islandshore | 54 - video/backdated to the 9th;

Nightmare;

[It happens late at night, while Riku's locked into deep slumber. Rather than peaceful dreams about exploring other worlds, he finds himself dropped in the middle of Route 29, knee-deep in tall grass. But something's off. Brow furrowing, he turns around, half expecting to spot blocks of distorted pixels.

Instead, he sees himself, three years younger with a Pidgey perched on his shoulder while a tiny Nidoran whimpers and cries. His past self points a finger at the tall grass and glares.]

Can it, Slacker! If you're gonna be my Pokémon, then fight. Otherwise, you're just a waste of space. Isn't that right, Highwind?

Screeeeeech!

[The Pidgey ruffles up his feather and dives at Slacker, scratching at his eyes. The Nidoran, too petrified to move, takes the hit and tumbles back into the grass. The past Riku merely rolls his eyes as he watches, while Riku cringes and dashes towards his dream self.]

Shut up!

[He passes straight through him, and his surroundings ripple, melting. Riku plummets into blackness. As soon as he hits the ground, a chill washes down him from head to toe. Low moans and growls echo before the ground rumbles. A Nidorino rushes at him, growing larger, swelling to a mountainous size. Riku's heart stops. He hears his own voice echo in the black space.]

Slacker, that's enough! STOP!

[The Nidorino persists, drawing closer and closer until his surroundings flash red. Once again Riku plummets, this time through further darkness.

No image accompanies him: only growls, whines, and voiceless whispers.]

You replaced me...

[There's a brief flash of his Charizard, Flare. Said image melts just like everything else.]

You abandoned me... You forget I exist!

No! It's not--

[His words are drowned out by one more growl. A giant Nidoking appears, giving a bellowing roar. Purple spikes shoot up at its feet. Rows upon rows of Toxic Spikes. Riku's falling accelerates. He draws closer, closer, and closer until--]

No!

[He wakes up on the floor, sweat racing down his skin. Heart pounding, threatening to burst from his chest. The sound of heavy footsteps draws his attention across the room. Flare, having seen the whole thing, plops down right next to him, giving a low grunt.

Riku can't meet his eyes.]

...Don't worry about it, Flare. I'll deal.

Video;

[It's late at night when Riku addresses the network. His hair's kind of a mess, and he looks like he hasn't slept at all. Still, he forces a faint smirk on his face and runs a hand over his head, trying to look a bit more presentable.]

So, about that fighting tournament... Anyone think we should have those more often? It's kind of a bummer I didn't get to fight most of you guys. Can't really get stronger unless I--

[He stops, sighing. His words came out halfhearted, anyway. Even a complete stranger could probably tell something's amiss. For the next few seconds, he stands there in silence, glancing off screen. A Charizard briefly passes by in the background, folding his arms and snorting. He gives a look that screams, "Stop being dumb". He and Riku exchange stares, complete with utterings of, "It's nothing". However, once Flare spreads out his wings and gives a low growl, Riku reluctantly turns back to the camera.]

...Never mind. That's not really what I wanted to talk about anyway.

[Granted, he didn't want to talk about this either, but with a persistent dragon peering over his shoulder, he's kind of been boxed into a corner. Sigh...]

I guess what I want to know is how you're supposed to deal with regret. I'm not good at talking about this sort of thing, but... let's say you get a reminder of some stupid mistake you made a while back. What are you supposed to do about that? Especially if it happened so long ago that it really shouldn't matter in the first place...

[It's dumb. He knows it's dumb and he shouldn't put so much stock into a nightmare, but given how little time he's spent with Slacker, who knows?

Either way, he'll just have to hang tight. Now that he's made his case, Riku clicks the video feed off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Blake's brows draw in] It's not a person, it's one of these animals?

[He holds his hand up and recants a little.] Yeah, I know they're not just animals.

Nobody knows how to deal with these when they're starting out. But Slacker, that's small potatoes as insults go.

Guess you've got a point. I mean, I have heard people call their partners things like "Stupid," "Useless," and "Thing". Still, when you consider what I named my other Pokémon-- things like Highwind, Flare, Phantom... Well, it shows how little respect I gave him, when he's the first Pokémon I even met.

[He lets out an airy laugh.]

But I think it's easy to pass them off as just animals or just pets or even weapons starting out. Language barriers don't exactly help.

What kinda asshole'd call them that? [That's even offensive to the guy who named his Growlithe Hooch.]

We're all kinda idiots when we start out. Takes a while to figure out these squeaky little weirdos are gonna be beating the crap out of rat-monsters for you.

[Blake rubs the back of his head.] I wasn't real nice to Steve, starting out. She put up with a lot.

Well, my replica did call his Nidoran Stupid at first, but he's...

[He snickers.]

I'd say he's everything I used to be, amplified by about ten, at least when it comes to attitude problems.

[Okay, so maybe it's a slight exaggeration, but he certainly was grouchy.]

Still, that's a good point. I'm honestly surprised they tolerate half of what we put them through.

Your what now? [For a second Blake's thinking this is some kind of Pokemon he's never heard of, god knows there's a million of the things, but those don't get their own Pokemon.]

Ah, I get it. Another bratty teenager.

[Blake's expression turns inward.] Yeah. I figure the one thing you can do if you screwed up with them is the same as if you screwed up anything else - don't fucking do it anymore.

[he snorts a half-laugh.] Then again, they're not always that patient. She's bit me a couple times.

Ha, I know how that goes. When he first evolved, Slacker went nuts. Started charging at anything that moved... that was the first of many wake up calls. Too bad it wasn't the last.

[Sigh. Then again, he was stubborn as a bag of bricks.]

Still, bites from a Snubbull sure beats getting chomped on by rock dinosaurs or temperamental dragons. If you ever decide to train a Garchomp, I recommend a muzzle. Preferably made of steel.

He didn't want to change or something?

Sounds like another good reason to keep Steve from evolving. She's happy being little and pink, and the last thing I wanna do is turn her into something that's pissed off and has a construction equipment for a jawline.

[He winces.] One of those dinosaur things? No fuckin' thank you.

[after a second, he adds, in a half-mutter] I kinda deserved it anyway.

I don't think that was it. If I had to guess, he had a ton of pent up frustration over the way I treated him, and his evolution just... brought it all up to the surface. Usually if a Pokémon doesn't want to evolve, they just won't. Had that happen with an Ivysaur way back when.

[Still, Blake's description of a Granbull prompts a chuckle out of Riku.]

Probably a good thing Sora wasn't around to hear that, though. He's got a Granbull, so he might've been offended.

In that case, count yourself lucky you didn't get your ass set on fire. Move ahead from there. [Blake's eyes slide away a little from the kid's face.] It doesn't do anybody any good to waste time moaning about what you did or what you didn't.

[He bucks up.] Hey, I didn't say a steamshovel for a face was a bad thing. I bet those guys can bite through aluminum siding.

You know, that really wouldn't surprise me. After all, there are Pokémon that supposedly eat mountains and toss cars around like baseballs.

[A grin crosses his face.]

Not to mention some Pokémon are supposedly as hot as the sun.

54 - video/backdated to the 9th;

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