LET'S KICK THIS THING OFF RIGHT

[shadowsnagger]

Perhaps you were out buying groceries, or perhaps you were having a picnic. Whatever outdoorsy activity you were indulging in this fine day will soon meet a tragic end.

The chirping of birds suddenly stops, a peculiar silence falling upon the town. Then, a noise that you feel rather than hear- a deep rumbling in the earth begins to multiply until it's a dull roar. The ground shakes... an earthquake? No, not quite. Look to the north, and you'll see a cloud of dust and debris kicked high into the air. The source? A huge mass of purple headed this way.

That's right, it's a stampede. A stampede...

of RATTATA.

Coming this way, trampling all in its path.

WHAT DO?

((OOC: Flee, fight, panic, MINGLE.))

Comments

[meanlook]

Once he's recovered from the shock of what just happened, Silver is quick to be his usual abrasive self as he clings for dear life to the branch.

"You! What're YOU doing here?"

[feelsgoldman]

"Same thing you're doing here!" Ethan shouts back, periodically glancing apprehensively at the sea of purple below. Jesus, what was going on with those Rattata? He shakes his head and gives Silver an amused look. "You're welcome, by the way!"

[meanlook]

"I would've thought of something," the redhead scoffs, "They're just Rattata."

A familiar face is a relief to see, actually, but like hell he's going to let Ethan know that.

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan waits for the remaining Rattata to subside, peering at one roly-poly one in particular that seems to have trouble keeping up, before sliding down the tree and hopping off.

"Hey, I didn't even realize it was you," he says, as he makes his way over to Silver's tree. "Could've been anyone, like a defenseless little girl." He grins. "Not that I'm calling you a girl, o'course."

[meanlook]

"You'd better not be, if you know what's good for you." Silver retorts.

Trying to hide the hesitation on his face, he slides down his own tree, brushing himself off once he lands.

"I guess you don't know how to get out of this weird place either."

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan shrugs. "Nah, but what's the rush? Seems like a neat place to explore and meet new people. Plus, it's in the sky. I bet there's some kind of awesome legendary Pokémon holding it up."

He briefly fantasizes about this, before looking back at Silver. Togekiss flies back down and settles on the ground next to them, peering up at the redhead curiously. "I'd say just chill out and relax, dude. We'll get home at one point or another!"

[meanlook]

The two have very different views on this whole situation, and Ethan's cheerful optimism causes Silver to grimace.

"Unlike you, I was doing important stuff back home," Silver says, "It's foolish to just go along with all of this so nonchalantly."

He peers over at the Togekiss as curiously as it peers at him, "When did you get THAT?"

[feelsgoldman]

"Well, feel free to jump off the edge or something if you think that'll get you back to Johto," says Ethan innocently. "And what, Togekiss? I've had her forever. She was the second Pokémon I ever got, as a Togepi. Way to pay attention to your rivals, Silver."

Something about Silver not knowing strikes him as odd, seeing as he's definitely used her in battle before. His teasing expression fades into a more puzzled one. "Did you really forget?"

[meanlook]

"Do you think I was born yesterday?" Silver replies, "I remember your team, and you never had one of those things! Training something on the sly won't help your chances against me."

It had to be one of Ethan's dumb ideas of a joke, again.

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan holds out his hands, palms out. "Wait, wait, something's not adding up here."

He peers closely at the other boy, then starts circling him with a critical eye. (Feel free to feel judged, Silver.)

"Huh... hey, how old are you?"

[meanlook]

Silver rolls his eyes, "What kind of dumb question is that? I'm fourteen."

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan nods with satisfaction and stops circling. "A good one, obviously! See, you're two years younger than me. So that means that we're from different times!"

It's probably strange to normal people that Ethan's taking this in a stride, but when you've time-travelled with Celebi, there really isn't much that seems odd after that. "Maybe even different Johtos, if we don't remember things the same way," he continues, matter-of-factly. "What kind of Pokémon does the me you know have?"

[meanlook]

Silver's first instinct is to tell Ethan he's nuts, but taking into consideration he'd ended up on some floating island with a bunch of strangers suddenly anything is possible. So, he grudgingly obliges with an answer.

"Wimpy stuff. A Chikorita, a Hoot Hoot, and a Caterpie."

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan's eyebrows shoot up. "Seriously? How'd he manage to win the league with those three? Wait... is he a champion?"

[meanlook]

The redhead is absolutely boggled by the question, "What? No! You'd just started out on your journey. How could anyone be a champion with weak Pokemon like those?"

[feelsgoldman]

Oh. "That... makes a lot more sense. Forget I said anything." Ethan laughs sheepishly, mentally going through his own journey years ago. Running into Silver everywhere, putting a stop to Team Rocket, hunting the legendaries. Good times.

And then he realizes that it's probably not a good idea to continue talking about the future, even if it's a different future, so he changes tactics completely.

"What were you doing taking a nap this time of day, anyway?" he asks, crossing his arms. "Sleep sure isn't the way to get out of here."

[meanlook]

"I wasn't sleeping!" he spits back, "I was just thinking! If you ever did it, you'd know what it looks like."

He crosses his own arms, looking away from Ethan.

[feelsgoldman]

"If you say so," says Ethan, back to grinning. He looks down at Togekiss to speak with her, although perfectly audible to Silver as well. "Hey, what do you think got those Rattata running? Think it's something we should be worried about?" Togekiss takes flight again and trills, briefly flying in the direction they came from and circling to get her trainer to follow. Ethan looks back at Silver.

"Well, I'm gonna go investigate. You gonna stay here and think some more?"

[meanlook]

Silver turns to follow, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible.

"Knowing you, you're going to need all the help you can get."

[feelsgoldman]

"Hey now, treat your elders with respect," says Ethan in a totally serious fashion, starting to walk up the Rattata-beaten path. "You young'uns think so highly of yourselves."

Of course, he wasn't much better a few years ago, but he's milking it for all it's worth. After all, it's not everyday he gets to converse with a younger, still highly-abrasive version of who has sort of become his second best friend after Lyra, after all.

o-oh god I am so sorry he is such a brat

[meanlook]

Highly-abrasive this Silver is, and he certainly doesn't react well to the teasing.

"Give me a break! I don't care what age you are in this screwed up place, you're still an idiot."

He still follows though, a little on edge after almost being run-over by a pack of rodents.

LOL that's totally fine ethan's baiting him like crazy

[feelsgoldman]

"Right, right," says Ethan, stifling another laugh so Silver doesn't decide he hates him too much and leaves. "Once an idiot, always an idiot, right? Not that it's ever stopped you from picking a fight every time we met."

The path seems to disappear over a hill in the distance, indicating that the Rattata must have been travelling pretty far. Absentmindedly, Ethan wonders exactly how big this floating region is.

[meanlook]

Silver takes a break from being a pain in the butt to observe the path himself, kneeling down to look at one of the twigs that had snapped under the rodent's tiny feet.

"Maybe they're running from a predator."

[feelsgoldman]

Ethan stops beside Silver, watching him thoughtfully.

"That'd make sense. What would scare off so many of them at once, though? I know that Rattata travel in big groups, but it almost looked like every Rattata on the island was in that stampede. Almost like they were being gathered up by someone."

In the back of his mind, Ethan thinks it's the type of thing Team Rocket would do. And Team Rocket did train Rattata. But that was years ago and they were long disbanded, weren't they?

[meanlook]

"Who would want a bunch of Rattata?" Silver scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest, "There have to be stronger Pokemon to go after."