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[It had been a week since anyone heard this voice. Longer still since it was broadcast over the network.]
[For Hal Emmerich, it had been five years since he awoke from a dream calling itself Johto. Five long years of wandering as fugitives against the world, of unkind truths and harsh realities. Failed missions, broken hearts, and at last a hard-won victory at the end of it all. The Patriots' AIs were eliminated thanks in no small part to Naomi, and for the first time since 2005, Otacon felt that everything might just truly work out alright. But first there was Snake to worry about--he'd last been seen from the air, fighting Liquid Ocelot on top of Outer Haven.]
[And the very next second, Otacon was waking up in a room he only vaguely recognized. His voice was the only thing heard at first, sounding as if the Pokegear was a short distance away.]
Where--...? Oh, no. That's not good. I'm piloting a helicopter and I'm dreaming, that can't be a good thing. Wake up, I need to wake up or I'm going to crash right into Haven, it'd really be stupid to die now.
Phaaaa. [The concerned bleating of an Ampharos was much closer to the Gear than Otacon's voice--he was the one that had turned it on, most likely. The silence that followed was almost tangibly stunned.]
A...Asimov...? No way. This--that was just a dream. It still is, because this kind of thing doesn't just happen! Think of how many laws of physics a place like this would break, it's...it's not possible. I'm still in the Kasatka. I can't...
[Another pause. There was the shuffling sound of someone taking the Pokegear, and then a familiar yet somewhat older face in an unfamiliar turtleneck and trenchcoat appeared onscreen.]
...This really happened, didn't it? I thought--I thought it was just some dream I had. That I was going crazy or something. But it's too lucid to be anything like that, isn't it?
Is anyone else still here? How long has it been? And does anyone know if this place is even real?
[For Hal Emmerich, it had been five years since he awoke from a dream calling itself Johto. Five long years of wandering as fugitives against the world, of unkind truths and harsh realities. Failed missions, broken hearts, and at last a hard-won victory at the end of it all. The Patriots' AIs were eliminated thanks in no small part to Naomi, and for the first time since 2005, Otacon felt that everything might just truly work out alright. But first there was Snake to worry about--he'd last been seen from the air, fighting Liquid Ocelot on top of Outer Haven.]
[And the very next second, Otacon was waking up in a room he only vaguely recognized. His voice was the only thing heard at first, sounding as if the Pokegear was a short distance away.]
Where--...? Oh, no. That's not good. I'm piloting a helicopter and I'm dreaming, that can't be a good thing. Wake up, I need to wake up or I'm going to crash right into Haven, it'd really be stupid to die now.
Phaaaa. [The concerned bleating of an Ampharos was much closer to the Gear than Otacon's voice--he was the one that had turned it on, most likely. The silence that followed was almost tangibly stunned.]
A...Asimov...? No way. This--that was just a dream. It still is, because this kind of thing doesn't just happen! Think of how many laws of physics a place like this would break, it's...it's not possible. I'm still in the Kasatka. I can't...
[Another pause. There was the shuffling sound of someone taking the Pokegear, and then a familiar yet somewhat older face in an unfamiliar turtleneck and trenchcoat appeared onscreen.]
...This really happened, didn't it? I thought--I thought it was just some dream I had. That I was going crazy or something. But it's too lucid to be anything like that, isn't it?
Is anyone else still here? How long has it been? And does anyone know if this place is even real?