Finn, too, had opted to largely ignore the tutorial.

Really, the only reason he's come back to it after so long is because of the Trainer Stars. Badges to prove you'd done everything the game had to offer were just begging to be claimed; he was an overachiever in school, and by god he'd be one in a video game.

There's someone else in the quest area, and since the tutorial assumes that players doing the tutorial are new, it helpfully suggests they PARTY UP?

Finn glances at Derk_TheJerk, shrugs.

"I don't mind if you don't. We're goin' the same way."

The quest package is tucked snug beneath his arm.

"It's a bit like, ah, Fee-ord, but quicker."

He demonstrates, unoffended. One might get the impression it's not the first time he's been asked. Serves him right for using a strange word and then joining the American UNOVR servers. (Could you blame him? The UK server wasn't nearly as populated!)

"Can just call me Finn, though."

The decision to include the last name had been mostly for the benefit of Swimmer puns, after all. Finnegan was the name of his cat.

Sharp canines flash as he smirks. "Did you open the package?"

Oblivious to any potential awkwardness on Derk_TheJerk's part, Finn's smirk twists cunning as he nods. "Course I did. Why not, right? What's Ash gonna do about it?"

Much as he won't admit it, UNOVR is an escape for Finn, as well. There's no consequences to breaking The Rules, here, at least not of the sort he's used to back home. He's not told he's going to go to Hell for sleeping with another man, and he's not going to get the shit beat out of him for looking at what's in the package even after Ash specifically told him he shouldn't.

He'd not been five steps from the lab when he'd torn it open.

"It's just a set of Pokeballs," he admits, shrugging. "Mine was, anyway. Yours might be different. Do you wanna find out?"

Leave it to the Video Game Cult Leader to be a bad influence.

Hell yeah. Finn decides this guy is cool, because anyone willing to break the rules on account of his influence within five minutes of meeting him was #badass. Congratulations, Derk_TheJerk, you've unlocked a BAD INFLUENCE.

It's adorable how this guy's character model exhibits some of its animalistic traits, like a wagging tail and perked-up ears. Expressive enough that, when that tail droops and those ears fold back, Finn knows there's nothing interesting in the PACKAGE. More pokeballs perhaps?

"Pots?" he echoes, confused.

He leans over to get a look, expecting garden pots.

"Oh." He scoffs at his own lack of knowledge. "Potions. Pots. Got it."

Well, hopefully whoever they had to deliver these PACKAGES to didn't care that they'd been defiled.

"Who cares what's in it? It's about the experience, yeah? The rush." See, Cil had grown up in a strict Catholic household where the rules were like God's Rules and breaking them was The Worst Thing. Breaking the rules in a video game is electrifying. "I wonder if the NPCs have different dialogue options. Let's go find out."

He flashes another sharp-toothed grin.

"She summoned a what?"

Cillian hadn't played a Pokémon title before UNOVR, so the names of most Pokemon go right over his head. WURMPLE he only knew because his rival, Allotta Bambooga , had one. RAYQUAZA he knew from looking up KYOGRE lore.

He vaguely recalls that it looks like a big green serpent.

"Damn, maybe I shouldn't have skipped the CATCHING TUTORIAL." Finn laughs, shaking his head. "Have you seen any other weird shit in your tutorials? Mine were pretty normal, 'cept my rival's been stalking me for like a year now."

He's not talking about Allotta, but instead his RIVAL (NPC).

They're closing in on the quest marker as they chat, but Finn's too enthralled to notice.

"It's a nice jacket. I never looked around much." Truthfully, he couldn't wait to be away from Mom and her doting. It was too strange in contrast to his real mother, who was more likely to criticize than compliment. "Oh, do we have NPC siblings, too? Mom really gets around." He laughs, adding, "Good for her."

Though he's met Ruby before, he doesn't connect the pink-haired girl with the scientist. He pictures instead a small, eternally sleeping child.

There's a soft noise of progress made as they reach the first quest marker... which turns out not to be the end of the quest, as he'd assumed it might be, but an OBSTACLE. Their quest tracker updates with a new goal.

FIND A WAY PAST THE FIRST OBSTACLE

"It's just a gate," Finn says, frowning. He forgets, entirely, that tutorials are designed to teach basic controls. "Is it locked or something? What's the catch?"

There's none; he pushes open the gate by interacting with it.

MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE SECOND OBSTACLE

"That easy, huh?" He turns to Derk_TheJerk with a shrug.

We, says Derek, generously lumping Finn in with those who'd looked upon Pokémon with childlike wonder in their actual childhoods. The redhead laughs and shakes his head.

"This is my first game, actually."

It could be easily interpreted to mean it was his first Pokémon game, but UNOVR was in fact his first video game. Ever. Starting out from VR was a hell of a jump from the handheld games of yesterday. He hasn't even seen any of the POKEMON MOVIES, not even the classic MEWTWO STRIKES BACK.

The grass they come upon looks dry and dead. CORRUPT, the prompt informs.

"Huh. You know, I've always been curious about this corruption thing. I've heard rumours about it, but I've never actually seen a corrupt Pokémon." Little did he know that would change very soon... but not today. As the Swimmer boldly attempts to step into the grass, he bumps against some sort of invisible wall. His eyes narrow. "Aw, come on. That's lame."

FIND A WAY AROUND THE TALL GRASS

It was a tutorial, after all. Ugh.

Finn makes a deliberate show of taking wide, exaggerated steps around the withered grass patch.

"So what's the deal with your name?" Finn asks, as they approach the next prompt. "You don't seem like a jerk. Is it an ironic thing?"

[Prompt]9YjiaajO1d100