ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Vermilion Square

Read: <Oh, yeah!>

Read used Block on Ryklys and Vilkas!

Read: <The kids can leave now!>

Edited by Tangent128 on Feb 21st 2019 at 11:16:01 AM

Halis is once again sleeping behind the Pokecenter, having somehow made a strange ornament out of shiny rocks next to them.

Edited by MetamorphicHalis on Feb 21st 2019 at 11:19:07 AM

Vermilion Public Square

Vilkas: ...What just happened?

Ever: (deadpan) Oh no. Someone has Blocked you from leaving. I wonder how this could have happened.

(more lively) Well, come along, kids, I should get you all back to school. Oh man, not looking forward to explaining this.

-they wave to Ian in passing-

Hey again. You ever find the J-team?

Narrow: <Hang on.>

Ever: Nope.

Vermilion Waterfront

Merle: <...Great. Let's go.>

-and she sets off-

Pewter City

"Never been here before," a man considered as he reoriented himself and looked at a Xatu hovering a fair distance behind him. He returned the avian Pokemon and walked to the center, which he was behind, stopping to look at a Buneary next to some shiny doohickey,

"What's a Buneary doing in Kanto?" Colton whispered as he approached, carefully so as not to scare the lapine Pokemon away.

Halis wakes up a bit, hearing the voice before noticing a figure approaching them, jolting completely awake, jumping up, and almost knocking over their ornament.

Halis: <H-hey, wait a minute!>

They retreat an equal distance away.

Halis: <Uh... Stay there? I'm not even sure what to do here...>

They seem to be in a bit of a panic at the moment.

Pewter City

"Hey, chill," Colton defended, halting his approach. "I won't hurt you. Or capture you," he added. "You've gotta have a trainer, right? You wouldn't be here otherwise," he considered.

Edited by AbsentCoder on Feb 21st 2019 at 8:32:28 AM

Halis lets their guard down a bit, calming accordingly.

Halis: <Uh... yeah. I assume you can understand me, guessing by the reply, so... do you know who Lucius is? We came here together to start challenging the gyms of Kanto, but I, uh... kinda wandered off and I haven't been able to find him since. I'm sure it's fine, though, we'll probably meet back up soon enough.>

They make a quick hop closer to Colton, inspecting them a bit.

Pewter City

"I remember that Lissa introduced me to him at the Christmas party," Colton recalled. "Actually, the Kanto gym challenge might be fun... nah," he reconsidered, waving a hand in front of himself.

"Although he would probably be at the gym, if what you say about challenging it is true. Tell you what," he said, reaching for something hidden under his shirt before shaking his head. "I'll look-slash-wait for him with you," he offered.

Edited by AbsentCoder on Feb 21st 2019 at 8:46:00 AM

Halis hops closer to Colton, peering at where they reached.

Halis: <Wait, what'd you just reach for? Are you wearing a wire or something? Am I secretly being recorded for a TV series or something?>

They look around a bit nervously.

Halis: <I hope not... I'm not good with cameras staring at me.>

Edited by MetamorphicHalis on Feb 21st 2019 at 11:51:01 AM

PEFE HQ, Training Rooms

Shaun: "Ready, Morgan?"

Morgan: "Ready!"

-Shaun smirks and tosses back his tactician's coat, grabbing a Poké Ball out of his pocket.-

Shaun: "Nero!"

-He launches the ball, catching it on the rebound.-

Nero: <Prepare to be amazed!>

Morgan: "Hinoka!"

-The fiery Ponyta snorts and takes the field.-

Hinoka: <I eat shrimps like you for breakfast.>

Pewter City

"No!" Colton defended, reaching around his collar to show the Sun Stone on a string hidden under his jacket. "I was just... considering if I should use this; what situation would draw less attention-slash-conversation.

"Aaaand now you're going to ask what I mean by "use" and now I'm in too deep," he said, sighing as he wrapped his hand around the Sun Stone, turning into a Dusk Lycanroc, still with the jacket and Sun Stone, as well as a pair of headphones, strangely enough.

Vermilion Public Square

Me: Other than you, not much luck so far...

-At this point, the Motor Mouth trope is in effect-

Oh! By the way, I'd like you to meet my new friend Milagros. He almost accidentally ran me over with his motorcycle on Route 6, which then broke down, my Oshawott fell in love with his Vespiquen ^note It's a Long Story..., then we met Cady and her Gardevoir, Cecelia, who fell out of a tree, we then climbed the tree into a Magical Clothing Store which, I believe was called... Ersatz Alliance?...

Anyway, I find a magical pink scarf which then turns me into a Ralts, then my Oshawott gets into a fight with Milagros' Absol and Persian, which Cecelia, my Ralts and I break up using Hypnosis, I then try to buy the scarf, when I'm then forced into a game of Arceuszilla sized Jenga, which I win... I then get the scarf, find myself in Humilau City somehow, find my way back to Ersatz Alliance, then Milagros gets challenged to a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors by a girl who turns out to actually be a Mew, I faint, come to, look around for some non-magical fabric so I can make a superhero costume for myself, then as Milagros and I are leaving, Milagros takes a clothing rack and falls into a swimming pool, then I go through a different clothing rack and get frozen by a group of startled Froslass, then we take a third clothing rack, I fall out of a tree and Milagros takes a branch to where it REALLY hurts! Then we find that the bike had been vandalized, even after Milagros found the parts that he could use to fix the bike, then we came here to Vermilion City, where Milagros then went to see who vandalized his bike. It turns out that it was some Team Skull grunts who damaged his bike. I was in the Pokemon Center sewing my costume together, when Milagros entered the Pokemon Center looking like he was hit by a boulder, which, technically, he was.

Then I changed into my newly-made costume and followed Milagros from the rooftops (because it was cool and because I needed to get a better view of Vermilion City.) We then found the alleyway where he saw the goons and took a fence down under. We then had a battle with the Team Skull Grunts, which we won, and the grunts gave us enough money for the repairs for Milagros' bike and then we went to the repair shop where we met Rourke.

-I point to Rourke as I speak-

He then fixes Milagros' bike with the help of his Alolan Meowth and his Alolan Raichu. After we pay for the repairs, we try to look around Vermilion City where we then run into you and the class you were teaching and now here we are...

-I place my hand to my head, dizzy-

Ara Ara ^note Translation: Oh me, oh my..., it's been a long day...

Halis is a bit excited now, starting to circle Colton.

Halis: <Oh, wow, that's neat! Is it like my scarf? You didn't turn into a mon until you touched it, though, so I guess it's not... which only makes me more curious. How'd you get it to do that? For that matter, did you get it from the Ersatz like I did or no? If you did, who was the person managing it when you went in? The two times I've been there, there was two completely different people... I wonder if they have shifts like regular workers do? I wouldn't know, though, I haven't worked a day in my life...>

They won't stop talking...

Pewter City

Unable to get a word in edgewise, Colton unleashed a particularly loud Snarl of <Shut up!>, making certain it was only loud and not actively damaging.

<I didn't get it at Ersatz! Still don't get any royalties from them using the crappy name I came up with. I got it from some Diancie - I think they were - who I now owe a favor to.>

-the mysterious Zubat flies along with Merle-

Fortis: Have fun on your date!

Forte: Hi people, and welcome back to Mezzo's All Day Sonic Marathon, hosted by yours truly. Today we start getting into the more modern Sonic games, well, uh, not that modern compared to now, but you know what I mean.

-Forte starts up the game and leads Sonic through the intro, occasionally looking at the chat while they do so-

Forte: Some people say this is where Sonic really started his decline, but if you ask me it's not until we get into the later games like that one from 2006... but look, we'll cross this bridge when we get to it.

-...-

Forte: No, I didn't mean the actual bridge, I meant, okay, forget I said anything.

-...-

Forte: Why am I not saving the world? I am, I'm saving it from Dr. Exeggutor!

-...-

Forte: Oh, you mean why am I not doing J-Team stuff? Wait, how'd you figure out I'm a member? Whatever, I'm kind of lapsed since they all ran off without me, and I'm trying to focus on my apprenticeship with this old Eevee master guy. And my streaming of course.

-...-

Forte: My name's not really Mezzo? Yes it is!

-...-

Forte: Calling myself Mezzo means getting confused with my older sister... uh, not really. I mean, she and I are pretty easy to tell apart and besides, she's actually doing J-Team stuff and I'm not.

-...-

Forte: What is Shadow saying right now? Well, he thinks I should be playing that card game, but everyone wants to stream that, and Sonic is cooler anyway.

Shadow: <Only if you have no taste.>

Forte: I'm not telling them you said that.

-...-

Forte: What's the weirdest thing you've been through? I don't think you want an answer for that, chat. Trust me.

-...-

Forte: Time you got turned into a Mew... what?

-Forte's concentration lapses a moment, and they send Sonic careening right off a cliff-

Forte: Augh! How do you even know about that? I really don't want to talk about it!

-...-

Forte: Come on, chat, stop spamming Mew emojis at me, I'm trying to focus here. This part is— Oh come on!

-Forte sends Sonic flying to his doom yet again-

Forte: Uh, maybe I'll take a break. I'll be back in 10 minutes or so, and remember to hug your Eevees!

Halis jumps back a bit, obviously intimidated by this.

Halis: <Eep! D-don't hurt me...>

They try to calm down again, but obviously they're a bit shaken.

Halis: <I, uh... Diancie? I don't recall seeing any before... Erm... I think maybe you should ask something? I-if you want...>

They stay where they are, nervously staring at Colton.

Pewter City

<Sorry,> Colton Talbain apologized, ears drooping and tail between his legs. <It's just so easy to forego my humanity whenever I adopt this form,> he explained.

<What exactly are you doing here? You said something about the gym challenge with Lucius but that can't be the whole story, right?>

They calm down a bit after seeing Colton/Talbain step down.

Halis: <Well... that's alright. To be honest... the longer I stay like this, the more I forget what being human's like, either. I don't mind, though. Just means it'll be more interesting when and if it's time to go back. Anyway, my story... when I first started out, I was just a trainer like a lot of other people, but then I met Lucius and one thing led to another, learned about a bunch of stuff including the J-team and Ersatz, which is a great name by the way, I like it... uh, anyway, now I'm a part of his team instead. Also, before this I was an Alolan Sandshrew, but I had that changed by a girl in Ersatz who was also a Mew.>

They stop themselves from talking any further about it.

Halis: <Uh, s-sorry if that was too much talking at once, by the way. Bad habit when I get excited about something.>

Pewter City

<It would be hypocritical of me to attack you for a habit I'm guilty of myself,> Talbain considered, sitting against the wall, a disembodied glove holding his headphones. <But, welcome to the team, I suppose. I'm hazarding you've been around for around a month or so, and with enough time you'll come to love this ragtag bunch of misfits I call the J-Team.

<I sure do.>

Halis: <Uh, thanks. To be honest, yeah, I have been around for a month. Uh, not a part of Lucius's team for a month, I mean, but... like, it has been that long since I first set out, at least. I don't know if this J-Team stuff has a HQ of some kind, or if it's just, like, a bunch of scattered people all doing similarly-odd things at the same time, or, like... you get what I mean.>

They get closer to Colton again, looking at them.

Halis: <By the way... do you know anyone that's done something like this before? Like, what I'm doing with Lucius? I know there was one person in Ersatz that mentioned it, but... I'm kinda curious about that, actually.>

Pewter City

<What, been part of a trainer's team?> Colton clarified. <I'm technically caught, and have fought a few battles, so there's that,> he considered.

<Also, the J-Team is rather haphazard, but we do have a definitive base of operations. Kinda, more like somewhere we crash, y'know?>

Halis: <Wait... technically caught? Is that why you're able to go back and forth between forms like that? Or is that another thing your pendant thing lets you do? As far as I can tell, unless I went seperate ways with Lucius, I'm locked into this form, which, mind you, I don't mind at all, it's just a quirk of having done this willingly. You are definitely gonna have to show me where you "crash", though, since I'm not sure how you'd do that. Maybe it's another one of these Ersatz situations where it only shows up when it wants to...>

Pewter City

<I was caught by my own Lucario,> Talbain started. <But he never had any intent to use me for combat, so I was free to exit the Great Ball and revert to humanity whenever I chose. These days, it's something I like to call "form fluidity", where humans are fine being turned into Pokemon and the other way around,> he explained.

<You might need to work out the kinks with Lucius, like, freedom to exit the Pokeball, if and when you're used in combat, and especially if you can turn human whenever you want,> he considered.

<Also, I'm actually lycanthropic, a weremon, and the Sun Stone just allows for me to activate and suppress my transformation artificially,> he explained.

Edited by AbsentCoder on Feb 21st 2019 at 9:51:24 AM

Halis: <Huh... we already figured out the ball thing, the 'humanity' bit not so much, though, since we've both more or less agreed that we're going to end up fighting already. I do honestly think that, even though I'm probably awful at combat, I should get stronger, even if it is in an unorthodox way. I remember one of the first things Lucius told me about was weremons, actually... when I first heard about it, I was so excited... daydreams and everything! Now, though... eh. Unless it somehow is better than what I have going on now, I wouldn't be interested.>

They sit down near Colton, fairly relaxed now.

Halis: <Besides, I don't mind this form at all. It just... like, works, y'know?>

Pewter City

Talbain shrugged. <You two's decision. If he wants you stay a Buneary - or Lopunny, you might evolve - that's his choice. You signed up for this, so who am I to judge?

<And Pokemon forms do tend to be reflective of who someone... is,> Talbain added.