“I didn’t know Pokémon browsed dank memes,” Juana remarked. However, her Rotom memelord was needed for another task. While Porygon-Z was stuck in the whirlpool, Juana seized the chance to order a powerful Thunderbolt.
However, Porygon-Z, while stuck in the whirlpool, sparked and twitched, as its colors changed to a brown-and-orange scheme. The lightning bolt struck with no effect, and Rotom was quite confused and frustrated.
“Aw, milkduds; did it just change to a Ground type? Can Porygon-Z even learn Ground moves that it can use Conversion into?” Juana groaned, holding out her Pokédex to check the Porygon-Z’s status.
The Porygon-Z did not seem to be taking the turbulent Whirlpool vortex very well, however, and because it had converted to Ground-type, it was more vulnerable to the other Pokémon.
“Steenee, use Razor Leaf!” Juana ordered. Steenee fired off the usual flurry of bladed leaves, which embedded themselves into the lambert flesh of the digital Pokémon.
Juana turned to Cillian and Tora. “There’s no telling what type it’ll turn next if it just randomly changed to Ground-type! We gotta be on our guard!” CP: +1, total: 11
@Silver FoxOh no, Rotom already pulled that one in the electronics store by possessing a stereo system. If Rotom got ahold of ASIMO it'd probably do nothing but dab all over the place
“Sounds like a good idea,” Juana remarked, before turning to Rotom. “If you see anything, use Thunder Wave, ‘kay?”
Rotom’s screen flashed a thumbs-up graphic, before returning to the loading bar.
Juana walked up to the café’s barista. “Hi, welcome to Sawsbuck’s, what can I get started for you today?” he asked. He was a pleasant-looking fellow in a green apron.
“A couple of Tapu Cocoas and a Roserade Tea, please?” Juana replied, holding up two fingers on her left hand and one on her right.
“Whipped cream on the Tapu Cocoa?”
“Just on one.”
“Okay, that’ll be 1178 Poké.”
Juana dug through her tool belt for her wallet, and paid for the drinks.
She leaned against the bar and looked out at the station. People and Pokémon were milling about; a man and his Dhelmise were busy fixing something near the platform, assisted by a pair of Gurdurrs. A girl was playing jump rope with a Spiritomb, which Juana found amusing given the dark 108-souls-of-the-damned schtick the Ghost/Dark type had going on. (Spiritomb was holding one end of the rope and whirling it around its core, with the other end tied to a lamppost.)
“Five little Mankeys jumping on the bed! One fell down and bumped its head! Primeape called Audino, and Audino said: No more Mankeys jumping on the bed!” sang the girl.
Spiritomb was making these disturbing whistling noises, but they were in time with the girl’s chanting. Clearly they were close.
The mall was certainly nothing if not bustling; completely different from Central City, and yet worlds different from Feyhollow as well. Juana looked down at Steenee, who was cuddling Togepi. Togepi seemed to be warming up a bit to Steenee, especially since the Grass-type was willing to play with it. (The nice sweet scent helped a lot as well.)
“Here you go,” the barista said, sliding a cardboard tray with the three drinks. “We’d like to offer your Pokémon something on the house; Poké Beans are legally mandated as a complimentary Pokémon snack for every purchased drink.”
“Gracias, señor,” Juana thanked, tipping the barista before taking the drinks back to her friends. She took the whipped-cream Tapu Cocoa for herself and gave Cillian the other, and handed the Roserade Tea to Tora.
“Okay, Rotom, find anything?” Juana asked, sitting down at the table and looking at the screen.
The screen display read “UR MOM LOL”
“Hilarious,” Juana muttered, rolling her eyes.
Juana turned towards the window, and noticed that there were lines of Shuppets staring into the café, hanging from the awning.
“Weird,” she remarked.
She turned back to Rotom.
“Find anything now?”
“ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.”
“Rotom…”
“CASH ME OUSSIDE, HOWBOW DAH?”
“Arceus dang it Rotom…”
“ROTOM USED THUNDER WAVE!”
Rotom suddenly jumped up and shuddered; an electrical whine emitted from the laptop as Rotom’s eyes rolled around haphazardly. Suddenly, the display flickered, and a spasming Porygon-Z appeared on the screen. Juana quickly yanked the power cord and clicked to turn the Wi-Fi off; because the Porygon-Z was paralyzed, it did not have time to escape the computer.
“Rotom, use Thunderbolt!” Juana ordered.
Rotom’s face clenched as if it were using the restroom, and another electrical pop emitted from the computer. Juana pulled out an empty Poké Ball and hurled it at the computer, causing the Porygon-Z to shudder and disappear. Meanwhile, a red bolt emitted from the laptop’s USB drive, and flew into the Poké Ball.
The capsule didn’t so much as shake once when its hinges and latch burst and the Porygon-Z popped out; apparently the ball did not function correctly, as it was smoking.
The other patrons of the café did not know what to do. Some brave souls sent out their Fighting-types; there were some management folks who had come in with their Conkeldurrs ready to beat down this culprit.
“I think we’ve got our quarry,” Juana said.
As soon as she said that, the Shuppets hanging from the awning phased through the wall, cackling as they swirled around and around. ”Kekekekekekeke! Keekkkkkekekekekeke!!!!!” they chortled.
“¡ARCEUS MIO! Están fantasmas!” Juana yelled. She pulled out Honedge’s Poké Ball. “Honedge, go! Cut ‘em up!” she ordered.
The ghostly blade appeared from the Poké Ball, and drew itself from its sheath. Honedge glared at the Shuppets, before going to town Dynasty-Warriors-style, slashing and hacking at the puppets by passing through the shadows cast on the ceiling. Juana knew that she’d need as much backup as she can get to stop this dastardly digital delinquent. “Steenee, go! Double Slap that Porygon-Z silly!”
Steenee ran up to the Porygon-Z and smacked it repeatedly with hard sepals. Porygon-Z, however, retaliated with a Thunderbolt that knocked Steenee back. Steenee got up and fired off Razor Leaves at the virtual Pokémon.
CP: +1, total: 10
-TP: HHG +1, post +1, sunrise +3; total: 38
-Poké Ball x5 (one was used in a brave sacrifice to defeat the Porygon-Z; rest in peace and may Arceus be with you in the great Trainer's Bag in the Sky, Poké Ball) -Great Ball x1 -Potion x2
Morning was here; Charlotte had to leave for Stillwater. The first thing she needed to catch was a bus.
“A’ight, Charjabug, wake up,” Charlotte insisted, rolling her electric bug awake. She hadn’t gotten dressed herself; she was wearing her nightclothes, which consisted of a baggy pair of shorts and a black tank top, both of which conveniently fit into her briefcase when properly rolled up. Charjabug snapped its mandibles and licked its chops, still getting used to the morning, before wriggling up Charlotte’s leg and onto her shoulder.
“Hold up, buddy, I gotta get dressed,” Charlotte said, plucking Charjabug off her shoulder and setting it down on her bedside table, before throwing on her coat, pants, gloves, shoes, and hat. She put her nightclothes into her briefcase, and packed up her notes.
Charlotte then walked out of the Aether building; she was glad to have room and board whenever she came back here, though it was certainly not often, as she lived somewhere else.
And thus, she had no idea which bus to take to get to Stillwater.
She chanced upon a fellow who was returning from the mountains, presumably from some late-night training (one Mr. Ackerman, though Charlotte did not know his name at this point). “Excuse me,” she said, waving a hand to Jason. “Do you know which bus to take to the train station? I’ve got to make a couple transfers to Stillwater.”
@DusksongNot really, though Porygon is a pretty good line (and it got super buffed in 7th gen with access to Z-Conversion, which boosts all of its stats).
"You just walked in there and bought a laptop?" she asked. "Well, guess we don't have to worry about breaking it."
Rotom eagerly escaped the toaster, causing it to fall to the gravel with a thud. The computer became a deep scarlet, and opened up in Tora's hands, as Rotom's face displayed on the screen.
Juana picked up the toaster oven and escorted her friends to a café, before booting up and setting up the laptop. She hooked it up to the café's wireless.
"Okay, Rotom, search for the Porygon-Z," she ordered.
Rotom's display turned into a loading bar.
"So how are we going to get the Porygon-Z out of the computer?" Juana asked. She stood up. "I'm gonna go buy a Tapu Cocoa. You two want anything?" CP: +1, total: 9
“Right,” Juana replied, glancing at her Rotom. “I think it’s the electrical wires and stuff that Rotom takes over… but Rotom might very well help us put a stop to that Pokémon.” She checked her Pokédex. “Rotom can probably paralyze the Porygon-Z as soon as it comes into the computer like you said, and from there we’ll pull the plugs.”
Juana tossed the ball, and the toaster popped out of the capsule. “Rotom,” Juana said, “can you possess a computer for us?”
Rotom stuck out its tongue at Juana and danced around aimlessly. Juana sighed.
“Look, I’ll give you a treat if you do this for us, ‘kay? Something that’s not baking powder. You remember the baking powder, right?” Juana shook the now-empty tin in front of Rotom. The plasma Pokémon made a gagging noise, not wanting to experience the disgusting phenomenon of consuming raw baking powder again.
“Okay, sounds like a plan,” Juana said, standing up. “We’re going to have to ask the folks in the electronic store to use one of their laptops, because I am not interested in pissing them off by bringing the ghost I just busted back into the store.” She turned towards Tora. “What about you? Sounds like a plan?” CP: +1, total: 8
