victory_road | ANOMALY DETECTED

He doesn't have to tell him twice. Geddoe books it through the portal as soon as he gets the go-ahead. Hopefully Keldor's quick to follow, because it'll probably only take a moment for Tapu Koko to realize it's being ditched and get angry again....

Y'know, when people get shoved into lockers, it's not usually because they're using it as the other side of a portal to get away from tetchy Electric type pokemon who feel like zapping people "for teh lulz".

But the door is shut closed in Keldor's face as he attempts to push it open, causing him to stumble back in surprise.

Apparently, the kid who shut it must've gotten the locker that doesn't seem to close properly long enough to lock without having to hold the door in place [when is the janitor or whoever looks after these things going to fix that?]. Assuming there's a kid on the other side of the door.

"What is going on?" he demands, as if there's someone on the other side who can hear him. The freaking thing won't budge!

Did someone padlock the door behind them as they arrived inside a school hallway? :3

Well this is... it's something, all right. Frankly, Geddoe has no clue what these metal boxes are for, as they're clearly too small to be some sort of jail cell. Also, they're clearly made of metal, which means using his rune is going to be a no-go.

Not that he has much time to think about it before he hears Keldor yelling next to him.

"Can you find some kind of latch?"

It's hard to feel around with gloves on, and even if he wanted to take them off, there's not nearly enough room to do so.

He pats this side of the door, checking for latches, knobs and other handles.

"There is not much I can find. It appears it can only be opened on one side."

And it's a little too cramped to safely do magic, either, so if there's a padlock, something other than the dial might turn.

"Dude!" a muffled voice says. "It sounds like someone's inside your locker!"

"No way! You're hearing things!"

"No really! It's like someone's slapping it or something!"

Well. There's someone on the other side, it seems.

"Assist us, please! We are trapped inside this metal prison of yours!"

"Okay, there might be someone in there. And he talks fancy, too."

Zoar's feathers... He's going to get made fun of for his vocabulary, on top of ending up inside ... whatever this is, isn't he?

"Hmm...."

Well, maybe there's help to be had, maybe there's not. Geddoe's already thinking of an alternative, just in case. There's so little room to move, it makes things difficult, but... Well, perhaps if he twists so that his back is braced against the back of the locker, and his feet against the door, and pushes... Well, we'll see how sturdy those hinges are, won't we?

If the hinges are bad enough that the door needs to be held shut so the lock can be put on, then it's probably worth a shot, at least.

"Hey. Hey!" one of the kids says, hearing the sound of metal straining against a weight being pressed against it. "If this gets broken I'm gonna be in so much trouble!"

The locker is already kinda broken; having weight put on the other side of the door in order to open it won't make it less broken.

"Please stand clear of the door! I do not want anyone injured by my friend here!"

"Could you please speak like a normal person?"

"My diction will be the least of your worries if my friend falls on top of you, so stand clear!"

Well, that confirms he at least has a way out. Geddoe pauses for the moment, though.

"Open the door and it won't be a problem."

"Okay, okay, man. Chill. I'm opening it up."

There's a sound of something being turned, then a click, then finally the sound of metal sliding against metal, which allows the wonky door to open of its own accord, before it's opened all the way by the kid on the other side.

"How'd you all get in the— Whoa! Nice kitty!"

There's doubtless a comment to be made here that Geddoe wouldn't have had to resort to such measures if someone had opened the locker in the first place. Suffice it to say though that rather than trying to explain, he just glances at Keldor after stepping out. It was his magic, after, if anyone has any clue how they ended up here it'd be him. Probably. Hopefully.

It might be his magic, but it wasn't his intent to get them all inside—of all things—a metal box. If anything, he'd put it down to two things:

1: Portals are most effective when you have an idea of where you're going. Keldor was effectively navigating blind; leaving things to chance since "we gotta get outta here" was more pressing.

2: It's been a while since he did any magic at all. Of course he'll mess up a la Orko and have them end up in a locker.

"Easy kitty. Don't eat me or nothin'."

"Panthor will not harm you unless you try to harm me."

He looks about the place while the kid gives Panthor nervous looks. It appears to be a corridor of some kind, with doors along both sides.

"Is this some sort of portal nexus?"

"'Portal'? Dude. You talk weird. What do you mean?"

"What is on the other side of these doors?"

"Oh. Books. Coats. Lunch. Stuff. School things."

"This is a ... school?"

"Well yeah. You're in Canterlot High School. And I'm very late for class. So bye mister. Bye kitty!"

Not the most enlightening conversation, but still enough for Geddoe to get a general idea.

"It's probably just another thing to do with this weekend... You wanna try that spell again, or see if we can just walk out?"

There's always a chance that if a teleportation spell randomly brought them here, walking out the front door will randomly take them somewhere else.

"'This weekend'?"

That's a little baffling. But the thought of doing magic if he can't do it correctly is more concerning.

"I think it would be prudent to walk. I am very much out of practise, and so it might be wise to wait until I am sure that I can attempt anything complex like a portal."

A few magical exercises are in order.

"No one told you?"

Did the weird weekends ever come up in their conversations? Geddoe can't really remember. Certainly they'd first met during one, but he for one had been a bit more focused on making sure a fight didn't break out, or something.

"All right." He's not surprised by that answer, and a quick glance around tells him which way to go, so he starts walking.

It's no fancy intuition, mind, he just spotted the Exit sign.

"What were they supposed to tell me?"

And was he supposed to ask about it? Had he neglected to inquire about something?

Was he too busy acclimating to think about it?

"Are you saying that this is a thing that will happen again?"

Curse his oversight! Why didn't he think to question people about it?

Oh dear. Well, best to clear things up a bit.

"You remember when you first showed up here? You could use magic then, maybe some strange things happened, stuff like that. That only lasted a few days, though."

Around the corner and--ah, there's the next sign. Whoever made this building was apparently quite thoughtful!

"That happens a couple times a year, people like to call 'em 'weird weekends' usually. A lot of strange stuff happens for a few days, then the world's back to normal again."

In Keldor's estimation, this is a school designed to educate those on the lowest rungs of the IQ ladder, if they need to be told what an "exit" is, or which way to go to find it. But he's keeping that thought to himself.

"So I should expect this to happen at regular intervals."

He sighs.

"I cannot believe it did not occur to me to learn more about the last one I experienced."

Maybe that's why he ended up here. He belongs in a place like this if he could commit such an error as that.

Regardless of the intent of the exit signs, they're still terribly convenient just now, so Geddoe sees no reason to complain.

"Yeah, once in the spring and once in the fall, seems like."

Why? No one seems to know. Geddoe had just heard about them by asking around for information for a newcomer in general. It never hurts to gather what you can.

"I think places like this showing up might be new, though."

"At least I can expect them to be punctual."

That's a feature he can appreciate. It makes it easier for him to get ready if he knows what to expect and when.

Especially if it means getting back things like his magic.

"The school is new. But regaining one's magic is something I can expect to happen whenever these 'weekends' occur, yes?"

If the typist says you can have it, Keldor.

"Far as I know, yeah."

This is only his second go at this, so that's not really much to make a pattern from. But from what other people have told him, it seems to be the case.

"Good. It will give me something to anticipate."

Recovering your magic one weekend every six months. It could be worse.

"Well, considering my rather uncharacteristic oversight in learning about these weekends, and the fact that I may as well correct it now, what else is there to know?"

Would you like to play "What's Behind The Door", Keldor? :3

"Hmm..."

Geddoe thinks about that a moment.

"Mostly to be ready for anything. I hear it's pretty common for people to get teleported random places, and sometimes it can be a long hike back."

Say, is that the main entrance up ahead?

"That would be a useful thing, were it not for the lack of control."

I mean, who wouldn't want to just think of a place you want to go to before opening the door? Having it be all random takes all usefulness out of it.

Hmmm. More doors. And these ones don't look like the metal doors lining the walls.

In fact, these ones have windows.

That means we can see where we're going, right?

"Last time I talked to a guy who got teleported around before he'd even left his house for the day."

It had been an interesting conversation, to say the least.

And certainly, those doors sure look like they open out onto a typical school front entrance, but when one actually steps through the door...

Wait, are they now on the deck of some kind of airship? This is totally an airship. Just drifting through the air. Okay then.

"Truly a memorable adventure."

Which is what we're having right now. Although an airship doesn't exactly sound adventurous right now.

It is firing Keldor's curiosity, though, as he examines the dials and switches, despite not being much of a "tech head". Not like Trydor or his brother's friend, Duncan, are, anyways.

If they could see this thing they'd be over the moon about it.

Well, the fact that the airship is just cruising around the skies above Johto with no obvious way to get off it is certainly a thing. Though who knows, maybe a random door will lead them elsewhere again.

For now though Geddoe's taking a look around the deck. Thanks to prom this isn't the first time he's been on an airship, but it's still not exactly a familiar thing to him.

"Apparently these weekends are good at that."

Since it's Keldor's portal, feel free to pick where they ended up!

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