001 ☄ another day they waited, the clouds were dark and faded ☄ ᴏᴘᴇɴ

[dusknoir]

Characters: Morty and YOU.
Setting: Assorted places around the Tower.
Format: Whichever!
Summary: The tower is +1 creepily happy ghost bro. He seems completely unaffected by the whole situation. He's also got a Ghost-bro with him, so feel free to recognize it... or him.
Warnings: None thus far! Morty's a cool cat, he tries not to create content warnings.

DORMITORIES (3-02 AND HALLS)

[Good evening, Tower. Waking up at some strange hour of the night suited Morty just fine, but the roomies might not take as kindly to the man who had been resting in the fourth bed without moving a muscle all day. Finally, at around nine o’clock at night, he started to show signs of life, and a bit afterward the sleep paralysis wore off and the seer was now officially a resident of room 3-20. He reacted with more confusion than anything else; jumping out of bed would be stupid. Morty took his time as he pushed himself up and looked around, and shortly afterward noticed that he wasn’t wearing his clothes anymore; instead it was some kind of uncomfortable white bodysuit, which... wasn’t cool. It was kind of embarrassing actually. Eventually, he resigned himself to the fate that he would need to get out from under the blankets in this; pulling them out to wrap around him would just create more work whenever he would have to make the bed again. So he forced himself out. And found his clothes. Joyous day!]

[...he also found four Pokéballs in the bottom of the trunk, sitting in a belt he used for the express purpose of carrying them around. Well. That caused him significant distress; there was only four? Where were the others? An uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach, Morty took the Pokéballs one by one and held them, attempting to sense which Pokémon was inside. To his relief, he could still do it; the friends he had with him were Gengar, Dusknoir, Froslass, and Chandelure.]

[Well. There could be worse starting teams, the sensible side of Morty’s brain said. Chandelure and Froslass meant that he didn't just have pure Ghost-types. But at the same time — where was everybody else?]

[Morty headed back over to the bedside table he could only assume was his, hoping that perhaps there were other Pokéballs sitting in the drawers. But instead he found two letters both addressed to him. Maybe they explained what was going on? Oh, he hoped so, and so Morty pocketed the letters and slipped on his Pokéball belt as he walked out the door. Maybe there was a PC out here he could use to withdraw the rest of them.]

[Cue one very confused Morty trying to find the ‘Bill’s PC’ section of the terminals.]

CAFETERIA

[Said letters came out of his pocket after a while of loafing around in the hallways doing nothing, and eventually Morty had to realize that no. There were no PCs here. Just the terminals. Slowly but surely the Gym Leader tried harder to hide his concern. It was beginning to look like the rest of his team wasn’t where they should have been, along with the others... Banette? Jellicent? Mismagius, Sableye, Haunter, Gastly? Eventually he turned to the letters, hoping they would tell him where his friends had gone; instead, they led him down to the cafeteria. He didn’t know where that was. But he’d find his way down anyway.]

[This was all very... strange, he thought, sitting at one of the cafeteria tables with an empty bowl that had once contained oatmeal sitting in front of him. (He saw no problem with the stuff.) Gengar was sitting on the table, munching away at a small pile of apples he’d found... somewhere, in the back room. Really, Morty was more concerned with the letters at this point. He read over them again and again, brow furrowed with a quite unusual seriousness. They only made mention of the items that were found in his trunk, no other external storage. Troubling. Very troubling. Morty did not like any of this, not at all. The world had been destroyed... no, that couldn't be! Ecruteak would never be destroyed, Johto would never be destroyed, the Pokémon League wouldn't... let it...]

[After a while, he set the letters down and slid them over to Gengar.] What do you think of this?

[The Ghost-type looked at him for a second, and then leaned over and started to read.]

FLOOR FIVE

[Okay, yeah, no questions about it. The time for being a responsible adult with nerves of steel is over. Morty is having a really bad day.]

No.

[He’s found the binoculars.]

No. No... no!

[That is all.]

 

Comments

floor five

[ghostytrainer]

[Though this is typically one of the floors that John avoids, today he had a thought which had brought him running and caused him to all but glue his eyes to a pair of binoculars. Rose had been missing for a few days now, though not only was there a lack of new grave for her, but her name was also still on the door of her room. So clearly she couldn't be gone gone...]

[But then he'd remembered what he'd been told about people being sent back to their worlds. Maybe...maybe he could find her with the binoculars! Not that he'd be able to do anything to bring her back but it would be nice to at least know if that's ACTUALLY where she was...]

[It wasn't until he heard a voice from the other side of the room that John realized there was somebody else other than the worker units manning the security station. He probably wouldn't have paid it much mind were it not for the fact that the voice was oddly familiar. Sure he hadn't heard it in a while but...it was definitely familiar to John.]

No...it can't be. [He pulls away from the binoculars, his Litwick giving him a curiously confused look before following after him as he walks around the edge of the room towards the voice.]

[And sure enough...]

Morty?

floor five

[dusknoir]

[You’re quite dedicated, John. Being a responsible adult about finding your Rose. Very nice. Morty couldn’t tell you if she would actually show up on the displays, though, mostly because his was completely devoid of life. Everything was... dead. The trees and grass, dead. People, dead. Pokémon, dead. Normally Morty didn’t mind the presence of death; it was a natural process just like everything else in the world. But this was too much — there should never, ever be this much death at one time, in one place.]

[The Gym Leader’s concentration was entirely focused on the viewfinder; if he noticed John speaking, he didn’t pay any attention to it. The mention of his own name, however, changed that.]

[Slowly he stood up again, staring at the binoculars with a despairing look in his eyes. A few seconds were allowed for a period of mourning. And then he visibly pulled himself back together again, and turned to face John at the same time that the tips of Gengar’s ears appeared through the floor like shark fins.]

Yes?

[ghostytrainer]

Holy shit, it really is you. [Why...does this shock him. It really shouldn't, all things considered. Oh well. This is pretty much the best possible gym leader they could have nabbed, so John isn't complaining.]

I mean um...hi. I don't know if you remember me or not but I'm a trainer from Johto. [A beat.] Well, not originally, but yeah...anyway, you must have just gotten here, am I right?

[He's so distracted by Morty that the Gengar goes completely unnoticed for the time being.]

[dusknoir]

[You really needed to mention Johto right now, John, didn't you? You REALLY needed to mention Johto.]

[Morty sighs heavily and looks back down at the floor. Sure he saw the letter, but he's still taking this badly. Really badly. Gengar's eyes flit about a bit, but it considers that now would probably not be the time to act like a nuisance, so it just continues to sit there and watch the conversation unfold. If it has to go Hypnosis on someone, it will.]

That's right. I've just arrived.

[And, not even a single day in, has looked into a viewfinder and discovered that instead of the world beyond, the lenses showed his... his everything. Devoid of life. W h o o p s.]

[ghostytrainer]

[Tact: It's hit or miss with John. Though he does at least notice that he's upset Morty with something he said. This is upsetting because, seirously, this guy is pretty much the coolest of all the gym leaders in John's oh so humble opinion and he's already managed to put his foot in his mouth.]

Sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, um... [Shit.] Well are there any questions or anything I can help you with?

[dusknoir]

[He is, normally! There are going to be a lot of chill bro times in the future, John. Today is just... not one of those times. He's kind of taking this whole thing badly. However, he does seem happy to take the boy's offer to explain some things about the situation, such as what in the flying fuck is going on. For his first trick, Morty simply points at the viewfinder.]

Is this real?

[ghostytrainer]

[Soon.]

Well it's what they want us to believe, certainly. As to how real it is...I am not sure. Honestly, I am still unsure if I believe the part about our ruined worlds or not, myself.

[dusknoir]

...So there's no way of telling. [His dark scowl didn't go anywhere.]

These people aren't very trustworthy? I could infer from the details of this whole situation that they weren't giving us the full story, but...

[ghostytrainer]

Eeeexactly. Unfortunately, on both counts. One of them was apparently a little more trustworthy than the others but he died recently. And even being the most helpful didn't exactly stop him from hiding things from us.

But yeah. Basically this isn't the best of places to be stuck, much as I hate to say it.

Cafeteria

[cutestprogrammer]

[Chihiro froze the moment he saw the Ghost pokemon as he entered the cafeteria... Then he noticed the boy talking to it.]

W-What is that...?

Cafeteria

[dusknoir]

[Morty looked up at the question, not entirely realizing that it was aimed at him — or rather, at Gengar. He glanced around for a bit, finding nothing out of the ordinary, and then looked back at Chihiro.]

What is what?

[Guess who hasn’t realized that not everyone here is from the Pokémon World.]

[cutestprogrammer]

T-That... [he pointed a shaky finger at the Pokemon]

[dusknoir]

...Oh. [Morty followed his finger and looked mildly confused for a second, before turning back to Chihiro with a smile.] Don't worry! This is Gengar; he won't hurt you. [Just, uh, tie your shoelaces together when you're late to work.]

[cutestprogrammer]

Gengar...? [Still looking at the ghost rather uncertainly.] Is... Is he your pet?

[dusknoir]

In a way. Gengar and I are partners. [The Pokémon's ears twitched cheerfully.] He doesn't speak English, but he's a valued friend of mine.

[cutestprogrammer]

Partners...? For what? You are able to understand each other though?

[dusknoir]

Yes, we understand one another. [And that's all he says. Whether it's psychic power or just knowing each other so well that the movements can be interpreted... well, that's going to remain a mystery to everyone but the man himself.] After all, people can be friends with animals, right? There's no reason they can't be friends with Pokémon.

Cafeteria - so late it hurts ;;

[lolighostgirl]

[The Ghost Princess explored in the meantime. People all over the place, she had to just meet some of them. Still, it sucked her powers were limited. One of the best places to go were the cafeteria and watch people eat that disgusting stuff.

But then, she saw Gengar. Just looking at it's eyes reminded her of someone. Perona closed her fist and covered her mouth trying to contain her giggles. She couldn't help it, she laughed. Probably looked like she was making fun of Gengar.]

Horohorohorohoro~

shoosh. The mere presence of Perona makes up for it.

[dusknoir]

[The sound of laughter attracts Gengars, Perona, did you know that? It's true. They love to turn that sound of happiness and glee into a sound of misery! ...Or maybe they just want to share in whatever the other person is laughing at. Because if there's one thing Gengar has learned about this Tower, it's that the people inside do some pretty hilarious things when they think no one's watching. So when the creature hears the sound of someone's very odd laugh, it pops into the air and starts to float off. Morty soon stands up and followed.]

[Needless to say, the purple creature found Perona first. It kept approaching, grin growing wider, hoping to perhaps spook the girl...]

it's a ghost, she can't miss this! o-o

[lolighostgirl]

[Sorry Gengar, Haunter already beat you to that. Perona watches the approaching Gengar and slowly side steps towards the wall. But what's this? Perona's body suddenly passes through until part of her head remains peering out. When she hears the footsteps of someone, Morty, the goth lolita slides her remaining head through the wall as if she just vanished, but we all know Gengar is smarter than that.]

[dusknoir]

[That's okay, at least Perona has experience. Gengar would still do it either way, so it works out for everyone, right? The Ghost-type seems delighted by this girl's trick, and it follows her into the wall, leaving Morty to stare at nothing but a blank corner of the room. He could very clearly tell that there was more than one resident in that wall, of course, but pretended he didn't out of amusement.]

Oh, no. I've lost him again...

[lolighostgirl]

[Perona peeks from the side wall behind Morty quietly thinking the guy is already tricked. Just for fun, Perona glides backwards to the next wall like an ominous feeling. Guys wearing dark colors are kinda cute when Perona thinks about it. Oh well, on to the next wall as she let's out a giggle at the last moment before merging with the wall.]

Horohorohorohoro~

[dusknoir]

[Morty hears the laugh loud and clear this time, and his eyebrows rise. Actually this whole thing is very interesting to him and he does want to find out what's doing that, but the important thing for now is to fake being scared until Gengar tries to pull something.] Gengar? Is that you making that noise? [Meanwhile, behind the wall, the real Gengar follows Perona further back in, grinning at her in approval before imitating her laughter at a higher pitch.]

[lolighostgirl]

[Gengar, Perona loves you. Just watching Morty scared tickled Perona. It was natural for her to believe he was scared, Perona has trolled some people before. Perona slid behind him again, peering over Morty's shoulder. Hopefully Perona's shadow cascaded for Morty to see. He would see a silhouette figure of a young girl with pigtails. Now does that look like a Gengar? Perona quickly retreated back into the wall before Morty could turn around.]

[dusknoir]

[Gengar likes you too, Perona! Gengar knows on some level that Morty is completely faking it, but it's still fun to mess with him nonetheless; and maybe it could even do something with Perona as well, since she seemed to buy the entire thing. The Gym Leader pretended not to notice as the spiritual force he sensed split in two; he didn't detect specific entities, only the rough amount of how much energy was in an area at a given time. Perhaps Gengar had split himself in two. Or... perhaps there was another ghost. He noticed the shadow out of the corner of his eye -- the shape of a little girl. He turned around.] There you a--

[ ... ]

[Morty's brow furrowed in an expression of absolutely nothing. Though it did make him look quite worried.]