[Semi-Private RP] It Started In Littleroot

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

Ugh, morning sunlight, was the first thought that crossed Kyouya's sleep-fogged mind. He shifted, reached to pull the covers over his head, and found — nothing. One long, groggy moment later, he realized that that blasted sunbeam wasn't coming in the correct angle from his floor-to-ceiling windows, either.

He forced himself upright, wobbled, and braced himself before daring to open his eyes a sliver. They immediately sagged shut again as he tried to process the fact that apparently he was out in the middle of a patch of grass in what was emphatically nowhere. "Ugh."  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

Haruhi was by nature an early riser. Honestly, it wasn't just the unfamiliar surroundings that awoke her. Something furry had brushed against her arm in her sleep and she awoke from the strange touch. But before she could see what it was, it was long gone. Realization struck moments later and she sat in wonder of just where she was. After several minutes of trying to tell herself this was just a dream, she sighed and stood up, brushing her pajamas off. She glanced up through the trees and shrugged before beginning to walk in a direction.

It had to have at least been an hour after she started walking and honestly, her feet hurt. Not having socks or shoes made it difficult to walk. She had noticed strange creatures wandering around this forest, but she tried to ignore them, that's all she needed to add to her insanity. She found it strange she hadn't found a town, let alone a main road.

All of a sudden she heard a small grunt. Her eyebrows knit together in the familiar-ness of the voice. She peeked out of a small clearing of grass and chills ran down her spine. It was Kyoya. And it was very obvious he wasn't awake. "Of all the people, it's the shadow king himself..." She muttered to herself, trying to decide if she wanted to risk of getting closer or not.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

Kyouya reflexively pinched the bridge of his nose, catching a bare murmur of what he thought was a familiar voice. Glasses. Glasses before he needed to murder anyone for this particular practical joke. He reached for where he anticipated they should be, and his fingers met nothing but leaves.

He froze. Prying open one eyelid, he slowly scanned his immediate surroundings. More grass. More leaves. A couple of odd mushrooms very nearby, one of which had his glasses propped up on it just as if it were using them. The ludicrousness of this moment did not escape him, tired as he was. One heck of a joke, he thought, the sharp edges of anger cutting through his sleepy haze. Two or three suspected someones were going to pay dearly.

He reached for the frames with a dark scowl. The mushroom squeaked a high-pitched "foong!", bolted upright, and dashed off towards the treeline, glasses flying off as it ran away. Re-evaluating back towards "dream" instead of "practical joke", Kyouya slid the glasses onto his nose and watched it dart off in undisguised bemusement.  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

Haruhi still hid behind the trees, watching Kyoya scramble for something. She thought about it a moment before realizing he didn't have his glasses on. She flinched at the sharp squeak of some sort of mushroom creature as it ran off and vaguely wondered if she should do the same before he turned that gaze toward her.

She sighed, having a slight flashback to when she spent the entire day with him at the mall. 'Deja vu...?' She thought to herself before mustering up any type of courage she had left in her. She took a deep breath and stepped out from her hiding spot, watching where she stepped. She stopped short, just a slight distance to make her feel a bit better. "Uhm....Hello Kyoya-Senpai." She finally managed to say, an awkward smile on her face.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

If anything, this was rather similar to the sight that had met poor Haruhi's eyes at the mall, though in this case Kyouya was not impeccably dressed to the nines (sans wallet and phone). He was instead in black silk pajamas, though just as tousled as he had been that day, and with a stray leaf caught in his hair. However, as he was debating between whether this was a dream or reality, he was not yet in as foul a mood as that earlier time.

"Haruhi?" He pinned her in place with a foreboding expression, then seemed to take in that she was also pajama-clad and barefoot. "I am fairly certain we had no camping trips or sleepovers scheduled this week. What is the meaning of this?" There was definitely an undercurrent of if the twins have put you up to this, they will not survive the experience.  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

Haruhi sighed slightly, looking away as to not squirm under his gaze. "Honestly senpai, I don't have any idea what is going on either." She said shaking her head lightly. "Last thing I remember was saying good night to my dad and then, I woke up here." She said shrugging, "I decided to walk around a bit and came across you before any other people. It's strange." She said as she placed her hand on her chin to think. "I also haven't seen anyone else from the host club. As far as strange occurrences, dreams, or practical jokes go, this is about the most bizarre."

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

Kyouya pinched the bridge of his nose again, forcing his way through the morning fog to reach his own memories. "I went to bed late; there was a set of accounts that needed nighttime attention due to being in another time zone." He glanced down out of habit. Nope, no laptop. At about this moment, it began to dawn on him — no laptop, no cell phone, no wallet, no clothes.

He visibly tensed, the morning sun glittering on his glasses, and forced himself to relax. "It is strange. Not entirely unprecedented, I suppose, but strange." Experimentally, he pushed himself up. The low blood pressure caused him to wobble a bit, and he took a moment to steady himself. "Well, we're not going to get anywhere by sitting around here. You haven't seen anyone at all?" It was a rhetorical question, and he didn't really expect an answer, since she'd already said as much. "Interesting."

He looked past the treeline, seeking signs of civilization, and was rewarded with a few taller buildings poking up to what he was guessing was the north-west. "Perhaps we should head that way for now, and see if we can determine where we are."  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

As Kyoya went through his mental process, she remained quiet as to not interrupt. She knew better by now. At the mention of strange, she nodded, "Very odd. And I've noticed strange....creatures..." She said, making a slight I-am-not-crazy face.

As he pointed in a direction to go, she nodded, "Sure. I'd rather not be here too much longer." She said, starting off in the direction, watching her step for more of those strange mushroom creatures. As they made it a bit further, she started to be able to see something out of the clearing. "Ah. The perks of being taller..." She muttered as she absently went on her tip toes to see. "It looks like a small town, nothing like home." She said with a nod, setting herself back on her feet and continuing down.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

"Creatures ... " It was clear that Kyouya was retrieving the memory of the strange mushroom thing, and not liking what he was recalling. "I'd hoped that was a remnant of dreaming. I take it it wasn't." He shot her a glance through the side of his glasses, evaluating her reaction.

The buildings grew closer, though not any taller, and not in much greater quantity. Whatever place this was apparently wasn't more than a small hamlet, Kyouya decided. "The architecture style isn't much like home either," he observed in return to Haruhi, noting the tile roofs as they closed in. "It feels more Okinawan, perhaps?" A small sign was posted near one of the buildings, and he went to take a look at it. "Pokémon Laboratory?" he read aloud, with mild confusion. He gazed at her with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask if she had any idea what sort of strange commoner thing a Pokémon was.  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

At the mention of it being a dream, she sighed, knowing this couldn't possibly be a dream anymore. She glanced up at him as they walked and merely shrugged. She had seen some stranger creatures in the trees than the mushroom.

As they got into town, she looked around, noting how quiet it was compared to the city. Made her think of their camping trip from a long time ago. She was staring at a nearby bird that had landed in the grass, but couldn't identify what type it was. Her eyes widened as Kyoya read 'Pokemon Laboratory', she had heard that term somewhere. She closed her eyes a moment and thought hard of why it sounded so familiar. It snapped, "Ah!" She exclaimed as her eyes shot open, "Pokemon. It's some kind of game. The kids in my neighborhood were yelling about it the other day." She made a puzzled look and looked at Kyoya, "But it's just...a game?" She said obviously confused.

"Maybe we should just ask someone..." She muttered as she made an annoyed face. She did not like where this was going.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

Kyouya's brows drew down slightly. "A game?" Now that she'd mentioned it, the word did seem familiar, though he'd never bothered to pay such things much attention. "Maybe we're at one of those live-your-dreams recreation facilities. It wouldn't be that far-fetched," he suggested. After all, his own family was the one that ran the Tropical AquaGarden.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask. This place looks like it's open to the public, at any rate." There were office hours listed on the sign. He squinted up at the sun, shrugged as he had no idea what time it actually was, and went ahead and rapped at the door anyway.

The sound of hurried footsteps met their ears shortly thereafter, and the door was flung open by a woman in a lab coat. She seemed surprised to see the pair of them, which was probably a reasonable reaction to two unfamiliar disheveled teenagers in pajamas. "Hello there. Can I help you?" she asked politely, but with obvious curiosity.  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

At the mention of a recreational facility, she thought about it a moment, nodding. Though the only thing that could come to mind about this was a virtual reality life because honestly, the creatures were far too real for her.

As Kyoya knocked on the door, she looked idly around, her attention only returning once the door opened. At the sight of the lady in the lab coat, her brows furrowed as she tried to piece things together. She wondered if Kyoya would put on his usual host charm, but smiled, "Uhm. Hello. We were wondering if you could tell us where we are. We sort of...woke up nearby." She said, wondering just how crazy she sounded. Let alone the fact they were still in pajamas.

The woman eyed them a moment longer, trying to seize the situation before nodding, "Why this is the town of Littleroot in the Hoenn region."

Haruhi's eyes widened a moment. 'Littleroot was the town where you started your journey...' Out of everything the neighbor kids rattled off to her, she did remember this much. Either this was really well done or she was really not going to like the next answer. However, she didn't say anything, just stood there speechless.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

Neither Littleroot nor Hoenn sounded at all familiar to Kyouya, but he wasn't going to let that minor setback throw him. He nudged his glasses back into place, and as Haruhi predicted, turned on one of those cool, charming smiles. "I'm very sorry that we've bothered you, but it seems the two of us have been victims of some sort of practical joke. Would it be possible to borrow your phone for just a few moments?"

He made a point of introducing both Haruhi and himself to the lab assistant as she let them in, and noted that his family name didn't raise any eyebrows or prompt any questions. Well, it could be possible that his family's reputation didn't reach here, or she was simply clueless. He filed it away nonetheless, absently studying the technical equipment surrounding them. None of it looked familiar, though it shared some similarities to medical equipment.

"Here you are," the woman gestured to the phone at her desk. She looked as if she wanted to ask questions, but Kyouya was not in the mood to answer them. He nodded politely in thanks, lifted the receiver to his ear, and dialed Tachibana.

He was met with a "that number is not in service at this time" recording. Frowning slightly, he dialed it again, correcting for an international call if necessary, and met with the same results. The third call was placed to the Ootori private home line and was met with the sound of a very unfamiliar harried mother trying to corral a pair of screaming children. "My sincerest apologies," he murmured. "I believe I have the wrong number."

He set the receiver down gently, cupping his chin with his hand, glasses a-glitter as he thought. "Well. This is interesting. Haruhi, would you try calling, please? Your father, or perhaps someone else you know." The lab assistant's eyes widened further in puzzlement at the two of them. "Quite the joke," he muttered sharply, with just a hint of that dark aura he carried. "So tell me, while we wait for Haruhi, Miss Vera, what is it that you do here?"

The question seemed to break the lab assistant from her confusion, and she cheerfully began to explain to the cool-type host all about the important research that Professor Birch was doing at the Pokémon lab — when he was in, which he often wasn't. Kyouya, for his own part, wore a studied mask of careful though detached attention, absorbing her story and evaluating it against what he knew so far.  

[Arinnel]

Ootori_K

Haruhi was so lost in thought about this 'Hoenn Region' that until Kyoya went to make a phone call, she was in a daze. She looked at the obviously concerned lab assistant and did her best smile. "Thank you." She said to her as she turned to look around at the equipment, 'Yep. Definitely not anywhere near home...' she did a mental note of the equipment and scanned the titles of the books on the shelves. It was all related toward the creatures toward pokemon, due to her vast curiosity, she almost pulled a book of the shelf to begin reading.

At the sound of a click, she could almost hear Kyoya's reluctance at putting the phone down. She stepped over and nodded, "Sure thing." As he walked back toward the assistant, she placed her hand on the phone, a small knot building in her stomach. If no one answered, her worst fears would be confirmed and that would be that.

Nontheless, Haruhi picked up the phone and dialed the home phone first. At the recording of 'that number is not in service', she stared at the phone a minute and sighed. The outlook wasn't very high. She then tried her dad's cell and his place of work with still nothing on the line. She proceeded to try a few neighbor's numbers to no avail. They were either no in service nor the right person on the other line. "Oh man..." She muttered to herself as she set the phone back down.

She turned and looked at Kyoya, noting how he was getting as much information as possible, which wasn't very surprising. She stepped over and looked up at him, a bleak look on her face, "Nothing..." She said quietly, not liking her own response. She looked down at the ground, mainly to try and ignore her own denial of what was happening, but ended up staring at her pajamas and bare feet. It was quite the sight to anyone here, she was sure. "We need to at least find suitable clothes..." She muttered.

 

[Ootori_K]

Arinnel

If it weren't for the reflection on his glasses obscuring his eyes, it was a safe bet that Kyouya's expression mirrored Haruhi's. "Yes. Pajamas certainly aren't appropriate attire." He mentally ran over the issues involved. No money, no cell phone, not even any contact with home. This was going to be problematic, to say the least.

The lab assistant had been watching the two of them with some fascination, and it occurred to Kyouya that it was quite possible she thought they were some sort of couple, recovering after a drunken teenage evening. He resisted the urge to slap his forehead. "Miss Vera, you've been very helpful to us so far," he said, turning back with that coolly-polite smile. "I hate to impose further, but might you be able to direct us towards — " he broke off momentarily, trying to figure out exactly what might work in this strange set of circumstances.

This alternate reality. The thought hit him like a rock. To his credit, his flinch was almost unnoticeable. That money-box mind of his was working overtime, processing the details in the background as he pushed ahead. "Perhaps something like a youth hostel, or a local police facility. I believe Haruhi and I are much further from home than we'd initially thought."

The researcher seemed a little surprised at the young man's apparent lack of knowledge, but answered, "Well, you could go to the Pokémon Center in Oldale Town. It's just north of here. They have computer systems available to use, and you might be able to get in touch with your families there. And there are a few clothing shops in the area. But ... " She trailed off, looking the two of them up and down, as if searching for something. "The path's not the safest if you don't have a Pokémon. You don't have any with you, do you?"

From what he'd gathered from their earlier conversation, Pokémon were the various small creatures the two of them had been seeing darting around as they walked. Kyouya supposed that he should be grateful that nothing had tried to attack them while they were traveling to Littleroot. "Ah, no. I'm afraid we don't." He glanced at Haruhi, a subtle request for her confirmation.

"Well, you should be able to retrieve any you have stored once you reach the Pokémon Center," the lab assistant chirped. "But you'll need to be able to get there. We have a lot of Pokémon here for research, so we can loan you a couple for now. Just make sure you let Professor Birch know that you have them while you're on your way. He should be out on Route 101." She hopped up and disappeared into one of the other rooms of the laboratory, returning with a small suitcase of Pokéballs. "Go ahead and pick one that you'll feel comfortable with."