route_1065 | COVERED IN BEEEEEEEEEES!

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Route 30

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COVERED IN BEEEEEEEEEES!

Who: Heather and Zack
Where: Route 30-- not TOO far from Cherrygrove.
When: Slightly backdated-- a little before noon.
Summary: Heather was a little miffed to learn that there was a raging swarm of angry mutant bees preventing her from making a safe start to her journey to Violet City. Until she remembered that where there are regular household appliances, there are solutions. To everything. And then Zack had to go and encourage her.
This will either end really well, or horribly bad.
Rating: PG for extremely destructive behavior. Potentially R if things go south, because Heather has the mouth of an angry tatoo'd motorcyclist and she will use it.

Log:

Even in the shade of the forest, the sun beat down through the leaves mercilessly. It was hot. Really hot.

And if that wasn't bad enough, all around, there was the growing hum of many, many insectoid wings. Anyone who's been on the receiving end of multiple stings will remember that humming sound forever.

Heather Mason was no exception.

"Okay. So."

Wiping her dusty hands off on her pants like a clean person, she gestured to the small array of cleaning materials and containers they had amassed.

"When you combine bleach and detergent, it makes this nasty gas. I've gotten rid of big biting bug swarms with it before. The problem is that it's corrosive, and if it gets on you... well, yeah. SO."

Throwing a few coils of rope down onto the ground, she put her hands on her hips.

"We gotta get creative."

...... Oh no.

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"Okay. So."

She tugged the plastic lid off of the bucket-- it was the kind you'd use to keep potting soil in but had probably just been used to hold cleaning supplies or cat litter (Poke-litter?) or something. Emptying its contents onto the ground, she held up the lid.

"I think if we pour both the bleach and the ammonia and stuff into the bucket and cover it up really quickly, we can contain the gas for a little while." Dropping the lid, she picked up one of the several coils of rope she bought from the Mart-- Escape Rope, good for more than just escaping from caves. "So I was thinking, maybe we could hang 'em from branches or something. That way we'll be able to swing them towards the bugs without actually having to be within death range when the gas escapes!"

Heather was very pleased with her own genius.

Although it was safe to say that in this case, it could probably be classified as mad genius.

"Pretty clever!" He said this with a laugh... wondering just how long it had taken for her to come up with a plan like that. But hey, it worked for him.

The SOLDIER gave the area a careful onceover, rubbing at his masked chin thoughtfully...

"... They're basically just bees, right? Maybe if we could find the nest, we could swing the poison in that direction! They've got a nest, don't they?"

The plan just kept getting better and better.

"Like, thanks!" Heather flipped her hair with a toss of the head, taking on a mock-ditzy expression.

"Hmm... I'm not sure. I dunno enough about them to know that... this is a pretty big route, too." It's a fantastic idea, but ... "Not to mention we'd have to get close enough to it to begin with..." Which was daaaangerous. "But uh... ooh! Hey! I bet even if we seal them really tightly, the bees'll just skewer them with their stingers! And let the gas out!"

Which made things a whole lot easier. They'd just have to get their position right...

Heather turned to briefly peek over the bushes, feeling the buzz of excitement herself.

"HAH!" ... That would actually be pretty hilarious, come to think of it. That'd show 'em for attacking Rise and bugging innocent trainers. ... No pun intended. Wait. No. Pun definitely intended. Luckily for Heather (and unluckily for the both of them), 'Danger' was Zack Fair's middle name. Probably.

"I like that idea." Flopping down in front of the bucket and peering inside devilishly, he half-lifted the ski mask to give the ingredients to their concoction-to-be an examination.

"Let's get crackin'."

"Don't have to say that twice!"

Sneaking a last peek over the bushes currently concealing them from the still-raging swarm buzzing around a short distance away, Heather crouched down and pulled on her ski-mask.

"You'll wanna cover up as much as possible-- those rubber gloves we all got in our backpacks should work pretty well. This stuff turns to gas almost immediately so we're gonna have to be real quick. And possibly run a short distance away from it as soon as we fasten the lid on so that whatever escapes doesn't melt our faces off like in Raiders of the Lost Ark."

She'd learned this the hard way back in Silent Hill-- of course, this is in the open air and not in a cramped little corridor, so they've got that going for them. Reaching up, she tugs down a pair of cheap safety glasses she unearthed from somewhere in the Pokemon Center over her eyes.

"Goggles on, if you have 'em."

"Raiders of the Lost wha...?"

... Oh well. It was probably nothing, right? He shrugged, putting the oversized rubber gloves on over his fitted leather ones and put the 'ski' mask back over his face. No goggles for him. He'd just have to me extra careful...

Oh yeah. Different worlds. Whoops.

She waved a hand dismissively.

"Pop culture reference, never mind."

Noting his lack of goggles, she bit her lip thoughtfully. Hmm. "... Okay. Here."

Handing him the bottles of bleach and ammonia, she set the bucket down firmly.

"You pour these in one at a time-- but keep your face well back. Then get away from the bucket as fast as you can and I'll slam the lid down on it."

He held the chemicals in his hands just as carefully as if he'd been handed two vials of plutonium, examining the ammonia in amazement. This stuff was lethal? Who knew?

In any case, the bottle of bleach seemed lighter than the ammonia, so he carefully started to pour the ammonia bottle in first. The bleach had a wider mouth; He would be able to dump that in a lot quicker, so that came second.

He already had maneuvered himself into a crouching position when he was halfway through the second bottle. And when the last drop filled the bucket, he shut his eyes and scrambled out of the way!

The sheer destructive capacity of the contents of an average under-the-sink cupboard was honestly kind of surprising. Heather had paid enough attention in chemistry class to have picked up a few tricks. Reckless as this little venture was, stunts like this had saved Heather's ass in a pinch.

Holding the lid with both pink-gloved hands, Heather crouched at the ready. As soon as Zack was clear, she slammed the lid down firmly over the top. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to entirely avoid stinging eyes, so it was with a muffled squeal and flaily pained gestures that she threw herself away from the bucket. No burns, but it hurt to be around that stuff.

"GAH!"

But the lid was on! They were victorious! ... SO FAR.

Zack, too was walking off the pungent affects of two materials that were offensive enough on their own, making a colorful array of disgusted faces under the cover of that ski mask and shaking off his gloved hands.

"Man!! That is rancid. Gross." Shielding his eyes with his arm, he wheezed and averted his gaze.

"Is it covered? Did I do it right?"

"Rancid and corrosive. That stuff'll BURN if you get too close to it." Eyes watering, she looks over her shoulder from a safe distance. In the open air, she's pretty sure it'll disperse relatively quickly. But better safe than sorry.

Wiping her gloves in the dirt just to be sure (though she's pretty sure that none of it got on them), she gave Zack a hearty thump on the shoulder.

"Yeah! You did awesome! So far, so good. ... Actually, I probably shouldn'ta said that, it's what people always say before something blows up in their face..." Brushing herself off, she looked back at the bucket. She could hear the horrible stuff fizzling away in there. "It's covered so it should be safe to pick up in a minute. As long as the cap doesn't come off."

Coughing a bit, he chuckled and bumped his shoulder against hers proudly. This girl right here? Genius. And there was no reason he could fathom that this plan wouldn't be a 100% success. ... if they could get close enough to the bees, anyway. He could always smack 'em away with the tree branch if push came to shove (which it probably would), but he probably wouldn't be able to get them all. Not without getting himself seriously hurt.

"Alrighty... let's give it a minute."

Flopping back down into a sitting position in the grass and waving the stench away form his face with his hand, he gestured for her to have a seat as well.

"So, Heather... Are you a chemist or somethin'? Where'd you get the idea? We could probably get into serious trouble if we hurt some of those bees."

... Not that that was much of a repellent for Zack.

Heather laughed a bit herself, flopping down on the ground as well.

"Heck, nah... I just paid attention in chem class. And did a lot of chores and stuff involving cleaning fluids. I'm no scientist." As both the science geeks who emphatically warned her against doing this when she transmitted a video proclaiming her grand idea would say. "And as for where I got the idea... well, that's kinda a long story, but this one time I had to get through this tiny little corridor that was blocked by a bunch of dangerous biting bugs... had to get past 'em somehow, and I'd picked up some bleach and detergent along the way..."

Oh, life in Silent Hill. That godforsaken town was not a friendly place, and especially in Heather's case, it forced you to be resourceful.

"Anyway, I'm not scared of trouble... to be totally honest, I don't think it'll actually kill these things... have you seen 'em? They're like ... bees on steroids."

Lucky for Heather, Zack was no scientist, either. And he was still of the opinion that this was a downright grand idea.

"Haven't seen a Beedrill yet myself, but I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle." ... What with the Behemoths and the demi-god summons. Then again, he had no Buster... no materia.

"We oughtta be fine. Hell, if things go sour, we could always just... run away."

But running away was for wusses and suckers. He'd definitely have to get in a few good hits (since he promised Rise he'd do it) before retreating like a pansy.

"I looked 'em up on the Dex thing. They're pretty big, but I've fought stuff kinda like them before." Not, you know, exactly like them, but Heather's got more than a little experience with monsters. She's pretty confident. "And yeah, that's the spirit!"

She was all about running away if she had to. Sometimes it was just your only choice.

Standing up with a slight grunt, Heather dusted off the seat of her pants and cautiously approached the bucket.

"I think it's okay to go over there now... wanna grab that rope? Let's find a good branch to suspend it from!"

And she's a fighter too? Sweet!

"Gotcha!" Perking up again, he picked up the rope and curled it over his arm, skittering back over to the bucket like the excited puppy he was.

"It sure looks ready. I bet it's super... corrosive in there."
Why yes, Zack did learn a new word today.

"The buzzing's coming from deeper down the Route. If you wanna carry the bucket... I'll cover you." He nodded toward the branch he was still lugging around proudly.

Very much so. Not quite in the same sense that Zack is-- Heather's just a tough kid with street smarts and the know-how to fire a gun. .... Well, that, and she's the (unwilling) holy figure of a twisted cult and the mother of an aborted demon god. Y'know, nothing special.

"Application of vocabulary, two bonus points," Heather commented on his clever use of the new (and relevant!) word. "I'm pretty sure it IS super corrosive."

She leaned down to scoop the unneeded materials into her pack before gripping the bucket's handle carefully and lifting it up.

"Good plan-- uhnf. Keep an eye out for a decent branch. We've got plenty of rope so that won't be an issue."

Now, if she had told Zack all of that, he might have been a little skeptical. He laughed when he was awarded those ~bonus points~ and walked beside her thoughtfully.

"I wonder what'll draw 'em to sting the bucket. Should we put... honey on the lid, or something?"

Yeeeah. That'd be why she didn't talk about that stuff to anybody. She'd admit to fighting monsters but that whole 'mother of god' thing was something she kind of wanted to pretend hadn't happened.

"Well, I don't have any honey... but I bet that if we make the rope long enough, we could swing it at 'em... Ever push someone on a swingset before? Could kinda work like that. Bees are dumb. If they're already coming at us, they'll probably just attack whatever's moving."

She was absolutely right. Bees were dumb. As long as they weren't gonna be dealing with some kinda genetically enhanced superintelligent mega-bees, the plan would work as is.

As they were proceeding, the angry sound of buzzing only got louder and louder... and he paused to give the area a thorough examination.

"We could use one of the taller trees up ahead." The taller the tree, the wider the swing, he figured.

Yeah, and considering they're just chilling around in the wild, she's pretty sure they're not mad genius mega factory-produced bees.

"Good plan! All we have to do is make sure the bucket won't touch the ground and just like, fall over."

Uncoiling the rope from around her shoulder, she set the bucket down briefly to tie one end around the handle.

Getting busy himself, he took the other end of the rope and gave it some slack before looping it loosely around his back and got to work climbing one of the more imposing trees, humming quietly under the sound of the buzz.

Of course, he'd need both hands to climb the tree... which meant he had to leave his makeshift club down at the bottom.

Heather would have offered to climb, but hey, why not let the big strawng man do it?

The buzzing sounds were getting a little closer-- not a very good sign. But Heather didn't seem too nervous yet. She did lower her voice a little, though.

"Make sure it's tied real tight!"

She was already making double-knots on the bucket handle. It wouldn't do to have it give way with the bucket in midair.

He had to judge the amount of slack very carefully... A few inches too short and the thing would just drag the ground and probably spill all over the place when they swung it. A few feet too short and there wouldn't be much swinging going on at all.

Either way, he did his best to eyeball it before getting everything secure at the branch and carefully maneuvering his way down a bit before dropping to the ground.

"Got everything taken care of topside." Now... to wait for the bees to come to them, or to attract their attention somehow?

He trusted Heather's judgment.

Craning her head back to watch Zack, Heather waited until it looked like the line was secure before letting go of the bucket, holding her breathe.

... It held! The bucket swayed back and forth gently, its contents still fizzling angrily.

"Awesome! We're aaaaaalmost ready."

Taking hold of the bucket with both hands she carefully walked backwards, seeing just how far the rope would go. Hm... little bit shorter than she'd been hoping for, but eh. They could work with it.

"Okay. Now we gotta decide who does what. From what I've heard, those things will attack anyone they see. So... someone needs to hold this thing, and give it a big ol' push when they show up, and someone needs to get their attention. ... I'm cool with either."

Getting chased by giant killer bees? ... OKAY WITH HEATHER.

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loooool skitty-litter.

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