Chapter 3

Not everyone's mean

When I lived in that game, I didn't have many friends.

A lot of people didn't like me, I don't know why.

But when I met Mari, all that changed, and I realized something.

Not everyone's mean.

Denny turned around to see a boy standing with his hands on his hips, smiling at Denny. The boy's hair was brown and fluffy, and his eyes, which were also brown, glistened with merriment. The boy was wearing light grey jeans and a black tee-shirt, along with a snow white hat.

"Who are you?" Denny asked, somewhat surprised he had found someone who wasn't angry with him.

"The name's Jersh, I'm Marithepowerful's player character." the boy made a bowing motion and smiled again.

"Oh, my name's Denny." Denny made a face at Jersh's strange name. "Where am I?" Denny asked.

"Lavierre City- oh you mean what game." Jersh laughed when he saw the confused look on Denny's face. "Pokemon Y," He answered. "And now I hope you don't mind me asking, what game are you supposed to be in?"

Denny shifted uncomfortably. Would Jersh think he was a virus just like the little dog had? "I'm uhm...I'm from Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands." Denny looked down. "I'm not even supposed to be in this system."

Jersh raised his eyebrow. "Sounds like a story I want to hear."

Denny took a risk and explained the whole situation to Jersh, from being sold to looking for a cartridge to stay in. He only excluded the detail of his relationship with Mari. Denny wasn't sure what he might might think.

Jersh was quite for a few moments. Eventually he worked up the effort to say, "Well that's definitely interesting."

Denny nodded. "Vaughn- one of the programs in my game, thought I was crazy."

"Programs?" Jersh looked confused. "You mean the separate characters?"

Denny nodded. Jersh laughed. "Well, around here we call them scripts. But we haven't used that name for them in a long time, as it gets confused with events."

"Oh," Denny processed this new word. "Scripts...I've never heard that before."

"I'm not surprised." Jersh said with a twinkle in his eye. "No offense, but you're kind of outdated."

Denny chuckled, glad he was able to make a friend in this strange new system. "Well, I bet there are a lot of words we can't agree on." Denny said, wrapping up the conversation. "But what I need to know is how I can escape the system."

"Why?" Jersh asked, tilting his head. "Your game was sold. Why don't you just stay here? It's a lot nicer, I could even give you your own Pokemon."

"Because I believe it is possible for me to be in Mari's realm." Denny answered with a sigh. "I've gone so far to be with her, I can't give up now."

"Why are you so loyal?" Jersh asked, moved by Denny's words.

"Because..." Denny choked up for a moment, face flushing pink. "...I love her."

"Eh, I don't blame you." Jersh shrugged despite Denny's shyness about it. "I think everyone loves their game owner. Besides, Mari's hot." Jersh lifted his hands when Denny gave him a look. "Hey! Don't worry. You can have her." He laughed. Denny let a small smile creep on his face.

"You know, I might be able to help you sneak out of the game." Jersh tapped his chin. "I mean, it'd probably best to wait until Mari's afk, going to the bathroom or something."

Denny didn't know what 'afk' meant, but he nodded, figuring it meant 'busy'.

"Yeah...I think we might be able to do this." Jersh folded his arms and smiled. "I'd probably even come with you, but I have this fear of moving through code. I'm always scared my data stream will be interrupted and I'll be lost. I don't even leave to explore the system."

"I can see how that would be scary." Denny nodded. "Anyway, when are we going to do this?"

Jersh smiled. "Tomorrow, during her daily routine."