002 ♞ Video

[parkour]

[Izaya is abrupt when he turns the feed on. His smile is bright, cheerful - harmless, even.]

Johto is always so interesting. So many people coming and going - town to town, route to route. Seeking out challenges, gyms, trainers. Really, there's never a dull moment!

Curiouser and curiouser though...

[His eyes narrow slightly and his grin twists. It's colder, more calculated. Those who've dealt with Izaya extensively in the past may recognize this from when he's questioned things in the past.]

Yet the Gym Leaders, no matter how human they seem are completely inhuman. No matter how many battles they win or lose, their Pokémon remain at the same level. They say nearly the same thing to each trainer. I recall this with Whitney-chan and her crocodile tears... but Falkner-kun too.

Really, it's all the same in every town.

Doesn't it make you wonder, Johto? Just who's real and who isn't? Are we, the captive, the only real ones?

And what about the ones who brought us here? Professor Elm? Oak? The Elite Four? The Champion? Team Rocket?

So many possibilities and yet... so few answers. And yet he we go, day-to-day without much of a thought or care for it. It never ceases to be interesting, really!

[He lets out a laugh, followed by a calm breath. With a blink, that bright, much warmer smile reappears on his face and he changes the topic without a hitch.]

Really, I just had a favor to ask! You see, I'd really like to get back to my own Johto routines, but doing that as it stands right now means I need to go through a whole lot of needless work for the second time around. I know there are plenty here with a Plain Badge and a squirt bottle, so if someone would kindly assist me in moving it, I'd pay well as a token of gratitude.

[And then Izaya cocks his head to the side, giving his most genuine n_n before cutting the feed entirely. Now? Now he waits.]

Comments

[voice]

[usedfakestache.livejournal.com]

[Well... this sure brings back some old, unpleasant thoughts. ]

You forgot the cookie-cutter mother figure.

[voice]

[parkour]

As well as all Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys. They're the most obvious examples, so I didn't think they bore repeating.

[pokedoctor.livejournal.com]

It was the Joys that clued me into that, actually. They're all identical, they all say the same things. Just like in a computer game. It lends more credence to the theory that this is all some kind of simulation.

[parkour]

It's the same with Officer Jenny, really. Though it's really rather obvious that this reality isn't very much of one at all, it still begs quite a few questions.

Video [I have only just discovered Durarara! and have so much ♥ for Izaya.]

[nasa-dreams.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's uh...pretty deep.

Video (♥♥♥ he's a pretty ridiculous jerk)

[parkour]

And you haven't thought about any of this before?

[Video]

[knight-hart.livejournal.com]

[FINALLY. Someone else who realized that there was something much larger going on behind the scenes here! Though Takumi had been out of contact with others again for some time, and therefore once again unaccustomed to it, he couldn't very well ignore the only one who might be able to help him... or at the very least, understand him.]

Y-You noticed it, too!? Um— Do you... know anything...?

[Video]

[parkour]

It's pretty difficult not to notice something so blatant, really. As for what I know? Well, you'd have to tell me what you're seeking first.

[video]

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

Not that I have any personal experience with thisssssssss...

[None that he'd discuss over an open channel.]

But I would imagine the Rocket minions some people have run into are sssssimilar to these repetitive drones.

[video]

[parkour]

Well, the non-native ones, I'd presume. After all, it really falls into the same category, doesn't it?

[video]

[tapestodiane]

I do think about it.

_{[Hello, this is a rather serious-looking guy - with a thoughtful look to his eyes, and he's tapping a pen lightly to his bottom lip in the small pause before he speaks again.]}

It's difficult not to notice the oddities you speak of, and others. But fact remains that we have no way of obtaining answers, at least not in any foreseeable way.

[video]

[parkour]

Not on the surface, at least. [He smirks.] There has to be a way to obtain it - it's really about knowing the right places to go and just where to look.

But it seems our captors are good hiders!

[video]

[restardom.livejournal.com]

Aha--! Orihara-san's Question Corner strikes again!

[video]

[parkour]

If I don't ask, who will, Rise-chan?

[superrising.livejournal.com]

Well-- I'm sure I'm real, but I think everyone who actually originated from Johto isn't.

[parkour]

I think those of us who've noticed are thinking along the same lines. There's a clear distinction, isn't there?

video

[islandshore.livejournal.com]

Some of them you can hold conversations with, but it is pretty weird that they don't change. Especially the Gym Leaders.

video

[parkour]

Conversations, yes. But at that, most of them do seem to lack more than a programmed personality. More like a sentience than a real person.

[video]

[flawlesspoison.livejournal.com]

There's even more mysterious things around considering the people who were originally here. I've seen those NPC trainers many times on one route. They never seem to move from the place they are. It doesn't matter when I visit the place, they're always there.

[video]

[parkour]

It's curious, isn't it? They never leave, eat, sleep... they just stand and wait for unsuspecting trainers to appear before them.

video.

[reveiller]

You know, maybe they're actually vending machines.

video.

[parkour]

That would be nothing short of interesting to see as a revelation.

[voice]

[usedmagic.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they bleed like people do. [a slightly bored tone.]

[voice]

[parkour]

I'd be surprised if nobody's tried that one out for themselves yet.

[Voice]

[foolishwren]

They seem pretty real to me.

Just monotonous and way too obsessed with Pokemon.

Walk around a little, apart from the blabbermouths who lurk around on the roads who do nothing but yammer about their Pokemon collections and how much they like to wear shorts, most people here seem pretty damn normal.

[Voice]

[parkour]

At a glance, they may. But what really separates them from those trainers? What separates us from those people? They could just as easily be people who arrived in the same fashion we did - of descendants of those types.

There's not a clear cut answer, but there are a lot of... oddities amongst the more well-known figures of Johto.

video;

[aerialist.livejournal.com]

Does it really matter what they are? It doesn't change what we need to do.

video;

[parkour]

And what is it that we need to do exactly, Alto-san?

[video]

[itsthebutz.livejournal.com]

Whitney seemed real to me... We went on a date and everything!

[Larry uses the word "date" loosely.]

[video]

[parkour]

A date. [Said with a skeptic tone.]

[voice]

[sharkfoodbound.livejournal.com]

[You had to go bring it up, didn't you?]

And the background music. Never forget the background music.

What I'm wondering is what good thinking about this place does anyone. We all get out of here eventually, and it has nothing to do with beating all the gyms or whatever. It's completely random.

[voice]

[parkour]

It's difficult to forget something that's so consistent. I really didn't think mentioning it would do much but remind everyone that it's going to slowly drive them to insanity!

[A pause, and an amused chuckle.] You're one of the few who sees it that way, you know. Most others are very set on "beating the game" as their escape route.

[voice]

[justicereigns]

Or maybe a Pokemon did it. At this point I wouldn't be surprised.

[voice]

[parkour]

One of the Pokémon of legend, perhaps? I wouldn't rule it out.