001 - Video

[scratchitti]

[Neku comes on screen, looking very unamused. A little bit of Goldenrod City, not far from the Game Corner, can be seen behind him, and at least he thought to turn his shirt inside out for this because what is buying more clothing?! He seems to be sitting on the sidewalk as people bustle by.

It's been a few hours since he woke up here and any Rockets in the area might have heard him demanding answers before just going outside to stew instead. Checking out the weird chat phone seemed wise, even if he has little interest in chatting with strangers. This might be the best way to find out where the hell he IS]

So, show of hands for every one stuck in this weird delusion.

[As he's talking a Meowth tottles up with a potion in it's paws, offering it to him]

Huh? Erm, thanks.

Okay, so it's too real to be a dream, but I guess just asking what's going on would be too easy.

[The cat comes back again with a... Clefairy keychain? With someone's keys still on it]

Where did you...? Whatever. Does EVERYONE have kleptomaniac animals or is it just m-

NO, NO PUT IT BACK!

[Oh that's a struggling pokeball yeah the cat doesn't look ashamed at all even with someone yelling in the background. Neku jolts up and grabs his pokemon and bolts, the feed cutting off]

Comments

[Video]

[codeforhope]

[Chihiro knew Meowths could be a little naughty at times, but stealing from people isn't good at all...]

Oh dear...um, is everything alright?

[He's hoping that during the time it took for him to respond to this, Neku was able to get those things returned.]

[Video]

[scratchitti]

[Well, the pokeball at least. He still has no idea where the keys came from]

It's fine.

[Video]

[codeforhope]

[It's strange...someone seemingly new arriving in Goldenrod...there's no way they could have traveled all this way in such a short amount of time, so they must have started here.

HMM...

Either way, Chihiro isn't concerned about that right now.]

Are you sure? I mean...I can assure you that none of this is a dream, at least.

[Video]

[scratchitti]

Yeah, that'd be too easy.

[Video]

[codeforhope]

There's...nothing to be afraid of here.

[That's the next thing he says, mostly because he remembers how uneasy he was when he first arrived.]

[Action]

[unkinder]

[The Game Corner was Nagi's destination, same as usual. It seemed like a good idea to get out long enough to let his Pokemon get some training in (particularly the psychics, whom he'd been trying to work with on a one-on-one basis, with slow results). His Pikachu rides on his shoulder as always, lest he keep him in his Pokeball and be treated to absolute refusal to listen under any conditions, and he'd rather not have to go through that again. At his heels trots a Vulpix with her head tilted up, and on his other shoulder an Abra is draped, claws hanging on to the material of the shirt on his shoulder.

Nagi doesn't pay Neku any mind as he walks past, and wouldn't have- if it weren't for the fact that his Vulpix suddenly collides with the Meowth rushing back to Neku with some new treasure.

And her response is to let loose a burst of embers in retaliation, her tails lifted over her head and fluffed up twice their size in indignation because HOW DARE.]

[Action]

[scratchitti]

[The Meowth yelps in surprise, but that woulda been that-

-if not for the embers hitting her treasure (an Antidote) and busting the potion all over her paws.

That was HERS and it was a gift for NEKU and now she's STICKY and BITCH YOU GONNA DIE.

She hisses, hitting all fours with her claws out and her own tail now a huge bottle brush]

Whoa, hey!

[Action]

[unkinder]

[Nagi turns quickly on his heel, looking down to see his Vulpix with the inside of her mouth glowing, preparing to fire off another round of embers if the Meowth gets too close to her.

A quick assessment of the situation doesn't tell him exactly what happened, beyond the fact that the Meowth had some sort of item that got broken in the scuffle, and either seems to be angry about that, or about the fact that there was a scuffle to begin with.

Meanwhile, his Pikachu quickly hops down from his shoulder, bounding over to the Vulpix's side. He seems to be trying to convince her to stand down, but with little success.]

What happened?

[Action]

[scratchitti]

Dunno. She's pissed though.

[And she is, outright cat-growling at the fox and scrapping her claws in the pavement.]

Rrrrrth!!

[And whatever she said sounds very rude. Neku moves to pick her up, but she just skitters out of the way]

Damn cat...

[Action]

[unkinder]

[Nagi doesn't move to stop the confrontation for a moment, waiting to see what his Pikachu does. He reaches his paws out and nudges the Vulpix's shoulder, but she doesn't respond and narrows her gaze further at the Meowth, smoke trailing from her jaws.

With a sigh, he finally walks over and scoops her up off the ground before she can lunge at the Meowth. She wriggles in his arms with a low whine, her ears back as she glares down at the cat. She has half a mind to try and bite Nagi's fingers with her hot teeth, but she also knows better and doesn't.]

Leave it.

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica watches the Meowth with a look that said she'd been through this herself.]

I wish this place was a dream, but it's not. Also, you're not the only one with a Pokémon that likes to steal stuff.

[The Murkrow sitting on her shoulder could attest to that.]

[Video]

[scratchitti]

So what, that's a common thing? Great.

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Either it's common, or it's just the two of us that got stuck with Pokémon that like to mess with us.

[Ako decides that now is a good time to make herself known, and the Murkrow caws loudly, casing Veronica to flinch.]

Dammit, that was right in my ear.

[Video]

[scratchitti]

[Meowth jumps up and yowls at the screen too. HI STEALING PAL]

...that wouldn't surprise me.

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[MORE CAWING HEY BUDDY~ HOWS IT HANGING

In other news, Veronica is getting a headache.]

Ugh... did it steal your pokegear too?

[video]

[ajustcaws]

...well, we've all got weird animals, but not all of them steal stuff.

[...that's... a little unfortunate.]

Well, if he keeps causing trouble, you can keep him in the little ball thing? I don't like doing it, but it might get him to not do it...

[video]

[scratchitti]

Wait, so we just show up and someone is all 'Here, have a pet'?

[Meowth hisses at the idea of being ball'd though]

[video]

[ajustcaws]

Yeah, pretty much! Most of them are super cool, though, so it's basically the best thing. And you can get a lot of them, too!

[video]

[scratchitti]

A lot?

[video]

[ajustcaws]

A heck of a lot! Like, I think you're allowed to have six on you, but you can keep more of them in this magical thing called a PC!

[Video]

[dressofheaven]

[A newcomer in Goldenrod, with a Pokemon predisposed to stealing things?

Well, this couldn't be more obvious. But Ilya's just going to file that information away for later. Right now, it's time to troll. By filming her right hand as she answers.

Hey, he said "show of hands".]

My Pokemon prefer to cause damage more than steal things, but they can all be little or not-so-little troublemakers, depending on how you train them. Consider it incentive.

[Video]

[scratchitti]

[Neku has the most unamused look]

Ha ha, you're a comedic genius.

[Video]

[dressofheaven]

Oh, just going to ignore what I said, hmm? Maybe I should just talk to you with my hand the whole time if you're going to be like that.

[She'd probably be more convincingly annoyed if she didn't sound so downright amused.]

On the other hand, it's kind of hard to hold the gear like this.

[Video]

[scratchitti]

Making them LESS assholes seems like more work then incentive.

[dressofheaven]

But what's more work in the long run? Dealing with their behavior for as long as you're here, however long that is, or fixing it so they're more pleasant to work with? You're stuck with them either way, so choose wisely.

Then again, watching you try to deal with them as they are might be kind of funny.