Route 29: ｍｏｄｓ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
these_balls) wrote2010-04-27 11:40 pm
these_balls) wrote2010-04-27 11:40 pm
Entry tags:
Understand the secrets and have some fun
APPLICATIONS! Currently: Closed!
Route 29 has closed as of May 30th. For the continuation of the game, please visit
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
victory_road!Applications will be normally checked during the weekend following the first and third Sunday of each month unless otherwise stated, and we will allow one application per person during one application cycle. Remember, the most characters one player can have at a time is currently set at five.
Applications received after 11:59 PM EST on Saturday of the first and third weekend of each month will be checked the following app weekend unless otherwise stated.
The comment character limit on dreamwidth is 16,000 characters so apps no longer need to be split into multiple comments; however this is at players' discretion.
Please use the form below and post your application in comments rather than linking if you can. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either of the mods. You can reach us through emails, IMs, or PMs.
A reminder for those waiting to hear back, please don't be worried if we skip yours while going through them. It only means we needed a little more time to research!
Helpful links!
Taken: 1|2|3 / Reserves
Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!
Starter Pokémon!
A compiled list of the starter pokémon to choose from offered in Route 29!
Word Count Tool!
Word count! It has other pointless stats too.
Navigation
Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho | reserve expired | 1/???
Name: Karen
Personal Journal:
E-mail: spitspotting [at] gmail.com
AIM/MSN: AIM; silverus maximus
Timezone: CST / US Central Time
Current Characters in Route: None, but this would be my second time playing Yusuke at Route, if I were to be accepted! I've canon-updated him since last time, but because of how much time has passed between then and now and how little time he'd spent here before I sort of, uh, dropped off the face of the planet without warning (sorry!), he will not be returning with any memories of having been here previously. (I am The Yusuke-mun Formerly Known As Silver, using a different name this time around so as to avoid any potential confusion with the Silver already here. ~there can be only one~ etc.)
Character
Name: Yusuke Urameshi
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Timeline: Mid-season 3, at the beginning of episode 81 ("Let The Games Begin” / “Dōkutsu no Naka no Gēmu Wārudo").
Canon Resource Links:
▶ Yusuke's profile at the Yu Yu Hakusho wikia and his profile blurb on Wikipedia. Please be aware that both of these links, ESPECIALLY THE WIKIA LINK, contain MASSIVE SPOILERS for both Yusuke's character arc and for the series itself!
▶ Here is an alternative profile for Yusuke which, at the cost of being considerably less comprehensive, does not have spoilers.
▶ The wikipedia entry for the series itself.
▶ And just for fun, some TV Tropes! Because Yu Yu Hakusho is pretty troperific.
Note that the passage of time in Yu Yu Hakusho is generally a bit unclear, making it difficult to gauge Yusuke's exact age. He is fourteen at the beginning of the series and eighteen by the end, however, so because the fourth arc, which follows the one which I've taken him from, takes place over the course of two years, I've estimated him to be fifteen going on sixteen.
Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho | reserve expired | 2/???
Oh, Yusuke is just darling.
… okay, yeah, that's a lie. Just as one might expect from a fifteen-year-old hoodlum with a reputation for being the toughest kid both at school and on the street, Yusuke Urameshi is, to put it succinctly, a jerk. Rude, rambunctious, and quick to launch a barrage of smart-alecky remarks at anyone who so much as looks at him funny, Yusuke leaves little room for questions as to why a lot of people find him off-putting, and the fact that he has a hair-trigger temper and a violent streak to match doesn't exactly add to the mystique. His predisposition towards thinking with his fists and asking questions later gets him into trouble a lot, especially with authority figures, and though many have tried reeling him in and making him respectable (in the classic “goody-two-shoes” sort of way), almost all have run smack into the titanium wall that is Yusuke's Attitude Problem – which is to say, they've been met with a lot of resistance, resistance which, for Yusuke, often manifests itself in anything from digging his heels in and talking back to just outright dismissal. Yes, much like a hurricane, Yusuke does what Yusuke wants to do, and he has no qualms about bowling over anyone who gets in his way; depending on who they are and what the situation is, he might even give 'em a black eye as a friendly reminder not to do it again. Fond of intimidation tactics? You bet he is!
That isn't the least of what makes him a pain to deal with, either: as if the fighting and the borderline anti-social behavior weren't bad enough, Yusuke is also arrogant as hell. Blame it on an over-abundance of teenage testosterone, if you'd like; it seems that no matter how many times overestimating his own abilities has screwed him over in the past, Yusuke still somehow manages to retain a knack for swaggering into potentially dangerous situations and undermining the severity of said situation, either by antagonizing the source of the danger or cracking jokes in the heat of the action. Of course, to be fair, it could be argued that some of this is a defense mechanism on his part: when the population of nine foot tall demons and whack-a-doodle psychics and aspiring conquerors of the world is seemingly so high that you barely have time for a pee break in between having to fight all of them, you eventually learn that a sense of humor is useful for not totally losing your mind. That said, it's inarguable that the majority of this behavior, joking around and all, stems from sheer short-sightedness on his part, and his enormous carelessness when it comes to his own self-preservation and his subsequent tendency to go leaping right into the eye of the proverbial storm without a set plan or strategy often results in serious injuries to his person as well as the situation becoming exponentially worse than it may have been otherwise. This tendency of his to be a reckless idiot is exacerbated further by his anger issues: it isn't difficult to figure out which buttons to press to make Yusuke lash out, so when someone, say, threatens his friends or gives him a Hannibal Lecture or puts the world in jeopardy to pursue their own stupid, Freudian excuse-laden agenda, it's almost inevitable that Yusuke will come at them ready to totally decimate them, with not a second spared for figuring out how exactly he'll do so.
Unsurprisingly, this kind of impulsiveness has also presented problems for him socially, but it does not do so in the same way that it does when he's in the middle of a brawl. The difference is in the situation itself: you see, when Yusuke's fighting, he is (almost) completely in his element. Yeah, he might screw up the first half of a big balls-to-the-wall battle with the Big Bad by being a dummy and not minding his tail as much as he ought to be, but if there's anything you can say about Yusuke when he's fighting, it's that he knows how to turn the situation on its head and pull through in the end – to such an extent that that many would say it's indicative of a hidden strategic genius. This is not the case in relation to dealing with people outside the ring. Don't get confused: Yusuke's problem is not social awkwardness, nor is it some innate shyness that he's trying to ~cover up~ by acting all big and tough. What it is is a classic case of “bull in a china shop”, meaning that the way in which Yusuke interacts with other people is generally – well, indelicate, to say the least.
Naturally, this does not mean that Yusuke is entirely incapable of sensitivity; what it does mean, however, is that the abrasiveness of his communication style often tends to either hurt feelings or offend people, and given what little filter he has between his brain and his mouth, this comes as no surprise. Of course, in a combat situation, hurting the other party(ies) is the point: unless you're up against some weird dude-turned-Eldritch Abomination whom you can't damage without getting creative about it ('sup, Toguro?), you're accomplishing your intended goal if you're landing hits, even if you went barreling in there without a set plan of attack. Short-sightedness in a social situation, on the other hand, rarely provides good results, and while it would be giving Yusuke way too much credit to try and claim that all of the social faux pas he commits are done without thinking about it (because seriously, he really is that much of a dillhole), he has a certain je nais se quoi for saying things he doesn't always mean. It could be said that, to some extent, Yusuke just doesn't know when to stop fighting - which, of course, is fine if he's around someone who's able to handle it, but not so much if the other party is unprepared or ill-equipped to deal with his obnoxiousness.
Like any good shounen animanga protagonist, though, Yusuke isn't nearly as bad as he seems – in fact, if you were to disregard the fighting and the lousy attitude, you'd find that his reputation back home makes him sound a lot worse than he actually is. Sure, he skips classes to go smoke on the roof of the school and gets into lots of fights and doesn't have much respect for anyone, but contrary to what people say about him, he's not a gang leader, he doesn't hit people just for looking at him, and he doesn't kill for fun. Even his childhood friend-slash-love interest Keiko, whom he butts heads with fairly regularly, makes the comment that he's no where near being the awful, dangerous, malicious sort of person that everyone claims he is, and given all the history between them and all the shit he pulls with her – arguing with her and blowing her off when she tries to help him, sexually harassing her as a form of pigtail-pulling (because flirting like a normal person – or at least like someone who isn't a jackass – is just so difficult) – it's safe to say that her testimony to how misunderstood he is is perhaps the most valid one could get. (See also: reasons why Keiko Yukimura is lightyears out of Yusuke's league.)
While he wouldn't say so in as many words (or at all, really – hey, if he could talk about his feelings rather than building up walls around them and taking things out on other people, he'd probably have less issues), the unnecessarily bad rap he's gotten from people both his age and older has severely hampered his ability to make friends and relate to others in a positive way, and tough-talking street fighter or not, one musn't forget or disregard just how young Yusuke is. No young person – no child, even – likes to feel alienated by the people around them, and while it's true that Yusuke has difficulty taking responsibility for his own emotions (instead channeling it into the World's Largest Shoulder Chip and retaliating against everything that's ever hurt him by becoming a tempermental, rebellious little asshole), it's unrealistic to expect him to have been born with the emotional maturity needed to deal with having his name unfairly dragged through the mud, even if his bitterness over being mistreated and having life give him the finger is something that he's forced to overcome over the course of the series. This is especially true when one takes into consideration just how much of this bullying has happened at the hands of adults – namely, the teachers at his school who, rather than take an interest in his well-being and encourage him to do better (as the school principal, Takenaka, seems to do), instead embark on a bizarre crusade to eliminate his presence from the school entirely, even going as far as celebrating when they find out about his death at the beginning of the series. Keep in mind, these are grown-ups targeting a (at the time) fourteen-year-old boy; regardless of how badly Yusuke acts, they should at least know better than to wish death on him. Seeing as they do not, however, and are shown to make a habit out of terrorizing other students as well, it is perhaps not terribly inappropriate to speculate that they are at least part of the reason why Yusuke doesn't have much respect for authority: given that he's made reference to “people in power never doing anything to help” at least once, it can be assumed that his disrespect largely stems from a lack of faith in their effectiveness, and well, when it comes to teachers who get their jollies gunning after troubled teenagers in need of just as much guidance as they do a big kick in the ass, ineffectiveness is the least of what one could accuse them of.
What is more, Yusuke also has had to deal with the stigma, stress, and emotional baggage from having been brought up by a single, negligent, alcoholic mother. To be clear, the rift in his relationship with his mom is not caused by a lack of affection: she cares enough about him to totally fall apart when he dies, and he cares enough about her in turn to almost slug his teacher when they talk badly about her. It's just that she's so hopelessly irresponsible that Yusuke seems to have to take care of her more than the other way around, making her coffee when she's hungover and consoling her during drunken crying jags (albeit in a kind of “aw geez mom, really?” sort of way), and when we see their old house during the first couple of episodes, it's covered head-to-toe in trash - the implication being that Atsuko's drinking problem has taken precedence over not letting their living space turn into a gigantic germ magnet. So given the instability and lack of sufficent support both at home and at school, it comes as no surprise that, despite his age, he has a pretty jaded outlook on life when we first meet him at the beginning of the series – so jaded, in fact, that when he dies unexpectedly whilst saving a child from getting run down by a car in the first episode, he initially refuses an offer from the Spirit World to regain his life back, citing – with an alarming amount of nonchalance – his belief that no one would miss him if he did.
Of course, this changes once he's persuaded to visit his wake: upon seeing the people he cared about mourning his death and being shocked by how much he meant to them, Yusuke decides that returning to the living world would be worthwhile after all, and when he does, it's with a new appreciation for life as well as for the people around him. It's this loyalty to his family, friends and allies that is, hands-down, one of Yusuke's greatest strengths. Yeah, so his status as a student of the School of Tough Love makes him more inclined to let people know he likes them through rough-housing and sparring and occasionally mean-spirited teasing rather than through “mushy stuff” like, you know, regularly saying nice things to them without being sarcastic, but it's hard to deny just how important Yusuke's friends are to him, even if he does act like kind of a butthead towards them. The times throughout the series in which we see Yusuke genuinely distraught almost always occur when someone close to him is in danger, and it is also during these times that he demonstrates the lengths to which he'll go to keep them safe or, in some cases, avenge them – namely, by risking his life kicking the utter shit out of whichever bad guy's the culprit. Taking this into consideration, it wouldn't be an exaggeration at all to say that Yusuke feels responsible for the safety of his loved ones, and not because he's got some weird hero complex brought on by his designated role as Defender of the World, either: even if a member of his rag-tag gang of buddies can take care of themselves just fine (and the majority of them can), Yusuke'll still make a point of swooping in and dusting them off once they're done kicking enemy tail, both as a way of supporting them as well as a way of making sure they've come out of it in one piece.
Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho | reserve expired | 3/???
Of course, that doesn't mean anyone with whom he's quarreled with in the past requires a complete personality transplant to later convince him that they're all right; being a bit rough around the edges himself, Yusuke isn't exactly in any position to go projecting ideals on other people or trying to force them to change their ways, and he doesn't. This makes sense, when you think about it: given the number of people who've wasted their time trying to change him, it's safe to say that Yusuke's had just enough experience with preaching to know how annoying it is to be on the receiving end of it, so rather than mindlessly engage in the very same behavior that pisses him off, he instead accepts people as they are and lets them be, a quality of his that is most clearly demonstrated in his relationship with surly ex-felon Hiei. Okay, so the guy's a little misanthropic – who cares? Even if no one else understands why Yusuke trusts him, it's enough for Yusuke to know that Hiei will always come through in the end, so screw what anyone else thinks! (Note that Yusuke has the added advantage of being a wonderful judge of character: to use Hiei as an example again, had Yusuke not entrusted him with the task of helping pull him and the rest of the crew out of a bind during their first case together, the series probably would have ended with the lot of them getting crushed under a trap wall. Yusuke's instincts and Hiei's agility: 1, Annoying Villainous Eyeball Bat operating the wall: 0.)
Aside from what is listed above, Yusuke has other strengths as well, among them being his sense of humor. He might not always make jokes at the most appropriate times – indeed, he usually doesn't – but there's no denying that he's funny, even if his brand of comedy relies more on wise-cracking than it does on sophistication or extraordinary amounts of wit. (An example from the English dub: Yusuke responding to Hiei's inquiry about the “ridiculous appendage sticking out of his head” - otherwise known as Puu, who had taken up residence there - with “it's just a puberty thing, okay?” Oh, you.) As noted before, Yusuke also has a way of using humor to defuse tension, something which, despite having been used earlier as an example of how dumb and arrogant he can be in combat, can alternatively be used to take the air out of a situation before it gets the chance to take off and escalate unnecessarily. Of course, it doesn't always work: taking into consideration the abrasive nature of his communication style in general, it comes as little surprise that his jokes sometimes rub people the wrong way, nor is it shocking that they sometimes back-fire and make things worse. But uh, hey, at least you can't accuse him of being super serious, right? (“Right,” grumbles the crowd of people whom his “kidding around” has rightfully offended. Sigh.)
Yusuke is also brave – not to a fault, because hero or not, his nerves aren't made of titanium, but he definitely isn't easy to scare or intimidate. This is as much a result of his own arrogance as it is borne out of necessity: whether you're scuffling on the streets with a bunch of kids packing knives or facing off against a gigantic demon, you pretty much have to develop nerves of steel, as well as learn how to fake it in the event that you do lose your cool. Fortunately for him, he doesn't often have to pull an emergency poker face when things get dangerous - in fact, one could even say that his head is often at its clearest when he's in a bind, because it's often when the lives of himself or others are in peril that he demonstrates just how clever he can be when pressed for time. (Unless, of course, it's a friend and they're in mortal danger of some sort: then he's so angry and panicked he can barely think at all. See: how much he loves his friends.) Really, it's no wonder why Yusuke refers to his role as Spirit Detective as “the one damn good thing (he's) been good at”: between his fighting prowess, his mental dexterity and intrepidity in times of trouble, and how difficult he is for villains to manipulate (which they do try to do, often whilst under the impression that he's as dumb as he looks – big mistake), it's difficult to deny that Yusuke is extremely well-suited to the job – even if he's more of a pain in the ass than your Standard Do-Goodery Hero.
Finally, it would be a mistake to end this without making it clear that if there is anything Yusuke isn't about, it's acting like he's someone he's not. You can spend your time talking smack about him or carrying on about how you think he should behave; you can wring your hands and worry about his future, hoping that your concern will rub off on him and make him worried about it, too. But to Yusuke, that's all just noise: regardless of what kind of adult he could be or whatever stupid ideal someone else might want him to live up to, Yusuke is the sort of person whose primary concern lies with the present, and as of right now, he's got a pretty good idea of who he is. So he's rude and dumb and irresponsible sometimes – so what, you think he doesn't know that? Hell, if prompted, he'll even admit to being dumb or rude or any of those other things, not just because he's trying to be cheeky (though that is a part of it – never underestimate the lengths to which he'll go to grate on peoples' nerves or be contrary), but because he doesn't see a lot of point in being ashamed or trying to cover anything up.
And if anyone out there watching doesn't like that, fine. You wanna fight about it?
Strengths/Weaknesses:
STRENGTHS --
+ Physical strength / athleticism. You don't earn the title of being the most formidable punk on the block by being a lightweight: even before being granted his spiritual powers, Yusuke was known for bringing massive amounts of hurt to anyone who messed with him, so even though he'll obviously be weaker here on Route without all the sweet tricks and buffs he's gained through his connection to the spirit world, he'll still have enough brute strength and endurance to withstand the wilderness and be dangerous in a brawl. He just won't be able to, you know, literally send people flying through the air when he strikes them. Life is rough.
+ Loyalty. Taking into consideration how much of an impact that whole jerkass juvenile delinquent thing has had on his social life, Yusuke has tons of appreciation for the friends and allies he has, and their safety and well-being rank pretty highly on his priority list.
+ Good sense of right and wrong. While Yusuke isn't by any means averse to bending or even outright breaking the rules (especially petty ones like “don't steal” or “don't trespass” or “don't sass your principal/the police/etc.”), he's not an evil person, and he would never, ever do something like kill or torture someone just for kicks. He isn't the type to go picking on the weaker guys, either – that is, not unless they really, really deserve it.
+ Quick thinking. Yusuke is no genius by any stretch of the imagination, but he is great at picking up on patterns in an opponent's strategy and conjuring up counter strategies in the heat of the moment, and when shit's hitting the fan and time's running out, you won't see him spending five minutes deliberating. This could very well come in handy if he ever decides to take on the Gym Challenge.
+ Courage. He's definitely had his fair share of “oshi--” moments (again: 'sup, Toguro?), but in general, Yusuke isn't easy to scare or intimidate – he can't exactly afford to be, given the kind of crap he has to deal with on a regular basis. Being an idiotic testosterone-addled teenage boy also helps.
+ Street smarts. If there's anything being a delinquent has taught him, it's how to trust his instincts: though he's generally not one to bail when a situation gets dangerous, he's shrewd enough to recognize a red flag when he sees one, and if he absolutely had to get out of there, one can count on him being resourceful enough to figure out how to do so. And while he isn't necessarily paranoid or anything, he sure as hell isn't gullible, either: if you want a youngster who's easily taken in, you'll have to find someone else, because despite all appearances, Yusuke is a great judge of character with a keen nose for bullshit.
+ Compassion. Yusuke's pretty friggin' rough around the edges, but he does care about other people, and when he puts his mind to it, he has a great capacity for kindness. (One also musn't forget that his inner self is represented by a cute bird with floppy ears, indicating that he ranks pretty high on the Scale of Hidden Fuzziness. Aw, Yusuke.)
+ Good with kids. Not quite sure as to what extent this might apply here in Route, but given that Yu Yu Hakusho begins with Yusuke throwing himself infront of a car to save a little boy's life (which later turns out to not have even been necessary, as the kid would've survived even without Yusuke's interference – oops), I think it's worth mentioning that he has a pretty massive soft spot for children. So expect him to be looking out for any of the little ones wandering around, here – and totally destroying whomever he catches messing with them if it ever comes to that.
Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho | reserve expired | 4/???
- Dickish behavior. Self-explanatory. His heart's in the right place, but sensitivity isn't really one of his virtues, and his brain-to-mouth filter? Virtually non-existent. So yeah, expect lots of crude, inappropriate jokes and him totally doing and saying the wrong things at the wrong time.
- Recklessness to the point of stupidity. Self-preservation? Thinking ahead? What is that? Don't ask him, because he's not gonna be doing a lot of either.
- Stubbornness. The thing about Yusuke is, if you want him to do something he's not totally on board with, it isn't enough to ask nicely until he finally caves: you pretty much have to ride his ass until he does it.
- Hotheadedness. Thanks to his age and his overall personality, Yusuke is pretty moody: it's incredibly easy to get on his nerves and/or piss him off, and comparatively less easy for him to come down from a bad mood. It's generally recommended that people either try to reel him in and calm him down (whether that be through ~calm, soothing words or by implementing their own brand of corralling, e.g. Genkai calling him a dumbass and cuffing him across the face before duly dropping an anvil of wisdom on his head), or just give him lots of space until he calms down on his own. The latter is especially true for those with whom he's on bad terms with: if he doesn't like you and you manage to wind him up, don't be surprised when he and his fists come flying in your face. (And notice that's a when, not an if. Hope you like having your head kicked in!)
- Violent. Speaking of head kicking and face damaging, Yusuke is a pretty violent guy – not to the point of assaulting random people on the street without provocation or anything, but it absolutely would not be an exaggeration to say that he practically lives for a good brawl, and he doesn't have many inhibitions when it comes to when and with whom he'll initiate a scuffle. This probably comes as no surprise since, hello, hotheaded shounen hero, but what this means is that aside from engaging in relatively harmless activities like having ~spirited ass-kicking bonding sessions~ with other like-minded characters, he will most likely refuse to let his Pokemon fight for him when he runs into trouble unless there's absolutely no other option. So yeah, next time something terrible decides to try its hand at conquering Johto, everyone can look forward to seeing Yusuke conveniently forget about his team of super-powered monsters and watch as he instead takes it upon himself to try to headbutt, wrestle, and generally curbstomp it into submission. :')
- Arrogance. Yusuke has a way of being seriously overconfident, which, as one can imagine, has gotten him into some serious trouble: namely, getting the stuffing beaten out of him by bad guys whom he might've defeated faster had he bothered to pull his head out of his ass sooner than he did. Here, it'll probably manifest itself in the aforementioned rugby tackling of Johto's Big Bads, which would inevitably be followed by him getting scratched up and trampled all to hell and rethinking his “kick it in the head and ask questions later” strategy about five minutes too late.
- Book dumb. The guy got a 12 on a science test. To be fair, Yusuke's poor academic performance has a lot more to do with laziness than with an actual lack of intelligence; in fact, given enough incentive, he could probably be a very good student! Alas, however, he is not, so one would be wise not to ask him for homework help.
- Authority issues. Sorry, Officer Jenny, but thanks to a lack of faith or respect in people who claim to be in charge, Yusuke's gonna need some serious elbow-twisting if he's going to be expected to play by the rules. Of course, what complicates things is how ineffective nagging him tends to be; most of the time, it just kinda pisses him off and makes him harder to deal with. What is worse, if he felt threatened enough, he wouldn't even be against making things physical, though the situation would definitely have to escalate to a certain point before such a thing occurred – believe it or not, he's not exactly keen on the idea of being thrown in the slammer, even if having a bunch of dumb police officers pushing him around would really tick him off.
- '80's kid. Some of the, uh, technology might be a little awkward for him at first: it's the early 1990's where he comes from, so texting is in its wee early days, and he sure as heck didn't have a cell phone to practice SMSing on back home. Expect him to either shuck texting all together (because what the hell, he's not scared to talk on the stupid phone like a normal person) or take forever to send them out until he gets used to it. He's not gonna get any pop culture references succeeding his time, either, so have fun watching them go soaring right over his head if they come up.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer.
Starter: Swablu.
Password: Scrambled eggs!
Samples
First Person Sample:
Yusuke Urameshi | Yu Yu Hakusho | reserve expired | 5/5
[NOTE: This is a modified version of the third-person sample that I used for my previous application, edited so that it is somewhat more readable and so that it makes more sense in context with the new application. I hope that's okay! If it isn't, please let me know and I will happily write something new.]
Night had fallen, and by then, Yusuke had been on the road for roughly four to five hours, having been pushing on toward Cherrygrape (or whatever it was called) since he'd left New Bark Town earlier that day. It was unpleasantly chilly outside: even though he'd managed to work up enough of a sweat while walking to necessitate having to occasionally pause to pick fabric out from between his shoulderblades and armpits and a variety of other crevices and body parts (some of which were better left unmentioned), he still found himself walking down Route 29 with his shoulders hunched and his arms pressed tightly into his body, trying – to no avail, it seemed – to conserve body heat. His Swablu, of course, was trying to help – or at least, that was what Yusuke assumed it was trying to do, as it had been fairly adamant about nesting in his hair and wrapping its wings around his head. He'd tried to get it to buzz off at first, of course: yelling at it, threatening it, grabbing it out of mid-air and chucking it into the foilage... eventually, however, he got tired of fighting with the stupid thing, and decided to say 'screw it' and let it do whatever it wanted to do. At least it made a pretty decent pair of earmuffs.
(Of course, some might accuse him of having started to feel guilty for abusing it... but that wasn't it at all, okay? He just got sick of it telling it to go away and having it always come back. Really.)
That didn't exactly make up for all the crap that was irritating him, though: as if being stranded in the middle of the frost-bitten freakin' wilderness wasn't bad enough, his legs hurt, his feet were blistering, and the only sign of civilization so far was the beaten path ahead of him. What was worse, his Spirit Gun wasn't working; he couldn't even tap into his spiritual awareness. Oh, it wasn't as if he hadn't tried, of course: after all, when he'd first found himself upstairs in “Mom”'s house and had stumbled down into the foyer, uncoordinated and still half-asleep (when the hell had he fallen asleep!?), he'd been so certain that “Mom” was in cahoots with Sensui that he'd threatened her, telling her, in no uncertain terms, that he'd blow her freakin' head off if she didn't explain herself. Naturally, that didn't work: with a smile and the kind of Heruclean strength he hadn't even begun to expect from a lady in a dumb apron, Mom had simply seized him by the front of his shirt, shoved a book bag at him, and flung him, head-over-ass, out the door and into a snow bank. It was only when he'd pulled himself back out that he realized his powers were gone, and by that point, he was so confused and pissed off by everything that the only thing he could think of doing after that was march back up to Mom's house and try to break back in. Too bad the stupid cop had to intervene.
And now, here he was, walking down a stupid dirt road with a stupid bird on his head and some stupid music playing in the background. If it weren't for the, like, five million people who swarmed in on him to tell him, practically in friggin' surround sound, that the ~World of Pokemon~ was on a different dimensional plane and that he wouldn't have to worry about the world being destroyed while he was strung out here in Happy Cuddly Land and blah blah fucking blah, Yusuke was sure he'd still be freaking out - and to be honest, he still was, a little. Why wouldn't he be, with his best friend suspended in the clutches of some weirdo trying to use him to rip open a portal to Demon World? He didn't really have a hell of a lot of time to pursue that train of thought further, though: as he found himself once again staring the tip of his finger down again (because surely, if he stared at it long enough, his Spirit Gun would just magically return), the path ahead suddenly opened up into a clearing, and Yusuke, seeing the sudden change in scenery out of the corner of his eye, paused and looked up, blinking. There was still forest on either side of him, but now the road he'd been following wound around and eventually disappeared behind a small raised ledge, next to which was an attractive young woman with long brown hair and shiny lipgloss, dressed rather improperly for both the weather as well as the wilderness in a short purple dress.
For a moment, Yusuke found himself rather, ah, intrigued by her – what could he say, he was a young guy with needs, Pissed Off Save-the-Day Superhero Stranded In Bubblegum World or not. That said, his interest was quickly squashed when he noticed her dead, vacant eyes: had Yusuke stumbled upon her whilst walking around back home, he might've assumed she was just doped up or possessed or something, but here, it was clear to him that she was one of those "NPC"s, one of the many vague, repetitive natives to this place who supposedly became a lot more interactive the farther you went. As it was, Yusuke was starting to think that was a load of crap: he'd nearly gotten chased out of the last town for hauling off and shoving one of them into a trash can for being annoying, and hours later, he still had yet to find one that was actually helpful. Besides, they were kind of creepy, in a way – not scary or intimidating, of course, but the whole 'not-breathing' thing was a little unsettling. Whoever programmed those things must've had a love affair with, like, dumb gothic novels or something.
At any rate, it seemed to him that going up that ledge'd be the fastest way to clear this part of the forest, so gritting his teeth and hunching his shoulders, Yusuke proceeded forward, hoping he could somehow sneak his way past before the girl could notice him. Unfortunately for him, it was not meant to be so: in fact, he was only less than five feet away from her when she suddenly jerked upright and stared right at him with wide, manic eyes, startling him badly enough that he tripped and tumbled sideways into a bush. The Swablu, who by then had still been riding atop his head, managed to detach itself just before Yusuke could take it down with him, trilling reproachfully at the NPC. Excuse you, young lady.
Unfettered by the chaos slowly beginning to unfold before her (or indeed, the ticked off Pokemon cussing her out), the NPC smiled broadly and started in on her speech. "Hi! Do you see these ledges?" She asked, her voice filled to the brim with boisterous cheer as Yusuke, sputtering, untangled himself from the foliage. "It's scary to jump off them. But you can go to New Bark Town without walking through tall grass. You can't go back up, though, so be careful!"
Scowling, Yusuke yanked his leg out of the bush. "Oh yeah?" He barked crossly, regaining his footing and shrugging the Swablu away. Now that its trainer had recovered, the Swablu had flown down to busy itself with feeble attempts to pick pine needles out of Yusuke's hair, with a manner not unlike a mother trying to groom its messy, wayward child. Yusuke, however, wasn't exactly appreciative, and made a face at the Pokemon before placing a hand on its head and shoving it away. "Hey, knock it off! You're gonna start pullin' hair out."
So he couldn't go up the ledge, huh? Standing back and eyeing it for a moment, Yusuke's gaze briefly wandered back to the NPC girl before he looked back at the ledge and stormed up to it, scoffing. Now that was a slice. That thing wasn't even half his height! Even a kid could get up that little slope, and even if it was kinda slippery, hell, Yusuke had climbed way worse things than that. Like that time he'd had to follow Genkai up that stupid mountain during training! Damn, had that sucked.
Sliding his bag off of his shoulder and tossing it over the top of the ledge, Yusuke began making his way up. Or, well... he tried to, at least: unfortunately, he was barely able to get two feet on the thing before he suddenly lost his footing, sliding and toppled forward onto his stomach with a loud thump. Cringing, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and stared at the ledge, blinking owlishly a few times before narrowing his eyes. "Well, that's weird," he muttered. He rubbed his jaw and gingerly rose back up onto his feet.
Okay, so maybe the hot robot chick here wasn't kidding about it being kinda difficult to get up this thing. Still, it wasn't like it was a big slope or anything, so Yusuke tried again, taking wider steps this time to see if it'd make any difference. It didn't. He slid again, and just barely managed to keep from falling over this time, his feet briefly getting tangled up in themselves before he clumsily regained his balance and glared at the ledge incredulously, his hands balling into fists. "Dammit, what the hell are these things even made out of, melted butter?!" He shouted, and immediately jerked his head around to shoot the NPC girl an accusing look. She didn't respond, though: seemingly oblivious to Yusuke's ire as well as just about everything else around her (with the obvious exception of the ledges), she merely continued to stand there, swaying a bit on her heels and staring blissfully into the tree tops.
The Swablu, meanwhile, had decided to wait for Yusuke at the top of the ledge, blinking anxiously as it watched Yusuke take several dozen steps back, determination carved into his face. He didn't care how slippery that damn ledge was – he was gonna make it up there, whether the ledge liked it or not! Rolling his sleeves up over his shoulders and bending down briefly to wipe his palms on his thighs, Yusuke locked his eyes on the ledge, counted to three, and charged, flinging his entire body at the ledge with a loud bellow.
He didn't know what exactly happened in the seconds that followed, but somehow he ended up flipping backwards and landing flat on his back with a shock that seemed to reverberate through the rest of his body, the back of his head and his elbows connecting none-too-gently with the forest floor soon after. A moment of stunned silence followed, during which he stared, wide-eyed and thoroughly bewildered, up at the night sky, snatches of which he could see only through the branches of the overhanging trees. It was only until the NPC suddenly turned and bent over him with a smile that he jerked upright, bristling at her as she raised a hand in greeting.
"Hi! Do you see these ledges? It's scary to jump off them. But you can go to New Bark Town––"
"Shut UP!" He snapped, leaping to his feet. Wiping the front of his shirt off, Yusuke cast a sullen look at the ledge and aimed a kick at it, grumbling under his breath. "Stupid ledge..."
It was then that his bag came tumbling down from its perch, and Swablu, looking slightly winded, flew down after it. Scowling, Yusuke knelt down to scoop the bag off of the forest floor and flung it over one shoulder, pointedly ignoring the way his now battered limbs twinged in protest. "Let's get out of here, Puu," he told the Swablu, and with one final, cutting look at the NPC (who, of course, wasn't looking at him at all), he turned away and stormed around the ledge, cursing. He didn't know who the hell it was that kidnapped him – whether it was Sensui or Koenma or some other wise guy – or where his powers had gone, but he swore to god that the minute he got them back, those ledges were gonna be toast.
ACCEPTED!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: # thru G, H thru O, or P thru Z.
[○] Comment to the Friend Add/Remove, and update your friends list.
[○] Join the following communities:
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] Route 29 has an optional spam/meme community; it's
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!
Re: ACCEPTED!