they continue along their way. if julian was someone else, she might be enjoying their trek in the great outdoors, but mostly she's sweaty and sticky and wants to go home and play video games. it's a little while until they spot their next bit of wildlife, though it's not in view; instead, julian notices a stream of water that aims for a berry high in a tree, cutting it down with perfect precision. that must be a sobble, she thinks, flipping through the information in her mind.

if they follow the angle of the trajectory... there it is, scurrying towards the berry it just sliced from the tree! julian crouches down, approaching it cautiously. "h-hey, little guy," she coos. wait, is it a different color!? that isn't a normal sobble!

before she can look closer, the sobble flinches and scurries away. "wait!" she calls. she digs around in her bag until she finds some poffins, holding one out. "i have more food for you."

a breath passes. slowly, warily, the sobble once again approaches. it puts a hand out, touches the poffin, withdraws, then comes back. finally, it takes a bite out of the treat. its sad eyes light up. "yeah, there we go," julian coos. "if you come with me, there will be a lot more snacks like this." libra nearby seems to agree, communicating with the sobble in a way only a pokemon can.

once the sobble finishes eating the poffin, julian taps it with a pokeball. it's sucked up in a flash of light, and wobbles until it lays still.

[ catching sobble! ]

keeping her eyes peeled for pokemon means she's not keeping her eyes peeled for mud. there's a disgusting squelch as her shoe sinks into the moist ground, and julian immediately takes a step back, horrified. not her new converse...! making a face, she inspects the mud puddle. there's a blue fin poking out of the top of it, a fin which immediately rolls over to reveal a mudkip, basking in the muck.

it looks at julian curiously. "okay, bud, you do you, but i'm staying out of the dirt," they grumble. after a moment, the mudkip rolls over again, and julian goes back to their trek through the grass. this time they're watching their step, not wanting to ruin any more clothes.

[ passing on mudkip! ]

she'll never admit it when she's posing as heidi, but julian does not care for the outdoors. too many things can go wrong: she could have her wallet stolen, she could get attacked by a wild pokemon, someone could call her ugly, she could trip and skin her knee and ruin her nice new socks... maybe she worries too much, but HEY! it could all happen, right?

she's already got her salandit out. if she's gonna be a proper trainer, and eventually a gym leader, she's just gonna have to deal with the feeling of the long grass tickling her knees. it's the best way to find new pokemon, especially since she doesn't have the money or the guts to brave the black market.

"keep your eyes peeled, libra..."

it's only a moment after she finishes her random match that the invite pops up. "oh, there you are!" i was beginning to wonder if you'd chicken out, she thinks snidely. she hits accept, and they get sent into the character select screen. of course she selects gengar again-- this one with some cute accessories she'd won before pokken 7 had come out and she'd all but abandoned 6-- and is ready almost immediately.

in the meantime, since she's streaming, she chats idly. "yeah, pokken 6 definitely had a lot of advantages over 7," she says. "but i had to move on for a bit, at least, right? there was still plenty i needed to get in 7. i'm not really a completionist, but..." she squints at her chat, and laughs. "hey, yeah! let's see if we can get this guy to ragequit. should be easy!" there's a lot of ways to draw out an encounter in this game. sometimes she thinks the devs knew exactly what they were doing when they decided on some of the movesets. they had to tone it down in the sequel... maybe that's her opponent's problem with the new game?

the match starts. she starts out spamming lick, smirking behind her screen.

julian's too outraged to manage their usual stutter. "AN E-GIRL!?" their salandit looks back at them questioningly, now more confused than anything. julian folds their arms and turns away. "...it's true, but he shouldn't say it," they quote to themself. then they turn back to anton, scowling at him. "n-no, it's just... you, me, and-- and a whole bunch of..." lightning strikes again near her, and she can't help but let out another shriek, jumping.

she looks back at anton. an unknown factor, but she thinks she'll take the man over the lightning this time around. "f-fine... we'll..." now she can hardly get the words out. she rubs the hem of her sleeves between thumb and forefinger, looking down, unable to meet his gaze. "w-work... together..." julian mumbles, just barely audible. this is the worst! THE WORST! at least lightning won't treat me like a freak!

[ Anton Belov ]

one minute she's in civilization, the next minute she's... arceus even knows where. displaced, julian takes a step back, rubbing her eyes and pinching herself to make sure she's not dreaming. the surrealness of the situation gives her pause, at least until there's a bolt of lightning that strikes perilously close to her, and she shrieks and runs. where to, she doesn't know. except for the strikes of lightning that cause the electricity to flare up, the world is dark.

julian will just have to keep moving. terrified, they make their way through the valley, hugging themself tightly to try and keep calm. it doesn't work.

after a couple minutes of wandering, they see a dark shape closing in on them. instinctively, their hand grabs a pokeball at random and throws it out. "GO AWAY!" julian cries, not realizing it is, in fact, another lost human being in front of her. her salandit appears, arching its back and hissing at the intruder. "I-I'M WARNING YOU!"

[ Anton Belov ]
[ OUTFIT REFERENCE ]

taking w julian and Anton Belov !

julian is still panting, sweating under her mask. she wishes she could take it off, but... there's no way she can show her face now! even aside from how gross she probably looks, she doesn't want to run the risk of her real identity being connected to her online persona. she's just going to have to grin and bear it. "the-- the whole area is down--" she points out to him. "a bunch of porygon... running rampant. not just that one!"

but he's already taken off. julian groans and runs after him. "there's-- no way-- we're gonna catch it-- on foot!" they yell, gritting their teeth. "we should... set a trap! instead!" their mind is running through their encylopedic knowledge of pokemon, trying to figure out the possibilities. there has to be something that can lure a porygon in close... it doesn't eat, doesn't breathe, doesn't sleep... what is it, then?

a thought occurs. "i've got it!"

[ silverio delfino ]

posting now because i decided this long ago but kept forgetting

julian's voice claim would be miyuki sawashiro as touko fukawa (:

suddenly, something starts barking behind her, close at her heels. julian shrieks, stopping the chase in order to flinch and whirl around. "wh-wh-what!?" she's got a hand on her belt, ready to bring out a pokemon, but... the lycanroc doesn't appear to be aggressive. and not far behind it is who she presumes to be its trainer. did that porygon manage to piss them off too, somehow?

remembering her prey, julian turns again, just as the porygon disappears behind a corner. "HEY!" she starts off once more. the damn thing is just too fast... she's panting as she goes, until finally she comes to a complete stop, doubling over. "you-- you're trying to catch it too, right...?" she asks silverio, only able to speak so brazenly because of the mask hiding her face. god, this wig itches... "i saw it go... that way..." she points in the direction of the porygon's escape. i really need to work out more...

[ silverio delfino ]

it's been one hell of a day in this part of lilycove city. a horde of porygon escaped, causing issues with connectivity everywhere. the most notable victim is the lilycove department store, whose registers and pin pads are all down, leaving the employees with no way to satiate their customers. a certain streamer heard about it on the grapevine, since she lives just outside the affected area (thank god). this seems like a job for heidi hemlock! she thought to herself, just before grabbing her mask and the rest of her costume from the trunk in which they're stored.

once there, heidi immediately starts reporting. "gooood day everyone! it's your fav heidi hemlock, coming to you live from a disastrous internet outage in lilycove city! the culprit is a group of porygon running rampant-- but i should be safe while connected to my hot spot! i'll keep you posted from here while-- HEY!"

a porygon wanders past, and suddenly, the stream disconnects. julian stares slack-jawed behind the mask, before her temper flares. "GET BACK HERE!"

and so... she chases after it, in what's probably a first for everyone who sees her: a tiny girl in a morpeko mask, a black wig, and a go-pro camera strapped to her head, running after a porygon while shouting at it to slow down. as if things couldn't get any weirder around here...

[ silverio delfino ]

claiming with julian and silverio delfino !

defense, huh? none of her pokemon have particularly strong defenses-- yet. her mareanie will once it evolves, but for now, it's not particularly tough. this is probably for the best, then, since julian often finds herself relying more on all-out attack than on strategy. "y-yes, ma'am!" panicking, she gives a little salute. oh, that was soooo cringe... can't i just crawl in a hole and die?

julian has their pokemon line up. "let's start with... draco," they decide. "you just evolved, so you're not used to your own body yet..." the toxtricity lights up in response, giving her an annoyed look. teenagers, julian grumbles silently. not like i wasn't like that too...

the electric type moves away from the crowd, standing on the field, waiting for commands. he hasn't ever been in a serious battle before, so this oughta be interesting...

[ ana fell ]