To be a true hero, kid, is a dying art

[around 4 or so this morning, Sora had been lying in his bed in the pokécenter, awake, not very comfortable, and bored out of his mind. not a whole lot was going on over the network, and Sora didn't want to wake Hope or Rise or Puddles or anybody else nearby. there were, however, two people he had no problem bothering: Riku got a smattering of text messages full of bad puns-- hey, he needed to practice them on someone! right? but shortly after he sent Kairi a text asking if she was awake, and where she was, a new message popped up on his pokégear screen:]

error: this number is no longer in use.

[... and that's when he silently swung his legs over the side of his bed and grabbed a few things-- including his pokémon asleep in their balls and his notebook-- and for the first time this entire week, Sora creeped out of his room and successfully snuck out of the Goldenrod Pokécenter.]

[first things first-- Sora lurched his way over to the closest vending machine and picked up two bottles of soda. he... made an honest effort to chug them, but wound up dumping the contents of the second bottle into a nearby sewer. it wasn't the soda he was interested in, anyway. next, he walked over to the radio tower-- he couldn't really see the ocean over the fence nearby, but he could hear it... seems no matter where you go, the ocean always sounds the same. he sat down, leaning against both the radio tower and a newly hatched Dratini for support, and began writing.]

( ooc cut: letter to Kairi )

[when the video feed clicks on later that morning, the sun's out in full force by the radio tower. the sound cuts in right in the middle of Sora saying something.]

--tini, could you throw this in the ocean for me?

[the Dratini nods, and wraps its tail around the neck of a bottle with a note carefully rolled up inside. with a grunt, it chucks the bottle right over the fence, and both Sora and Pokémon watch as it soars, then plunks right in the ocean. please don't berate them for littering.]

Thanks. I-- [and Sora turns, noticing Bell pointing his gear at him and recording. he still hasn't actually been out and about Goldenrod wearing something other than his pajamas, but he at least thought to put on some shoes and a jacket this time. he steps a little closer, looking down at the 'gear and Bell-- he's smiling genuinely, but there's definitely a tinge of sadness somewhere in there.]

Morning, you guys! I kind of have an odd question. Have you ever been on a date before? I think we're going to set Puddles up with Whitney's Girafarig today.

[video, glorious video. Sora's finally gotten his 'gear fixed after a week of texting and learning how to make smiley faces with symbols, and although he has to admit the smiley faces are pretty cool, he's much happier to be able to talk to the network face-to-face. sort of face-to-face. he's feeling a lot better, too.]

[so there's a very groggy kid opening up a feed today. it looks like he's just woken up from a fantastic nap, because he has some equally fantastic bedhead: the smaller spikes that usually go every which way are actually almost entirely flattened against his face on one side, and the bigger ones have sort of lost their vaguely coherent shape. it's quite a sight, really, and Sora doesn't seem to realize he has it.]

... Hey. Uh. I got a list of names from everybody who signed up to help with food for the festival from Nurse Joy. If you're still interested, the restaurants in your town would be happy to have you help! And if you were thinking about selling some kind of food from back home at a booth, they've all agreed to let you use their kitchens to make it. You just need to let them know in advance.

-- Oh yeah! Are any of you interested in running booths? If so, what kind?

[Sora pauses here, instinctively rubbing his eyes. as fantastic of a nap that was, he really hasn't been getting enough sleep out here on route 32.]

Ven? Where are you guys? We're just outside Union Cave. And--

[he turns away from the 'gear to address someone off screen. behold, spiky bedhead in all of its majesty!]

Riku! I've got something for you!