This part of the story is from the Tama, Anperotchi's point of view.
Gradually, I got to know Melodie and I knew she didn't want to hurt or control me, the way I thought she did. I saw the other humans at her school, and they just had Tamas in order to show them off. They didn't really care about them. Yes, they fed them and pretended to care for them, but I knew and Melodie knew that really, they were just trying to become and stay popular at school using a cute Tama character. I didn't know Tamas were treated this way anywhere. I thought we lived in our world and we were real there; but here, we're little more than a few pixels put together to make a 2-dimensional shape.
That is, until we come to life. We're real when we're no longer confined inside a shell. That's when we sometimes might get taken just a tiny bit seriously, that's when someone might care about us. I can see how it's hard for humans to have any kind of bond with something that looks like a pixel figure; just as it was hard for me to sympathise with the giant creatures who had complete control over my life, but chose not to use it.
But one day, things changed. Melodie had left me on something, I didn't see what, when she went away to do something. I was fine with that - it happened often - and walked through the hidden door I'd found to my bedroom, where I went to sleep. Melodie would be away for at least an hour, and what with how much she talked to me at night sometimes, I needed extra sleep during the day.
I woke up feeling horribly sick. I was in total darkness, swinging from side to side. Melodie knew I suffered from motion sickness; she had to have noticed that I got sick whenever she put me in a bag and swung it around by accident! The swinging continued; random, fast motion, almost as if whoever was doing it was making me sick on purpose. I reached for the lamp on my cabinet, but it wasn't there. A faint spark of light illuminated the room for a moment; I saw my lamp shattered on the floor, the light coming from it fading. With each lurch of the room, the shards of glass slid across the floor, making it dangerous for me to get out of bed.
I knew how to make the shell I was in beep now. Melodie had taught me the different beeps for each reason I might want attention; the care miss beep, the toilet beep, the win game beep...but now I was using the last one that she had taught me, the one she had said only to use in an emergency. The death beep.
"That thing can't be dying already! Mel said it was needy, but not THIS needy!" came a distinct voice from outside. It wasn't Melodie.
This part of the story is from the point of view of a new character.
When I took Melodie's Tamagotchi from the bench where she had left it, I felt just a little bit guilty. After all, she couldn't help that it had never come to life. But the way she talked to it and seemed happy with it - I didn't understand! It's only a few pixels, how can it mean so much to her?
But I think I was jealous. I was jealous that Melodie had someone she could care about and talk to, someone she could trust. I don't have anyone. My Lovelitchi, Naomi, turned against me from the very first day I had her, since I was impatient for her to evolve and tried to make her evolve more quickly by changing the circuit boards. It turns out I wasn't even doing the right thing and it was impossible to make Naomi evolve by fiddling around with wires I didn't even recognise; but it was Melodie who told me that, and I'd never accept anything Melodie said to me, so I just gave up.
I put the Tamagotchi in my bag as soon as I'd taken it, then ran down the corridor as fast as I could, getting away so Melodie wouldn't suspect that I'd taken her Tama. I knew how protective she was of that bunch of pixels, and she'd never forgive me if I let it die or anything. Not that she'd forgive me anyway for the things I've done to her already.
As I was running down the corridor, I heard the death beep. Ignoring it - that silly Perotchi or whatever was probably trying to attract attention - I kept running. The beep played again, more urgent this time. Before the thing died, I pulled it out of my bag to see what was wrong with it.
I saw something I never would have expected. A ruined bedroom, with pieces of broken glass all over the floor and an angry-looking Tama standing on the bed. The Tama was nothing I had ever seen before; she strongly resembled Perotchi, but had a hat and coat like Anpan Mametchi's, except they were pink.
The Tama held up a sign in Japanese, but before I could read it, Melodie rushed down the corridor, with the same angry look on her face as that on the face of her strange Tama character.
Gradually, I got to know Melodie and I knew she didn't want to hurt or control me, the way I thought she did. I saw the other humans at her school, and they just had Tamas in order to show them off. They didn't really care about them. Yes, they fed them and pretended to care for them, but I knew and Melodie knew that really, they were just trying to become and stay popular at school using a cute Tama character. I didn't know Tamas were treated this way anywhere. I thought we lived in our world and we were real there; but here, we're little more than a few pixels put together to make a 2-dimensional shape.
That is, until we come to life. We're real when we're no longer confined inside a shell. That's when we sometimes might get taken just a tiny bit seriously, that's when someone might care about us. I can see how it's hard for humans to have any kind of bond with something that looks like a pixel figure; just as it was hard for me to sympathise with the giant creatures who had complete control over my life, but chose not to use it.
But one day, things changed. Melodie had left me on something, I didn't see what, when she went away to do something. I was fine with that - it happened often - and walked through the hidden door I'd found to my bedroom, where I went to sleep. Melodie would be away for at least an hour, and what with how much she talked to me at night sometimes, I needed extra sleep during the day.
I woke up feeling horribly sick. I was in total darkness, swinging from side to side. Melodie knew I suffered from motion sickness; she had to have noticed that I got sick whenever she put me in a bag and swung it around by accident! The swinging continued; random, fast motion, almost as if whoever was doing it was making me sick on purpose. I reached for the lamp on my cabinet, but it wasn't there. A faint spark of light illuminated the room for a moment; I saw my lamp shattered on the floor, the light coming from it fading. With each lurch of the room, the shards of glass slid across the floor, making it dangerous for me to get out of bed.
I knew how to make the shell I was in beep now. Melodie had taught me the different beeps for each reason I might want attention; the care miss beep, the toilet beep, the win game beep...but now I was using the last one that she had taught me, the one she had said only to use in an emergency. The death beep.
"That thing can't be dying already! Mel said it was needy, but not THIS needy!" came a distinct voice from outside. It wasn't Melodie.
This part of the story is from the point of view of a new character.
When I took Melodie's Tamagotchi from the bench where she had left it, I felt just a little bit guilty. After all, she couldn't help that it had never come to life. But the way she talked to it and seemed happy with it - I didn't understand! It's only a few pixels, how can it mean so much to her?
But I think I was jealous. I was jealous that Melodie had someone she could care about and talk to, someone she could trust. I don't have anyone. My Lovelitchi, Naomi, turned against me from the very first day I had her, since I was impatient for her to evolve and tried to make her evolve more quickly by changing the circuit boards. It turns out I wasn't even doing the right thing and it was impossible to make Naomi evolve by fiddling around with wires I didn't even recognise; but it was Melodie who told me that, and I'd never accept anything Melodie said to me, so I just gave up.
I put the Tamagotchi in my bag as soon as I'd taken it, then ran down the corridor as fast as I could, getting away so Melodie wouldn't suspect that I'd taken her Tama. I knew how protective she was of that bunch of pixels, and she'd never forgive me if I let it die or anything. Not that she'd forgive me anyway for the things I've done to her already.
As I was running down the corridor, I heard the death beep. Ignoring it - that silly Perotchi or whatever was probably trying to attract attention - I kept running. The beep played again, more urgent this time. Before the thing died, I pulled it out of my bag to see what was wrong with it.
I saw something I never would have expected. A ruined bedroom, with pieces of broken glass all over the floor and an angry-looking Tama standing on the bed. The Tama was nothing I had ever seen before; she strongly resembled Perotchi, but had a hat and coat like Anpan Mametchi's, except they were pink.
The Tama held up a sign in Japanese, but before I could read it, Melodie rushed down the corridor, with the same angry look on her face as that on the face of her strange Tama character.
