26 [Video]

[niepokonany]

[The charred branches of the Scorched Forest are visible behind Feliks, who's sitting down on a fallen tree trunk next to a large Houndoom.]

I was just thinking... It was probably like, about two years ago, right? When the gates opened up, I mean.

[His smile, briefly, is a little less boisterous than usual.]

I kind of spent forever thinking about getting out of the walls, and wondering what it would be like, and stuff like that, and now it kinda feels like it's been like this forever, a little?

This is where I came the first time I went out of Union! It's where I met Emilia... She's the first Pokemon I bonded with outside of the city!

[He ruffles the Houndoom's fur, and get only a brief growl of irritation in return, so she's not actually that irritated.]

I... I met Fai here, too, that day. So it might not look like much, but it's totally a special place.

A lot of stuff has changed since then, but it's been way exciting, hasn't it? So I'm totally excited to see what happens this year, too. I hope I can meet even more rad Pokemon, and find even more friends!

What about you, Union? Like, what are you happy about from the last couple of years? What are you excited about right now? Tell me all about it, I wanna hear!

Comments

[video]

[divine_braid]

Yeah... I can see that, too. It seems kinda cool, really. I found a group of people interested in researching the old technology we've been finding, and it's been something of a learning experience, I guess.

[video]

[niepokonany]

Whoa, for sure? Like, what kind of stuff have you found so far?

Re: [video]

[divine_braid]

Mostly like the old TMs and stuff. It's hard searching through some of those ruins.

[niepokonany]

It sounds like mad fun, though! I went in the ruins out in the swamp once, but I promised the Pokemon in there I wouldn't go back if they didn't eat me.

[In what was surely a not at all traumatic event that he's in no way bothered about!]

[divine_braid]

[That got Duo to take a pause.]

Were they troublesome?

[Now he kind of wanted to check it out.]

audio

[flying_chains]

If you had told me what my life would be like now a few years ago, I would not have believed you.

[niepokonany]

How come?

[flying_chains]

It wouldn't have seemed possible to me that one person could get so lucky.

[niepokonany]

Are you gonna hook me up with deets, or what?

[This may have been partially an "entertain me with gossip" post.]

[flying_chains]

Well, compared to where I was then...

Now I never have to go hungry. No one hurts me for fun. I have respect and friends. I have a job. I even have a lover!

[Low expectations from life are easier to blow out of the water.]

[frozenflame]

Me? Well...I'm pretty excited that I finally became a Pokemon Trainer myself. And that I met Fuuka, and started my own business and everything.

[He's asking!]

[niepokonany]

Get out, those are some pretty intense changes! You weren't raising Pokemon before?

[frozenflame]

No, I was basically working for my parents all the time until I finally decided to just...go do something useful with my powers.

[niepokonany]

I mean, I was doing the stuff I was supposed to for my family, too, but I had one Pokemon with me for ages before I started leaving the city!

[frozenflame]

Well, we used a lot of Pokemon at the Amagi Spa. I just...didn't bond with one until I was seventeen. And after I turned eighteen, I left.

It's not that I didn't want to, just that my parents wanted me to work for them.

Video

[senpaidol]

I almost died in that earthquake, but it turned out pretty great! I've made so many friends since then it's kinda unreal...

[niepokonany]

Come on, as if you weren't mega popular to start with!

[senpaidol]

Other thing I've learned: "popular" and "has friends" are two veeeery different things. And I'll take the second one any day.

[niepokonany]

Wait, so like, what's "popular"?

[Feliks isn't really the sort of person to overthink differences in nuance... at all, ever.]

[senpaidol]

Popular just means people know your name. Friends are people who know who you are, you know?

I started up the whole radio star thing because I thought it'd get me friends, but it actually just got me fans. Which are nice, but not the same thing.

[toxicrevenger]

I'm almost on the verge of making an antivenin for my toxins...which could in turn help to raise many people's immunity to poison.

[Leave it to Pamela to think of something scientific first.]

[niepokonany]

Ohmigods, Pamela, are you like for real? That's fantastic!

[toxicrevenger]

I can't wait until it's perfected. Ami's been helping me with it and it's been a work in progress for so long.

[niepokonany]

So when it's done, can I hug you whenever I feel like it again?

[Fairies don't take well to poison, after all, so having one of his good friends be toxic to touch has been a real struggle!]

[toxicrevenger]

Yes. You'll need to be immunized, but once that's done, it will be safe, even if my skin isn't covered.

[She's been able to cautiously hug, but only after making sure her skin and most especially her hands are covered. The poison is concentrated around her fingertips and nails in particular]