Buzzster Hooperham
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The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 14, 2024 23:52:07 GMT 9
Buzzster stood on a dune overlooking an abandoned theme park. Dust and rust swirled around his feet in little plumes of ancient grit. He took a deep sniff of the desert air. "You smell that Petal?" he asked.
At his feet the Chikorita coughed and squinted her eyes against the whipping sand.
"That's the smell of opportunity!"
She nodded, and buried her face into Buzzster's pant leg to hide from the sands.
"Come on! Let's go!" he said, marching down the shifting dune face and into the theme park.
Ruins of a lost world poked from the sands, and Buzzster felt like they were trespassing on forgotten land. There was a spirit here. The spirit of joy and excitement, now smothered by the shifting sands.
It was just like modern-day Vegas.
Petal climbed up onto his shoulder. "What are we doing here?" she asked.
"Well Petal, let me answer that question with another question," Buzzster said obnoxiously. He pulled a shovel out of his inventory and started to dig into the sands beside an only Ferris wheel. "If you were Chanda Mama where would you hide my true name?"
"Oh. Uh. In...the moon?" Petal answered.
Buzzster stopped digging and fixed Petal with a curious look. He checked the sky. There was no moon. In fact, it was midday and a new moon. It was as far from moon-accessible as possible.
"Yeah well we're here now, so we're doing my thing."
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Buzzster Hooperham
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The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 0:03:11 GMT 9
Buzzster took a long slurp from his Surskit. "Oh yeah. That's the stuff," he said. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put Surskit down. "Thanks Charlie."
Surskit danced away on thin legs. He'd just returned from being kidnapped (and not saved), and it was like nothing had ever changed.
"What does Chanda Mama represent?" Buzzster asked, digging up another shovel of coarse sand.
"The moon?"
"I said we're not doing the moon thing!" Buzzster said, and Petal wilted a little. "It's like a fairy, magic, sneaky little guy, right? A trickster, like me! So to figure out where it hid my name I've gotta think like me."
He added another shovel of sand to the growing pile.
Petal stood next to the pile, watching Buzzster dig down deeper and deeper into the sands. "And where would you hide a name?" Petal asked.
"The same place I'd hide a body. Seven feet underground in the middle of the desert!" He started digging faster, tossing sand over his shoulder haphazardly. "Which means that that it's right around here. Or my name-" his shovel hit something hard, and he looked up at Petal with a wild grin on his face. "Isn't Buzzster Hooperham."
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 9:37:48 GMT 9
Buzzster's threw down his shovel. That sound had been metallic. He'd hit something expensive. "I never thought of my name as being metallic, but it makes sense," he said, digging away at the sand with his hands now to uncover the strange object.
It was blocky and silver and very heavy.
"Or it could be a safe!" Buzzster postulated. "If I really wanted to hide something I'd lock it away then bury it, preferably just before a rainstorm. Really throw off those sniffer dogs." He chuckled. Buzzster was definitely more of a cat person. When was the last time a cat had ratted anyone out to the police? No. Felines were friends and canines were just another dog in the machine.
He finally got his hands under the object and heaved it out of the hole. It thunked onto the sand and slowly righted itself. Its eyes opened. "Oh hey it's the car guy!" Buzzster said.
Varoom attacked him.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 21:25:31 GMT 9
"Is this because I forgot you existed?" Buzzster screamed while Varoom blasted him with poisonous oil. "Because if so then I understand!"
"Buzzster, that's not Varoom!"
"Who?"
"The car guy! That's not him! It's just a wild Pokemon."
Buzzster dodged a jet of oil by diving behind the spoke of the Ferris wheel. "I thought this place only had monsters in it?"
Petal grimaced and tried to break the bad news to the fleeing Buzzster. "I'm a monster, Buzzster. Pokemon is short for pocket monster."
"Huh? No I mean big old bastard things. You're just a little guy! You're more like corn than any sort of monster! When did this place get proper little Pokemons in it?"
"After we cleared the World Event! It turns out Hearteater was keeping all of the Ostellia Pokemon underground and feeding on their color."
"Huh. I must have missed that bit."
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 21:43:48 GMT 9
Buzzster fled between the cracked and shattered walls of the amusement park. He passed splashes of graffiti, worn with time, and some far newer than expected. Had players been coming here to leave their own notes? Their own messages in the face of eternity?
Behind him followed the low churn of an angry motor.
"Why is he so pissed?" Buzzster asked the Petal on his shoulder.
"I think it may be because you disturbed his sleep?"
"Huh? When?!"
"When you dug him up. Maybe you accidentally hit him a little bit with your shovel."
"Oh! No not this dumb little chugger chasing us. I'm talking about car guy! Why didn't he come back? Is he pissed with us or something?"
Petal turned as white as a blanched bean. "Oh. Oh Buzzster I'm so sorry."
"What did you do this time?"
"Car guy wanted to come back with us. I'm sure he did. It's just that he was..." he drew a long, slow breath. "He's in the Everworld."
There was a long pause as Buzzster absorbed the information. He darted around a corner, slipping on the sand but regaining his footing. He thought furiously. He wasn't going to stand for this. Not at all. "Okay. Then we'll go and get him."
Petal looked at him in surprise. "Really? That's wonderful!"
"Yep. And the sun's going down, so we don't have time to waste with this joker. Time to turn and fight, Petal."
She nodded at him. "Just say the word."
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 21:50:54 GMT 9
Varoom trundled around the corner.
"Word!" Buzzster yelled, and he hurled Petal at the little engine that bloody-well-shouldn't-have as hard as he could.
Petal flew through the air face-first, her little cheeks flapping in the wind. "AHHHHHH!" she screamed. She slammed into Varoom, and the pair went tumbling across the sands. Petal pulled herself to her feet, a massive bump already forming on her forehead. She staggered across the sand.
"Petal! Go get him!"
"I don't...I can't walk...good..." Petal said, as she tried to focus on the six identical Varoom's in front of her.
They attacked as one, all slamming into her and knocking the little grass Pokemon into the dust and grit.
"What's wrong?" Buzzster yelled from a safe distance.
"I think I hit my head," Petal said. She tried to vine whip the Varoom, and a lucky lash sent it spinning. It quickly returned. Grass was not the best offensive option against the Steel and Poison enemy. "Maybe I need some help," Petal said.
"Good call!" Buzzster said. "Go Suckle!"
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:01:14 GMT 9
Suckle's soft, fuzzy tentacles curled across the sand like a basket of cat tails. Its head poked out of the top hole and swiveled around to look at Buzzster. Suckle's cat ears twitched. "Nya?" it asked, questioningly.
"No time for your show-cat attitude, Suckle. We're in battle! Get that stupid motorist!"
Suckle slithered swiftly across the sands and lashed Varoom. It dragged the motor down into the sand like an octopus drowning its prey.
Petal helped, slapping the undercarriage of the mechanical menace with her vines. "This! Is! Not! Your! Fault!" she said, whacking the enemy with her vines.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:07:42 GMT 9
Varoom was trapped. Tangled in a nest of vines and limbs and uselessly spinning its wheels in the loose sand.
"Get him, Suckle! Use your strongest move!" Buzzster called.
Suckle's ears flicked at the command. She shuddered.
Her tentacles rippled with internal agitation and it squeezed Varoom a little tighter.
Its neck bulged, as a bulbous mass worked it way up the feline turtle-worm's throat.
With a terrible gagging sound she spat up a huge, sizzling hairball soaked in Gastro Acid. It plopped wetly from her mouth onto the incredibly agitated form of Varoom.
The little motor struggled in vain as the goopy lump rolled sloppily down its mechanical form and fell, hissing, onto the sand.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:15:20 GMT 9
Varoom ripped free and fled across the sands.
Suckle followed.
At first it flip-flopped, tentacles patting the sands tentatively. And then it galloped, slapping a rough rhythm on the hot dunes. And then it pulled it limbs in and rolled. Suckle raced across the sands, its predatory instincts flaring as it thundered after its fleeing prey.
Varoom was nothing more then another catch. Another scrap for the fresh catch pile. Sand flew as Suckle closed on her prey with furious speed. When she was barely two Fennekin-lengths away she lunged, kicking off the sand with her back tentacles and colliding with Varoom. They tangled on the sand, all hissing, toothless mouths and gleaming chrome.
Varoom slammed into Suckle and she saw stars.
They split apart, circling each other and waiting for an opening.
Suckle sensed it before a moment before it happened. There was a change in the tone of Varoom's engine, and Suckle found herself moving to dodge the attack before it came. She grabbed the charging Varoom with four tentacles and used the momentum to swing the creature up and over herself. She slammed it down face-first into the sand, sending up a shower of grit.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:28:12 GMT 9
Buzzster and Petal raced across the sand, following the torn-up trail of racing and combat. Suckle and Varoom had fought far and long, and it took precious minutes of daylight to track them. The land around them was getting dark. Brilliant reds and blinding yellows had mellowed, but the dunes still emanated heat.
"Almost dusk," Buzzster said, his face scrunched in frustration. "Which way did they go?"
Petal looked down at the mess of sand beneath their feet. There had been a fight here. A big one. The tracks in the sand led off towards the Broken Sundial.
"They went that way!" Petal said, and she raced off down the dune.
At the bottom she cut left, racing along the base of the dune and down into a low, sandy canyon. Here the remnants of battle were more obvious. Chunks of rock and sandstone were chipped. There they were melted into a still-hissing sludge. There was a cave entrance, and Petal paused, sniffed the air, shook her head, and moved on.
Up and out of the canyon and across the sands again. Past dunes and through the fading light. Soon they reached a single pillar; the last leg of a once grand temple.
Against the pillar lay Suckle, fainted.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:37:53 GMT 9
"Suckle!" Buzzster yelled. He raced over and picked up the fainted body of his pedigree, calico Shuckle. "Quick! Where's Charlie Sheen!" Buzzster sent out Surskit and pressed the Pokemon's nozzle into Suckle's mouth.
"Poor little guy," Buzzster said, as he fed Suckle with one hand and petted her fuzzy head with the other. "Spending so long out in the desert heat. You must have lost a lot of electrolytes." He smiled proudly. "But I bet you gave as good as you took, didn't you?"
Suckle let out a weak 'nya' and went back to drinking.
Buzzster turned to Petal. "Okay we've got one more shot at this. Throwing it away didn't work, slapping it with vines didn't work, throwing up a hairball on it barely weakened it at all-"
"I think it may be immune."
"-and a long chase through the sun didn't even slow its motor."
"It ran away, so we can leave if we want."
"Huh? Oh. No I changed my mind and I want to catch it now."
"Oh okay."
"So that means we've got to lure it back here. And what do all cars love?" Buzzster chuckled to himself, amused by his own brilliance. "They love drag races. So here's the plan. We send out car guy and challenge this imposter Varoom to a drag race through the desert."
"Car guy is in the Everworld," Petal reminded him gently.
"FUCK!"
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:44:03 GMT 9
Buzzster put his head in his hands. He screamed a little, and then pulled back, breathing in quickly through his nose. "Okay. New plan. What does everybody love? Free samples. So we set up a little booth hear advertising free axle alignment checks, and when Varoom comes back-"
Varoom trundled past across the sands, seemingly unworried by Buzzster and Petal.
"Ah! There's the bastard! Get him!" Buzzster yelled.
Petal leaped to the top of the fallen pillar. She raised her leaf high and drew in the last of the fading light. Stored heat and sunlight rose like steam from the roasted dunes, and her leaf began to hiss and steam.
"This one's for Suckle!" she called out, and the Varoom turned in surprise.
"PETAL BEEEEEEEAM!" she yelled, and a roaring, tumultuous blast of concentrated light ripped across the sands. Dusk was turned back to day, and the surprised Varoom was enveloped in the beam of radiance.
"Hell yeah! That's the way Petal!" Buzzster yelled.
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Buzzster Hooperham
•
The Quizmaster
Player Character
Posts: 155
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Buzzster Hooperham
OOC Username: D-Bug
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Buzzster Hooperham on Oct 15, 2024 22:52:10 GMT 9
Buzzster and Petal strode victoriously over to the fallen enemy. It had been a majestic battle. Hard-fought and truly difficult, but deeply rewarding.
Once the Varoom was safely caught, Buzzster raced to the top of the pillar just in time for the first stars to spot the night sky. He marked the first and brightest star. "That one. Keep an eye there," he said and he watching, waiting for the other stars to fill their seats in the celestial ballet.
A shooting star sizzled across the sky, and Buzzster barely saw it. It was only until the sky was truly full that he started counting. "One, two, three stars," he said, and marked the heading with a thick finger. "That one right there Petal. Underneath the constellation that looks like a swan with two heads."
"I see it!"
"Fantastic. Well off we go then." He returned Suckle and the pair set off across the dark dunes.
"Where are we going?" Petal asked after a while.
"To the Everworld, silly!" Buzzster replied. He grinned. Of course he knew how to get there. Everyone did. "It's just like in the movie. Third star to the right and straight on till morning."
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C0D13
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Bug Maniac
Administrator
Posts: 2,111
Trainer Class:
Player Name: C0D13
OOC Username: Ladybug
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Post by C0D13 on Oct 16, 2024 10:25:10 GMT 9
CAPTURE COMPLETE!No drag but plenty of race!
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