October-November Test Drive!

[indigo_league]

TEST DRIVE MEME

➞ Post with a character you wish to test drive in this game's setting.
➞ Tag other people's starters and thread out shenanigans!
➞ Invite your friends! Try out new characters! Come play with us!
➞ Have fun!


NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN YOUR TEST-DRIVE JOURNEY?
CHECK OUT ALL THE LOCATIONS WE HAVE AVAILABLE IN:

JOHTO | and | KANTO

ALSO, AS PROMPTS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, and in the spirit of Halloween: August's GHOST TRICK event!

O-Bon festival: The streets are lined with NPC-run stalls for food, games, and the assorted tchotchkes of every summer festival you’ve ever seen in your animes! There’s Goldeen Scoop, heaping cones of Swirlix Candy, Test Your STRENGTH (there are two different machines for people and Pokémon; HM04 not required); basically, if you can think of it, it’s there. There will also be a yukata rental stall if you want to go full hog on the cultural side of things. Ecruteak boasts a small stage where the Kimono Girls give a short performance once every two hours; the festivities in Lavender Town are a little quieter, but they also have Haunter-shaped ice cream treats. When you lick them, they Lick you!

On the last evening of the festival in either location, there will be a large bonfire and traditional bon-odori dance in which everyone is welcome to participate. In Lavender Town only, they also set paper lamps afloat in the water past the cliffs.

Who you gonna call?: Remember “The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak”? Well, some of the local Gastly, Duskull, and Yamask seem to have gotten it into their heads that this kind of tomfoolery is somehow good medicine. If your trainer had someone in their life, someone now dead, that they have unresolved business with, these ghosties may take it upon themselves to play a little dress-up and follow your trainer around in the guise of said dead person until the issue is resolved. It’s their way of saying thank you for all the spiritual appeasement of the festival.

These ghosts won’t speak; Pokémon don’t talk, after all. So yes, your trainer is going to be followed around by some silent echo of their past who will not leave them alone.

Or, of course, write your own!

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OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
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Comments

Thida | Splatoon (Player Character OC)

[agent3]

[A: Video]

[There's a girl on the feed today - perhaps you've seen her before, perhaps you haven't. She looks stone-faced into the 'gear, brow furrowed, as if still trying to find the words she wants to say. An Inkay bobs quietly under her chin, its tentacles poking the screen every once in a while, and the girl's eyes flicker down to them in - is that longing?]

...Hair's stupid.

[Finally, she speaks! And...reaches with a free hand to pull up one of the ends of her twintails. It's knotted, matted, and as sky blue as the rest of her hair - but it is clean, at least.]

Can't fix it. How d'you fix hair?

[B: O-Bon - Ekruteak City]

[Being rather short for her age (according to humans, anyway), Thida had to rent one of the smaller sized outfits - and a boy's one at that, upon her insistence. Really, she just preferred to have shorts and something with dark blue, and no silly bows or tassels or things to get in her way.

There's two places you'll find Thida - the first is at the game stalls. She tends to favor things that require her to aim, like knocking over milk bottles or bouncing ping pong balls into cups in order to win prizes, and she's got a fair amount of small ones, not interested in anything big or bulky. Her Inkay, Maika, is actually wearing one of them (a shiny paper crown) as it floats behind her. Looks like she's a bit of a crack shot with those balls - maybe she could win you that giant prize you've got your eye on.

The second place you'll find Thida is where you least expect her - up high. Whether it's from a tree or a rooftop, wherever you are, she'll suddenly be hanging upside-down in your face, twintails dangling towards the ground and a stick of dango halfway to her mouth. Whatever your expression, she'll snicker at you.]

S'prise!

Kira Yoshikage | Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Jojolion

[seasalthands]

A: O-Bon Festival -- [Paper lanterns. Now this is a tradition he's familiar with. It's surprising how so much of this world's culture clashes with his own. He's never been one for being homesick, always out at sea and all. But being in another world altogether is another matter entirely. And he's still getting his barrings, land legs as it were.

Stuff like this is kind of nice though. It brings back memories from being a kid. His mom would be happy to know he did one at this old age. Even though they were incredibly far apart she'd have that mom tingling and know he was doing something that'd make her happy.

Ugh. Coming here sure made him melancholy. Probably something to do with potentially dying and then waking up in this bizarre world.

He gives his head a shake, pushing back his hat so he can see a bit better without the tassel in his way. Think. He needed to think of a wish. It was the last day and he certainly couldn't spend all night thinking about it. Thinking of one shouldn't take all night. Come on Yoshikage.

Okay. Okay. He has one. He kneels down, pen poised to write on the sheet of paper.

It's a simple tap on his shoulder that spooks him, causing the pen to fly out of his hand, hit the ground, and roll right into the river. Absolutely incredible. He can almost hear those ghosts at the tower laughing at him.

He glances back, tossing a rather icy glare at the one that caused this accident.]

B: Who you gunna call? -- Ghosts, huh? It makes something unpleasant turn in his stomach. Remembering his final moments back at home makes him uneasy to address any of this at all. He's been hearing some strange rumors about what these ghosts are up to and...

He's not sure what he's more concerned about. Seeing these ghosts dressed up as himself or as his friend... his mom. These people he struggled to protect. He's here now and he was content with assuming that everyone was alive and well back in Morioh. If he sees something that tells him otherwise... that everything he fought for was in vain...

Kira stumbles a bit as his current companion headbutts him in the back of the knees. No moping. And no sad faces. Or grumpy ones despite that's his factory setting.]

Alright, alright. I got it. [He turns around to pick up the excitable turtle creature... Squirtle. It's a squirtle. He's learning. He went to medical school and remembered tons of useless crap. He'll quickly learn the names of all these creatures in time.]

Squirtle! Squirtle! [His turtle friend starts flailing excitedly as he is one to do when he catches sight of anyone new. A chance for friends! This time it might not be such a bad thing to run into someone else. He doesn't want to check out this ghost stuff alone. If he's with someone he'll be forced to remain calm and collected no matter what he sees.

He's going to turn around and greet whomever is coming up behind him but Squirtle is wiggling just too much. An eager turtle finally frees himself from his grasp and hurries over to this new person eagerly babbling his name and jumping up and down.

Honestly, even he can't help but smile at the sight. These little creatures just had so much life in them. It really was hard to remain on his default setting with them beside him.

He follows after his squirtle at a much slower pace.] Sorry. He's pretty excitable. He's not dangerous or anything. He's just got a lot of energy.

Amethyst | Steven Universe

[trashgem]

a. O-BON FESTIVAL: TEST YOUR STRENGTH (goldenrod city)

[Human festivals as an entity aren't completely foreign to Amethyst; she's been around long enough that she's been to a few, even if they were pretty different from this one. Still, she's a literal garbage can of a gem, and is powerless to resist the draws of rowdy company and an endless array of snacks and junk food and sweets. Hey, so what if she doesn't have much money. She can probably make it back in an underground fighting ring or something, right?

With her Hawlucha trailing behind her, Amethyst swaggers up to the Test Your Strength! booth, letting out a raucous laugh.]

Yeah-h! This is what I'm talking about. Gimme that hammer, dude.

[The small gem flexes her biceps menacingly, glancing around to make sure she has a proper audience. What's a show-off without some one to show off to?]

Step aside, kids, let me show you how it's done!

[It's just too bad she hasn't figured out quite yet that her gem powers are gone.]

b. O-BON FESTIVAL: CHOWING DOWN (goldenrod city)

[Later on, Amethyst can be found at any one of the food stalls; instead of cautiously sampling the available treats, all of which are foreign to her, she's eagerly going to town on pretty much all of them. Where someone more timid might ask for one of each, Amethyst is asking for four or five of each, and shoving them all in her maw: rice balls, pastries, kebabs—none are discriminated against, and all are devoured with plenty of lip smacking and exclamations. It's almost as if she wants everyone to know just how dang good everything is. Or perhaps she just wants everyone to see how good she is at eating copious amounts of food.

If you catch her eye, however, she might just offer to share, holding out one of whatever she's got with a wide grin.]

Hey, try this! It's—I don't really know what it is, but it's good!

A

[callbacks]

[Oh, honey, no. Kid, what the fuck.]

Haaaaaave you heard of a comb? Or a brush, probably, with that much to work with.

[agent3]

[Looks at the nice person who answered her question very flatly.]

No. Didn't need one before.

[Like duh, dude.]

Washed it though.

[callbacks]

Washing's good. Washing's a start.

[How old is this small bean?]

Listen, if it's gotten to that state and you don't want to cut it, you might want to invest in a professional and some detangling conditioner.

[agent3]

[Her eyes widen, and she pulls the hair clump back defensively.]

Cutting...hurts? Or no?

[She's fourteen and has never dealt with real hair. Pity this child.]

[callbacks]

[Oh no, kiddo.]

Naw, 'course not. There's no nerve endings in hair, it's just dead cells we do up to look pretty. You never had a haircut before?

[agent3]

Never had hair. 'S s'posed t'be tentacles.

[She says that like it's the most matter-of-fact thing in the world. The Inkay beams, nudging its mantle against her chin.]

[callbacks]

So you had tentacle...hair.

[...]

That's cool. My buddy, he used to have horns. I mean, he had hair, too, but his skin was a different color and junk. So are you an alien?

[agent3]

Not hair. Jus' tentacles.

[But it did, actually, look like hair.]

'M an Inkling. Not an alien. Evolved...from squids.

[callbacks]

Oh, cool. Because if you were an alien, I'd have to ask if you were an alien god, and then things could get all kinds of awk. I'm Dave Strider, I spent most of my life human, I can help you out if you've got questions.

[agent3]

[Her nose crinkles, and she laughs, grinning a bit. There may be no usual peek of her beak anymore, but there's still something a little sharp about those eye teeth.]

'Kay. Um. Hm.

[She needs to think, actually. What does she not know yet? Water's safe, she's got that down - it was kind of necessary, if still mildly terrifying and only realized with her Pokemon's help. She does think of a couple things, though.]

Got two questions. [Holds up one finger.] What sports're there? [And holds up a second finger.] Can find catfish?

[callbacks]

Uh...hold on.

[Just gonna...steal someone else's PokéGear and look these questions up real fast.]

There's...baseball? And ice hockey. And probably other stuff, like football and soccer. You know, balls. [Dave is so not the right person to ask about sports.] As for the fish...

[He holds up a picture.]

Will that guy do?

[agent3]

[She nods at the sports, but looks unimpressed.] No ink sports. Right?

[As for the picture, she tilts her head and looks at it, as if judging it.] Can eat that?

[callbacks]

Catching and killing your own Pokédinners seems to be generally frowned upon most places, so I wouldn't advise it. Maybe see what they've got fresh at your local seafood place?

[Is catfish even edible, he has no idea.]

What are ink sports, anyway?

[Hopefully not anything like watersports. He's pretty sure kids aren't supposed to know about watersports.]

[agent3]

[Her eyes widen again, and she looks down at the Inkay, who's...a bit oblivious.] Ooh. So...'s like squids. Don't eat it. Okay.

[Darn. Next you're going to tell her that she can't eat Pokemushrooms either.]

Mm...sports. Turf Wars. Fight with ink. Humans can't make ink, so...can't do it. Right?

[callbacks]

Well, we can't make ink, like, biologically, no, but we do have pens and sh--stuff. [Fuck.] But if it's like a turf war kind of deal...maybe you should see if anyone runs a paintball place around here.

[agent3]

Paint...ball?

[What do you...do...like...throw gobs of paint at each other??? There is much confusion going on in her expression.]

How d'you play that?

[callbacks]

I've never done it myself 'cause projectiles aren't my thing, but basically you shoot harmless paint bullets at one another and the team who scores the most hits with the least casualties wins, or something.

[Why are we asking Dave Strider about sports]

I'll ask my friend Jade, she might know more about that.

[agent3]

Hit people? Not the ground?

[I mean...you splat people in Turf Wars, but it just helps you further the objective, it's not the objective.]

'N...only guns?

[callbacks]

Well, yeah, but...

[Hmmm.]

Okay, hang on. Explain the rules of Turf Wars to me.

[agent3]

[Mmmn. That's gonna take a lot of words. Thida lets out a tired breath, shifting the Inkay in her arms so everyone's comfortable.]

'Kay. So...two teams. Go to a stage...start on opposite sides. Gotta cover ground with ink - walls don't count. Can use guns, rollers, brushes, chargers, sloshers...but 's ink. Can't walk in enemy ink. 'N after three minutes...whoever's got more ink wins.

Felix | Red vs Blue

[moneylogues]

[ a - o-bon festival ]
[There's a lot of people at the festival trying their hand at one of the various games. People really testing their skill or strength, people determined to win themselves a plushie, people wanting to impress their date...

And then. There's this asshole.

Felix isn't participating in any of the games himself. No. Currently, he's stationed himself right near the Test Your STRENGTH game, leaning against a tree. He's watching as other people try it out. He doesn't really say anything to the big burly people that try it and effortlessly ring the bell - there's not much fun to be had there. But if you fail to ring the bell, expect to suddenly hear a slow clap behind you.]

Very impressive, really. I think we can all learn a thing or two from that performance.

Oh, but... let me guess. [There's a slight headtilt as this asshole just smiles.] That was just a practice round. Right?

[ b - audio post ]
[Were you hoping to hear Felix's voice today? No? Too bad, because he just looooves the sound of it.]

Alright, so. Not that taking money from random kids after my monsters kicked kicked his ass isn't fun or anything - it's kinda hilarious, I'm just gonna be honest about that - it's not really what I'm looking to do long term. Shocking. I know.

Look, I get that there's not a lot of job offers out there that are fitting for those in my line of work. The galaxy is a dangerous place, but this place? Nnnnnot so much! But one of you has to have some kind of job opening just waiting for a handsome, charismatic mercenary like myself.

[...He doesn't even say that as a joke, he's completely serious.]

Serious offers and ideas only. No one likes a Captain Obvious, people.

[callbacks]

...You know...you could probably do that with PokÉmon moves and the right kind of paint.