Chapter 5: Yuki/Yuta

It's not been long since we've logged onto the game but I can still feel the tension radiating off of Harumi.

I look back over my shoulder to check on her as we walk through one of the unnamed forests in the region. Her avatar as short as she is in real life with pink pigtails. Staring at the ground as she walks occasionally glancing around.

"So which starter did you choose?" I ask trying to take her mind off of things.

"Froakie. He looked cute."

"Fair enough. So what do you want to do first? Catch some Pokémon, train and take on your first gym, maybe do a contest?" I list trying to keep her focus on the game.

"Lets hunt a bounty." She suggests with a serious look on her face.

"A bounty? Why? There aren't even that many listed so far."

"If we can complete a bounty with a big payout and have that money transferred maybe we can convince mom to take a day off work." Her words slowly shifting from determined to sad as she thinks about mom.

I let out a sigh and turn to fully face her. Pinching the bridge off my nose at the headache of trying to handle her emotions.

"Listen, there's only one bounty with a really big payout right now. And it's not even in this region the last time I checked. On top of that your Froakie is only level five and I have some strong Mons but they aren't trained for combat. So if you REALLY want to do this then there's a lot we need to do before hand." I explain.

I want to talk her out of doing this so badly so she can focus on enjoying the game. But I know I shouldn't. I also know I shouldn't get her hopes up either. This approach is the best I could come up with that sits in the middle of both options.

"Then lets train and catch some Pokémon." She says with a fire in her eyes that I haven't seen in a long time.

Speaking of not seeing things in a long time, I haven't heard from Yu in a couple of days now. Which is weird for an AI assistant. She's gone from butting in on everything to only talking when I ask a question.

I open my menu to double check my teams health and status. Feeling glad I healed my party before logging off yesterday.

"Hey Yu?"

"Hm?" She responds.

"If we wanted to take on a bounty what's our best approach?" I ask as Harumi looks at me funny.

"You should already know what to do. Catch Pokémon and train them before taking on a bounty."

Once again, never truly helpful but she's being honest.

"Who're you talking to?" Harumi asks tilting her head as she says it.

"The AI assistant. The one that helps you understand the game and what to do."

"Yeah, mine doesn't talk back to me. It's just a useless helpful tips pop-up for me."

That would explain all the weird looks I get from Takashi.

But this makes me wonder why they would even have a pop-up if they have an AI assistant like Yu. Even more so, why I have Yu and not someone else like an admin or something.

"I'll explain some other time." Yu chimes in. "For now just focus on helping Harumi train up her Pokémon."

How the hell does she know her real name? I haven't said her name out loud yet since she's the only one here with me.

"Let's at least get you two other Mons and have the Froakie evolve. Before we try any bounties that may or may not be close by." I say to Harumi.

As we moved through the unnamed forest I made sure that Harumi battled as many wild Pokémon as she could. And whenever possible I made her fight with every AI trainer we crossed paths with.

Which ultimately leaves me on healing duty since I have a whole factory supply of potions in my inventory.

Though two things became very apparent as I watched Harumi play. She is an absolute natural when it comes to the free flowing combat in this game. And second she is insanely picky when it comes to catching Pokémon.

"Why won't you catch anything?" I ask as we walk out of the forest onto a path.

"There isn't any good looking Pokémon here. Why are they all ugly in this region?"

"Take that back." I say with a hint of murder in my town.

"Calm down psycho, I just want another cute Pokémon to go along with my little frog." She says as she looks at the Froakie who has been walking along side her the whole time.

"Fine. If we follow this path we can hit Lostlorn Forest. Maybe you'll find something cute in there to finally catch." I say, the exhaustion showing in my tone.

"If you're tired you can log off. I'll keep playing for a bit. Until he evolves or I catch something then I'll get off for the night." She says picking Froakie up and holding him in her hands.

"You still haven't eaten anything yet today. So make it quick and come and it something." I say as I open the menu.

I hover over the log off button. Then turn to her and raise my brow at her since she hasn't responded yet.

"Fine, fine, I'll eat very soon. Thank you Grandpa."

"Tsk." Comes out as I press the log off button.

The game closing and I'm looking at the ceiling of my room through the headset lenses. I sit up slowly and take off the headset. And just sit there on my head with the headset in my hand for a bit.

I get up and put the headset on my desk. Stopping as I look at my race helmet that sits next to my monitor.

"What am I even doing." I mutter to myself, with a hand on the helmet.