[ti]open[/ti][Tutorial 001] Mother, Dearest

It was the clack of hooves that ended up breaking Don out of his stupor. He cleared his throat and reached up to wipe his eyes as discreetly as he could manage. If he was any more experience with video games, he might have taken a moment to marvel at the way the WorldScreen handled the virtual reality of his emotions. As it was, though, he just didn't want to be caught crying.

He turned just in time to see the man—and an absolutely massive zebra—stop next to him. Don gave a nod in greeting, glancing at the name tag that floated next to him. He was pretty sure this was another person.

"Oh, there you are, JoshDevlin!" Mom said, clapping her hands together. She sighed wistfully, a single tear in her eye. "All kids leave home someday... the TV said so."

Don screwed up his face. "Weird thing for the TV to say..." He turned to Josh, putting on his best pleading smile. "Hey can I ask you something? How do you open this?" He thrust his brand new Pokeball towards Josh, the sticker reading "Snivy" still plastered across it. "I got it from that weird ghost Professor lady and I'm pretty sure my Pokemon is in it but I can't... get it...open." His explanation was punctuated by Don once again trying to wedge his fingernails into the seam of the Pokeball and pry it open.

Josh Devlin

Don cocked his head for a moment, forgetting entirely that he had a username that was different from his real name. It didn't take him long to recover, but likely long enough for Josh to notice. Don grinned. "O-oh, yeah! Don is fine."

He watched intently as Josh pulled out a Pokeball of his own and pressed the button on the front, producing a little blue cat. He knelt and watched it run between the legs of the Pokemon Josh was riding. "Woah! What is that" It looked cool and that gave him hope he could have something cool, too. Mimicking the motions, he clicked the button on his own Pokeball. In a flash of light, the Pokemon that he now knew was called Snivy appeared.

Don's shoulders slumped. It... it didn't look very cool. As a matter of fact, it looked kind of stuck-up. The Snivy didn't help that first impression, turning up his nose and regarding Don with one wary eye.

"Sorry, you're just... not what I expected." A pop up appeared in his field of view.

Would you like to give a nickname to Snivy?
Y N

Hesitantly, Don put his hands under the Snivy's little arms, lifting the snake up to his face to get a better look. He frowned, suddenly serious, and looked the Pokemon in the eye. "Wilson."

"You boys know how I worry," Mom was saying, her hand gently cupping her own face. Don had almost completely forgotten she was standing there. He was too wrapped up in the Pokemon and meeting an actual person in the game and trying to commit mechanics to memory. "Especially after what happened to your father. I know you two will be careful, but never forget that Pokemon are dangerous."

Don's attention was finally pulled back to Josh, Mom still relegated to background noise. "Yeah, I think Bunya was her name. What's 'Corruption'? Is that bad?" He straightened, plopping Wilson onto his shoulder. "She was definitely weird but I don't play a lot of games so I don't know if that's just how NPCs are sometimes." After a pause, his eyes widened and he gave a sideways glance to the Snivy who was struggling to balance on his shoulder. "She's the one that gave me Wilson. He's not corrupted, too, is he?"

Josh Devlin

"It's not just the big ones, you know," Mom went on, seemingly unfazed by the side conversation happening right in front of her. Don felt a pang of guilt for her but, upon reminding himself she was an NPC, he put it out of his mind. "Why your father was practically an expert in wrangling the big, dangerous Pokemon. That's why it was such a shock when he stepped on that Weedle." She dabbed dramatically at the corner of her eye.

Don, meanwhile, was listening intently to the information Josh relayed. "Zebstrika, Shinx," he repeated, though how much those names actually stuck would remain to be seen. He looked to the Snivy when Wilson was mentioned, trying to imagine what he might evolve into. Maybe a big green dinosaur thing? Clearly he'd be something big enough to be rideable, and that would be cool. "Stay out of Mistra," he repeated, nodding seriously. The grin on his face was enough to betray him, though.

He was definitely going to Mistra.

"Oh right," Don said, snapping his fingers. "I forgot about the menu. Now how was I supposed to..." He could remember the initial tutorial describing a gesture that would open the menu. He spent a second flopping his hands around fruitlessly. "No, it was more like—" He finally managed to clap his palms together before opening them like a book. The menu flashed up before his eyes. There sure were a lot of articles. More words than he was willing to read right now, for sure. He closed the menu and grinned at Josh. "Hey, thanks, man! Dunno if you can tell, but I'm new to this. Looks like you know what you're doing, though!"

Mom appeared at Don's shoulder, placid smile still on her face. "When you're traveling, make sure you keep an Antidote on you. And make sure you always wear shoes!" With a cartoonish blip, a pair of shoes appeared in her outstretched hands and she offered them to Josh and DonKiwi in turn.

Running Shoes were added to your inventory!

Josh Devlin