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[He was beginning to wonder if this was a prank of Kaname Madoka's.]

[But it was an unlikely possibility to begin with. Madoka had saved him; Madoka, therefore, probably did not hold grudge or hatred towards him, and such emotion would obviously not manifest itself in the form of sending Kyuubey to such an absolutely ridiculous universe anyway. Pokemon? Stuck until the 'Entralink' was fixed? It would have been easier to believe if the old man had simply said "you're here because you deserve to rot in hell for betraying and deceiving us" - not that Kyuubey agreed - but this was no hell, at least according to the human definition of hell. This was more like limbo. Was he supposed to redeem himself now? Adjust to human living? Impossible. Preposterous, even, particularly in an environment where he was supposed to adhere to rules he had not encountered previously. And the lifeform he was given - was he supposed to be responsible for it? Care for it? There was no apparent purpose for doing so; better to return it whence it came. The situation was expecting too much of him. He had never attempted to grant a wish that was impossible without the power to make the impossible possible - but that seemed to be what the world was demanding of him. But more importantly, Kyuubey had been forgiven; Kyuubey had been saved.]

[So the only conclusion to be made was that this was not Madoka's work.]

[Which meant that this world operated on a different set of rules entirely, and the most logical course of action would have been to explore those rules... but in the midst of that thinking, he stumbled into his own dream.]

[A barren landscape if anything. Obviously. Incubators did not dream to begin with. It simply paralleled one he had been in countless times before. He was lying face-up on the wreckage of a fallen building, arms outstretched, staring at the apocalyptic sky.]

— a pointless change of scenery. This is still the same world, isn't it?

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"Ah...okay, Kyuubey. I'm Hoshikawa Subaru..."

[And he walks to the edge of his own little mini-island.]

"So maybe this means where we were before was another dream...?"

"How'd we jump from one dream to another?"

And suddenly, once Kyuubey reaches the edge of the fallen building he found himself lying on - he is on the edge of the other island, somewhere to the left and behind Subaru. There is no sound, nor breeze, nor blur - nothing to suggest natural movement. He simply appears and reappears.

"I'm not the one to ask, Hoshikawa Subaru," he answers. "I've only just arrived in this world. To be quite honest, I have no knowledge of why I am here."

The ocean whirls beneath them, deep and condemning as the pits of damnation themselves. "But I know this place."

Kyuubey is rewarded with another "Ehh?!" of shock from Subaru as he finds himself at a loss. It takes him another few moments to actually find where Kyuubey has reappeared to.

"How'd you do that?!"

Subaru has something else to focus on.

"So this is from your memory? We're inside it?"

"Yes," he confirms, looking about. "This is exactly as I remember this scene. I can't guarantee what will happen if you fall into the water, though. The depth is enough for a human to drown in."

He neglects to address War-Rock's question in favor of something more pressing. "Can you make yourself visible, War-Rock?"

"Not anymore, I can't. Subaru's Hunter VG isn't working here because there's no Wave World network here to power it. Ya can't see me unless you've got something like the Visualizer he's got on his head there."

Meanwhile, Subaru's looking down in the water, almost contemplatively. What a terrible memory...

"I see," Kyuubey murmurs. "I am not familiar with this terminology. It seems that your technology has advanced more quickly than anticipated. Still, it is of little consequence. Merely a nuisance."

This presses on Kyuubey's conscience for only one reason -- that War-Rock could be very effective for surveillance, and while Kyuubey has nothing to hide, he certainly has nothing to show, either. But he's confident enough that he can detect the telltale wave disturbance of such a being, and so drops the subject.

"Can you give me information about this world, Hoshikawa Subaru?" Kyuubey looks him in the eyes directly. "Not of the memory we are locked in, but the world outside."

"Not much...War-Rock and I just got here ourselves. We were in some place called the Entralink, and then when we tried to go to a place called 'Nuvema Town,' we ended up in another strange place..."

"That Astral guy said that it was a mix of places he knew about. Maybe we were in his memory too!"

Sorry, Kyuubey, they've been here barely a day longer than you.

"..."

Not much else he could expect out of an average human boy.

"At least that much is consistent," he reasons aloud, considering the various possibilities. "Therefore, we should accept the explanation at the Entralink to be the truth, or at least a fabrication thereof that this world wishes its inhabitants to believe. Wouldn't you agree?"

"And... you also received a being known as a Pokemon, correct?"

"Un, I did get one! Although, I wonder why we're suddenly ending up in other people's memories..."

"I have no possible way of answering that question," Kyuubey answers honestly. "The only conjecture I can draw is that it means this world is unstable and experiences like it are probably soon to follow."

He took several steps down the incline of the land strip. "But I suppose this memory is not conducive to idle chatter. Something less desolate, then." The scenery changes - torn wires and shattered concrete giving way to make room for wood support beams and glass windows, until the surroundings are the perfect replica of a fairly well-built school - but in the absence of students and teachers, it is almost as lonely as the setting that preceded it.

"Is this more aesthetically pleasing?"

"Mmm, much better, but..." And Subaru looks pensive, almost worried. "Where you come from, is it still like the way it was before?"

Kyuubey walks down the halls idly, looking through the windows into the empty classrooms. "No. The world was changed - rather, every world was changed. A world where that city was destroyed no longer exists, if you look at it in the right viewpoint.

"But it did happen."

"I...see."

That vision of a destroyed world, it reminds him what he needs to prevent back home. How could he get back? His solemn thoughts are rather easy to read in his stance.

"..."

Kyuubey's sure the vision of the world after Walpurgis had an effect on the boy. He'd seen more fragile humans cry over that sort of thing - but he had not known then what was expected of him in that sort of situation, and certainly had no knowledge of it now. The meaning of it was beyond him. Civilizations were often thus destroyed. It had occurred several times in human history; why did it continue to surprise them?

He decides, at the very least, to steer the conversation to more practical matters, things that he had more experience with. "There is nothing more for you here. If you'd like to continue your journey, or at the very least move to someone else's dream -" he indicates a left hallway with a nod of the head, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie - "the exit of this school is just down this passage. You won't miss it."

"...Ah. Thank you, Kyuubey-san." And then there's a hesitant smile. "Perhaps we'll see you again outside in that Pokemon world soon?"

"Probably," is all he says as he turns around and continues to walk down the hall.

"Farewell, Subaru. Farewell, War-Rock. It's more than likely that we'll meet again."

"Un! Bye, then..."

"Yeah, see ya!"

And then the two start heading in the direction that Kyuubey has indicated. At least they don't have to fly out of the dream again.

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okay no i can't html after all

pft neither can I :|

i must contract someone to do it for me

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