Video: First Encounter

[milkisgross]

The camera opens up to a pair of golden eyes right there, zoomed in. This kind of technology is foreign to Ed and he's got the damned thing way too close to his face as he inspects the device he's holding to see if it's working.

It's working.

Thankfully, he pulls the camera back and can see the face of a grumpy and uncertain teenager. He pulls up the Trainer Handbook to the camera.

"So apparently this thing can record me like a movie camera..." He sounds pretty unsure about that but continues. "I read through this and none of this is making any sense-"

"Cuuuuubone!!"

The young man looks down, but doesn't move the camera to show his audience. "What? I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Can you hold on for a second?"

"Cuuu!!" The Pokemon cannot hold on for just a second.

"Look, let me say what I want to and I'll deal with-"

As he's talking, a very round bird with devilish red eyes soars towards the camera, and the back of Ed's head. It doesn't look happy when it collides with a tackle. "Hoooooooot!!"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGH!!"

Ed drops his Pokegear which is giving a lovely view of the ground. It's still sending video, though the action can't be seen.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Cuuu!!"

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU DEMON BIRD! I'LL COOK YOU FOR DINNER!!"

"Cubone! CUUUUU!!"

"HOOTHOOT!!"

Something steps on the Pokegear and the feed is cut.

Comments

[Video]

[bugbeverage]

[ A grimy man with big green glasses appears on Ed's Poke'Gear. ]

EL EM AY OH! Hahahahah!

[Video]

[milkisgross]

[It takes a while before Ed replies, but he does. He had to deal with the chaos first.

He's very clearly angry. He also has a cut on his head, a wound he had gotten a while ago but just couldn't stay closed. The Hoothoot opened it up yet again. Blood is dripping down his face.]

What's so funny? How about you do something useful and help me out?!

[Video]

[bugbeverage]

[ He's still laughing. ]

Don't get mad at me just because you can't fight an owl by yourself.

[action]

[exeggutorhead]

This disaster can, in fact, actually get worse.

The first wave of it comes in the form of something much bigger than the standard Route 29 wildlife crashing through the bushes in the direction of the owl fight. Lucky the Houndoom has overheard an entire commotion happening and he wants in.

Woah is that little trainer fighting a Hoothoot all by himself?! Wow!!!

The small-horse-sized demon hound immediately starts hopping and bounding around the fight with enthusiasm, barking up a storm and contributing nothing but added chaos.

Somewhere farther back in the woods, a very nervous Absol freezes in place beside his trainer, staring right in the direction of where this is all happening.

"So that's the direction he ran off in, huh? C'mon, then, lead the way so we can get him and head out," says the OTHER half of the impending potential catastrophe. Ramsay whines in response, because this feels like it's gonna maybe be a bigger issue than usual, but...well, he knows by now that his trainer isn't going to avoid the problem he's sensing.

Envy is: rapidly approaching your location!

[action]

[milkisgross]

Ed had indeed been fighting the Hoothoot himself instead of sending his Cubone to deal with the problem and was in the middle of realizing his terrible mistake while at the same time the little Pokemon had been trying to make up for said mistake by getting into the fray when the large canine burst out of the bushes. Both trainer and Pokemon fell back on their behinds, knocked off balance by the combination of bird-to-the-head and the surprise of sudden giant dog.

Thankfully, said sudden giant dog also threw the owl off and it stopped scratching and pecking at Ed. It's feather's fully ruffled, it turned its attention to the Houndoom and let out the most menacing "HOOOOOOOOOT" it could muster. For Cubone, it might have been a bit intimidating. For the fully evolved Houndoom, probably not so much.

Ed wiped the blood dripping from his face as he pushed himself off the ground. Yes, the little bastard had reopened the wound he had on his forehead that just wasn't allowed to heal. The Cubone seemed horrified that his trainer was bleeding and once again took a stance between the two Pokemon and Ed. The Hoothoot was still something he could take care of if Ed would only do his part. The Houndoom? Absolutely not, but he wasn't about to let it walk all over him without a fight.

"What the hell is that?!"

[action]

[exeggutorhead]

No, the Hoothoot may be aggressive and making a very loud show of being so so big and scary....but Lucky is not scared at all. Nor is he taking this very seriously--his trainer isn't even here for a proper battle to happen! Also if he taps this poor low level owl with a paw and it faints right away, there won't be any more fun. He immediately drops into a play bow, devil tail whapping back and forth at very high speeds, and barks some more. Yeah little Hoothoot, come get him if you dare! Oddly, he also seems to be wearing a pair of...sunglasses? Somehow?

There is nobody to answer poor Ed's question. Yet.

"--ckyyyyyy!"

A person becomes audible, yelling in exasperation from the woods and getting closer and closer.

"How far did you run, you giant maniac?!"

Oh hey! That voice might sound familiar!

Houndoom don't have ears to perk, but Lucky's head does go up and turns in the direction of the shout, totally distracted and wide open for bird or very brave Cubone attacks. His tail starts wagging even faster.

video;

[outofsynth]

Be careful. Ground-type moves won't work on Hoothoot.

[Not that he approves of the threats to cook the Hoothoot for dinner, but the owl appears to have the upper hand at the moment so he's more worried about the seemingly very new trainer.

He may actually be jumping too far ahead, but thankfully there's an Alolan Marowak here to help. At least as much as he can over video. He shouts for the poor Cubone to use Growl, which if nothing else will make the Hoothoot less imminently dangerous.]

video;

[milkisgross]

What?!

[There's an audible clap as Ed instinctively tries to transmute, but of course, nothing happens. Right.

A growl can be heard while the camera is still pointed at the ground, followed quickly by a gloved hand picking up the Pokegear again and a bloody, very angry face appears into view. Feathers are flying everywhere and a very round bird zooms in the background, landing on a high tree branch. Thankfully, the Cubone had heard the advice from its elder and the growl seems to have worked to get the Hoothoot to back off.]

What's with all of these "types?" An attack is an attack!

[As Ed complains, the Hoothoot fluffs up, preparing for its next attack.]

Cuuuu!!

[Ed whips around , forgetting about the camera which is now pointed at an awkward angle, showing the Cubone near his trainer's feet rushing to get between him and the bird.]

Throw your bone at it!

[The Cubone turned back around and glared at Ed. That is not an attack, buddy.]

video;

[outofsynth]

[The clap is pretty odd, but given how aggressive this Hoothoot is it's probably not the time to question it.]

Not here. Your Cubone is a ground-type. Its strongest moves aren't going to work on a flying-type at all. Try Headbutt.

[This is. Such a basic explanation. Yet still one he's concerned might not be that understandable in the heat of a battle. He's also not sure whether Headbutt is a low enough level move or not. Rodeo had already been a Marowak back when Min-Gi had caught him, and even if he had been a Cubone it was a long time ago.

It's Rodeo himself who's probably more helpful here. Although Ed's order wasn't technically an attack, this little Cubone might still be too low-levelled to know any moves that are actually going to get this bird off their backs. He encourages it to listen and throw the bone anyway.

Is it an attack? No. Is it possible that it might drive the Hoothoot off for longer than a purely status move? Maybe. At least that's what Rodeo's hoping. If it works then they can work out proper attacks, or see if they can figure out something else.]

[Video]

[calisugarfiend]

"I thought eating Pokemon was a bad thing..." Cali tilted her masked head to the side with her PokeGear camera all too close to her face.

It hasn't clicked in Cali's thinking goop yet that Edward was a new trainer just like her or the fact that the Hoothoot was out for blood.

[Video]

[milkisgross]

"I don't care! This thing is asking for it!" Ed has eaten strange things before. He and his brother were stranded on an uninhabited island for a month when they were kids. Snakes and frogs were totally on the menu back then. Were owls edible?

In reality, it was an empty threat, and the Hoothoot called his bluff. An angry 'Hoooooooooot' can be heard off screen, followed quickly by a 'Cuuu! Cubone!!' as Ed's Pokemon tries desperately to get his trainer to understand that it was the cute little creatures who were supposed to fight, not him.

Re: [Video]

[calisugarfiend]

“Woah! Dude!” Cali is finally catching onto the whole fight scene going on in the video chat before actually giving useful advice, “Hey, hey do you see any branches near you? I think you can use it for self defense!”

Cali still didn’t know why pokemon were off the menu and figured it was some kind of weird vegan craze going on, hoping it wasn’t since artificial sweeteners were awful abominations.

[Video]

[garbagechild]

SO WRATH HAS BEEN... pretty antisocial, ever since he got here. He watches the network idly but almost never responds to anything. #JustLurkingThings.

HOWEVER...

There is absolutely no ignoring those VERY familiar golden eyes. Especially not when he unsuspectingly hits 'Play' on the most recent network post and promptly experiences an Elric Jumpscare the likes of which hasn't happened since... well, probably since the time Edward smashed into the room to scream at him about his stolen arm.

It takes a bit to figure out exactly how he wants to... respond to this. His immediate instinct-- to SLAM the "Video" button and start demanding to know if Alphonse made it through the Gate-- fades when the Ed on the screen gets into a screaming match with the Hoothoot. Brows furrowed, Wrath watches the feathery carnage unfold in silence.

It's Edward, for sure, but... well, to put it simply, he's acting a little more like Wrath than Wrath is used to seeing. Could he be from... before Yock Island? Because that's the last time Wrath ever saw Edward Elric throw any full-blown tantrums at animals. And... time doesn't work right, between worlds. So it's possible!

Hm. And he has a Cubone too, does he.

Well, only one thing to do.

He finally hits the 'Video' button, so Edward's chaotic video feed will be answered with a terribly-lit view of half-mast blue eyes half-hidden behind a mop of scraggly black hair, and the deadpan voice of a twelve-year-old boy giving bad advice.

"You should try to do a spin kick at it."

[Video]

[milkisgross]

By this point, Ed had retrieved his Pokegear, but the majority of his attention was on the Hoothoot and not getting his face scratched off. The camera is pointed away from the fighting as Ed holds the device at his side while he tries to concentrate on how to handle this.

"Shut up! I'll spin kick y- AAAAAAGH!!"

The camera flails around wildly, a cloud of brown feathers bursting onto the screen as the Hoothoot makes another dive at Ed's face with Ed putting his arms up and dodging. A glimpse of his Cubone can be seen running wildly around, trying to keep himself between the angry owl and his trainer.

'Cuu! Cubone! CUBONE!'

Said Cubone was currently yelling at the Hoothoot to attack it and not his idiot trainer. Off-screen, the Hoothoot puffed up and paused as if undecided to take the Cubone's bait.

Ed didn't recognize the voice at all. For all he knew, the voice just belonged to some random kid getting a kick out of seeing a bigger kid get the snot beat out of him by an overly-round demon bird.

[Video]

[garbagechild]

Although paying attention to some weird random kid's microexpressions is probably not high on Ed's list of priorities right now, Wrath's brows raise slightly. The cogs in his head (though they may be few and sometimes even a little out-of-sync) are turning.

Okay, so... no recognition. This means that Edward must not have returned to Yock Island yet.

Which is... hm. Wrath's emotional vocabulary is... limited at best, and he can already tell that he's going to have to puzzle out exactly how he feels about this development later, once he's not actively watching his blond-haired arch-nemesis's doppelganger screaming and flailing around on the tiny little PokeGear screen. But if nothing else, this at least quells the swell of urgency and fear that had threatened to rise up in his chest.

Edward being from Before All That means that he won't know anything about the questions plaguing Wrath, and that means that Wrath won't have to hear any dreadful, life-ruining answers (not today, at least).

So for now... he is free, free to focus on other things.

Like the dawning realization that he can say whatever he wants right now, consequence-free*!

He'll pay more attention to the little Cubone (and maybe even think about the fact that he and Ed both started with one...) later. Kicking up his feet behind him, Wrath sprawls on his bed with the 'Gear clutched in both hands like a cheerleader in an 80's movie, a slow smirk re-emerging onto his face after its months-- if not years--long hibernation.

"You can't. I'm many miles away."



*but Watch Out!

Video

[crystalmaster]

Radley has seen a lot of people confused by the tech by now. What he hasn't always seen is attacks of angry birds caught on camera.

"Yikes. Hey, are you okay?"

Video

[milkisgross]

The camera suddenly moved from the ground and became obscured by a gloved hand as Ed grabbed it mid-dodge from another attack from the Hoothoot. The image remained obscured as the trainer was far more concerned about avoiding more claws to his face than giving whatever audience a nice view.

"Does it look like I'm okay?! I thought these things fought each other!"

Re: Video

[crystalmaster]

“Sometimes some nasty ones attack humans. I never saw a Hoothoot that mean before, though. Where are you?”

Video

[a_sin_for_him]

There is a great deal to take in right now. Lust blinks at her screen, coffee cup pausing halfway lifted. Her brow, however, lifts entirely.

"...Edward?"

Well.

An Edward, at least. From when, exactly, she can't be entirely certain.

Video

[milkisgross]

Wait a second. Ed recognized that voice. Where did he hear it before?

In between dodging, he glanced at the small screen on his Pokegear. He remembered now!

"YOU?!" The shock from seeing her face made him lower his guard, but thankfully, his Cubone was there to provide support. In the background, the Hoothoot could be seen circling around for another attack, but a small bone club flies through the air, and while it just misses, it does force the bird to swerve and miss. "How are you alive?!"

Video

[a_sin_for_him]

Well. That quite neatly answers that. Edward is wholly refreshed, metaphorically speaking, and from some time before their cautious truce.

Wonderful.

Hopefully he'll soon see she's hardly some monster with a grudge against him. If nothing else, her decade of humanity has visibly aged and changed her by now. Perhaps that will help put him at ease.

"Death isn't much of a challenge to the presiding deity of this place. I'd focus on your battle, if I were you. It's a rather more pressing matter. I'll wait. The little robot floor cleaner just started its cycle, I have plenty of time."

[video]

[no_ufo_ending]

[ Henry winces. Ed's video reminds him of one of his very first nights in Johto. Hoot Hoots are just Like That. ]

If you have a flashlight in your bag, shine it in its eyes. They hate that.

[video]

[milkisgross]

[Ed has no idea who that voice belonged to, but whoever it was seemed to know what he was talking about. Of course an owls would hate a bright light being shone into its big, red, evil eyes! This man was a genius!]

Hey, keep it busy for me! [It was obviously an order for his Cubone. Unfortunately, that wasn't how battles worked. That was not the name of an attack that Pokemon knew and he just gave his trainer a frustrated scowl.

Ed attempted to grab the flashlight out of his pack, but the bird wouldn't let him. Not without something else for it to focus on properly. Ed used his bag as a weapon and swung it at the bird. First time missed, second one clipped the wing, but it was enough and the bird took a hard landing in a bush.]

I said keep it busy!

CUBONE!

[video] pretend this is on time

[alltoblame]

There is a very familiar voice coming from the Gear, while Ed is fighting off this particularly ornery hoothoot.

"What the hell-?"

He sounds like he might be talking to himself more than actually intending to start a conversation, though.

"Is it another one of those weird weekends already?" He's been gone for awhile, maybe things have changed since then.

Feel free to respond after that situation is taken care of, he can wait. Truthfully, he'd probably prefer no response at all, actually. Forget this happened.

[video] what are you talking about of course it's on time

[milkisgross]

Wait, what did he just hear?

In between swooping attacks from the Hoothoot, Ed had no choice but to get a look at the screen.

Ed echoed his doppelganger, though his tone was filled with shock and panic.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

The Hoothoot was completely forgotten momentarily, at least until it went for another attack. It didn't hit Ed this time, as the Cubone had thrown his bone club at the owl. The Hoothoot just managed to dodge out of the way. Ed's head didn't.

"OW!"

A very sorry sounding 'Cubooooone!' came over the speaker from off screen. In fact, everything was now off-screen, as Ed was now forced to focus back on the overly aggressive Hoothoot while also dealing with the fact that someone else had his face, his gloved hand covered most of the camera.

"Great! Homicidal owls and someone else with my face!" Angry hoots and cries from the Cubone could be heard in the background along with running footsteps as chaos ensued, Ed dodging, the Cubone trying to put himself between his trainer and the rogue bird, and the owl continuing it's onslaught. Before too long, the camera finally shows an image, moving quickly through the air until there's a loud "THUD," a cloud of feathers, and a plummet back to the ground, the camera finally resting to the sky.

'Hoo-hoooooooot'

Ed's Pokegear had hit the Hoothoot out of the sky when he chucked it as a projectile. He quickly raced to pick it back up to see if that guy was still there while the Cubone stood over the owl.