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Pokébook: Hoenn



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Lumi says...



A brief history of pokebooks


2010: Pokebook: Johto
2011: Pokebook: Kanto
2012: Pokebook: Europe
2014: Pokebook: America
2016: ...it's time

Pokebook: Hoenn

You, I, we are interns working for The Birch Laboratory Of Rare Pokemon (BLORP for short). Our boss, Max Birch, Sr. will pass away shortly before the beginning of our story, leaving the future of BLORP in his adolescent son, Max Birch, Jr. Determined to fill his father's sandals and leave a lasting mark on the Hoenn region, Junior will utilize our band of witty, unwitty, comical, and superfluous adventurers to explore Hoenn and...figure out what to do at some point, he guesses. (That being: Launching a brand new project team to put the Birch name in headlines. Blorp: Re-Birch, is a collection of BLORP's finest (and most willing to work for food) interns set on capturing one of Hoenn's elusive Legendary Pokemon.

Code: Select all
[bebas]Common!Name[/bebas]

[b]Age:[/b] (Range- 16-20. The members of ReBirch are interns after all.)
[b]Team Role:[/b] Each character should have some purpose on the Research Team. Doesn't need to be science, but anything they at excel at that makes them useful for Pokemon Observation/Capture.
   
[bebas]Personality[/bebas]

Tropes: Courtesey of www.tvtropes.org
Some brief picks to give everyone a point of reference early on.
   
[bebas]Appearance & Presentation[/bebas]
What do they look like? How do they make themselves look? What do they do unintentionally?

Pokemon Partners:
Teams can start with up to four members. Your character will have been a trainer for some time, but keep it in line to an Apprentice level, so to speak.

[admin]Name | Species | Gender [/admin]
    List any specific moves they known. As the story progresses these can/will change, early movesets should try and represent the Partner Pokemon's personality in some sense.
   
    Pick One Pokemon to be their Signiture/Starter (Either is fine). They will serve as the primary Pokemon for others to write your chararacter uing, so please include a teeny tiny personality.


Our story is one of competing research facilities! Sapphire Labs, operating out of the marine city of Mossdeep, research deep into the ocean for clues as to how we came about, and how we may further advance in the future. Meanwhile, Ruby Labs, operating out of Falarbor Town, studies the earth, rocks, and history to see the patterns in the earth's development to better understand the future of our planet.

BLORP, however, studies lifeforms and how they connect to rarity, evolution, and the world as a whole. Some, dissatisfied with the jocular acronymn, suggested renaming the facilities Emerald Labs, but that idea was shut down with gusto and the board executive responsible fired immediately.

Throughout our travels in the Hoenn region, we'll come across astounding characters and even more astounding pokemon--and we at BLORP hope you enjoy every moment of your journey. Always remember that there's nothing worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth!

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http://lumi.writerfeedpad.com/66
Last edited by Bloo on Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
I am a forest fire and an ocean, and I will burn you just as much
as I will drown everything you have inside.
-Shinji Moon


I am the property of Rydia, please return me to her ship.





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Bloo says...



Episode One
We All Tie Our Own Shoes


Littleroot Apartment 2B

"Now, see, I'd totally rather be found dead in the kitchen." Toby squinted through a pair of goggles, tightening the insides of a plain metal capsule. "Lotsa ways to get poisoned, like, maybe there was a bad egg. I mean a really bad egg. If I eat the egg like you eat eggs, then I wouldn't taste the egg, and then my insides would no longer be inside."

"Nah," Rafe shot between moves, he and his treeko fooling around with a rythm game. "See, I think he basically forgot to sleep for weeks on end. You know how the boss was."

"Used to bring dates to the lab and he was always, with those piercing green eyes..." Toby sighed, placing his screwdriver down on the table. "And none of the dates were ever into adding a third. "

"Hey, Tobes?" Rafe glanced away from the screen for a moment, swearing as a wave of "FAILS" overtook his score.

"Yeah?"

"What's the longest you've gone without sleeping?"

"Remember like two years back when the whole lab caught Grumpig Flu?"

"Why force me to relive the vomitting?"

"Cause while you were all off lounging in your ivory beds, Ol' Birch had me doing the work of five interns while he obsessed over the Grumpig. Same week I had a that weekend getaway to Rustboro planned with my ex from Petalburg."

"Ugh, Gary." Rafe's face sqrunched at the words.

"Yee," Toby mimicedd the face."Still, he like busted his ass to get off work that weekend, so I couldn't just cancel." Toby reached across the table, scooping vibrant colored powder in his hand. "So, I just cram all the lava cookies I can get down my gullet, and just start tearing through the piles of work Birch left me. Stayed in the lab for three nights straight."
Toby poured the powder into his open capsule, shutting the lid. "I was a zombie by the time Gary shows up, but he didn't even seem to notice, too busy running around the city. I barely even got a chance to catch my breath." Toby began to shake the capsule violently in front of him. "We didn't even sit and eat till noon the next day. Gary starts going on about this 'super deep' dream he had a few nights back, and my head just crashed into my waffle and I passed out."

"Oooh, do we have any waffles?"

"Rafe, you've already had three breakfasts today."

"Whatever," The dancer said with a pout. "So, like, what was the math for that story? How long was it?"

"I was probably up for about four and a half days," Toby said, his eyes briefly going dead as the thought crawled over him. "Why do you let me do these things, Raffle?"

"You're a serial dater, bro." Rafe answered, finally stepping off the dance pad. "Also, as I just said, I was a bit busy trying to keep my insides inside."

Toby just rolled his eyes."What time did Junior say to meet him at the Lab?" He tossed his finished capsule in a box of identical spheres.

"I thought you wrote that down."

"It clearly says on the chore wheel that it's was your week to take the phone messages down."

"It's not my fault. YOU keep stealing all the notebooks 'For Science'. I can never even find a pen in this place for my own."

"You do no science, Rafe. No science at all!"

"I do science! I'm doing science right now!"

"Dancing games are not science!"

"They are when Drake is learning some boppin' dance moves." Rafe lowered his hand, Treecko slapping him back with a Low-Three

"Treecko's dance moves don't pay the rent."

"None one pays the rent, this is BLORP housing."

"It's a phrase, Rafe. People say phrases!"

"Fine, phrases." He popped a gummy vitamin into his mouth, a smaller one into Treecko's. "Where's the clock? You know Junior is gonna spaz if his team is late on the first day."

"You know Tamale smashed that to bits the other day when she evolved."

"I...did not know...my Mettaton clock was..." Rafe took a deep breath, holding back a well of tears."I had to stand in line for five hours." He began to walk over to the table, his Treeko crawling onto his shoulder as he did.

"Rafe, you know I don't like it when people approach me wordlessly."

"..."

"Raffle, wrenches are for engineering, not violence." Toby tripped out of his chair, stumble-crawling across the kitchen."

Rafe stood over Toby, his face hidden in shadow. "And clocks are for telling time. Not target practice."

"RAFE! SCIENCE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HURT."

Image

BLORP Meeting Room

"He was a wreck as the funeral, we sure he can do it?" Elex snarked.

"Oh come on guys," Mint pumped the pep into her voice. "If we don't have some faith in him he's going to fail no matter what."

Rafe cleared his throat, placing a hand on Mint's shoulder. "When Veronica told him the family business was in "good hands" he threw his platter in the air and screamed, uh." A glance to Toby, who shrugged, before looking back to Mint. "'How the fuck do you Business!?'"

"Oh come on," Mint threw in. "he was five cocktails in at that point."

Toby shook his head, stepping out of the line of interns and to towards the little podium Junior had bought for himself. "Yes, we have reasons to doubt Max for his inexperience, but he isn't the only one here, guys." He gestured his arms wide, as if to offer them a sandwich. "Look to the person on your left."

Rafe looked into empty space.

"Er, look at the people around to you." Toby repeated. "It's just like Mint said, we gotta have some faith, but it doesn't just have to be in a single person."

"Well said, Toby," Junior piped up, stepping into the room and assuming his position behind the podium.

"HOLY FRIG," said Toby. "How long were you out there?"

"When I got here you were holding out your arms. Looked like you were giving out sandwiches."

"I was going for brownies-

"Anyway," Junior strolled to the back of the lab, pulling down a projector screen and flipping the light switch. "Now that my father has passed, BLORP is in a wibbly place. My father's reputation was what kept BLORP in the scene, and sadly without him our funding is begining to dwindle." He slipped a piece of paper onto an odd projector. "I've managed to convince one investor, a rather eccentric fellow named something Stone, to keep up his investment, but he is expecting something big from us in return." Junior flipped the projector on with gravitas, turning to his interns with his arms raised, side stepping away as his arms pointed to the screen. "I present to you: Project Re-Birch"

The projector began to groan, along with the viewers as they registered the awful pun, slowly flickering on and off before showing a rather crudely drawn logo. The interns may as well have been crickets as Junior scratched his head. "No, please...hold your excitement til the end," he mumbled to himself.

"What's the project?" Rafe offered. "I mean, all you told us is that we should be ready to camp out."

"Aha! I knew you'd ask." Junior tilted his head up proudly.

"Almost like we're here to," Elex murmered to himself.

"Which is why I have this!" Junior slammed a new piece of paper onto the projector, before quicky cupping his hands over the proector's light."But first, Toby, please come up. After all, you're the one that came to me with the idea in the first place."

"Hell yes!" Toby exclaimed, nearly ripping Birch's hands off the projector in excitement. "Guys, you don't know how hard it was to keep the skitty in the bag on this one."

On the screen was a series of blurry black and white photos, some seemingly cut from magezines. "See, BLORP just can't compete with the massive resources of
Sapphire and Ruby labs, but there is something we can beat them at, because..." He motioned for Toby.

Words parsed out, his excitement was lowkey. "They aren't even looking into it!"

The interns stared at the screen, squinting at the various blurry pictures and odd swiggly looking words."....You want us to start a collage group?" Rafe asked, mouth agape.

"What? No." Toby pointed agressively at the slide. "We're going to look for that!"

"...So we're going to tour Hoenn stealing other people's collages?"

Junior stared out, just as confused as the other interns. "How is this now obvious? We're going to find the legendary Regi King!"

A bubble of gum popped to the left of the room where all heads turned. Mia passively flicked spoon after spoonful of sugar into her remarkably white coffee. Holding up a finger to indicate a demand for patience, she flicked her hand into a comically large purse and pulled out a small pink bag embroidered with *~GUM~* to indicate its sole, and one-use, purpose.

It had already been a full moment of silence, but she finally deposited the *~GUM~* into the trash bin beside her, begging the question of why she didn't begin with that in the first place.

"Personally, I'd rather roll around stealing collages. I mean, hey. Put me on a team with Rafe, yeah? Rafe walks up to a group of, like, kids or whatever, and spins that orange thing on his finger like he does."

"I do spin them good," Rafe admitted.

"And boom, they're not looking, I take their collage. Maybe two."

Junior scritched at the stubble on his chin but ultimately shook his head. "We all love collages, Mia. I mean, just look at Tobes for Arceus' sake--he's making one out of the pictures on the screen!" A big ol' goofy grin from their beloved and unexpected boss. "Buuuuut Mr. Stone isn't signing another check until we get him a photo of something both Pokemon and Legendary, so my best advice is for us to hit the road."

Rafe raised a hand.

"Not with our fists."

The hand went down.

"So! With that in mind and spirits high...! YouhaveapproximatelytwohourstopackuntilVeronicatakesovertheofficesI'msosorry."

Spoiler! :
Credit to Lumi and Chibibo as well. It was a group effort.
That User Who Changed Their Name A Dozen Times And So No One Ever Knew Who They Were Half the Time and When They Did Only Used Bolt.

The tragic tale of losing all #Brand for nothing in return.

The Take Away Is You Probably Know Me As Bolt





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Caesar says...



Mia's Room, BLORP Labs 2A

When Mia was little, Sebastian, her butler, took her to Mt Pyre once. She was studying the area's typical "sober" fashion look. The mouth of the volcano was terrifying. It belched out ash by the ton. When the wind picked up, the ash would be dashed through the air like possessed murkrows, or some sort of claw, reaching out to grab her.

In her room at BLORP labs, Mia felt that memory very close to her. Except it wasn't ash, it was piles of stuff being hurled past her face. Her frantic search had already sent a 500 page baking manual flying and hey, her old utensils. The volcano had been less threatening.

Mia ransacked the room like a Sharpedo out for blood. No corner, no nook was spared from being disemboweled and thrown to the air. This was another situation in which having Sebastian would have been helpful, she thought. She still hadn't gotten the hang of ordering things since she left Lilycove. Apparently her keen sense for interior design did not help.

Aha! There it was. Somehow under the bed -- which was now on its side -- in a corner, buried beneath more books. From the mess, Mia extracted with the zeal of a surgeon, a crumpled, yellowing envelope, with elegant handwriting on the front.

She nodded, stood and surveyed the room. It looked as if something had used Earthquake in it. Veronica, Mia thought, will have to burn this place down if she wants to clean it. She stepped out of the room, grabbing her bag on the way out and stuffing the letter in it.

Outside was chaos.

"What are you even doing?" She yelled to Rafe on her way to the labs.

He was Mt Moon-walking his way across the hall, spinning around in circles with his luggage on his head, Drake right behind him with equally zany dance moves.

"Portability!"

Mia's reply was lost down the stairs. It most likely involved a variant of "your mom".

Image


BLORP Labs 1A


The labs were a haven of ascetism and order. The tiles were white, the lights crisp. Nothing infringed on the sanctity of science in this part of BLORP, as per the holy writ of Peppermint, the keeper of files. There was a powerful scent wafting through the air.

Mia hurried towards it, careful not to raise both feet at the same time, because that would be running, and running was forbidden in the place of science. Mint was at her desk. Besides her, there was a Pokeblock machine. Fumes were bubbling out the top. The tan-skinned girl was stirring its contents rather morosely.

"Peppermint!" Mia hissed. "Are you crazy, cooking at this time of day? You'll get my babies high!"

She pointed to her right. Mia's office space was a foot away, haphazardly separated by a curtain. There were more charts and books, but most obviously, two Pokemon eggs.

"These aren't drugs, you know," Mint replied. "Besides, I don't know that eggs work that way."

"Like you'd know. Anyway, why are you making Pokeblocks now? We have like," she looked at her watch, "an hour before we're kicked out."

"I won't be able to take the machine with me," Mint said, sadly. "And I don't want the others to run out on the journey, so I was trying to make some extras."

Mia sighed and hopped over to the Pokeblock machine. She produced a small spoon and tasted some of the soup. She frowned.

"The consistency's not quite right, and I think you'll need more spice..." she began, and continued as such.

The two girls bickered about for a while, back and forth. Berries were added, temperatures debated. This went on for some time, until they started hearing noises coming from outside. They were pouring the result into its molds when Toby's head appeared through the doorway.

It was presumably attached to a neck, which was presumably attached to a body, which likely was gesturing frantically.

"Girls, what are you doing?" he exclaimed. "Less baking, more backpacking! We're outside and waiting!"

"We're coming, intrepid leader," Mia said.

She wiped her hands on a stray towel and surveyed her handiwork. The two girls nodded at each other and started to set out.

"Wait," Mia said. "I'm taking this guy, too."

She moved to her desk and took one of the eggs, gently.

"I'm testing this guy to see if movement distance is tied to hatching eggs, and if types of movements affect it."

"What about the other one?"

"Given sunlight, he'll probably do his thing. It's a farewell gift for Veronica." Mia's smile was evil. "Come on, let's go."

Through the windows, Mia could see luggage drifting through the air, surrounded by a faint psychic sheen. She wondered if the Golduck was also doing dance moves.
vulgus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur







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Lumi says...



Littleroot Gates

"So really, it's easier than you may think, JR." Rafe clicked his tongue. His treecko ran up his arm, leg, and stood balancing on one foot on Rafe's own. Also worth noting: Rafe was walking on his hands. "It's not about being positively ripped. It's about finding your center of gravity."

Junior shrugged. He supposed Rafe could be right, but he was busy holding Rafe's shirt and shoes and bags--wait, that'd make a great joke. He cleared his throat. "My center of gravity, you see, is quite satisfied holding your sack--no wait."

"Try again for a penny, buddy?"

"Raffles," called Tobes from down the road, "it's generally unkind to goad your boss into sports!"

"Are you questioning my methods, Tobias Maximus?"

"Your abs look great from here!"

"Critique accepted!" He flipped down off his hands and sat cross-legged in the grass. "So, JR, this Stone guy. He's really willing to pay us to go myth hunting?"

"Hunting, busting. He just wants legends involved, really." Max looked around to check anyone around them--just Toby approaching with his backpack full of every camping supply known to man. "In all honesty, I researched into it almost immediately after Dad's funeral, and from what I could tell, it's more likely to take longer to find the Regi King than most of the others, just given mythical beast conditions." He raised a finger. "For instance, decades passed in Kanto and Johto when the populus thought every sparkly bird flying overhead was a progeny of one of the three legendary birds of Kanto. But then, just a few years ago, a team of kids even too young to employ here discovered the fabled Lugia." He shrugged. "Or at least, that's what has been explaining the erratic seafaring weather patterns in those countries."

"So your idea is that, since the country assumes the golems exist, we can assume they share a common ancestor."

"Just like the birds."

"I guess I'll be honest, too." Rafe took a swig of water from his canteen. "What I'm most excited about is getting to see the Pokeathalon in Slateport. I hear they have a contest for everything."

"OH!" Max snapped his fingers and suddenly glanced between Rafe and Toby, a bit sheepish. "I forgot to decide something very important!"

"If you mean whether or not you should wear that Alolan party shirt, the answer will always be no."

"Your words sting at first, but I'm sure they'll save me in the long run." Max shook his head. "What I haven't decided is who will be leading our team."

And to put it simply, the following correspondance took place for an amount of time unbefitting of a professional narrator:

Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:
Rafe:
Toby:

You get the picture. And so, by the time the crew had assembled at the town gate, our scene had changed drastically!

Image


"Tamale! Again!" With a roaring BUUUUUSK, the awkward teenage chicken charged forward into Treecko's territory. She had flames licking the tips of her feathers and spurting in awkward and uncontrolled whips about her. Treecko hopped out of the way, landed spritely on a nearby fence post, and winked to the combusken in a swagtastic way that only a treecko could manage.

"You got it, Drake. Give her some love taps. Let her know you care!"

Treecko glinted from his place on the fence post and shot across the field, pounding combusken in the belly on each pass. By then, Tamale had to have been feeling the pain, but Toby seemed just as confident and cocky as when they'd started.

"Tamale, if you would let Raffles see what his strategy won Drake?"

Combusken backflipped out of the field where Treecko staggered to a breathless halt. But that couldn't be right--Drake the Treecko was never breathless. He was on Team Rafe! But all the same, he knelt to the ground, clutching his pounding shoulder, which had a sick red burn covering the skin.

"This is exactly why you'd make a crap leader, Raffles. You were so confident that you let your partner run straight into something deadly."

Rafe growled. "And you were so confident that your plan would work that you let your partner take a beating!"

All eyes turned to Tamale, who had also dropped to her knees, albeit breathing less frantically. Toby's confidence cracked. He bit his lip and resisted the impulse to tend to combusken.

Rafe cracked much more easily as Max walked out of the peanut gallery to make a point. As treecko got a salve on his shoulder, Max looked between everyone present. "This is why I wanted to forget who was leading the team," he confessed. "This is how my dad would've handled things, and I already feel a knot in my stomach for letting it happen." He turned to Toby. "Tobes, I chose you when I decided on this mission because of your spirit." He shook his head. "But you're gonna need Rafael's help along the way. Same with me, same with Mia and Mint. Everyone--all of us--we're a team." He looked over to Rafe and treecko. "My dad, with his fascination with shoes and, I guess, by extension, feet, had a favored saying, yeah? 'We all tie our own shoes.'" He shook his head. "I disagree with that fundamentally. We all tie each other's shoes. Or maybe we don't wear shoes."

Mint and Mia, pokemon and pokeblocks in hand, cheered. "We can totally call it the flip flop philosophy! Alliteration!"

Toby, who'd given a potion to combusken, smiled, placed a hand on Rafe's shoulder, and nodded. "We're all the flippiest."

"And the floppiest!" added Mia.

The boys blushed. "Can we...not describe ourselves as floppy?"

Elex finally emerged from the apartment complex with what seemed like a leather jacket full of fruit roll-ups. Also, a dufflebag. "What'd I miss?"

Mia turned to greet him. "In order: our first argument, our first pokemon battle, and subsequently our first joke about peens."

Elex nodded. "Seems about right. What were they fighting over?"

"Team leadership. It's weird, though, because we've always acted like Toby leads us without assumption? But Rafe seemed to really want it."

A bite of a fruit snack. "That definitely won't come up again."

Mia smiled. "I'm sure it won't." A side-eye. "Now, you? I'm not so sure."

He scoffed. "Oh come ON. I'm the scout. In a non-headlong scenario, the scout can control team direction just by choosing a few words super carefully."

Mint chimed in over Mia's shoulder. "If that's the case, can you get us to Petalburg? I totally want to see an old friend of mine. She was supposed to come work for Birch this term, but got pretty sick when her family moved to the colder south."

"Consider it done." He walked out towards the guys and their pokemon. "So, fellas, I grabbed some last-minute notes that could be handy on our search, and while I know I originally said taking the boat to Mauville Road would be our best coarse of action, I think we'd benefit more from studying the climes in Petalburg Woods."

Toby scratched the stubble on his chin. "Howso?"

Elex grinned. "Friends, when you're tracking down myths, you HAVE to start in nature! The birds! The bees! The sticky web of it all..."

Rafe nodded. "He's got a point. Plus, I bet this would give you a chance to get that clock you've been wanting to buy me, yeah Tobes?"

Twitching, Toby deflated. "Yeah, Rafe. To Petalburg, I guess."

The team resounded in chorus: "TO PETALBURG, I GUESS!'
I am a forest fire and an ocean, and I will burn you just as much
as I will drown everything you have inside.
-Shinji Moon


I am the property of Rydia, please return me to her ship.





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reikann says...



Route 101

“Temperate zones such as west Hoenn have forgiving weather patterns that tend to accommodate a variety of fast-breeding flora and fauna.” In between heavy breaths, Mint huffed out what could have been snippets of a dry, academic essay. “The fauna in the zone designated as route 101 by the Hoennese government has been recorded to contain high levels of Wrumple, Poochyena, and Zigzagoon, as well as occasional sightings of Unovan species as a result of pets being-”

Squawk.

“- pets being released into the-“

Squawk.

“- intothewild.” The squawk came too late.

“HAH! Take that you arrogant hat!” Mint pumped a fist into the air, pride overtaking her shortness of breath. The cloud with a bird head glared, haughty, out through her voluminous fluff, and squawked again anyway.

“I don’t know; she looks dashing to me.” A few paces ahead, Mia smiled over her shoulder, eyebrows raised in a wry grin. She made sure to maintain her careful grip on the swaddled egg in her arms as she did.

“That’s ‘cause you’re a sucker for a cute face.” Mint grumbled. Her camera thumped against her chest with every heavy step. “Phoo. Are we there yet?”

“You know, you’d be less winded if you stopped your recitation of Encyclopedia Hoennicia’s article on Poochyena dung or whichever page you’re on now.”

“Thanks, but I’ve walked Bourke. That chapter is closed.”

Up ahead, Elex trailblazed, Toby and Rafe tossed banter back and forth like a game of catch, and Junior stuffed his face and picked up Bourke's poops while sweating a Hoenn's worth of water. The trail between Littleroot and Oldale, while a short one, wound around itself in an unmarked zigzag. Elex swore that he knew the path. Under his trenchcoat’s collar and poker face, his expression remained unreadable.

So the party trudged on, crunching twigs underfoot, sun beating overhead, heads only partly on the trail and mouths taking extra care to ensure they wouldn’t run into a single Zigzagoon. Whether it had been an hour or ten minutes Mint wasn’t sure, but she did know that all her childhood sprinting through desert sandstorms had nothing on this.

“Hey, back of the party, get in gear!” Max grumbled, taking the sun worse than Mint. He took a swig of water.

“I’m a hiker! Hiking is aerobic. This is,” break to breathe, “anerobic.”

Mia shook her head. “Calling it! Oy, intrepid leader, we need a pause.”

“Oh sweet mercy.” Mint dropped her backpack to the ground and her hands to her knees. When she looked up again, most of the party had regrouped.

“Need a hand?” Toby had reflated since his incident at the gates and his trademark warm smile was proof.

“Just a sec,” Mint held up one finger, indifferent to her Numel-hued face. “Just a breather. Pack’s a tad heavier than normal.”

“Why don’t you let me take your bag for a while?”

“You sure, Tob-o?” Mint leaned against a tree and wiped the back of her palm against the back of her neck. It came back sticky with sweat.

“Heck yes. Don’t worry about it. I am young and strong and full of vigor.”

Toby grabbed the backpack by a strap with full intent of swinging it over his shoulder with heroic resolve, but found his attempts repelled by the unfortunate fact that the backpack may as well been packed with solid bricks.

“Sweet Arceus, what do you have in here?” He groaned.

“Our baseline records. Simple, relevant machinery. All the Pokeblocks I could manage to make in our final two-hour spurt. Then all the blocks in my stash. Then all the blocks I hid in Mia’s room.”

“Hey!” A protest from the unaware offended. It was summarily ignored.

“Quite frankly, the volume turned out to be disheartening. See,” Mint unzipped a front pocket. Inside, plastic wrapped piles of colored bricks had settled in as close together as a Squirtle’s shell. She picked out a yellow one from the top of a stack. "Hardly an emergency stash."

“But… why?” Toby held out a hand in supplication and half-mock pain.

“They’re healthy, transportable, and have the best nutritional content to weight ratio of any snack food.” Mint worked a nail under the wrappings of the block in her hand. Siegfried chittered and shifted in anticipation. “The sour ones are best. But be careful of the red ones, they’re spicy.”

“I meant the mass. Just… why?”

“We needed extra.” Mint cracked the block in two, tucked one half into her fabulous hat, and popped the other one into her mouth.

“Hey, kiddos, check this out! One hand.” Rafe dangled Mint’s backpack in midair in, as promised, one hand. He flexed with the other arm. “Who’s the king of the forest now?”

Toby fired back. Rafe returned in kind. Et cetra, et cetra.

“Are we taking a break?” Elex’s form wondered from the near distance as he turned around to check on the party. Junior did not find this amusing.

"WE WERE ON A BREAK!!"

Image


Free from the burden of the backpack of bricks, Mint aimed her scope at a distant Wrumple. The video camera scope imprinted a ring around her eye. Click. Diet of birch leaves, she noted.

The rest of the party had, for the most part, resigned themselves to the temporary break. Junior and Elex had fallen to their own intense conversation off to the side, ergo, photo time.

Another Wrumple’s red popped through the leaf layer ahead, munching away to its little buggy heart’s content. Mint raised the eyepiece to her face and the scope to the leaf canopy again. The angle didn’t work.

She took a step back into a bush. The leaves complained in swishes and cracks and tried to shake off the intrusion, but to no avail. The angle still didn’t work, but it looked better.

The bird from the troposphere complained as well. She shifted uncomfortably. Mint paid her no heed; the environment took a back seat to work.

Just one more step and - Siegfried chittered an alarm, but it came too late – the ground gave away beneath Mint’s booted foot.

“What do you mean you’re ‘not exactly certain where we are’?” Junior was in the process of just barely not yelling at Elex when a stream of noise broke the relative calm.

The mixture of aggravated female voice and distressed Swablu screeching made for a familiar tune to the collective interns' ears.

“Son of a-” Squawk. ”- what the-” Squawk. “- is this-” Squawk. “- ridge I swear to-” Squawk. “- that when this-” Squawk. “- is through, ow, ow, that I will argh-"

Squawk, thump, thump.

Screech.





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sheysse says...



Route 101

Surprised at the sound of Mint's scream, everyone stopped what they were doing. Elex and Junior dropped their little argument which may have been more than a little argument. Toby and Rafe and Mia had jumped up, alarmed. Above them, Siegfried was flapping and squawking to get their attention, but the scream had done it well enough.

“Mint?!” Mia called to where Mint had been moments before. No answer.

Elex walked over with the others, curious and a bit worried. “Mint? You there?” He asked loudly. Still no answer. The group approached the bush nervously, worried for the worst.

Then Mint piped up “I'm okay!” Everyone let out a long breath of relief. “Well, sorta...” When they pushed aside the foliage of the bush, Mint was revealed to be standing head-high in a pit. There was a layer of snapped sticks and leaves which presumably where draped over the top before Mint came along.

Everyone helped Mint climb out, for the sides of the hole were tightly packed with mud, and it was next to impossible to be freed without assistance. “Why was there a Poketrap all the way out here?” Junior questioned. “The only thing you'll find out here is an over-abundance of Wurmples.”

“Maybe they're trying to find a certain Wurmple,” Elex said. “Perhaps the purple Wurmple.” Everyone stared at him for a long moment before the dirt-covered Mint suppressed a snort of laughter. “What?”

“You do realize the purple Wurmple is a myth, right?” Toby asked cautiously.

“This poacher clearly doesn't. Trust me, this thing is real. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Rafe jumped into the conversation, curious. “Really? When?!”

Elex looked away. “When I was five...”

Mint snorted again.

“Anyway... Back to the issue at hand,” Junior said, changing the subject. “Elex, you said you knew were we we're going... Now you say you don't?!”

“I know where we are in relation to Oldale, just not how far along we are on the path.”

“Oh, good. I was worried for a sec,” Junior sighed in relief.

Elex looked away again. “Well, probably.”

"Great, so we're lost. In the woods. And the sun is setting,” Mia complained.

“On the bright side... Um. Uh,” Rafe stuttered.

“We have Pokeblocks!” Mint said.

“Well, we need a shelter. Elex, get some sticks. Mia, Mint, leaves. Junior, make dinner,” Toby ordered.

“With what, exactly?” Junior asked.

“Find something. Pokeblocks won't hold me. Rafe, you're with me. Lets scout out the area.” And with that, everyone split up.

Image


Elex headed out to grab some sticks for a shelter. He trudged through the woods, angry that no one believed him about the Wurmple. He had seen it, but didn't have a pokeball to catch it. He kept moving, but his negative feelings only made him feel lonely. Pulling out a pokeball, he released Galla.

“Hey,” he said unenthusiastically. Galla let out a series of chirps and squeaks in response. “I know you hate having to work, but could you please cut up some sticks” Please? Night Slash?”

Galla shook his head before seating himself defiantly. Elex sighed in annoyance. “Fine. I'm sure Fly is more than willing to help me.” He opened another pokeball, and a Trappinch came out. “Fly, can you cut up some sticks with Slash, please?” Elex said, looking at Galla teasingly.

Fly immediately got to work, slashing up small trees and brush. In a few minutes, he had placed a stack of sticks. “Wow, Fly. What GREAT work you did,” he said, glancing at Galla. Galla, looking annoyed at being outdone, stood up. He teleported the undergrowth away to create a small clearing, then teleported the pile of sticks into a surprisingly well detailed structure, with enough room for everyone to sit up in.

“Thanks guys.” He returned them to their respectful pokeballs. He set out to go tell the others that Galla had set up a quite nice shelter. Wandering through the woods, he stumbled. Looking in front of him, he noticed he had tripped on some non level ground. It was unnatural, and squinting in the dark sunset, he realized it was a pit. Another pit.

More poachers? Usually, poachers didn't focus to hard on one area, because then they weren't likely to catch as much as if they hunted in a spread out area. Unless they were trying to find something specific to that area.

But what were they looking for? The purple Wurmple was a likely candidate, but Elex figured that he couldn't discover the answer alone. His best bet was to ask Toby, Rafe, Junior, Mint, and Mia. And so, he set off to do just that.





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Lumi says...



Oldale Foothills

Rafe stood behind Tamale, almost like her shadow as he guided her walking forward. "Remember to turn your legs inward, and to land on your full foot." Rafe demonstrated, teisting one of Tamle's tigh's in, and pushing down on both of her arched talons.

Tamale walked forward with dead focus, tuning out the group around her. Drake lept around them, a collection of his favorite sticks bundled around his back in a maskshift back-basket of flowers, leaes and his most favorite brannches.

"Now then." Rafe clapsed his hands, getting next to Toby. "What're we scouting for."

Toby shrugged. "Not really sure." He kept walking."Never spent much time in the woods before at night. I brought you cause you're like...you seem lke you camp."

Rafe scratched his head. "I feel like I'm being insulted, but the insult would be gibberish."

"Elex makes me feel like that all the time," Toby added. "But seriously, ehat should we be looking for?"

"Uh..." Rafe kicked at the dirt. His fists clenched. In Toby's eyes, a veritable Super Saiyan aura began to erupt around him as his frustration rose. "Toby...!" He grunted and slammed a fist into an unfortunate tree nearby, causing a small bend in the wood. "I can't hide it any longer." A long sigh. "I...am a camper."

Imagine a visible ". . ." above Toby's head. "This is your way of coming out of the closet, isn't it."

Rafe rose from his power-up stance and grinned wide. "You got it! So liberating! Now I see why you do it all the time!" A smack on the back and he led Toby down Treecko's samurai path. "What we want is high ground because the stormclouds overhead, if you'll look, those are nasty fuckers, so we want as little water dealing with us as possible. Big trees? Possible lightning! Bad for business." He etched a line in the dirt with his sneaker. "Humph. Lots of loamy soil. Make a note that mint can plant some berries for us to eat in the morning, but we definitely won't be pitching any tents around here" An elbow in Toby's ribs. "'cept you, right buddy?"

Toby cocked an eyebrow. "Did you just sacrifice your hypothetical erections for a joke about me being--"

"Fabulous!" Rafe screamed. "Look at this clearing! Even rock patterns, solid soil patterns, no foliage, no trees...actually." He turned to combusken. "Tamale, your form slipped a tad."

Combusken deflated and held her arms out for Rafe's adjustment. "I think what could help a bit is if you had a kickball for exercise for the left thigh's musculature."

"Or maybe some kind of brace." Toby tossed a busted capsule in the airr.

"Something real macho, right?" Rafe snorted. "I'll work on that when we reach a place with a working toilet. In the meantime, grab one of the kickballs from my backpack and start pumping it up. Tamale here is gonna get a fun workout."

Toby unzippled a pouch and dug through, furrowing his brow. "Are they in the boxers pouch or the swim trunks pouch?"

"Nah, the balls are in the sack under the sausage."

Treecko pirouetted onto Toby's hand and stabbed a stick into one of the vacuum-packed sausages, taking a bite for himself and then leaving the rest in Tobes' already-opened mouth before bouncing away to be the honorable end to more trees.

"Sho," Tobes began with a non-sponsor Slim Jim in his cheek, "the way I shee thingsh going," swallow, "after we hit Petalburg Forest and analyze the conditions there, our next strategic point of analysis would be Meteor Falls, right? Just north of Rustboro."

Rafe grunted in agreement, deep-squatting to match Tamale's height, shoes off and toes spread wide to try to emulate her talons. "Meteor Falls is a bad name for that place. I mean, it has meteors, it has waterfalls, but it's mostly hiking. Remember Hiker Carlos? He and I used to go there all the time before the mines shut down in Kalos." He sighed. "Now he's probably cart surfing without me."

Toby, pumping air into the kickball, suddenly realized the Carlos Rafe meant. "Wait. Carlos Juan Marco Rivera? Cloyster-Jaw Carlos?!"

Rafe rolled his eyes. "Sì, papà. Calmati."

"You went hiking with the twelfth man to break my heart. This has to violate a bylaw of the bro code."

Rafael straightened, cracking his shoulders back and forth. "Buddo, I didn't know it would hurt you or nothing. Carlos was a fun guy, and his sister's number was a bonus prize."

Image


Toby dropped the ball and grabbed Rafe by the shoulders. "You got a girl's number?!" He shook him. "Rafe! This is huge!"

His face flushed red, his head shook. "I never called her. She's outta my league. Like. You wouldn't believe, man."

Toby's grip softened and he slowly nodded. "I get it. But hey, Rafe, we'll get there. Oh, look! Tamale's hopping on one leg!"

Rafe jerked his head around, and--

Image


Toby dusted his hands off and placed them on his hips. "YOU ARE THE GODDAMN LEAGUE, RAFAEL MICHAELANGELO DONATELLO LEONARDO CANTALUPI."

Image


"What do you mean we weren't supposed to set up camp? Rafe nearly had a musical number about it! Drake's practically a master swordsmith at this point!"

Elex shrugged and poked a thumb over his shoulder towards the hill on the other side of the wide Oldale valley. "Better spot, higher ground, cut up in half your time. We can use this for a berry patch, though." He squinted. "Why is Rafe asleep?"

"Are you questioning our methods?"

"I'm questioning your sleep schedules."

"Maybe he decided to take a power nap. Exercise gurus do that." He paused. "...right?"

Elex slowly shrugged. "I...sure. Yes."

Toby nodded to Rafe's backpack. "He has a few tents in there. Try not to question their methods." Wink.

Elex grabbed the pack and, with a light laugh, trudged off into the valley. Toby immediately dropped to the ground and grabbed Rafe, pulling his face over to his. "Still up?"

"There's four Tobies."

"Yes, good. Be afraid of our ranks." He laid him back down and grabbed Rafe's phone and scrolled through until he found Jasmine Rivera, two whom he typed, channeling his inner Rafael:

I know it's been a while, but some friends and I are on our way to Petalburg soon, maybe Rustboro. Thought maybe I could treat you to some coffee, and definitely something sweet so I can see that wonder of a smile of yours. :)

Thinking of you,
Rafael


Oh, Toby was good at plans.
I am a forest fire and an ocean, and I will burn you just as much
as I will drown everything you have inside.
-Shinji Moon


I am the property of Rydia, please return me to her ship.





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cheeb says...



Oldale Valley River

It was peaceful where Junior sat, fishing rod in hand, Bourke by his side (not Bourking, of course, or else it wouldn't be peaceful you goon, how did you picture this scene good god). No fish were biting, but that was okay, because you know what was biting? Friendship?

"H-H-Hello," said a stammering young fellow behind Junior.
"Peacefulness averted," Junior sighed to himself. "Yes, hello?"

"I, uh. I dunno Rick--I mean. Shoot. I didn't mean to call you that it's just. The lab coat and I don't--"

"Wait a minute, are you Morty?"

"H-How'd you know my name Rick?"

Max stood up from the moist grass and brushed off his shorts (comfy and easy to wear, may their reign last forever), shrugged. "I dunno, Morty. Maybe because IT'S ON YOUR NAMETAG. Which begs the question: why did I feel the need to ask if it was your name? The answer to that is that I am a scientist! I take nothing at face-value! So, Morty!" He puffed out his chest like he'd seen Rafe do before. "...Whaddup boii?"

"Wha-uh-what was that?"

"I do apologise, young Morty. That was an experiment. I wanted to test my thesis of whether or not I could pull off that expression as perfectly as a colleague of mine. Evidently the results point to 'very much no'. Bourke, take note that the results were as such. Thank you for indulging me. Now, what can I help YOU with, my friend?"

"I'm uh well I want this wurmple and it's special and I've been dig-a-d-digging holes, Rick--I mean, uh. Doc? Rick. Iunno. Digging holes all day and no-a-n-no wurmple, Rick."

Junior grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved his forehead against Morty's. "Doc. Is one hundred. Percent. Acceptable." He relaxed his grip and breathed out. "Once again I must beg your pardon. I'm excitable about certain subjects. Now, your Wurmple issue. Have you tried looking in a can?"

"What? Uh... um, why would I - why would there be -"

"I seem to be getting a number of things wrong today, Morty. That was my attempt at a joke. Can of worms, you see? All right, I'll get a little more serious - just a little, mind you. You might have better luck finding a Wurmple if you search the grass rather than unearthing it, as that is the habitat they tend to prefer when that habitat hasn't been launched into the air with a shovel and landed in some poor fellow's frozen yoghurt."

Morty stood still and blinked very slowly. "Doc, di-uh-d-did I get di-d-dirt in your yoghurt?"

"Not at all, my good man, not at all. The yoghurt, you see, was theoretical. Much like gravity! Or my ability to deliver jokes."

Morty began to smile. "Heeeeeee huuuueeeee huehuehuehuehuehue!"

"Great Scott!" Junior exclaimed, "Is that an honest-to-Arceus laugh? And does it sound like a DUCK?! Bourke, take note: the results of the Birch-humour test need to be revised."

Bourke stamped his paw on a form with a "Bork!" and nosed it into Junior's bag.

"Morty! Your adventure awaits in the world of Pokemon!"

"OH MY GOD!" It was Mint!

"It has one eye!" Mia!

"One horn!"

"It's purple!"

Junior looked up from his rather quaint reference scene and sighed. "My supporting cast is calling. Morty, I think we should follow the--Morty?" He looked around. No Morty to be found.

"Moooorty?"

Buuuuurp.

"Screw it." He grabbed his bag and flip flops and started to trudge up the hill. They could eat Rafe's magic berries for dinner. They didn't need fish. But what if Morty had been an illusion? Delusion? Were they different things? "Bourke, take note..."
the user formerly known as chibibo





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reikann says...



Route 101, Offroad

"Aaalmost there..." Mint stretched out a trembling hand. The trembling business had nothing to do with fear, she would late claim, but rather because the branches she had chosen to use to climb were about the thickness of a bamboo pole, and unhappy about being laden with anything heavier than a Wurmple.

The once benign wind now shook the upper branches like an unusually mild hurricane.

The prumple offered no reaction.

--------

Down below, Elex and Mia were enjoying a pleasant conversation. Siegfried had taken up a perch on Elex's head in lieu of her standard position, on account of Elex being the taller of the two, and had fallen into uncharacteristic sulking.

"Deadly poisons don't exist here." Elex was saying, hands shoved comfortably into his trenchcoat.

"Sure they do. I bet you 5 P I can find one in this patch of grass here." Mia assured him, gesturing vaguely at the forest floor.

"Are you playing a semantics game? I smell a sematics game."

The sound of a crack of a tree branch supporting a heavier object than it had been intended to reached the milling populace.

------

"Just -- back---!" The wispy voices of grounded interns rang up from below. The words were hard to make out between the complaints of local wildlife and wind

"Go backwards?" Mint shouted back.

"Wurmple--- important!"

"The Wrumple's going backwards?" Had she had a pair of glasses or non-occupied hands to push them up with, she would have pushed those shiny glasses back up the bridge of her nose with an anime-style smart guy sheen. Unfortunately, she didn't, but said the bit anyway, clinging to the tree for dear life.

"No, no! See, standard Wrumple biology makes backwards climbing a physical impossibility."

The prumple didn't move. It may as well have been dead.

Mint tried to shift her weight away from the trunk of the tree to reach out a hand again.

The prumple shifted some in turn and she got her first look at the single eye of the mutant bug.

"Just... standard... biology..." Mint whispered to herself, trying not to think too hard about all the textbook illustrations, all of which included two mostly white eyes.

From down below: "It's purple!"

The prumple's single, beady black eye stared deep into the depths of Mint's soul. It was, indeed, undeniably, Purple. Non-standard biology. Mint swallowed, throat dry.
"O-okay, plan Climb the Tree needs a big red abort button, stat."

-------

Meanwhile, down below, Mia had handed Elex a reddish-pink berry from a nearby bush.

"See this one?"

"Yes?"

"Eat it and you will die."

Leaves fluttered down between them.

"I don't believe you."

"Try it and find out."

A sizable piece of firewood thumped down from the sky. Siegfried complained.

"Should we... do something?"

"Like what?"

Mint's sneakers appeared through the overgrowth, followed quickly by the rest of her. She grabbed Mia by the shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. Her hands shook.

"I-it's a regular Edward Rochester. That eye..." Mint shuddered.

Elex used the distraction to shake the (potentially) poisonous berry from his hand.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

Mint slowly turned her head to meet Elex's eyes, ojou ringlets framing her pale, stricken face like a Victorian gothic painting, if Victorian gothic painters considered disheveled biologists in hoodies high art.

"It's incredibly creepy."

"So... should we try to get it down for safety's sake, or head back to camp? If it's fine, all our sensitive materials are there, and I do have an egg." Mia tried to brush Mint's vicegrip off her coat to no avail.

"Camp, please. I'd like to get a fire going before it gets dark." Elex lifted the Swablu off his head and winced at the scrabbling fight she put up. "Here, your hat."

Siegfried clamped onto her proper pillow with a great deal of noise and fuss. Mint allowed Mia's shoulders free movement to calm the indignant animate cloud. Said cloud buried her head inside her wings and pouted. Mint took the opportunity to sling her field medic bag over a shoulder.

"Yes, camp. Let's do camp. I mean," Mint quickly amended, "the prumple was a little unsettling, but it is a shame to miss out on such a rare specimen." Mint spun around, rolling her shoulders backwards in a circle to relieve tension.

"Convenient." Elex noted, shrugging his own travel pack back on. "I think it felt the same way about you."

A purple shape had found a pillow as well in the form of Mint's open medic's bag. Its single horn glinted bone-white, its potentially poisonous berry leaked reddish-pink, and its oddly fuzzy body remained the promised purple.

"N'aw, the foghorn's fit must have startled it out of the tree." Mia's voice hovered on the edge of sarcasm, all too familiar with grumpy Swablu fits. "Though... how could a Wurmple move that fast?"

Feeling the budding notes of horror prick at the back of her neck, Mint slowly, slowly turned her head to look behind her.

A single, black, beady eye stared deep into her soul.

"Rochester." Mint whispered. Rochester continued chewing, oblivious and content. It caught her eye and took that as a cue to slink forward, out of the medic's bag and up into her hood - on the verge of the hood - against the heat of her skin.

"I think you caught it."

"But I don't want it." Mint whimpered.

Rochester the Prumple, nestled across the crook of her neck, all thousand legs and beady, unblinking eye, disagreed.





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Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:41 pm
sheysse says...



Route 101

Elex awoke to the sound of voices. They weren't the voices of his research team, and immediately curiosity got the better of him. He quietly crept out the door of the stick hut.

Nincadas' chirping was audible. It was rather windy, and the leaves rustled ominously. A full moon lit up the forest, and Elex carefully tread over twigs, Galla silently following. They approached a clearing as a loud snapping sound penetrated the dense foliage. Elex spun to the shelter as his awakened team came out, one by one, drowsy and tired. What sounding like a panicking Wurmple snapped them into consciousness, and they warily approached. The voices became understandable.

“We got it!”

“Finally!”

“Boss'll have to give us a pay raise now!”

There was apparently three. Elex nodded to the team, and they returned the gesture. Together, they hopped into the clearing and formed what looked like a Power Rangers stance. Elex stood beside them, looking disappointed. “What are you doing?”

Mint blatantly responded. “The formation we practiced.”

“He was out in the field that day!” Rafe exclaimed with understanding.

“Well, we had this whole formation arranged in case we encountered immoral criminals,” Toby started. “You're supposed to kneel in the front with your arms extended like airplane wings... There you go!” Reluctantly, Elex took position.

The poachers looked surprised. One spoke up. “Crap. Those were the guys we stole the Prumple from.”

“Really? They looked more dignified sleeping.”

“Idiots! No time for arguing! They're gonna take the Prumple back!”

Immediately the poachers snapped back to reality and bolted into the forest. The team chased after them with Toby in the lead. However, the undergrowth was thick, and eventually they lost the targets. They combed as much of the area as they could, but they grew tired.

Everyone sat down in the woods, looking dejected. “They got away with the Prumple...”

Toby looked at the pathetically depressed group. “And we're just going to let them get away with it? Are we just going to watch as they successfully trade the pokemon for money?”

Elex tilted his head curiously. “Do you have a plan to catch them?”

“Yes, actually.” He turned to Junior's Bourke. “Can you track their scent?”








Democracy! Bah! When I hear that word I reach for my feather Boa!
— Allen Ginsburg