The Start of Something New! [COMPLETE]

[Kat]

John wasn’t quite sure if this was the GREATEST BIRTHDAY EVER, or the LAMEST BIRTHDAY EVER. On one hand, Dad had really outdone himself in terms of utterly shitty cakes this year. The house was full of them! You could barely move for cakes. And they were covered in blue frosting, too. If he thought using blue icing was going to make the damn things any more appealing, he could think again.

He liked cake, honestly! But there was simply only so much you could eat before it all began to get a bit much. And this had been going on years now. Ugh.

Still, Dad had made certain he packed fourteen cakes in his luggage before he departed from the house. Fourteen! Maybe he’d share some of it with his buddies once he met up with them. Jane probably wouldn’t need it, of course. He could already see his dear cousin in his mind’s eye, utterly bogged down in cake. Though she’d be slightly less horrified by the whole ordeal.

But yeah, shitty cake shenanigans aside, he’d got the SWEETEST birthday loot. The Magic Mike poster went straight onto his McMonaughey wall, naturally. He got an awesome new travelling bag too, (currently filled with gross blue cake). Most importantly. Most importantly, he’d received his very first Pokémon. She came from the local lab, apparently. And she was a total darling.

Her yellow colouring, slightly shy demeanour and all around adorable-ness instantly reminded John of Casey Poe, Nic Cage’s charming daughter in the movie Con Air. Possibly his favourite movies ever, maybe tied with Armageddon. Anyway, the point was, he had christened the charmander “The Beautiful and Innocent Casey Poe, Daughter of Nic Cage”. Or just Casey, for short.

John was currently putting on his most stylish yellow shoes, whilst his Dad stood by the doorway.

“Are you sure you’re ready? Did you pack everything?”

“Oh my God, Dad, I told you like a million times. Yes! Can I leave, already? I’ve got a POKEMON QUEST to get on with, you know. All those Pokémon aren’t going to catch themselves!”

But a part of him was, well kind of worried. He was going be all on his own, and that was pretty scary! He gave his Dad a quick hug, its intensity obvious despite its briefness. He hadn’t actually hugged Dad in a long time. Now this was the last chance he’d have to do it.

“Take care, son. I’m so proud of you.”

Any other time John would have rolled his eyes, but his words had a sort of effect on him today. He nodded, swallowing back the lump in his throat, and headed out of the house.

He took a moment to compose himself before he knocked on Karkat’s door. Couldn’t have his awesomest troll buddy see him getting all emotional, that was all kinds of lame. Besides, he needed to take the time out to let dear, sweet Casey out of her ball. Honestly, Casey was the most precious thing he had ever laid eyes on, and he was already feeling a sort of fatherly protectiveness towards her. Nobody would be harming his little girl, especially whatever crappy little Pokémon Karkat had obtained.

God, he hoped it was a Magikarp.

He rolled up to Karkat’s “hive” (what a dumb word, honestly!) with the charmander cradled in his arms and gave a loud knock. Several loud knocks. John’s signature knock was to the tune of his second favourite Aerosmith song, not that anyone knew this. Well, not the “tune”. The rhythm? The point was, he was totally knocking “Love in an Elevator”. Hahahaha.

“Oi, assbutt!” he yelled up, when his friend didn’t respond immediately, “get your ass down here, we’ve got adventuring to do! And we’re supposed to be meeting Jade in like, five minutes.” It wasn't as if John was ever the most punctual person, but that didn't stop Karkat's slow response being annoying as hell.

[vena]

Well, today was the day. April Thirteenth, a day which was usually associated with his obnoxious next door neighbor's stupid human birthday. He was turning...fourteen this year? The human calendar was stupid, what with its months and years. What about the perigees? The sweeps? Of course the humans wouldn't understand the troll's complex and vastly superior methods, this was to be expected. Some had trouble understanding basic things like the quadrants, how could they be expected to pick up on their calendar? No, we’re getting completely off-topic here!

It was April Thirteenth, and it was more than just John Egbert’s birthday this year. It was the day he would begin making a name for himself. It was the day that he, Karkat Vantas, would take the first steps on his Pokémon journey and his first real journey into the world.

Of course, he’d be traveling with John. Why had he agreed to do this again? Right, because the other had pestered him nonstop until he’d agreed. Speaking of the birthday boy, where was he? Karkat pushed himself up from his husktop and crossed his respiteblock, glancing out the window. No sign of the idiot yet. What was he doing? They had a schedule to keep!

“We’re supposed to be meeting Harley before we leave! Where the hell is that bulge licker?” he grumbled, his mood taking a turn for the foul. Not that it wasn’t there a lot anyways. “Probably getting stuffed with enormous amounts of his guardian’s pastries. He better hurry the fuck up.” He crossed the room again, picking his pack up to glance inside.

Empty pokéballs, a potion, and some food, of course. Oh, and a terribly wrapped gift. He didn't even know why he was bothering with that. He closed the pack again and picked up the pokéball next to it. In it was his very first Pokémon, a Krabby. Or Will Smith, as he liked to call him. He reminded him a bit of his lusus, and was certain to be better than any Pokémon that John was getting. No use keeping him cooped up, right? He was planning on gloating about just how much better Will would be than John’s, and even Jade’s starters would be.

He fiddled with the ball, pressing the button and taking a slight step back as the Krabby appeared before him. “Okay Will Smith, we’ve got this. Once Egbert gets here, we’re going to show him just how much better you are than his lame-ass Pokémon, okay?” he encouraged, the crab looking up as he spoke. He hadn’t gotten any real time to get to know him, but he had no doubts he wouldn’t act out against his trainer. He wouldn't, right? Pokémon didn't do that to their owners. There was a knock at the door and Karkat nearly lept out of his new shoes (They were supposed to help you run faster or some bullshit like that. How the hell did fashion accessories help with that, anyways?). Will Smith seemed to get a bit agitated too, making a beeline for his door.

“Wait wait hold on a sec-” he didn't even finish his command before the Krabby scuttled across the floor and sidestepped right out of his respiteblock. Maybe he should have closed the door. He cursed under his breath as he swung his pack on and followed. He could hear John's voice shouting at him through the door and he groaned. He was going to lecture him about being slow?
“Just hold your fucking hoofbeasts Egbert, I'll be there in a second!” he shouted back, reaching down to snatch Will Smith off the floor so he wouldn't have a chance to scuttle away. Will didn't appear to take to kindly to this. One of his pincers snapped down on his hand, and it took an enormous effort not to burst an inflating air sac with a shout. He clapped his free hand over his mouth to muffle his pain, swinging his other about to shake him loose. No dice. He couldn't answer the door like this, could he?

Not like he had much of a choice. He carefully tread the rest of the way over, swinging the door open with as much force as he could muster. “It's about time you showed up, phlegm muncher! I have been waiting here with as much patience as I could muster. What have you been doing?” he greeted through clenched teeth, giving his arm another absentminded shake. Nope, looked like Will Smith wasn't ready to let go just yet. Wait a second, what was that John was holding?

Shit, looked like he'd gotten a Charmander. A weird Charmander, no less. what was up with its skin tone? Ah, that was beside the point. Charmander was a fire type, and Krabby was a water type. Advantage, Vantas.

“So you got a weird Charmander. Am I supposed to be impressed by this? Fat fucking chance. Not when I have him,” he bragged, holding up the arm that Will Smith was dangling off of. It still hurt really bad, and there may or may not have been tears of pain skirting the edges of his optic holes, but he was going to display his champion proudly. There was no way that thing could beat Will in a fight, not if his pincers felt like this anyways. “Oh, and happy birthday I guess. Whatever.”

[Kat]

'Hold your hoofbeasts' was a hilarious expression. John didn’t care how much he’d heard it growing up, troll vocabulary never ceased to be hilarious! Why did trolls have such stupid words for things? Sometimes he thought they were just going out of their way to sound all silly and alien. Woah, hold on, cultural sensitivity! Hahaha, like he gave a crap.

And wow, there was the door swinging open. And Karkat standing in the doorway, looking like a total idiot. Like, Karkat always look pretty dumb, but today! Today he had a Krabby attached to his arm. Looked pretty painful, too. Poor, poor Karkat.

Not that that stopped John from bursting into a fit of giggles after staring at him for a few moments. “Oh dude. Dude. You got a Krabby? How appropriate! Karcrab and his Krabby. A crabby Pokémon for a crabby trainer. Karkrabby.” He took a moment to compose himself, taking a few deep breaths. (This just made him laugh more at first; the process took some time.) “It doesn’t seem to like you much, though. What did you do to it? Make it watch 50 First Dates?” He eyed Karkat with mock-suspicion. After all, what Pokémon attacked their trainer like that? Karkat was clearly going to be a totally shitty trainer, hated by all his Pokémon. That much was obvious!

“Anyway Karkat, calm your bulge. I’m only a few minutes late. I was just getting properly acquainted with Casey here.” He gave Casey a pat on the head, whilst she seemed to be watching his troll buddy and his Pokémon warily. Not that he blamed her. Karkat was a pretty intimidating dude. Hmmm, she was a fire type, if the fire on her tail was anything to go by. Dang, she was probably weak against his Krabby, in that case. Bluh. Maybe she could win anyway? His Krabby didn’t look so tough! Not that getting into a battle was the priority right now. They still had to meet Jade!

“What’s weird about her, anyway? I’m not saying you should be impressed with her or anything, even though you totally should be due to the fact that she’s adorable, but I think I’d rather have this nice friendly little Charmander than a Krabby that kept pinching my arm. Ouch! Not really something to boast about, dude! Did you give him a name, by the way? I have some great nicknames lined up if you’re stuck for ideas.”

He wondered briefly if he should try and actually help in some way. Maybe try to prize the Krabby off him? He probably could. But the question was, did he want to? Nope. Because a) Karkat looked hilarious, and John wanted to prolong the hilarity for as long as possible, b) helping would mean putting Casey down, and he sort of liked holding onto her, and c) he might latch onto him instead and no way did John want that.

It took a few seconds for John to register that Karkat had actually wished him a happy birthday. With the attitude the troll had shown him yesterday, he almost hadn’t expected it! He’d even said ‘birthday’ instead of ‘wriggling day’, which was pretty considerate. It was a hell of a lot more than John ever did, at any rate. Haha, oops. Well, it wasn’t his fault troll words were so dumb. “Aww, thanks Karkat. Now, where’s my present?”

John was wasting no time in getting down to business. Like wishes were going to suffice here. He wanted the biggest and best possible birthday gift. Jk, he wasn’t really expecting anything. Maybe a card with ‘FUCK YOU.’ written in it. That was usually par for the course with Karkat. Asking for a present was probably asking too much, but if the question made Karkat uncomfortable, he totally won.

[vena]

Oh boy, and the ridicule was already beginning. He knew he should have taken that extra minute to pry the crab off before answering the door! He decided to do it now instead. He began prying at the claw with his free hand, but the Krabby's grip was strong indeed. It'd take a bit of effort to get him off. “Oh Ha. Ha. Ha,” he grated, mock laughing between his teeth as he continued trying to pry Will off, “you're such a funny guy! Ha ha ha! Wow, I can't seem to stop laughing! Karkrabby? Haven't heard that one before!” the effect of his sarcasm was probably being lost being hissed through clenched fangs.

“No, I didn't make him watch it, and if I had he probably would have latched on to you instead! He can probably tell just be looking at you just how shitty your taste in cinematic entertainment is,” he continued, sighing loudly with relief as he finally pried Will Smith's claw off. He carefully set him on the ground, relieved when he didn't just scuttle away. He sat there giving Karkat a stare, and it unnerved him a little when he couldn't tell if it was friendly or threatening.

“My bulge is completely calm, John! It was my think pan that was throbbing in pain at your complete inadequacy to keep to a schedule! If you're late now, we're just going to keep getting later and later! Just don't make this a habit or I just might have to bludgeon your stupid fucking face in with my new shoes.” He took another gander at the Charmander, rolling his eyes as John was going on about how cute she was.

“What's weird about her? Was your head up your ass in school or something? I'm pretty damn sure Charmanders are supposed to be orange. Does "Casey"'s skin look orange to you? I wasn't aware you were color blind too.” He gave a chickle before continuing, “And Casey? Is that really what you named her? I really shouldn't be surprised by this shit anymore, of course you'd name her after a character in one of your shittastic films.” Like he was one to talk. Will Smith? At least his was named after the human equivalent of his role model and not the daughter of a rough and tumble Nic Cage character with a 'heart of gold' or some shit like that. It was a dumb movie, one he could expect someone like John to like. He certainly hadn't cried at the end, fuck that. There had just been a few stray dust particles that were making his tear ducts act up. But that was beside the point.

“Of course he has a name assbreath, one much better than 'Casey', too. John, I'd like to introduce you to Will Smith. I don't need any of your help picking out names, I'm sure yours are all absolutely revolting. And fuck that, I am going to be an outstanding trainer, you got me? He did that probably because he just got sort of startled when I picked him up. He likes me just fine!” Or so he hoped. He was still being stared at, and he still couldn't read the Krabby's eyes. “Besides, that just proves he has quick reflexes and I can definitely work with that. You shouldn't baby her too much you know, or she's going to be just as worthless as you.” He laughs a bit at his own joke. Man was he good.

Oh shit, suddenly John was wanting to monopolize on the gift! Wait a second, why did he even think he'd remember a gift just because he'd decided to be courteous for once in his life and refer to it by its human term? Just because he did actually have one for him didn't mean he wasn't taken aback slightly. Shit, maybe he should try and salvage the shitty wrapping job before he was annoyed by any more of John's comment's. He was sure to nag about how poor it was. It wasn't his fault! It's not like it was completely customary to give other trolls gifts on their wriggling days, after all. “What, you think I'd get a present for you? Fat chance! Today was a big day and a gift celebrating the day you wriggled out into the world was the absolute last thing on my mind.” He'd get it to him by the end of the day, he had plenty of time to fix it up! And fuck would he be surprised after this. He totally wouldn't see it coming!

[Kat]

John snorted a little more at Karkat’s sarcastic rebuttal. Karkat could act sarcastic all he liked, they both knew he was fucking hilarious. “Yup! You know me Karkat, I am a super hilarious guy, with a possible future in stand-up comedy. So you know, I can’t really blame you!” The failed attempts to get the Krabby of him were really making the situation all the more amusing. Maybe Karkat could be his foil and they’d become a comedy double-act, with Karkat doing dumb stuff and yelling a lot and John making some witty comments about it.

Oh hey, looked like he’d finally got the Krabby to let go! John was actually a little relieved, and grinned a little with second-hand triumph. As absolutely hysterical as his friend being clawed was, he didn’t want him actually getting hurt. Besides, he’d probably hinder them on their journey if he had some kind of lame arm injury!

“Pssh, whatever! If sure if he could talk, he’d let you know how wrong you are. My taste’s perfectly fine.” Actually, John was willing to admit (to himself, not to Karkat) that his taste wasn’t the best. But Karkat’s was infinitely worse, and he had no place to be saying anything. Besides, he knew for a fact that Karkat thought some of his movies were okay. He was probably just being a douche for the sake of being a douche.

John wasn’t sure why being late was that big of a deal. It wasn’t going to make a difference one way or another, since Jade hadn’t arrived in Pallet Town yet! He hoped she got here soon, dealing with this much Karkat at once was kind of a headache. Jade knew how to shut him up. Sort of. John didn’t actually care that much, he just enjoyed complaining. “Ooooooh, Karkat, new shoes?” John put on a feeble imitation of a high pitched, ‘girly’ voice, “omg! Shoes! What sort? You HAVE to show me!” John was wearing his usual pair of luminously bright yellow shoes. Some people seemed to think they were a bit of an eyesore, but those people were probably just jealous! These shoes could probably light the way through a cave or something, he was sure of it.

His eyes moved from his fabulous shoes to his fabulous Charmander. Hmm, maybe her coloring was a little odd? He hadn’t really seen a Charmander in person before, but yeah. They were usually darker, now that Karkat mentioned it. “Lol! School’s lame, who bothers paying attention to that dreary crap? Anyway, Casey’s just special. Yellow Charmander’s are probably really rare or something! I bet everyone’ll be super-jealous.” He certainly hoped this was true. It’d be just awful if she was sick or something. “I think Casey’s a pretty fitting nickname, personally! Doesn’t she remind you of Nick Cage’s daughter a little? Like, if Casey Poe was a Charmander. I think this is what she’d look like. Man, maybe I’ll name all my Pokémon after Con Air characters. Just to show you! And there won’t be one named Vince Larkin, either. How do you like that?” John had no intention of actually doing this, as he fully intended to catch a ghost Pokémon of some sort and name it ‘Bill Cosby’, but the threat was out there!

Will Smith. Well, he guessed it could have been worse. At least he hadn’t called him ‘Adam Sandler’. And Will Smith was in a few good movies. Too bad Karkat’s favourite was Troll Hitch. Ugh. Whyyyyyy? That movie was every bit as bad as the human version.

“Good luck with that, dude! I’m sure you’ll be an excellent trainer,” John replied, with obvious sarcasm, “and with Will Smith by your side, you’re sure to conquer the league in no time! Though startling the poor thing doesn’t seem like such a good idea. I don’t baby Casey, btw! We are just bonding because it’s the first day we’ve met and I want to establish our friendship before we start training. You know, we don’t all want a Pokémon that totally hates us!”

Eh, John hadn’t really been expecting a present. It wasn’t like that was ever much of a thing with Karkat, after all! Trolls didn’t give gifts on their troll-birthdays, anyway. Not that that stopped John from giving Karkat some kind of shitty present most years. Still, he had to see if he could successfully manage to make Karkat feel guilty over this. “Aww, I thought we were finally starting to be friends, too. But you know, it’s okay. No big deal.” John was doing his utmost to look hurt, but pulling off a prank like this was honestly a lot more difficult in person to online. He had a feeling his face kept twitching with amusement.

[vena]

A possible future in stand-up comedy? Please. The only person who found John Egbert funny was John himself, and that wasn't how you got to become famous. Though perhaps he could get booed off the stage enough times and gain fame for that reason, he’d actually pay to see that. "Sounds like the wrong career choice to me. After all, you'd have to compete with Human Dane Cook to keep an audience. And there is not a more potent source of humor on the planet, maybe even the universe, than the hilarious confabulation that drips from his very core. Stand-up would be a terrible choice for you." He gave a snort before continuing, "Oh, and even if it weren't for Dane Cook you'd still get bits of food and whatever else the audience can get ahold of thrown at you because you are the polar opposite of funny. The only reason people laugh at you is because they are platonically pitying you, or you are just so damn unfunny that your sad, humorless attempts are funny just for the sake of watching you fail." That'd sure show him what a bad idea stand-up comedy was.

What, and he was grinning at him now? Had he been concerned about his well-being? No, it was rare to find him not smiling, it was probably nothing. Leftover giggles from his earlier fit, obviously. What an idiot. Oh no, they weren’t about to get into another discussion about movie and genre tastes, were they? The last one had lasted forever, and no one had really won the debate. They’d both just gotten tired after awhile. The incident would be sure to repeat of course. "Yeah, right," he snorted in response, "if he could talk, which is even absurd in the first place! Who in the hell has ever heard of a Pokemon that could speak? Anyways if he could, I'm sure he'd approve of all of my films! He's a Krabby with a heavily refined taste." Of course he was! His name was Will Smith! There was no way his taste in cinema wouldn't be fantastic! He was sure to like Troll Hitch, at the very least.

"So concerned with my new shoes? Who would have pegged you as a fashion enthusiast? Looking at the way you dress I sure wouldn't guess it!" Like he was one to talk, really. He had so many pairs of the same sweater and pants it wasn't even funny. These new shoes were probably the only new addition to his wardrobe in ages! Not counting any dorky t-shirts he'd received from John over his six sweeps of course. He held a foot up, displaying it for the other to see. "According to the box they supposedly help you run faster or some shit like that, but I honestly don't see how some synthetic rubber and cloth product will increase any muscular activity." He put his foot back down on the ground once John had gotten a good look.

"Oh yes, I can see the resemblance! One optic glance into her large eyes tells me she is the mirrored image of her little human counterpart!" he replied, mocking enthusiasm as he gave a slight chuckle. "Well fuck, you're not seriously going to name them all after contrived Con Air characters, are you?" He gave him a look at the mention of not naming one after John Cusack's character. Naming one after Vince would have been much better than naming one 'Cameron Poe', or 'Cyrus the Virus'. Trisha Poe might have been okay, though. "If you won't name one after Vince than I might just have to!" and fuck if he wasn't seriously going to follow through on this threat. Vince Larkin was an outstanding heroic figure, one whom a certain sky patrol agent should have listened to better. He was the real hero of the day, not Nic Cage! Well, okay, they had actually made a pretty good team, even he couldn't deny that.

Didn't baby Casey, okay. Sure. He'd believe that. With a name like Casey, how would John not baby her? "I will conquer the league, thanks for all the encouragement!" Sure, he could be jut as sarcastic as he could! "And for your information, Will Smith doesn't hate me. He likes me just fine." He did, right? Karkat glanced down at the crab (who was still watching him intently), kneeling next to him. He took a slight step back, but this time when Karkat held his hands out he was able to pick the Krabby up without a hitch. Haha, Hitch. "See? Told you! He doesn't hate me." Though he couldn't hold the Krabby quite as comfortably as John could hold Casey, that was okay.

Oh shit, was he actually upset about the gift thing? He was pulling a frown, though his face appeared to be twitching slightly. But why? Was he just that upset? Sometimes when he was upset Karkat's face would twinge a little, so it could be. Well, maybe this meant he'd be even more excited for the gift later! "I guess we could be considered friends, John. You know it isn't tradition for us trolls to give gifts on wriggling days, you shouldn't have been expecting anything, really." Which he shouldn't have in the first place! Karkat had really gone out of his way to do this, and he just needed a chance to fix it up before he was to bestow it upon him.

[Jade Harley]

Well Jade tried to wake up early, she really did. But, no alarm she set was able to wake her from her slumber. Only Becquerel's constant barking coupled with him jumping on her eventually woke her up. Though, chances are it was probably the jumping that did it.

"Aw, hey Bec did my alarm not wake me up again?" She asked, lightly scratching behind Bec's ear. But there was no time for pets and puppy cuddles! They had a boat to catch! Bec barked and pawed at the clock, drawing Jade's attention to the time. When she saw that there was a little less than an hour before the boat left for Pallet she sprung out of bed and quickly got ready, swearing under her breath the entire time.

She, thankfully, made it to the boat just in time. She was a bit worried that she would have to keep Bec in a stuffy pokéball, but no one said anything about him following behind her so she figured it was fine. The ride didn't take too long, it was a pretty speedy boat after all, and the wind felt really nice. Well, it felt nice when it wasn't blowing Jade's hair in her face. "Blech, I'll probably cough up a hairball later!" She said to Bec, yelling slightly in order to be heard over the wind.

When she arrived in Pallet it wasn't hard to find who she was looking for due to the small size of the town. "Hey John! Hey Karkat!" She called out to her friends, and ran up to them with Bec barking and running alongside her. While running she nearly tripped, but caught herself in time. "Whoa! That was close, I guess my legs are still a bit wobbly from the boat ride over here. Anyway, what's up? I hope I didn't miss out on anything!

[Kat]

John narrowed his eyes at Karkat. How DARE he insult his prowess in comedy? What an idiot. Karkat wouldn’t know funny if it bit him in the ass. His burning adoration of Dane freaking Cook was a testament to that. Although, John had never actually seen a Dane Cook movie. But whatever, if Karkat liked him he was bound to be shitty as hell. Though Karkat was kinda funny! But yeah, whatever. If anything was going to be thrown at him, it’d be pokédollar bills, people’s underwear and candy. John was simply that fabulous.

“Pssh, I was kidding, stupid. Who gives a crap about fashion? All that’s important is that blue is a great color, and wearing nothing but black and grey is lame, lame, lame! Though actually, those shoes are pretty nice, I guess. Not that it even matters. Mine are way cooler though. Check ‘em out!” John stuck a foot out, aiming to prove just how awesome his luminous shoes were, but accidentally gave Karkat a swift kick in the knee. “Oops! Sorry.” He did feel a little bad, as amusing as it was, “but whatever, like shoes can actually help you run faster! I bet you’re still slow as shit.

“But oh man, are you seriously going to name one of your Pokémon that? Please do, it will be totally kickass. We can have like, a whole Con Air family between us. So. Cool.” If Karkat actually followed through on that, it’d be kind of awesome, by John had a feeling Karkat probably wouldn’t. It was such a shame! But ‘John Cusack’ was a definite possibility as a name, and that was close enough. He grinned at the idea of Karkat having a Pokémon named ‘John’. Pfft. Maybe he could name something ‘Nic Cage’ and they could become double battle partners? Nah, one step at a time, John. Learn to walk before you run.

John rolled his eyes as his friend finally managed to pick up the Krabby, and gave a sarcastic round of applause. “Congrats, buddy! Looks like he doesn’t TOTALLY hate you. Though I am still not convinced you guys are all that great of a team just yet. We’ll see.”

Oh man, Karkat actually did sound pretty genuine in that FRIENDSHIP CONFESSION. It was pretty rare for him to actually admit the two of them were best pals, so his fake-upset had been sort of worth it? Although the troll didn’t sound all that sorry about it. Maybe he honestly just didn’t care that much? Who knew.

But before John had a chance to pretend to be offended, Jade arrived! And it was about time, too. “Hey Jade!” he called out as soon as he heard her, spinning around with his back to Karkat. He hadn’t seen Jade in ages, oh boy, and it was totally awesome to be seeing one of his BEST FRIENDS EVER in person. He greeted her with an enthusiastic hug as soon as she’d righted herself after her wobble. “Nah, you didn’t miss much! Just Karkat bitching and complaining and making a bunch of deluded comments, haha. How was the trip?”

[vena]

Karkat gave a snort in response to his fashion comments. "You were kidding, and I was just being sarcastic! Wow, looks like that one went soaring far above your thinkpan, huh? I should be the one calling you stupid, you sorry excuse for a waste of space!" He glanced down at John's sickeningly yellow shoe and before he even had the chance to make a snide remark he was swiftly kicked in the knee. He clenched his teeth together (resisting the urge to bite down on his lip instead) and let out a hiss. He gave him a look and attempted a kick in return, but the foot he'd aimed at John's shin didn't make if far as his knee decided it'd rather not bend just yet.

"Holy fucking shit, what the grubmunching hell was THAT for?!" he cried, not actually in too much pain but enough that he wanted to whine about it, "I already know how puke-inducing your shoes are just by looking at them, but if you were really trying to get me to release the contents of my digestive sacs you should have aimed just a bit higher! Then I could have blown half digested breakfast chunks here for you! Too bad though, you just missed the spot and just had to hit my fucking knee instead!"

After his miniature tantrum began to simmer down, John began to go on about the Con Air thing. Was he really going to name a Pokemon after Vince? He sure wouldn't mind naming one after John Cusack himself, but how weird would it be having a Pokemon named John? Not weird enough that it'd keep him from doing so, that was for sure. Still, if for some reason he couldn't come up with any other names Vince Larkin was definitely a good backup name. "A Con Air family? Maybe in your dreams, nookface. Try asking that one to Harley, because I sure as hell won't give my team any other ridiculous names from that film." Though if their Pokemon became family of any kind that would be a completely different story. If any of his Pokemon were attracted to John's or Jade's, he certainly wouldn't interfere. Who would he be to get between them after all?

What, he still wasn't convinced how close they were? Just because he wasn't cradling the crab tenderly like a newborn human baby wiggler when he'd answered the door? Well fuck that. He was just as close with Will Smith as John was with his 'precious Casey'! "Not that great of a team, huh? Would you like to prove that? I bet our teamwork could wipe the dirt with yours," he challenged, taking a step forward. Though before he could make any other battling requests he heard a voice approaching them.

"Well, Well, Well! Look who finally took the time to show up, Harley! Thanks for deciding to grace us with your presence!" He glared daggers into John's back at the comment about his alleged 'bitching', though he was sure the needles were going completely unfelt by the idiot. "Yeah, the only thing you really missed was more of John being the mundane ignoramus he always is." There was no point in asking about her trip after John had. Hopefully these two would distract each other enough later once they'd left so he'd have the chance to rewrap John's gift. Stupid, shitty wrapping job. He didn't know how it worked! How exactly did the humans get them to look so nice, anyways? It seemed like they knew just what to do. Meanwhile Karkat had looked it up online and apparently hadn't understood the directions well. Sure, the instructions had been written in that human dialect called Spanish, but the pictures should have been enough. Obviously there was some miscommunications between the diagrams and Karkat's fingers.

[Jade Harley]

Jade laughed and returned the hug with equal or perhaps greater enthusiasm. After all, who doesn't like hugs?! Bec started running in circles and barking, slightly jealous that he wasn't getting all of his trainer's attention like usual. She stuck her tongue out and made a face at Karkat over John's shoulder.

"Well so-rry for having to take a super slow boat to get here!" She said, rolling her eyes. Karkat sure can be a real downer sometimes! But it was good that she didn't miss much. "Oh, and the ride over was really cool! I never rode on a boat before and it was really cool, and windy... But in a good way!" Yeah, that totally made sense. "Bec really liked the ride too, didn't you boy?" Bec happily barked and wagged his poofball tail in response, and Jade scratched him behind his ears.

[Kat]

“Ew, puke chunks? Gross, Karkat. Just gross.” John wrinkled his nose and shook his head in disgust, not quite taking in the rest of what Karkat was saying. It couldn’t have been anything important, right? Just something about how he totally wouldn’t name his Pokémon after Con Air characters, and then what had sounded like the start of being challenged to a battle. Laaame.

“Windy in a good way? I getcha, Jade. It’s pretty breezy here what with being round the sea and all, but in a nice sort of way! It’s only really in a bad way if it’s raining, though. I like wind.” John was hoping to catch some sort of flying Pokémon so that he could go flying a bunch and feel the wind in his hair. Hell yes.

"But man, all that journeying. Are you tired, or do you want to head straight out? If you wanna rest for a bit first, I have a shit ton of cake to share with you guys! Or we could just head out and start beating up Pidgeys. What do you say?”

[vena]

So John had only listened to the part about blowing chunks. Wonderful. His battle challenge? Completely ignored. Then again, this should be expected when trying to speak to John. He gave a frustrated sigh and squeezed his eyes closed for just a moment before opening them again, adjusting his grip on Will Smith a little.

"Oh, well I'm sorry then Harley! Though you know, you could have taken a faster ship. Or threatened the commander of the vessel. It's not like Cinnebar is that far from Pallet." Because complaining was what he was best at, after all! Though he didn't actually mind too much that she was 'late'.
"If we're going to be eating any cake, it's going to be on the road! I don't want to spend another minute in this town when we can ACTUALLY leave it now!" He wasn't who John had been talking to, but he would be damned if they'd sit in a little circle eating cake in town like little wigglers.

He caught a look at Bec, noting Jade also had a Fire-type starter. He smirked a little bit to himself, looking back down at Will Smith. He was truly the most mighty of all of their starters! He'd have to remember to issue that battle challenge again when they would actually pay attention.

[Jade Harley]

"Well I dunno, it doesn't have to be rainy to be windy in a bad way," Jade mused, "it could be, like, so SUPER-DUPER windy that it blows over trees and bikes and pokèmon!" She flailed her arms about and made "whooosh"ing sounds for emphasis. "Sometimes the wind would get super bad like that on Cinnabar, and the waves would get crazy huge! But then it would thunderstorm soon after and mostly everything would be okay." She nodded her head, satisfied with the simple explaination. She could go into the science of the air pressure and why the wind becomes so strong before a storm, but there were better things to do!

"Pssh, all I did was cross a bit of water, Bec and I can so start adventuring!" She could have made a pun and said the boat ride didn't take the wind out of her sail, but she didn't. She properly resisted and no one would have laughed anyway. Probably just would have made fun of her, those buttfaces! And besides, that would have been and aquatic pun and that is so seatroll territory, don't want to mess with that.

"And Karkat! Are you crazy?! If I threatened the Captain then I would have gotten kicked off!" She said in a huff. "Besides the Captain only makes sure things are running smoothly with the crew and stuff, the Helmsman is the one who controls how the ship moves!" Also, the faster ship to Pallet wasn't planned to set sail for another couple of days, for some stupid reason Jade can't remember, but she decided not to waste her breath in saying so.

[Kat]

“Oh wow, really? In Pallet the weather is almost always really tame! We get a lot of strong winds come in from the sea, but nothing that could actually knock over a Pokémon!” Wow, he supposed once they set off they might encounter all sorts of different types of weather. Camping outside in a storm would suck so much ass, oh no. Especially with Casey, since he had to protect her tail from getting water on it and all. Sure, he could always just put her in her ball, but that seemed pretty lonely!

“Karkat, that is so stupid. You don’t just threaten the staff of a ship when they’re being nice enough to ferry you across the water! What if they made you walk the plank??? You could get stung by a Tentacruel and die.” Being stung by Tentacruel had always been what his Dad claimed would happen if he decided to swim out to Cinnabar on his own. He saw swimmers there all the time so it was probably bullshit, but you could never be too careful!

But never mind that. Worrying was for losers. They had an adventure to be getting on with. “Okay, awesome! I am glad you two agree; staying here would be lame. I vote we head out right now!” John dramatically punched his fist in the air and marched towards the town gates, in the direction of Route One. He hoped the first step of their journey went smoothly!

[[I'm gonna finish the thread here, I think! We can continue where we left off in Route One by making a new thread there.]]