So you want to be a Pokemon Master?

[championbound]

Who: ANYONE AND EVERYONE
Where: ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE
When: November 25 - 27
Summary: GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE AND HAVE A GOOD TIME
Rating: BUT PLEASE PUT APPROPRIATE WARNINGS IF ANYTHING COMES UP
Log:

Everything's ordinary, and then, all of a sudden, it isn't. Oops~! Enjoy all the weird new Pokemon roaming about, and have a good time! Any and all are welcome to join in the glitch-ridden festivities!

Comments

Carter Blake | Heavy Rain | Route29 CRAU

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake was taking a shortcut through an alleyway when it ended up leading to somebody's overgrown backyard. Seriously overgrown; this grass is up to his damn waist. It takes a lot of his attention just to wade through this. There is gray in his beard now, which earns him the right to say he is too old for this shit.

When he looks up, he sees a road ahead. A dirt one.

When he looks up further, there's no Philadelphia buildings. Just clear blue sky.

Blake is hit with a pure oak two-by-four of deja vu.]

Holy shit...ow! Son of a bitch!

[Something is biting his ankle hard. He grabs it and yanks it up into the air. A goddamn rat-

His eyes widen.

A goddamn purple rat hangs from his grip, trying to swipe at his hand with its little claws.

Soft and full of wonderment, Blake breathes,]

I remember you little assholes.

[asskicks]

[the question is, though

will Blake remember

THIS LITTLE ASSHOLE, who is looking a little less little these days in the plain white t-shirt and hachimaki he typically wears during long nights spent working at his ramen stand. He's wearing jeans and sneakers, too, but that isn't as immediately obvious, considering that he is also practically up to his armpits in grass he hadn't remembered ever fighting his way through before until a metric ASSLOAD of forgotten memories suddenly came sledgehammering all at once back into his head. You'd think at this point in Yusuke's life he'd be old hat at being unexpectedly plunged into weird situations, but this is too surreal even for him. HOW many years has it been since he was last here? Two, three? Long enough that he's wondering why the hell this place suddenly decided to suck him back in. Dammit, and he was just about to go home and sleep, too.

At least he isn't getting his ass chewed on by anything, he tells himself grudgingly. And he's still got all his energy, which means that he probably won't be stuck here for very long. Maybe if he manages to find his way out of this field before the weekend's over he'll go see if anyone he knew back then is still kicking around. That'd be one hell of a trip.

Naturally, it's just as that thought moseys its way through his mind that he looks up and finds himself staring straight into the cranky face of a middle-aged man dangling an enormous and absolutely furious purple rat from one tightly balled fist. The sight sends a lightning bolt of shock all the way from the top of Yusuke's head to his feet, which still as he gapes openly at him. There's no doubt about it. He's a little grayer than he remembers, but this guy can only be --]

OLD MAN!

[WHAT THE FANCY FUCKIN' SHIT --]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[That's a huge purple rat all right. Which means he's...no, it can't be. That was all some weird dream he had years ago.

Right now he has a fistful of weird dream trying to angle itself to bite his thumb. Blake stares at the wriggling thing as he tries to make reality turn in the right direction. It was so long ago, but now it's clear as day. He'd been here for years, he'd tried to take over the place, there'd been people who mattered to him and-

A voice cracks right through his concentration and he nearly jumps out of his skin. On reflex his muscles snap into action and fling the rat at--

Blake's jaw drops as the rat sails in midair.]

Yusuke?

[asskicks]

AAH!

[SHIT SHIT THIS AIN'T GOUDA

Fortunately for Yusuke, his CRAZY SUPERHERO REFLEXES enable him to side-step out of the way just in time for the shrieking rat and its freaky little claws to miss his face by half an inch. Unfortunately for Yusuke, as his big bugged out eyes turn to follow the rat's trajectory as it majestically whizzes past, the foot he attempts to plant behind him slips, and so he ends up vanishing into the tall grass as his back hits the ground with a solid, resounding THUMP.]

Ugh -- damn...!!

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Did you want insult to injury? Cause you're getting an old cop standing over you and laughing his ass off.]

If I knew tossing a little rodent at you would be the thing that worked, I'd've done it a long time ago.

[For its part, the innocent Rattata hits the ground, bounces, chitters angrily, and runs off into the tall grass in search of someone who will battle properly as God intended.

Blake's attention is all on the kid. Though he's not as much of a kid now. He even looks like he's cleaned up some.]

Christ. [He reaches a hand down to help him up. There's a ring on one finger.] Long fuckin' time, no see.

[asskicks]

[Even through his cringing, Yusuke, who's laid out with his arms and legs spread like a starfish, manages to fix Blake with a TRULY BLACK AND ODIOUS GLARE. It's a look Blake became intimately familiar with during their time on Crazy Bullshit Island, and a look Yusuke became intimately familiar with giving him. Still, he accepts the hand up - noting, with a jolt of surprise, the cool press of that ring against his fingers.]

No kidding. What's it been, three years for me and three hundred for you?

[YOU LOOKIN' OLD, OLD MAN, is what he's trying to say. The insult comes as easily as it always has, but strangely, there's no bite to it. In fact, despite the show he makes of dusting himself off and straightening his hachimaki and looking generally indignant, his eyes are turned up at the corners a little, and he's fighting a losing battle against a smirk trying to tug its way across his mouth.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Now that glare is flat-out nostalgic. For all the people he's arrested over the past years and all the dirty looks he's collected, none of them managed one quite like that. Goddamn, he almost missed it.]

More like ten. Good to see you're still a mouthy little brat.

[In a weird way, it really is. Blake may be smirking in the same way, on a very different face.

Blake dusts purple fur off his hands.]

Look at you. You got yourself a headband.

[asskicks]

Yep. Great observation there, old man. Guess I don't have to worry about your eyesight going as bad as your everything else.

[Ten years... damn. No wonder Blake's gotten all grizzled on him. He looks healthy, though - despite what Yusuke's just said to his face, which doesn't mean much, considering that petty insults may as well be the formality for them - and that makes Yusuke happy, though of course he doesn't dare say so aloud. He doesn't have to, really: it's all there in his expression, in the warmth in his gaze and the way he finally cracks an actual, genuine smile.

Speaking of looks Blake's familiar with... that likely isn't one of them. That has as much to do with their frequently tumultuous relationship as it does with the fact that he simply hasn't been able to smile like this since before he hit elementary school. Not with this much ease, anyway. The years've certainly changed them both, haven't they.]

[captainash]

Of course you do. There's nothing in the world that's strong enough to scourge the memories of purple rats trying to feed on your corpse.

[Says a familiar man sitting on the foot of a giant robot, watching the rat attack but doing absolutely nothing to help. Jerk. Blake does get a friendly wave and a smile, though.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake knows that voice. It's one he hasn't heard in years. He looks over, eyes wide.]

Ash?

[Ash and a friend. A big friend. Blake's eyes go up and up-]

Ow!

[The Rattata takes that chance to bite him. He drops it, and it lands on the ground, squeaking a whole damn lecture at him before running off into the grass. Blake rubs his hand.]

Goddammit, I better not have magic rabies now.

[Then he looks over at Ash again. Hell, even the robot thing feels like an old friend.]

Is that really you, Ash? Or some other guy who stole your tin can?

[captainash]

It's really me, I promise. Welcome back for Crazy Weekend.

[Ash slides off the foot and walks towards Blake, allowing the Rattata to pass him by as he goes. My, what a goul mouth on that little guy.]

Though the rat invasion did try to take my suit for a joyride earlier, so consider yourself lucky you're only risking rabies.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Ahh, that. It's all coming back to me.

[That explains a lot. He remembers those weekends. Never been there on the guest side, though. His smile looks a little melancholy.]

So I'm just here for a couple days, then. That's a good thing. I'm too damn old to go running around the countryside getting in fights with pigeons, and anyway I promised to bring some Chinese food home tonight. Can't be too late.

[He looks up at the robot and laughs, imagining it full of rodents.] Carjackers get ballsier every day.

[captainash]

Isn't bringing back the defeated pigeon along with the food an option, too? They're smart, friendly, and able to knock people out; they're the perfect souvenir.

[He's joking. Mostly.]

That they do. Hell, if it wasn't for their lack of opposable thumbs they might have succeeded, and I think I would have let them get away with it just to watch the results.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake laughs.] I would, if you could kidnap them home. Bet he'd be thrilled.

[Even on boring old Earth, there's people who appreciate weird pigeons.]

A robot full of rats...not what I expected to see today, but hell, I'd watch.

[He looks over at Ash, a little sidelong.]

So...how long's it been on this end? Since I left. [He cracks a smile.] Monster Island getting along all right without me?

[captainash]

It hasn't been that long, only five months or so. McNulty misses you every day, and from what I've seen on the network so does Steve.

[his smile is softer during the status update, but a grin replaces it the moment it's over.]

You missed all the work and all the fun, though. We had to clean up all of Johto throughout June, and we got to put a punch of foreign punks in their place last month. Fun times.

[rocketralph]

_{[Blake is not alone with the beauty of nature for much longer. An enormous shadow falls over man and rat and for a moment, the monolith seems to hesitate. But then it clears its throat.]}

Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to put that Pokemon down unless you plan on engaging it in fair fight.

_{[Officer Ralph has no patience for folks who abuse the local wildlife thank you. His uniform is somewhat ill-fitting because let's face it, that's just how his entire wardrobe is, but there's one thing that does fit and that's the shining badge on his belt and the stern-faced little dog with HUGE EYEBROWS at his heels.]}

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake scowls at the rat.] Lecture this thing, not me. I was minding my own business. I wasn't gnawing on anybody's ankles like an asshole.

[He sets the rat down. It takes one look at the guy behind him and darts away. Real big guy, it seems like. And that voice...isn't quite familiar. It's too calm and too much like a cop.

Blake turns around. There is a badge right at his eye level. Above it is-]

Ralph?

[rocketralph]

<sub>[Ralph opens his mouth to snark right back that well MAYBE this bozo shouldn't have gone into the tall grass without a partner, but the grayed face that looks up at his startles the authority right out of him!]

[He drops his hands from his hips and stands there a little dumbly. His Growlithe, however, doesn't stop scowling up at Blake. HE'S A RULE-BREAKER! RULE-BREAKERS GET STARED AT!]</sub>

Blake?

GROWH!

_{[The Growlithe echoes his trainer.]}

Can it, Carter. Blake! How long have you been here?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake is staring, his mouth working as images flood into his brain.] I remember you. You weren't a cop. You punched me in the head. You had a little armadillo--

[That dog with the huge eyebrows is giving him the dirtiest look he has ever gotten from a dog. The dog barks, and so does Blake.]

Don't tell me to shut up then ask me a question!

[rocketralph]

N-no no, sorry! Hang on.

_{[Ralph stoops down and picks up the Growlithe with one mammoth hand. He jostles him slightly and Carter's barking finally quiets.]}

Carter is his name. And, ah...no. I wasn't a cop back then. C'mon, Mr. President, you haven't been gone that long. Don't you remember? You're the first person who knew about me bein' a part of Team Rocket.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[President. Yeah, he remembers that. And Team Rocket.] Right, the terrorist assholes who press-ganged you in...

[But that sure ain't a Team Rocket uniform.]

Holy fuck. You quit and turned cop instead?

[Blake's stunned eyes fall on the dog. Firedog. Growlithe, he remembers that, they all had goofy-ass names but you heard them so many times a day there was no keeping yourself from learning them, and maybe that's why back in the real world it was so easy to pick up on what that one kid with the Game Boy was talking about.]

...you named your police dog after me?

[a_sin_for_him]

Well well, you never know just who's going to show up on these weekends.

[For better or for worse. This particular case is for the better. Lust's missed Blake, in his absence. And had been thinking of him recently, and how their friendship had begun. And here he was!]

[As always on these strange weekends, Lust is in all her homunculus glory. Her shiny Houndoom is at her side.]

Need any assistance, Mr. Blake?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Whatever world he may go to, however long it may be, Blake is not going to forget the voice of a woman like that. He tuns and stares, and the rat in his hand squeaks.]

Lust?

[She's unmistakable, all right, looking classy even when she's standing beside a blue dog with a bunch of bones on it.

He breaks into a broad smile.]

Nah, this little guy's nothing. But ain't you a sight for sore eyes.

[a_sin_for_him]

It's good to see you, Blake. I hope you've been well.

[She approaches, hands out to clasp his in a friendly greeting. God, it is good to see him. It's been a good half of a year. Though the impact the man had left on this world is still felt strongly.]

[She hopes he's seen Ralph.]

I must confess, this place hasn't been quite the same without you.

[lieutenantantichrist]

I've been doing all right. Hope you are too. Last time I saw you...god, ten years ago...you weren't in that great a mood.

[He takes her hands. Hers are fine and delicate, where his are thick-knuckled and starting to get that old man look, with nothing pretty but the ring on his finger.

You mean Ralph, the policeman? He's so proud.]

Hah! Let me guess, people are running hog wild. Nobody making rules.

Probably better that way. Nobody here ever looked like they needed any.