ROCKET BATTLE LOG

[indigo_league]

As the clock nears 10 PM on Saturday, the manor (or the parts of it that people aren’t blocked off from, anyway) is completely abuzz with speculation and gossip. What could Lance possibly be planning to announce? And why haven’t any of the Elite Four even been around? They’re fairly reclusive, but it’s safe to say that everyone is at least a little curious, if not actively suspicious.

But it’s time for the big reveal, so manor staff are bustling around, reminding everybody to be in the ballroom in a few minutes for Lance’s important unveiling of… well, whatever it is he’s unveiling! The staff all seem pretty excited, so it must be big, right?

There’s been plenty of room to dance and move around in the Ballroom until now, but with everybody packed in there at once, the space is a little tighter. Especially with the small stage and podium set up in the middle. As the last (or seemingly last, assuming there aren’t any carefree stragglers who didn’t bother turning up on time) person is ushered in by staff, complete with whispers of "Psst! Hurry up, it’s almost time!", the door to the ballroom is shut and the lights dim slightly, sending a hush over the audience.

After some fumbling from whoever’s in charge of the lights (... wait, is that Captain Garfield and his Rattata up there? He’s a theater tech too?! That guy must REALLY be a jack of all trades!), a spotlight flips on and centers on the podium, where the head staffer (who might be recognized as the one with the terrible hipster mustache who’s been doing a PARTICULARLY egregious amount of schmoozing and sucking-up to trainers over the course of the party) is stepping up to the podium.

He clears his throat.

"Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen! On behalf of the Elite Four, we’re all so happy you could join us! We hope you’ve all been having as good a time as we have, because I’ve got to say, I think this is our best party yet!"

He looks around at the assembled trainers eagerly, as though anticipating unanimous agreement.

When there’s an impatient buzz (and a shout of "Get on with it already!" from someone) instead, he laughs awkwardly.

"Oh, yes, well, we’re all here for one reason, right? To see what Lance has brought you all here for! Well, folks, as you can see, he’s not here with us right now… He’s had a bit of a-- how shall we say… an accident! So sad, I know! But fortunately, he’s graciously allowing us to make his announcement for him. Which is…"

On cue, the spotlight turns stark red. If anyone has the presence of mind to look, Captain Garfield's Rattata is holding a bit of red plastic filter in front of it.

But chances are, everyone’s attention is probably going to stay on the stage, because the guy at the podium literally just RIPPED HIS CLOTHING OFF DRAMATICALLY, revealing… yes… a very, very familiar black-and-red uniform underneath.

It’s followed immediately by more ripping sounds as other staff and even some partygoers scattered throughout the audience follow his lead, and the telltale noises and flashing of Pokemon being released from their balls. And many voices, all yelling at once...

"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE! AND MAKE IT DOUBLE!!"

The music shifts.

OOC Notes: The number of characters who must participate in the battle to call it a success is 37! In order to keep track, once you have made your first comment to this post (either a toplevel or a tag to someone else!), please bring it to the CHECK IN THREAD by 10 PM EST tomorrow! YOUR COMMENT MUST BE POSTED TO THIS THREAD IN ORDER FOR IT TO COUNT TOWARDS THE TOTAL.

GUESS WHAT GUYS?

glittertextmaker.info

OOC notes: Here it is, the part where your characters get to explore the Rocket Base and discover its secrets! Maps of each level will be posted in this top post as they are opened up, with blacked out sections being revealed as obstacles are cleared. Obstacle clearing will be based on total comment count to any mod comment with a count listed, whether those comments are contained in a single thread or spread out over multiple different ones. As many people can comment to an obstacle or base level as wish to, for as long as they want, even after it has been cleared. There are a total of two obstacles (including the first one) which are triggered by character actions we will be watching for!

Anyone who wants to thread anything out in the base or mansion during the time characters are trapped (and who doesn't want to use this log for whatever reason) is free to make their own network/action posts with whatever they like! But mods will not be coming around to those with interaction, and they will not count towards clearing obstacles.

Questions? Ask them HERE!

NOTE FOR ITEM RNG: In order for the mods to give out your item, your character must be actively looking through the loot piles in whatever tag you'd like us to respond to with your item! Items can also be given out in the middle of an existing thread between characters, whenever they get around to searching the piles! The header does not have to be in your toplevel.

Links List

Level One



OBSTACLE - KEY CARD (CLEARED)

OBSTACLE - CONVEYOR BELT HELL (CLEARED)

Level Two



Level Three



ELITE 4 JAIL

OBSTACLE - FREE THE LEGENDARY

Comments

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather's sore, dizzy, exhausted... and above all else, angry.]

[She's not alone in feeling this way, of course-- especially at the sight of all those caged Pokemon, everyone is upset. Even sickened (literally. That vertigo, oof.)]

[But while she's more or less been able to contain her temper up to this point... after brawling, riding those stupid conveyor belts, and warping around willy-nilly until SOMEHOW reaching the rec room.... she loses it now.]</sub>

This is such-- _{[her words are emphasized by a 'thunk' as she kicks the cruddy couch.]}-- bullshit!

They drag us all here, make us fight, lead us on this stupid wild goose chase, and it wasn't even a good party!!

_{[Another kick-- this time her foot goes straight through the couch material and she hops and curses until she can get it free again. But now she's made up her mind. EYE FOR AN EYE Y'ALL]}

FUCK it, who wants to help me carry all this shit outta here?!

_{[She snatches the edge of the semi-deflated ball pit whether or not anyone immediately answers her, and starts dragging the entire thing (with some difficulty) towards the nearest warp.]}

Hope you like being STOLEN from, you Rocket fucks!

[bent_the_world]

Now that is an excellent idea!

[This? This is way better than moping around a lackluster prom by herself. Or even a super awesome prom, really. Korra's been battling and exploring a secret Rocket base and she's feeling in her element. By now, her prom skirt has two long rips up the side, so she can move better in it. Her hair's fallen out of it's festive bun.]

[When she hears Heather's rally to steal from the thieves, she's right there with her. She jogs over to give her a hand with the ball pit.]

Anything we can't take, we can always smash!

[Or burn.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[If Heather were the type, she might have mourned Korra's rad outfit. But WHEN THE CHIPS FALL, such things can't be helped, and she hasn't cared about fashion since high school. Not like she hasn't been guilty of ruining clothes out of pure necessity.]

[The ballpit is a pain in the ass to move, and keeps catching on things. But deflating it IS NOT AN OPTION because she wants to steal all the balls, too.]</sub>

As soon as I get this warped, I'm gonna take a fucking chair leg to every one of those stupid ancient computers!

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy staggers out from another warp entirely, clutching his head, right in the middle of Heather's rant.]

[And you know what she's right. This IS bullshit! What is she even dragging? A pool full of plastic balls?]

[He doesn't know but fuck Team Rocket, he's helping, vertigo or not. And, on second thought, he grabs the sign right off the wall and tucks it under his arm before grabbing onto another corner of the pool.]

[Possibly because there is a Naughty Rocket living in their house and he's still mad about not being warned.]

Anything we don't take, we should wreck.

[foolishwren]

_{[IT SURE IS, guess what Sharkhaus super needs?]}

I am not leaving this fucking mansion until EVERYTHING ON THIS FLOOR is busted or gone!

_{[That's an exaggeration, she'll settle for just stealing and breaking most of it, but still. SHE'S SO MAD]}

Watch that corner-- it's-- fuck, the rubber's stuck, hang on--

[armoredsoul]

[Al is in a similar mood to Heather, though obviously far more understated--he's always been better at keeping a handle on his emotions. He watches her with a tired, vaguely blank expression as she starts dragging the ball pit.]

[This is stupid. this is so stupid. They don't even need a kiddie pool, or all the plastic balls.]

[But that doesn't stop him from going over and picking up the other end of the whole shebang to help her carry it.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[SO MUCH HELP WITH THE BALLPIT y'all are heroes]

[Although what are you talking about Al, of course they need a kiddie pool and a bunch of plastic balls. Half the balls are almost definitely going to fall out on the way through the conveyor belts, so it's even more important that they take as many as they can!]</sub>

Grab all the ones that fell out on the floor! We need them.

[armoredsoul]

[someone's gotta do it, my guy]

For what, exactly?

[Al still, of course, stoops down to scoop up a few that have bounced out without missing a beat, but he does have to ask.]

[foolishwren]

_{[DON'T QUESTION YOUR BIG SISTER]}

For the Pokemon!

... And for throwing at each other when we're up at 2 AM arguing because we're all overtired and still thought it was a good idea to start a CUT-throat Kitchen marathon!

[notvaljean]

Yeah! Bullshit!

[Someone else is also angry and disgusted by everything that's gone on tonight, and Jean strides up next to Heather to kick the ball pit.]

Where's the booze? Let's take that.

[foolishwren]

_{[... Jean, aren't you like... a baby? ... Never mind, that's not even important and Heather's super distracted.]}

Back upstairs, I think.

Hey, see if you can move that foozeball table! Let's get THAT shit outta here.

[notvaljean]

[W O W, he is old enough to fight and die for humanity, that makes him old enough to drink! Today is also his birthday, Heather, don't get in the way of him getting shit-faced in the finest sixteen year old tradition.]

Okay.

[Right, foosball... that is totally something Jean knows about and won't have to ask her to clarify. Fortunately, there's only one table in the room, which doesn't look like a very good table because the top is open and it's full of little dolls on sticks, but okay, if that's what Heather wants, Jean is going to drag it out.]

You could put the ball basket on top of it.

[foolishwren]

_{[OKAY YOU KNOW TO BE FAIR, she can't argue with that. Just do it somewhere safe and don't try to chug.]}

--man, maybe we could like-- hm, no, the little dudes might get in the way...

Ah, fuck it, we're gonna lose half the balls anyway.

_{[She starts tossing balls straight from the pit and into the foozball table. THE TINY DUDES WILL BE BEARERS OF THE BALLS]}

[notvaljean]

[He's going to chug. That's just a thing that's going to happen.]

All right.

[Okay, so this is a foosball table. Jean has no idea what it's for, but it must be somewhat valuable if Heather wants it, so he's onboard. He bends low and starts helping her with the balls. Sure enough, they lose about half of them.]

Pick up the other side and we'll get it back towards the entrance?

[foolishwren]

_{[JEAN NO]}

Okay, yeah-- HOLD IT-- okay, I got it.

Let's go.

_{[She starts to shuffle backwards towards the warp.]}

[notvaljean]

[JEAN YES]

So what exactly is this table for, anyway? And the ball basket?

[This seems like some strange cultural thing of which he's not aware.]

[foolishwren]

--The table?

Oh, it's like... it's a game. You've never seen one of these before?

_{[It's not... actually too surprising. People from all walks, worlds, and time periods of life show up in this place.]}

Usually there's a little ball in there, and you have one person standing on either end of the table and twisting those rods on the side to make the little dudes kick it around and try to get it into the goal. Kinda like a miniature version of a soccer game.

[notvaljean]

Oh, of course.

[ . . . . ]

And soccer is something where you kick a ball around?

[foolishwren]

_[...]

... Jean, just wondering, but do you... have sports where you come from?

[notvaljean]

We play Titans and Soldiers sometimes.

[So basically no.]

[foolishwren]

_{[That could either be two different kinds of like... board games, or the equivalent of 'Cops and Robbers'. Heather's going to assume it's the latter, since that's closer to sports than the former.]}

Wow.

Remind me to grab you for a game of Ultimate Frisbee or something sometime.

_{[NOBODY IS EVER TOO OLD TO PLAY GAMES AND SPORTSBALL IS GREAT]}

[notvaljean]

Okay!

[Jean cheers up at the sounds of that. He has no idea what Ultimate Frisbee is, but it has to be better than Titans and Soldiers. He's lost his taste for that particular game.]

But first, we need to steal all the shit that isn't nailed down!

[foolishwren]

_{[That gets a toothy grin out of her. GOOD MAN, JEAN!]}

DAMN straight!

Let's-- whOA-- okay, let's NOT step on the balls and eat dirt like I almost just did.

_{[BETTER FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND WHEN YOU'RE CARRYING THIS MUCH...]}