Just Yagyuu is fine.

First Viking Assault - [Video]

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