RP One Shots

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Crobat. The Bat Pokemon. It flies so silently through the dark on its four wings that it may not be noticed even when nearby.

Silently and quickly.

Carmella was eternally stumped by the inattentiveness of these criminal masterminds. Hadn't she just communicated through intricate facial ques what would happen when they turned their back to her? She felt that she had at least made it fair by warning them, but if they weren't going to pay attention then she would just have to use this growlith man as an example.

She fluttered up behind him, landing momentarily to swing her front two wings across his open back.

Cross Poison 19/20

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Lucia watched the battle with an enthusiasm that contradicted her apparent laziness earlier. The thought, to help her new companions briefly crossed her mind, but she dismissed it, reasoning that they had everything under control. She could always help if things got worse.

A soft nudge from behind, prompted Lucia to half turn and face Snorlax behind her. The Snorlax was looking down at her with an expression that wasn't really all that different from its normal black faced stare, but Lucia knew what it meant.

"Oh, shush," she replied, " They don't need my help. They're perfectly capable of taking care of these dorks by themselves."

Snorlax nudged her again, harder this time.

"Fine! Fine! I'll help...jeez..."

Lucia carefully crept around the battle, trying her best to look non-conspicuous, until she was close enough to the other rockets. Non-nonchalantly, she stretched out her arms in a tired fashion. brown circle grew around her eyes, and a thin tan fur shifted on her skin as she tapped into Slakoth's moves. As Lucia stretched, she let out a huge, loud yawn towards the gathered Rockets.

Yawn (9/10)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"UUUAAAGGGHH!!!" The young Grunt wasn't absolutely sure, but that hit felt pretty stinkin' effective to him. He whipped around, and the gleam of the street lights made his eyes appear to glow.

Though, even when he lunged from in range of the street light, a glow now tinged his eyes. A bright, nasty red, like heat on the eye of a stove. It was lost on him, at this point, even to care about how well his attacks would work.

His hand ignited, and with a snarling grunt, he launched a bright ball of flame at Crobat Carmella, eyes wild with malice and angry hope, "Ember!"

Ember 24/25

[Philote]

Coal lets out a cry of pain. A Dark attack, one of the few types that his Wonder Guard ability couldn't block and Shedinja's defenses were already poor. The Bite had painfully drawn blood on his left arm. Coal slinks away into the shadows again as Carmella re-distracted the grunt with the Growlithe. On his way back up from the shadows, Coal grabs the leg of a grunt and attempts to throw him.

Shadow Sneak: 28/30

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Carmella dodged back and up, hastily dodging the fireball. She grinned above the man. As if he could possibly-

He thoughts were interrupted by the whoosh of something suddenly going up in flames. She turned around just in time to see Saya drop the flaming remains of her coat to the floor.

She stared. All she could do was stare. If it was possible for a Crobat to hover sheepishly in the air, Saya was.

[Philote]

Coal does a quick headcount after dropping one of the grunts onto his back. There was the one just grounded, one fighting Carmella, another having a yawning battle with the new girl, leaving the last one alone. Turning on this loan grunt, Coal puffs himself up to look his most menacing and reaches out if possible to grab the grunt by his collar.

"Scott Remington. Tell me what you know about this man!"

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Even in Coal's grasp, the Grunt was defiant, "I know that I'd pay more attention to Kirby, if I were you!"

He looked over Coal's shoulder, as his comrade with called out with menace, "Toxic!"

Kirby could be heard breathing in deep, before a sloshing sound emerged from his mouth, followed by a nasty projectile vomit of purple goo, which Kirby's buddy was just lucky enough to pull away from Coal and avoid.

Toxic: 9/10

[Philote]

Coal shuddered as he wiped the vile sludge off of himself. "Come on man. I'm trying to get some real answers here. Why do you have to be spraying me with stuff like this. I'm going to bust your face in if this smell sticks around."  

Wulf:Toxic starts off weak but grows in strength over time.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Carmilla flaps over the burning coat, grabs the flaming garment with her foot, and throws it over the rockets.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

7:00 AM. Summer, somewhere in the United States. Soft morning light fell trough the light clouds down onto the park.  It shown down on the massive visitor parking lot, the endless asphalt already heating to a scorching, uncomfortable temperature. It shown down on the gates, bearing a large stature of Action Jack himself ready to greet prospective guests. The Chrome of Futureland glittered in the sunlight, freshly polished by the mysterious and secretive Night Staff. The jungles of Adventure Land grew hot and muggy as the animals made their way obediently back to their enclosures for another days work. In History Land ancient voices from the past seemed to quiet themselves in anticipation that their time was no longer.

The Park may live at night, but right now it was in the process of coming to life.

Jenny LastName liked this time of day. It was like standing in the doorway between two different worlds. If you've ever been to the park you might know the freckled face of this smiling 17 year old, at least if you were the kind of person who payed attention to the help. She worked the rides. In fact she worked about half the rides about half of the time, and the other half the other half of the time. An observant viewer could walk the considerable length of the park and see this same girl working at every other ride at the same time. No one really commented on this, per the tacit agreement among park staff that you didn't pry into other peoples weirdness, and management kept her on because A). they only had to pay one person and B). the tourists never looked too close at ride staff anyway.

This particular iteration of Jenny worked one of Horrorville's famous Haunted House rides, Spookums Scary Lair, a more kid friendly version of the usual attractions here that didn't even contain any real ghosts. Striding along the main thoroughfare toward her station, happily munching on a doughnut one of herself had brought in to share with the other early birds, she passed the flying witch broom ride and turned into what she knew from her years of working here was her place.

It was not there. Instead of the small faux cave covered in fake cobwebs with the cheerful cartoon ghost on the sign there was instead a graveyard full of old weathered tombstones. The black, wright iron gate slowly opened by itself with a exaggerated Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek, and as it did she let her eyes wander up the flagstone path through the graves to an old mausoleum. Along the path on either side was a chain barricade to keep guests from wandering out among the tombstone, and in front of the mausoleum was a ticket stand very much like the one she used everyday. There was something else too, a sigh above the entrance that she had to squint her eyes to make out.

She had worked Horrorville for years, largely considered to be the most dangerous portion of the park. Some of the things that happened here after dark would send veterans of the other sections sprinting back to their homes to safely shiver the night away under the safety of their bed covers, but what Jenny saw made her blood run cold. The doughnut fell to the floor as she sprinted off to find management.

--------

Phil was angry where you stepped into his office, but then again the man never seemed to be any less than frustrated at any given time. The owner of the park was short, about five feet high if that, with swept back black hair and a pencil thin mustache on his tanned, aged face, but the mans rage could keep anyone in check. If called to do so he would rise, like an angry god, from his office in the tunnels under the park and burn the world above with his fury. But never in public. Action Phil was very particular about customer service, and would never do something like that in view of park guests. That was a good sign. Since there are no guests in the park right now that means his rage probably wasn't directed at you.

Beside him, standing in a corner well out of his way, was one of the numerous Jennies, who sighs in relief and give a little wave when you enter the room. Something seems to have really spooked this one.

The other occupant of the room are Marcus Faust, the head of Legal and the fattest man you have ever seen. He is, as always, sweating profusely and, as always, looking very worried about something as he fiddles with a projector. Near him, hovering ever by his side, is his little black goat. It gives you an appraising look as you come in with its big red eyes before burying its head back in Phils wastebasket.

Phil makes a curt sound in the pit of his throat as he notices you through the red haze he's currently seeing, turning around from the rear window that overlooks the entire park. "Good, sit down." He barks, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his mahogany desk. "I've called you here because we could be facing the death of the park."

He sounded urgent. Then again, any crises could be the death of the park when it came to Phil.

[Philote]

Pirro saunters into the room. Jovial, if not slightly worried in regards to this summon. Having squeezed into the room first, he pushes a couple of empty chairs aside, as he was quite a fat "man" himself, to make room for himself to take a seat near Marcus Faust. Pirro admirred Faust. As a man who worked with food, he could appreciate anyone who managed to be fatter than himself. His goat was a fine companion as well, Pirro thought as he pulled out a stick of fried marshmallows from his pocket to hand to the creature slyly under the table. His chair squeaks as he settles in and waits for the rest of the cast to join the lecture.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Reed exploded into the room, as that was really the only way to describe his entrance. His presence immediately attracting everyone's attention as he loudly announced himself by kicking open the door and exclaimed a very Fonzy-esque, "'Eeeeeeyyy!"

Reed had always been showy and overconfident. It most likely extended from the fact that things always seemed to go his way. Some might have called it luck, but whatever force that guided Reed's charmed life had a grim sense of humor as it never seemed to protect him from getting worked over by angry men who assumed he'd cheated them out their money after playing a winning hand 34 times in a row.

As was frequently common, today Reed wore a large pair of dark sunglasses to hide the evidence of his most recent encounter. He flashed a winning smile at the assembled staff and flopped into a seat.

"How ya doing kiddos? Everyone having a good day? I sure am."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Jenny gives a little wave to Reed as he flops down, while the goat sniffs catches the whiff of marshmallows and looks up at Pirro. Its eyes flash flash for a moment before it nods approvingly and rips the stick from his hand, tearing into it with ruthless abandon.

(Phi, you have earned the favor of 『Dark Forces』. At any point you may cash in this favor to have 『Dark Forces』 intervene on your character behalf.)

"No Reed. No I am not having a 'good day'." Phil says through a veil of barely contained rage. "I might never have a good day again. And if I never have a good day again, you can be damn well sure none of you will either. Faust, have you got that projector working yet?"

The fat man shrikes as though he's been visibly struck before nodded. "Yes sir, just getting the final slides in sir, no need to yell sir."

"Good. Now, lights."

Jenny obediently flips the light switch off a closes the blinds of the office window as Faust brings the slide projector to life, plastering an image of the bare white wall of the office. It's an old photo, colors dulled with age, of a ride entrance neither of you have ever seen before. It's some sort of crypt facade, the large doors swung open to revel a walkway lit with real torchlight descending into the earth. Above the crypts entrance is a sign, the backboard shaped like a mobius strip, featuring the upper half of a jolly looking cartoon skeleton. He's smiling, wearing a monocle in his empty eye socket, and doffing his tophat to prospective riders. Under him is printed the name of the ride.

"Mr.Bones Wild Ride." Phil reads aloud, as though reading an obituary. "It appeared in the summer of '86, one of our busiest summers on record, between the Grimly Haunted Spook Show and the Flying Witch Brooms. It was innocuous, so much so that no one noticed it. By the time we had, 28 park guests had already boarded. Slide."

Faust presses a button, and a new picture slides into view. A picture of a woman who looks very much like Jenny, older, with longer hair and less freckles. "We discovered it when it was noticed that one Mrs. Lucinda LastName had not reported to he station. A search reveled her to be manning the entrance to Mr. Bones Wild Ride, ushering guests within, claiming that the new ride was a demographic test and was free of charge. When dragged away from the ride she became violent, before passing out. When questioned later she claimed to have no memory of the days events. We cordon off the entrance and wait. Slide."

The picture changes to a group of five men posing in front of the ride entrance. A man in janitorial clothing seems to looking with terror at something over the cameraman shoulder. A younger man, with wild hair and a oil stained face, crouches down with a toolbox in front of him. A large, muscle bound man with tanned skin, a chiseled jaw, and wearing nothing but a leopard print loincloth beams heroically in the very center, while beside him a man wearing a tuxedo and turban with well kept facial hair skulks.

The last man is Abraham Lincoln.

"Automaton." Phil says, as if anticipating the question, and on a second look Lincoln does seem a little waxy. "After 6 hours with no sigh of the guests five employees volunteered to venture in after them. Nathan Spaets, janitor, able to see the unseen. Mickey Hally, head of maintenance. Samson, no last name, who played Jungle Jack in the Jack in the Jungle show. The Great Victurio, magician and hypnotist. Abraham Lincoln, an automaton from the hall of presidents. He had to beat Washington and both Roosevelt's in rock paper scissors for the right. Slide."

The nest slide is a haggard looking family of four. Their clothing has been worn to tatters, their eyes are sunken, and they look like they haven't eaten in days. "An hour later, the first park guests begin to stumble back out of the ride. Nearly completely incoherent. Over the course of the day 13 guests emerged from the ride in this state, along with...."

The slide changes again, to a picture of a woman whose tattered clothing is of a significantly older style then any of the others, like a pilgrim that had gotten lost in desert for a year. "This woman, Prudence Mcdougal, was the last to emerge from the ride that day. Just as incoherent as the rest of course, but when questioned later about the rescue team could only remember that they were 'going for the source.' When we checked our records we found she was not one of the guests who had entered the park that day."

The projector is switched off, and the light flipped back on. "An hour after her emergence Mr.Bones Wild Ride vanished, taking with it 15 guests and 5 staff. We covered up the cause, of course, but the press had a field day. 'How do 15 people go missing in a single day?'  They threw out every theory they could find, a crazed killer living in the tunnels under the park, a kidnapping ring grabbing people and sending them off to be sold as slaves to some third world warlord, we even got accursed of being a front for a satanic cult! This nearly sunk us! It has taken us decades to get rid of the stigma of it! And now, AND NOW, in the busiest season we've had since that damnable thing first showed its face in MY park-"

Phil grabs his blinds and literally rips them off the wall. Instead of the view of the entire park it normally showed, now you were at street level. Right across from a particular ride, a ride that Phil is glaring at with more raw hatred than you've ever seen on his face. He turns back to the pair of you. "I called you boys because I need the best, and you're the best I've got right now. A man who can make anything edible, and a man so lucky I've tried to fire him six times and bit my tongue every time before I got the words out."

He turns back to look at the ride. "I want you boys to get rid of Mr.Bones Wild Ride."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Whoa, whoa whoa, hold up!" Reed exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and backed away from his seat.

"You want us to go in there?! Seriously?! You want us to just waltz into the mysteriously appearing death ride like it's no big deal? Those other guys didn't come back, what makes you think we'll fair any better? I might be lucky, but we all know that doesn't exactly extend to bodily harm, which is more than a possibility in there."

Reed waved his hands about frantically, gesturing wildly at the ride outside the window as he spoke.

"That place is a deathtrap, and I kinda like living. I say we slap an 'out of order' sign on it and leave it alone. No harm no foul, yeah? If nobody goes in, what's the harm in just leaving it there? Right? C'mon.....please? Let's.....just....."

Reed's voice trailed off as he meet Phil's angry glare.

"Oh c'mon man....Fine! You want us to walk into a death trap?! Fine, let's go! Off to our deaths!" Reed's voice squeaked in thinly veiled fear. He slumped back into he seat in defeated acceptance.

[Philote]

Gentleman Vaultboy wrote

Jenny gives a little wave to Reed as he flops down, while the goat sniffs catches the whiff of marshmallows and looks up at Pirro. Its eyes flash flash for a moment before it nods approvingly and rips the stick from his hand, tearing into it with ruthless abandon.

(Phi, you have earned the favor of 『Dark Forces』. At any point you may cash in this favor to have 『Dark Forces』 intervene on your character behalf.)

(No way that this can go wrong )

A wad of bonbons laying on a plate of napkins is set down in Reed's lap, followed by a reassuring pat on his shoulders from Pirro.

Grunting to clear his throat, Pirro speaks ups. "Why me sir? You usually only call me up for pedestrian deflection. How will I hone my craft rolling through one of the rides?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Not rolling." Faust pipes up. "No, No, No, No, No, we would never think of actually putting you on that horrible thing. You're able to walk in, the area around the track was reportedly big enough."

"To answer your question," Phil said. "No we can not just slap an "out of order" on it and go about our day. The thing does something to people heads, makes them want to ride it so long as they aren't in it. We almost had a whole new group try to get on, and the staff started ushering them in before my father came out to ask what they hell they thought they were doing."

"The park ended up being closed that day," Faust continues. "With a rotating vigil of staff waiting at the entrance for news."

"As for why we need you..." Phil say, turning to Pirro. "We have reason to believe that time has no meaning inside the ride. That may mean that that not only will you run into the missing employees down there, but the missing guests. You saw the state of those people that came off it, skin and bones. Pirro, since you started working here I've seen guests go from supermodel thin to bulging gut in just under four hours. That's the sort of mad culinary genius that you're going to need to get anyone you find down there moving again."

The little man places his hands behind his back. "I'm not going to pretend it's not dangerous. I'm really counting on Reeds extraordinary luck to carry you through unharmed. But if you succeed, if you bring those people out out wipe that stain of the name of Action Jack's forever, I will triple your pay and allow you use of the executive breakroom."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Triple pay?! The EXECUTIVE breakroom?!" Reed instantly perked up, his eyes glinting with greed. You could practically hear the cash register opening in his mind.

"You'll actually pay us more to deal with this crazy ride? Well, why didn't you say so? You should have started with that! I'll gladly decommission some dorky ride for some extra green."

[Philote]

A big grin breaks out on Pirro's face, his eyes positively glow, and his hands grip the armrests of his chair.

"The executive breakroom? The one with the executive storeroom and executive kitchen?"

Full access! Not just the normal pilfered snacks and reprimands for sneaking in. They might just have to devote the tripled pay to refueling stock after is incoming cooking escapades.

The pride he had from being complimented is completely overtaken by his hungry stare. There was no mistaking that he had not already agreed to the mission.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Then it's settled. Hold on." Phil says, walking around to his desk and pressing the button on his intercom. "Ms. Summers, you may come in now."

[Philote]

Pirro gets up from his seat and there is a noticeable creak as the chair unbends itself. "Oh, my. I'll have to pull out my emergency recipe book for this, restock my finer cart, call in that chef for the favor he owned me. We have to be off at once, there are people to feed! And an executive break room to raid..."