(no subject)

[lovelycharming]

Everybody enjoying another peaceful, carefree day in Ultern? Good, because there's a sparkle in the sky other than Ulternian sunshine and look, it's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's...

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAAA—huh? Hey, wait a minute...! Jessie? Meowth?! Where is everybody?!"

Before James can get an answer, he'll be crash-landing in Ohritori! Face full of sand on Stardust Beach? Embarrassingly suspended from a palm tree or even an Exeggutor? Or taking a miserably full-clothed dip in the sea? (Brrr!)

((Is this going to be a repeat of Mairin landing on various ships and needing to be rescued multiple times—perhaps, fortunately, both Mairin and James have terrible luck and certainly can wind up in fixes more times than they can count... maybe he's under the impression he can just launch himself back into the sky and find his friends, who knows?! But he just keeps landing here... oof.))

Comments

[red_berry]

Red takes a casual step back before a guy lands in front of him on the beach. His Pikachu, Pika, winces and takes a step back as well. That sure looks like he got a mouth full of sand...

James, in front of you stands a tall, thin-as-a-stick young man who's staring down at you with absolutely no emotion on his face, saying nothing. What will you do?

[James is scared of him, go figure]

[lovelycharming]

He spat, feeling utterly disgusted. What an ungraceful, undignified, utterly unbecoming—

Oh, that is... that is a very, very tall man.

James, after delicately dabbing at his mouth with a handkerchief (which, honestly, looked comical after all the sand-sputtering), sat up and craned his neck to see the rest of the man. He looked a little bit like Ash, almost, but with straighter hair!

That's a... terribly cold expression. James felt a little bit frightened. Did his spitting offend him?!

"I'll, uh, just be... on my way, aha..."

Where's Jessie and Meowth when you need them?!

[Red sure does accidentally intimidate people!]

[red_berry]

Hum, that sure doesn't look fun. But this guy looks vaguely familiar. Has Red seen him somewhere? Oh well, if he forgot, it was probably not important.

Pika, however, recognizes him, and points at him with an exclamation.

("Hold on... That's one of those Rockets! The... kind of pathetic ones that kept popping up everywhere.") Pika deflates, this specific Rocket isn't really anything to be worried about.

"Hm," Red says, though it's unclear if he's replying to Pika or to James. He's still looking at James, at least.

If only Meowth was here, indeed...

[oh, good timing, learned I'll be starting work later because of Ramadan, so more time for tags! ^^]

[lovelycharming]

James felt the pressure steadily mount under that unnerving stare! Ah, then, came out... a Pikachu?!

Could it be the very same?!

"Might you be...?! Oh, are you that twerp we've been following all these years?! How long have I been up in the air?! Have you achieved your dreams?!"

Tearfully, he clasped his hands. I'm sorry, Red, it seems you've been mistaken for another...!

[It's a mutual mistaken identity!]

[red_berry]

Huh, somebody who knows Red? From a long time ago? That does make sense, people come from all over the worlds and time... Well, whoever this is, he sure seems like a kind person.

Has he achieved his dreams? Well, his dream of becoming Pokemon Champion, yes, but his current dream of organizing someone's wedding? No, it's still far away, unfortunately...

"Some," Red says with a shrug, then looks into the distance, perhaps wistfully. Or boredly, it's hard to tell from his face.

Pika watches, kind of in disbelief.

"(Wait, years? Have they really been following us ever since then...?") Something seems a little off about this!

[oh, nooo...]

[lovelycharming]

A kind person! He can be, he truly is at heart, but—

Ah, he's not so chatty as the boy from Pallet Town that he knew... well, to be fair, Ash was never very enthusiastic to interact with Team Rocket, to be fair...

"I'm sorry, did I touch on a sore spot—you don't have to talk about that if you don't want to... might I ask where this place is...?"

[chloeandeevee]

Oh look, someone this James won't know, but who knows him!

Chloe stares in shock and winces as James lands. "Are you okay?!"

She never does understand how they don't get terribly hurt from such things.

"Eevee-vee!" says Eevee.

[aww, this'll be fun!!]

[lovelycharming]

James whined a little bit in response. If someone was going to show him some sympathy, he might as well milk it for all its worth, even if, in truth, he's had far worse landings! Sand is soft, at least, and his descent was slowed by a number of factors...

He rolled over pitifully, throwing a hand dramatically over his eyes.

"Oh! Of course I'm not okay, I just got a mouthful of sand and who knows how many feet have stepped all over it, not to mention Pokemon d—pardon? Is that an Eevee?"

James uncovered his eyes, suddenly not quite so concerned with his own state.

[Yes!]

[chloeandeevee]

Chloe isn't too surprised by the overdramatics, but the last comment definitely gives her pause.

"Um, yes, this is my partner Eevee," she says slowly. "Don't you remember her?"

Maybe he had landed harder than he thought....

"Eevee?!" says Eevee. She jumps down to inspect James closer.

[1/2; in which James has a (very ridiculous) misunderstanding]

[lovelycharming]

James blinked at her, eyes blissfully blank, reflecting the perfectly vacant expanse of his mind...

"Remember her...?" James repeated, just as slowly, and watched as Eevee sniffed about him. "She seems terribly friendly... do we know each other well? You, Eevee, and I? You seem confident we've met, but... I mean, I know Jessie always wanted an Eevee, but we were never particularly close with any—oh!"

[2/2; kindly disabuse him of the wild notion]

[lovelycharming]

A girl with an Eevee, green eyes, and very long purplish red hair...

"Are we related?!" James asked in surprise. "HAVE I HIT MY HEAD SO HARD I LOST YEARS OF MY LIFE?! Do I have amnesia?! What year is it?! Are there any others I should know about?! What else have I forgotten...?!"

LOL! Poor James!

[chloeandeevee]

Both Chloe and Eevee jump a mile as James devolves into panic and hysteria.

"No!" Chloe exclaims. "We're not related! You're just always trying to catch Pikachu and sometimes we're around too. Please don't worry!" She still wonders if he's hurt, but more likely ...

"People seem to come here from different time periods a lot. So maybe in your timeline, I'm still in your future? Where were you before you came here?"

[good job, Chloe!!]

[lovelycharming]

Always trying to catch Pikachu? Oh, is that all? He seemed instantly relieved, if a bit embarrassed now of his earlier outburst!

"Oh, good... ahaha, I don't know how I thought that could be true! That could never happen... but I still don't remember any girl with Eevee!" James frowned. "Sometimes... meaning, more than once?"

Might she be a new twerpette?

Fortunately, what Chloe said next answered his unspoken question.

"... I was in Twinleaf Town, in the Sinnoh region. This really doesn't look like Sinnoh... it's much too warm and tropical. Is this Hoenn? It doesn't quite resemble it either..."

[domeinion]

[However he ended up there, James will find himself crashing through the canopy and stuck up a tree in the forest above Alice's lab. It isn't long before the commotion attracts a few people from inside... well, one human, who walks in a circle, and what appears to be a Slaking with a winter hat and a jetpack, who lightly grabs his trainer's wrist to stop her and points up to James in the tree. Alice looks up.]

Oh! So that's what it was. How did you get up there?

[lovelycharming]

I was trying to go back the way I came... if you must know, I was hoping to launch myself back into the sky... when I suffered a minor setback.

[James tried his best to play it cool, but when he felt the branches bend underneath him, he shrieked in fright and half-clung, half-scrabbled up the branches, tearfully.]

I'll fall, I'll FALL—!!]

[domeinion]

Oh, boy. DJ, can you go get him?

[The Slaking rumbles and... okay, apparently that jetpack is functional? Maybe? He's flying, anyway, up to grab James and pull him back down.]

Unfortunately, drifting back through the stream doesn't as yet seem to be something that can be triggered intentionally. Although I'm sure that just means we haven't found a way yet.

1/2

[lovelycharming]

E-eep!

[He's certainly being lifted up! And slowly brought down... oh, there we are, back on land! He's so happy, he could almost kiss the ground!

... but he won't. He had quite enough of that earlier with the mouthfuls of sand, thank you very much. He'll save his tearful thank yous for his Pokemon and human saviors!]

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! How can I ever repay you, DJ and kind miss...?!

2/2

[lovelycharming]

Drifting back through the... stream? I don't believe I came by stream. I fell through the air.

[domeinion]

Not that, the spacetime stream.

[DJ sets James back on the ground and rumbles. Alice pats his arm.]

Welcome to Ultern. It's a region surrounded by a spacetime phenomenon in which people and Pokémon regularly appear from other places and disappear back, all apparently at random. I've been trying to study it, myself. My name is Alice. Who are you?

[lovelycharming]

... oh?

Space-time? M-might this be related to Dialga and Palkia?

It's nice to meet you, Alice! It's surprising seeing such a young researcher—no offense.

[He's a little impressed, but also, obviously very frightened and upset.]

So, I'm here all alone... without Jessie or Meowth...

Oops, All Jameses!

[aggrocket]

There’s another new face on Ohritori Island that day too. The black haired young man in the dark Team Rocket uniform didn’t have as much of a dramatic arrival, having just woken up on the beach, but unfortunately the tide was rolling in so he’s a little soggy. Man, what a pain in the ass.

He’s been patrolling the beach in hopes of drying off but also hoping to find some sort of clue to where the hell he is. What he finds instead is another person with curious blue hair lying face down in the sand. He… kicks the body with his foot lightly.

“Oi, you dead?”

[general James patheticness]

[lovelycharming]

The absolute most pitiful, wounded-sounding whine, as James rolled back onto his side.

"Hey! That hurt," James said with a pout, blinking fast, one eye tearing from the sand. "Oh, ouch..."

He shut his eyes, sat up, then plunged his face into seawater before shaking it off like a strange, shaggy little dog. He then wiped his face and tried to get another clearer look at the other man.

ILU James you goof

[aggrocket]

“What, that? That was nothing. Suck it up.”

The other man, also James, is a little bit on the taller side and sort of lean. He wears a standard issue Rocket uniform (sort of wet) and a nasty scowl (sort of intimidating.) He watches with… not quite revulsion but at least a fair deal of unexpected and discontent surprise as the other James just willfully dunks his face into the seawater.

“… Hey you weirdo, do you know where we are?”

[he's doing...... well, he's doing things, alright, maybe not always his best, but what works]

[lovelycharming]

"Hmph! It was hardly anything, but it was still rude," James said, giving the other James a reproachful look.

He then zeroed in on the Rocket uniform!

"Oh, a fellow Team Rocket member! I'm James, it's nice to meet you."

"Well... I've been informed it's a place called Ultern. An unfamiliar region... I've never heard of it before, have you?

[aggrocket]

“Don’t be such a baby.”

He notices James’ uniform at about the same time his own is recognized. “What a small fuckin’ world, huh? That’s my name too.” He markedly does not return the ‘nice to meet you.’ What a rudeass punk!

He takes off his hat and runs his hand through his hair, murmuring a quiet ’shit’ to himself as he looks around.

“No, I’ve never heard of anywhere like that. What the hell is going on…? Is this some sort of hazing ritual?”