route_1065 | (no subject)

Who:

Crow Hogan and OPEN
Where: Burned Tower, Ecruteak City
When: Thursday, January 20th
Summary: In the place where Johto lost three legendary beasts, Crow remembers losing someone in similar circumstances.
Rating: PG
Log:

Crow had never been the type to do sightseeing, perhaps because he had never been to a place where there would be anything worth seeing back in his world. This time was no different - he didn't feel the need to check out either Bell Tower (much less after his experiences in Sprout Tower) or the Dance Theater. There was, however, one place in Ecruteak he wanted to visit from the moment he heard about a certain legend surrounding it.

"Brings back memories, huh?" he wondered aloud, stepping inside the Burned Tower. The Murkrow on his shoulder tilted his head and gave him a puzzled look, not sure what memory his trainer was referring to. No wonder, seeing as the events Crow had in mind had taken place a long before he got to Johto. He found it hard to believe that in just a few months it would have been four years since that day... The day that changed a lot in his life: gave him his D-Wheel, Black Feathers and most importantly, a purpose.

But it also took the life of the person who gave him all of the above.

"Seven months already... Time sure flies." The duelist said slowly, reaching for the deck holder on his belt and pulling out one card - namely, his Blackfeather Dragon. Seven months since the day he got that card, the day he found out who had murdered his mentor... as well as the day he arrived at Johto. Now that he looked back, he had never expect to stay that long in this world, much less enjoy it as much as he did. With all the friends he'd made so far - both people and Pokemon - he didn't regret a single day he'd spent here.

"... Looks like I won't be visiting you anytime soon," Crow said, smiling somewhat wryly at his friend's memento. Sure, one never knew when they'd be pulled back to where they came from, but he felt like, if given a choice, he wouldn't want to go back just now. "Sorry for disappearing right after making that promise."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kaito was covered from head to toe in dirt by the time he exited the burned tower. Unlike Crow, Kaito had thoroughly explored every single city he had arrived in, and Ecruteak had been no different. It was, by far, the most fascinating city he had visited, if only because of the mystical aura that surrounded it. He might not have been a detective, but the time he had spent searching through legends in an attempt to find Pandora had given him a fondness for them.

He would learn as much about the legends of Ecruteak as he could while he was here.

Crow was standing in plain sight as he exited the tower. It wasn't difficult to tell that his friend was deep in thought (and perhaps a little down), so the magician didn't hesitate to approach as soon as he saw him.

"Oi!" he called, lifting a hand in a wave, "It's more awesome on the inside."

Legends were fickle little things in Crow's mind - sure, he enjoyed listening to the tales of brave heroes, mythological creatures and what you have. Heck, he even lived with a philosophy based on such legend for a huge part of his life-- but having experienced the pain of learning the truth behind the story had taught him to approach those more carefully.

Frankly, he hadn't expected to meet anyone near the remnants of the tower. Which was quite dumb of him, considering it must have been one of the main tourist attractions in the city, with Bell Tower being closed for visitors and all. But having forgotten that, along with him being lost in thought, led to the duelist ignoring his friend for a moment. His Murkrow (who, at this point, had already given up on trying to figure out what's wrong with Crow), however, was aware of the other's presence and decided to bring his trainer back to reality by pinching him on the shoulder.

"Eh?" Crow blinked, turning around to face... Kaito. For a second, there was a pretty embarrassed look on his face (seriously, he needed to do something about that habit of talking to himself), before he replaced it with a more apologizing one. "Uh, sorry, did you say something?"

Well that isn't strange at all... Kaito thought to himself as he quirked an eyebrow suspiciously. He lowered his hand and shoved it into his pocket, quickening his pace until he was within speaking distance (so he didn't have to continue shouting).

"You going deaf?" he asked with a shake of his head, his tone jibing, but only in a friendly way, "I said it's more awesome on the inside."

"... I'm just fine, thanks for asking." Crow answered with sarcasm, though he didn't seem annoyed at all.

He gave Kaito questioning look before turning back to what was left of the tower. Interesting to anyone who's into digging in such stuff? Perhaps, but Crow could hardly see anything special about it. Mostly because he'd spent seventeen years living in a place where every building looked like that.

"So... what's so awesome about it?" He asked, not convinced of the idea.

Kaito's teasing smile faded a bit into genuine concern, before he shook his head and turned to face the tower again.

"'S just an interesting place to look around," he responded with a shrug, "Especially since it's tied to the legend of this city." His gaze wandered toward Crow again, and after a few seconds of silence, he finally asked what he had been wanting to ask since the conversation started.

"You okay?"

"You mean the one about it getting burned down? Yeah, I heard of it." Some of it, at least, since the natives seemed rather... vague about it at best. Or the ones Crow had spoken to so far only knew the general idea of what had happened.

Many people would probably see it as a good trait, but at times like that, Crow somewhat regretted being the kind of person that never lied. "Am I being that obvious?" he asked with a half-amused and half-skeptical smile.

"A little bit more than that obvious," Kaito pointed out with a teasing grin. Keeping things lighthearted had always been a specialty of his.

"Ten pokebucks for your thoughts?"

Crow couldn't help but grin at that. "That's kinda cheap, y'know!" He laughed, shaking his head.

"... 'S nothing big, really," the duelist said with a sigh, looking down at the card in his hand. "This place reminds me of someone, that's all."

"Ecruteak? Or the tower?" Kaito asked, his gaze flickering down to the card. He knew the feeling; there were places and things in Johto that reminded him of people at home all the time.

"This tower, yeah." Crow answered, looking thoughtful once again. It wasn't rare for him to be reminded of home, either - after all, the entire idea of Pokemon battles was somewhat similar to Duel Monsters - but this one was a lot more personal, so to say.

He scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "Silly, ain't it?"

"No way," Kaito responded, gaze flickering toward the tower, "Goldenrod remind me of home."

"Tokyo, was it?" Crow asked, somehow relieved they got off the topic of the tower. "Just because it's a big city, or is it something else?" Goldenrod might have been the biggest city in the entire Johto region, but it didn't remind Crow of Neo Domino that much, mostly because compared to his home it was... well, small and extremely behind with technology.

"Tokyo," Kaito responded, "Goldenrod wasn't nearly as big, but it still kinda felt like home."