Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 31, 2023 0:31:28 GMT 9
<Why did you invite Saint?> Combusken asks after they spend some time searching the fields and finding nothing.
“It’s just more efficient,” Kazuki replies with ease. “He’s already loitering by the route anyways, so calling him in as backup is the fastest option.” He does not mention why Saint remains on the route, despite it being very apparent that the trainer didn’t enjoy being here.
Combusken seems to accept it, checking for tracks in the grass. <He is not very strong, but he is nice.>
Kazuki snorts. “Doormat's the word you're looking for."
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 30, 2023 23:26:11 GMT 9
<Aww!> Sprigatito pouts, only to get smacked in the face by Kitten’s back. Further questions and concerns are drowned out by the call of real meowtial arts.
With the end of his rant, Kazuki expects some kind of dismissal, or perhaps for every word of his to have slipped out one ear to another. Even though he’s aware Verai has fighting experience, he’s still surprised at the revelation that the man’s been keeping up with the professional MMA scene for 10 years.
—Or, you know, Kumagai’s professional MMA scene.
Kazuki’s eyes slowly. Squint.
And then by the time his name comes out of Verai’s mouth, the decision has solidified, and his face has ruined the blessing his mother had given him by contorting into an ugly snarl. “A good fighter is versatile.” But he finds himself mentally shuffling his training schedule. He’d been worrying about recovering his leg strength, but improving his punches is far from impossible. “Everyone’s playing it flashy for the camera, that only makes it more inexcusable when you cut the length of the fight by getting downed early, and—”
It turns into a back-and-forth debate, because unfortunately Kazuki lacks Verai’s good manners and enjoys playing contrarian, but it’s also because talking with someone who’s just as interested in professional fighting is just—fun. Even if they are kicking his ego.
They’ve made some distance by the time the point about the charities is reached. This one is trickier to fight on, though it’s not one Kazuki let go either, even with the stare Verai levels him with. “You really think he does it out of the goodness of his heart?” Kazuki mutters, glaring at him, then down, and then looking elsewhere. "Whatever. Arguing with you while you're wearing that is fucking cheating. Now where's the shop?"
<Kiiitteeen,> Sprigatito whines. <I can’t see! Get your tail out of my face!> He bats it away—and then keeps doing it, because Kitten’s tail is thin and wiggly and has a fun little tuft at the end. Once he’s over the distraction though, he perks up at the sight in front of them. <Oh! Oh!! Look! Hats!>
Before them stretches Briarbane, and smack dab in the bustling commercial district of saloons and newly-built antique stores is a store with a proud sign saying, BANDANNAS, BELTS, AND BOTTOMS BOUTIQUE! It’s been lightly vandalized, changing the word ‘BOUTIQUE’ to ‘BOOTYQUE’.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 30, 2023 22:33:22 GMT 9
They return from the shrine refreshed, Kazuki still on the hunt with his Combusken. The air’s comparatively lighter than when they started, either from the cathartic fun of battle or the experience of finding new friends or because the Steppes have been so thoroughly scalped that very little of the local population is left to poison it.
Regardless, they tread onward.
<How many of those dragons do we need, exactly?> Combusken finally asks.
Kazuki shrugs, squinting at the rumbling clouds as the gears in his head struggle with basic math. “Maybe… six… seven, tops.” He doubts they’ll reach it in time, but he wants to get as close to it as possible.
Combusken blanches. <This is going to be a long trip.> ENTERING THE TALL GRASS!
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 30, 2023 22:06:38 GMT 9
Muin fixes him with that same look of deep-seated disappointment, and he really does have a Guinness Record-level poker face, but the fact it’s even a poker face at all is signal enough for his budding — or perhaps blooming — resentment. To a bastard like Kazuki, it’s like finding out all the Scooby snacks are in a glass cookie jar.
He grins, eyes narrowing into a glint. The jar—he has to break it.
There’s a hearty cackle that comes as Muin disparages his idea of fun. “The arena? Is this you proposing to me?” Kazuki purrs, but Muin’s already fabricating a strategy, and with audacity, sends forth another pokemon, publicly denouncing their alliance and breaking the field into a three-way battle.
“Now we’re cooking with gas.” Kazuki whistles, high and sharp. “Horse! Turn the fox into a carpet!”
Recognizing her trainer’s unwieldy command, Mudsdale slams her hooves into the earth, the ground shaking as she stampedes towards Fern using HIGH HORSE POWER. In her reckless charge, Nin’s LEAFAGE lands, slicing up her hide. She grits her teeth and continues, undeterred despite accidentally crushing the Blitzle drawn too close to her path.
Kazuki chuckles. “Now I’m the one that’s outnumbered.” He tosses a pokeball into his hands, smirking at Muin beside him. “I guess the princess does know how to play dirty. Two can play at that game.”
The ball bursts open in the air, and what pops out, too, causes a disruptive entrance. A massive serpent rumbles over the field, its red pupils intimidating, but bearing only curiosity instead of malice.
Was it a good move, tactically? Possibly not. But that’s not the goal anymore. “Fish, make it rain.”
Gyarados releases a loud cry, piercing all sound on the battlefield as storm clouds immediately swarm the sky. The RAIN DANCE casts a heavy downpour over the fight. Rainwater floods the grass, turning the soil into a deep mud pit. Between the serpent's dance and the horse’s rampage, it becomes increasingly evident no laundry would emerge from the battle unscathed.
Chimchar launches another FLAME WHEEL, but his fires putter out from the rain, and he hits Mudsdale in the hindquarter with his bare skull. She kicks him away like a flea.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 30, 2023 15:48:13 GMT 9
PARASITE DETECTED: STAGE 1 Absol acquired, Kazuki heads immediately back to the routes to hunt Verai down. It’s an easy enough task; the armorer visits the shrine religiously in his sessions, though there’s always a chance he’s strayed off to the other remaining checkpoint.
“Veeeeraaai~♪” Kazuki sings, barging up to the shrine. “Guess what I’ve got~?” His mouth stretches into a grin as he sees the familiar silhouette posted by the humming abyss, his steps shadowed by a skulking quadruped.
“Nabbed this one from Creed’s shop. Not bad, isn’t it?” He pats the absol’s head, ruffling its silky white fur. His other hand casually tosses the pokemon's ball in the air. “Don’t really need another cat on the team, though. Wonder what I should do with it…”
He knows the thing is staring at him. It’s been staring at him the entire trip, and as he smiles maliciously, his mind bears the fervent wish that Verai would just take the damn thing already. He's banking on the man’s habit of ‘liberating’ his cats without his permission.
“Maybe I’ll shave it. A hairless cat the size of a pony sounds fucking hilarious.” But it can’t hurt to add some more fuel.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 30, 2023 6:45:18 GMT 9
PARASITE DETECTED: STAGE 2
Now the thing about trauma is that oftentimes, people will turn to familiarity in a bid to convince themselves that nothing has changed.
Hence, why Kazuki returned to the Tutorial Area.
It’s a foolproof idea. This place is designed to be impossible to fuck up, or else Hydance would be eating refunds like potato chips, so he can essentially take a day off from the horror movie his UNOVR life has become and retain one of the few avenues of entertainment he gives a shit about.
He steps onto the idyllic border overlooking a modest patch of tall grass and presses ACCEPT QUEST on his UI. A little jingle sounds and a bouncy little duck pops into existence.
“Welcome to the Catching Tutorial!” The peppy AI chirps, floating like a halo. “Today we will cover an essential part of your pokemon journey: Catching your first pokemon!”
Kazuki crosses his arms impatiently. “I’ve already got a full team.”
“—But it appears you’ve completed the other tutorials! To enhance your IMMERSIVE PLAYER EXPERIENCE, I would recommend waiting for your friends to—”
“Get on with it.”
The command acts as a SKIP BUTTON, QUACXEE lapsing into silence. The AI visibly recalculates something, before nodding cheerily. “Understood! Then, LET US BEGIN.”
A WILD PATRAT pops into existence. Kazuki doesn’t like how the AI had punctuated that note, but he pulls out a regular Pokeball.
Under his feet, the grass has turned into an unsightly brown. The blades wither and die into an arid patch that stretches rapidly outward, a miasma that crawls all the way up the ivy clinging to the side of MOM’s house.
Alarmed by the encroaching death, the WILD PATRAT runs in the opposite direction.
“Fucking rat!” Kazuki hisses. There’s something like Ⱡ₳Ʉ₲Ⱨ₮ɆⱤ that sounds in his head, echoing as if heard from a cavern. He takes a deep breath. The point of this is to relax. He’s not going to lose his shit over a tutorial.
He pulls up his UI again, finds the feature that lets him hook up to his AMZN playlist. With tunes blasting in his ear to drown out whatever is in his head, he takes off on a brisk jog.
Behind him, MOM’s front door slams open. MOM shuffles out of the door, her complexion pale as bone, curly brunette hair falling out, and her immaculate apron rotted to fringes. Along with her comes the familiar face of YOUR RIVAL, followed by the emaciated form of the PACKAGE RECIPIENT—which in this case would be the spoiled brat, YOUNG MASTER HOWARD TODDIGAN, THE FIFTH, THE SEVENTEENTH.
The corrupted NPCs chase after Kazuki, groaning in pain, their heads leaning awkwardly on their shoulders. Clutched in at least one of their hands is a Pokeball.
Oblivious to the chaos behind him, Kazuki continues jogging after the runaway Patrat, head bobbing to the beat in his ears.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 7:27:49 GMT 9
He returns to Precipice, and once he gets close enough that the hum of the abyss reaches his ears, he collapses on his back. He hears Combusken sit down beside him, crossing her legs in a meditative pose.
“The things we do for BYTEs,” Kazuki murmurs, throwing his arm over his eyes as he waits for the healing to settle in.
<Should we take a break?> Combusken asks, gazing into the abyss.
“Nah. There’s only a few more days until the event’s over, anyways.” Kazuki stretches, a purely heavenly sensation after spending a good chunk of his time getting crushed by heavy metal dinosaurs. “Take a breather. We go back out after this."
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 7:16:54 GMT 9
Kazuki gets back up, his body aching. He’s just in time to watch as the Duraludon crashes into Saint and his Vulpix, the duo taking heavy hits.
At this rate, both of them are going to die at the same time—which isn’t ideal, but kind of a pain in the ass.
“Let’s see if we can knock it down before ending up back in the hole.” Combusken looks pissed; not just from the battle, but from her own miss. This time, she doesn’t wait to springboard off Kazuki, instead aiming for one of the Duraludon’s legs, her trainer following suit with the other limb.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
|
Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 7:09:57 GMT 9
A Vulpix enters the fray. The Ember does next to nothing, but it does nab the Duraludon’s attention away from them, giving Kazuki and Combusken a few precious seconds of breath.
“Nearly there. Jump off me and keep hitting the spot you dented on its head,” Kazuki orders, to which Combusken nods and prepares. Her trainer sprints forwards at the same time she takes a running leap, bouncing off his shoulder to land square on the Duraludon’s head.
The battlefield is filled with flame from the attacks of different combatants.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 6:54:40 GMT 9
He’s thrown against the stone, the attempt of luring the Duraludon to damaging itself thwarted by the mini-skyscraper’s unexpected speed. Groaning, he opens his eyes, only to see Saint fumbling by the sidelines.
“Are you fucking stupid?!” Kazuki spits, but he can’t recover fast enough to intercept before the Duraludon switches targets and flattens the new trainer into nothing. A notification pops in the corner of his scream, informing him that Saint had bit the dust.
“This is going to be a long one,” Kazuki growls. Combusken takes the opening move, releasing a plume of fire at her target.
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
|
Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 6:48:23 GMT 9
“You know, I’m almost fond of this shit now,” Kazuki chuckles, narrowly dodging the Duraludon’s attempt at his throat and his expendable digital life. “Look at how pissy it is. It better be, considering how many of you have been killed for that quest.”
The Duraludon screeches louder, before charging at him like a freight train. Combusken seizes the opportunity to launch herself onto its back as her trainer focuses on diverting its course towards a boulder.
“Oi, Saint! You’re fucking late!” Kazuki calls as he runs, to the complete exasperation of the newbie who’s staring at him as if fearing for his life. Dumbass. Doesn’t he know death has no consequence here?
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 6:30:13 GMT 9
They return after some time, Kazuki in a strangely good mood after encountering Saint and acquiring two metal beasts and a spoken contract. Combusken as well appears to have calmed after the shock of their discussion, though now that they’re alone once again, she’s back to acting cautiously.
“Nearly done with this,” Kazuki murmurs, waving his hands to pull up his journal. Combusken can’t read what he’s written on it, but she glances curiously anyways. “There’s a byte goal to aim for, but reaching it isn’t necessary to move on to the next phase.” He squints at a corner of the page. “It isn’t a goal that can be reached by hunting these things anyway.”
He waves away the UI and turns back to her. “That question I asked before we got interrupted. Did the team report anything strange happening to them?”
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 1:59:40 GMT 9
It’s his second time visiting. Kazuki is actually quite fond of The Creed base; despite being a light house, it looks more like a villain’s lair, which is vastly preferable compared to the other two options. Stepping under its watchful eye and gaping maw feels almost like returning home.
He’s not here to sightsee though.
The man makes a beeline through the halls, reaching the room where the guild leader can be found reclining among her offered trades. It reminds Kazuki of a dragon nesting with its hoard of treasure. Her eyes appraise him, reminding him — after an extended period where he’s been completely numb to the fact — that he’s essentially half-dressed.
He raises a hand. “Wrong merchandise. I’m here to pawn off these.”
He throws down a box of Pokeballs, ten in total and most being fish. He already knows what he wants in exchange.
“That cat.” He points to the Absol on display. “It can detect disasters, right? Bad omens, danger, and all that shit?” If it can, then it’s perfect, and he needs it. He can feel its eyes stuck on him, perhaps seeing through him, seeing the way he hangs on the fringes, even as he holds himself high and speaks with the same air of rude arrogance he always has.
“I’ll take it.”
Kazuki offers for an ABSOL: x1 CARVANHA x1 RUFFLET x1 SEWADDLE x1 SHROOMISH x1 GALARIAN MEOWTH x2 COMMON MAGIKARP (WHITE CALICO & TWO-TONED) x1 NIDORAN F x1 BASCULIN (BLUE) x1 ORTHWORM
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 0:45:24 GMT 9
CONTINUING FROM HERE “You want me to… what?” The player stammers.
“Catch it.” Kazuki reaches down, grabbing the newbie by his stupidly huge collar—it was more like a cone of shame, really—and yanking him to his feet. “Two people can capture the same pokemon. This dragon’s expensive and hard to get, so grab it now.”
“O-okay…” The player mutters, fumbling for a ball as Kazuki watches. He captures a copy of the fallen Duraludon, at which point both copies had been claimed, and now the pokemon was gone. “I don’t really… want one, though. How is this supposed to give us bytes?”
Kazuki raises a brow. “It’s a quest. You give it to the professor, she gives a hundred for each of these dragons you hand in.”
The player’s eyes widen. Right, to someone new, a hundred bytes would be a hefty sum. “That much?”
“Yeah, so let me give you an offer.” Kazuki opens up his UI, tapping around through his storage box. “I want that dragon for upgrades. You give it to me, and I’ll exchange it for these.” He already knows which pokemon he's sending away. In particular, that one cat he got from the tower. The rest he can do whatever the hell with, but if Verai finds out he's sold a kitten, he'll get turned into fillets.
The newbie eyes the trade request, gaze flitting between the pokemon and the ball in his hands. Kazuki can see interest, but still, the man hesitates. “Are you sure? This magikarp is covered in gold. And my pokemon...”
Kazuki scoffs. Truth be told, this guy's pokemon are basically box fillers, but that doesn't matter. They won't be staying with him for long. “I’ve already got a Gyarados. I don’t need another. And hey, let me sweeten the deal some more—” he throws his arm around the player, grinning and leaning down with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “You take the offer, and you can call me in to help kill these things if you find one again. And I'll let you keep the next copy. What do you say, Saint?”
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Kazuki
•
You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on May 29, 2023 0:05:11 GMT 9
'Déjà vu,' is what Kazuki thinks as he and Combusken return to the steppes. As before, they take a moment to watch, heads turning left and right as the new player goes running around in circles as he’s chased down by the enraged dinosaur.
Finally, the Duraludon has had enough, and it lunges for the player.
“Aand down he goes,” Kazuki says, watching the newbie collapse on the ground, at which point he and Combusken intervene.
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