Round 1 - [Action : New Bark City] - [Audio]

[yanginthere]

[ Action : Morning ]
[ When it came to blending in with the natives, Yang certainly looked the part. The only reason she had the jacket on in the first place was because it was much colder here and she was still feeling the heat of the combat high she left behind in the arena. It was with equal parts bewilderment, confusion, and irritation that she looked out at her surroundings, her mind reeling with trying to make sense of everything she had read, or heard from that ... that delusional woman in the house she left behind.

To make matters worse, her attention was constantly divided between her goal of gathering as much information on this town as possible and the faint half-bark half-growling of the "pet" that was close to the heels of her boots at all times.

Finally, Yang stopped and crouched down, adjusting the way her new bag slung off of her shoulder. ] Look, pup. You're cute and all, and I've love to play with you, but I don't really have time for it right now. Okay? You feel me?

[ It certainly seemed to be listening, though talking to an animal and expecting it to comprehend everything she said wasn't what Yang expected at all. She was more just vocalizing her frustrations to the closest living soul.

She sighed, a thick cloud of steam in the chill winter air. ] I don't even have any treats for you. At least, I don't think I do... [ Yang thought about it a minute. There had been supplies, but nothing you should feed a dog.

Then Yang withdrew her hand from within the travel bag holding onto small red-and-white sphere. ] Hmm, actually. I never tried to open this. Looks like one of those surprise egg toy prizes. I wonder what's inside...

[ The Growlithe made a gruff, curious sound, and leaned in a bit to sniff at the ball. Yang tapped the button on it front and made as if to show the puppy the contents first. The ball grew in her hand, which surprised her and caused her to drop it. It popped open with a sound and then, after a flash of light, the dog was just... gone! Sucked right into the ball by some kind of strange energy.

Yang did not take that well. ] WHOA! What the— [ That was. Not supposed to happen. Yang's eyes were wide and she rose her feet. Time to panic! ] Ohmygod! WhatdidIdo? DidIkillit? Ididn't—! Ahh crap!!! [ She bent down to pick up the ball once more, turning it this way and that. Does she dare open it? Can someone close to her explain what just happened?!? HELP! ]

---

[ Audio : Open ]
[ Yang sounded much calmer when she finally made her general broadcast. It was said that this would be a good way to reach out to anyone here whether they were new like her, well informed as to how this place worked, or (hopefully) familiar voice from home. ]

Uhh, I was told I should probably introduce myself here over this network, but it feels kind of weird to do that. Not like I expect anyone to know who I am. But... [ A pause, there is some growling in the background. Eh. Here goes nothing? ]

I'm Yang Xiao Long. If the words "Remnant", "Beacon Academy", or "Vytal Festival" mean anything to you, call me back right away. It's kind of urgent.

If you're the one that brought me here, well, thanks for not letting me get to enjoy my victory first? Niiiice timing! [ A grumble. ] Jerks.

[ Yang sighed quietly. She's usually much better with people, but it's hard to feel up to making new friends right off the bat when freshly displaced. Give her a minute. She'll come around. ]

Otherwise, uh .... hi, I guess? Someone talk to me. I don't even know if I did this right.

Comments

[callbacks]

Yeah, I asked my friend to bring her and Weiss up here to Violet City so they could reunite with Penny. Look, I'm not gonna make you hoof it out there in the cold while the rest of your squad's already here. There's rude and then there's rude.

[yanginthere]

...wait, did you say Blake was here, too? [ Yang could have just missed it, but then again, she HAD been listening closely. ]

I'm not a fan of walking in the woods alone, either. Even if that — lady was nice enough to give me some warm threads. [ No way in heck is she referring to that stranger as "mom". ]

[callbacks]

Uhh, no, I don't think I met a Blake...

[Nope, just Ruby, Weiss, and Penny.]

Sometimes it takes a while for people's friends to show up, though. Like, it's just me and Jade here right now from my world, and she didn't turn up until about a month after I got here.

[yanginthere]

Huh. [ Yang hasn't even known her teammates a full year. A month without any of them would be so weird. She also can't imagine a full month going by without Ruby but, fortunately, she doesn't have to. ] That's a long wait.

Then again, she's pretty sneaky. It could be she's here and just hasn't announce it yet. I bet if I made enough noise I could flush her out though.

[callbacks]

Could be. Ruby and Weiss both made pretty big stirs over the network the other day, though, so if she's biding her time in the woods somewhere. she's missing out on the party.

You said your name's Yang?

[yanginthere]

Even if I haven't made a scene yet, I'm kind of hard to miss. If she's here, she'll find me. [ Just like Yang should not be the most calm out of the three, and Blake is basically Catwoman who so knows where she was or what she was up to. ]

Yep! I'm Ruby's sister. What's your name, helpful stranger?

[callbacks]

I'm Dave. Penny and I've been travel buddies since...November? Something like that. Couple months now. Bet she'll be stoked as hell to see you.

[yanginthere]

If I was here that long, I'd be stoked to see just about anyone from home. [ Well. There were limits to that, but no need to think about that just yet. ]

Good to meet you, Dave. Afraid I'm not quite done with questions yet, if that's all right with you? [ He did mention being stressed out; repeating the same shit to people over and over again has to get tedious. ]

[callbacks]

Oh, yeah, shoot.

[Questions are fine, questions he can deal with.]

[yanginthere]

This is going to sound kind of dumb but. What you said before, about your friend being from your world... are you trying to tell me this place isn't Remnant? That you're not from there, either?

[callbacks]

Yyyyeahp, that's exactly what I'm saying. I don't know what the people who live here actually call their planet, but mostly I just go with PokéWorld. Like Sea World except with superpowered cartoon creatures. And I'm not from Remnant but I'm not from here, either. People get pulled from all over, we've got a pretty crazy distribution of homeworlds from what I can tell.

[yanginthere]

[ Yang has to take a deep breath and just. Let that sink in a moment. ]

...........okay that's kind of cool. Except the whole "this is basically kidnapping" part anyway. [ Still irked there. ]

[callbacks]

It's relatively awesome, yeah. I'm actually learning a lot about my world, lots of people here are from alternate versions of it so I'm catching up on all the culture I never got to pick up the natural way.

[yanginthere]

That's starting to sound even more sci-fi than before. [ Seriously. Alternate worlds. What. She has enough to think about with her own. ]

[callbacks]

I mean, it's "been there, done that" for me, but TBH the place you girls come from's literally out of this world from my perspective. To each their own conception of nerdy shit, I guess.

[yanginthere]

Haha, yeah. I could see where some of our stories could sound outrageous to someone not used to it. Especially if the girls said anything about what we train for, or talked about our missions. [ They aren't ones to brag, but they aren't likely to have avoided the topics when asked either. ]

[callbacks]

Yeah, Penny filled me in on the details somewhat. Y'all are Huntresses, right? Or Huntresses-in-training, anyway. Sounds pretty cool.

[yanginthere]

Yep! It's not all fun and games, but... I'll admit it is pretty cool.

Too bad we don't have our,... uh.

[ Uh-oh. Now there's uncertainty in her voice. ] Hang on a sec.

[callbacks]

[...Oh, snap.]

Is this about the weapons? Or the super powers. 'Cause, um. Yeah. That's a thing.

[yanginthere]

[ There is some noise and a faint "damn it" in the background as Yang confirmed something for herself. She sighed as she picked the 'Gear back up. ]

And just when I was starting to feel halfway safe. [ She wasn't, actually, but the point was still there. Yang did not like the notion of being disarmed. ]

[callbacks]

You've got a Pokémon with you, right? Like, there should be a weird looking animal trying to keep an eye on you, everyone gets one when they come in.

[yanginthere]

Yep, a dog was following me — er, Growlithe, not dog, but you know. [ Same difference. ]

What about her?

[callbacks]

Okay, well mostly it's the Pokémon that get to have weird powers here. All the rest of us get a mass downgrade to the basic squishy human level, so if you want to be fighting competent, you'll have to catch a few more and train them up.

[yanginthere]

Well I'm not helpless or anything. It's just super inconvenient and frustrating. [ ... ] Wait, what am I going to be fighting anyway? [ That didn't sound good. ]

[callbacks]

Well, people don't really fight here. Or if they do go hand to hand, I haven't heard about it. But the national sport appears to be Pokémon battling. There's Gyms with people you can take on all along the way and other trainers will randomly challenge you on the roads, and there's wild Pokémon to worry about a little, too. Like, they're not dangerous, usually, you just gotta watch out.