reveiller | video. | action for cherrygrove.

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video. | action for cherrygrove.

Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one...

[When the video feed flickers on, you get a nice view of the starry night sky stretching endlessly above. His voice filters through whimsically like something distant and far away.]

There's Andromeda to the north, Libra... Vulpecula, and maybe Orion's to the left, hidden away in the corner. [a chuckle, slightly regretful] Mm, I'm just kidding. I don't recognize any of the constellations here. And even if I did, I'll willing to bet that their names are probably somewhat different than the way I remember them.

Teddiursa Minor, maybe, or The Great Victreebel.

[He laughs, airy.] The stars here are still pretty, albeit nameless.

[The video screen dips downwards and inwards, illuminating a brown-haired boy, lightly smiling. There's an egg cradled in his lap. And wherever he's sitting, it's high above the ground, for the treeline is right there behind him, their tips caressing the sky.]

You know, it's a little strange that it takes a week-long coma and a very vivid dream to realize how nameless everything is here. [A pause, pensive. And almost to himself--] And it was a very, very vivid dream. I don't think I realized how vivid it was, until it came true.

[Breeze in the background, and he looks up, distracted. When he turns back, he's smiling again, wider than before, which probably means he's just that much more melancholy.]

Has anyone here had any happy dreams since coming here?

[action]

[For any late-night Cherrygrovers, he's sitting on a lamppost near the town square -- egg in his lap and Flygon sitting next to him -- murmuring to himself idyllically. His words, drifting along the wind-]

'...Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.'

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And what did you dream about, Fuji?

[He contemplates his own dreams for a moment.]

I rarely remember mine these days.

Lines.

[A faint shrug.]

They leave behind vague feelings, don't they? Feelings that tell you whether it was pleasant or not, that sort of thing.

Sometimes they do. Sometimes it feels like I just closed my eyes for a moment, but hours have passed. I don't mind not remembering my dreams, though.

And your lines were unpleasant?

Well, they do say dreaming's an experience. Recalling it might ruin it, if it was a good one.

Maybe not unpleasant. But I think there are better lines out there.

Perhaps you'll dream of better lines next time.

Do you feel better, having woken up?

With your blessing, probably.

Sure. Like they always say, you can only call it a dream after you've woken up.

Oh, do I have that power? [He's laughing quietly.]

True enough. It's too bad you had to dream of unpleasant things in the first place.

Have you ever tried pressing your tennis racket to someone's head?

Well, beggars can't be choosers. [a hum] How's Gen, by the way?

Hmm, no. Maybe I ought to, who knows what I could do.

Gen is doing well. He evolved, and I'm working on teaching him tennis. It's going... all right.

It would be a good way to find out if tennis skills really do relay through osmosis.

Ah, so he's a... bayleef, now. But is that some hesitation I hear?

If that were true, my team wouldn't have to practice nearly as much.

Well, Pokemon aren't really built to play tennis. It'll take a lot of training, but I think he's having fun.

Maybe it works differently in a videogame.

Hm, it makes me want to follow suit. I'm not sure which of my pokemon would actually be able to hold a racket, though. I've tried playing catch with several of them, but the ball just tends to go right through.

Do you really think we're in a video game?

Yes, that's the difficult part. So few of them have opposable thumbs, after all, and it's hard to get much power if they're only holding the racket in their mouths.

Or someone's idea of one. Have you tried talking to the locals?

Hm, maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way. I don't see why we can't let the pokemon make use of what they already have, as opposed to forcing rackets on them, in order to get the ball up into the air.

Someone's idea of one... hmm, that does seem rather appropriate for this place.

And that's true, but is it really tennis without a racket? I suppose that is the biggest problem, though, and if we remove the racket then it would be easy enough to alter the rest of the rules to accommodate Pokemon.

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? I think that so long as we keep it in the spirit of things, tennis will always be tennis.

Besides, I don't know about you, but I'm very interested to see how someone might return a hydro-pump reinforced serve.

I guess there's no way of knowing unless we try. And really, it would be a crime not to make use of our Pokemon's natural abilities. As long as it's in a court and we keep enough other rules, I suppose it would be enough like tennis.

I'll leave you to figure out the details. Of all of us, you're probably the most qualified.

I think we might run into a problem with the fire types, though. I'd imagine it'd be difficult to judge if a ball was in or out if it's been reduced to a smear on the courts.

Naturally there'll have to be a rule about not destroying the ball. [He's definitely thinking about it now, though it'll take some serious thought.]

But you seem rather qualified as well, Fuji. Perhaps you can assist me.

Maybe. But I don't think I have it in me to deny the possibility of flaming tennis balls. [so amused]

And that's a fairly strange proposition. I'd have thought that you would first go to your teammate for something like this.

I'll be asking Niou as well, of course. But you see, I'm used to his particular brand of creative thinking, and it would be interesting to get a fresh perspective. I've been lead to belief you can be rather creative when you choose to, Fuji.

You're accustomed to Niou's brand of thinking? [mock awe] Yukimura, with all due respect, you are a very frightening person.

As his captain, I have to be. [A somewhat wry smile.] Though I must say, it even frightens me sometimes.

I'd imagine it's far more frightening when you're standing on the other side of the net. [A chuckle.] But that's fair -- I wouldn't mind pitching in, if you need a second opinion on anything.

It's not as though there's a lot going on, recently.

Excellent, then I'll keep you in mind. Thank you, Fuji.

Have you been feeling bored?

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