what i did in my crazy youth

[pokemontrainer]

Who: Team Red, Blue and Green
What: Reliving the past!
Where: In ~~Time~~, back to Silph Co. to beat up Giovanni
When: Time Eater Time
Warnings: Team Awesome get to beat up Team Rocket again

He wasn't entirely sure how it happened, but here he was in a place that he hadn't seen in about ten years.

Red blinked as he looked around the sterile hallway illuminated by fluorescent lamps. This place could have been anywhere, there was no indication of anything happening apart from the distant hum of machines around him. He took a few cautious steps forwards and he could see a glowing teleporter in front of him.

Oh.

This place. Silph Company in Saffron City. What was he doing here again? He was back at school last time he checked so... this must be a dream, or some sort of time hijinks. Sigh.

He turned around and went back to the room previously, opening the door without a hitch. Inside was a scientist nursing his battered Magneton in the corner who clearly did not take to this intrusion too happily.

"What do you want?!" he said with a panicked cry. "I told you where to go already!! Take the teleporter upwards through the company dorms and onto the eleventh floor!"

Merely tilting his head in response, Red closed the door again. Well that confirmed that. Well, since he's here he might as well go up and see what's going on. With his steps echoing behind him, Red marched up to the teleporter and went up.

Comments

[tidalwaves]

Beside the trainer, Red's Wartortle toddled quietly, but matched his pace. Marie was similarly confused about the circumstances, but he hadn't said a word yet. Everything seemed so familiar; and not just the location. Something about revisiting Silph Co. was dreamlike, but if that were true, it was much more vivid than any of his other dreams.

Marie didn't waste much time following Red to the teleporter. He had a feeling he knew where Red was headed, although he wasn't entirely sure why. Although his mind was buzzing with weird ideas as to how and why they were here, he remained silent, obediently following his trainer through the hall. Perhaps Sasha would be bold enough to ask.

[punchvolcanoes]

"So when are we beating up their faces together? I always wanted to do it again...never thought I'd have the chance but this is gonna be great!"

Oh you meant like, wait for Sasha to be the smart one? Nope, without Vinnie's soothing Venusaur smell (eau-de-pimp as it was sometimes called), Sasha has been reverting more into a charizard-like stance on everything. At first it was just wanting to eat more meat than usual, but in time it became an urge to fly more and punch things.

Which meant, in this occasion, a need for combat and to prove herself.

[rivalappeared]

Green sucked in a gasping breath as he opened his eyes. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't at school, he wasn't even in FDC. But he knew where he was. He swung his head (dizzy, heavy, like he just emerged from deep water) around to look at the floor sign near the stairwell. Level seven. Oh, yes. This was familiar, now. His hand reached reflexively for his belt as the familiar figure of Red rounded the corner with his Pokemon. Green's lips parted and before he knew what he was going to say, he was speaking.

"What kept you, Red?"

He laughed, not the laugh of 21 year old Green, but the laugh of a child. It sounded weird coming out of his adult mouth.

"I thought you might show up if I waited here."

But as soon as Red was there, he was gone again. Like a ghost. Green noted that the Red he had seen only a moment ago had looked far younger than the Red of today.

His eyes closed and opened again.

"This isn't right."

He moved forward, though walking out of his spot felt almost like moving through heavy snow. He walked right into a teleporter, and he could have sworn the last thing he saw of the seventh floor of Silph Co was himself as a sulking kid, complete with clunky boots and floppy purple sweater.

The first thing he saw of the floor he arrived on was an adult Red with Sasha and Marie.

"Hey!" He barked.

[rivalsweetscent]

An Ivysaur was hot on Green's heels. He similarly had no idea what was going on, and was vaguely weirded out by the whole thing. Not so much with a present-day Green beside him, but it was still odd seeing a phantom glimmer of a smaller boy. Was this... Did those sorts of things happen in time warps? Bulba had never experienced one, so who knew.

What he did know is that in the past they had gone down, not all the way up. That was putting him a little on edge as Green called out, even if he was just shouting at Red's... Oh, huh, hey Marie. There were tufts on your head. The Ivysaur shook off a lump of dread and gave a huffy snort.

"Them too, huh."

[rivalkidneypunch]

If you really stopped and thought about it, this whole thing was kind of a really huge mindscrew. Exactly how did they wind up here? What was the deal with suddenly-younger cameos? How does one get to a building in a whole other region a fuck-off long flight away from here? Since when had Marie gotten that makeover?

It was lucky, perhaps, that stopping and thinking about it was not at all a part of Char's modus operandi. Weird shit was afoot, yeah, but wacky-ass circumstances were par for the course around here. Those dopey-looking ear thingies Marie was sporting? He could hardly take them seriously when his own handiwork lingered on Marie's face.

The only response he had to Red Team was a low growl and the telltale slap of his tail whipping against the floor. He wasn't happy to see them even under good conditions -- seeing them under trippy as fuck conditions wasn't, apparently, much better.

[pokemontrainer]

Red looked at the assembled group of people and frowned. What was going on? This was just definitely... weird. He couldn't find any other words for it. While visiting this memory wasn't particularly painful, Red was a believer in doing things once and doing them well. That's why you train before you go into the ring.

Still, it wouldn't be bad practise, would it? To do this again?

"Hey." Well, if there's one thing Red's learned over ten years is that he knows how to communicate better than his younger self.

"Do you know what's going on?"

[punchvolcanoes]

Sasha replied with a tail slap of her own, before moving close to Red and Marie...she didn't understand why they were suddenly here, but if Green was there as well...she had a feeling there might be more than one fight coming. After all, he had a tendency to show up at the worst of times and just start a battle.

Not that should would really mind that, right now...she almost wanted to have Red go off with the usual hand motion to send her to battle. Just one little hand motion...

[rivalappeared]

"No," Green huffed. He cast a wary, warning glance over to Sasha, and brought one of his own hands up to Char, tapping the Charizard on the chest to pacify him.

"I'm pretty sure I fucking saw myself though, so whatever it is, I want out."

[rivalkidneypunch]

It wasn't a big gesture, but it was enough to quiet Char down. The flame on the end of his tail was still bright and eager, and a challenging gleam lingered in his eyes -- just daring them to give him a reason to forget that unspoken order -- but for now, the boss' word was law.

Char's growling ceased, though he gave Marie one long, lingering look. He wasn't just admiring his work, he was looking for the telltale signs of fear. Maybe he wouldn't be attacking Red Team, but he had no intentions of making himself pleasant to be around. For a moment, the temptation to say something was strong, but he simply let it go. Right, focus on the boss. He's got bigger fish to fry.

Char lowered his head down to hover near Green's shoulder, offering up a low grumble as he glanced back the way they came. Any chance they could just go back the way they came and nope the fuck outta the Silph building? Or maybe this was one of those But Thou Must situations.

[negativeions]

Jolt remembered this place. The last time he was here, well, something bad was happening.

And oh look, there was Red Team.

He perched next to his brothers and trainer, staring, waiting for instructions. He had no idea how they got back to Silph Co, but considering everything felt like it did back then... all he knew was he didn't want to be here any longer than he had to. It was enough to make his fur stand on end.

I mean more than usual.

[tidalwaves]

Oh, great, Green Team was here.

Marie immediately felt Char's eyes on him, and an uncomfortable feeling quickly washed over him. Looking back at his own team, he noticed the sudden tenseness in Sasha's posture. The two trainers seemed somewhat worked up, but Marie was hoping there wouldn't be a battle. Really, he'd rather Green Team just up and left them to figure out what was going on on their own.

But Marie shifted closer to Red, impatiently awaiting any instruction. There might have been a hint of anxiety in expression, but he was making a decent attempt at masking it. He didn't dare make eye contact with anyone on the rival team.

[travelingbelle]

In the memories of all those that were present, this hallway was supposed to be more or less empty. For the heroes that traveling the length and breadth of the building, and the rivals that threatened to topple them, this was the final stretch before the fight. The breath of air and rest after felling many before they fell just one more, and the one that mattered. It was supposed to be too still and too quiet to still the adrenaline.

... Why, then, was the sound of fierce chattering coming from down around the hall? Green's Ivysaur had picked up on the sound amidst the low rumbles of Charizards, and had warily turned gold eyes in the direction of the sound.

"I know its silly! We're not supposed to be anywhere near Saffron, you're right. Asking for directions didn't really work either... Who do you think went around beating up all those scientists? ...oh hell, its another one. I wonder if this one goes up or down..."

This hallway held no memories for Blue. Neither did the labs or the scientists with their Magnemites or these confounded teleporting arrows. She had half the mind to assume that this was all just a crazy dream, but her dreams had never felt so real, and she had always been able to find her way out of her dreams' labyrinths before. In this one she was entirely lost, and it wasn't in the pleasant sort of way. Had it been her own memories, she probably would have been tussling through the gym by now, or going toe to toe at the fighting dojo. She hadn't even bothered with the Silph. Co. tour, oddly enough. The smaller girl had felt like she was behind the others. Tours could wait.

She was starting to feel a twinge of regret for this action, though it honestly wouldn't have helped her any in the long run. She sighed and crossed her arms. "I guess we should see if there's a different one first," Blue spoke to her dragon once more, though now she was noticing that her Charizard's long neck was poking around the corner of the wall already. The dancing flame on the end of her tail was considerably brighter than it had been a short while ago, and the Clefable at her side was looking on with an intrigued flutter of its wings. Blue was compelled to join them in glancing around the corner, entirely unsure of what it was that would have captured their attention.

Certainly the last thing she expected to find was both Red and Green with their teams chatting it up (if you could call it that).

"...Huh??"