I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts! [Open]

[Kat]

It had taken him a while to get this far. He had been away from home like, three days! He’d arrived in the town some time ago, but it was only proper to wait until nightfall before doing any ghost-y stuff. He regretted it a little now, since it was cold as balls out here.

John was stood outside of Pokémon Tower, shivering slightly. With anticipation, definitely not fear or apprehension! After all, John had always wanted to visit this place. it was the setting for numerous horror films and, well, full of ghost Pokémon! And ghost Pokémon were basically the coolest things ever. Ever since he watched Ghostbusters, he’d been sort of fascinated by them. Okay, Ghostbusters was kind of a hilarious movie, but it had sparked an interest, and he’d spent many a day reading through websites that detailed the various myths and legends surrounding ghosts. Paranormal stuff kicked ass.

So yeah, John was going to be conducting a PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION of his own, in one of the most famous spots for ghost Pokémon in existence. That was pretty exciting. Though it sure would be nice if some other people were around! To watch his fabulous exploits, not because he was scared to go in alone or anything dumb like that. That would just be silly!

Besides, he was totally prepared for anything he might face. The internet had prepared him. Movies had prepared him. There was pretty much no way this could possibly go wrong.

[Jane Crocker]

Phew! Finally! It had been about a day or two since she had said goodbye to her friends and caught up on her journey. She caught up with Gamzee later and both wound up in in Lavender Town.

After taking a quick break and restocking on water and snacks, she glanced up at the looming tower. She was hoping to catch a Litwick or something, just any ghost in general! She wanted at least one Frightening Beast in her party after all!

It was dark, but she didn't feel like waiting for daybreak. It would be harder to find any ghosts then. She looked in her bag to make sure she had the Crocker Scope before she saw a familiar blue sweater.

Squinting, she saw who it was and had half a mind to go and hug him. But the call of her pranksters gambit was too great.



She would surprise him alright.

[Kat]

John took a deep breath -okay, he could do this- and stepped into the building, leaving the door open behind him. The room he had entered was illuminated entirely by candles, which yeah, made the place pretty creepy! There were a whole bunch of people down here, though which made him feel a lot better.

No Pokémon, though! John guessed that maybe you had to climb the tower before you ran into any wild ones, which was pretty daunting. Shit, he sure hoped there would still be candles. Maybe he’d have to rely on Casey’s tail-flame again?

He laughed a little, in an attempt to boost the mood, and decided to offer his Pokémon some words of encouragement. “Okay! I’m sure we can handle a few ghosts, it is totally no big deal. And if we encounter anything that tries to kill us, the plan is to just run away real fast!”

Casey did not look all that convinced by John’s upbeat tone, but she followed him obediently when he set off up the stairs. He was a little snaky as he took the first step, but decided quickly it was probably best to crush his fears and just go for it. Ready, ghosts? Here he came.

He was so wrapped up in his ghosts, it would never occur to him to be on the lookout for other trainers.

[Jane Crocker]

He was gone. Good, this was perfect. Jane followed behind her cousin, her gambit threatening to burst through the roof and overflow. But she put a lid on it. She just couldn't burst out in giggles at her plan.

She made Seb blow bubbles against her handkerchief and then made him return to his ball. It should be damp enough now. Quietly she stepped inside the looming tower, feeling her eyes widen in an effort to see better. There was a glow from a pokemon, probably John's.

She followed it and bit her lip. Easy now Janey. Don't mess this up... She placed the wet part of her hankie against his neck and blew on it.

She couldn't take it.

"HOO HOO HOO!!!" She started to laugh, pulling away to let the cold air hit the back of his neck and make it all the more hilarious.

[Kat]

Oh fuck, it actually WAS completely dark in here. He was so relieved to have a fire Pokémon on him, her tail was a real blessing. It wasn’t completely quiet, a few mediums chanting something in the corner of the hall. Pokémon graves all over the place. Man. Eerie.

He started to walk forward, when holyshitwhatthefuckwasTHAT?

“AUUUUUGH!” John yelled, his whole body twitching in shock. There was something cold and wet touching his neck, followed by what sounded like some ghostly laughter!!!

Wait… ‘hoo hoo hoo’? That sounded kind of familiar, actually. He span around to investigate the source of the giggles, only to see his cousin standing behind him.

“Jane? Oh man, you totally got me. I am so glad to see you, though.” He stepped forwards and gave her a hug, privately super relieved he wasn't here on his own.

His gambit was running seriously low. There he was thinking once he got away from home he wouldn’t have to deal with family pranks at his expense! “I will have to make sure to get you back for that one, oh my god. So, what are you doing here? Do I have a RIVAL GHOST HUNTER????”

[Jane Crocker]

She happily returned the hug, laughing and trying not to be too loud, seeing as they were getting looks from the mediums. She gave him a goofy grin and showed him the hankie to tell him what she used on him.

"Get me back? I'm looking forward to that!" She replied, placing the wet cloth back into an outside pocket of her bag. "As for my being here, I'm in it for the pokemon. If there are ghosts, there has to be some ghost pokemon, and I've been dying to get a Litwick or something like it!"

She sidestepped and walked over to Casey, kneeling down to pet her head.

"You're such a cutie." She smiled and stood up again.

"Well then Johnny Boy, shall we head up?" She held up her Sebs pokeball. Jane was ready for adventure, and she'd lead if John was too chicken to do so.

[Gamzee Makara]

Gamzee: Crash the Party

Of fucking course. What, did you think that he wasn't going to turn up in his own hometown? You sad, naive person. Of course, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be back so soon. It'd just so happened that during his trip to Cerulean, though he'd failed to get a badge, he'd succeeded in finding another travelling companion. He'd only been meant to stick to her up to Saffron, but after hearing that Jane was headed for Lavender, he took it upon herself to continue being her personal tag-a-long. Possibly a guide, provided he could keep his shit together.

Well, third time's the charm, right?

Oh, but what took him so long? That, too, was an easy question. He'd made a point to visit Mr. Fuji for a short chat, followed by a trip to the Pokemart to sell off a good portion of the ridiculous potion stock he seemed to have. Lavender wasn't exactly a tourist trap of a destination, so of course the logical next stop was Lavender tower, where he'd been told to go in the first place (whether he actually remembered this or not was a mystery for another day). Buddy Rich was out and about, also as usual, floating happily in the thick feeling of death in the air. Gamzee wasn't completely sure where the little shuppet had originally come from, but if he had to guess, he would say here was a good bet. He gave the ladies in the lobby a cordial wave before proceeding upward into the tower itself.

Ah, right, there they are. Jane and...someone Gamzee didn't recognise. Awesome. Meeting new people was always fun. The more, the mirthier. Yes, Gamzee was fucking certain that was how the phrase went. Even if it wasn't even good grammar.

Gamzee: Greet the Ghostbusters!

That's exactly what he does. He makes his way downtown over to the two, looking slightly more excited than is actually called for. But whatever. It's a good day. Adventure is in the air, and it smells suspiciously like lavender-scented febreeze. His grin is wide as he gets to them, and like any proper gentletroll, the first thing he does is invade the human-boy's personal space.

"Hey, what's up, my motherfuckin' brother?" he says, throwing an arm over the bespectacled boy's shoulders. He glances at Jane, grinning wider.

"Friend of yours?"

[Kat]

“Same here! Ghost Pokemon are like, my favourites. Did you know there are legends that ghost Pokemon are created from the spirits of other dead Pokemon??? Sometimes even humans! Creepy, right?” He did a mock-shiver, that was actually only half mocking. All those night spent reading spooky stories, oh man.

“K, I’m ready to head up when you aRRREEGH-” Ohfuckinghelltherewasahandonhisshoulderand

It was a friend of Jane’s? John tried to compose himself, shaking his head and putting on his best stoic, deadpan look and standing up taller. Like Cameron Poe, only without the dumb haircut. Confident. Badass.

“We’re cousins,” he replied to the new guy, edging away from him as subtly as he could and looking him up and down. Oh no. Oh no. The makeup! The pants! The grin! He kind of reminded him of one of his dad’s ‘fanciful harlequins’. Aka, a fucking clown. Gross. Though hey, he did not want to be a rude asshole, so he gave him a nervous grin in return.

Shit, that was his brave badass look right out the window.

[Jane Crocker]

Jane wasn't as bad as John when it came to ghosts. She knew when he was bluffing, but she always played along so that he didn't feel bad. This went back to when they were kids and they visited each other more often. Today...was no exception it seemed.

When she had turned around to speak with him, she saw a strangely familiar sillouette behind John and kept her poker face until Gamzee invaded his personal bubble. She giggled, trying to hold back the louder ones as she saw the 'inspection' John was giving the troll.

"Yes, yes he is." She cleared her throat and began with the introductions. "John, this is Gamzee. He's been traveling on and off with me since I left home a few days ago. Gamzee, meet my cousin John--" She was interrupted by the sound of a pokeball being opened. She glanced at her bag and let out a sigh as a big ol' fluff of cotton popped out, bouncing around her legs.

"--And I'd like to introduce you both to Scamp." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a mustache. The cotton ball danced and jumped up into her arms to steal the fuzzy accessory. It saw the flame from Casey and waved cautiously before jumping onto John's head, batting him with a paw, and turning to Gamzee.

There were sparkles in its eyes as it jumped onto the trolls head and almost buried itself in his hair. It looked over his hair and down at his face, already liking the guy for the paint he was wearing. This guy, THIS GUY knew how to party.

[Gamzee Makara]

Gamzee: Party

Nah, there's a time and place, and this set in particular is for exploring, not for partying. Shit's disrespectful, anyway, as the mediums have told him a million times. Regardless, though, he doesn't see anything wrong with having a good time. He nods at John, giving a honk of acknowledgement. Okay, cousins. Cool. That was some human construct he didn't quite remember right offhand, but cool. He didn't need to know. That was the miracle of their whole family system, anyway.

"Shit, bro, it's real nice to be makin' your motherfuckin' acquaintance," he laughs, utterly oblivious to the sheer horror in John's reaction. It's literally never occurred to him that some people really hate clowns.

He glances over in time to hear the ball, but not quick enough to see what came out until it's already occupying his curly mess of hair. He almost crosses his eyes trying to look up at the fluff-ball, creepy grin turning into more of an amused smile. He reaches up, scratching the lil whimsicott under the chin so as not to lose his hands in the mass of cotton.

"Well, hey there, lil' cotton-having motherfucker. When'd you join this party?" he comments. He'd only remembered Jane having the blue one... Lil' Seb, was it? Then again, she could easily pick things up when he was having one of his wander-offings, so it wasn't too much of a leap. Even he could deduce that much. He vaguely manages to wonder if BR was doomed to be jealous of the interaction, and it finally occurs to him-- Hey, where was the shuppet, anyway? He looks around, suddenly confused. He coulda sworn he'd just had him...

Buddy Rich: Be the troublemaker

As if on cue, there's a sudden, creepy giggling noise, followed by something...strange. It starts as a little bubble, as if somehow John had air blowing up under his shirt, or something. Then, a horn emerges, followed by the rest of the little puppet pokemon. It does a little twirl in the air, before getting about an inch from the poor human-boys face, and...

"SCKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

BUDDY RICH used SCREECH! It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!

[Kat]

“Oh, nice to meet you then, Gamzee. I hope you have been taking good care of my cousin and she has not pranked you too much.” If Jane trusted him he couldn’t be too bad, although then again John did not actually place a lot of stock in Jane’s assessment of things. She was a fan of Crockercrop, for god’s sake.

Casey waved back at Scotty shyly, and John gave the Whimsicott a grin. “Woah, that is one cute fluffball you got there! I am so jealous. How long have you had him?”

Things were going quite merrily and John had almost forgotten about the ghosts. Until there was a… sound. A giggle that was more than a little creepy. John froze instantly and looked around, before making the mistake of looking down.

Oh God, it was like that scene in Alien. It was coming straight out of his chest and it was all cold and gross and making him shiver. John just sort of watched the whole thing in a mix of horror and awe,completely still, his eyes fixed on the creature.

And then it screeched at him, and John could not help but screech back. Bloody hell.

But a moment later, he was laughing. “Hey, little dude! Nice trick. I think my Prankster’s Gambit is at an all-time low! First Janey, then Gamzee, now this. I think Casey is going to prank me next, that would really be the ICING ON THE CAKE.” Sure, ghosts scared him shitless. But he also loved them a lot, and was pretty excited to actually meet one in the flesh. Uh, so to speak.

“Anyway, I have read all about you guys!! You like, find vengeful people and feed on their bad vibes, I think??? Which is pretty okay as far as ghosts go. I mean, it sounds ominous, but I don't think it harms the person? Unless you guys have some other SINISTER POWER. But it doesn't matter because you will totally find no vengeful angry emotions here. Right guys?” To anyone who didn't know him, John's sudden change in attitude might have seemed strange. But him going from frightened as hell to talkative and cheerful was actually pretty standard for him. He just had a tendency to kind of... forget he was meant to be freaking out.

[Jane Crocker]

"Not long, actually. This scamp stole my mustache just outside the town as I was coming over here." Jane replied, letting out a sigh. While he was quite adorable, the rascal had made her practically run around in circles for it to be returned.

Seeing his comical reaction to the Shuppet, Jane smiled and pointed to the stairs behind her.

"Fellow Ghosbusters," She began with enthusiasm, adding in the new name for the team because of the film, "I say we begin out embark to the top of the tower! And I just so happen to have a camera, to film our expedition."[/b]

She turned to the clown.

"Why don't you film, Mr. Makara?" She held out the bright red, Crockercorp emblasoned camera to the towering troll.

[Gamzee Makara]

Gamzee: Be the cameraman

All in due time. He hasn't even finished processing the current events yet, let alone moving on to new ones. The first step he takes consists of staring dazedly at the mass coming out of Johns chest as it emerges, looking more than a little befuddled at the development (you'd think, being a trainer with a ghost type pokemon, he'd have developed the sense to know ghostly shenanigans when he sees them. You'd think this, but you'd be wrong) until the point where Buddy Rich emerges completely and screeches, at which point Gamzee recoils, chill demeanour flickering for just a second and the sound grates against his troll-grade eardrums. He regains his composure fairly quickly, given that the sound is gone almost as quickly as it'd come, and he offers a faint frown to the shuppet, giving it a light thump for his trouble.

"Hey, don't be all doing that to strangers. Motherfuckin' rude-ass shit right there," he scolds, tone a little too lazy to put much genuine effect behind it.

The shuppet seems momentarily surprised by the scolding and pouts at Gamzee before zooming around to Jane's side instead, hoping to gain brownie points via cute appeal. Clearly Buddy Rich is a conniving mastermind the the highest tier. Buddy Rich cannot be bested at cute appeal because he is simply the best there is.

Gamzee on the other hand seems fairly pleased that no one seems to be angry about the interruption. After all, motherfuckin' discord ain't got nothing to contribute to the situation save for extra grief and all. He finally takes the chance to move on to more current and pressing matters, like the bright red camera being handed his way. He stares at it for a moment, before grinning and taking it, holding it upside-down because messiahs know he doesn't have a damned clue how to work the thing. Nevertheless, the situation is plenty exciting. He's never seen Ghostbusters but then again, he's also never seen a ghost (excluding the pokemon variety) in all his time here. How exciting!

What could possibly go wrong?