[Laughter] Oh, No! It Escaped! (Hijinks & Shockstar)

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Hijinks yawned out of sheer, unadulterated boredom. It was barely halfway through the morning and she'd already finished rigging another flashbang. Albeit, it was a small one, but that was the whole point. Later she'd find a cafe somewhere and slip it under someone's chair, but it was just too early now and no one would really be out for lunch yet. Her brothers were probably off somewhere causing their own mayhem, and she just felt too lazy to go floating about half the city looking for them. They always found each other by the end of the day anyways.

Now she lazily paddled through the air, her flotation anklets glowing their usual faint blue even in broad daylight. Certainly something interesting would happen in this stupid town... before she had to make something interesting happen.  

[Fea Line]

Guess who was at it again?

That's right.

Shockstar.

Shouting something unintelligible, the yellow colt darted through several legs of several angry phonies all about tripping over himself as he dug through his pack for another round capsule. His eyes narrowed, target in sight, he slid to a halt, cranking his arm back then shoving it forward, letting the capsule fly.

The orb flew threw the air, right on target as per his training help with Orbit. Closer and closer it drew before it finally landed.... smack dab on the dark behind of a floating mer foal. "WHAT?!?!?" Shockstar screeched as he stared in disbelief as this little filly managed to float right in the way, causing yet another critter to evade his grasps.

Alanna the Pirate Queen

IMSOSORRY

 

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Hijinks wasn't particularly paying any attention to where she was going, so long as she was going forward, she'd have to end up somewhere. It wasn't until some random object smacked her rump that the little filly's thoughts came back to the present. Her thoughts came back alright- quickly, angrily, and violently.

With a flinch and a snarl, Jinks whirled around and glared in all directions, looking for whoever hit her. Alas, it took only a moment for her eyes to lock on the bright yellow colt screeching in her direction, and the weird ball that now lay lifelessly on the ground next to her. "What the flying fox you little jerk?! What was that for? You wanna have that stupid tail ripped off your stupid butt? Got a death wish buddy?" she puffed herself up as much as she could and picked the ball off the ground, tossing it rather ominously from one hoof to the other.

Who did this kid think he was, throwing stuff at strangers. Didn't matter at all that she was planning on blowing up a cafe table later... that was for her to do to other phonies... not the other way around!

Fea Line

 

[Fea Line]

Still frowning, Shockstar's stupid tail flicked angrily atop his stupid butt, much like a cat ready to pounce. "Well MAYBE if someone hadn't floated their fish butt into my way this wouldn't have happened!" he huffed, taking in a breath and puffing out his chest.

The floating filly didn't scare him any, but the fact she dared to toss his capsule so carelessly? "It got away now thanks to you! And That's mine by the way!" he pointed at the orb she was playing with. Shock reached out with a hoof to try and snatch it back, thinking he'd easily be on his way again and wouldn't have to deal with floating fish ponies any more today.

Unless he could capture her too? Did she have awesome water moves?

Naaah.

Probably not.

Alanna the Pirate Queen

 

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Hijinks blinked in surprise. Other kids never stood up to her. She gave off too much of a delinquent vibe for most of them to really get into a scrap with her. This idiot was actually about to attack her for his stupid ball. It would be pathetic if it wasn't so funny... she'd have no qualms leaving him battered and bleeding. Alas, his weirdness kinda caught her attention. With an insolent grin, she flicked her tail under her and shot backwards, as she would in water with the same motion; after he didn't back down, she expected him to jump straight to force. These hover-bands were quite handy once you figured out how to use 'em. Continuing to toss his stupid ball from one hoof to the other, she replied, "I'll give it back to you... don't worry... only -if- you tell me why it's so freaking important... what got away? Your sanity?"

Fea Line

 

[Fea Line]

Shockstar facehoofed.

She did have some nice comebacks but she was a little lacking in the brain department. "No dummy, the monster! And THAT." he pointed at his ball she kept tossing back and forth between her hooves. "Is what I use to capture them with. Don't you watch TV or anything?" he grunted, letting out a loud "Sheesh." before stepping forward yet again to try to pry his ball out of her hooves. "They don't come cheap and I've already lost some. I'm not going to lose another one because you decided to be a seal for a day." he rolled his eyes before staring back at her. If she thought she was gonna just make him give up from a few comments, she was sorely mistaken.

Alanna the Pirate Queen

 

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Hijinks blinked and froze in such surprise and interest that she forgot to keep the ball away from the kid. He was able to finally wrest it from her without all that much prying as she stared at him, half incredulously, half distrustfully, "So let me get this straight... you're chasing monsters?" Pausing, she looked back at the ball in his hoof, "With some expensive tech?" She blinked a few times and her eyes narrowed shrewdly. This kid seemed so earnest; like he truly believed in what he was saying. Maybe he had some kind of special monster-vision power? Adults were always going on about having a purpose and it playing to your strengths... and she heard some weird story once about how earth phonies were really in tune with nature or something; then again, she always thought that was just what they told themselves because they were the least special kind of phony. Then again, with that tail, maybe this kid was some kind of mutant.

"We don't have a TV... so... guess you're just going to have to prove you ain't some lying punk and show me these monsters..." she had to admit, having some kind of monster-catcher on friendly terms might come in handy. Heists would be so easy... aint no one gonna say no to a filly with a monster-friend.

Fea Line

 

[Fea Line]

"I...." Shockstar froze, mouth open.

He blinked at the girl unsure what to say. Her tone had just pulled a sudden 360 and she seemed completely different.

Well sort of. She was still demanding.

Rolling his eyes, Shockstar groaned. Though the yellow colt couldn't help but let a grin start to tickle the corner of his mouth. "Alright. I'll show you them, but we have to track another one down since you made me loose the one I was chasing...." he huffed slightly before taking in a deep breath and letting out slowly.

"Follow me then." he told her as he nestled his tech back into his saddle bags and pushed passed her, eyes alert and ready. It usually wasn't very hard to spot a flying type, they seemed to be every where, but actually getting one of the pocket creatures to stay grounded long enough to capture was another story. So instead he looked for something else. When a distinctive sound crossed his ears, he came to a halt.

"There!" he pointed towards a very regular, very plain dog across the street yapping at the window of a food shop. "Oooh, looks like a normal type. Not too special but he might evolve...." he mused, mostly to himself as he studied the dog, his own twisted and delusional mind calculating things that didn't even exist.

At least, not in real life and not for this scenario.

Alanna the Pirate Queen

 

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Fea Line

Hijinks grinned somewhat triumphantly as he agreed to take her monster hunting with him. As they plodded along, her eyes naturally slid from pockets that would be easy to pick to stores that weren't watched very well. She left the monster-spotting to the weird kid; it was his specialty after all. It wasnt until he came to a sudden stop that Jinx looked for something monstrous.

At first, she tried looking past the stupid looking mutt barking at a window. Maybe the dog was barking at the monster? Maybe the kid really was the only one that could see the monsters... they were invisible! And people always say that animals have a 7th sense... or something like that... so the dog was barking at it.

However, the more she looked at the kid and followed his eyes, the more she noticed he was staring at the dog and not whatever the dog was looking at. Huh... it just looked like a dog. Maybe it was a diamond dog, or it breathed fire, or something! Fudge, there were too many unknowns here, and Hijinks didn't like it.

"Alright... so, what now....?" she asked distrustfully.  

[Fea Line]

With a roll of his eyes, Shockstar took a deep breath to try to reign in more of his nerves. He wasn't aware how much this mer had really shaken him up tossing his capsule around like that! He had to be calm or he was going to mess this all up!

"Well now we capture it." he stated matter of factly. "There are two ways to do that. One is to battle it and wear it out but... Encore isn't with me right now so I can't exactly do that. So the only other choice is to throw the capsule and hope it stays." he said, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he prepped his hoof for the throw.

He had to be precise and since its back was turned he had the advantage here.
He just hoped his new friend here didn't mess things up....

Rearing a hoof back, after a couple seconds of him holding his breath, he let loose the capsule and watched as it flew towards the dog, smacking it right in the back of the head. It let out a whimper and a startled yelp before bounding away in seconds. Shockstar stood stunned, a look of confusion crossing his features. "That should have worked..... uhg you really did break my capsule!" he sighed in frustration, stomping a hoof on the ground before hanging his head low.

Alanna the Pirate Queen

 

[Alanna the Pirate Queen]

Fea Line

What else could Hijinks do but listen to this crazy kid's babbling as he talked about battling monsters, and someone named Encore. Was he going to go beat up an innocent dog? What a nutjob! .... she was actually starting to like this kid. The adults hadn't turned him into some mindless robot yet; he was probably missing too many bolts and screws for that anyways. She watched with amused interest as he threw his ball at the dog and knocked the stupid thing right on it's head. As it ran away yelping, Jinx almost dissolved into laughter, before she was suddenly being accused to breaking the stupid 'capsule' again.

With a roll of her eyes, Jinx floated over to the thing and nudged it with her hoof. An evil thought floated through the back of her mind-- could she get this kid to just chase and beat up animals with her all day? She grinned at the thought. Phony were always telling her to make friends...

Turning, she put on a look of deep thoughtfulness, "Man, I'm sorry that didn't work out... maybe the monster was just too strong. Maybe we should trap one! We can use... uh... monster gems to weaken it. I heard a phony once saying that if you throw monster gems as monsters, they get easier to catch... just to... y'know... to make up for possibly breaking your, uh, capsule..."  

[Fea Line]

Shockstar simply stared at the mer as she floated there laughing at him then babbling on about some kind of monster gem nonsense. Didn't she know that's not how it worked? "That's not how any of this works!" he about shouted, stomping his hoof in frustration.

He took a moment and tuned her out, sighing as he shut his eyes and sat down to really think things over. Did she believe him or was she just playing along to make him feel better? And why did that feeling feel....well... familiar? "You don't believe any of this do you?" he tilted his head and stared at her. He rubbed a hoof over one ear and sighed again. "Not many do actually... guess it does sound pretty crazy." he stared at his capsule as she kicked at it and reached to grab it.

He looked it over in his hooves and a frowny face of defeat washed over him. "Maybe this thing was broken all along....that's gotta be the reason why none of this is working today!" he declared, determination seemingly renewed. At least somewhat anyways...

She'd probably still laugh at him some more though.

Alanna the Pirate Queen