A Celadon Encounter [Scott]

OoC: I have absolutely no set plans for what to do, so we shall improvise! Yay.

IC:

“Bayleef, Poisonpowder!”

The Grass-type complied with the command. After planting his feet, Bayleef shook a dusting of purple powder from the buds adorning his neck. The Onix he faced didn’t have a chance. With a growl, the serpentine rock contracted the debilitating poison and lowered its head. It was the opening Miyako had been waiting for.

“Razor Leaf!”

Bayleef emitted a triumphant cry and leaped into the air, sending a storm of leaves slicing into the head and upper torso of the Onix. The double-weakness to Grass-type attacks was quickly evident. Onix’s eyes rolled back into its head, and he collapsed in a heap. Bayleef landed on top of his defeated opponent and struck a victorious pose, reminiscent of a climber reaching the summit of a challenging mountain. Then, he hopped around a little, pure happiness radiating in his eyes. “Bayleef! Bayleef, Bayleef!”

Miyako laughed at the display, and then turned her attention to the cookie-cutter Pokemon trainer—he had styled himself as Cooltrainer Justin or something—who was now hurrying to his fallen Pokemon’s side. Those Pokemon games were not an exaggeration, it seemed. These kid trainers around here really did like to put ridiculous-sounding titles in front of their names.

Bayleef refused to abandon his cavorting, even when Justin attempted to shoo him off Onix. “Bayleef,” Mi said, “I think that’s enough celebration for right now.”

Bayleef’s countenance drooped, but he obediently jumped down to the ground, moved over to Miyako’s side, and nuzzled her leg. Mi smiled at this. Mr. Cooltrainer sighed in exasperation, catching her attention.

“Hey, better luck next time, kid,” Miyako said with a slight smirk. “You might want to look into type match-ups a little more.”

She chuckled and walked away from the scene of her latest victory. Bayleef followed at her heels, happy that Mi was allowing him to stay out of his Pokeball for the time being.

While walking, Mi twisted her body around to retrieve her iPod from her backpack. Unfortunately, this caused her to miss the medium-sized rock directly in her path.

“Ow!”

Her foot caught the obstruction, and she pitched face-first onto the ground. With only her pride injured, she quickly glanced up to see if anybody had been around to witness her embarrassment. The Justin kid was well out of sight, and she didn’t see anybody else, so she supposed she was safe. Well, safe from everything except Bayleef’s amused bouncing at her side.

“Stop that!” She pushed herself to her feet and groaned. After ensuring that her expensive valuables had sustained no damage, she glared down at the prancing Bayleef. “Nobody hears about this. Nobody.”

Mi adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and struck out once more. Celadon City loomed just ahead. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her it was time for a lunch break.

OoC: Profile location for reference: http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/...1277-memo.html
(In case anyone other than LEA & me reads this stuff, note that the character has nearly nothing in standard BA abilities, so the profile is mostly fluff.)

Also be aware that with the style of this character, I write in first person present tense. It's vastly more amusing this way. It may also be marginally confusing from time to time, but...that's sort of the point. As an added thought, I think it's apparent, but I'll point it out: This is written mostly to read like you're listening to Niko talk. Fast.

IC:

I have no idea where in the world I am. That's never a good thing... good things are usually happy, right? Like, it's good I left where I was before, but I don't know where it was. Here, though, here is what's important. But where is it? I know I'm in a city. There's buildings, and noise, and some people, and stuff. I also think I'm in America, since the signs I've seen are in English. Though I guess I might be in Canada, or Australia, or...

The star pattern is wrong for Australia. That'd be the voice in my head. I'm not crazy. Not really. Crazy would be if I thought people were out to get me and I jumped at shadows and...

People are out to get you. Oh, oh yeah. They are. They're bad people, lots of needles and clip boards taking notes, and computers doing who knows what. Computers are cool things, really...they work so fast, and control everything around us. I read on the Internet a while ago that even cars are controlled by computers now. Oh yeah, and Obi-Wan (that's what I've decided the voice in my head should be called) is a computer, too. Okay, he's mostly in my head. Really more down the spine, actually, and sorta drifting around the blood. Well, sorta.

...I should figure out where I am. Focus, focus.... Focus like a camera! Maybe a digital one. I could just ask somebody. But they're looking for me, I'm sure, and if I were to show up somewhere, I'd probably be on the news, something about some kid who doesn't remember much and is all jittery turns up in Cityton, and they're trying to find the parents. Hmm, I can't remember them. Strange, since I notice and remember everything else.

Like that bug on the ground by me. An ant. I'm sitting in an alleyway on the edge of some city. It smells kinda bad, like old trash. I'm kinda dirty, so I guess I fit in with it. I've got a plain sky-blue t-shirt, although if the sky looked like my shirt I'd be really worried. I, um, fell over in the mud yesterday. There was an angry dog, you see, and I had to jump a fence to get away. My shorts are kinda mud-grey.

I hear something weird coming from one of the doors into the alley. What does 'weird' mean? In this case...I don't know how to describe it, and Obi-Wan can't identify it. That's always odd. Obi-Wan can identify anything. Obi-Wan should just use GPS and tell me where I am, that'd be good. California. Well, now. Maybe I should have asked earlier...not that it really makes a difference.

I want to see what that noise is, so I take a quick walk over, and I find the door locked. But it's a computerized lock! I love those things. I lick a finger, and then put it on the keycard slot and wait a couple seconds.

Which is plenty of time to notice there are a total of 3 cats in this alley, none if which I can see at present, but they're making noises. Not meow-type noises, but more of a "looking for a meal" kind of scratching sort of thing. Meal... hmm, food would be good. Maybe a pizza. I haven't had pizza in a long time. Some peperoni would be... *CLICK* Oh, door's open.

A step inside and a look around reveals a rather plain little room with another door on one side and some sort of opening...to what looks like a forest, outside. But...I was just in an allyway. That's strange. I walk over, and peer through the opening. I can't identify that, but temperature variation and air motion suggests that that is not an illusion. Obi-Wan's nice to have with me. Looks like a nicer place to wander aimlessly while not ending up getting dragged around by a random do-gooder, so I decide after a lot of consideration (quite a lot: nearly 2 seconds) to step on through.

It's a pretty forest. All bright and happy. Well, okay, it's rather shady, and I don't think trees can be happy. But if trees could be happy, I think these would be. It's a nice day. Days are always nice, though, even if it's dark and rainy. But that's nice in a different way. I turn around to look at the room I just left to see... a tree. That's odd. There's a nice smell here, much nicer than that alleyway.

Where'd that alleyway go? Obi-Wan should know. Contact with GPS satellites lost. Unable to locate standard communication satellites. Hmm, weird. I see a path a ways off through the woods that way, I'll go over there and see if I can find a city, or something.

~~

So, I went through that portal thing about an hour ago. I think if I were to walk straight back to where that was and not stop to look at anything, or wander aimlessly at all it would take about half an hour to get back. So, it would probably take longer than an hour to get back.

I still have no idea where I am, but there is something worthy of note here: A sign. Signs are always good, they signal to you where things are. Kinda like a flare, but with more writing and less flash and bang. Flashbangs are cool, although I'd rather not be by one.

..The sign. I can't read it. It looks like some kid with a marker was having fun making lines. It's Japanese. Japanese... they make cartoons. Yeah, cartoons! I haven't seen any cartoons in a while. Or any TV. Hmm, they say TV makes people dumber. Can you read it, Obi-Wan? A rare, direct question to my internal companion. No, I have no reference. I found a data exchange frequency with non-standard encoding, still decoding it. Sometimes things Obi-Wan say don't make any sense to me. Like that. If I can connect to the Internet, you'll be able to speak and read Japanese, with my help.

That makes more sense. Just gotta wait, then. The sign probably just says the name of that city up ahead. It looks kinda big. But...I don't hear a whole lot of cars. That's weird. Cities have cars, I thought. Oh well, whatever.

...But first, there's something weird staring at me from a tree nearby, and I think it's been watching me for a while. I turn and face it, and it seems to be at least somewhat smart, because it tries to hide better when I do that...but I can still see it. I don't think most people could, though. I've never seen anything like it. Some kind of weird animal that...has hands, but it doesn't look like a monkey--monkeys have hair. Weird. I wanna touch it!

But as soon as I take a step toward it, it's not there anymore. Really weird. I didn't hear it jump or move it just...wasn't there. I shrug, and start walking to the city. Since it's the middle of the day, and I'm just walking down a trail thing, someone's bound to see me...but oh well. I'll probably get some really funny looks, since I look like I've spent a lot of time playing in the dirt today. Assuming no one runs up to me demanding, in Japanese, probably, why a 12 year old is wandering around a city alone, of course.


OoC:

If you're curious about any editing I did, I removed a total of 3 irrelevant observations made, and shortened the descriptions of a couple of things. Oh, and a cartoon network joke. Unless there's some sort of transition thing that happens in the roleplay, it is unlikely that I will post again like this, since I avoid any sort of controlling characters not under my control like it's the plague. (Random npc-sorts don't matter on that front, but I won't ever do actions for your characters. I might make basic assumptions on occasion, but that's it.)

OoC: That's perfectly fine. ^_^ I try to avoid power-playing as much as possible, too.

IC:

The city was apparently farther away than Miyako had originally estimated. She had finally managed to get her iPod headphones in her ears without tripping over rocks, and at least three songs' worth of J-pop had played already. She didn't remember Celadon being quite so far away before. Maybe she had ventured a greater distance into the wild grass than she had thought.

A figure in the road ahead caught Miyako's eye, and she stopped, tilting her head to the side to scrutinize him. He was a little kid, even younger than hot-shot Cooltrainer back there. He didn't have any sort of pack that she could see, so she wondered where he kept his Pokeballs. Or...did he even have any Pokeballs? No pack to keep them in, no round bulges in his pockets... Unless he had discovered a way to turn them invisible, Mi didn't think the kid had any Pokemon with him at all.

While Mi was running her intent eyes over the odd sight, Bayleef blinked and tested the scent of the air for a moment. Then, a playful look broke over his face, and he bounded toward the boy with enthusiastic fervor.

"Hey, what? Bayleef, come back here!"

Mi pursued her Pokemon, who by now had reached the stranger and was standing in his path. With wide eyes and a mouth formed in the shape of a small "o," Bayleef looked up at his new-found object of curiosity. "Bay...leef?"

Mi drew up beside Bayleef, gave the Pokemon an admonishing look, and then glanced at the boy. "Sorry about that. You know, it's not safe to just wander around in the wild without any Pokemon for protection."

OoC: I feel I should comment that I am not familiar with pokeymans outside of the originals, and the ones found in Diamond/Pearl. I had to look up what a bayleef is. But that's okay.

And given the thought that people in pokeymans land speak japanese, I'm going to assume that was the language used in the speaking just now, except the pokemon itself, because I thought of a small ramble for that.

BiC:

I left the sign about 5 minutes ago. 4 minutes, 52 seconds. Close enough...I don't really care. It's strange that this is a path I'm walking on, and not a sidewalk on the side of a road. I haven't seen any roads at all, actually. Weird place, whatever it is. But no roads is nice, I guess. I don't have to worry about getting hit by one, or waiting for crossing guards, or stoplights.

And now there's the sound of something running up behind me, so I turn to see what it is. I spend a while, maybe a second, trying to figure out what in the world I'm looking at. It looks kinda like a deer, except it's shorter than me, and sorta tubby, like a little stuffed toy. And it's green. And there's... leaves growing out of its head and around its neck. That has got to be one of the weirdest creatures I've ever seen. What is it, Obi-Wan? I ask my friendly neighborhood AI. It's not in my database, and I haven't reconnected with the net yet. Great.

And now it sounds like it's... speaking. Weird stuff. 'Bay leaf?' What kind of statement is that? I know what a bay is, and what a leaf is... bays can be pretty, especially if they're somewhere tropical, like the Carribean. I think I've been to the Carribean, I'm not really sure. And leaves are everywhere. But a bay's leaf? Maybe there's some kind of tree called a 'bay.' But then, who would name a tree 'bay'? Come to think of it, who would name an animal platypus? I guess it's possible... and this thing is almost as silly as a platypus. God really does have a sense of humor, I guess.

Maybe if I said something, it'll say something else. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Nah, I'm not crazy, I don't talk to myself. I would have to disagree. Quiet, you, you're not supposed to have a sense of humor. And don't give me the 'I'm an AI' speech again.

So, I decide to say something, frowning in confusion slightly. "What are you? Are you some kind of wet tissue paper monster? 'Cause I remember watching a cartoon once that had these things called 'little poots,' and you look a lot like that..."

At about this point, a girl runs up, I hear the clank of something in her bag moving against something else, it isn't loud, and she probably didn't even notice it, but...it sounded kinda like a frying pan being tapped. Weird thing to carry around. This is a weird day. But weird is good, because weird isn't normal, and normal is boring. It's way better to have an interesting day...

She said something while I was thinking about her. Hmm, I guess I should answer. Problem is, I haven't a clue what she just said. I guess that's what Japanese sounds like. "Uh," I say unsurely, in what I would call a slow rate of speaking, but I guess is still rather rapid to most people, "I have no idea what you just said to me...maybe if you...spoke more slowly, and maybe waved your hands around a bit?"

OoC:

The implication is that he speaks like he thinks: Really fast. So, 'speaking slowly,' as observed by our hyper little friend, is still pretty fast.

OoC: Ah, right. Sorry about that. ^^; The only other Pokemon on her team that you’ll have to look up would be Houndour. The rest of them are from R/B/Y. I won’t be using any Pokemon from D/P because I don’t have a DS and haven’t played them. Pokemon from R/S/E probably won’t show up, either, but that could be subject to change.

Oh, and I’ll slip in and out of actually writing out dialogue in Japanese, depending on whether or not I know exactly how to say what I want to say in the dialogue. XP If I don't know how to say something, but I want her to speak Japanese, I'll indicate she is but write it out in English. Just thought I’d let you know that.

IC:

He’s speaking English? Here? That’s weird.

Actually, several things about the boy were odd. He was looking at Bayleef as though he was unfamiliar with the sight of the Pokemon. If he was speaking English and had no clue what he was looking at, he was obviously not a denizen of the realm of Pokemon. So, perhaps he had stumbled across some other strange portal to this world from another one, like Miyako had. Not only that, but he seemed to be on a permanent caffeine rush, which wouldn’t be entirely atypical for a kid.

There’s an intelligence behind those eyes that doesn’t seem to fit a boy of his age.

Bayleef was nudging her leg insistently, as though he knew something of which Mi was not aware. She knew Pokemon tended to be intuitive creatures, even more so than animals on Earth. Dropping her gaze from the boy for a moment, she addressed her companion. “Nani?”

“Bayleef!” the Pokemon exclaimed with a smile and suddenly nuzzled into the boy’s leg.

Miyako laughed, and then said in English, “I think he’s taken a shine to you for some reason.” She offered him her hand and a comfortable smile. “I’m Miyako, and this is Bayleef. I said earlier that it’s not safe to wander around outside the city without any Pokemon for protection.” She paused for a moment, looking thoughtfully at him. “I’m going to take a guess and say that you aren’t familiar with Pokemon.”

OoC: After a while, Niko should be able to actually understand Japanese, but I don't, so... feel free to leave things in English.

BiC:

People are kinda slow. Well, okay, I guess they're not slow, everybody moves just fine. But thinking about things, and saying stuff... slow, slow, slow. But not slow like retarded, because if everybody was retarded, then the world would be pretty...retarded. I think most people are at least kinda smart. I mean, how else would we have computers, and the internet, and TV, and popcorn. Whoever thought of popcorn had to be crazy.

That green puffy thing, whatever it is, seems pretty cheery. All happy and jumpy and stuff. It's like some crazy dog, with leaves. And now it seems to want to be my friend. Obviously didn't understand what I said to it, but then, why would it? Animals don't usually understand people...Although maybe dogs sort of do. 'sit,' 'stay,' and all that.

Now the question is, how do you talk to people who you don't understand, and don't understand you? How did Europeans do it when they came to America? My guess is waving gold and guns around. I don't think that would work too well here. I'm not very intimidating, and I don't have gold, or guns.

Although, I suspect my eyes do look unusual, but unusual isn't intimidating. Direct light into your eyes would be required to see anything out of the ordinary, and even then, it would look like a trick of the light. Right, okay. Oh, hey! She's saying something, in English! That's good. Everybody should know English. Or maybe everybody should know Japanese? The world should just have "Earthese" or "Terran" or something. Maybe we can all speak Simlish.

'Miyako.' That's a Japanese name? Yes. Kay. So, she introduced herself, and...that thing is called "bay leaf." Huh. Maybe it's because that's all it can say. I decide to make an effort to not talk too fast, well, as successful at that as I can be, anyway.

"I'm Niko," I say, taking her hand with my...somewhat dirty one. "And no...I don't know what a 'pokey man' is." I pause, oh, half a second or so. "Oh, wait. I've heard of 'Pokemon!' It's a video game, isn't it? I never played it, but I think it's popular or something...there's always something that all the kids are playing or doing, though. So, that doesn't really say much. But, you're not talking about a video game, are you? You're talking about these puffy-leafy things, right?"

When Miyako took Niko's hand, the dirt and dried mud she felt on it made her more closely examine him. Though he was simply dressed in a plain blue shirt, it was decorated with mud stains. Where had this kid been?

Words were tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. "Woah, woah, woah." Mi held up her free hand and chuckled. "Slow down a little. Well, at least you've heard of the Pokemon games. Here," she said and made a sweeping gesture, "is the actual land of Pokemon."

It sounded strange when she put it like that. She supposed that she'd lived here long enough to call it Kanto. Though, she knew that name would more than likely be lost on Niko. Bayleef was still happily observing this new stranger, oblivious to the exchange between the two humans. Miyako briefly wondered if he only understood Japanese and not English. That was a rather silly thought.

"And yeah, I'm not talking about the game. Those creatures in the game are real here. Bayleef is one of them, but there are many, many more varieties. I train some Pokemon when I'm not at my job." Her stomach growled again, persistent in its reminders of lunch time. She scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment, and then a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Hey, if you're hungry at all, you can come with me, and I'll make you something."

That's a funny look she just gave me. Wonder why. It's a shame I can't read the thoughts of people like I can computers. That would make figuring people out so much easier. What would happen, I directly ask Obi-Wan, If I met someone else like me? I doubt you could 'hack' each other, if that's what you're wondering. But you're unique, so it won't be happening. Oh well.

She said this is the 'actual' world of Pokemon? That doesn't make sense. Video game worlds don't exist...do they? Assuming that thing staring at you is identifiably from those games, observation would suggest... That it does, yeah, yeah. But still. That's the weirdest thing yet.

..Actually, it kinda makes some other stuff less weird, like the leafy puff thing, and whatever that was in a tree, earlier. Speaking of which, it's still following. That needs a direct response. How do you notice but I don't? The fun thing about these conversations is they happen in about the blink of an eye, and I can still pay attention to what's going on around me.

EM interference can be detected by the electronics in you, but there's no direct way for your mind to interpret that, so you don't. Whatever it is caused a small EM burst when it disappeared the first time, and I've detected that again several times since then. Another moment of Obi-Wan not making sense. I think I'll understand eventually... You're being watched. Carefully. Oh, okay. I still want to touch it, so maybe it'll get closer eventually.

And the girl, um... Miyako. I knew that! She just offered to give me food. Food would be good. Maybe some sushi? I've heard that stuff is good, and if they speak Japanese, they probably have sushi, right? M... Don't answer that.

"Hungry?" I ask her, pretty cheerfully, "Yeah, I'm hungry...I'd like some food. Tasty food, though, I don't want any not-tasty food. Well, actually, I guess I'm hungry enough to not notice that something isn't tasty, at least for the first few bites." I take a breath. Those do happen, now and then.

"You know how it goes, right? Hungry enough and you don't care, but once you've eaten a bit, you can notice it tastes bad." I tilt my head to one side before continuing with a thoughtful expression. "Although, if it's something like Brussels Sprouts, I think I'd notice before eating it, those smell bad." I nod slightly. "I've heard that taste is more smell than anything else, so if it smells bad, how can it taste good?"



OoC:

Bonus points if you can figure out what I've decided is following!

OoC: I got the bonus points! I got the bonus points! ^^

IC:

Miyako didn't think Niko had any sort of "OFF" switch. Despite her attempts to get him to slow down while talking, he continued spouting words at ridiculous rates. Oh, wait. There was a breath. ...Only to be followed by another smattering of words. He was amusing, at least.

"Well, you've heard correctly, then. Taste is mostly smell, so if you don't like what you smell, you probably won't like what you taste. But...I have a rule about all food. You need to at least try everything once before you knock it. And if you're eating with me, that's a rule you'll have to abide by. Deal?"

Before the boy could answer, a faint rustling reached Mi's ears from the trees nearby. "Hm?" Bayleef had noticed it, too. He was peering intently into the foliage. Then, he suddenly whirled back around and tugged at Miyako's backpack. "Bayleef, Bayleef, Bayleef!"

"What? What is it? Ow! Bayleef!"

Bayleef had managed to tug enough on one of her zippers to open it partially, allowing a Pokeball to spill out and open. Houndour emerged, his nose already to the wind and sniffing. Bayleef stepped up to him and initiated conversation, as though he were briefing Houndour on the situation. Of course, all the humans heard was a string of name repetitions, meaningless babbling.

Houndour nodded, then went back to scanning the trees diligently. Bayleef, meanwhile, was acting like a sheepdog, herding both Mi and Niko farther down the path toward Celadon. The best Mi could guess, there must have been something out in the trees that Bayleef didn't think was friendly. Though, considering his overprotective nature, that something out there could probably have been anything. Houndour, on the other hand, seemed interested by a smell in the trees, for he stood still for a long while before turning and padding down the path after them.

The eyes that had been watching disappeared once more.

Just as I'm about to agree to...Miyako's. I knew that! ...to Miyako's terms of getting food, the puffy-leafy thing starts going crazy. I dunno what else to do, so I just watch it a moment.

Out of her backpack comes an odd red and white ball, with what looks like a little button along the line. I watch it fall; funny how I can focus on stuff like that, even when it's in the air for not even a second. When it hits the ground, there's a *POP!* sort of sound, an interesting flash of light, and...the weirdest dog I've ever seen appears on the ground next to it.

The dog's pretty small, less than half my height, and it has weird...bone-looking things on its back and face. Must be another of these "pokemon" things... but...where did it come from? As the two babbling things freak out or something, I lean over and pick up the red and white ball.

What do you make of it? I ask Obi-Wan directly...as the puffy-leafy thing starts urging us to move, and I comply, not being too worried. The technology is entirely different from anything I've ever encountered, although it appears to still be computerized, and has some sort of up-link system...hold on to it for a few minutes, if you would.

"What are these...pokemon...all worked up over?" I ask Miyako. See? I do remember her name. I caught that database query, Niko. I'd glare at Obi-Wan, if he weren't in my head, sometimes. "And what's with the weird babbling they do? Do you name them after what they say, or do they say what you've named them? Seems kinda weird to not have learned phrases like that, to me..."

Another EM burst. Whatever has been watching you is what spooked them, I think. Well, I guess that makes sense...but if it was going to do something bad, I would think it would have done it when I was alone. That would be logical.

Total silence since I said something: One second. "Oh yeah, and I agree to your terms of getting food. Food is food, and food is good. But tasty food is better. I've heard people say that free tasty food is best, but I don't know, I've never really paid for my food, kids don't usually do that, you know."

Incidentally, have you noticed the minor tonal variations in the creatures "speech"? The only time Obi-Wan actually asks me questions is when he's teaching me something, and trying to get me to understand. It's not lesson time... though I did notice a little something to the way they say stuff, but I figure it's just the way their, um, voice boxes work. There's a pattern to it. There's probably real communication in that, but without a point of reference, I have no way of translating.

Speaking of translating, I wonder how long until somebody comes up with an English-Japanese translation thing for me to use? Still working on it.




OoC: Two points to be made.

First of all, for the sake of reference for anyone who 'happens' to be following along, and seing weird name references like "houndour," I suggest visiting here and making use of those A-Z lists.

Second. The bit about pokeymanz communication is a supposition on my part. It seems to me the most logical explanation for the mindless babble the things emit in the TV shows. (Which, by the way, are pretty bad.)

And a question, should I color-mark the statements of Obi-Wan, and possibly the direct questions of Niko? (For the sake of easier understanding.)

Laughing, Miyako waited until Niko’s string of words was clearly finished before choosing to answer his first question. “I’m not really sure what they’re freaking out about. Must be some wild Pokemon Bayleef didn’t like watching us. He’s very overprotective like that.” She paused. “As for food, you don’t have to worry about paying for anything. I have plenty of food back at my place.”

Bayleef was not satisfied until they were well within Celadon’s city limits. He did a sort of half-spin jump and called out to Houndour, who was bringing up the rear. Miyako could guess at a translation, something along the lines of, “Woo-hoo! We’re here and nothing bad happened!” With a much more sober air, Houndour walked to Mi’s side and looked up at her expectantly. She was just about to go for her backpack, when she caught a glimpse of Houndour’s Pokeball in Niko’s hand.

“Ah! I’m going to need that,” she said and plucked the device from his hands. That familiar beam of reddish light shot from the ball and connected with the Dark Pokemon. He dissolved instantly and returned. Miyako replaced the ball inside her backpack and withdrew another one. “Okay, Bayleef. I think it’s time you went back inside, too.”

Though Bayleef was not related in any way to a canine, he mustered his best set of puppy dog eyes. But this only caused Mi to laugh. “Aww…such a poor baby. You’re not going to stay in here forever, you know. It’s not fair to the others that you should get to stay out. Come on.”

The leaf on the Pokemon’s head drooped considerably. However, he did not protest when he, too, was returned to his Pokeball. Miyako put it in her backpack and zipped the compartment. “There. I’ll be able to cook much easier without extra sets of feet getting in the way.” She took a moment to get her bearings. “Aha. This way.”

Celadon was the largest city in the Kanto region, but it was in no way comparable to Earth’s Tokyo or New York or Beijing. The air was crisply clean and free of exhaust, since the main modes of transportation were your Pokemon, your bicycle, or your own two feet. The people were friendly and smiled even at strangers, since trainers passed through the city constantly on their way elsewhere. Miyako was, naturally, well-known to all of the permanent residents because of her skills as a chef. Several people who noticed her passing by looked up and waved.

As she led Niko along Celadon’s streets, Mi figured now was as good a time as any for satisfying some of her curiosity. “So…where did you come from? You’re obviously not from around here.”

As we come into the town...I dunno how much you could really call it a "city," I mean, I guess there's probably suburbs around somewhere, but not right here, anyway. This looks rather like a city center, with important-looking buildings around, but even then, they're not very big. Sentences usually have a subject and predicate. Uh...oh! As we come into town, I was saying, I divert a good bit more attention to the surroundings than to the immediate happenings with ...Come on now, you know the name. I do! ... with Miyako and her creatures.

It is good to know I'm not expected to pay, since, well, I have no idea what sort of money people use in this place. Since they speak Japanese, maybe they use, um... Yen. But then, maybe not, since this isn't Japan.

Miyako's going for that ball I picked up... but I'm still holding it! I'm done with analysis for now, and it is hers. Right. So, I let her take it, none the wiser as to my very brief hesitation to give it up. I do, of course, watch as the thing makes the weird dog thing, "hound door" or something, disappear.

That's some pretty scary technology, I'd say. I wonder what would happen if someone decided to use it on a person. There seem to be safety programs in it preventing that, but unless I'm much mistaken, these "pokemon" things are biological, and therefore it really wouldn't be that hard to do. To you, maybe a bit harder, but I'd need more time with one, and preferably the go-ahead to take it apart, to figure that out. Maybe later, then.

The other pokemon, the puffy-leafy one, just went back into its ball thing as well. Strange practice. I wonder how many of those she has. Five. Since I know you're going to ask, they are powered, and therefore create a very slight amount of interference. Uh, okay... They buzz, but silently.

It's almost creepy how nice everybody here seems to be, even if I have no idea what they're saying. Maybe they're really passive-aggressives, and are saying all kinds of unpleasant things while smiling and waving. Hard to say, really.

I think it took plenty long enough for Mikayo--Miyako (just testing you!)--to ask me where I'm from... if I were her, I would have wanted to know where this dirty-looking kid staring at everything and babbling like a crazy-boy was from right away. But hey, who am I to complain? I guess I don't really want to answer, anyway.

I will, all the same, though, since she is going to give me food. And I like food.

"No," I say, shaking my head slightly, "I'm definitely not from here. Dunno how I'm here, really, or where this is, even. I mean, I know I'm in the 'world of Pokemon,' but what does that mean, anyway? Location, maybe some latitude and longitude for reference? Or does it even matter? I think I would have heard of a place with pokemon, and weird shrinking technology," I gesture at her bag containing the ball-things.

"Since you identified this as 'the world of Pokemon,' that means you know of other places, then... so, I guess saying where I'm from will have some meaning." Now I give a slight grin, and a quarter-second pause. Long. "Because otherwise it would be about as meaningful as telling me the name of something around here. Maybe if I had a map, it would mean something to me..." A map would be good. "Do you have a map?"

I pause nearly a second, and remember that I was supposed to answer a question. "Oh. Almost forgot. I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina... although the last time I knew where I was, I was in California."

That creature from earlier must find you very interesting, indeed. I'm done saying stuff for now, which, I guess, is somewhat odd, given how much I usually explain stuff. But randomly telling somebody that I think as fast as a computer wouldn't be all that good. So, instead I wonder about why Obi-Wan asserts what he does. The satellite link, as well as some of my scanning operations emit a small amount of electromagnetic radiation, and it's possible whatever that is can feel that, and wants to know what it is.

I wanted to know why you said that, not why it was following. I say directly to Obi-Wan. Well, I guess "say" isn't the right word, but...you know. It's back. On rooftops. Oh, okay... wait, hold up. I'm radioactive?

No, no, no... electromagnetic radiation is like light, or radio waves, not the stuff from nuclear reactions. Oh...right, I knew that. That's good.


OoC:

Downside to this style: I *really* get carried away at times.

OoC: So, I reconstructed this from memory. There may be a few things different, but hopefully not. Darn hackers.

IC:

Miyako’s eyebrows raised a little. “Oh, you’re from the U.S.? My biological parents are American.” She left it at that for now.

They passed by a large, open food stand, and Miyako stopped. The owner of the stand appeared when he straightened to his full height. He had been fiddling with something on a lower shelf. When he saw Miyako, his face broke into a wide grin. “Ah! Akiyama-sama!”

She couldn’t restrain the roll of her eyes, though she did follow it with a smile. Kaito—or as everyone around here called him, Taka—beamed at the sight of her smile. Clearly, he had a major crush on her, but Miyako couldn’t tell if it was because he was obsessed with her looks or with her cooking abilities. Either way, she wasn’t all that interested.

In Japanese, she said, “I told you not to call me that. Save that title for someone much older and wiser than I.”

Taka was taken aback. “B-but,” he stammered, “you are a genius with food! You are...a master at cooking! A...lord, er...lady. ...Lady of the frying pan!”

Miyako had seen only a few beets in her life that were redder than Taka’s face was in that moment. She found his fumbling cute and chuckled. “You flatter me, but I only stopped to pick up a few things.” She indicated Niko next to her. “I have a guest, and I believe he’s hungry.”

Taka leaned over the stand and eyed Niko with a hint of jealousy. But the look was short-lived, for Miyako was already pondering her purchase.

“Hmm...let’s see...” She tapped her index finger against her cheek. “Do you have any specific requests for lunch, Niko?” Her use of English earned her a quizzical look from Taka, who had no idea what she had just said or whether it was directed at him or at the boy beside her.

OoC: Yes, well, I don't usually keep backups of these things offline. Events are the same as before...more or less.

BiC:


'Biological parents,' Hmm. That's only said by adopted people, isn't it? That's right. Well, that makes sense, I guess. She doesn't look much like a Japanese person. Well, given that we're not actually in Japan, I don't think that tells very much. Whatever. I'll ask her about it later.

And here we are at a food stand. That's weird. I thought people get their food from supermarkets, or not-so-super markets...inside. Okay, so it's not that weird, considering I walked out of a tree from a side room next to an alley and appeared in a different world, with funky creatures that exist only in video games. But still.

I'll spend a bit of time looking at the foods. Usual stuff... fruits, vegetables, other food-making stuff. Not all of it I'm familiar with. I reach out and run a finger along one of the ones I don't know about. Not doing anything unusual with it, of course. Biological scan is too much effort. Yeah, that.

I just wanted to feel it. Poke it. Things are more...thing-ly if you can feel them. 'Tangible' is the word you wanted. Whatever. I like my words. If you just look at something, you can't really tell if it's soft or hard or squishy, or whatever. But when you poke it, you know. Sometimes things might even make a noise, like "splort," or something.

Speaking of which, Miyako's been talking to the guy. I have no idea what about... food, probably, but the guy just turned red. Must be some touchy food he's got. I pick up a big berry looking thing, and turn it around in front of my face, squeezing it slightly, and inspecting all angles carefully. I guess it's a really fast action by most people's standards, but I think I take a while in doing that.

Oh, hey, she's saying something in English! What do I want to eat? I put the berry thing back down as I consider. So many possibilities.

After nearly two seconds of considering (that's a long time), I respond cheerfully, "I want pizza!" I glance off to the side, at nothing in particular. "I don't know what kind of cheese... I don't remember what different cheeses taste like, but some sort of cheese is a must, since it is pizza." I pause for half a second, then add, "Oh, and pepperoni! It adds color, and flavor, and stuff. I like pepperoni, it's real tasty." Very quietly, not really meaning to be heard, I add, "I think."

I wonder if that thing following me will want some pizza? Oh well... if he does, he'll have to come ask for it himself.

Grinning, Miyako nodded at Niko. "Hmm...yeah, pizza sounds good to me, too. I haven't made that in a while, so this will be fun."

She turned back to Taka, reverting to Japanese. "I'm going to need a good amount of pepperoni and the freshest cheese you have--preferably not anything strange or off-the-wall like goat cheese. A good block of provolone or Swiss will do."

Taka stared at her like she was an alien, but he soon shook himself out of it and shuffled around in his stand. While searching for the ingredients, he muttered to himself. "She is strange, yes... Cooking for a strange boy she picked up in the grass... If she weren't a genius, I wouldn't love her so--"

His eyes widened as he realized he had said that out loud. Miyako was looking at him, trying to appear stern but failing. The look on his face was priceless. He scrambled to throw all of her requests into a paper bag and hurriedly stuck it out to her. "Here!" He was panting, refusing to meet her eyes. "It is all free today! Yes, yes. Today is...free food for Akiyama-sama day!"

She couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. Taka's face burned red. Cradling the bag in her arms, Miyako shook her head. "You never cease to prove entertaining, Kaito." She glanced at Niko. "Come on."

They were several feet down the street before she heard Taka burst into rapturous shouts. "My name! She said my name! She must feel the way I do about her!"

Laughing to herself, Miyako clutched the bag tighter to her chest and muttered in English, "Boys are such silly people."

I watch with mild interest as the strange man scurries around mumbling something, collecting ingredients. I also watch the little spider above his head quietly making itself a little web. I doubt anyone but me has noticed it, it's only...2 milimeters or so in size.

This guy seems... really worked up over something. Whatever they're talking about must be interesting. And I don't see any money changing hands. I wonder how that works.

I think Miyako just said something to me. I'm not sure what it was, but since she's starting to move, I think it meant "time to go," or something like that. So, I'll go with her.

Understanding the language would be nice. Be patient. I'm being patient. It's been...what, half an hour since a connection was made? That's a long time to wait. But since I'll have to wait a little longer, might as well talk.

"What did you say to him?" The question's directed at Miyako, of course. I don't think anyone else could understand me around here. "He looked all freaked out, and his face was red, and his heartbeat was going like 100 beats a minute." I put on a thoughtful expression. "Is he afraid of you? Or maybe your pokemon things... you don't...threaten people, do you?"

To be perfectly honest, I don't really care about that all that much. Whatever gets the job done. So, I'll tack on a few other questions that I've been wondering. It's been only a half second pause or so, anyway. "And speaking of your pokemon, how do those red and white ball things work? Those two dissappeared completely. Are they, um, inside the ball? Does it shrink them down, or break them into pieces?"

OoC: Okay, we should be good to go now. I have a reliable internet connection at my apartment now. ^_^

IC:

The sun was steadily creeping toward its zenith. Miyako hoped the cheese and pepperoni would hold until they arrived at her place. It wouldn’t be too much farther, which was good because her feet were beginning to protest.

Niko was flooding her with questions now that they were relatively alone again. She couldn’t decide which was more intriguing—the rapid-fire way he talked or the way his eyes seemed to take in everything around him with a profound curiosity. And then, there was also the fact that he had come here from the U.S. just as she had from Japan. How long had she been living here? She had read books before about alternate worlds having a completely different time flow. What felt like days here might be years back in Japan. Perhaps she could see if Niko knew anything about current world events once the pizza was in the oven.

For now, she smiled at his questioning, especially the one about frightening Taka. “I have no reason to threaten poor Taka. …Unless, of course, he tried to come onto me. In that case, I would no doubt smash his head in.” She moved her backpack a little, her frying pan clinking against the toaster, and grinned.

His other question was a bit harder to answer. “About the Pokeballs… I’ve never really given much thought to how they work. I do know the Pokemon are in the balls, but I’m not sure about all the specific mechanics.”

Oh look. A funny looking bird is on that building over there. ...Wait, you can't see that, you're just in my head. Well, no, not in my head, listening to my commentary which is recorded in my head. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, it's a funny looking bird...but it just left. Oh well.

I listen carefully to all Miyako says. It's not very enlightening, although she does seem to find it funny, for some reason. And, you know, I have to wonder why she would carry around a cooking pan. That doesn't seem like something that would be very practical...I mean, maybe a camping cooking set, if she's going to be out in the woods for a while, but that doesn't rattle enough for one of those.

Since she doesn't know anything about the... "pokeballs," I just shrug and then ask, "So...where are we going?" I look at her for a moment. "I mean, I think I know where we're going, but not where that is...if that makes any sense. Of course it makes sense, but maybe just to me...I know we're going somewhere that you can cook at, so probably your house or something, but I don't know where that is."

I'm working on translation algorithms now. I'm not completely sure what an algorithm is, but I'm sure it's a good thing. A way to figure stuff out. Unfortunately, there's not much audio data to access, so I'll have reading before speaking. Quite suddenly, I get in my vision a rapid showing of a bunch of squiggly symbols, and likely translations...it's kinda cool looking, although doesn't help me in the slightest. Yet.

Focusing on those symbols got me to stop watching the world around for a couple seconds, and I almost missed seeing someone poke their head in a window to stare at us. Me, probably...I am a little dirty, and I kinda don't have shoes, but my socks have enough mud on them to look like it. Lets me blend in to the trees well! But, this isn't a forest. Okay, I've heard of cities called "human forests" before, but that's not really the same thing.

OoC: *cracks knuckles* Let's do this. Um...sorry for the long wait? ^^;

IC:

Miyako didn't miss the face peering curiously through a nearby window. Miss Myrtle. There was no mistaking the puff of blue-tinged, white hair crowning a face creased with secret cares. What little light filtered through the murky window reflected off her horn-rimmed glasses. Miyako didn't know of anyone who knew what the woman's eyes looked like. That house had essentially been her cage for as long as anyone in Celadon could remember.

Suddenly, Miyako stopped and tilted her head. An idea was forming. She lifted a hand to wave at the silhouette lurking in the window and offered a friendly smile to the glass. A split second later, Myrtle vanished from sight. Miyako arched an eyebrow. The woman might be a shut-in, but she was certainly spry.

"Hmm..." Miyako tapped her other set of fingers against the bag of supplies. She had no idea why this random thought had occurred to her now. Mi glanced down at Niko. "Say, I was going to take you back to my place for lunch, but how would you feel about having lunch somewhere else?"

She didn't wait for a reply and instead approached Myrtle's front door. The house was quaint, though in need of some repair. Truth be told, it wasn't much different from the other residences in Celadon. Cookie-cutter houses filled with the cookie-cutter trainers Mi loved so much. But Myrtle was different from the others. Surely, she had some mysterious past nobody else knew but about which everybody gossiped.

A few confident raps upon the door were followed by an awkward silence, like the whole city had done a double-take. The seconds ticked by. A giant bead of sweat rolled down Mi's temple.

Then, the door creaked open. Through the thin sliver of an opening, a section of those glasses peaked out.

"No, I won't buy any of your cookies, little girl. I don't have the money." The voice was fragile yet possessed a note of underlying strength.

The bead of sweat grew a little larger, and Miyako waved her free hand nervously. "No, no, no. I'm not here to sell you anything. I just wanted to know if you'd like me to cook something for you."

After another agonizing silence, Myrtle replied, "You don't want any money?"

"No, I just love to cook, and since I was already planning on cooking lunch for a friend of mine, I thought you might want something to eat, too." Maybe this wasn't such a bright idea...

To Mi's surprise, Myrtle finally relented. "Oh, fine. Come on inside. I'll show you to the kitchen. Bring your friend, as well."

Turning to Niko, Miyako waved him over. "Hey, this would be the change in plans. Sorry about the abruptness."

OoC: So, yeah. Totally came up with this out of the blue. It's funny how you start out thinking your post is going one direction, and it ends up taking a different one. Do whatever you like about describing the inside of Myrtle's house. Again, no set plans at all.

Oh, and...REVOLUTION! *hits ball into your court*