Test drive meme - July & August

[indigo_league]

➞ 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 | KANTO | SEVII ISLANDS

Feel free to make various prompts in multiple locations!

✭ ✭ ✭


OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
NAVIGATION | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

Comments

[no_ufo_ending]

Really?

_{[Henry's voice is low, as though he's afraid of someone out there in the woods listening in on them.]}

Do they crawl around on the floor? Hair everywhere choking you?

[officerdown]

[A tiny spark of mirth in the corner of Scar's mouth.]

No.

[He has awoken with it in his mouth, though.]

Some bite, some have claws.

[There’s plenty of evidence of that, gouged into his skin.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry listens intently. He has no reason to not believe Scar. There are surely more kids of ghosts in all the worlds out there.]}

Thank you for telling me. About...

_{[The whole being dead thing.]}

I'm glad you're here with me.

_{[He hasn't forgotten what Scar said the previous night.]}

[officerdown]

Mm.

[Any trace of Scar's smile is gone.]

[It was nice, for a moment, to think of her and not want to turn himself inside out with fear.]

We rise with the sun.

[With that, it becomes clear that Scar was no longer up for company. He shuffles to the tent and crawls inside without another word.]

[no_ufo_ending]

<sub>[A small concerned frown appears on Henry's face. He wonders if he said anything wrong. He's been sharing a lot. Maybe it's too much.]

[Or maybe, simply, Scar was done being social.]

[He stares into the fire for a little while longer before carefully extinguishing it and crawling into the tent.]

[The sun rises. And this day is much like the one before it only Henry is lagging much further behind Scar. He's sore and hungry and his bones hurt. He doesn't make a peep though because for some reason he wants to impress this big silent man. He wants to be the person he described in his misadventure in the Otherworld. Someone who can take it.]

[It gets to a point where Henry is no longer looking ahead. He is looking at the ground following Scar's enormous shadow.]</sub>

[officerdown]

[Scar closes his eyes. He tries. It isn't like he can get up and leave with Henry still here with him. They'll hit Goldenrod tomorrow. Then...]

[No, he's definitely not going to sleep.]

[He holds onto Amit until the sun rises, until he can reasonably get up and start packing in their camp. When they get moving, Scar moves at the same brisk, steady pace as yesterday.]

[Credit to him, he notices, eventually, when Henry is lagging behind. He has traveled in a group before, albeit rarely. And never with this private, terrible urgency.]

[So, Scar slows down. He digs through his pack, overfull with all their supplies, for a water bottle. He even cracks it open before holding it out for Henry.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry doesn't notice Scar slow down until he bumps face-first into the water bottle the man is holding out for him. He seemingly jolts awake, his eyes wide and his limbs tense. Then he sees the water and accepts it gratefully.]}

Thank you...we should be in Cherrygrove soon...I think.

[officerdown]

["Recently traumatized" is something Scar is very good at reading in another person, and very good at accommodating. He keeps the slowed pace, even if the thought crosses his mind more than once that he could simply carry Henry to Cherrygrove. He's aware enough to know that most wouldn't appreciate that.]

[It's a shame he didn't break his leg, instead.]

[Hm.]

We've made good time.

[Better than most, at least.]

Will you stop in the Center there to have your arm looked at?

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry takes a long drink. Water! Thank God one of them is prepared.]}

Yes...I have to. It's...getting hard to ignore. I want to buy a few things...then we can take the warp.

[officerdown]

The warp?

[He's definitely heard the term before, but it isn't connecting to anything that comes to mind.]

[no_ufo_ending]

It's a thing--it teleports you to the next city if you've been there before. Something...to do with your Trainer ID I think. When you go to the Pokemon Center.

_{[He HOPES it's still there at least. He does not tell Scar about The Sensations one experiences when using them.]}

[officerdown]

You mean we would reach Violet and Goldenrod today?

[OH BOY HIS GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM SURE HAS OPINIONS ABOUT THAT.]

[Maybe they should camp again.]

[This thought can and will exist beside the fact that Scar has been walking at 11 speed this entire time, don't think about it.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry nods.]}

Yes. Tonight we can sleep indoors.

<sub>[Henry can almost smell the Pokemon dander on their couch. He hopes he's not wrong. He hopes it's still there. He's had a pretty optimistic outlook up until this moment when doubt starts to creep in. What if his friends--the little family he'd made--have been gone for five years. Henry starts to sweat.]

[It's the sun exposure.]</sub>

[officerdown]

[Indoors.]

[Indoors, if he still has a bed.]

[Scar's gait is stiff. Then, a though occurs to him.]

Henry, did you check the names still in your 'gear before you lost it?

[no_ufo_ending]

I--

_{[--had been too afraid. If he didn't look, the longer he could go believing.]}

--no...

[officerdown]

[Scar breathes.]

Heather, Envy, and Lust are still here.

[There had been nobody else he recognized, but that may be enough to give Henry a bit of ease, right now, even if it only twists Scar in knots. He doesn't belong there. He knows he's only tolerated by proxy.]

[And it's been seven years.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry visibly brightens. He stands up straighter and for the first time, a wide smile crosses his face. He instantly picks up the pace, marching abreast of Scar.]}

Let's go home, Friend!

[officerdown]

[Friend's constitution dips, for a moment, below Henry's. The reassurance has had its intended effect, even if Scar now has no choice but to think on it.]

[Home...]

[Scar swallows it with a frown and a deep breath, and he forces his unsteady knees to catch up.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Sprout Tower looms above the little town. The fragrance of flowers drifts on the breeze and meets them as they pass through the old Quagsire statues flanking the path. There are people and Pokemon going about their day. The ocean glitters on the horizon off to the south.]}

At last...there's the Pokemon center. I'm so glad Johto's different when it comes to going to the doctor.

[officerdown]

[Scar follows Henry into the city without a word. He can't bring himself to admire it, or even notice much about it.]

[He follows Henry into the Pokemon Center, folds his arms, leans against a corner mostly out of sight, and waits.]

[no_ufo_ending]

<sub>[Henry all but stumbles his way to the front desk. He is sunburnt and there are rings around his eyes. When he presents Scar's makeshift splint and the unappealing color his hand has turned to the Joy behind the counter, she makes a face.]

[It's not long before Henry is whisked away to the back.]

[He's gone for over an hour.]

[When he is finally released through the swinging doors, he's holding a cookie in one hand and his other is wrapped up neatly in a light blue cast with little Woopers on it.]</sub>

The nurses say it's not as bad as it looks. Do you want to go eat before we go to Violet?

_{[As though Scar could stand to.]}

[officerdown]

[Scar waits, his heel tapping against the wall behind him, arms crossed, glaring at the warp station as if it's staring back at him.]

[The hour passes like five minutes. He's barely present, when Henry emerges.]

Feel free to eat, if you wish.

[He can't. He knows he can't. He thought there would be another week until Violet, and more time on top of that to Goldenrod. Now, he has to do it all in a day.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Now that Henry has had a healthy dose of painkillers (and a cookie) he's more conscious of his traveling companion. He really doesn't look so good.]}

But...you haven't had anything in...since this morning at least.

[officerdown]

Show me how the warp works.

[Scar brushes straight past Henry's concern and moves toward the warp station.]

[no_ufo_ending]

Wh--!

_{[Well okay then. Scar apparently has something very important to do in Violet. He won't pry. Instead he follows Scar and demonstrates.]}

You have to scan your trainer card and--since this warp can only go one way, you just step in and make sure everything's on the pad.

_{[Henry tugs his trainer card out of his breast pocket and swipes it through the little reader on the machine. Then he steps onto the pad and turns to face Scar.]}

Oh I forgot you might feel a--

_{[Henry disappears in a flash of light.]}