ohmyarceus | JULY - AUGUST TEST DRIVE MEME

Entry tags:

test drive

JULY - AUGUST TEST DRIVE MEME

➞ Post with a character you wish to test drive in this game's setting.
➞ Tag other people's starters and thread out shenanigans!
➞ Invite your friends! Try out new characters! Come play with us!
➞ Have fun!

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN YOUR TEST-DRIVE JOURNEY?
CHECK OUT ALL THE LOCATIONS WE HAVE AVAILABLE IN:

JOHTO | KANTO | SEVII ISLANDS

Feel free to make various prompts in multiple locations!

✭ ✭ ✭

OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
NAVIGATION | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Armin does not, in fact, know everything. But in this particular moment, he does know one thing with great, great certainty.

He knows that voice. And certainly, the last time he had heard it, it had been a bit lower, slightly (but not massively) more mature, but nevertheless, he knows that voice.

Armin nearly knocks his mug off his desk as he scrambles for his gear, catching just a flash of Eren --a very small, very young Eren, but Eren nonetheless-- before the gear goes sailing.]

Eren!

[Armin has gotten better at camera etiquette and holding the gear at the right distance to properly capture his face, but in this moment, he's got it held close to his face, as if he could actually shove through the gear to where Eren is, his mind already racing, trying to recall if he has any battle appointments set up for later, trying to calculate how long it would take him to fly there and how much trouble Eren could get into in just that span of time. What if he'd fly part of the way and then take several warps, motion sickness be damned?]

Eren, can you hear me?

[ in a slow sweeping moment, eren carefully turned his head to where the pancham sat with paws crossed. the only other living thing around here, right? but it sounded off again, the bear’s mouth hadn’t moved and the direction of the disembodied voice wasn’t right— somewhere a little bit more to their right.

at a horrible slant, the pokégear was still there to film it all as eren crouched onto his knees and reached for the device. holding the speakers close to his ear and without a sign that he knows there’s now a recording of the side of his head— ]

—Who’s in there?

[ how did they know his name and why did it sound a touch familiar . . . ? ]

[Honestly, even if Eren had appeared here closer to the age Armin remembers him as, this would probably go exactly the same.]

It's me! Armin!

[The only thing keeping Armin in his seat right now, when really all he wants to do is grab the jacket and goggles he wears while flying on Amadeus and take off for New Bark, is the fact that Eren is going to need some explanations. A lot of explanations.]

Can you hold the box in front of your face. It has a small window on it. You'll be able to see me.

[ in front of— well, he’s about to do just that when this voice says it’s armin. eren’s eyes continue to go wide upon meeting the screen now, face to face, with his pancham pressing the crown of her head to eren’s to share in getting a better look.

it looks like armin. it sounds like armin, but— old? ]

Oh, right! [ sarcasm! wee eren is actually an award winning actor. the shimmer of hope in the boy’s eyes is out like a flame when his brows slant and his lips pull into a deep, signature frown. ] Hey, I’m nine? But I’m not stupid.

[ armin was his age. for all he knew, this blond older brother armin just heard him talking about, well, armin. the pancham also shares her trainer’s doubts: 😤 face. ]

I know you're not.

[His voice has softened, a catch in his throat at the sight of Eren's face. It's been so long since he last saw him, years and years, and while the ache had lessened and grown more distant, Armin had missed him while he was here. There had been so many times where he had discovered something new, seen something they could've only dreamt of back home, and had been ready to turn to Eren to gush about it to him, only to remember that Eren was not here.]

Sorry, I know I look weird and old, but I promise it is me. I can prove it.

[ skeptical at best and frown remaining, eren’s leer seems to speak for itself in saying “yeah, right.” but you know what? fine. his best defense was a fiery sort of offense. maybe he wouldn’t expect eren to try in the first place. reverse psychology, huh! ]

. . . Alright. [ it’s clear he’s unbelieving as he gives this old doppelgänger a chance, crossing his arms and preparing for the truth: fake. ] Prove it.

[Armin knows Eren, so he isn't surprised or really bothered by the lip he is getting. He is asking Eren to believe something that would be completely ridiculous in any other situation. And Eren must have only just arrived here, so he doesn't even have the benefit of knowing this world.

So Armin closes his eyes for a moment, thinking back. The memories are old at this point, more than a decade in the past, but there are certain things that stand out.]

The first time we met was by the river. I was crying cause I just had gotten beaten up again. I remember you peeking out from behind a wall and asking me why I didn't fight back. We'd never spoken before, but I did know you were Dr Yeager's son.

You were still wearing your scarf too back then; it was before you met Mikasa, after all.

Anyway, you asked me why I didn't fight back, and I was gonna keep losing if I didn't. And I told you that I wasn't losing because I wasn't running away. That's when you asked for my name and we became friends. You were my first friend.

[He's smiling now.]

Grandpa was so glad I finally made a friend. And I know Miss Carla was happy too, cause you had never made a friend before either.

[ that’s— there’s no way he could’ve known that, all of that, down to grandpa instead of armin’s parents, his mother’s name, his scarf, mikasa—

his skepticism comes undone like a cascade, something impossible that was actually happening. eren clenches his fingers against the gear and brings it up closer, closer, so close that the pancham no longer gets a view and whines about it. ]

You’re so— you’re so old!

[ the shock is still there, and maybe-“, he might be so stunned in processing this that a smile doesn’t set in yet. instead, his eyes water, either from the actual surprise or from keeping his eyes open for too long. ]

[Armin can't help but laugh in a completely delighted way.]

I am so old.

[After, he just stares at Eren with a big smile, his eyes watering too, though in his case it has absolutely nothing to do with keeping them open for too long.]

It's been so long since I saw you.

[Years and years, and yes, at some point he's going to have to explain to Eren that he remembers a lot more of their life than Eren has even lived at this point, but that can come at a later point.]

It's going to take me a while, but I am going to come to where you are. Did you just wake up in a house with a weird woman calling herself your mom?

That too—!

[ the woman who is definitely not his mom that he threw a fit at for faking it. finally, the beginnings of a smile that’s still mildly out of it begins to blossom as eren can’t sit still anymore— he has to get up, but behind him is all trees and grass. ]

M'not there anymore, I went further out with this . . . Bear. [ that’s the pancham’s cue! and it looks proud to be getting some spotlight. ] Where’re you, anyway?

Ah, well, let me show you.

[Armin lifts his gear, turning around to open his office window before turning it around to film the view -- a large bay with (from this distance) tiny Lapras swimming around in it, and beyond that, nothing but wide open ocean. The speakers on the gear aren't great, but Eren should still be able to catch, just faintly, the sounds of waves and water and the cries of wingull flying up above.]

It really exists, Eren. The ocean -- just like we read about.

[ the wide open blue at first was thought to be a painting, a still, but also a horizon that eren couldn’t identify on his own once little creatures were moving and splashing in water. the water was everywhere. it went far past the screen, and eren almost tilts his head in an attempt to see more of it. he can’t. we’re those birds? the wind?

now his eyes sting more. he didn’t know what to expect when faced with it even though he’s heard people talk of cherrygrove’s shore like nothing. there were no walls stretching before the blue he saw. it was just a vast, vast thing to be explored— ]

I know! I— the ocean! [ if it was so beautiful on a screen, can you imagine up close? oh, hell— but in his slack jawed exclamations, one thing comes loose: ] How’d you go without taking me?!

[ it doesn’t look like he’s actually angry. there are too many things to process, starting with how old armin is. older, much older than him. that he was in a world to actually explore. that the ocean and freedom was right there.

come to think of it, the tone was more “take me there now!” ]

[Technically, Armin had gone to the ocean with Eren; the first time he had seen it in this world, Eren had been at his side. But naturally, this Eren would not be able to remember something like that.]

I'll explain everything to you when I get there. And then I'll take you to go and see it.

[And, just in case he needs to sweeten the pot a little more, he adds:]

And we'll fly there too.

[ an explanation, the ocean and flying. on what, a balloon? one of those pokémon thinks? he’s having a hard time imagining flying on the back of a pidgey or starly when he could pretty much just step on the if they stood still (but obviously he’d never).

it’s clear from his fidgeting and slightly puffing cheeks from holding his breath that he’s getting impatient, and he makes that well known after this promising pause: ]

Are you here yet?

I'm leaving here right now, okay?

But, it's going to take me hours to get there. I'm pretty far from where you are. But I am coming, so just stay there. Try not to get into any trouble, all right? There shouldn't be any dangerous pokemon out there, so your Pancham should be able to handle any wild pokemon you might see. You could try bonding with them. Try and think of a good name if you haven't yet.

[Maybe giving Eren something to do with... help? Possibly?]

I'll try and check in when I can, all right? But I'm leaving right now.

[Eren gets a second message about two minutes after, and it is Armin again (duh), though this time he's wearing some jacket and has a pair of goggles pushed up into his hair.]

And don't eat the berries.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JULY - AUGUST TEST DRIVE MEME

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject