Got this burning feeling like my veins are filled with nothing but gasoline

[foolishwren]

Who: Heather Mason and anyone in Ecruteak City willing to help a sista out.
Where: Ecruteak City
When: July 20th, early evening.
Summary: There was a time when Ecruteak City was peaceful and quiet. But that all changed when THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED.
... And by 'the Fire Nation' I mean Heather, and by 'attacked' I mean 'had a bit of trouble with her powers'.
Rating: PG
Log:




FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

That was the sound that interrupted what was otherwise a quiet, peaceful evening in Ecruteak City. In fact, was there ever an evening in Ecruteak City that WASN'T quiet and peaceful?

Officer Jerry sure hadn't experienced one before. Until now, anyway.

Choking back a wild scream (ever since the September before last, he had grown so jumpy it had been suggested that he step off the force more than once-- but he stubbornly clung to his badge like his own tenacious Snubbull partner), Jerry lurched away from the fence he'd been idly leaning on, surveying the sleepy, ruddy-lit little streets, and whirled around to face the pillar of flame that was billowing upwards into the sky from several blocks around the corner.

A thousand horrible possibilities (the thought that someone had stepped on Kimono Girl Miki's temperamental Flareon's tail again being one of them) ran through his head, but first and foremost were the borderline terrorist attacks that had occurred in Goldenrod City and elsewhere. Those people with powers that only Pokemon were supposed to have.

The entire police force had been on edge lately with those people at large. Not the sick ones who were coming down with it like a disease, but the ones who knew damn well what they had and were using it for evil.

Oh Arceus, not here. Not HERE.

Wrestling his radio off its clasp, Jerry took off running towards the conflagration.

"This is Officer Jerry-- we have a situation here! An explosion, could be the ones who have been attacking gyms! Requesting assistance immediately! Over! I said requesting assistance imme--...."

As he skidded to a halt, the heat of the fire sweeping over him in waves, he stared at the sight before him.

A circle of blackened grass and what appeared to be the charred remains of a small hot dog cart (the hot dog man and his Munchlax stood beyond the range of the flames, looking utterly shellshocked), and in the middle of the circle, a barefoot teenage girl wearing shorts and an expression of sheer surprise that was exaggerated by the fact that she looked like a Looney Toon who'd just had a bomb go off in their face.

Smoking, covered in scorch marks, and smelling like burnt toast.

And looking incredibly familiar.

She blinked.

And then looked at Jerry.

Jerry looked back.





The radio slid from his fingers and hit the ground.

Her eyes were glowing orange.

MOTHER OF ARCEUS...


Heather Mason turned around. Oh god, it was a cop. FML. She coughed awkwardly.

"I can, uh-- I can expl--"

"BACK! BACK, YOU MONSTER!"


SHE WAS ONE OF THEM! SHE WAS ONE OF THEM!

Of COURSE she would be one of them!

The girl raised her hands.

"Whoa, hey, take it easy! I wasn't--!"

"DON'T POINT THOSE FINGERS AT ME!" Jerry shrilled, his voice leaving the acceptably-masculine tenor it usually was and ascending into chipmunk territory. "I WON'T BE YOUR BARBEQUE TODAY! I WON'T BE YOUR BARBEQUE ANY DAY!"

"--dude, I-- I swear I wasn't even--!"

And then she stopped, because Jerry was already hightailing it out of the square, screaming into the radio for backup.



... W-wellp.

Hastily, she pulled out a wad of smoking money from her pocket and shoved it at the hot dog vendor, mumbling that it was for the cart.

Time to make like a tree and FIND SOMEWHERE TO HIDE THAT ISN'T FLAMMABLE.



[OOC: Anyone in Ecruteak who'd be willing to hide (or trying to turn in!) Heather from the cops is free to tag in and see her trying to ninja around town!]

Comments

[no_ufo_ending]

DOOPA DOOPA DOO. Henry sure was enjoying himself out wandering around with Burger and slurping on a milk shake. He'd been watching the Arceus-Men madness unfold on his gear and quietly appreciating the fact that none of them had fallen ill. He had entertained the thought of what it would have been like to have the ability to make everything all staticy. He could stick balloons on Heather's hair and zap people. But then he thought about door knobs and that put that little fantasy to bed and fast.

Their walk was interrupted by a FOOOOOMM. Burger scaled Henry in a flash and almost made him drop his drink. He cringed as the cat's claws dug into his neck and shoulder.

"Burger, calm down. It's just an explosion."

[foolishwren]

JUST AN EXPLOSION, BURGER.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

For awhile, in fact, Henry wouldn't have anything to worry about.

But about twenty minutes or so later (after most of the fire had faded from the sky and police were swarming the spot where it had been), a whispered voice would hail Henry from the bushes.

"Henry! Henry! Pssst!"

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry had spent those twenty minutes trying his best to calm down his frazzled glameow. He patted Burger's head and mumbled encouraging things to him, but the cat insisted on nearly choking him with his tail. He stopped near some bushes to try and pry the cat off of him because oxygen was pretty important.

Then the bush talked to him and he stopped. Slowly the photographer turned to peer at the plant. 8[ Was he already hallucinating?

[foolishwren]

No, Henry.

The Floral God is communing with you.

"In here!"

His worries would probably not be alleviated by the fact that, if he looked close enough, he would be met with the sight of a pair of glowing, ember-like orange eyes peering out at him from between all the leaves and flowers.

[no_ufo_ending]

He leaned closer. The voice alerted Burger. The cat uncoiled his impossibly long tail and stood on Henry's head as they both inspected the bush.

Henry was the first to react. He expected either a) a magical flower goddess or b) a possibly drunk person. When he saw the glowing eyes, he sucked in a short, sharp breath. _"Ah!"

Burger, however, did not like the marked ones and let out a loud hiss before shooting down Henry's spine and taking off down the street. Henry howled in pain and staggered backwards, clutching at his back.

[show_my_cannons]

It wasn't exactly difficult to miss the fire. Giant columns of flame were even harder to miss.

And, given Ironhide was more or less primed to react to the sound of explosions, and fire, by virtue of centuries worth of warfare, it didn't take him long to stomp out of the hotel, dragging a half-asleep Blastoise by one cannon. The turtle lumbered along behind him, all but whining.

"Get a move on."

Onward they went, toward the scene of the fire... unaware of the culprit skulking around.

[foolishwren]

The first thing Ironhide would see were lots of police. Inspecting a burnt circle of grass way up ahead.

And a very confused hot dog vendor attempting to explain just had happened while his Munchlax ran in circles around the scorched circle, apparently attempting to re-enact whatever had happened.

[show_my_cannons]

Well that's not good. Not good at all. But there doesn't seem to be any obvious fires around. Which means... there's not likely anything he can do. He stands back, watching, instead, his arms folded.

... Meanwhile, though, his Blastoise seems awfully interested in the direction Heather went. Sure does smell like that girl he knows.

[foolishwren]

Ironhide pay attention to your Pokemon he's onto something!

Heather's distinctly burnt-toast-smelling trail would lead away from the square a little bit... and eventually to the base of a nearby tree.

Those police were QUICK.

Heather'd had to make do with what she could get to, and if that meant treeing herself like a startled cat, so be it. The somewhat scorched-looking girl was concealed behind the thick summer foliage, clinging to a bough like a squirrel.

JUST WAIT 'EM OUT...

[show_my_cannons]

The Blastoise grunts, pawing at the tree trunk. He knows that smell. He butts his head up against it. Look, Heather, he's trying to say hello.

Finally, Ironhide seems to realize his prized cannon-turtle isn't nearby. Grumbling to himself, he starts limping after him, cursing under his breath in modified Cybertronian. "Get back here, you," he growls, approaching close enough to grasp Cannon's shell, and trying to haul him off.

"There is nothing up there."

Unless she drops her shoe on his head or something.

[darkenedgales]

It had been a rough-- how long had it been again? Ever since people started getting sick, all of Johto had been in the state of paranoia bordering panic, but what the destruction of Centers had brought could only be described as utter chaos. Crow, of course, had been trying to help out to the best of his abilities, but let's face it: there wasn't much he could do in a situation like that.

And then, in true Johto fashion, It Got Worse.

It wasn't just the fact it felt like he was one of the few remaining people unaffected by whatever illness made you turn things into ice upon contact, or shock others when touching them, or... everything else people were capable of now; it was that he had no idea how to prevent random incidents and intentional attacks with those powers that was really frustrating. Which left him running around like a Pidgey with its head cut off and ending up being of little use anyway. So there he was, sitting on one of the benches not far from the Kimono Dance Theater, hoping it would turn out to be a peaceful evening. He wasn't asking for too much, was he?

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

... Apparently he was.

With a sigh, the duelist stood up and watched the clouds of black smoke that were coming from the place where a pillar of fire had just appeared for a moment. Well, maybe at least he'd be able to do something about that one...

"We're going, Jet," Crow said without turning back to the Prinplup, who was still settled comfortably on the bench, "We don't want the whole place to end up like Burned Tower, right?"

Frankly, Jet didn't care nearly as much, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Figuring he might as well do Crow a favor just this once, the penguin hopped off the bench and followed his trainer down the street.

[foolishwren]

Things are never that easy, Crow.

The duelist may have in fact noticed his scruff-haired friend getting sicker over the past few days. Darkening skin, tendency to ignite pillows...

Of course it would get this bad eventually. Of course.

The place was swarming with police by the time Crow arrived-- yellowtaped off and everything.

Circle of smoking grass, traumatized hot dog vendor...

But not much to see apart from that.

No Rockets, no obvious signs of their terrorism...

There would, however, be a text popping up on Crow's 'Gear.

hey crow




could you do me a BIG favor

[darkenedgales]

He'd noticed that -- it was hard not to, really -- but it was just small things, right? Pillows weren't a big deal (even if the inn owner made it sound like they were), so it obviously couldn't get too bad.

Or so he hoped.

Having reached the scene, Crow could easily tell there wasn't much he could help with here, either. He didn't even bother asking Officer Jennies what'd happened, figuring they'd know about as much as he did. The duelist briefly considered the possibility of this being the work of Cobra Commander -- he's petty enough to attack a hot dog vendor, Crow imagined -- but soon gave up on trying to make sense out of it.

That's when he got a text message on his 'Gear, causing him to temporarily forget about the commotion behind the police tapes. The timing of the request might not have been the best one, but hey, it's not like Crow would ever say no to a friend in need -- unless...

no if you want me to get you hot dogs

they seem to be outta order

[foolishwren]

yeah I kinda



knew that

There was a slight pause there, before another one pinged onto the screen.

where are you right now?

[usedscratch]

Chi had still been playing with her own, meager fire power when it happened.

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed, accidentally letting loose more of her own flames. Panic was on. It was so on.

"CHI DIDN'T DO IT! CHI DIDN'T DO IIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!!" she wailed, dashing around in a tizzy.

[foolishwren]

Well, if nothing else, a shrieking little girl was a pretty good distraction.

Heather was long gone, but when the police arrived on the scene, it was hard to ignore a kid running around emitting flames.

The Jennies stopped dead in their tracks, looking back at Jerry, who was wide-eyed and wheezing in the middle of them.

"... Jerry, this is a five-year-old," one of them said drily. "Wasn't that girl you keep seeing everywhere a teenager?"

"She was-- she was RIGHT HERE, I swear!" Jerry exclaimed breathlessly, gesturing to the circle of burnt grass. "This is a different kid!"

... Even if she was shooting flames, too.

Arceus, this thing spread like the plague, didn't it?

[usedscratch]

Uh-oh. Now there were lots of grown ups all around. They looked mad and they were looking at Chi.

"CHI DIDN'T DO IT, CHI PROMISES!" she wailed at them, between crying hysterically and spewing small flames, of course.

"PLEASE DON'T SCOLD CHI! CHI DIDN'T DO IT, CHI SHOULDN'T GET IN TROUBLE!"

[bakaitoukid]

So much for peace and quiet in sleepy little Johto.

It had been a while since Kaito had witnessed such mass panic (and some bitter, irritated part of him was still frustrated that this wasn't the first time he had witnessed the world devolve into chaos). Between people getting sick, the Centers being absolutely destroyed, and Heather's visibly worsening condition... well. "Concerned" felt like an understatement, and it certainly wasn't in the magician's nature to sit back and wait for things to play out before getting himself involved.

That's why he was on the streets when the incident occurred, Biz perched on his head, Kei and Flapper bouncing at his heels. As someone who was (luckily, though it didn't always feel like it, since watching everyone else suffer just made him feel worse) unaffected, he had taken to patrolling the streets and offering a helping hand to whoever might have needed one. When the fire column rose up over the horizon, he nearly stumbled in surprise, and Biz had to cling to his hair to keep from falling off. "G-geez--!" he grumbled as he caught his footing and whirled around to face the billowing smoke, "That was a big one--!"

Explosions weren't exactly uncommon now, but they weren't all that large. "C'mon you guys," the magician said to his team as he began to trot forward to investigate, "Especially you, Flapper. We might need your particular area of expertise."

"Wooooopah~!" The Wooper exclaimed as she bounced over the ground, keeping pace with her trainer easily.

It was going to be a long evening.

[foolishwren]

Of all the cities, it had to be Ecruteak, the one full of flammable old wooden buildings, right?

Unlike a few of the others, Kaito unfortunately (or fortunately) wouldn't even make it to the burn site (which didn't seem to be ablaze after the initial kaboom, although there was a lot of smoke billowing up in its wake). This was because he was intercepted by someone in a hurry.

Without so much as a 'yo' or a 'how do you do', Heather Mason came right the fuck out of nowhere and grabbed his hand as he passed.

"No time to explain. C'mon!"

And then she would be... pulling him in the opposite direction. Yeah.

[bakaitoukid]

"-- oi!"

Her grip was tight enough to make him stumble after her, both of his Pokemon letting out surprised cries as they suddenly shifted directions to bound after them. Once Kaito got over his initial surprise, he gripped Heather's hand in return-- and fell into quick pace with her to keep up.

"Heather? What happened? You okay?"

[foolishwren]

"No time to explain!" she repeated hastily.

But in terms of his question...

The apparent dark soot that plastered every inch of her probably spoke for itself. ... As did the fact that the hand holding onto his was... uncomfortably hot.

Like...

Painfully hot, actually.

Oops.

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

Harry was out for a walk when the giant plume of flames happen.

He freezes for a moment before turning to see what exactly happened.

[foolishwren]

'Exactly What Happened' was... well, pretty much exactly that. Plus chaos. Lots of chaos.

He'd have to get a run-down later because right at that moment, so many people were running around that his chances of getting a straight story out of anybody right now were pretty much zilch.

But there sure as hell were a lot of police swarming into the area... and one very traumatized-looking hot dog vendor.

HARRY.

GO GATHER CLUES!

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

And so he shall, Harry goes to investigate the sudden disturbance/chaos.

[foolishwren]

"I saw all the smoke comin' offa her and thought she might be able to kick-start my machine," the vendor was explaining to the police as his Munchlax ran in circles around the smoking patch of grass. "I mean, with everybody comin' down with these powers..."

The Jenny taking down his information nodded as he spoke, although she did quirk a '... really?' brow at the part where he'd thought that someone sick with that strange fever that granted the powers of the Beasts could 'jump-start' grill full of oil. And that this would be a good idea.