I CAME IN LIKE A POKEBALL

[these_balls]

Who: ANYONE AND EVERYONE
Where: ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE
When: May 29 - June 1
Summary: GET IN HERE AND MINGLE
Rating: BUT PLEASE MARK YOUR THREAD CONTENT ACCORDINGLY
Log:

"" (Watch on YouTube)

There's something strange, a sudden change
Around, all across the sky;
A change of scene as The Machine
Goes wild, and no one knows why

Everyone will say it's a great display
And we brought it for you
Cynthia and Lance set off Nukes From France™
Now you know what to do:

WE'RE KICKING OFF A ROUTE FOURTH WALL
BRING EVERY JOURNAL, ONE AND ALL
HAVE A PARTY, BREAK DOWN ALL THE WALLS
'Cause it's our game's anni-ver-er-sa-ry
And we're, so ha-a-a-ppy!

Remember to drop a link to your thread here!

Comments

[rarestcandy]

Wha -- Ralph?

[DUDE, WHERE ARE YOU. Give her a moment to whirl around before finally digging her 'gear out from her hoodie pocket. His voice had sounded...funny... And like it had come from her stomach... This day was just weird enough that it would be possible.]

What are you doing?

[rocketralph]

_{[!!!!!! Ralph pounds against the screen. He is so, so very tiny.]}

KID! GET ME OUTTA HERE!

[rarestcandy]

[Yes he is. Were she not so confused, Vanellope would take the moment to gloat about how she was the giant of the two, now. Instead, she just gives the 'gear a feeble shake, almost like she expects Ralph to fall harmlessly through the screen.]

Why'd ya go and get yourself stuck in the first place?

[...Also some silent prayers that he won't go through her picture files. So many ones where she made it look like Ralph was picking his nose while he slept...]

[rocketralph]

Wh--HEY! Watch it!

_{[Ralph goes tumbling and clings to one of the wallpaper icons for dear life. He's only got one after all!]}

This isn't pinball! Look, I don't know what happened, one minute I'm mindin' my own business and then zap! This is too freaky for me. A game inside a game...and there are probably games in here. I'm gettin' a headache just thinkin' about it.

[rarestcandy]

Oops!

[OKAY, no more shaking. In fact, she's heading into a cafe so she can set him down as a table and make herself comfortable in the booth.]

I think last year a thing got sucked into the 'gear. He kept being shot out, though. You don't see any portals that are like This Way to the Outside World, huh? Or like zappy tracks or somethin'?

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph shakes his head in a very simple, jerky animation.]}

Nothin' like that. Just a bunch of tubes and...cats. A whole lotta cats.

[rarestcandy]

...Cats.

[Look, the tubes she can kinda understand, but what.]

[rocketralph]

_{[He gives her a huge shrug. SEARCH HIM. He doesn't get the cat thing. Ralph starts to pace, shoving icons out of his way as he does so.]}

I'm just glad I found your poke'gear. The last person I bumped into tried to drag me into the recycling bin. I know I used to live in a dump but c'mon!

[rarestcandy]

Wh -- Hey, hey! Don't break my apps, dude.

[She sets her elbows on the table, blowing bangs out of her face. What to do about poor Ralph...]

Next time someone tries that, you gotta blackmail 'em. You can learn a lot about people from their garbage. [Vanellope's a Class S Dumpster Diver, by this point.] So all the tubes just lead to other 'gears? Do they all look the same?

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph leans away from the photo album app and makes a short show of dusting it off before folding his arms. Hmf!]}

They've all got the same general I dunno...set-up I guess, but they're all a little different. Different piles of junk, different games, different walls...and it's noisy! I've overheard so many calls my ears are ringing.

[rarestcandy]

Whoa...

[Her tone probably isn't one Ralph's too thrilled to hear.]

It's like you're a spy! Only, you know, loud. And cranky because you're a spy that doesn't think being a spy is cool.

[rocketralph]

.... Exactly.

<sub>[That said, Ralph decides if he's going to get out of the Network he'd best familiarize himself with just how the gears work. So he's going to use Vanellope's.]

[Don't mind him, he's just climbing icons and poking random things to see what opens!]</sub>

[rarestcandy]

Well I think spies are cool.

[Or at least she DID until one started MANHANDLING HER POKEGEAR.]

Come on, Ralph, be gentle! My camera's never done anything to you. Won't help you get out e -- whoa, watch it! That one's one of those weird games this thing comes with!

[She's...still never opened one. TOO WEIRD.]

[rocketralph]

I'm not afraid of some pixelated grass snake! I'll tie it in a knot if it tries to mess with me.

_{[He yanks open a folder which suddenly acts very much like a file cabinet drawer in his hands and idly thumbs through things Doot de doooo.]}

Wish it was this easy on the Outside. The screen's too small for me to get much good out of--Vanellopewhatisthis.

_{[OH YES, HE'S FOUND VANELLOPE'S AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER VENTURES.]}

[rarestcandy]

Be nice to the pixelated grass snake, Ralph. You're in his...arcade, I guess?

[What was life like, for the 'gear game characters...

Probably better than Vanellope's right now. At least Ralph is trapped in a place where she doesn't have to worry about him.]

...It's a picture!

[RIGHT?]

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph frowns and tugs out one of the photos before turning it around to show the screen. It's very small in his hands but the thumbnail is clear. It's one of Vanellope's deep and thought-provoking 'sleep portraits'.]}

[rarestcandy]

...What, you wanna try tellin' me that's not a picture? It's a masterpiece!

[At least she's smart enough to start looking sheepish...]

[rocketralph]

_{[The little pixel Ralph breathes out an animated SIGH speech bubble with capitol letters and all. He shoves it back into the file and keeps digging.]}

It's kiiiinda creepy to take pictures of people while they're sleepin'. Just sayin'.

[rarestcandy]

You offerin' to pose like that for me when you're awake?

[Because that would be pretty neat, too. Picking his nose with his eyes open. What a novel idea!]

Anyway, it's just for fun. No sense in complaining about it.

[If he continues his search, he'll find nicer pictures she's taken of him, usually when he's smiling, and lots of pictures of their teams. Since losing all the pictures from her first trip to Johto, Vanellope had made a dedicated effort to using the camera function whenever possible.]

[rocketralph]

HMPH!

_{[Ralph goes back to rooting through her files. Pictures, applications, folders open all across the gear's home screen.]}

My dump was more organized than this! How do you find anything?

[rarestcandy]

It's organized! I've got a system, okay? An' you're gonna screw it up, if you keep knocking everything all over the place!

[If she was still standing, she'd be tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. Instead, she settles for a disapproving shake her head.]

If you're still in there after the coding days are over? You're cleaning all that up. Could be your new home, after all.

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph shoves an animated gif of a waving Psyduck out of the way to peer out of the clutter.]}

I'd better not be stuck in here!

[rarestcandy]

I'd take good care of you! Draw pictures of food and drag them over to you, let you wrestle with Pixelsnake to keep you strong...

[...She'd probably be a little lonely, always talking to a screen, but she doesn't stop joking. Everything would reset in a few days, she's...sure of it... She's not worried, and that's totally not why her hand phases into pixels and her chin hits the table.]

Ow! Stupid glitch...

[rocketralph]

_{[Ralph rolls his eyes but doesn't hide his worry as well as he would like.]}

Oh, yeah, a steady diet of Smeargle-Paint lollipops. I can't wait for that.

_{[The gear shakes and some of the apps tumble to the 'ground' as Vanellope takes her bump. Ralph climbs down and presses his nose to the screen again.]}

You okay, squirt?

[rarestcandy]

[Hey, she'd eat those for three months if she had to. Can't be that bad...

Vanellope rubs at her face, trying not to grimace too hard.]

Yeah, yeah... Good thing m'not carrying you around anymore, huh?

[For everything being crazy for these periods, it was never quite as fun as it should be.]