victory_road | THICK AS THIEVULS

Locating the Doggo

"Did you see them, Dubwool?" asked Hop, looking around. "They couldn't have gone far."

Hop's faithful Dubwool sniffed the air, letting out a baah, getting an answer in the area from some of the nearby grazing Pokemon. "Baah, baah!" Replied Dubwool, and Hop sighed. "Might need to ask for directions. Where are we anyhow, mate? We're as lost as big bro. For all the time to be pants with directions..."

Checking his Pokeballs, he grimaced. "We're certainly down a couple of our mates, aren't we Dubwool."

Dubwool "baah"ed sadly.

"I know, you miss them too. I'm sure those thieves couldn't have gotten far. And I'm sure no one could use a legendary Pokemon that easily even if they stole them. Let's go find him."

Later... After discovering and Recovering Him...

Ride Pokemon Zamazenta

"Johto Region? How in the world did we manage to get here? C'mon Leon, pick up!"

Hop grimaced as he tried to get his big brother on the Rotom Phone. "It's like I can't call anyone in the Galar Region. Not Leon, not Sonia, certainly not Marnie or the Professor... I even tried Piers and some of the Gym Leaders we know... It's like they all changed their numbers!"

Dubwool baah'ed sadly.

"We'll keep trying. C'mon Zamazenta, let's go."

The legendary nodded and bounded towards Goldenrod.

[Goldenrod]

[There's delighted laughter coming from the shopping center. And if someone were to follow that laughter, they'd come across Spinel... looking quite different than before. For one her gem-shaped "tattoo" is no longer a tattoo, but an actual, shining, upside-down heart, shaped gem in the middle of her chest. And her skin is now a very noticeable pink color.

If she sees you, her neck will extend like a rope towards you. It's completely unnatural, but for Spinel her stretchy limbs are very much apart of her.]

Hiya! Lemme tell ya, I'm having the best day today. Wanna see a trick?

[She extends her arm forward, putting her thumb in her mouth and blowing. Her head swells up several times bigger.]

Ta-daaaa!!

[Fun with Spoink]

[A little Spoink has found itself in one of Spinel's pokeballs. She doesn't remember catching it but she's immediately fond of the little corkscrew at the end of its body, how it bounces up and down like a spring. Anyone will catch Spinel cheering the little pig Pokemon on.]

Higher, go higher! You can do it!

[CLOSED - ERINA]

Alright. Close your eyes, okay?

[He could feel it the minute it returned. He had never stopped breathing after all- never ceased the rhythm needed to generate hamon. Perhaps it built- perhaps it is simply a gift. But he can feel the energy of life coursing through his veins and for that reason he takes Erina out upon the Lake of Rage in a rented boat and smiles.

And holds out his hands for her to take as he stands ever carefully within the boat.] I've wanted to show you this for sometime now...I don't believe I expected to get the chance, [he admits with a small laugh.]

[A Den of Thiev(ul)s]

[Jonathan is an imposing sight. Tall and muscled, and with his arms crossed and face stern. He stands in the cave before the piles and piles of pilfered goods, and he levels a stare to the source.]

You have stolen from many of those I would call my friends. You've stolen even from my Wife, and taken one of the few things she had in her possession from her home on top of that! You've created a pile of nothing but superior avarice, for no purpose other than to have...what say you in your defense, fox!

[....

The Thievul smirks.]

I see...

[This would probably be far more dramatic if Jonathan was not talking down a fox the size of a greyhound.]

Then you leave me no choice!

[Though it may be best to join him in this fight- it's a pokemon battle after all, not a fist fight.]

[WILDCARD - Got something in mind? Jonathan has his Hamon back for the duration of the event, so feel free to ask about that in particular!]

[Cherrygrove]

[A very stunned goat-monster child is standing in the middle of Cherrygrove, looking completely bewildered at his surroundings. This... can't be happening, can it? He was mid-conversation with Frisk, and now he's here.

He tries to load his last SAVE, but nothing happens.

He panics. What is he going to do, turn back into Flowey in the middle of a town he doesn't recognize?! This isn't part of the script at all, this isn't what's supposed to be happening, and why can't he use his SAVE-]

Ah...

[His voice comes out shaky. He sounds nervous. He looks nervous.]

Do you know the way back to Mt. Ebott?

Edited 2020-06-26 04:04 (UTC)

[RUDE AWAKENINGS]

[Carly doesn't exactly see the Special Weekend coming. How does anyone see it coming, right? So when she wakes up it takes a minute before everything registers.

Not too many minutes though. It's hard to ignore the fact that 'wow, you're really cold'.

'Wait, really cold.'

'Hold on, that's Too Co- oh no you're a zombie.']

He-HEEEEEEHHH.... [First step, shades. Second step, something with sleeves. Third-

Oh no this is technically still a beach.] HhhHHeeeeehhhh...

[At least one person is going to come out of the tent to this.

Others could come from just about anywhere.]

[Eyes Have It]

[Eventually, Carly is convinced to ditch the shades and sleeves. Yes, it's all very weird. And upsetting. But consciously hiding it seems to be a lot worse for her mood! So black sclera, a general undead look, and a strange glowing arm marking are back in style.

For now, anyway.

For the moment, her nickit- a tiny thing that she hatched some time ago and started training- is staring.] Hmmmm...okay. This is the last time I'm asking...

Did you steal anything?

[The fox shakes their head.

Unfortunately it might do that a bit too quickly.]

Are you SURE?

N-Nik!!

[WILDCARD - Hey! Come hit Carly up! She'll be present at the Thievul Fight, where she manages to come away with Jack-Atlas-Bear, but there's plenty more to enjoy on a 4th Wall weekend after all!]

ON THE ROAD AGAIN || car mode | some random route
[You're just minding your own business. Hiking, or riding your pokemon down the route. No big deal. Certainly not a weird weekend, right? or maybe it is, considering there's ... a police siren... coming closer. If you look, you'll see...]

[A bright purple sportscar. With a siren slapped on top. It's screeching its way down the road, the siren more of a warning to anyone passing by. Don't worry too much if you can't jump out of the way in time, because, with agility a normal car shouldn't possess, the car skids around you, before pulling to a graceful stop.]

Ah! My apologies! I had assumed the siren was warning enough.

[... Did the car just speak? You bet it did. And while it did, its headlights flashed. Huh.]

NINJA TIME || robot mode | city
Do be careful.

[Calls a voice from above. It's dark out. There aren't many people about. In fact, this may not be the best time to be out for a lonely walk. But no matter. Someone is clearly looking out for you -]

[From above.]

[If you crane your neck, you'll see a giant robot perched on the building's roof. Green eyes illuminated in the dark.]

The reports of thievery are no joking matter. I would use caution while walking alone.

MEMORIES || dog mode | Thievul Cave
[What scares off a fox? A big dog, that's what. And that's exactly how Shadowmaru had warded off the Thievul. Transforming into yet another alternate form, and... barking... until it relented. Now, you can spy the enormous purple dog robot nosing delicately through the pile of stolen gifts.]

Have you lost anything in particular? I may be of assistance.

[Why yes, the dog-robot just spoke. He will continue to do so. Just don't call him a dog...]

[BURNED TOWER ADVENTURE!]

[One of the coolest things about Burning Down the House, is that the stand was never actually bound to the prison Emporio grew up in. The problem was, there were no similar locations for him to especially play around with it.

Until now.

Grinning, Emporio stands just outside the ruin of the Burned Tower in Violet, looking to anyone who's decided to follow.]

I think to start it off here, I'll have to hold your hand- that's how it worked at home, [he says vaguely.] But after, you'll be able to enter and exit whenever you want! It's a good chance to see what this place looked like before...

[Even if they potentially forget all about it after.]

[WHO CONTROL'S THE WEATHER?]

[Burning Down the House isn't the only Stand Emporio regained. One could argue that any person shouldn't have two stands, and yet...

Emporio can be seen standing before a tall white being, which seems to regard him with some care.]

I...

...I guess I didn't think you would stay, [he admits, scratching his head.] ...Hermana said that when they tried to put Star Platinum's disk into themselves, it popped right out... ...I know that Weather wanted you to help someone stop Pucci, but...

[...He didn't think that he'd stick around after the fact. But then again...]

...I guess there's not really anywhere for you to go otherwise though, is there...

[WILDCARD - For the duration of the event, Emporio has TWO stands! wowee! He won't necessarily be present at the Thievul Fight, but feel free to hit him up for some other scenario!]

network ;; video
This is not where I slept.

[Hi, this is someone's first Weird Weekend. He's not used to this. And, clearly--]

Who is responsible for this! [Clearly someone has done A Wrong. Never mind he's got his horns back. Or his magic, which, you know, he hasn't tested. The guy just woke up. In the background, Rowlet just looks tired.] Speak up!

GOGOATMAN ;; a random patch of trees
[It's dark. The moon is full, and you're out in the woods. Why you're out there? Who knows. You may not have even meant to be there, that's just the way this weekend works. But something else is out there, too.]

[Something in the bushes.]

[Before you know it, something steps out - something vaguely see-through, horned and apparently armed. Is it a pokemon? A cryptid?]

[Nope. Someone who makes a disgusted sound, then walks across the path to disappear into the opposite woods - unless stopped.]

This way - [Said blithely and flatly to... the Rowlet trundling along behind him.]

Prelude (Locked)

One minute Thorne was floating along as normal as she chased the weird little fox guy who'd stolen her vampocalypse notes from Steven's desk--she needed those, they were what Shinobu used to summon her--and then next?

The next she's tripping and crashing into a couch in a well-lit finished basement, because somehow she has a solid body again--what the fucking fuck? Also, where the hell did that little fox dude go? He'd looked kind of like a Pokemon from that game she'd played when she was little--actually, she's surrounded by a bunch of little spirits who look Pokemon-ish... no wait, shit, that one's definitely a Gengar. What the fuck?

So. Yeah. No. She's definitely not prepared for any of this. She is Mark Oshiro levels of unprepared for this. And especially not for her brother coming down those stairs and making a noise like he hasn't seen her in years.

(She's going to definitely going to need to sit down for a bit once he stops hugging her so tightly.)

Goldenrod City

Okay, but do you know what the most incredible part of being a human girl again is?

Eating things. Eating things is great. God, she'd missed it so much when she was a vampire and ghost-food just wasn't the same when you were dead. Goldenrod City has so many cool places to snack from and she's got tons of pokedollars in her pocket thanks to the version of her brother who's been living here being engaged or at least dating a super rich dude.

So yeah. Okay. She might be doing an eating tour of Goldenrod. There's nothing wrong with that. And if she's maybe made a pair of Pokemon friends--a Lunatone she's named Derek after her best vampire friend and a Primarina she's named Alain after her best ghost--well, this is the wonderful world of Pokemon. Isn't she supposed to have a couple following her around?

"C'mon," she tells her new little buddies. "Let's go buy me a swimsuit. I'm pretty sure this place has a beach."

God. It's been a fucking age since she last went swimming, especially at the beach. Having a human body again was the best.

Anywhere!

Okay, but. One thing Thorne did not expect from the actual for-real Pokemon world (where evidently the thirty-seven year old version of her brother had been working for Team Goddamn Rocket for the last six months!) was for the whole thing with ledges to actually... be true in real life. But it is. She can hop down from any ledge easy as pie, but going back up?

Not fucking happening. She knows this with empirical fucking evidence because she's been testing each ledge she comes across.

Sure, she keeps getting further and further away from Goldenrod with every ledge she tests, but it's fine. It's fine. She'll find her way back eventually.

(She hopes.)

1. Flying in the skies somewhere
[Suddenly feeling her connection to Rivaersa back, Willow's first thing she does is let her bird pokemon companions out of their balls and takes to the sky in her true form after a flash of fire, joining them up in the air as fire wisps and trails behind her. Oh how she's missed feeling of being airborne, but also missed the feeling of the wind in her feathers as well.

From up high above, she could be mistaken for one of those legendary birds that she's read about and briefly heard of, with a risk of having one of those pokeballs thrown at her. Or could make conversation with another flier on their own pokemon (or themselves if they too could fly)]

A wonderful day for flying, is it not? [To any who would end up being spotted flying around her. Yes, a bird is speaking to you like a person. No, your mind is not playing tricks on you.]

2. half-transformed landing
[No longer fully in her bird form, but large, bright, fiery wings with feathers on fire and shimmering are sprouted from her back as she takes to landing back on the ground with the fire trailing behind her as she lands. She spots someone staring at her and cocks her head to the side as she addresses them.]

Is... is this truly that shocking to see someone fly? [Temporarily forgetting that she hasn't had her powers since arriving until now.]

3. Violet City/Route 36
[What else besides flying in the skies is she doing you ask? Dancing around with fireballs around her or sitting and playing with her Litwick as he chases the fire Willow has skittering around gleefully. Some small crowd has gathered around to see either the dancing or pokemon chasing the fire.]

Do you enjoy what you see? Are you curious to see more?

4. Thievul shenanigans, give that back you thief!!
[Willow's staring the band of foxes down with a rather pissed off glare, she saw that these brigands have somehow pilfered the pendant she'd left in her chambers back home before she'd gone on that ill-fated and tragic peace mission to Lythrana's home. This is absolutely unacceptable for her, the insolence of these creatures, that item is precious!]

GIVE THAT BACK YOU THIEVES, HOW DARE YOU!

[The smirking Thievul only taunts her further, fueling her anger towards them. It may be wise to stop her before she tries using magic against them instead of sending out her pokemon.]

{5. WILDCARD! Willow's obviously got all of her magic and transformation abilities back, so if you want to see a bird from her world or prod her about her magic, feel free to throw anything at her!}

network ;; video
Well well well! Look where we turned up!

[There's an alien grinning into the camera, grinning with a mouth full of sharp teeth. He kind of looks like a weird blue shark man. And he's clearly happy to be here.]

Where's the welcome wagon! It's like you didn't miss me at all!

[... bruh, who even are you.]

A Beach ;; splashy splashy
[YOU'RE ON A BEACH]

[And there's something in the water. Something about to go splashy-splashy on an unsuspecting individual on the beach. It's fine, really! Don't think anything of the fishman in the shallows, reclining against a Sharpedo like a normal person would use a pool floatie.]

[He lifts his hands out of the water and... finger-guns.]

How's it going? Nice day out here, huh?

[Was that a wink.]

Thievul Den ;; fight fight fight
All right Muncie, let's go!

[... but instead of the Gible he usually has for these weird weekends, there's a full on Garchomp flanking the alien. Bearing its teeth at the enormous Thievul guarding everyone's stuff.]

[The sharkman shoots any human-ish companion a conspiratorial wink.]

Don't worry about us! You grab your stuff, we'll take care of this.

[... they will not. Please don't leave them to their own devices.]

Anywhere!

"No, no, no, no! That's my megastone and I earned it! Get back here, you stupid Pokemon jerk!"

Stupid little fox thing. What right did it have to be so fast? Akane had been chasing after it for what seemed like forever, ever since it had grabbed the Gardevoirite right out of her power ring. She'd completely lost track of Connie and Spinel--she wasn't even sure where she was anymore. She'd never felt so much like Ryoga in her life.

Then she stumbles over-- something in her path and the tiny fox Pokemon uses that momentary clumsiness to surge forward and disappear. Akane bites off a curse.

Sure, she'll probably find spot it again soon, like she has before, but that doesn't matter. That very fact she keeps losing track of the Pokemon fox thief, despite how hard she'd been chasing him, is nothing short of embarrassing.

"Stupid Pokemon jerk," she repeats herself under her breath, scowling, as she looks around trying to judge her surroundings.

Where was she now?

Edited 2020-06-26 06:02 (UTC)

I. A Day Without Pain - Violet City

It's been a stressful few days, with stupid little things going missing. The Soldier doesn't like having what little routine he's put together being disrupted for no reason at all. He really doesn't like having what few things he considers his disappearing on him. Especially not when the notebook he's been writing down the fleeting memories in turns up gone when he tries to find it to write in before bed.

He spends a good long time just sitting on the edge of the bed, mechanically petting Grace, before sleeping that night.

But when he wakes up, he feels-- different. The burn and ache of the arm's supports all through his back are... gone. Ever since arriving in this world, he's hurt: the simplest movements of the arm damage muscle and put strain on the screws in his skeleton. It hurts. He ignores it, but it hurts. And now it doesn't.

The serum's back. So the Soldier spends the day, while trying to keep up with Entrapta and her cackling hair-madness, marveling at how easily he can move again, picking up a basket full of groceries without regretting it for hours (days) afterwards, entertaining the pokemon babies (even if Fuzzle really isn't a baby anymore) by tossing them up lightly one-handed and always, always catching them. Doesn't quite make up for his notebook of memory bits and operational details being missing, but it helps a little.

II. Tracking Down - Thievul's Cave

Grace and Fuzzlebutt are both happy to help take down the Thievul and his minions, the former entirely for her partner's sake, and the latter because he will pounce and chew on anything. Tackle is his favorite move, and he makes good use of it dealing with Nickits. Grace even holds one down while the Soldier offers her a ball, because why not. They're cute, and need to be contained so they don't go stealing his shit all over again. The Nickit seems to at least think the ball looks like a nice treat, or else agrees that a partner is better than a boss, because she grabs it and then that much is over with.

When the fight is over, the Soldier starts digging through the pile, trying to find a few very specific missing things: his breeder manual, a leather-wrapped steak knife (which he pockets as quickly and surreptitiously as he can, hoping no one spots it), and a pair of notebooks he's been writing in since he ran out of room in the margins of his breeder manual.

What he finds (in addition to those things) is a set of American army dog tags on a chain, which he sits back on his heels to stare at long and hard. One has that name on it, and a hauntingly familiar serial number. The other has that other name on it, and that's the one he's more focused on, brain stalled out, a couple painful memories bouncing around in his skull. He might need someone to come get him started again.

III. (Lost) The Way Home - Choose Your Own Adventure

Trying to get back to Violet City (and Entrapta) takes... a lot longer than it took to get to the cave. The road doesn't look the same. The trees don't look the same. There aren't even always trees! The city he finds at the end of each road is not Violet City. What city is it? Take your pick. Want to run into him in the Kanto region? On an island? In Saffron City or Lavender Town? Absolutely. He's bouncing around a lot this weekend, prowling through each town he comes across and down each route he finds himself on, stopping at pretty much every food stand and restaurant for a snack to fuel his metabolism, increasingly worried about how the hell to get back where he belongs.

Back to where Entrapta might, right this very minute, need his help. "How far is Violet City from here?" he asks anyone who seems unthreatening. Or maybe, "Is there somewhere to buy food nearby?"

IV. Post-Weekend Come-Down - Azalea Town

After a very stressful couple of days when he hardly slept but spent way too much money on food, with more terrains and cities behind him than he even got names for because he didn't care, the Soldier wakes from a fitful nap on the side of the road to find... he hurts again. Sigh. So much for the serum. He's not even sure what happened the past few days, only that he has been very lost, and very worried about Entrapta. He wanders into Azalea Town from the forest side, which at least looks kind of like Cherrygrove and Violet City in the type of trees surrounding it and architecture inside it.

Asking around gets him a name, and he can finally place it on his map. Almost back to Violet City, as long as nothing else gets in the way. Before finding the warp pad, though-- or even the road out, if he just hoofed it-- he winds up waylaid by, probably predictably, the jazz club. Where he sits, achy and worn out, and just listens for a while, Grace the Absol resting her head on his lap and her son Stevie draped across his shoulders, and a small round Happiny in the crook of his arm. He has no idea where the little gal came from, anymore, her collection lost to the serum-bender that was this weekend, but she seems happy enough to stick around.

He'll be there a bit before finding his way out again.

Edited 2020-06-26 06:29 (UTC)

VROOM VROOM ;; random route
[A weird weekend. Of course it is. But to keep himself from dwelling on it, to keep himself from obsessively checking the network... he'd gone out. He'd walked. Probably further than he should have. Only to stumble on... well.]

[A familiar old hoverbike.]

[He knows he won't be able to keep it around, that it's going to vanish after the next few days. So... why not make use of it?]

[He's been driving for hours, now, hunkered down over it like one of those especially zippy motorcycles, his hair already fluffed and tangled by the wind. It's as close to piloting as he's going to get. He'll take it.]

[And maybe if you're lucky, you can flag him down for a ride.]

JEEBUS THIEVUS ;; thievul fight
All right, Blue! Let's do this!

[It's a dark type, right? So why not use his Gallade? The user of many fairy-type moves. He can recognize a few familiar objects in that pile. And it's clear the creature isn't interested in sharing...]

[He glances to whoever may be here beside him.]

Fairy, Fighting and Bug types are your best bet. We can take it if we work together.

LOOKIT THIS PHOTOGRAPH ;; treasure hoard
[In the aftermath, he's separated himself a bit to look through the mess. Idly sorting through things to see if there's anything he recognizes. He does'n't think he's missing anything, but hey, maybe the teapot Armin lost to Suicune a while ago will turn up here. Wouldn't that be something?]

[Except it's not a teapot.]

[It's a set of photos. Nonchalantly tucked away in a plain manila folder. Photos of himself, albeit younger, posing with Matt. And an older man. All three of them in flight suits.]

[It shouldn't be possible.]

[And yet... the photos of the Kerberos Mission, the candid, goofy things they all snapped of each other, are sitting in this pile. Waiting for him.]

[Hard not to get emotional. Just a little.]

wildcard;
[Want anything specific? Or silly? Meet up with him just about anywhere. Consider him having accidentally walked through someone's door, if need be. Thanks 4th wall reality warps!]

Edited 2020-06-26 06:26 (UTC)

Thieves!/Random Routes

[Oh it's one of THOSE weekends. Newt can tell as she keeps wandering from one route to end up across the map. Which is annoying because they're looking for a thief who stole something VERY important.]

Come on Ripley, they have to have taken Casey somewhere.

[The Arcainine is doing her best but it's hard to track things when they keep ending up in other places.]

Post Fight/Treasure Hoard

[Once the battle is over, Newt has located a...dolls head? Yes that is a dolls head that's being hugged as though it's a priceless treasure. She notices something else though and pulls it from the pile...]

But....how?

[It's a plaque with the words 'Second Grade Citizenship Award' 'Rebecca Jordan', with a picture of a smiling little girl who looks a lot like Newt.]

Wildcard
[Newt will of course be running around a lot these days. Feel free to run into her, or have her run into you, or something.]

Powers are Great

[As usual for these weekends you can find Maya using her siren powers as she travels around. So glowing tattoos and lots of pokemon being trapped in bubbles.]

Now this is more like it!

FIGHT!

[And also with her powers it means she can join in the fight to get her stuff back with her pokemon. During the fight, you might even see what look like firey orange and green wings on her back for brief moments. She is very much enjoying this.]

You should ALL be running!

[At least the pokemon can only faint?]

LOOT!

[After the fight she'll gather her stuff and pick through the rest out of curiosity. And also to help others.]

Anyone, loose...ew is that chewed gum? Gross. Okay, nobody wants that back.

[She does however find a purple and yellow book.]

Huh, I wonder how this got here. Oh well, free loot.

[She'll just go ahead and attach the book to her waist. Yes this is normal for her.]

Wildcard!
[She'll be roaming around enjoying having powers again. If you want to run into her or plot something. I'm open.]

Well now, hasn't it been a while.

[The usual residents of Victory Road are familiar with Jane, but this one is...different. She's the same age, same height, maybe a slightly more muscular build, but not by much. Her bangs are dyed with streaks of pink, orange, and emerald. She's dressed a little more flashy than usual, and the short sleeves of her outfit reveal the tattoo on her left shoulder, the Hero of Life symbol blooming into a bright red poppy. On the back of her jacket-vest is another symbol, clearly ironed on with care. You can make out a shape underneath her pant leg on her right calf that...uh...might be a holstered knife?

Oh my God why does she have that????

Still, she seems pretty calm about walking around with an Appletun trundling behind her, hands in her pockets as she travels route or street or forest or cave. Unusual! Isn't the Jane you're familiar with more fussy and upset when these weekends roll around? Mayhaps some investigating is in order.]

A

[It doesn't really particularly matter where exactly he is other than he's not in any of the cities or town proper, which isn't an uncommon thing with Johann to begin with. Him being out in nature for a bit and letting his Pokemon wander is pretty common and is more of a quiet place to let him think and test things out.

Which is exactly why he's leaning against a tree with... a large makeshift kiddie pool that's somehow placed deep in the ground with a lapras plopped in it, her head resting on the ground outside of it.

There's not much water in there at the moment, but anyone drawn in by the sound of music proper. There's only one player, but given the fact that water is slowly filling that pool of sorts and seeming to chill out the pokemon wandering about, it may be easy enough to assume the other sounds are just as magical as the rest going on.

Of course it is, when you can compose and play near anything, making different instrumental pieces while playing the violin proper is child's play. Though he seems focused on what he's doing, easy enough to sneak up on and scare the living daylights out of.]

B

[Annoying, these tiny little thieving fox creatures. It hadn't taken too long for his sawsbuck to catch eye of them trying to steal something before she was off and running. Johann not too far behind the poor deer.

What he hadn't expected was this... thievul thing and a huge pile of ill gotten gains. Great, grand.

Tuilë is less than pleased given her throwing her head to look more intimidating than she is, at least distracting the creatures for a moment so he can investigate. Nothing seems too interesting until...

Wait.

That's familiar.

He's quickly taking the opportunity to nick what appears to be another damn violin to investigate much to the annoyed noise of one of the nickits. It's... well, it's a good bit beaten up and could use some new strings, but he recognizes that material it's made of, that finish...]

How did you even get this. [The words are almost hissed as he cradles the instrument, eyes narrowed at the tiny creatures. Though, uh, they look less than pleased about what he's done and ready to fight.]

... This seems a little unfair. [No shit, Johann.]

Random Route

No no no! Come back with that!

[Romelle didn't have much, but she'd been given that communication device after arriving on Earth and being sort of conscripted into the Garrison. She felt terrible at the idea of losing it, and this strange little creature had just made off with it. But now she was also in unfamiliar surroundings, and that communicator was the only way she was going to be able to reach the Voltron Paladins to get her back to Earth!]

Please don't take it!

[But the little Nickit wasn't going to give it back so easily. It was almost teasing her, letting her catch up before running off again, never quite going completely out of sight.]

=====

Den of the Thievul

[So, this was definitely not what Romelle had in mind when she'd come in here. She had no clue what any of these creatures were, and, gosh darn it, adventures were not fun! But, she was going to get that communicator back, and maybe learn a bit more about these strange creatures called Pokemon that her friends seemed comfortable working with. How long had they all even been here? Was this another case of time slippage and traveling between realities?

This wasn't the time to be asking this many questions, Romelle. Focus... Don't mind her. She was going to just dig through that pile and hopefully find her missing communicator...

But wait, this wasn't the one from the Galaxy Garrison anymore... this looked like the one she'd been using to communicate secretly with her brother after he left the colony...]

=====

Wildcard

[Have at it!]

A.
[Alice is looking around, she was chasing something again and now she's in a familiar place.]

Why this place again? Oh so that must mean.... Oh yes, there are you kitty.

[A small Skitty has bound over to her from under a hedge.]

It is really quite good of you to keep finding me when I show up here. I would be much more lonely without you dear, you know. But now, kitty have you seen a strange creature run off with a saucepan? It ran and I had to chase after it, but now I don't believe I'm on the right square anymore.

B
[You can come across Alice exploring and of course, talking to her pokemon.]

You really do need a name kitty. I know I gave you some in the past but you need one that fits you, you know. Now don't be cross. I'm sure we'll come up with something that fits you. Of course if you do wish to speak and tell me what yours is, I promise I won't be very much annoyed you've not been speaking to me all these times we've met.

C. Wildcard
[Alice is everywhere, with a Skitty and half the time talking to the pokemon or herself. She's very curious so feel free to find her anywhere.]

Treasure Pile

[If there is one thing Tenenbaum is really good at (that's not science related) it's sneaking around. So she goes for that route to steal back her notebooks. However while she's there she also finds....]

My wrench?

[Yeah that sure is a wrench that Tenenbaum is looking at closely. Nodding carefully and placing it in her bag with a nod.]

Thank you.

Routes/Cities

[Aside from that adventure Tenenbaum can be found wandering with her Solosis as she seems to appear in one town from a route that should not lead there. You can find her eventually looking at her gear in confusion.]

This must be broken. There is no way we arrived here in only ten minutes.

Suddenly Rapture

[She turns left in a route that shouldn't have a turn and walking into a cave finds herself suddenly in An office with a open door that leads into an empty room filled with children's beds, toys, drawings. Yeah a small army of children were here at some point. The windows show the vast underwater of the ocean but Tenenbaum is just staring at the empty room.]

.....I will never escape this place.

It looks. Just how we left it though und that was years ago...how is such a thing possible?

Wildcard
[Feel free to run into Tenenbaum as she'll be walking around as well. Or if you want to plan something that's great too.]

A very good morning | Closed to Bucky Barnes

Entrapta might get by on minimal sleep, but when she does it tends to be quite heavy as she crashes hardcore.

So she doesn't immediately realise, when she pulls herself out of bed on Friday morning and goes through her usual morning routine; that she's picked herself up, gotten changed out of her pyjamas and halfway into her day clothes, until Leslie starts chattering with a frantic sort of panic as he grabs onto her hair and climbs it - then screeches as a lithe tendril of her hair wraps around his torso and lifts him in front of her sleepy face, as she rubs her eyes with another strand. "Morning, Nancy. What're you..."

And then she realises. And her quiet gasp turns into an excited squeal, into a ferocious scream of delight, and her hair whips out in every direction, latching onto the ceiling light, pressing against both walls of her tiny room and swinging her body around wildly as her arms flail wildly with excitement. Leslie is held snug and safe in one tentacle, too freaked out to really move as he gets gently rocked around like a ragdoll.

Inspiration through destruction | Violet City, OTA

It's not even lunch-time when the Violet City Pokemon Center doors slide open and what looks like a tentacled mass of purple storms through the doors, whirring tools and screwdrivers and-- a blowtorch??? --being wielded like weapons for a murderous octopus.

"OKAY! I know what I'm doing, everyone stand back!"

The forceful and enthusiastic voice comes from the small figure at the source of the tentacles, which are attached to the back of her head and holding her aloft to no ill effect whatsoever; she's using them to walk, rather than her legs, and deposits herself in front of the warp. Whatever locals are between her and it have already hastily retreated, and a recording device whips towards her face, carried by (again) another strand of tentacle. She has somehow acquired a pair of welding goggles as well, which more hair pulls down over her eyes.

"Log, day twenty-seven. My hair has returned to full functionality and I am finally," she squeals, "Able to take my first real opportunity to study the warp phenomenon present in this universe, which are being used as mid-range portal-esque devices..."

As she's talking, chunks of her hair are dividing at the tips, working into the seams and seals around the warp, and she lowers her body to the ground, bracing her knees, and with a loud screech of metal and snapping screws, she yanks part of the external cover off, and pulls out some wires to examine. "Lets see what this baby can do!"

And she laughs, gleeful and utterly maniacal. Feel... free to step in? She is very systematically dismantling the warp, which means no one is coming from or leaving Violet City today - and there is an Impidimp clinging to the back of her overalls looking very frantically around for someone to help him.

Jail for one thousand years | Literally any other city

So it turns out the local protective forces are not very happy about Entrapta's near complete dismemberment of a vital piece of infrastructure. She's very obliging when they surround and escort her to jail, albeit confused. She hasn't done anything wrong, so clearly there's been a mistake - she hasn't learned nearly enough from it, nor had the opportunity to go and fix the parts she's finished with.

(Which, admittedly, is none as of yet but also she really needs to go and finish studying it, she just can't wrap her head around this tech they're using and she's so excited this has never happened to her before, technology she can't comprehend!!)

So nearly as soon as the Jenny who very nicely locks her in her cell is out of sight, she's bringing her hair up and - with no sense of urgency or panic - pulls open the barred windows so that she can slip her hair through and pull herself out.

Leslie has relocated from her overalls to her shoulders now, and is clinging desperately to the back of her head; he flinches, just a little, when a strand of hair flicks into his vision, but the way it pats him is very gentle and loving.

"It's okay, Leslie. We'll just go back and keep working on it when they calm down!" She gestures to the general world triumphantly with her arms, but then pauses and looks around. "Oh. I don't... believe this is Violet City."

1 - General

Now just what the hell is going on here?

Moxxi's no stranger to the unexpected and bizarre - a girl doesn't live most of her life on Pandora without getting used to an unpredictable life - but this is a different kind of strange. On top of that, she hadn't been on any planet. She'd been on Sanctuary, closing up the bar for the morning.

Of course a handful of simple explanations come to mind. Siren practice gone wrong, Maurice's machine on the fritz, Tannis mucking around with either....

"Well isn't this a kick in the soft spot."

Her only companion seems to be the strange lizard thing staring up at her. It certainly looks like something that could be found slinking around Pandora, but it's not a species she's ever seen before. She doesn't recognize this planet, either. It's so...clean and bright and where is that music coming from?

But there's nothing to do aside from set out and figure out where she is.

2 - Searching For A Watering Hole

Moxxi doesn't have any clearer grasp or where she is or why, despite explanations offered. The place names mean nothing to her, 'this just happens sometimes' means nothing to her, 'pokemon' means nothing to her. Aside from the fact that people seem to use that word instead of 'animal' here. And that everyone has one, even her. She's started calling the salazar or whatever it is 'Sugar', and is currently looking for the one place she always feels at home.

A bar.

She has no shame in strutting right up to the nearest human and opening conversation, her public mask of sensuality and flirtation firmly in place.

"Excuse me there, tiger, don't suppose you'd be willing to help a gal out?"

3 - Wildcard

[Moxxi's going to be all over, feel free to toss your own starter at her!]

Jack's Backyard (semi-closed)

Steven wasn't freaking out. He wasn't. He'd just retreated to their backyard in order to get some air. Clear his head. Try to figure why the hell the llama space god would have not only brought his dead baby sister to him--which he did appreciate, he wasn't going to deny it--but also two strange Changelings he'd never met before and his own self from six goddamn years in the future.

His own much more confident and self-assured self from six years in the future, who moved with a predator's grace and looked at him with a frank speculation and hidden amusement that had made Steven's face heat up and necessitated his quick exit from the room. Damn it.

(He wonders what Jack must think of the older him, so much closer than Steven as he was now to actually being his equal. Wonders if his future self is back inside flirting with Jack right now.)

He looks down at his hands. His real hands, with the properly long fingers, that didn't-- they were him, they were right, but it had been months since he'd seen them and they weren't quite as familiar as they had been. The same with the soft, gnawing hunger that had been his constant companion from halfway through his Durance, that had only stilled when he drained someone of their energy, their life force.

He could do that now, he thinks. Take Mushroom Samba, Ursula, and all the rest of his energy drainers and just-- head out, find some idiots walking around this early in the morning, before dawn, and just-- take what they wanted. It felt good. He'd hated doing it to his charges in El Pecador's basement, but it had felt good. And maybe it would frighten somebody enough to--

No. He wasn't Autumn Court yet. His older self was and had one hell of a mantle to prove it, but Steven was still half-heartedly Winter and here and now, inside this weird weekend, that mattered.

"I'm going to have to fix that," he says under his breath and he finally looks away from his hands.

Anywhere!

A little bit of sleep, a vow made to Autumn and a few needful conversations had worked wonders for Steven's state of mind and now? Now he's going to take this weird weekend and make it work for him. Not just in letting him finally give Solus what he deserves--though he will be doing that Saturday night, he's found a section of their backyard with a distinctly Hedge-like feel and enough ambient magic to let him do it remotely and he has his dried banana token that will let him assume his phantasmal bastion with no Glamour cost to himself and a photo of the near-True Fae he could use as a focus for it all.

It's not just finally giving Solus what he deserves that Steven is going to take advantage of this whole weird weekend for. It isn't even getting to spend time with his baby sister for the first time in five years or learning Autumn contracts or even just-- getting to mess around with Jack and his toys.

No. Steven Durante's a practical man. He's going to use the current geographical weirdness to get himself some warps. Fuschia, Viridian... all the ones he still has left, most of them in Kanto these days. So yeah. He'll be popping up at the pokecenters in all kind of random places this weekend...

... and if occasionally he lurks in dark corners using night's subtle distractions to conceal his presence as one or another of his ghosts uses Night Shade to scare the shit out of some poor passerby so that Steven can use their Fear to draw Glamour from?

Well. He's going to need a lot of it to deal with Solus. At least this time he's not using the opportunity to mug anyone.

Wildcard

[Anything else you want to do with Team Rocket's Steven D? Leave a starter here and I'll roll with it. The first prompt is mostly for his canonmates and/or Jack, but you can ask if you want to stumble in accidentally.]

Edited 2020-06-26 17:06 (UTC)

A Whole New World

"Give it back!"

Eiko can't say for sure how long she's been tailing the strange fox-like critter, but there's no way she's giving up. It has to stop sometime. Right?

Normally, she might not care so much about something being taken, but that ticket was important. Without it, she can't go see the play with the others, and that's something she's been looking forward to for a while!

And so, Eiko's running as fast as she can manage. The fox is fast enough - or clever enough - to avoid being caught, and it's starting to get frustrating. By the time she has to stop and catch her breath, a couple of things hit her all at once. The first is that she has no idea where she is. It doesn't seem like Alexandria.

The second is that she's no longer alone. It probably says something about her that she's only now noticing the small bird-like creature trailing behind her.

"Oh! Where'd you come from?"

It's probably an odd sight, a small purple-haired child crouched over to address a torchic the same way she'd speak to a person, but if she's at all bothered by the way people are looking, Eiko isn't letting on.

"Have you seen a... fox-thing? It stole something very important and I'd like to get it back!"

Not to mention she's going to have to figure out how to return to Alexandria after she does manage to recover her ticket. But that's a problem for future Eiko. Right now, this is more pressing.

"Are you a baby phoenix? I didn't know they could have babies."

This line of questioning doesn't seem to be going anywhere useful, if the Torchic's unimpressed squawk is anything to go by.

Hop - Pokemon Sword/Shield (Post-Game/Pre-Isle of Armor)

Spinel | Steven Universe | ota

JONATHAN JOESTAR

Asriel Dreemurr | Undertale (spoilers) | ota

CARLY NAGISA | OTA