route_1065 | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who:

usedtherapy
Where: Ilex Forest
When: 8/20 through 8/26
Summary: WOO HOO CAMPING-TRIP-DINO-HUNT-VACATION-DATE-EXTRAVAGANZA!
Rating: uhh...PG for possible language?
Log:
[To say that John was "looking forward" to his second date with Rose would be a gross understatement. He had barely been able to sleep the night before they left and ended up knocking on Rose's door at five in the morning because he'd finally given up on the notion of sleep entirely. Plus, weren't you supposed to leave early for camping trips?]

[Unsurprisingly, Rose hadn't expected him that early. She'd given him a very bleary look, stepped back into her room to give her clock a bleary look and then asked "...are we leaving 'lready?"]

[Even less surprisingly...she'd fallen right back asleep the minute they had both clambered inside Elliot and gone on their way. But that was okay. Because she had fallen asleep on John's shoulder and he had absolutely no qualms with that at all.]

[And then a few hours later, his excitement wore off and he too fell asleep. Wow, their trip was off to a great start already!]

[Elliot wasn't the fastest pokemon but fortunately, being a ghost, he didn't really need a lot of sleep. So their four day trip ended up taking only two. Once inside the forest, Elliot went back inside his ball for some much needed rest while the two kids shouldered their packs and began walking through the forest, hand-in-hand.]

[Surely this was going to be the best camping-trip-dino-hunt-vacation-date-extravaganza ever! ~~Also possibly the first ever, because seriously, who besides John would come up with something as crazy as this?~~]

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[Okay, shiver down the spine? You need to go away. Seriously. Stop that. Rose, you need to stop being such a good storyteller. You're freaking him out when there really isn't anything to be freaking out over yet.]

Yeah, I went there once with Aradia. Why?

Did you ever listen to the radio while you were there? Did you hear the...rather off-putting tune that played through its speakers when you tried, no matter which station you changed to?

[...he just nods. Yes. He did. And it creeped him the fuck out.]

Well John, that was the music that began playing as the black screen appeared and he waited for his character to exit the tower.

[[A bit of a dark chuckle.]]

Or, at least, he expected to exit the tower. As it turned out, however, after a few moments of waiting and then a few button presses, he merely found himself inside of a pitch black room.

One he would need Flash to illuminate.

[[Scared yet, John?]]

Before, however, he took care of that, he decided to try and find something more pleasant on the radio to listen to. Much to his great dismay, he didn't have the radio card.

Nor the time or phone cards, either. Strange, isn't it? All he had available to him was his map, and that did little to help him. It simply showed his character standing amidst a sea of pitch, black nothingness.

Recalling that his Cyndaquil, Hurry, knew Flash, he made haste to light up the room. Unlike normal circumstances, however, there was no message indicating that he used Flash. No "Hurry used Flash!" like there normally would be. Instead, the room simply lit up.

Something he immediately regretted.

[Oh hey...when did he stop breathing? That's not good. He kind of needs to start doing that again. Also, Rose? Your suspenseful storytelling technique is making it rather difficult for John to keep his brave face on. He's suddenly struck by the overwhelming urge to grab his pillow. And start chewing on it. But he's nowhere near done with Casey's nightly brushing routine. Especially considering the fact that he's been brushing the same spot for a good minute or so now.]

When the screen lit up, it revealed a lurid crimson room. In the middle of this room was a grey path that headed south. The ladder he had climbed down?

Nowhere to be seen.

With no other choice, he began down the grey walkway. He began to notice something equally as disturbing as he went though. About every twenty paces he took, the room got a little darker. It was a while before he reached the end, but once he did he found a sign.

Can you guess what the sign read, John?

[Just shaking his head. Words? What are those?]

[[She leans in close, dropping her voice to just about a whisper, but not quiet enough to take out the creepy tone she's trying to inject into her words.]]

Turn back now.

[[Leaning back, and another small suspenseful pause, she takes a breath and begins with the story once more.]]

Before he was really able to process these words, the game gave him the option to choose "yes" or "no", as if it was asking a question. However, no question appeared on screen. Unsure of what to pick, he selected "yes", and was graced with the sound of a ladder being used and a black screen once more. Much to his slight relief, the music from the ruins stopped, being replaced by that of the Pokeflute.

Again he found himself within another dark room. Again, one that required flash to view. However, upon using Flash, the player received a message.

"Hurry has fainted!" it said, which was very peculiar. Hurry hadn't had any status conditions. Nothing that could have led to his death outside of battle, and he very clearly wasn't in battle. Curious as to the cause of this, he went to check his party.

The Cyndaquil was no longer there. In fact, upon further investigation, he came to find that none of his previous party was. The level 5 Unknown he had had were all replaced by six new level 10 Unknown.

Just as before, he checked the profiles and carefully deciphered what they spelled out, and came to a chilling discovery.

The Unknown spelled out "he died".

[Breathe John. Breathe. You are a man and you are NOT scared by this. No. Not at all.]

[Except maybe you are. Just a little bit.]

The room was now lit and free for him to explore. Except, the only problem was that he found himself in a very confined space. One of perhaps four larger squares thick, and each of the walls was grey brick.

Outside of his little room were graves not unlike the ones you see in Red and Blue.

He wandered and wandered and wandered around in his tiny little room, but nothing happened. He pressed A numerous times, but still nothing changed. Eventually, out of curiosity, he checked his trainer card. And was greeted by a rather chilling sight.

For one, he now somehow had obtained a total of twenty four badges. Impossible, but yet there it was. However, that was not the creepy part.

No, the truly creepy part was the state of his trainer's sprite. The normally smug Gold was now...less so. In fact, he looked rather sad. Rather empty.

[[Dramatic pause.]]

Perhaps this was because the poor sprite was now missing both its arms. Who knows?

Either way, he backed out of the profile and began to wander once more. Finally, his sprite stopped, and began to spin around. Almost as if an escape rope was used. Rather than raising upward, though, his sprite slowly sank into the ground.

Again, he was met with a black screen, though thankfully this time it was merely a transition. The music also stopped. When he landed, his sprite was colored differently.

It was completely white. Even his skin. Much akin to how it would look if pulled from the black and white games of the original Game Boy. The background was still colored, however.

Again, he checks his profile.

[[Yet another suspenseful pause, along with a rather creepy, almost knowing smirk. This has to scare you John. It has to. And if not, the next part will.]]

The sprite had changed again.

[No Rose. No it doesn't. It most certainly does not have to scare him. Because that's the exact opposite of what he is right now. Look at this face. This is a face of ~~completely forced~~ absolute bravery!]

[Don't mind the fact that he's completely stopped brushing Casey. That has absolutely nothing to do with him being scared.]

Edited 2011-08-24 10:58 (UTC)

[[Mhm. She knew it.]]

He was as white as his overworld sprite was. And remember how the arms were missing from before?

The legs have joined them in their disappearing act.

He managed, somehow, to seem even sadder than before. To the point where he was crying. The peculiar thing about his tears though, was that they were red.

Almost as if he was crying blood.

[[Her tone had taken on a more cheerful one, as if this was just kind of funny rather than scary at all. Though after that, it fell back into one of classic ghost telling.]]

He also, somehow, now had thirty two badges. The student at this point knew this was a significant number. Why would it just continue changing? Raising, at that. There must be a point, he just didn't know what it was yet.

After visiting his trainer card, he paid a look to his Pokemon.

Again his Pokemon team was different. Five Unknown, and a level one hundred Celebi. This time, the Unknown of course spelled out something different.

That something was the word "dying".

And that Celebi? There was something peculiar about its sprite too.

[Shoosh, she doesn't know diddly. Quit acting like you know him Rose, gosh! You don't know hiiiiiimmmmm oh hey he's doing that thing where he's holding his breath again.]

It was...shiny. A different color than normal, I believe. Beyond that, however, it was missing a few things too.

An arm, a leg and an eye, to be exactly. It also only knew one attack. Perish Song.

Closing out from there, he once again found himself in the Sprout Tower from before, with the pillar leaning towards one side, only the room was red now. This time, however he was able to move north, and did so. For what felt like forever, as he described it.

Eventually he finally came upon a row of NPCs, all lined up and facing the tower. They were white and they were silent, saying nothing when the player tried to engage in conversation. Skipping these men and women, he continued on until the tower seemed to be chopped off.

Not just cleanly, but as if an axe was haphazardly taken to the end of it.

And there stood Red. A rather transparent looking Red.

Walking forward, the player made to approach the NPC, but without pressing A it immediately took him into battle. The Ruins music returned.

Red, apparently, had no name, as the game simply showed the text "wants to battle!". His own sprite mimicked that of what he saw in the trainer screen. Limbs missing. eyes bloody, white and slightly transparent. Red, on the other hand, was exactly as it had been before in the game, only transparent.

Each of them only had one Pokemon. Which was strange, as the trainer was sure he had five Unknown as well...

[You know...the thing that's freaking out John the most about this is the fact his mind has to supply all the images to go along with Rose's words. And right now it's supplying some that are probably way creepier than the real thing. At this point, he's gripping Casey's brush so hard that his knuckles are white. His face is considerably more pallid as well, but he's still determinedly trying to keep it from showing any fear.]

[He's sort of succeeding in that endeavor.]

[[Here she decides to lean in. Much like she had done before.

And, much like she had done before, she drops her tone.]]

...Do you want me to stop, John?

N-nO! [Oh god did he just squeak? Surely he did not, no wait yes he did. Though that has nothing to do with the fact that he's scared. Because he isn't. Nope. That was totally a voice-changing squeak. Look Rose, puberty the puberty fairy has finally come to visit him!]

[Never mind that that sounded nothing like a pubertal voice crack and pretty much just sounded like a regular ol' squeak of terror.]

[He clears his throat.]

I mean. It's fine. Keep going.

[Because dammit, it'll be worse if you DO stop. It's at the point now where he pretty much has to know how it ends.]

[[And just grinning at that.]]

Well, their sprites weren't the only ones that kept their changes. When the player sent out his Celebi, it too kept it's amputations. And, unlike the normal signifier for a shiny Pokemon - which I suppose is some small sparkle, accompanied by a pleasant ring - the sound that played now was far more like several screeches all started at once.

Red, of course, sent out a Pikachu. Expected, yes? And it seemed like a rather normal Pikachu as well, only its own sprite had undergone a few tweaks.

Instead of the normal perkiness a Pikachu typically holds, this one looked sad. Mournful, almost, with tears in its eyes. Somehow, it was also level two-hundred and fifty-five, but that's merely a technicality issue, right?

Now, this is about the time in which you are offered your normal fight menu. You can choose to attack, to run, to switch Pokemon or use an item correct? Unfortunately for our hero, he was only given the option to attack.

And Celebi only had one attack.

The Pikachu, being the level that it was, went first thanks to its superior speed. It used Curse, an attack which Pikachu cannot normally use. Celebi, of course, used Perish Song.

Both Pokemon, in three turns, would be knocked out.

And here is where the battle began playing itself, disallowing the student any further interference.

The Pikachu used Flail, which did little to either Pokemon, while once again Celebi used Perish Song. That did nothing, as it was already in affect.

The, the Pikachu used Frustration. This knocked his Celebi down to ten HP. The Celebi, however, decided to make up for this loss using an attack it didn't know previously. Pain Split. This cut their lives in half, leaving both with one hundred and fifty. Pikachu then used Mean Look, which did absolutely nothing.

That was when Perish Song took hold, gripping both Pokemon and aiming to knock them out as it was supposed to. It worked well on Celebi, though when the Pokemon fainted, the player was informed that it had died, and then the backsprite simply vanished.

Pikachu, however, was still standing, and much to the student's surprise, used another move. One outside the five move limit.

Destiny Bond.

It, too, "died".

[Yup. He's just...hugging Casey a little bit now. And holding his breath yet again. If he were sitting in a seat, he'd be on the edge of it.]

And it slowly faded away. Next appeared Red.

Or, at least...his body.

The poor boy had been beheaded.

As he faded out too, so did the music, and the player now found himself in his bedroom in New Bark. His overworld sprite was now transparent - just like Red's had been before - and so he immediately went to check his sprite.

Much to his great displeasure, all that was left?

Was his head.

His head, with a pair of very empty, void eyes. He has forty badges.

Checking on his Pokemon, he now had a group of six Unknown. Just like before, he checked to see what they spelled out.

"No more" is what they said.

[There's a very audible intake of breath at that last sentence. Looks like he hasn't forgotten how to breathe after all! Isn't that wonderful?]

The student feared the sight that would greet him, should he choose to venture downstairs, so instead he began to wander the room instead. Curiously, his sprite floated rather than walked.

He found he couldn't interact with any of the items in his room, which he had actually come to expect. Finally, seeing he had no other choice, he made his way down the stairs.

Can you guess what the gruesome sight was that awaited him.

Uh...his body?

[Just taking a stab in the dark here.]

[[She shakes her head.

Wait for it.

...wait for it...]]

...an empty house.

[Okay, Rose, if you were expecting him to jump at that, you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead he's just staring at you blankly. How is that 'gruesome'?]

[Sorry. That revelation was just not as creepy as the buildup to it. John's a little disappointed.]