1. [text]

[yousayyes]

[As Winston's second day at sea starts, he feels the distinct creeping anxiety of his mind preoccupying itself with worry over what could be happening back home in his absence.]

[Normally, he'd try reading to pass the time and keep his mind busy from those thoughts- but Mom only packed him two books, and he's already read through both of them cover-to-cover multiple times by now. ...he started to realize somewhere in the middle of his fifth re-read of the trainer's guide that he wasn't actually working to absorb the information. By that point, he was just glancing down at the turning pages to feel some amount of productivity as he's stuck waiting for the cruise ship to reach Kanto.]

[Setting the books back in his bag, Winston opens his Pokégear, thumbing through its features until he reaches a text posting option. ...it can't hurt to put something out there, right?]

Hi.

Current events outside of my control have left me temporarily unemployed, seeing as I'm now stuck in a different dimension from my former workplace.

I know- we've ALL been there before... /endsarcasm

While I'm sure my coworkers will be understanding of the situation and leave my spot open until I return... I don't see that reunion happening anytime soon. So in the meantime: if anyone could point me towards a job listing in the Kanto area, I would appreciate it a lot.

Many thanks.

- Winston Zeddemore

Comments

Voice

[ghoststanning]

[HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

Ray takes a moment to stumble with his Pokegear to turn on voice chat. Soon Winston hears a loud, familiar voice.]

Winston?

Winston!

Is that you?

Get back to me!

Please I miss you!

[... He should be thankful that the voice sounds familiar.]

[yousayyes]

[Well this a much better response than he could've expected. Winston calls him back nearly immediately upon hearing his message.]

Ray! ...Ray, it's me! [His voice is a bit shaky, and sounds like it would be more excited if there wasn't still some residual panic in his system.] I don't know what happened- I just woke up in a house here like a day ago. Where did you end up?

[ghoststanning]

[Ray whines slightly. Not as much as Venkman would but he wanted to see him!]

Winston why did you go on the boat? The others and I are in Violet City! It'll take us forever to reach you again.

[text]

[pkemeter]

[Egon is on break--despite the fact that he doesn't actually take breaks unless it's to eat snacks--at the Pokémon Center when he idly sees the new network post. He has to read the message three times for it to completely hit him.

Winston Zeddemore.

His chest feels like it's being squashed by Gozer. It's him. He begins typing up a message, when he remembers that...this might not be the Winston that he or the others might know. He hastily deletes his message and writes:]

Winston. What age are you? What is the last thing you remember before coming here? Who are your employers?

[....Maybe he...should have told him who he is. These are a lot of invasive questions from an apparent stranger.]

[yousayyes]

[...is this how they do job interviews here? These questions aren't exactly "what's your biggest weakness" and "where do you see yourself in five years".]

Alright? In order:

Thirty-six. Sleeping in my bed at the firehouse. ...we don't exactly have a strictly delineated employer-employee hierarchy. We're all Ghostbusters.

[pkemeter]

[Thirty-six. So, not his dimension's Winston Zeddemore. Or at least not his time. Winston was at least forty when he joined the rest of the Ghostbusters at the firehouse in Egon's dimension. He can't help but feel a little disappointed--so far, he's the only Ghostbuster from his own dimension. That disappointment is quickly washed away with excitement as he realizes the implications behind Winston's appearance.]

Winston, this is Egon Spengler--not the Egon Spengler you are likely familiar with, however. I arrived here approximately eight months before you did, along with two other Ghostbusters from another parallel dimension with differing appearances from the Ghostbusters from my universe.

You may ask questions, if you wish. But I wish to know--where are you right now?

[neverstudied]

[Honestly, when he scrolls through the network and this post catches his eye, Venkman's first thought is brutally honest: "man, this guy sounds like a real nerd."

Venkman barely has the time to dwell on that thought, of course, because his eyes flit down to the bottom of the message and he gets absolutely blindsided, nearly dropping the Pokegear.

For some reason, he'd always assumed in the back of his mind that Winston's arrival in this universe would have much more fanfare to it. Like he'd know, somehow, that something had changed- that the Ghostbusters were finally whole again.

Life doesn't work like that, of course.]

i hate to be the one to tell you this but theres a fatal flaw in your reasoning win

that reunion may be coming a hell of a lot faster than you think

especially when you tell me where the fuck you are

The message sounds far more relaxed than he feels, and his hands shake a bit too much while he taps it out.]

[yousayyes]

[Okay, so Ray's established that Egon and Peter are here, too. ...it doesn't take a Hercule Poirot to figure out which of the two this could be.]

Hey Pete.

Right now I'm on a ship headed to Kanto. Not there yet.

Already regretting it a little.

[neverstudied]

ughhhh why'd you do the me thing

ferry'll get you to pallet within 3 days; i can get a magnet train in goldenrod to saffron and warp+fly over to meet you in pallet right around when you'll arrive

[Just. Already making plans without even checking with the other two first. Especially since the other two can't make the same trip...]

text

[alittleobsessed]

I've been there before!! I'm there right now, in fact! In an alternate dimension I mean!

Hi, I'm Webby!

[yousayyes]

[He's starting to get more than a little concerned over the growing number of people he's seeing on here that have apparently also experienced this sudden dimension hop.]

Sorry to see you're in the same boat as me, Webby.

If you have a minute, do you mind telling me a bit about how you got here? I was swept away to this world in my sleep, so I don't know how it happened or how much damage was caused in the process of warping spacetime around us.

[alittleobsessed]

Oh, it's nothing to be sorry about! I'm here with my best friend, and I thought I'd never see her again but she's here so it's great!

I'm not really sure how I got here. One minute we were celebrating Magica's defeat, and the next thing I knew I woke up in a bed with some lady who thinks she's my mom.

And I got turned into a human. I've read about alternate universes, but I didn't think I was gonna actually encounter one for a while.

Text;

[schachmeister]

What sort of job are you looking for? I might be able to point you towards some places, but I suppose it would be easier knowing what kind of experience you have.

And I don't think you'll have to worry about your coworkers much. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but it seems that while we are here, time back home freezes. Your coworkers won't even realise you've been gone when you return to your own world. Neither will you, for that matter, as it seems people lose all their memories of this place when they return home.

I'm sorry, all of this is probably a lot to take in all at once. If you have any questions, I could try answering them to the best of my ability. I've been here for a while now, but I remember how overwhelming it all was at first.

- Armin Arlert

[yousayyes]

[...Armin's right in that he'll definitely need some time to personally process the concept of losing all memory of this place, if or when he ever leaves.]

[Those thoughts aren't something he really feels comfortable dwelling on right now, let alone discussing with a stranger. So let's focus on business here.]

Thanks for contacting me, Arlert.

Admittedly, this isn't my first time travelling to another dimension. ...but I'm still new to this world, and want to prepare for whatever the future has in store for me here, so I'm grateful for any help you're willing to offer me in finding a way to support myself and my newfound pet.

I attended LIU Brooklyn from 1970-73, planning to get a B.A. in English Literature. Unfortunately, I didn't get to complete the degree at the time, so I'm not sure if it would count for much here. [He doesn't feel comfortable going into the details of why he dropped out to a stranger, so he quickly moves on.]

After that, I went into construction work for ten years- so far, that's the longest amount of time I've spent at one job. Never rose up the ranks to a managerial position, but I still picked up a good handful of skills while I was there: following blueprints, operating heavy machinery, welding, keeping my balance walking high up on thin beams... the list goes on.

But honestly- I'm willing to settle for any entry-level position that'll have me. I signed up to be a ghostbuster because I saw the help wanted ad while I was job hunting... and that's the sort of occupation so new and unique that nothing else can prepare you for it. So I'm willing to learn new things on the spot, as the case may be.

[schachmeister]

[This is... a lot of information. Some information for which Armin doesn't have a frame of reference (what is a Brooklyn). But more information is always better, right?]

If you have experience in construction, you shouldn't have an issue finding a job. Most cities have some construction projects going on, and there are also several mines around. They seem to be willing to hire anyone. And most are also fine with hiring for a short period of time if you want to travel as well.

You can also try poke-centres, inns and stores. Most of those hire travellers for short stretches as well. As long as you are willing to work there for at least a week, you can usually find something to do. It isn't always glamorous work, but it is honest and pays decent enough.

Of course, you can also make money through battling and breeding pokemon. It is a less steady source of income, but it is easy to do it on the side. And there is the gym battles too. Even if you aren't interested in collecting badges, the rewards from the fights can make a nice extra bonus.

Text

[adandyinspace]

Aw man, are you kidding me? how come you had to go to friggin kanto?! everyone knows johtos where its at

i wanted to see the sweet ghostbusters reunion...

whatever have fun with your weird egon

[yousayyes]

Sorry to disappoint a fan(?), but... do you know what /isn't/ at Johto? The Viridian City Public Library. Which is where I'm headed. Trust me, I wouldn't spend 2/3rds of the money I have on me just to spend time on a pleasure cruise. [Especially since he's still on board debating if this investment's worth it or not.]

...and I WILL have fun with "my weird Egon" when I get to see him again, but thanks for giving me the permission ahead of time.

[adandyinspace]

you have noooooo clue
i got a vhs collection that would make any other so called fan weep

but yeah no this is like movie egon and

wait
actually
you could totally be movie winston

huh...
idk now either someone's gonna be weird to you and it's gonna be the crossover ive always wanted but whatever

[Text]

[pikapikajankenpo]

Does it help that many of us have actually done the whole different dimension thing?

Mind you, my different dimension was a world of fairies and storybooks. Two of them actually.

[yousayyes]

Anything helps. But I should bring up that this isn't my first cross-dimension trip, either.

Thing is, I never made a habit of staying for too long in other worlds in the past. Most of them were pretty inhospitable places that we only went in-and-out of long enough to do a job and come back home within the day. So everything here is all still new to me.

Where you're from sounds nice. My world's just one of ghosts, monsters, and the New Jersey Turnpike.

[pikapikajankenpo]

I would make a crack about Jersey but I'm sure someone would come to it's defense somewhere in the multiverse. Somewhere, somehow.

Yeah, if I could manage to figure out what my old Dimension Jumping ability was, I wish I could manage to use it here and show people my old world. But I highly doubt it works here either.

Have you met your friends, or gotten into communication with them? None of mine are here, but I've made friends here to last me a lifetime.

I'm Yayoi Kise, from Rainbow Hills Japan.

[text]

[outofhershadow]

just go beat up some kid's monsters with your monster, you can get money that way

only job i've ever had and it's workin out just fine for me

[yousayyes]

Look I think it's already pretty messed up to put little kids in charge of animals that are constantly exploding or on fire, to begin with.

I don't want to make life any harder for them by picking fights and taking their money.

Text

[dreamsofahero]

Hello, my name is Sion Astal.

There's plenty of work available here, but no real centralized list to my knowledge. It depends greatly upon both what sort of work you prefer to do, as well as where you'd prefer to stay.

There is no need to worry about your spot being left open or not, either, as the passage of time in this world doesn't align with that of others. I can attest to this personally, as it happens.

[yousayyes]

(If there isn't a listing yet, then I might try my hand at compiling one for future reference.)

It's good to know that nothing's happening back home while I'm here, but even if that wasn't the case I'm sure there wouldn't be a threat to my position. Our group's extremely tight-knit. Nobody gets forgotten- even if one of us suddenly disappears to another dimension. ...and that isn't just an assumption on my part, that's a real situation we've faced together before.

...that aside- how did you personally find out about this time difference?