Disclaimer: References to Pokémon/GBA and Sonic the Hedgehog ahead.
Pokémon/GBA is © Nintendo and Sonic/DC is © SonicTeam. Lyrics featured
here are from the song "Virtual Insanity", which is © Jamiroquai.
Author's notes: The words between the marks are Ivan's thoughts. The word "bahaki" is a Chamorro term meaning home-style clothing or clothes that are *only* worn around the house.
Part Two: An Odd Other-Worldly Experience
*sigh* Just another day of wandering aimlessly in these Waywardian oceans, Ivan thought, as he whittled away at a piece of wood with a pocketknife. He didn't know what he was aiming to make, continuing only for the sole fact that it kept him entertained. Everyone was just standing around on the Lemurian ship with their indigestion (thanks to their awful cooking skills), doing just about anything to kill boredom. Isaac keeps an ever-vigilant eye out from the lookout basket for any signs of land or civilization. Garet is making a sling out of some old pieces of cloth and leather he found while searching the ship. Mia is just in a corner of the deck, polishing Garet's spit wads (the result of a bamboo pea-shooter) off her Mythril Circlet.
A while later, Garet is laughing like a playful little boy, swinging his sling around with the Orb of Force in it. He was aiming at a thick wooden board with a painted target he made earlier. But due to his lack of knowledge of his own strength, he spun it too fast, making the Orb slip out of the sling and behind him.
"Whoops! ...Uh-oh," he said as he turned around and watched as the Orb cut through the air and...
*BONK!*
...hit Ivan on the head. He was knocked unconscious on the spot and fell to the wooden floor with a dull thump.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"...Futures made of virtual insanity now, always seem to, be governed by this love we have for useless, twisting, our new technology, oh now there is no sound - for we all live underground..."
Huh? What's that noise? Ivan thought to himself as the radio continued playing. The bright white fluorescent light on the ceiling was glowing through his eyelids. He scrunched them up then opened wide, waking up. What? This is not the Lemurian ship...where am I? He seemed to be in a room, but nothing in it looked remotely familiar to him. It had many devices he had never seen before in his entire life. He then suddenly felt a dramatic difference of feeling with his body. He looked down, finding that he was not wearing his usual clothing...and that his chest area was considerably...er, larger.
"YYYEEEEEAAAAUUUGHH!!! I'M A GIRL!!!" he screamed, cupping a hand over his mouth after hearing the kind of voice he made. "What in Jupiter's name am I doing in someone else's body...a girl's body of all places?!"
Ivan got out of the bed continued to look around the room, mentally convincing himself that it was probably all a dream even though it seemed so real. On the closet doors, he saw a poster of the hedgehogs Sonic and Shadow, and a Christmas Pokémon poster. There was a mirror above the Pokémon poster. He looked in it and saw the reflection of a tan, black- haired girl with brown eyes and wearing glasses staring back at him.
"Huh. This girl's a little hefty, if I do say so myself. Must be a bit on the tomboyish side," he said to himself. He then continued to toy with the electrical devices in the room, like the electric fan, television set, and radio, by turning them on and off and messing around with the settings.
"Interesting..."
He left the room and began to explore the house. He knocked at the walls, finding them to be hard as stone, even though they weren't exactly stone. As he came to the dining room, he found a little boy sitting at the table eating a bag of potato chips. He must be the girl's little brother, he mentally told himself. He then attempted to use Mind Read on him. However, it seemed to backfire and rattle his mind. Instead, one of the girl's memories started playing, in which he viewed from the third person point of view.
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
(Earlier that day, before she fell asleep)
The girl was sitting on her bed. A soft ringing could be heard outside the room. She got up, walked down the hallway, and answered the telephone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Anne? This is Rica. Your mom called me and asked if I can help you with your driving practice. She said I should come by this afternoon," someone's voice on the other end said.
"This afternoon? What time?"
"Around...oh, one o' clock."
"Okay. See ya."
"Bye."
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
...So this girl's name is Anne. I guess she can't use Psynergy, which is probably why Mind Read ricocheted back into the depths of my soul. Hey! Maybe I can use that power and peer into her memories so that I can act accordingly, he thought to himself.
Ivan looked to Anne's little brother, who was still eating. The potato chips caught his attention; he had never seen food like that before and thought of it as strange.
"Hey, what's your name?" he asked him.
"Carlo," the little boy answered.
"All right, Carlo, may I please try some of that?"
Carlo dug a hand deep into the bag, pulled out one, and placed it into Ivan's hand. He took it with his other hand and popped it into his mouth. This food's as weird as it looks...a little salty, crunchy, and tastes like it's been made from potatoes. Still, it tastes better than anything Isaac, Garet, Mia, or I can whip up... I wonder what other kinds of foods are around here? He found the fridge behind the wall of the dining room. He grabbed three boxes of cereal and a jar of peanut butter off the top of it. He took them back to the table, grabbed a spoon, opened them all, and had a taste of each. The main taste in these so-called "cereals" is sweet... *ptooie* Blech, I hate raisins. Whose idea was it to put raisins in this one? ...Mmm, cinnamon. ...Oh, man! This "peanut butter" tastes good, but it's much too thick! I need a drink now...
"Carlo, where can I get a drink?"
"In the 'Frigidaire."
"Where is it?"
Carlo pointed to where Ivan had just come from.
"Oh, you mean that metal box? Thanks."
He went back and pulled one of the doors open. He saw several cans of soda, bottles of water, containers of leftover food, condiments, eggs, you name it. How clever. A box with a mechanism to keep food cold so that it doesn't spoil so quickly. We need things like this back in Wayward... Hmm, this looks like a drink. I'll try it. He grabbed a can of soda and returned to the table. Now, how to open this thing? "Lift ring and pull forward"... Oh! He tipped the can to his lips and sipped. Yow! How'd all these bubbles get in here? They tickle my nose! And oh, it burns my throat! This beats the usual water or milk, though.
Ivan decided to explore the fridge once more. He didn't find anything that caught his interest, so he looked in the freezer part of the fridge. Looks like it's mostly uncooked meat in here...say, what's this? "Chocolate Ice Cream"? He opened the container, scooped some with a spoon, and shoveled it into his mouth. Ooh! It's so cold and sweet! Huh, much of the food around here is sweet... He had a little more before leaving the freezer.
(A while later)
Ivan heard a knocking at the door. It was a short girl with short brunette hair who looked about Anne's age.
"Hoy! It's Rica! Time for your driving practice!" she yelled out.
"Okay, just a minute," Ivan answered, on his way to the door. He was about to step out when Rica interrupted him.
"Um, Anne? You might wanna change your clothes...I mean, you don't wanna go out looking like that, do you?"
"Aaall riiiiight...what do you suggest I put on?"
Rica raised an eyebrow at him before she answered. "You don't need to change your shirt, just ditch your bahaki shorts and pull on a pair of pants."
Ivan went back to Anne's room and did as Rica suggested. Before he went back out, he took a look at another of Anne's memories to find out what driving was and what it's like. Oh, dear. I have to make *that* kind of contraption move around?! Ugh. This dream doesn't seem to be ending right now, so I guess I'll just have to play along... Just as he was about to leave the house again, Rica interrupted him again.
"Are you really going to leave you little brother alone here? He's only nine years old, you know."
"Oh, right. Uh...Carlo! Come with me now!"
As soon as he came out, Ivan was about to head toward the car. But Rica interrupted him one more time.
"Aren't you gonna lock the doors first?"
Jeez, this girl does a lot before she has to leave... Ivan fished around in the pants pockets until he found the conveniently placed keys.
Finally, Ivan got into the driver's seat. Carlo sat in the back seat. Looking back to the memory of driving he viewed earlier, Ivan put his hands on the wheel, foot on the brake, and shifted the gears of the car from parked to reverse.
"Hoy! You're about to back into the neighbor's car! Start turning the wheel to the left!!!" Rica exclaimed.
"Okay," Ivan muttered calmly.
"Now stop and put the car into drive, take your foot off the brake, and remember to return your wheels to the straight position. Then step on the gas..........WAAAAIIIIIIITTT!!! Your wheels are not in the fully straight position!!! .....(whew) Okay, stop here and turn on your right turn signal."
They stopped at the stop sign and waited for a couple of cars to pass.
"Go ahead now. Turn your wheel to the right and start stepping on the gas. .......AAAIIIIIII!!!!!!! You're going too fast! Brake! Brake! Okay, stop here!"
They were now about to cross into the highway. Rica was hyperventilating, while Carlo was cracking up with laughter.
"Turn the car to the second lane SLOWLY. I mean, step on the gas, but LIGHTLY. Got that?"
"Got it."
"All right. Now we'll be going straight ahead for a while. You can step on the gas a little more. .........Enough! Enough! You're going too fast again! ......Yes, THERE. That's the right speed."
Unfortunately and unbeknownst to Ivan, he had speeded in front of a police officer. The sirens on the officer's care began to blare as he began to tail Rica's car.
"Shoot...Anne, we have to pull over to the side of the road and stop."
Ivan started to turn to the side, but too much.
"Stop! STOOOOOOOOP!!! WE'RE ABOUT TO HIT THE POOOOOLE!!!!!"
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*
He swerved sharply, skidded, and stopped on a green grass area. The policeman came up to the car.
"Excuse me? Is one of you drunk??" "Sorry, officer. She's finished her road lessons and is on practice right now. I...guess she's having an off day..." Rica explained.
"Off day? *coughThat'sprettymuchanunderstatementcough* Let me see your permit."
Ivan fished around in the pockets again. The permit was also conveniently placed there. He sighed with relief and passed it to the policeman.
"All right. You check out. And you ma'am, you're a licensed driver, right? May I see your license?"
Rica did so.
"Okay. Seeing as you're just a beginner, I'll let you off with a warning. Have a nice day, ladies."
The policeman went away.
"Anne, I think I should take it from here...you seem to have lost your concentration today."
"Sorry. I'm...just not feeling like myself today."
"It's all right. We all get days like that once in a while."
After switching seats, Rica drove Ivan and Carlo home.
As they reentered the house, Carlo asked Ivan to play with the Game Boy Advance because he wanted to watch.
"Game Boy Advance? Wh-what's that?"
Carlo pulled him by the hand and led him back to Anne's room. He grabbed the GBA on the desk and placed it in Ivan's hands.
"Oh, this!" he said as he sat down on a chair. All right, how do I turn this thing on? He searched around and found the switch on its bottom left side. He watched in awe as characters flashed across the screen and sounds chimed. The game that came on was...Golden Sun. Whoa...what's the picture of Mount Aleph doing there? The words "Press Start" flashed below the logo. Ivan located the start button and did so. The start menu appeared, and he chose to start a new game. The screen turned black and text boxes began to appear on the screen. The first one said, "Isaac, wake up!" Isaac? What the? This is beginning to get stranger by the minute... Ivan let the game continue, rapidly pressing the A button to let the text pass. He played out the whole beginning sequence. Ohh...how tragic...he lost his father and Jenna lost her parents...I guess that's why Isaac doesn't like to talk about family much...
Ivan continued and played out through Sol Sanctum. So this is what really happened in there... After a few cutscenes, he found the little Isaac sprite led to the World Map. Then Flint appeared and taught the Djinni mechanisms. After that, he made the Isaac sprite head to Vault and watched a scene where Master Hammet was leaving. Huh, so that's why he went to Lunpa... Ivan continued to lead Isaac into Vault and went into the Mayor's house. Wait a minute...I know where this is heading... He made the sprite walk up a little further, he caught sight of a sprite that looked like him! Hey, that's me! Oh, my goodness, this is feeling a little too weird now... He continued to play and watched with intent as the next sequence of events unfolded right before his eyes, exactly as he remembered it.
Ivan played the game until he beat Mercury Lighthouse. He turned it off, not wanting to play anymore because he knew how the rest would turn out and it weirded him out so much.
"Carlo, what is this thing called?" he asked.
"It is a videogame," Carlo answered. A "videogame", huh? I wonder how its creators knew about our whole ordeal...
Since the videogame strained his eyes a little, he decided to take a nap. He contemplated over his thoughts as he closed his eyes...
This is a bizarre world, yet so interesting. I wonder what made all these mechanical things run? [Here, he peers into Anne's memories again] Oh, "technology"! Where have I heard that word before? Oh, yes, that voice I heard when I woke up was singing about it.
If I'm here, I wonder where Anne is. Maybe she's still sleeping in her subconscious. Nah, if she was, my memory searching would have awakened her and this dream would've been over. What if...she and I switched places? No, that's ridiculous. But why does that strongly feel like a possibility? ...If I were confined to her body for the rest of my life, it'd be kinda interesting. My troubles would be lifted off my shoulders. I could get used to this "technology".
No. That's too easy of a way out. If she really is in my place, all my troubles will be placed on *her* shoulders. She will experience everything I have. And I'll bet she doesn't know how Psynergy works. Oh, no. For her sake...I hope we get switched back.
And with that last thought, Ivan drifted off to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ivan awoke and rubbed his eyes. When his vision was clear enough, he found himself in the lookout basket at the top of the mast.
"What the?! How the heck did I get up here?!" he panicked. Just then, Isaac's head poked up from the entrance hole of the basket.
"Oh, here you are, Ivan! Why'd you come up here?"
"I don't know. I don't remember coming up here at all!"
"Dah...but...nevermind. Just come on down."
The two boys climbed down and back onto the deck.
"Hey, Ivan...are you feeling better today?" Garet asked.
"Never better. In fact, my headache's gone. Why?"
"Do you remember anything you did yesterday?" Mia asked.
"Huh? I thought I was asleep all of yesterday! But you know, I had the strangest dream! I was stuck in some girl's body, and it was a whole 'nother world I was in! The house this girl lived in seemed to be made of a substance hard as stone, and many things were run by some kind of magic called 'technology'! And there was strange, but decent, food strewn around the house! You know the weirdest part out of the whole dream? I found out we were characters in a thing called a 'videogame'! Is that strange or what?"
Isaac, Garet, and Mia were staring at him the whole time, gaping in shock.
"Um...guys? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"So...whoever was in Ivan's body yesterday...she *was* telling the truth!!!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Out of all of the weirdest things to happen to one of us..." Mia droned. Garet started tearing up.
"Garet? What's wrong?" Ivan asked.
"If that really was somebody else in your body yesterday, then we're never having any more decent meals ever agaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnn!!!" he wailed.
"Buh?"
Ivan was looking very confused now. Isaac and Mia began to explain to him as Garet continued his whining.
THE END
Author's notes: The words between the marks are Ivan's thoughts. The word "bahaki" is a Chamorro term meaning home-style clothing or clothes that are *only* worn around the house.
Part Two: An Odd Other-Worldly Experience
*sigh* Just another day of wandering aimlessly in these Waywardian oceans, Ivan thought, as he whittled away at a piece of wood with a pocketknife. He didn't know what he was aiming to make, continuing only for the sole fact that it kept him entertained. Everyone was just standing around on the Lemurian ship with their indigestion (thanks to their awful cooking skills), doing just about anything to kill boredom. Isaac keeps an ever-vigilant eye out from the lookout basket for any signs of land or civilization. Garet is making a sling out of some old pieces of cloth and leather he found while searching the ship. Mia is just in a corner of the deck, polishing Garet's spit wads (the result of a bamboo pea-shooter) off her Mythril Circlet.
A while later, Garet is laughing like a playful little boy, swinging his sling around with the Orb of Force in it. He was aiming at a thick wooden board with a painted target he made earlier. But due to his lack of knowledge of his own strength, he spun it too fast, making the Orb slip out of the sling and behind him.
"Whoops! ...Uh-oh," he said as he turned around and watched as the Orb cut through the air and...
*BONK!*
...hit Ivan on the head. He was knocked unconscious on the spot and fell to the wooden floor with a dull thump.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"...Futures made of virtual insanity now, always seem to, be governed by this love we have for useless, twisting, our new technology, oh now there is no sound - for we all live underground..."
Huh? What's that noise? Ivan thought to himself as the radio continued playing. The bright white fluorescent light on the ceiling was glowing through his eyelids. He scrunched them up then opened wide, waking up. What? This is not the Lemurian ship...where am I? He seemed to be in a room, but nothing in it looked remotely familiar to him. It had many devices he had never seen before in his entire life. He then suddenly felt a dramatic difference of feeling with his body. He looked down, finding that he was not wearing his usual clothing...and that his chest area was considerably...er, larger.
"YYYEEEEEAAAAUUUGHH!!! I'M A GIRL!!!" he screamed, cupping a hand over his mouth after hearing the kind of voice he made. "What in Jupiter's name am I doing in someone else's body...a girl's body of all places?!"
Ivan got out of the bed continued to look around the room, mentally convincing himself that it was probably all a dream even though it seemed so real. On the closet doors, he saw a poster of the hedgehogs Sonic and Shadow, and a Christmas Pokémon poster. There was a mirror above the Pokémon poster. He looked in it and saw the reflection of a tan, black- haired girl with brown eyes and wearing glasses staring back at him.
"Huh. This girl's a little hefty, if I do say so myself. Must be a bit on the tomboyish side," he said to himself. He then continued to toy with the electrical devices in the room, like the electric fan, television set, and radio, by turning them on and off and messing around with the settings.
"Interesting..."
He left the room and began to explore the house. He knocked at the walls, finding them to be hard as stone, even though they weren't exactly stone. As he came to the dining room, he found a little boy sitting at the table eating a bag of potato chips. He must be the girl's little brother, he mentally told himself. He then attempted to use Mind Read on him. However, it seemed to backfire and rattle his mind. Instead, one of the girl's memories started playing, in which he viewed from the third person point of view.
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
(Earlier that day, before she fell asleep)
The girl was sitting on her bed. A soft ringing could be heard outside the room. She got up, walked down the hallway, and answered the telephone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Anne? This is Rica. Your mom called me and asked if I can help you with your driving practice. She said I should come by this afternoon," someone's voice on the other end said.
"This afternoon? What time?"
"Around...oh, one o' clock."
"Okay. See ya."
"Bye."
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
...So this girl's name is Anne. I guess she can't use Psynergy, which is probably why Mind Read ricocheted back into the depths of my soul. Hey! Maybe I can use that power and peer into her memories so that I can act accordingly, he thought to himself.
Ivan looked to Anne's little brother, who was still eating. The potato chips caught his attention; he had never seen food like that before and thought of it as strange.
"Hey, what's your name?" he asked him.
"Carlo," the little boy answered.
"All right, Carlo, may I please try some of that?"
Carlo dug a hand deep into the bag, pulled out one, and placed it into Ivan's hand. He took it with his other hand and popped it into his mouth. This food's as weird as it looks...a little salty, crunchy, and tastes like it's been made from potatoes. Still, it tastes better than anything Isaac, Garet, Mia, or I can whip up... I wonder what other kinds of foods are around here? He found the fridge behind the wall of the dining room. He grabbed three boxes of cereal and a jar of peanut butter off the top of it. He took them back to the table, grabbed a spoon, opened them all, and had a taste of each. The main taste in these so-called "cereals" is sweet... *ptooie* Blech, I hate raisins. Whose idea was it to put raisins in this one? ...Mmm, cinnamon. ...Oh, man! This "peanut butter" tastes good, but it's much too thick! I need a drink now...
"Carlo, where can I get a drink?"
"In the 'Frigidaire."
"Where is it?"
Carlo pointed to where Ivan had just come from.
"Oh, you mean that metal box? Thanks."
He went back and pulled one of the doors open. He saw several cans of soda, bottles of water, containers of leftover food, condiments, eggs, you name it. How clever. A box with a mechanism to keep food cold so that it doesn't spoil so quickly. We need things like this back in Wayward... Hmm, this looks like a drink. I'll try it. He grabbed a can of soda and returned to the table. Now, how to open this thing? "Lift ring and pull forward"... Oh! He tipped the can to his lips and sipped. Yow! How'd all these bubbles get in here? They tickle my nose! And oh, it burns my throat! This beats the usual water or milk, though.
Ivan decided to explore the fridge once more. He didn't find anything that caught his interest, so he looked in the freezer part of the fridge. Looks like it's mostly uncooked meat in here...say, what's this? "Chocolate Ice Cream"? He opened the container, scooped some with a spoon, and shoveled it into his mouth. Ooh! It's so cold and sweet! Huh, much of the food around here is sweet... He had a little more before leaving the freezer.
(A while later)
Ivan heard a knocking at the door. It was a short girl with short brunette hair who looked about Anne's age.
"Hoy! It's Rica! Time for your driving practice!" she yelled out.
"Okay, just a minute," Ivan answered, on his way to the door. He was about to step out when Rica interrupted him.
"Um, Anne? You might wanna change your clothes...I mean, you don't wanna go out looking like that, do you?"
"Aaall riiiiight...what do you suggest I put on?"
Rica raised an eyebrow at him before she answered. "You don't need to change your shirt, just ditch your bahaki shorts and pull on a pair of pants."
Ivan went back to Anne's room and did as Rica suggested. Before he went back out, he took a look at another of Anne's memories to find out what driving was and what it's like. Oh, dear. I have to make *that* kind of contraption move around?! Ugh. This dream doesn't seem to be ending right now, so I guess I'll just have to play along... Just as he was about to leave the house again, Rica interrupted him again.
"Are you really going to leave you little brother alone here? He's only nine years old, you know."
"Oh, right. Uh...Carlo! Come with me now!"
As soon as he came out, Ivan was about to head toward the car. But Rica interrupted him one more time.
"Aren't you gonna lock the doors first?"
Jeez, this girl does a lot before she has to leave... Ivan fished around in the pants pockets until he found the conveniently placed keys.
Finally, Ivan got into the driver's seat. Carlo sat in the back seat. Looking back to the memory of driving he viewed earlier, Ivan put his hands on the wheel, foot on the brake, and shifted the gears of the car from parked to reverse.
"Hoy! You're about to back into the neighbor's car! Start turning the wheel to the left!!!" Rica exclaimed.
"Okay," Ivan muttered calmly.
"Now stop and put the car into drive, take your foot off the brake, and remember to return your wheels to the straight position. Then step on the gas..........WAAAAIIIIIIITTT!!! Your wheels are not in the fully straight position!!! .....(whew) Okay, stop here and turn on your right turn signal."
They stopped at the stop sign and waited for a couple of cars to pass.
"Go ahead now. Turn your wheel to the right and start stepping on the gas. .......AAAIIIIIII!!!!!!! You're going too fast! Brake! Brake! Okay, stop here!"
They were now about to cross into the highway. Rica was hyperventilating, while Carlo was cracking up with laughter.
"Turn the car to the second lane SLOWLY. I mean, step on the gas, but LIGHTLY. Got that?"
"Got it."
"All right. Now we'll be going straight ahead for a while. You can step on the gas a little more. .........Enough! Enough! You're going too fast again! ......Yes, THERE. That's the right speed."
Unfortunately and unbeknownst to Ivan, he had speeded in front of a police officer. The sirens on the officer's care began to blare as he began to tail Rica's car.
"Shoot...Anne, we have to pull over to the side of the road and stop."
Ivan started to turn to the side, but too much.
"Stop! STOOOOOOOOP!!! WE'RE ABOUT TO HIT THE POOOOOLE!!!!!"
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*
He swerved sharply, skidded, and stopped on a green grass area. The policeman came up to the car.
"Excuse me? Is one of you drunk??" "Sorry, officer. She's finished her road lessons and is on practice right now. I...guess she's having an off day..." Rica explained.
"Off day? *coughThat'sprettymuchanunderstatementcough* Let me see your permit."
Ivan fished around in the pockets again. The permit was also conveniently placed there. He sighed with relief and passed it to the policeman.
"All right. You check out. And you ma'am, you're a licensed driver, right? May I see your license?"
Rica did so.
"Okay. Seeing as you're just a beginner, I'll let you off with a warning. Have a nice day, ladies."
The policeman went away.
"Anne, I think I should take it from here...you seem to have lost your concentration today."
"Sorry. I'm...just not feeling like myself today."
"It's all right. We all get days like that once in a while."
After switching seats, Rica drove Ivan and Carlo home.
As they reentered the house, Carlo asked Ivan to play with the Game Boy Advance because he wanted to watch.
"Game Boy Advance? Wh-what's that?"
Carlo pulled him by the hand and led him back to Anne's room. He grabbed the GBA on the desk and placed it in Ivan's hands.
"Oh, this!" he said as he sat down on a chair. All right, how do I turn this thing on? He searched around and found the switch on its bottom left side. He watched in awe as characters flashed across the screen and sounds chimed. The game that came on was...Golden Sun. Whoa...what's the picture of Mount Aleph doing there? The words "Press Start" flashed below the logo. Ivan located the start button and did so. The start menu appeared, and he chose to start a new game. The screen turned black and text boxes began to appear on the screen. The first one said, "Isaac, wake up!" Isaac? What the? This is beginning to get stranger by the minute... Ivan let the game continue, rapidly pressing the A button to let the text pass. He played out the whole beginning sequence. Ohh...how tragic...he lost his father and Jenna lost her parents...I guess that's why Isaac doesn't like to talk about family much...
Ivan continued and played out through Sol Sanctum. So this is what really happened in there... After a few cutscenes, he found the little Isaac sprite led to the World Map. Then Flint appeared and taught the Djinni mechanisms. After that, he made the Isaac sprite head to Vault and watched a scene where Master Hammet was leaving. Huh, so that's why he went to Lunpa... Ivan continued to lead Isaac into Vault and went into the Mayor's house. Wait a minute...I know where this is heading... He made the sprite walk up a little further, he caught sight of a sprite that looked like him! Hey, that's me! Oh, my goodness, this is feeling a little too weird now... He continued to play and watched with intent as the next sequence of events unfolded right before his eyes, exactly as he remembered it.
Ivan played the game until he beat Mercury Lighthouse. He turned it off, not wanting to play anymore because he knew how the rest would turn out and it weirded him out so much.
"Carlo, what is this thing called?" he asked.
"It is a videogame," Carlo answered. A "videogame", huh? I wonder how its creators knew about our whole ordeal...
Since the videogame strained his eyes a little, he decided to take a nap. He contemplated over his thoughts as he closed his eyes...
This is a bizarre world, yet so interesting. I wonder what made all these mechanical things run? [Here, he peers into Anne's memories again] Oh, "technology"! Where have I heard that word before? Oh, yes, that voice I heard when I woke up was singing about it.
If I'm here, I wonder where Anne is. Maybe she's still sleeping in her subconscious. Nah, if she was, my memory searching would have awakened her and this dream would've been over. What if...she and I switched places? No, that's ridiculous. But why does that strongly feel like a possibility? ...If I were confined to her body for the rest of my life, it'd be kinda interesting. My troubles would be lifted off my shoulders. I could get used to this "technology".
No. That's too easy of a way out. If she really is in my place, all my troubles will be placed on *her* shoulders. She will experience everything I have. And I'll bet she doesn't know how Psynergy works. Oh, no. For her sake...I hope we get switched back.
And with that last thought, Ivan drifted off to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ivan awoke and rubbed his eyes. When his vision was clear enough, he found himself in the lookout basket at the top of the mast.
"What the?! How the heck did I get up here?!" he panicked. Just then, Isaac's head poked up from the entrance hole of the basket.
"Oh, here you are, Ivan! Why'd you come up here?"
"I don't know. I don't remember coming up here at all!"
"Dah...but...nevermind. Just come on down."
The two boys climbed down and back onto the deck.
"Hey, Ivan...are you feeling better today?" Garet asked.
"Never better. In fact, my headache's gone. Why?"
"Do you remember anything you did yesterday?" Mia asked.
"Huh? I thought I was asleep all of yesterday! But you know, I had the strangest dream! I was stuck in some girl's body, and it was a whole 'nother world I was in! The house this girl lived in seemed to be made of a substance hard as stone, and many things were run by some kind of magic called 'technology'! And there was strange, but decent, food strewn around the house! You know the weirdest part out of the whole dream? I found out we were characters in a thing called a 'videogame'! Is that strange or what?"
Isaac, Garet, and Mia were staring at him the whole time, gaping in shock.
"Um...guys? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"So...whoever was in Ivan's body yesterday...she *was* telling the truth!!!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Out of all of the weirdest things to happen to one of us..." Mia droned. Garet started tearing up.
"Garet? What's wrong?" Ivan asked.
"If that really was somebody else in your body yesterday, then we're never having any more decent meals ever agaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnn!!!" he wailed.
"Buh?"
Ivan was looking very confused now. Isaac and Mia began to explain to him as Garet continued his whining.
THE END
