islandshore | 40 - video/action for Vermilion;

[It was kind of strange, really. After their match in the tournament, Riku hadn't seen hide nor hair of Xion. He thought he might've kept missing her and that she was somewhere in town; the city's huge, after all, and with so many trainers, it'd be easy to lose her in the crowds.

But when he tried contacting her over the Pokégears, he got no response. Then, when he checked his PC, he caught several familiar Pokémon inside what would've been an empty box (the others were safe at the TC, after all). Then there was that note... Really, it didn't take much to add two and two together.

So, when he addresses the network, it's with a somber expression. There's an Arcanine bounding around in the background, but Riku doesn't pay him much mind. Making it to the semis in two cups is worth celebrating, sure, but not when he's lost a close friend.

He hesitates before, finally, he speaks up.]

To those of you that knew her, Xion's gone. I've got Bahamut and a handful of her other Pokémon, but if anyone else wound up with some her roster, could you let me know?

She probably wouldn't want us to worry about her. If anything, she'd probably want us to keep smiling, but I know she made a lot of close friends here. It's only fair of me to give you guys a heads-up.

[There's a pause, followed by a sigh.]

And good luck to everyone else in the tournament.

[With his message complete, he shuts off the gear and wanders out to the docks with Flare by his side. It's still mind boggling to think about. After over a year, he hadn't expected her to just... vanish. And after he beat her in the tourny, too.

How ironic... depressingly so.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. But I don't think losing in the tournament makes you a bad trainer-- or even worse than your competition. My last match was a pretty close call, for example. Down to the last Pokémon on both sides, could've gone either way.

It was like that with Xion, too.

[A beat.]

Still feels bad, though.

Of course not. But seeing how far people can go and the strategies they use to do so is nice, is it not? Everyone's losses and wins are opportunities for us to learn more about this world and our own teams.

[He thinks about it for a few seconds.]

...All those potential lessons, and she's not even had the time to enjoy them. She should have had it.

That's why I hated going against her. It was tough, giving it my all while dealing with the fact that I'd be knocking her out of the game if I won.

But it is a learning experience. One she really should've been able to experience herself.

Guess all we can do now is hope she comes back someday.

Was it? Surely not giving your best against someone you like would have been harder. After all, you would not have wanted her to hold back against you, would you?

...With the memories she's made here, if she's lucky. It would be a shame if so many friendships were forgotten.

No, I wouldn't have.

[Point well taken, Cecil.]

It's hard to predict if they'll remember or not. Sometimes they show up, leave, come back without memories, then return again with memories... from the time before the last.

Like Hope did. Or they come back three, four time like Zidane, or much younger like Trucy... Or they arrive here and stay years upon years.

[Like the two of them.]

It's just too random to really say. Especially when you factor in time periods.

True. Everyone from my world came from nearly two decades in the past, I've heard of differences as large as centuries... While others come within a minute of each other. If we could only know why...

Sheesh, centuries? I can't even begin to wrap my head around that one.

Normally I'd wonder how they'd be able to tell in the first place, but in that case the people involved were very long-lived and remembered each other.

Huh. Then they must not be humans. That, or some kind of magic's kept them going.

Not human. And possibly magical. It sounded rather complicated.

40 - video/action for Vermilion;

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]