Go, Blastoise! (Rain)

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren was huddled into the corner of one of the couches with his face impossibly close to his Nintendo 3DS. Quiet but upbeat music could be heard emanating from the device, and the associated stylus was held prone in one hand.

His eyebrows were furrowed.

His sister Dessa had sent him a Pokémon Y cartridge as a gift, and he’d been playing it almost constantly aside from pool breaks and classes. Even after several consecutive hours of play, though, he hadn’t been able to progress past the fourth Gym – namely, the Coumarine City Gym, led by none other than Ramos, who specialized in Grass-type Pokémon.

It would be fair to speculate that the majority of Wren’s frustration stemmed from the fact that his team was made entirely of Water-type Pokémon, and thus none of his attacks were especially effective. Wren, too, had considered this, but had dismissed the thought as prematurely defeatist. If he got his Pokémon strong enough, he thought, he could definitely beat the old guy.

Even plants could drown, right?

He thus spent the next half hour sitting almost completely still and making his in-game character run around in the tall grass. Sometime around the 24th encounter with a Flabébé, however, he gripped the stylus tightly in frustration and decided to express his annoyance to anyone and everyone who happened to be nearby.

“Why is it called Coumarine City if the Gym Leader specializes in Grass-types?” he asked, without context. “Marine means water, right? How does that even make sense? This is stupid.”

[Rain Tseung]

Rain walked out of her room hesitantly She had put so many layers of clothing on. She was wearing a skirt, with leggings underneath it, and a long sleeve shirt with a jacket over it. Yes, she was trying to stay warm for when she stepped outside. Because of her powers she got colder a lot easier, and faster. So being in a place where winter meant snow, meant that when she walked outside she was going to start freezing, and more so than anyone else did. It was a project in and of itself, to go outside. It was something she did not do unless she had to, she usually just tried to hibernate in her dorm room most of the winter.

However, she couldn’t do that with classes, and she had to eat sooner or later. Right now was one of those eating times, her stomach was grumbling. As soon as she stepped outside however, she regretted ever leaving her room. But she was still so hungry… So on she went to the cafeteria, got her cheese burger, but she didn’t want to eat in the cafeteria, there were too many people and she didn’t feel like making new friends today.. Or this winter… So where was the next place to go, that was closer?

The student lounge! So there she went, she placed the burger that was wrapped in foil under her jacket so it at least had a chance of staying warm. Once she got to the student lounge she blow out a breath of air. She was finally in a place that was semi warm. She looked at the only other person in the student lounge. She raised an eyebrow; the boy was talking to his game. “Why are you talking to your game?” Her curiosity over took her dread of having to be friendly. In the winter she just didn’t feel like herself. She went over to the couch and sat next to him.

[Wren O'Hara]

The scent of cheeseburger preceded the voice that replied to Wren’s largely-rhetorical lamentation. He looked up, then over; a dark-haired girl had taken the spot beside him on the couch and was now surveying him with interest.

He had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“I’m just tired of all these Flabébés,” he told her. “Seriously, they’re everywhere.”

He tilted his 3DS toward the girl so that she could see the Pokémon in question: an odd-looking white gnome thing with petals for ears clinging to the bulbous stamen of a large, magical red flower.

Meanwhile, tiny text scrolled across the bottom of the screen…

The opposing Flabébé used Vine Whip!
It’s super-effective!
Gary fainted!

In the bottom corner of the screen, Gary the Gyarados roared pitifully and sunk out of view.

Wren grunted in dismay.

“Have you been playing?” he asked, dismissing the notification with a click of the A button.

[Rain Tseung]

She didn’t mean anything by her curiosity; she would leave him alone if he asked. She wasn’t trying to be rude… That really wasn’t her style, but she was a very curious creature.

Rain tilted her head to the side, “What’s a Fla… Fla.. Flabebebe?” She totally killed that name.. Sorry thing that’s not real that has that name. She swallowed, “Can’t you chose not to find it?” She obviously never played the game before in her life. She really wasn’t a video game person, she had a DS, heck she had a 3DS but she never really played it. Her parents got it for her thinking she would love it like all the other teenagers. “It looks really cute, do you already have one? I would make an army of that type of… thing..”

Rain titled her head as she leaned closer to Wren to watch him play the game with interest. “What kind of thing was that?” She frowned, “Did it just die?? That’s so sad…”

Shaking her head to his question, she figured it would be obvious at this point. “Nooo. I don’t even know what game your playing… Something with a P right?”

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren blinked at her patiently.

“A Pokémon,” he informed her. “It’s a Fairy and Grass type, and I have all Water types, which aren’t really effective against Grass, so…” he trailed off unhappily.

The battle screen faded into the pixelated overworld. He pressed the up button on his arrow pad; his tiny avatar took a few steps up.

“I wish I could not find them,” he said emphatically. “They’re all in this area.” He motioned vaguely to the patch of digital grass on the tiny screen. “I’d have to go somewhere else, but I don’t want to go too far, because I’m trying to get strong enough to battle the Gym Leader in this town.”

With a few more clicks, he navigated out of the grass, down some stairs, and into a red-roofed building. He rushed impatiently through the dialogue at the counter.

Ding ding ding-ding-ding!

“Who, Gary?” he asked afterward. “Gary’s my Gyarados. He’s fine – I just healed him, see?”

Wren brought up his current Pokémon party for her to see; Gary was bouncing around, fully healed and ready to lose to some more Flabébés.

“It’s Pokémon Y,” he told her. “The one that just came out. You’ve never played Pokémon before?” He found that a little unusual.

Normally, Wren wasn’t so talkative, but the girl seemed friendly and interested in what he was doing, and…

Well, he supposed that if one wanted to be technical about it, he’d started the conversation when he’d complained out loud.

“I’m Wren, by the way,” he offered, after a slight pause.

[Rain Tseung]

Rain blinked, she was starting to feel like a pest…. She felt so dumb not knowing anything about this, or being one of those people who played video games. Everyone else did it, why didn’t she? She guessed if she had the same mentality for everything, she would be doing drugs, and having sex at this point too.. Neither of which she was inclined to do at this point in her life, the former one she wasn’t inclined to do at all.

“Fairy and grass? So why don’t you get one of thems to fight the ones you find… Till you find something better?” Was she actually getting the game? Or was she being stupid again? At this point she really didn’t know. “Aww your guy is so cute!”

“Why don’t you go somewhere else?” She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “What’s the gym leader? Do you try to beat him at working out?” She was foolishly confused by this game.

“Gi-ara-dus?” She felt like she was three years old… Trying to learn to say words she couldn’t say. “So not dead, so what happened to him before? Or did you bring him back to life?” She smiled at the pokemon that was dancing, “Aww it’s cute. .. In a scary kind of way.” She scratched her head, “Pokemon, I have heard people talk about the game, or show before. I don’t really get it. Which do you like better? The game or the show?” She nodded, “I haven’t played it, or seen it. I have a DS, but I barely play it. I don’t actually play video games.”

“I’m Rain! … Not like the actual rain falling from the sky, but that’s my name!” Awkward introducing…