route_1065 | Magical Cave Adventure of Do Not Want

Current Location: Union Cave

Entry tags:

Magical Cave Adventure of Do Not Want

Who:

quickattackjack
Where: Union Cave
When: Backdated to March 1st 'til about the 6th. DEY LOST.
Summary: Broken Poke'Gears and caves SUCK.
Rating: G/PG for Jack being morbid occasionally?

Log:

Traveling again wasn't as bad as Jack thought it would be. Violet had spoiled him but after the first day on the road, he was surprised to find how easy it was to fall back into step. The fresh air did him good. The lack of FIVE MILLION FEET OF SNOW and depressing ghost towers did him even better. Days passed and their journey lead them to the mouth of Union Cave. It had been a long time since Jack had seen a cave.

With Edgar on his shoulder, the Pumpkin King adjusted the strap of his travel bag and stepped into the shadows. The air was cool and wet. And dark. Mostly dark. The slick stony floor was very different from the dirt and grass they'd been trampling over.

"What do you think, Rainbow Dash?" Jack admired a rock jutting from a nearby wall like a nerdy McNerdison. "Two days, tops?"

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"I'm gonna bet..." Dash answered methodically, eyeing around the cave with a grin. She had heard about it beforehand-- the gateway to Azalea and the next gym badge; there would be another little victory for her at the end of the tunnel. "... Eh, one and a half!"

She jogged a few paces ahead of Jack, her Castform happily floating alongside her. She turned to face Jack, fearlessly walking backward into the darkness as she continued. "I mean, it doesn't look that complicating to get through... It's just a dusty old cave is all. With me-- fastest pegasus pony in all of Ponyville-- around, we'll get through this place in no time!"

"You might be a pegasus, but I'm afraid I can't fly." Just watch. Dash will have him saying 'everypony' before they get out of the cave. He followed her and tugged the little keychain flashlight off one of the clips on his bag and swept the beam around.

"Some of my friends back home lived in caves...I should have visited them more."

The rocks here shifted--rock-type pokemon in hiding no doubt.

Her eyes followed the little movements in the walls, as did the Castform. The weather Pokemon began to trail along the wall, babbling excitedly to passing cave-dwellers, and... likely annoying quite a few of them.

"Your friends lived in caves? Yeesh, didn't it ever get, like... too dark for 'em?" And she was still getting used to the "I'm from a town centered on Halloween" thing.

"I've only heard of bears and dragons living in the caves back in Equestria..." She stopped abruptly, whirling around with a grin on her face. "Oh man-- Maybe we'll find a dragon!"

Because that... That would be awesome.

"Not really. Most of them could see in the dark. I can see in the dark. It's a spook thing."

A rock spontaniously leapt out in front of Jack's foot and sent him and his bag toppling to the ground. He lay there for a moment, letting the irony of it all sink in. Edgar just circled above him casually and waited for him to get up so she could keep sitting on his shoulder.

"I used to be able to see in the dark anyway." The skeleton grumbled and fixed his glasses. This was redonk. He didn't remember being visually impaired when he was alive. _{But that's probably because He didn't remember being alive to begin with.}

"A dragon...Hmm." Jack wasn't sure how he felt about meeting a dragon. His pokemon could beat the crap out of birds, sure, but anything bigger than that? He finally got up and aimed the flashlight at the GROUND instead of everywhere but. "Dragon-type Pokemon...they do exist. The Pokedex said so, anyway. They're supposed to be rare."

Dash opened her mouth to make an aghast comment about night vision, instead letting out a short guffaw when Jack fell. Sorry, brony, but irony is the ultimate prankster. And everyone knows Dash loves a good prank.

She followed once he got to his feet, taking after him at a slow jog, Nimbus still bobbing alongside her. "You know, Jack... Even if those badges don't send us home... Maybe we'll get our abilities back as a reward? Like... You'll be able to see in the dark again, and I'll be able to fly."

She gradually slowed, taking more careful steps over several small boulders jutting out from the ground. "As for the Dragon-types," she continued, still musing aloud, voice echoing off the cave walls. "Yeah, I heard about them too. May've seen a few on the 'gear before... Some of 'em look sorta like the sea serpents from Equestria."

She was speaking of Yao's Dratini and Gyarados, the latter of which was not Dragon-type, but might as well have been, as far as Dash was concerned.

Edited 2011-03-10 00:37 (UTC)

Jack thought about that. He'd REALLY rather go home. He wasn't sure what good it would do if he just tripped around Johto in the dark. Sure it'd up his creeping ability, but here? He wasn't so much for the creeping.

He was more for the not dying. He wasn't sure if he'd come back.

"If you could fly, you wouldn't have to worry about ledges."

She shuddered a little at the mention of the Land Masses That Shall Not Be Named.

"Ugh, don't remind me," she grumbled with a scowl. "I'd get from town to town in no time! Six day walk? Pssh-- Make that one day fly!"

... And this was starting to make her feel a little homesick. She adjusted her backpack with a "hmph", and went stomping a few paces ahead, stopping abruptly at a fork in the pathway. She eyed down each, looking disoriented for just a moment before pointing down the right pathway with certainty.

"We should go that way," she declared. Right on cue, a small flock of Zubats fluttered out from that direction, ruffling her hair with their wingbeats. She stayed rigid, expression firm.

"What's it like being able to fly?"

Jack followed her, content to let her do the leading for now and geek out about all the creatures around them. The zubats got his attention. They reminded HIM of home.

And he didn't have one.

"Edgar!" He pointed at the flock. "Edgar, go after that one!"

"Krowh!" the Murkrow, finally glad to see battle again, stretched her wings and took off after the bat Pokemon. It would not be a long battle.

She tilted her head up to watch the ensuing battle of fluttering critters-- the crow dive-bombing the swarm of bats.

"Flying?" she repeated. She had to stop and think about it for a moment. The experience of flying wasn't something she could easily put into words. "It's... awesome. Flying through the clouds at top speeds, feeling the wind in your mane, it's... Just awesome! Dunno how else to describe it, heh."

She obviously missed it. She continued to watch the battling Pokemon above her. She would have sent out Nimbus to help Edgar out with a Powder Snow... but the Murkrow seemed to be doing just fine on her own.

"Geez, your crow's brutal, man," she remarked with a grin.

Jack stood firm, feet apart, fists clenched, almost as if he were getting ready to jump into the fight himself. After dealing with Doc so long, a weird sort of switch in the skeleton's composure flipped on when there was a battle to be had.

"I only flew once, but it wasn't by myself. The doctor made some reindeer for me and it was a lot of fun..." Jack replied, distracted. "Edgar, peck it! NOT IN THE FACE--it needs to have a face!"

Sure the things didn't have eyes but...but still it had to hurt! The fuzzy blue creature plummeted to the cave floor. To stop his bird from pouncing on it, Jack scrambled to pluck a ball off his hip and throw it. The Zubat disappeared in a flash of red light and the ball wiggled from side to side. Edgar kicked up dust from the cave floor as she flailed her wings to keep from crashing into the rock. She landed beside the ball and hopped around it, daring the little bat to come back out.

Ping!

"It's over..." wheezed Jack. "I caught it!" 8B!!!!! His cheerful disposition returned. "You should catch one, Rainbow Dash! I bet they're great Pokemon! I don't know if we'll see any more after this."

AHAHAHAHAHA, OH, JACK.

(Edit to fix mistake)

Edited 2011-03-20 23:09 (UTC)

As she continued to watch the display, Dash was beginning to reconsider if it was awesome or horrible. But the battle ended quickly with the capture of the Zubat. She let out a guffaw and applauded Jack, half-jogging to his side to peer at the Pokeball.

"Heh, nice one!" she congratulated, echoed by some enthusiastic trills from Nimbus.

However, Dash didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea of having a Zubat on her team. "Uuuh, no thanks. Bats aren't really my thing, heh..." Bats were the types that hung around the EverFree Forest. Granted, time in Johto was starting to teach Dash to get used to the things that originally made it terrifying-- weather moving on its own, animals taking care of themselves, plants growing on their own... but she couldn't help but get creeped out a little sometimes.

"But hey! You've officially got another Pokemon with night vision!" she offered, then... paused awkwardly. "Er, well... Kinda." Friggin' echolocation: HOW DOES IT WORK.

LIKE MAGNETS, DASH. LIKE MAGNETS.

"Yup!" Jack grinned. He was ready to follow her wherever she wanted to go. It was a big cave and some exploring couldn't hurt! Training too! He whipped out his 'Gear to start reading up on zubats.

'TIS MADNESS, I TELL YOU.

And exploring forward she went! After giving him a brief smile, she took off further into the cave at the same half-jog, clambering over rocks as she went. A few of those rocks happened to be Geodudes-- most of which floated or rolled away as the bright-colored trainer stepped over them-- but that didn't seem to slow Dash down by much.

... One of those rocks, however, didn't roll or float away as the others did. Instead it... slithered, followed by a row of copies. A... rock snake, if you will, shrouded in the darkness.

Dash didn't so much as look over her shoulder. "So! It looks darker down there-- further into the cave... So if we keep going that way, we'll wind up at the end sooner or later, right?" Yeah, because that was totally how caves worked. She slowed a little, squinting her eyes. "Man, it's dark..."

Jack did well stepping over some rocks but he wasn't as young and spry as Rainbow Dash so there were a few, "Wait up!"s called after her.

And tripping.

A man was bound to trip with his nose burried in research. He only half-heard Dash's amazing theory about cave systems. "Maybe one of us should use our poke'gears as a flashlight...I think I hear water."

Once she took notice of Jack's slight struggle through the terrain, Dash did slow her pace, glancing over her shoulder for him. Soon, she stopped and backtracked a few steps, clambering onto a rock and perching there in an animalistic crouch to give her companion a chance to catch up. Nimbus floated up behind her to sit on her shoulder, and she promptly returned the Weather Pokemon to her Pokeball.

"Yeah! Sounds like as good an idea as any," she answered, tilting her head back to stare, upside-down, at the darkness behind her. "Or I could send out Blazing Bolt to light a way, but she hates water."

"And I've got One, who's...." Jack ran a finger over the dark fuzz where his eyebrows were trying to grow back. "Yeah....let's just use our gears as flashlights."

AND IT WAS SO. For a while. What would the darkness hold for Jack Skellington and Rainbow Dash?

WHAT. WOULD IT HOLD.

SURELY SOME BRAVE NEW WORLD FULL OF UNDISCOVERED MAJEST--

-- Or maybe just more rocks. ... Yup, looks like more rocks. Dash sighed and slumped her shoulders in exasperation, lowering her Pokegear.

"Man, just rocks, rocks, and more rocks!" she huffed, donning her Captain Obvious hat. "Honestly, this cave has got to be the most boring cave I've ever--"

And the rocks slithered again. This time, they didn't evade Dash's eye. Despite herself, she jumped.

"Wh- What the hay was that? Did you see it?" The rocks moved again, still in the snaking row, veering off to a side. Dash squared her feet and reached for Nimbus' Pokeball, ready for something to jump out and take a strike at her.

But the strike didn't come from the direction she was glaring at. Instead, the head of the rock snake emerged from the dark behind the pair of trainers, uttering a single, bellowing sound.

Dash blanched, turning slowly to peer up at the thing: an Onix THE SIZE OF GOD. And it only seemed to get bigger as it raised its head to loom menacingly above them, eyes narrowed. Dash's eyes darted back to where she had been staring; the rocks she had seen earlier were the Onix's tail, which was still coiled widely around them. Which meant... the Pokemon could decide to constrict them any moment.

"... Oh... horsefeathers."

Jack watched all this unfold, his mouth a small, impressed 'o'. However when the gravity of the situation hit him, he scrambled forward and reached out to grab Rainbow Dash's backpack or arm or SOMETHING so that he could drag her out of the pancake zone.

TOO BAD EVERYWHERE WAS THE PANCAKE ZONE.

His brilliant addition to Dash's statement was, "Hhhngggggg!"

Rainbow Dash had dealt with moments like this before, facing giant, menacing beasts that could crush a pony at any moment, and she had taken charge-- fought against the beast with confidence and enthusiasm.

As Jack was looking for a way out of the pancake zone, Dash stood squarely in it and glared up at the Onix, fists raised.

"Hey, bring it, blockhead!" she taunted. "Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!"

The Onix peered down at the pair of trainers, looking about as amused as a rock snake can look. Dash took the blink of its eyes as a signal that it was paying attention, and continued.

"We're not scared of you! So you should just let us go right now, got it? 'Else we're gonna--"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, words broken off into a startled yelp as the Onix gave an effortless sweep of its tail-- a movement with enough strength to push the pair forward and into...

Oh hey, turns out Jack was right about hearing water!
-- Oh horsefeathers.

So...THIS was what flying felt like! 8I Hum. He'd have to ponder more on that when he wasn't SUDDENLY DROWNING.

Jack flailed and fought to figure out which way was up. The heavy pack on his back wasn't helping. He'd never bothered to learn how to swim right and proper as a skeleton. He could visit the swamp creatures by walking right along the bottom as long as he wore heavy enough boots. But now he had like...lungs and stuff.

Gagging, the ex-ghoule broke the surface and paddled like a madman. That long wtf hair of his hung in his face and his glasses had fallen crooked but thankfully not OFF. "Huglugh-gluuhkhh!"

That meant, Rainbow Dash, where are you? in Arrlgblgh.

With her newly human body, Dash had occasional trouble with simple walking, even after her months in Johto. So swimming was something that... didn't translate very well.

Momentarily stunned by the impact, it took the ex-pegasus several moments to grasp what was even happening. When she did, her instincts told her to swim-- move something, dog paddle at least!

... And dog paddle she did! She emerged from the water violently flailing her limbs, multicolored strips of hair plastered over her face, making her look like some sort of technicolor swamp creature. Her soaked backpack hung loosely around one flailing arm.

"Blugh-- guhhrrrgh!" she responded vengefully between bouts of coughing, certain the Onix was still waiting there and laughing at her.

Jack coughed, "Are you okay?" in the wrong direction. It was hard to fumble for his belt and tread water at the same time. He only had one water pokemon. If there was one thing he knew Dennis could do, it was flopping around on the surface of the water!

"Hang on!" Jack held his breath and sank for a moment so that he could figure out which poke'ball was which and actually get ahold of it. When he surfaced, he held it high above his head. "Dennis, come out! We need your help!"

In a flash of red, the big orange fish was with them, flailing around in the water as if he too were having trouble swimming. Jack grabbed ahold of the Magikarp's tail. It was like hanging onto a pool floaty having a spasm.

"Grab my backpack, I'll have him pull us to shore!"

Acting fast, Dash paddled violently through the water, reaching her arms out blindly toward Jack, her view obscured by the curtain of her hair. Soon, she had grabbed hold of Jack's backpack and was holding on for dear life. Apparently, however, she still had energy to voice her disbelief at the sight of the Magikarp.

"That thing's gonna carry us? A Magikarp? Are you kidding me...?!" She nearly slipped underwater again, but quickly reclaimed her grip.

And now she was starting to seriously regret leaving her Golduck in the PC in Violet. ... But little did she know that Dennis was a ~*CHAMPION FLOPPER*~.

"Do YOU have a better idea?" >8c Jack might've been a smidge protective of his failfish. "Don't listen to her, Dennis!"

Dennis CHAMPION FLOPPED ALL OVER THE PLACE. And got them nowhere. He was good at going in circles though. One of his derp'd eyes had found the looming Onix and it scared him.

"KaaAAaaaAArp!"

Dash opened her mouth to deliver a quick retort, only to... meet water. Sputtering, she struggled to keep a hold of Jack's backpack as the Magikarp proceeded to swim in circles.

"C'mon, fish-- can't you go straight?!"

The Onix sat coiled at the edge of the water, watching the spectacle unfold with growing annoyance. Geez, he'd thrown these trainers into the water to get them out of his territory, what the Ho-oh were they still doing here?!

"KAAAaaaAAAAaaaarp!" DB> BIG SCARY ROCK SNAAAAAYKE. The orange fish dragged them in another circle before Dash's scolding sank through his thick fishy skull. He paused in the water and bobbed for a moment before rolling a huge eye back at her with the other on the Onix.

>%c

"Kaaaaarp?"

Despite herself, Dash recoiled a little at Dennis' one-eyed stare. Oh geez, that might just be the creepiest thing she's ever seen.

But then it occurred to her: if it was looking right at her, maybe it would listen to her! She tried again, talking perhaps a bit louder than necessary, enunciating every word. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! You listenin'? 'Cause I. Want you. To go. Straight! Ya know, that direction!"

The Onix was starting to lose its patience. It shifted and inched closer to the water's edge, an angered bellow building up to a roar somewhere in its rocky throat. SWIM, DENNIS. SWIM FOR YOUR LIFE.

Between Dash's commands and the Onix's roaring, Dennis decided in his wall-eyed way, that he'd had just about enough.

"KARP!" It was better left untranslated. There was a lot of hate for the world behind those crooked eyes. "KARP!"

Dennis ducked underwater and dragged both Jack and Rainbow Dash with him. It would almost seem that they were being HM03'd to their deaths. Suddenly, the Magikarp's orange scales began to shine a brilliant gold as light plunged through the murky cave pool's depths.

Grit and dismayed water-type pokemon rushed past them as Dennis twisted around and headed back towards the surface much faster than a little orange fish had any right to.

And he was going straight! The surface world appeared again in a blur. Jack and Dash were carried up and up and up.

"SKREEEEEIIIIIIIOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" said Dennis. >%C HE WAS NOT HAVING A GOOD DAY.

Wall-eyed magikarp has evolved to...wall-eyed gyrados!

Dash found herself clinging onto Jack's backpack like a lifeline, sputtering for a moment. Did that fish just try to drown her, oh man, she was going to have a word with Jack about that--

But then she saw the majesty that was the wall-eyed Gyrados. She really could only gape, save for a small squeak of, "Woah."

WAS THIS REAL LIFE??

The Onix found itself suddenly regretting its decision. Shrinking back, it gave a sound that was some sort of Onix equivalent of a whimper. Talk about your roll reversal!

"GAAAAAYYRAAAAADOOBOGLGLGLGLGLLGLGGG!" said Dennis. He managed to focus both his eyes on the rock snake pokemon and frowned a huge frown.

Jack's ears rang from all the noise and it was hard for him to tell what was going on until his new pet seamonster started snaking towards the Onix. He scrambled up the Gyrados's neck and reached for one of those dangly whiskers. "Easy boy! We've got to do this right and proper! Rainbow Dash, are you alright?"

The Onix cowered before the monstrosity that was Dennis, much "OH ARCEUS WHY" written across its rocky face. Coiling in on itself in a sign of surrender, it then decided to make an actually smart decision: get the hell out of there. It turned and began to slither back in the direction it had come.

Meanwhile, Dash was still feeling a little speechless. It wasn't so much that she was scared, simply... awestruck. She had known Magikarp evolved into Gyarados, but she A) had never seen an evolution firsthand, B) had never seen a Gyarados in person, and C) had her doubts after seeing a wild Magikarp herself.

... WELP, she could just throw all her notions out the window now!

Robotically, she released Jack's backpack and clambered onto the Gyarados' back herself. At first, she only stared at Jack, wide-eyed and in shock, answering with a deadpan: "Yeah... Yeah, I'm good."

Then, she saw the Onix attempting its retreat, and began to grin.

"Heh! Yeah, don't tell me I didn't warn you, blockhead!" she taunted, pumping a fist in the air. "This is so awesome!"

Because reveling in overpowering a territorial creature was totally more important than pondering the fact that she was riding a deadly sea monster. What is safety.

An enormous wall-eye rolled back to find Dash. She'd yelled at him.

BC said Dennis.

"Don't be sore, boy." Jack patted his new seamonster and gritted his teeth. He really didn't want his friend to get eaten right after they'd escaped drowning. "Can you take us back to shore? We want to get out of this cave. I'm sure the next city will have room for you to stretch out and swim!"

After what looked like a LOT of consideration, Dennis nodded his huge head and swam awkwardly to the rocky edge of the lake. He allowed them to climb off but then turned to test out his new body by....flopping around like an EVEN BIGGER derp.

Jack wobbled over to a large rock and (after making sure it wasn't a Geodude) sat down and started to fish his things out of his bag. It was soaked.

"Bats."

Luckily his poke'gear didn't look like it got smashed. He flipped it open and watched water drain from the speakers. The screen puttered into life, revealing his wallpaper of himself squinting that he managed to set on accident and didn't know how to remove.

"It's alive! People need to see this."

Jack was one of those people who would get in a wreck and then post on Facebook about it while being wheeled into an ambulance.

_{((OOC: Gonna make a comm post here!))}

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Magical Cave Adventure of Do Not Want

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Oh man quite a few typos in my last comment. I am great at this. /sob

SHOOSH I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE THEM YOU SILLYFACE

AND NOW I AM A REIGNING SLOWKING. ;A; HEAR ME UUUUUUUUUUU.

HUBLULULUU

EBRBRBRBRB?

AEIOU AEIOU AEIOU

HOSERS GONNA HOSE

JOSES! JOSES! JOSES!

SNAKE? SNAKE! SAAAAKEEE.

I LOVE YOU ROBIT

EBAY. EBAY? EBAY!

ASS! ASS! ASS! ASS!

I TOLD YOU BRO. I TOLD YOU BOUT UNION CAVE.

LET'S FLIP IT. LET'S FLIP IT.

CHASE ME, YOU WHORE. /oh my god what are these subject headers

CRAB CIRCLE IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE FORM OF TRANSPORTATION ON THE MOON/ my story is done AWH YEAH

WE BROKE THE MOON. /:D HUZZAH! Brofist!

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

KRITZKRIEG ARE WE GOING TO DIE

NO WE'RE JUST FLOATING. /wat

ROBIT RACE

WHERE ARE WE RACING TO??

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

SNAAAAAYYYYYYYKE.

999999999999999

!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I LIKE LONG WALKS ON THE BEACHES AND STRAWBERRIES AND PEACHES

AND BIG AMERICAN TTS

I MAY BE A ROBIT BUT I KNOW HOW TO PLEASURE A WOMAN