8th pokéball | backdated to the 24th [open/closed/open]

[ghostytrainer]

Characters: r29!John and you
Setting: Floors 74, 25 [closed], and 5
Format: Either
Summary: John's Litwick evolves, he does some training with Itachi, and he searches for Rose using the ruined world viewing stations.
Warnings: Nothing yet

Floor 74:
[With the weather back under control, John figures it's time to get back to training both himself and his Pokémon. So, bright and early, he heads down the caverns on the 74th floor, hammer tied to his back and followed by his Litwick and Zoroark.]

[The first hour or so is pretty uneventful, just a kid and his monsters fighting some monsters, nothing to see here. But eventually, after literally roasting a Dusk, the little floating candle is enveloped by a strange white light. After mere moments, it begins to change shape, twisting and growing larger until it finally stops glowing to reveal...]



Alright, Chandel! You did it! High-five! [There are high-fives all around as the Zoroark finds his way over to his trainer and teammate.]

[The three remain on this floor for a few hours before John glances at his pokégear and suddenly calls his monsters back into their balls and dashes towards the stairs. Oops, someone lost track of time, it seems.]

Floor 25 [closed to Itachi]:
[Even running his fastest, John is about five minutes late for his taijutsu lessons with Itachi. Legs feeling a little rubbery, John stops at the base of the staircase to catch his breath for a few moments before heading out onto the floor proper to find his teacher.]

Floor 5:
[After dinner, John can be found more or less glued to the one of viewfinders on the fifth floor. His Lampent and Zoroark are once again out and about, the former keeping close to John while the latter wanders around the floor, sniffing the air and examing whatever happens to grab his attention.]

This starts three weeks, Chandel, and still nothing. [John sighs as the Lampent offers a comforting pat on John's shoulder, cooing softly.] Yeah, I know, I know. It's just...hard to be patient.

Comments

Floor 74 AW YEAH

[primordial]

[WAS THIS BRING YOUR OWN MONSTERS TO WORK DAY BECAUSE WE TOTALLY GOT THE MEMO]

[Well, this place is...pretty. Sam is still wandering around the tower, it seems (seriously was there no end to these floors or what), and had stumbled upon this floor in his explorations.]

[But there were...well, monsters lurking on this floor, from what he saw moving in the shadows, so without even a sound his monstrous Persona slithers out from his shadow, and he moves ahead, trying to avoid confrontation as much as possible.]

[What he doesn't expect to see is something bright and white flashing off to the side, and what looks like a floating lamp with eyes and arms come out of it. Momentarily dazzled by the display, he just stares at it, before realizing that...wait, there's a kid here too. With a whole bunch of other strange creatures.]

D-demons??

[He can't help but mutter that to himself as he moves closer to the shadowy eldritch horror beside him, but his shoes suddenly catch on some of that slippery sand, and, well...]

[Down he goes with a really loud yelp, back hitting the ground hard. Hope you weren't hoping to get your training session abruptly interrupted by a monster boy and his own monster, John.]

MONSTER PARTY TIME AWWW YEEEE

[ghostytrainer]

[John can't help but jump a little, spinning around towards the source of the noise, Fear no Anvil at the ready and oh...]

[Oh okay, it's just some guy, not a monster taking advantage of the fact that he and his own monsters let their guard down for a minute. Woah wait holy shit, he lied. Not just "some guy" what in the world is that thing he's got with him? It doesn't seem to be attacking him, so chances are it's some kind of pet or summon but...]

Uhh...you okay there?

/DANCES

[primordial]

Ah!

[He winces as he pulls himself up, Mordiggian slithering back to make some room for him as he tries to shakily get back on his feet. Ugh, the guy noticed him...now he has to engage in conversation, how quaint.]

[A slight shake of his head and an awkward smile.]

Y-yeah! Yeah, I'm okay, I...I didn't realize the sand was slippery, I mean, it was totally unexpected, and...yeah. Sorry about that.

[ghostytrainer]

Hehe, yeah you have to be a bit careful! Easier to lose your footing than you would think. You have nothing to apologize for though, dude. You just startled me a bit, no harm done!

Though uh...I have to ask. Who's your friend? [He nods at Mordiggian.]

Floor 76. Forgive the short tags starting out.

[no_longer_a_king]

[She had been coming through the caverns training when she'd spotted John. She had been about to call to him when the candle creature was enveloped in a white light and left behind.... a lantern? What?]

They change shape?

of course uvu

[ghostytrainer]

[John turns to face her, grinning and offering a quick wave.]

Yeah, they do! Well...not all of them, but a lot of them! Chandel was the last one I had who hadn't evolved yet.

[no_longer_a_king]

So when they get stronger they 'evolve' and change shape? Or did it simply become an adult?

Floor 74

[imperialsun]

[Oh now this is interesting.]

I see...they evolve and change shape?

[In a way it was like getting stronger personas...]

[ghostytrainer]

[John nods.]

Yeah. It's one of the ways that they grow stronger! [He grins a little.] Sounds like you've met one of the other Pokémon trainers running around here though, am I right?

[imperialsun]

[He laughs and shakes his head.]

Not quite. I'm a Persona user. Let me show you...

PERSONA!

[He takes a small step back as he yells the word, bluish energy swirling around him, rising upwards until it materializes into Vishnu, the demonic persona hovering in the air, twice as tall as Naoya is before him.]

That's one of them.

Floor 5 because I can

[get_bent]

[What are those...oh damn, that Zoroark was pretty cute in it's own way. Like a sort of fox and...hold it together Kanji!]

H-hey uh...they yours?

[ghostytrainer]

[You should have seen him before he evolved, Kanji. Super cutie levels to the max.]

[It takes John a moment to register the fact that somebody is talking to him, but eventually he manages to pry his eyes away from the viewfinder and glance Kanji's way.]

Oh! Um, yeah. They're both mine. So don't worry, they're friendly. Not going to start attacking you or anything like that.

[get_bent]

Oh? N-nah I wasn't 'fraid of them attackin' me or anything. Figured they had to be someone's since I haven't seen them before...

You got any more of them?

[He's curious okay? He likes cute things.]

Floor 5! Have a gargoyle!

[techsavvy]

[He'd seen some strange things in this Tower, but.. that thing floating behind the boy in front of the viewfinder was a first.]

[He tried checking the Lampent out from a far, but his curiosity kept nagging at him to inch closer for a better look. So he did. Slowly. Stop being a creeper Lex.]

Hey. Uh. What is that thing, exactly..?

[Only after he spoke did he notice Zoroark, which also caught his interest. What were these things?]

:D

[ghostytrainer]

Hm?

[John straightens up, pulling himself away from the viewfinder and woah hey. That's...something. Alright.]

[Buddy, he could ask you the same question, tbh. Which...speaking of, he should probably answer instead of just staring. That would be a good idea.]

Oh uh, her? [He points to his lantern companion.] She's a Pokémon, a Lampent specifically.

:3

[techsavvy]

[Lex is used to the staring. He gets it whenever he goes after all. ]

A.. Pokémon?

[Come on Lex. Get with it buddy.]

Is it like a pet or something?

[floor 5] tags you with someone other than jade shock and awe

[lookmanostrings]

You seem a tad distressed.

[Apparently while John had been talking to his pokemon and looking through the viewfinder, someone with the look of a child had shown up, a violin and bow fastened to his belt on his side.] Is everything alright?

hopy shit!!!!!!!!! O_O

[ghostytrainer]

[John jumps a little, pulling away from the viewfinder. While he wasn't surprised that somebody else had shown up on the floor, he was a little surprised that they had actually heard him. Maybe he'd been talking louder than he realized? Oops.]

Err well...not exactly. But it's not the end of the world or anything! Distressed is kind of a strong word for it, really worried is probably a better one but yeah I guess? [He's starting to ramble a little bit.] It's just that my fiancee has been missing for a while now and...yeah.

[His eyes fall momentarily on the child's violin, an almost sad look flashing across his eyes for a second before he focuses his attention back on the other's face.]

So nothing really big or terrible, like I said. She will be back at...some point.

[Waiting is haaaaaaard.]

dun dun dunnnnnnnn

[lookmanostrings]

[Apparently John being jumpy was pretty amusing, because his reaction garnered a small chuckle from Fado.]

Being separated from your loved ones for any amount of time is not easy; especially in a place like this. It's good to see that you remain optimistic, but being concerned is perfectly fine too.

[He folded both hands behind his back and somehow smiled even more.] I'm sure she will be returned before you know it.

Floor 74

[warriorscribe]

*What struck Enoch as odd about this floor was that there was no gaggle of monsters around near the staircase. They were usually a constant...he usually heard them in passing if he ever passed this floor - he remembered it because it was a little like Armaros's level in the Tower back on Earth...

Enoch readied his Arch and stepped off the staircase, wondering just how safe it was to explore this floor now, and why there didn't seem to be any monsters here. The sounds of battle soon drew him, cautiously, where he watched his fellow gravekeeper training his Pokemon, much like he'd seen Kasahara do in Meridian.

And then the little candle began to glow...and change. Enoch emerges from the cover of the stalagmite that had been nearby as he'd approached them.*

What was that?

[ghostytrainer]

Ah! Hey, Enoch! What's up? [John turns away from his monster duo and offers a wave.]

That was an evolution! Think of it like...physical puberty for Pokémon. Kinda.

[warriorscribe]

I'd been shown an adult and a child form, but I didn't think the change would happen immediately...

*The more he learned about these creatures, he'd found, the stranger they seemed...*

Floor 25 (let's pretend I tagged this in a timely manner ahahaha...)

[silentsacrifice]

[Itachi is standing a few yards away from the staircase. He senses John's presence without needing to look at him, so it's without turning his way that he deadpans:] You're late.

[He supposes that he should be lenient about punctuality in the Tower, all things considered, but too much leeway will undermine everything he's been trying to teach John about discipline. He glances at John out of the corner of one eye, giving him a quick once-over.]

I hope you're not gravely injured. [The unspoken implication being, "Because if you aren't, I won't let you off easy."

Hey, just because he's not actively trying to act evil any more doesn't mean he can't be strict.]

shhhh it's okay i will wait forever

[ghostytrainer]

[Of course he's already here. Of course there was no way John was going get off easy about this. Welp.]

I know, sorry! I was just training the 'mons and lost track of time a little bit. [He knows how long it takes to get down here from way up the top of the tower so he knew when he should have left by and...yeah whoops. He really should think about setting an alarm on his Pokégear or something.]

Not that that's an excuse or anything! Just...I wasn't goofing off, is all. Promise! [The fact that he still has his hammer with him hopefully makes that somewhat believable.]

[silentsacrifice]

[Itachi turns to face John fully, staring at him for so long that he's sure it starts to border on uncomfortable. Finally, he seems to accept this excuse, if only because they'll make more progress if they skip an argument about punctuality.]

...Fine. But I expect you to make up for lost time now that you're here. Have you been practicing since our last session?

[Itachi had touched on the finer points of relaxation and balance the last time they'd met up, with an emphasis on blocking out distracting thoughts and feelings. However, considering John's... temperament, Itachi isn't sure just how well the lessons sunk in.]