Review Time:

Demdrops - Chichi was Osaka's dream version of Chiyo's dad. And I don't mind doing dark fanfiction, but I'm not really sure if I'm gonna do it for this series.

James Birdsong - Aye, thanks.

Chapter 37 - Oregon Trail

With the end of their senior year in sight, the girls were determined to make their next picks really count. Unforunately Chiyo was tight-lipped regarding her next game.

"C'mon Chiyo, please!"

"Sorry, but we're still in school! After, okay?" The big smile she flashed to Tomo only kept the mystery flowing. After all, it was only three months ago that Chiyo's scope was stuck to the Nintendo Wii and Mario Bros.

"Can't you hint at what kind of game it is?" Kagura tried, while they were en route to Chiyo's home.

"Well okay. It's the PERFECT game if you wanna learn AND play!"

"Huh?!" Kagura, Tomo, Osaka, Yomi, and Sakaki looked at each other. What did Chiyo have in mind?

Before long everyone was seated in front of Chiyo's PC, and she eagerly booted up the game. Of course, no one could quite match her grinning face when they saw the entire game was in English.

The Oregon Trail

"Uhhhhhhhh? Chiyo? What is this and why am I looking at it?" Tomo asked.

"It's an 8-bit game that teaches school children about the Oregon Trail in America," Chiyo said. "It's all about making smart decisions. I really wanted to try it out with you all! Don't worry, you don't need to have American history in your head. But it's good English practice for our entrance exams!"

"…."

"…."

"….."

"….."

"NO WAY!" Tomo pointed at the monitor. "Educational games are not games. THEY'RE LIES! I say we play something different!"

"But Chiyo won so she gets to pick whatever she wants," Yomi pointed out. "Give it a chance, Tomo."

"Fine!" She glanced at the options.

1. Travel the Trail
2. Learn about the Oregon Trail
3. See the Oregon top 10
4. Turn sound off
5. Choose management options
6. End

"Uhhhhh are any of these the game?"

Chiyo typed 1. The game asked what the player wanted to be; a banker from Boston, carpenter from Ohio, or a farmer from Illnois. Sensing the confused looks of her friends, Chiyo quickly ran out the room. Then she came back with a map of the United States to thumbtack on her wall.

"Here, here! We're trying to get to Oregon, northwest of the country." She circled each of the choices. "Each profession hails from a different place."

"Can't we just drive? Or take a flight?" Kagura asked.

"No, no! It's the 1800s. Electricity isn't a thing yet! We're taking the wagon."

"Ah got it!" Osaka pointed to Ohio. "We'll make the first car and be national heroes! Pick the carpenter!"

Sweatdrops. But Chiyo picked 2. Now the player had to name the members of the party. First, the wagon leader. Yomi suggested Yukari.

"The rest? There's four others!" This meant the other girls could name a party member, and it was settled on "Nyamo" "Prime Minister Mori" "Pikachu" and "Fujiko Mine". But now the game was asking which month to set off for the adventure.

"Wait a MINUTE! We're starting at the same point?! What the hell was the point of the map? Wouldn't the Ohio guy go straight left?"

"Just flavor text," Yomi said. "Anyways, when do we leave? Sakaki, why don't you pick?"

"Hmmm….March." Chiyo typed 1. The next screen was a general store in Missouri (the start point), and the group had 800 dollars to spend on food, ammunition, oxen, clothing, and spare parts. Chiyo saw how flustered the girls were starting to look, so she ran to her whiteboard.

"Don't confuse it with yen! The exchange rate has shifted but assume 1 dollar = 100 yen. We need food to survive, ammo to hunt, oxen to go faster, clothing to withstand weather, and spare parts for any wagon damage. We CAN'T spend all the money at once!"

"Why not?" asked Kagura.

"You never know what happens out there….it's only 1848."

"This stinks! We have to do MATH too?!" Tomo whined. The shopkeeper was willing to advise the player; 200 pounds (Kagura: "um how many kilos is that?") for each member. He offered 20 cents per pound.

"Alright…." Sakaki wrote down the equation. "1000 pounds times 20 cents….that's 200 dollars…that's not even half. It sounds reasonable enough."

"Ya, better if Mori doesn't have to eat Pikachu," said Osaka. Sakaki gasped in horror. But Chiyo bought it and tried out for ammunition. 2 dollars was 20 bullets.

"Uhhhh…..50 dollars worth?" Kagura asked. "That's 1000 bullets."

Next was oxen; 2 oxen in a yoke, and the shopkeeper recommended 6 yoke. 40 dollars was one yoke.

"HUH? That's the thing that comes out of eggs….?" Tomo blinked.

"That's yolk, Tomo." Chiyo corrected.

"Stupid English! Uhhhhh….5 yoke! He's not taking all of our money!" Next for clothing, each person needed 2 sets for 10 dollars each. Chiyo opted to take the recommendation, but when it came to spare parts….

"Three wagon parts and they're 10 dollars each…." Sakaki did more calculations. "200 dollars plus 50 plus 200 plus 100….550. That leaves….only 250. We need something for the journey…"

"Alright, take one of each. 220 is decent enough, right?" Yomi hoped.

"FINALLY! Can we play now?" The wildcat was getting impatient with all the preparations. She slammed 1 to continue on the trail from Independence, Missouri.

The game was kind enough to map out the path to Oregon, with all the stops included. Carefully the girls read the options the game would give for each subsequent stop.

1. Continue on trail
2. Check supplies
3. Look at map
4. Change pace
5. Change food rations
6. Stop to rest
7. Attempt to trade
8. Talk to people
9. Buy supplies

While Tomo and Kagura flipped through their dictionaries to understand part of the list, Chiyo left the choice up to Osaka this time.

"Ummm….let's keep going!"

From Independence it is 102 miles to the Kansas River crossing.

Poor girl went to convert the distance to kilometer. Yomi and Sakaki decided to advance, and eventually the crossing was reached without a hitch.

Weather: cold
Health: good
Pace: steady
Rations: filling

"What do we do now, Chiyo?"

"Well I guess we can keep going….?"

The game informed them they had to cross the Kansas River, telling them of the width and depth. Tomo threw her dictionary at the floor.

"MORE math?! Dang it, what's the dimensions of the wagon?"

"Slow it down Euclid," Yomi said, "it's just giving you an idea of the travel. It's only 630 feet across, which is less than 1 mile."

"A kilometer too?!"

"1 mile is 1.609 kilometers," Chiyo provided. All three boneheads wrote that on the whiteboard. "It's not a test! Perhaps we need to advance."

But the wagon would not cross so easily.

1. attempt to ford the river
2. caulk the wagon and float it across
3. take a ferry across
4. wait to see if conditions improve
5. get more information

This ended up being a bit of an issue…..because Chiyo had to break down each sentence in Japanese and explain the options clearly. After a lesson, the girls all understood.

"Tell me why again Yukari's the teacher and not you?"
"I-I'm only 12…." Chiyo sighed. "Miss Sakaki, you can control the keyboard while I stand here and explain if I need to…."

"Try 2!" Kagura suggested.

The wagon tipped over while floating. You lost 300 pounds of food.

"WHAT?!"

At that, Sakaki winced and offered the seat to someone else.

Around the time they reached Laramie, their food supply was dwindling. One ox had died, slowing the pace even further. Since she was in control now, Tomo elected to hunt.

"Let's get 'em!" Preemptively Sakaki covered her eyes to avoid the violence. The "leader" came out and aimed a shotgun at some bushes. "That looks nothing like Yukari!"

"Mori would be a better hunter than Yukari, he hunted taxes pretty good!" Osaka said brightly.

You got 87 pounds of food.

"HAHAHA!"

"But we better adjust the food rationing so we don't die," Yomi said. "It's supposed to last to Oregon!"

Tomo opted to change it to meager opposed to filling. Things seemed stable until, sadly:

Broken wagon wheel. Would you like to try to repair it?

"Yes!"

You were unable to repair the wagon wheel. You must repair it with a spare part.

"Aw, crud!"

"What the hell! Mori got di-zen-turi, whatever that is…." Kagura cringed when Chiyo explained what it was.

Mori has died.

"MORI! OH MAH GOD!"

Now it was July in game, with food and rationale in jeopardy. Yukari, Nyamo, Pikachu, and Fujiko Mine remained on the adventure, but the girls were convinced only Chiyo could save them from the bad luck.

"Health is poor and it's hot. Wonderful."

"Soda Springs….America has such weird places. Check it out, Chiyo."

The disappointment/annoyance on the faces of Yomi, Tomo, and Kagura was clearly visible when Chiyo turned around. It was not literally made of soda. But she explained that a name was just that, and the game went out of its way to show a scenery from rural America.

"Looks great! Until…you REMEMBER THE BODIES OF THE PEOPLE THAT DROWNED?!" Tomo shouted. "1800s America is a horrible place, Chiyo-chan! I mean, did Japan have people drowning in rivers and dy….sen….."

"Dysentery?"

"YEAH THAT!"

"Well the country didn't quite reach the Meiji Restoration yet….so maybe?"

"Let's just focus on trying to get to the end," Yomi looked to the corner. "Osaka, don't give up on us. Mori will guide us."

You passed a graveyard. Would you like to take a look?

"NO DON'T!" shouted the Mori superfan. "IT'S HAUNTED!"

"Yeah right! Slam that key, Chiyo! I won't let this time period beat us!"

Here Lies Batman. I'm Batman!

One with a cursory knowledge of American culture would know the reference, and while Chiyo understood the gravestone that showed up, admittedly the meaning was lost on her. Of course the more confused/emotional sort that was her friends all stared at the screen. Tomo shook in fear.

"A-America kills everyone….!"

"No, it's just other players! It's an easter egg for their lost parties. Batman wasn't part of American history."

"He time-traveled….." Osaka was mystified. Chiyo decided to give up and continue on. She decided to ease some of the tension in the room by stopping to rest. But health was poor and they needed some string of good luck.

A Shoshoni guide says that he will take your wagon across the river in exchange for 3 sets of clothing.

Luckily the wagon did and Chiyo played it safe and took the trade. After the Snake River, they were en route to Ft. Boise.

"Quick where is that on the map?" Kagura asked. "Oh fantastic, we're past the halfway mark! We can maybe do this!"

"Let's just be careful….don't go too fast, Chiyo," Sakaki said. Chiyo had set the pace as small as she could, and set the food rations as low as she could.

Impassible trail. Lose 8 days.

"This game's filled with bad luck! It's not fair!"

But Chiyo's face had some brightness to it. "Don't you see, Miss Kagura? That's what our ancestors had to deal with. Health was poorer, and they didn't have all the commodities we have today! It really makes you appreciate how our world has evolved."

Sadly the point was lost. "Chiyo….we didn't grow up in America."

Pikachu starved to death.

Three passengers remained and tension was high in the room. Sakaki was inconsolable when the virtual Pikachu perished and the girls needed a game plan. At their demands, Chiyo had to highlight where on her own map they were.

"Okay, okay….we're just outside Ft. Boise. We managed to get some more food but it cost us the rest of our money!"

"This is bad. Someone's gonna die next. So…..if Chiyo can't avoid it, who's gonna run it next?" Yomi asked.

"Miss Yomi, the rng doesn't change just because someone new takes the wheel. Every playthrough is different."

"Ah ha!" Tomo's eyes lit up. "So we just got a bad seed! Let's restart the game and pick things differently!" But when she ran over to the computer, Chiyo grabbed the mouse from her hand.

"You can't just reset the game because you don't like the outcome! Put yourself in the shoes of 1848 Americans. You think they were allowed to reset their lives?"

"If they were part of a video game, sure!"

"Well that's not authentic!"

"Authentic? Chiyo, you think Prime Minister Mori would EVER socialize with freaking Yukari, Nyamo, and PIKACHU? Fujiko yes, cuz she's awesome."
"She's also fictional," Yomi interjected.

"Chiyo…is right." Sakaki stood up, will restored. "It is a teaching tool. It's going to teach us how fleeting life can be, even if it is virtual. We were born in the age of cell phones and the internet, but would any of us really survive trekking all those miles across the country?"

Surprised silence.

"Sakaki, you're….you're right!" Tomo agreed. "Let's get as far as we can! Onward, past this next river bank!" She slammed the key to advance.

The raft has hit a rock. You have lost:
Nyamo (drowned)
Fujiko Mine (drowned)
1 set of clothing
23 bullets
1 wagon tongue
83 pounds of food

"DO AMERICANS NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM?!"

"Tomo wait! The raft has to keep moving!" It still had a bunch of rocks in the way. The girls crowded around the monitor; Tomo working the mouse. "Left, go left!"

"C'mon! Yukari can finish this adventure!"

"Look out!"

But unfortunately, there was only so much control.

The raft has hit a rock. You have lost:
Yukari (drowned)

Everyone in the party has died.

"They…they all died….?" Sakaki whispered. It cut to a tombstone that said Here Lies Yukari. But it prompted the player to write an epitaph to display on the stone.

"Wow….what do we write?" Osaka asked.

"Well Chiyo picked, so let her do it," Kagura said.

Here Lies Yukari

A Really Great English Teacher!

"Ugh, that's so corny, Chiyo! But what the heck…..I like it," Tomo admitted.

"…..so we play again?" Yomi asked.

"Uh-huh!" was Chiyo's response. Then she was barreled over by all of her friends fighting over the mouse and keyboard to decide the layout for the next adventure. But she only smiled, content they had fun and learned something.

To be continued...

Welcome back, everyone, and happy 2020.

Next Game: Yakuza 0 [Chiyo, Kagura, Chihiro, Osaka, Tomo, Nyamo]