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Who: Bulba, Vinnie, Lyra
What: GRAND KANTOVENTURES. They go to a forest and ask some bugs some things. Hijinks ensue.
Where: KANTO HECK YEAH. Viridian Forest area.
When: ~~KANTO~~ Uhh. Sometime after blind dates?
Warnings: ACE☆DETECTIVES.

Lyra never had been all that good at keeping still. Especially if the Rockets were involved. The suspicious coincidences just kept on adding up: first Giovanni happens to be teaching at a school full of Pokemon-turned-people. Then she got word that somebody had broken into Silph, looking for information on Giovanni and Team Rocket. Someone who left a wide trail of destruction leading right to Viridian City. Just when that was really starting to reek of suspicious activity, Archer shows up, claiming to have stumbled onto the very place where Giovanni was hiding completely by utter serendipity. Lyra was naturally predisposed to suspect Giovanni and his minions, but even if she hadn't been so biased, the whole thing would have seemed sketchy.

It was high time she did something about it. It was kind of exciting to finally be doing this kind of thing again -- seeking adventure, striding boldly into the face of peril, bravely probing the seedy underbelly in the name of justice. The fact she was doing it with two Pokemon who weren't even hers just made it feel all the more adventurous. The Team Rocket Kid's own Venusaur! Helping her! She was definitely writing home about that.

It had taken Janus a little longer than usual to reach Indigo Plateau; he might have been used to carrying Lyra on his back, but carrying three people wasn't quite so easy. Even so, it had been a quick flight; it wasn't too long at all before the Dragonite was thudding down outside the League reception gate. Lyra sprang eagerly from his back, adjusting her bag. "Good job, Janus! Y'know... the last time we were here, we were just about to try Victory Road for the first time? It gets your heart pounding just standing here, doesn't it?"

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Even if he was much more portable in human form, Vinnie was still a pretty big guy, which meant piggy-backing with two other guys on a Dragonite's back was a pretty awkward affair. He had to strap himself down with his vines to keep from slipping off at high speeds - 'cause damn, that Janus flew way faster than a Charizard. Sorry, Sis, but it was an incomparable rush.

Lovely, lovely adrenaline. And Champion-flavoured memories at the Indigo Plateau. Vinnie was pumped for anything.

The Venusaur touched down on solid ground with a stupidly huge grin on his face. He loved flying (when it wasn't in relation to getting punched by Max). "HAHAH YEAH That was fuckin' awesome! Best time'a my life."

Luckily Bulba didn't take up too much space as a Pokemon, which was what he had remained as for the duration of the ride since he was in fact at least a good hundred pounds lighter that way. He was still that way at the moment, giving a cautious look around them for any wandering hikers or excited champions-in-training.

Though maybe he was just avoiding looking at Vinnie for the moment.

Victory Road held a lot of memories for him too. They started out just as wonderful as those of his current companions, but he couldn't say they stayed that way. No, there was a definite bitter taste on his tongue. Was kind of expected, really, after the rush of clawing your way to the top and staking your claim in the thing you had worked so hard for. That one moment where you had accomplished the hopes and dreams of the person you cared most about... and you didn't even get to savor it before it was ripped away from you.

It was probably a really good thing that Bulba was Bulba or Vinnie probably would have been on fire right about now.

So he didn't look quite as happy when he was suddenly a people after making sure the coast was clear. Nope, he just looked a little somber and didn't really want to talk about this topic. "Viridian's not too far off this way," he said with a nod of his head in said direction.

Lyra, being as perceptive as the average wad of tissue paper, utterly failed to pick up on That One Ivysaur With The Funny Name's mood. He was probably just the serious, businesslike cop to Team Rocket Kid's Venusaur's eager action cop. So Lyra busied herself with returning Janus to his pokeball, so the poor guy could have a well-deserved rest, then pushing open the impressive doors of the reception building.

"Actually, this is going to be my first trip into Kanto -- actual Kanto, not just the League. I brought a camera and everything! I mean... I mostly brought it in case we need to take pictures of evidence. Not because I'm gonna be like a tourist or anything." She didn't want anyone thinking she was some kind of backwater Johto rube or anything. Just a dedicated crimefighter. Yep. Not going to sightsee in the slightest. "You guys are gonna hafta lead the way from here."

It was a little hard not to get goosebumps when entering the reception gate. Even if Victory Road stood between it and the Plateau proper, it still had that League feeling to it -- that grim sort of silence that came right before doing something life-altering. Even if her business wasn't taking her northward to the Elite Four this time, Lyra found it kind of fitting. They were totally setting out to do something that could be huge.

Sorry Bulba. Vinnie was at least aware of the Ivysaur's touchy memories (you know, having been an active participant and all), but it was the limit of his sensitivity to not actively bring up the little topic of not-being-champion in conversation.

Still, something had to rouse Bulba out of that sullen mood. It wasn't going to do anyone any good if he was awkward for the entire investigation.

"Hell yes. We can handle that - right Bulba?" He gave the other Seed Pokemon an encouraging slap on the back. Maybe his excitement would be infectious. But more likely it was probably going to come off the wrong way and make Vinnie seem like he was rubbing salt in the wounds. He didn't really consider the second possibility there.

"Oof!"

Yeah that didn't really help much there, Vinnie. Once a jerk, always a jerk... Though he knew that phrase really wasn't all that true. Sure felt like it sometimes, though. Bulba huffed a little, shrugging the action off. ... Which he regretted a moment later, knowing that this was more important than whatever his feelings were no matter how annoying he found Vinnie at this particular moment in time. (Which was pretty annoying. Sorry Vinnie.) He sighed and tried a smile.

"Of course. Viridian's a home away from home, after all."

The secret to improving Bulba's mood was getting there as fast as possible and leaving Victory Road, and his feelings for it, behind them. So he took the initiative ~~by rolling a 20~~ to start leading the way.

"It might not be as impressive as some places in Kanto when it comes to size... but it's very pretty in the fall, so you might want to take a picture or two anyway."

"Well... I'll maybe take a few pictures. I mean, we'll probably need to photograph the forest, at least. It's a crime scene." Lyra let Bulba lead the way. At least, until the League guard blocking the path to Kanto started frowning at them. Sorry, guy with the wacky cosplay ears and spots, you didn't look like you had eight badges on you, and you most definitely did not look like a Pokemon belonging to anyone in Kanto.

A brief exchange ensued wherein Lyra produced her trainer card and assured the dude that these two fine gentlemen were, in fact, with her. As it was not the guard's job to argue with the champion, he stepped aside, though not before handing her a pokeball -- the Xatu, he explained, that she had left at the League during her time in another region.

"Okay, let's go!" Lyra urged them on, pocketing the ball. "Are there gonna be a lot of wild Pokemon on the way? I know getting to the gate was tons of work on the Johto side, at least. You have to go through two routes and go up Tohjo Falls. It's kind of funny to think that the League was so close to home, but so far away at the same time... but I guess it's the same for you guys, right?" Or for Bulba, at least. He'd just said something about Viridian being like home, right?

Vinnie, at least, lacked his Venusaur features as a human - but it didn't help that he looked like an imposing hoodlum instead. What a guy like that was doing hanging out with the Johto Champion must've boggled the guard, because that suspicious look didn't go by unnoticed. As long as he didn't ask any questions, Vinnie didn't care. Being Champion had perks, huh.

"I guess so?" Well, he never gave the League much thought when he was a wild Bulbasaur. It wasn't until Red came into the picture that he really gave a damn. "I lived out near Vermilion 'fore I stepped in with the Boss. Didn't really like humans and their business then. Palette Town's sorta like a second home though - when we visit Red's mom. That's south of Viridian."

(Actually that guard had a pretty similar reaction with Red's mom at sight of six weirdos tagging around her son. He had a feeling she still broke out in cold sweat at the thought of Sonny staying over for dinner.)

"But Route twenty-three and 'two ain't too long. Seems shorter every time I been here."

It was like running around in Fuschia as a Bulbasaur all over again. He didn't look that weird, did he? People ran around in Pikachu suits all the time, why were a few spots weird? WHATEVER.

"Pallet's where Green and I grew up so...yeah. We were pretty close." The gates were a much better memory. A 10-year-old's fresh excitement. Just a little Bulbasaur and his trainer, standing in front of the world. We're gonna walk through those doors. Take 'em all on! Bulba smiled a little more.

And then it turned into a bit of a smirk. "Maybe it keeps getting shorter because you keep getting fatter." See, he was feeling better already. He turned his head to Lyra. "It's not that bad, as far as pokemon go. Nothing you couldn't find in Johto, I guess. Really nothing to worry about once we get to twenty-two."

Edited 2010-12-01 09:53 (UTC)

Alas, Bulba's attempt to be snide glided serenely over Vinnie's head. His reply was a nonchalant (but strangely devoid of sarcasm), "Oh. Thanks."

Sometimes, when you were a Venusaur, weird things became compliments. Making fun of his warts and girly pink flower didn't work either, for the record.

Lyra idly noted a small flock of Spearow fluttering out of the tall grass near the road. Oh... maybe this wouldn't be too tough, after all. "Green...? That's your trainer's name?" Where had she heard that name recently...? Oh. Right. The guy she'd kicked in the shin for not being the Team Rocket Kid.

Uh, oops.

"Does he know you're coming with me?" Was he okay with it even though she'd been mean? Maybe he was a pretty alright guy after all. "I mean, I know that the Team Rocket Kid probably knows you're with me, Vinnie." A giddy little tremble in her voice at that last word, there. Was it really okay to call him that? Maybe she ought to call him Mr. Vinnie or Team Rocket Venusaur or something. Gosh it was like she was totally good pals with ~the Team Rocket Kid's~ own Pokemon. "But I totally didn't think of asking for their permission or anything." Not that it seemed like she'd needed it when the Pokemon themselves could actually say that they wanted to go -- Smash Academy really was a very different place than Johto.

Bulba just grinned. "You're welcome." It was actually really hard to mean an insult when you were destined for the same fate anyway.

He watched the Spearow for a moment, feeling just a very slight flicker of caution that came naturally around the birds. Ah, but... hm. Bulba didn't know about any sort of scuffle that might have happened between the trainers, so the thought that Green might not have approved because it was Lyra hadn't even crossed his mind. Bulba awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "... I'll let him know when we get back. I don't think he'll mind too much, as long as I tell him what's up. The place is important to us, so he'll want to know." Maybe. Bulba was pretty sure he would, anyway.

"It's not like you're trying to get us in your own pokeballs or anything."

As if that would've even worked. (He remembered what Silver tried to pull with Sasha, okay. Lyra seemed a lot brighter than that kid.) Their investigative mission overruled any weirdness that might've come with tagging around with a different trainer. Red would understand - he was cool like that. If this really was Team Rocket's work, then Red would've wanted to be filled in on it.

He had to see it with his own eyes. Giovanni was evil, undeniably, but it took a whole new level of villainy to lay such pointless destruction to your home. Viridian Forest was practically the guy's backyard. It didn't make any sense.

Vinnie flashed confident grin in Lyra's direction. "Yeah, don't sweat it. The Boss knows I run off sometimes when I smell a forest in trouble. Gettin' to the bottom of this thing's the most important thing right now - 'specially if the Rockets are involved."

~~Cuz it's not like Green loses sleep over the plans of evil organizations that jerk.~~

"Well, if Green isn't happy about you going off without asking, you can blame me. I don't care if he's mad at me." Because he was probably already mad anyway, ha ha ha. "I think you guys are a big help." In fact, she was glad Bulba didn't ask. That meant Green didn't go and say a lot of clearly blatantly untrue things about Lyra being some kind of... stupid 12-year-old Team Rocket Kid groupie. Who kicked innocent RAs over silly misunderstandings.

Actually, this seemed like an excellent time to push the topic onward. Lyra briefly paused her stride, stretching up onto her tiptoes to try and peek at the city ahead. "So that means the gym here is yours, right? What's it like? Is it the grass gym or the poison gym? Kanto has grass and poison gyms, right?" Brock was rock, Misty was water, then came... uh... that... guy... with... some type. Okay, Kanto leaders weren't quite her specialty yet.

"I can't believe it's the same gym Giovanni used to run. Do you think there are any secret passageways or underground smuggling lairs hidden in it? I mean, maybe he just hid, like... fifty Pokemon in the bathroom or something. Maybe it's even got something to do with what happened in the forest! I mean, what's in Viridian other than the gym?"

"Yeah, those are both gyms. Green's is... kind of all over the board, to be honest." It was something that Bulba was really glad for. If Green would have had to pick a certain type, that pretty meant he would have been out of the picture when it came down to gym battles. The concept didn't sit with him very well.

But huh. Viridian. "Other than the gym? Uh..." Bulba had to think about that for a moment. "Really not that much, besides being the gateway for the League, so to speak. Though there's this cranky old guy who might try to teach us how to catch Pokemon."

You were forgetting Vinnie's favourite thing about Viridian - But then again, it was the first thing that caught his eye when he was there. He actually felt a little disappointed that Bulba didn't mention it. "There's evergreens. Viridian's green all year 'round because of it. Havin' a forest practically be your backyard's the best thing I could want from'a city."

With a huff, he crossed his arms and added in his two cents about the whole situation as well. "This is Giovanni's hometown too, right? I still don't get why he'd bother with somethin' like this. If I was him, home would be the one place I wouldn't wreck shit - but it'd be the perfect place to send that bastard a message. Either his staff's not too happy anymore, or someone new's putting down their mark. That's how I figure."

(Coming from someone who looked like he was in organized crime himself.)

"Someone new, huh? You mean like... a rival gang or something?" Now that was a spooky thought. Why would anyone want to do what the Rockets did? Would that mean turf wars all over Kanto? She'd had a hard time imagining that this could have been the work of anyone but Team Rocket. Even if Giovanni had an alibi for the day of the break-in, didn't it make sense that maybe the Rockets were getting desparate to find him? It wasn't quite on the same level as taking over Goldenrod's radio tower to broadcast to him, but it had certainly attracted a lot of media attention.

"If it wasn't the Rockets, then it was definitely still some kind of bad guy," she concluded, nodding to herself. "If it was a good guy and they wanted to punish Giovanni for breaking the law and hurting Pokemon... why would they break the law and hurt Pokemon, right?"

As serious as the topic was, it was hard not to get a wandering eye. She could see it. Or... she could see a building, anyway. Maybe it was the gym! It didn't look like a Pokemon Center, and Bulba had just said there wasn't really anything else that important-looking (pretty scenery aside). Her first steps into a real Kanto city. Gosh. That was a milestone. The very thought set her heart all a-twitter.

Bulba was trying to make his own sense out of what happened, but he wasn't faring much better than Lyra, with or without hot top secret champion's eyes only info from Lance. "Hopefully the forest inhabitants will be able to tell us something to help clear it up a bit. There's probably more to the story that we're missing."

They crossed beneath the first set of evergreens (which ere very pretty) without so much as a pip from the nearby tall grass. The closest building, besides being Lyra's first, wasn't terribly exciting. Your normal residence of a cranky old man. Beyond that, however, it was easy to spot another building that stood out amongst the others. It was larger, fancier and... more surrounded by women. Women with pom poms. And pep. And cheer.

The Ivysaur nearly tripped in his steps, visibly paling. "Oh no."

Yeah, throes of frenzied women weren't exactly normal occurrences at, say, every other gym he'd ever been to - and it certainly wasn't there when Giovanni ran the place. Bulba's almost palpable terror at the spectacle only made it more jarring.

The awe made Vinnie think right out loud. "Are those... all fans?"

He paused, just sort of... staring. That was more fangirls in once place than he had even seen in his whole life. A few guys in the crowd too. The first thought in his head was, really, how the hell did a dickhole like Green have so many fans? The crowd had to have traveled, because it looked like more people than the population of Viridian and Pallet put together.

Did they even know that Green was out of town?

Bulba was covering his face with his hands. "Don't make eye contact, they might make assumptions."

Whoa. Whoa. Lyra totally hadn't expected that. In fact, she'd kind of been hoping to catch a quick peek inside the gym -- you know, just to get an idea what to expect. But the idea of trying to push through that crowd... really wasn't appealing. Were all those girls really there for Green? What was so special about him? Didn't they even know that there was no point in crowding around the gym like that? Green definitely wasn't going to show up.

"I had no idea he was this popular!" Lyra blurted, clearly awestruck by the notion that so many people could like someone that hadn't even managed to topple a single criminal organization in their childhood. "Jeez, he must have to deal with a real swarm every time he comes back, huh, Bulba? It's a good thing they can't tell you're actually Gr--"

His hand clamped over Lyra's mouth with blinding speed and Bulba shot the throng of fans a nervous look. "Don't say it. I'm serious. They'll hear you and they'll never let us more than three feet further into the place."

Feeling it was possibly safe, he lowered his hand. "...This is just the group that camps out waiting for him to get back." Did he sound terrified? Yes. Yes he did. He honestly didn't really understand why Green had so many fans either... well okay he sort of did, but not to this horrifying extent.

"Sorry," Lyra mumbled, looking more than a little bemused. "You mean he's got more fans than just this crowd? Sheesh... girls sure can be crazy sometimes." Because Miss 'Base Your Life Goals Around Someone You've Never Met' was totally one to talk. "Maybe we oughta keep away from the gym. I'd love to poke around a bit, but I'm not sure I wanna try getting through that. I bet it's locked, anyway, or they'd probably be inside of it."

She instead settled for craning her neck around, trying to take the city in at a glance. It... wasn't that hard, admittedly; even with a gym, Viridian wasn't much bigger than Cherrygrove City back home. To the south, it looked like the evergreens gave way to a relatively bare expanse of tall grass. To the north, however, the trees definitely grew thicker. Taking a guess, Lyra thrust a finger in that direction. "The forest's over that way, right?"

Vinnie nodded mutely, growing increasingly horrified at the prospect of these fans just living outside the gym for months at a time. How did they have the energy to just keep cheering? There wasn't a single lull in their cries since they got there. "Yeah, let's... just leave. I'm sure there's nothing in the gym that Gr--the jerk hasn't already checked out. I don't think even Rockets are dumb enough to take on a mob like that."

If the Venusaur's walking pace was a bit more brisk than usual, well... his two traveling companions could hardly blame him.

"Don't call him that either," Bulba said quickly, with just a hint of hostility to his tone. Half-hearted insults at each other were one thing but things about Green in front of Bulba weren't going to fly, minority in his opinions or not.

It didn't stop him from matching his pace to the Venusaur's, however. The walk to the forest would be quite short at this rate. "They keep the less than serious trainers out at least..." He sighed. "We can try to check it out later, but I think the boss and the cops combed it pretty well, like you said."

"He is kind of a butt-head," Lyra informed Bulba, "but if it's his gym, he probably knows every inch of it." She had to concede that much. He did seem like the kind of guy who took a lot of pride in his work (and his everything else), so it was pretty hard to imagine he wouldn't have tried to clean out every last lingering whiff of Giovanni-ness. Besides, she really, really did not fancy wrangling her way through a knot of cheerleaders. Maybe if she sent Rui in first.

She had to move at an easy jog to keep up with Vinnie's strides -- such was the curse of being wicked short -- but it wasn't as though she minded. The sooner they were away from the city, the sooner they could start their questioning, and the closer they'd be to sweet vigilante justice. "If it's evidence and stuff like that, I bet that Lance or the police know about it already, anyway. Questioning the Pokemon's our best bet, since... uh... it's not really possible for normal people to talk to Pokemon. Not that you guys aren't normal! You're just not people. ...People people. I mean, of course you're people, you're being people right now, but not... well, you're real people, but not... me people. Uh. You guys can do stuff the police here can't. That's what I meant."

Okay thanks, Lyra.

Vinnie did mentally snicker at 'butt-head'. Glad to see a neutral third party outside of Red and Green's lifelong rivalry acknowledged the latter's inherent dickishness. It was a vindicating feeling.

Fields of tall grass beckoned, and he waded through them without hesitation. It didn't seem like too long ago that they were a sea of foliage, towering over his little bulb. Every step was an adventure. Now, batting away a few Pidgey and Ratata was barely a concern. Hell, they weren't even bothering to attack. Normally, pretty strange. But then again, the fragrance of his pollen tended to lull wild Pokemon into a nice, peaceful state. The fewer unnecessary battles, the better - unconsciously, Vinnie's sweet scent grew stronger.

"It's... okay, Lyra." Really, he wasn't offended. "I mean, the fact that we can turn into people anyway means we're pretty weird. Just think of us like a special Pokemon task force or something."

That worked a short lived glare from Bulba. "Because I'm sure you know him very well," he muttered before letting the issue fall. Once again, it wasn't really the time and definitely not the place for this. Still, he couldn't help wrinkling his nose a little. Oh, no, wait, that was just Vinnie. Carry on.

Lyra's floundering with words got another grin out of him though, and he nodded along with Vinnie. "Under cover agents with a common goal." Bulba made a vague series of kung-fu-like motions with his hands, very lightly bopping the middle of Lyra's hat. ~~A bat came flying out.~~ "Code name Unnaturals or something. We're definitely not all that normal like this, haha. Don't worry about it."

The trees in the landscape around them gradually became denser in number. With it came the slight increase in shade and the gradual cooling in the air. They were already crossing into the forest's threshold.

Lyra's hat, its self-preservation instincts activated, responded by sliding down and consuming half her head. She pushed it back up to its usual position, a smile on her face. "I don't know about unnatural. It's more like you're a secret weapon." Okay, so they weren't mad at her for that spectacular moment of tactlessness. Good. As beloved as Pokemon were to Lyra, the whole "they can also be people" concept was a little harder for her to adjust to than most folks, it seemed.

And speaking of Pokemon... it looked like they were in the forest. It was kind of pretty, really -- and very quiet. Lyra dropped a hand to her side, silently releasing the Xatu from its pokeball. She didn't have the luxury of a Pokemon that could turn into a human, but she did at least have a psychic-type. Besides, it was not only the smallest member of her team, but also probably the least intimidating. Unless you counted her Slugma, but somehow bringing a creature made of lava into a forest didn't seem wise.

"I hope it hasn't been too long to find the place where it happened," Lyra mumbled. Surely, if bees had been exploded, then there had to still be trees bearing scars from the blast somewhere. "I guess the smartest thing to do would be to head into the tall grass, huh?"

To be fair, the 'being people' part was a pretty big adjustment to Pokemon too. Vinnie took a moment to take off his flip-flops so he could feel the grass and dirt between his toes. Shoes were way too constraining for him still, especially as someone who was so inextricably tied to the latent energy in the earth. He shuffled his feet around in the dirt, just to test its texture. To soak in the feel of the forest.

The smell of evergreens and soil here was remarkably different from the scent of home ingrained in his mind, but all the same it was soothing. The path through Viridian forest seemed to be well traveled despite the tall grass; most likely any human that passed through, including the beedrill bombers, would've used it. As such, the native Pokemon must've also been succinctly aware of these trails - enough to mistrust the humans that walked through them, at least.

"We should split up. You guys go look for the scene of the crime, figure out what you can. It'll be easier getting answers from wild Pokemon if I'm not associated with humans." Glance at Lyra. "No offense."

"He's got a point," Bulba agreed. He rubbed his chin a moment, looking out over the paths through the forest. "It'll be good if someone else is with you, too," he said with a nod in Lyra's Xatu's direction. "I know you don't mean to, but you'll probably make a few folks a little nervous." But man, it was making Bulba a little nervous but that just seemed to be some natural reflex going on.

He motioned over towards one path. "The local bug catchers will probably be helpful too."

"None taken," Lyra reassured Vinnie. She imagined that she wouldn't be too talkative around trainers if she were also a wild Pokemon. "Try not go too far away, though. We wanna be able to call each other over if we find something. Actually... if you're not weirded out by psychics, I could just ask Xatu to give your brain a nudge if we find the crime scene."

Lyra's Xatu, meanwhile, gave Bulba a long, searching stare, then gave an almost imperceptible nod. It honked out two notes of song, apparently a sign of its agreement.

"Anyway, let's get to work! We'll start with the people, you start with the Pokemon, and if we can't find any sign of the explosion, then we'll just meet back here?"

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