Oscar received Howard's fantasy like a parent hearing out the dream of a child. Perhaps his expression of joy was a little patronizing, but he was just happy that Howard felt comfortable enough to share his inner thoughts with him. Oscar did not see it the same way though, and in the spirit of honesty he would make this known.

"Howard, your perspective is an absolute delight. This is anything but simple though! You and I are embarking upon an amazing journey. We are making the impossible possible, bending an alien ecosystem to our will! That's--fuckin' incredible! The scope of our project reaches beyond the prosaic needs of Rocket. We are making history!"

Oscar's look of wonder as he reflected upon the underlying grandeur of their endeavor mirrored Howard's--just for the opposite reason. Perhaps it was macabre to be elated by the subjugation of another world, but to Oscar it was everything. To prove that his ambitions of branching out to other worlds was possible, why it was a dream come true. He was a mad man with mad dreams, but at least he was very honest about it.

Howard's concerns would bring Oscar back down to earth, and the more experienced trainer would clap his hands together to give this dilemma some thought. "The problem is, castform can predict every weather condition except sandstorms. It's a peculiar imperfection in an otherwise perfect weather forecaster. Cloud nine might work, though these Ultra Sandstorms may be too powerful to completely negate. It can at the very least slow it down. We could possibly utilize other weather conditions to weaken a sandstorm, but something tells me that a Rain Dance or Sunny Day may make our lives harder."

Oscar looked to their base, which nearly had half of the walls up. "Of course if we're lucky, the base will be completed by the time a sandstorm comes around and we won't have to worry at all." Oscar turned back to Howard. "I don't have a psyduck, do you?"

@howard

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

5X Premium Gacha (Dragon Type) (750 PD)
1X Passho Berry (350 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

1100 PD

Oscar watched Howard work the hoe, more than a little glad to hear that their dream of forcing this wild world into submission was a true possibility. I mean, Oscar had been optimistic but the news that Howard dropped made him downright giddy! It would seem that it made Howard giddy too, as the admin would suddenly find himself laughing at random intervals.

Unaware of Howard's inner thoughts, Oscar would find himself laughing alongside him--just because other people laughing made him laugh. The two would exchange episodes of laughter as their pokemon worked tirelessly in the background. Their occasional pauses would be intercut with the sounds of welding and folding earth--before more laughter would occur.

Howard eventually commented that something was funny, causing Oscar to realize that he had in-fact been laughing at nothing. Blissfully unaware of what Howard might say, he finally thought to ask: "What's funny?"

howard slayte

Solid progress from Howard's farming initiative made Oscar beam. They had not succeeded in anything yet, but their hard work made Oscar optimistic. As he turned his attention back to construction, Oscar would find Rosco pounding in the last pile into the sand. With that it was time to build. Oscar put two fingers in his mouth and whistled, calling his three construction workers to him.

He had one last pokemon join the effort: his Xurkitree, Navitas. With all four pokemon gathered, Oscar would retrieve a personal bag he had brought and take out five construction helmets. "Safety first!" Oscar exclaimed as he handed a hat to each of his workers.

He kept the fifth hat for himself, securing it on his head as he gave instructions. "We have concrete slabs for floors. There are slots to put the walls in, and each wall has small holes for you to place in fitting pipes. Y'know, to keep everything sturdy! Make sure all of the walls are welded tight, we don't want any radiation leaking in. Same with the ceiling structure. Hop to it and good luck!" Oscar pumped up his fist, and his four pokemon imitated the gesture before running off to fulfill their duties.

Oscar meanwhile walked over to Howard to see what he had discovered with his sample garden. "What's the test site showing? Only good things I hope."

howard slayte

Oscar scratched his chin, his face squished by the weight of his concentration. Eventually he would speak, yelling over the noise coming from Howard's crew. "Move it to the left, like two feet!" Oscar's Conkeldurr, Rosco, nodded and grabbed ahold of the concrete pile he had just placed. Using his extraordinary strength, Rosco picked up the massive pillar of concrete and smashed it down two feet to the left of its original position. The concrete had been mixed by Rosco himself, so it was extra sturdy and extra heavy.

Oscar observed for a moment, tilting his head from one side of the other before giving Rosco a thumbs up. "Alright get these bad boys into the ground!" Rosco once again nodded, jumping into the air to smash down the pile he had relocated into the sand with Hammer Arm. This was just one of thirty two piles, all lined up in columns of four. Once pounded in, they would serve as the foundation of Oscar and Howard's first Ultra Desert base!

Meanwhile, the parts that would serve as the building itself were being organized by Oscar's Kommo-o and Genesect Prime. Kommo-o did all of the heavy lifting while Genesect used its superior intellect to keep everything stayed orderly. The building's walls, which were made from melted down steel type pokemon, had just been sorted by size. Oscar nodded at their progress, content by the work of his hard working pokemon.

By then Howard would call for an update, which Oscar would happily provide. "We are finishing the foundation, should be able to start on the actual building within an hour! How's the agriculture!?"

Prompt
17 begin building a base camp/settlement of some kind.

howard slayte

SIGN-UP

Participating Character: oscar clayton[break]
Wishlist: Paldea bugs, BELLIBOLT, I'm not picky whatever you got <3[break]
Are you willing to be a back-up Santa?: Sure thing![break]

mint frost would very quickly sense the presence of someone behind him. Oscar had sneaked his way into the booth and was currently looking over Mint's shoulder. As he took in his Plus One's DJ setup, Oscar's brow would furrow. "Hey I could have sworn some of this stuff was in the junk heap, did you dumpster dive without me?"

Oscar propped himself against the wall behind Mint, taking in the party from the DJ's point of view. It was crazy how well everything was set up, a potluck of Rocket's resources turned into a wild company party. Beautiful in a way, kinda funny in another. Oscar himself provided Casino Starlight with some extra power to take the load off of Yumi Hasegawa , just do not ask how many pokemon had to die to make it happen.

For now Oscar was content with watching the party from afar, hanging out with 'DJ Minty Fresh' will be enough entertainment for the first hour or so. Oscar had made a beeline for the DJ booth, entrusting Genesect Prime to handle delivering Oscar's Gold Pokeball to its place under the tree. The Genesect would then march its way through the party, having instructions to grab drinks for Oscar and Mint. It would only stop to wave at familiar faces, such as priam conrad and Lulu Flint .

Genesect grabbed a taro boba and matcha tea, expertly balancing the beverages on its triangular claws. It made its way to the DJ booth without hindrance, keeping to the outer rim of the festivities to avoid and pranksters that it would have to vaporize. Upon reaching the booth Oscar would walk over and grab the drinks. "Thanks Prime. Go enjoy yourself for a bit." Prime waved at Mint before wandering off in a random direction, not sure how to 'enjoy itself' just yet.

Oscar placed Mint's matcha tea safely away from his equipment and took his place back at the wall. "Hey give me a rundown of your set mister DJ."

tl;dr
--Oscar is hanging out with Mint in the dj booth.
--Genesect Prime put Oscar's present under the tree and is doing funny robot things.
--Oscar's outfit is the same as his Hover Art.

Disclaimer: No actual depictions of suicide are present within this story. Trigger warning for violence.

Oscar had fallen asleep at his desk again. It was a bad habit, but when you had as much as he did to get done there was little time to lounge around his apartment anymore. Did he still have an apartment? Now that I mention it I do not believe Oscar has visited his loft since returning to Hoenn. I cannot say I blame him, everything of value was at his office now. His life was at the office.

Fitting then that the most significant occurrence of the year should take place within his office, during an otherwise ordinary night's sleep. Oscar would be awakened with a start as a goth twink and his unknown magically appeared out of thin air. Oscar's tired mind struggled to comprehend what was happening, only connecting the dots when his mysterious visitor opened a portal to an unknown point in time. Pushing through his brain fog, Oscar recognized the man to be none other than Father Winter--the second presumably--to whom Oscar had recently sent a letter.

Realizing that he was being offered yet another life-changing adventure, Oscar would abruptly leap over his desk to dive into the portal. He knew not where it would end up, but that did not matter much as long as he experienced something worthwhile. As he broke the threshold of the portal, Oscar would begin free falling down the thruway of time. As he tumbled and tossed against every twist of the road, Oscar would cackle maniacally. His excitement could not have been more palpable; who knew what amazing adventure would await him?

Oscar came upon another portal, and he would screech with delight as he flew through its welcoming embrace. He launched out onto a rocky surface, rolling like a stray barrel. His childish giggling contrasted the rather rough nature of his landing. He skid to a face down stop, and wasted no time jumping to his feet. Ignoring the pain in his joints, Oscar brushed off the dust on his suit and adjusted his tie. With his hands on his hips, he would let out a content sigh as the guessing game of where he ended up began.

This mystery was not hard to solve, as Oscar was looking upon the closest thing to Hell that he has ever witnessed. Oscar stood high upon the rim of the Sootopolis crater, which had been completely drained of water. In fact, as he took a 360 degree examination of his surroundings, Oscar would find the entire ocean to be absent. In its place would be countless crags and valleys normally hidden by Hoenn's crystal blue waves. Across what was once the ocean floor, countless armies of trainers were engaged in battle with titanic pokemon. The glowing red auras of these behemoths were unmistakable: these pokemon were dynamaxed.

Oscar turned back toward the city, or what was left of it based on his observations. Sootopolis was now ninety percent Power Spot, with an array of bright red beams splitting through shattered buildings and the splintered rock of the crater. The bodies of pokemon and human alike lined the ruins, most of which were being feasted upon by feral megalopolans. Overlooking it all was a twisting black cloud that stretched as far as the eye could see. Within its center sat one last red light, casting a crimson aura across the entire apocalyptic scene. Oscar pushed air through his teeth, this was a lot more of a bummer than he was expecting.

Considering the fact that Sootopolis was not, nor as it ever been, a devastated hellscape--it was not hard to guess that Oscar was currently in the future. Hopefully the very far future--but for some reason he did not believe he would be that lucky. This particular environment was not exactly appealing for exploration, but there was one thing that caught Oscar's interest. A massive tower that for sure has never been seen near Sootopolis was looming over the city. It was hard to miss, but for some reason Oscar did not really take it in until he realized that everywhere else around him was a shit-show. The tower looked vaguely familiar--and then it looked extremely familiar. It bore a resemblance to one of the Megalopolan Towers that he had seen within Ultra Space--specifically the one Oscar saw within that alternate Hoenn during his first Father Winter excursion.

This one, however, did not have the bright light to emulate sunshine. It was just black, with smaller red lights dotting the exterior. Was this--no it couldn't be. Oscar was just theorizing--does he actually build it? The tower had captured Oscar's interest, so he determined that it would be his first stop on this nightmare tour. Oscar pulled Genesect's pure red ball off of his belt, but before he could open it a guttural growl from behind him would catch the former beast off guard.

A megalopolan had sneaked up behind him, and managed to get close enough to make a leap onto Oscar. By the time he turned to face his hunter, Oscar had no time to move out of the way. Oscar cried out as he was pushed to the ground, Genesect's ball rolling out of his hand and just out of reach. Oscar propped his arms up to keep his assailant off of him, its ghastly appearance ringing home how unfamiliar this future was. This Megalopolan's armor was falling apart, and it looked like it had not eaten in an age. Its teeth were bloody and gnarled, and its blue skin was now a distressing grey. To top it off it seemed almost rabid, desperately gnashing its teeth like a wild animal. It took all of Oscar's energy to keep it at bay, but even then the creature's superior strength was slowly wearing Oscar down. Death seemed imminent, and Oscar would cry out as his demise drew near.

Suddenly there was a bright flash from behind the creature. A massive blue form smashed into the Megalopolan, sending it flailing back into the crater. Oscar looked upon his savior, breathing heavily as he slowly sat up. He could not believe his eyes, but the truth was right in front of him. Dialga, the time incarnate itself, stood proudly before Oscar. Did--did Father Winter come to save him? He had said that he needed Oscar alive, but Oscar had never taken him to be the intervening sort.

Dialga did in fact have a rider, but it was not Father Winter. It was an old man in a winter coat, a scarf hanging loosely around his neck, and a pair of spectacles sitting on the rim of his nose. He had long matted white hair and a well kept beard, as well as tired red eyes that were currently glaring at Oscar.

Dialga knelt down, allowing the old man to slide off of its back. He landed on bent knees before slowly rising and walking toward the still prone Oscar. Oscar's mind was screaming for him to run, yet he remained frozen as the old man approached. Even as the old man drew close enough to look down upon the vulnerable rogue, Oscar would do and say nothing. The two stared at each other for a moment, and the old man would make the first move.

He pulled a familiar cigarette case from out of his coat, and popped it open to reveal an array of lollipops. He squatted down and aimed the cigarette case toward Oscar.

"Lollipop?"

Well this round did not go as planned. Oscar was not deterred though, he made a promise to the judges he would win and he intended to make good on it. Oscar returned to his work station and began brainstorming on what to make next.

While he was thinking, Boris brought him a bag of tomatoes. Oscar looked between the bag and Boris, shaking his head after a moment. "Pretty sure tomatoes are fruit my man. They won't cut it." Boris looked down, disappointed that his favorite food would not be featured today. Unable to handle Boris's sad 'puppy eyes', Oscar would groan. "Alright fine. We'll give it a shot."

Boris let out a happy roar, and went off to clean the blender. Oscar turned away from the counter to choose a fitting tea. Perhaps another black tea? He grabbed a few jars and turned back to the counter.

His eyes locked onto an eevee, just in time to watch it finish eating his Tomatoes. Oscar leered, expressionless as the eevee hopped away as if nothing happened. Oscar silently watched the eevee return to its master: Tempest Quinn. Oscar stared at Temp, who he had considered his friend. His ally. His bud. He would pay for this negligence. Not today of course--but soon.

When Boris looked back and realized what had happened, it let loose a furious hiss toward the unassuming eevee. Oscar touched his shoulder to calm him down. "Don't sweat it Boris. I prefer sweet flavors anyway." Oscar turned to the ingredient shelf and chose a new vegetable: a pumpkin.

Boris ripped open the pumpkin with his claws, perhaps taking some of his anger out upon the gourd. Oscar scooped out the seeds and then as much pumpkin 'meat' as he could. He put the guts into the blender and began brewing his next tea: a black tea with ginger, cardamon, nutmeg, and cinnamon. He was aiming to recreate the flavor of a chai tea.

He added some milk and tea to the blender, mixing the concoction while adding tapioca balls to an empty cup. Oscar poured the mixture into the cup and quickly took the beverage to the judges' table. He set it before them and introduced it with his hands folded. "I've made a pumpkin spice boba tea. I hope it satisfies."

jZXSGGFc

Oscar's eyes lit up as Zev prepared to assault the crystals. He had been curious about the powers of Necrozma's chosen, and getting to see them in person was going to be wild! Oscar giggled as Zev's transformation proceeded, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. His excitement was broken as he almost instinctively looked back to the Absol. Huge mistake, the whole occasion would be ruined for him.

The absol was leering more intensely now, as if also anticipating Zev's display of power. Oscar's stomach sunk as he looked between Zev and the absol, suddenly connecting some very concerning dots. As Zev prepared to strike the crystals, Oscar would be able to manage a "Uhhhhh--" but would not be able to stop Zev's strike. And what a strike it was, the impact caused a spark so intense that Oscar flinched as if hiding from an explosion. Yet as the resonating clang and lights died down, Oscar would realize that he was fine. He slowly recovered from his flinch, looking at his in-tact body before looking to the crystals.

Of course they were barely scratched, that lined up with their current string of luck. Oscar let out a heavy sigh, dumbfounded by the resilience of the tera crystals. "Well that isn't what I was hoping for at all." Oscar suddenly remembered the absol, and quickly looked to it to see how it would react. As he turned his gaze upward, he would only catch its behind fleeing behind the rocks of the crater's edge. Oscar smirked, it would seem that the absol had been mistaken.

Oscar was so busy feeling smug about the absol's apparent folly that he did not notice the nearby sea becoming unusually volatile...

Zev Harcourt

ADVENT CALENDAR 2023

hollow's tracker

DAY 1: POKEBALL — 3X Pokeballs to oscar clayton
DAY 2: ?? — item to @tag
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DAY 25: ?? — item to @tag

Oscar jumped a little when a masked man addressed him by name. Oscar had not seen the man glide onto the rooftop, which made his sudden appearance rather shocking. The former beast would recover almost instantaneously, as this guy was either Shred Zeppelin or a freelance street vigilante. Either possibility was great in Oscar's book, but he chose to believe that this was Shred. His dreams of being a arch-nemesis to a masked hero would have to wait.

Oscar grinned, nodding as he took a pure red pokeball off of his belt. "That's me, and you must be Shred. Fuckin' delighted to meet you. I'd shake your hand but we got better things to do than follow bullshit social conventions." Oscar opened his pokeball to release Genesect Prime, his faithful sidekick. The cyborg jumped to attention, waving at Oscar and then to Shred. Oscar waved back before walking toward the stairway access door on the other side of the roof.

"Remind me what we could expect from security Prime." Prime trotted up to walk alongside its master, letting out a serious of melodic beeps in an attempt to communicate. The duo had been working together to form some sort of 'language' that would allow them to converse--unfortunately with mixed results. Oscar nodded when Genesect was finished. "Just as I thought, this is gonna be easy as pie. Practically a walk in the park." Genesect paused, as what its master claimed was the opposite of what it had tried to report. Oh well, maybe its master knew something it did not.

Oscar made it too the stairway access door and waited until Shred and Prime caught up. He folded his arms confidentially, "This is a pretty cut and dry job. Get in, go to the sixth floor, grab the generator core, get out. Simple and clean. Should take less than an hour. There's security but as long as we move carefully they shouldn't be a problem. Any questions? No? Awesome." Oscar turned and grabbed the doorknob, "Let's do this gang." He opened the door...

--One Hour Later--

Oscar awoke with a start, his head thumping like a metronome set to 125BPM. He swung his head in a panic, having no idea where he was or what was happening. His grogginess was forced into submission by the sound of an explosion, which caused him to spring upright with absolute clarity. He was in the backseat of a truck, looking down on the floor he would notice that they had successfully obtained the generator core. It was a heavy looking ring with several ridges along the sides, yet it had a sheen that exemplified its unique power.

Oscar leered at it for a second before another explosion pulled his attention. Oscar eyes darted to the rear view mirror. Through it he saw that Shred was the driver of this truck, and Genesect was sitting in the passenger seat. Every once in a while Genesect would let out a few beeps before sticking its head out of the window, firing off a series of Magnet Bombs. Were those the source of the explosions?

Oscar finally got the urge to look through the back window, and only now did he see how fucked they were. They were being pursued by an army of voltorb, rolling down the road like a red and white tidal wave. Genesect's magnet bombs would land in the center of their mob, causing a good number of them to Explode, but the spherical hoard would just dash through the smoke and keep up the chase. Oscar smacked his head as he tried to remember what happened. Unable to do so, he finally verbalized his confusion.

"What the fuck happened?"

Shred