neverstudied | Victory Road IC Inbox

[Venkman reaches up to hold Egon's hand on his shoulder, squeezing far too tightly. The egg wriggles again.]

Fuck. The eggs. How many of our Pokemon can carry shit? I can strap a couple to Siskel and Ebert...

I--Louise is the only one that comes to mind, and he has been placed in the PC. Even if I did trust him with any sort of juvenile Pokémon, he would not be able to carry the eggs.

[He stares down at the Meowth egg. The magnet train slows to a stop, and a pleasant tone chimes. Egon seems frozen in place.]

We could--can't we--Ray's Pokémon?

Edited 2019-02-19 17:00 (UTC)

[It's a bad sign if Venkman is losing his grasp on full sentences. It's a really fucking bad sign if Egon's doing the same. Venkman tries to fight back the rising panic, again.]

None of Ray's Pokemon have arms, why do like, none of us have Pokemon that with arms- wait. The little mimic guy. Doppel!

[Venkman leans over to check the containment units at Ray's belt, and stops. A large crack has formed in the side of the Alolan Meowth egg. Venkman looks from the egg, to Egon, to Ray, and back to the egg.]

Ohhh, this is a hell of a time to be born, kid. Can you wait a few minutes? An hour?

[Another crack appears.]

Yes. If we can just release Doppel from their containment unit, we could have them carry the eggs while we carry Ray.

[Egon glances back at his eggs, as if ensuring that they aren't hatching, as well. This is fine. Everything is fine.]

At least that's one less egg we'll have to worry about. [He leans over it, putting his face right up against the shell.] Come on, we need to leave--can't you hurry up?

[Two idiots talking to an egg.]

I'm trying to tell it to go back in, and you're telling it to come on out. We're giving this baby some real mixed signals, Spengs...

[He laughs again- a little more genuine, this time, but still nervous.

Another crack forms in the egg- then, a hole. A paw reaches out-

And gently baps Egon on the nose.]

[Oh. Egon blinks, looking down at the paw currently resting on his nose. He gently raises his hand to push it aside with his finger.]

...Thank you.

[He turns to look up at Venkman.]

Can you try and release Doppel from their containment unit? I'll try to facilitate this cat hatching. [He frowns. Yeah, it's still kind of weird to say that out loud. He pokes a finger at the paw.]

[The Meowth's toe beans flex at the touch of Egon's finger, and its claws dig in ever so slightly. The egg is faintly glowing.

Venkman nods, and sets his other two eggs on the seat beside him, letting Egon take the Meowth egg for now. He reaches over to grab Doppler's containment unit from Ray's belt and clicks the button, releasing the Ditto.]

Alright, hey- I know I'm not your trainer or whatever, but can you- uh- can you help us out a bit?

[Doppel smiles at first at being let out but soon frowns when they see Venkman and not their good dad.

They bubble curiously before bapping Ray in the face. Dad why are you asleep???]

[Mammals might be good actually.

Egon taps at the egg in what he hopes is an encouraging manner, then looks away as to not immediately blind himself when it explodes.

Wait. What is he supposed to tell Doppel?]

Ray's asleep. [A pause.] He's fine. Can you transform into something that can possibly carry these eggs while we help him off the train?

[Gestures to the clutch of eggs. They're gonna handle Ray. Egon reasons that, if he does wake up, he'd probably freak out less about being carried by his boyfriends as opposed to whatever Pokémon Doppel might turn into.]

[Doppel doesn’t seem convinced and still looks concerned, but they nod at Egon’s request.

They hope off the seat and transforms into a wobbly, smiling Regigigas to carry the eggs.

They’re 12 feet tall now it’s fine.]

[Holy Jesus

Doppel's head is probably denting the ceiling at the very least.]

Uh. Can you even fit through the door?

[Another paw reaches from the egg to hold Egon's hand. The claws dig in a little deeper. If Egon listens closely, he can hear a tiny kitten mewl from inside.

The egg shines with a bright, blinding light...

And once it clears, all that's left is a kitten blinking up at Egon.]

Oh--

[Oh my God.

Egon blinks, staring down at the baby. Without even any sort of change in his expression, he kneels down to try and gently scoop it up in his hands. Agh, but Ray--but the kitten--but Ray--

He ends up just giving it a pat on the head as he directs his attention back to the actual crisis at hand. Spengler goes to lift Ray out of his seat, straining to try and heft him up. Calm. Let's stay calm. There has to be something they can do.]

Give me a hand, will you?

[Venkman is temporarily distracted from this ongoing crisis because oh my god look at the little baby-]

Ohhhh my God, look at the little baby!

[... Right. Ray. Comatose. Still- ok, it's fine, Ray can wait a second. Venkman picks up the Meowth and holds it up over his head like this is the fucking Lion King. The kitten blinks down at him and mewls again, wriggling its little paws in the air. This baby has existed for only a couple minutes and has no idea what's going on, just that these are probably its parents, right? Is this how parents act? Why is there another one not moving?

After Venkman has a moment[tm] of just looking at his newborn baby, grinning like an idiot, he cuddles it to his chest and turns to Egon, sobering up quickly. He loops one of Ray's arms around his shoulder. The Meowth purrs sleepily, reaching up to bat at Ray's hand.]

[Doppel makes a delighted bubbling at seeing the new Meowth. Hey little baby!

I hope you like this giant hulking beast waving at you while they go to pick up the eggs and ooze out of the train.]

[A few people gasp and ogle at Doppel as they exit the train. Egon watches as they leave, then nods in Venkman's direction.]

Right. Let's go and trust that Doppelganger can make their way back.

[He starts walking forward, careful to keep a tight grip on Ray. Occasionally--well, more than occasionally, he'll glance down to make sure he's still alright. If being "alright" means that you're in a comatose state and can't be woken up. Or maybe when he looks down, Ray might just be blinking his eyes awake and asking what's going on, and they'll all have a laugh about it.

Except Egon. He doesn't laugh.]

You alright, Venkman?

Hey, not like we can miss 'em, right? Giant, hulking behemoth- someone'll point us in the right direction if we lose 'em.

I'm...

[Venkman trails off, and looks at Ray's sleeping face, head tilted to one side. He doesn't answer for a moment, and at first it seems like he's not going to.]

... I'll be ok. Don't worry about me, alright? Ray's what matters.

[The Meowth leans up and licks at Venkman's chin.]

[Egon's eyebrows knit together in concern, but he doesn't otherwise comment. He half expects Ray to say something to cheer Venkman up, but...the silence only further serves to highlight his current condition.

Spengler grits his jaw and looks down at the ground, focusing on keeping Ray upright. A few moments of silence pass before he speaks.]

You know, we don't seem to be able to go a few days without encountering any sort of trouble. It makes you wonder if we're some sort of inter-dimensional magnet for supernatural occurrences.

[Maybe not the best thing to comment on.]

Hey, at least none of us've gotten arrested in the last few days. That's gotta count for something.

[It may not be the best thing to say, but it gives Venkman an opportunity to make a dumb comment, and that's better than nothing.]

Maybe in a few weeks we'll get ambushed by one of this world's gods. That'd be fun.

[But only if Ray's awake to see it. He rolls his shoulders to take the brunt of Ray's weight; the Meowth, jostled, wriggles free of his arm and climbs up Ray's shoulders and onto Egon's.]

I've actually been doing some reading on these so called "legendaries" in this dimension. Did you know that there is a Pokémon that supposedly existed before the universe existed and shaped the world to its whim? It's considered a mythical Pokémon as opposed to a legendary, elevating its status further.

[At least this gives him something else to talk about and get his mind off of Ray, but he can't help but think about those books that he gave him for Valentine's Day. He tries to push it out of his mind.

He idly scratches under the Meowth's chin with his free hand.]

Time and space then followed, created by two other different Pokémon. Though, there is talk about another Pokémon that was banished for its crimes. Like a version of Satan, if you will.

Huh. I heard bits and pieces about the legendaries- from other people when I was still traveling alone, and from, uh. Ray.

[Venkman winces a little bit as his own words- Egon's clearly trying to distract them both from the fact that Ray apparently fell into a coma without either of them noticing for hours, and he has to run his fucking mouth and screw it up. He tries to salvage it, at least:]

Like Satan, huh? Did he tempt some lady with an apple, too?

[Egon doesn't seem to react to the Ray comment. Or maybe he just chooses not to.]

Don't be ridiculous. The concept of gender did not exist at that point in time. [A pause.] Nor did apples. However, an interesting thing to note is that Giratina--the Pokémon analogous to Satan--supposedly lost its legs upon being banished to its current dimension. One could make a comparison to how the snake lost its legs after God punished it in the Garden of Eden.

[He falls quiet for a moment, still scritching the Meowth's head.]

Have you decided on a name for this cat?

Hey, fair enough. Gozer didn't need a gender, some people don't need a gender, old eldritch gods from other dimensions full of monsters don't need a gender.

I'm sure they had some kind of fruit way back when this universe was new, though. Even if it wasn't an apple. What else did they eat?

... Do gods need to eat? Like, in general. I'm sure there's some that gotta, but some of 'em can probably get by without. And some probably eat just because they want to.

[These are important questions. And he's definitely not just coming up with them to help keep their minds off the dead weight in their arms.

The kitten mewls into Egon's ear and nibbles at his fingers.]

I've got a couple ideas in mind. Why?

Probably not unless they wanted to. I haven't exactly looked into the history of the local flora and fauna--the people here seem to be horrible record keepers beyond mythos and legends on various Pokémon. I'm pretty sure the recent surge in science has been a result of this lack of information.

[This is fine. This is fine! They can just keep occupying themselves with idle questions until they make it to their hotel room. Venkman's plan seems to be working, at least--Egon seems to be significantly calmer than earlier.

The other option would've been him just repeating physics equations to himself, and, really, would Venkman want that?

Egon seems to pause a little longer than necessary before answering.]

I was merely asking. You could follow the naming trend and call her Nermal.

How recent's the scientific uprising, here? Do you think it's correlated to people from other dimensions showing up?

[And then Venkman just. Stops. Stares at Egon for a long, quiet moment.

With one fluid motion, he sweeps Ray's unconscious body off his dragging feet and into his arms in a bridal-carry, and just. Starts walking away.]

Ok, goodbye, Egon. Nice knowing you.

[... After a few seconds, he returns to Egon's side, shifts Ray's weight onto on arm, and picks up his kitten from Egon's shoulder by the scruff of her neck.]

I'm taking my baby with me.

[He sets the Meowth down in Ray's lap and goes back to carrying his unconscious boyfriend away in both arms. Bye.]

Edited 2019-02-20 06:30 (UTC)

[Spengler opens his mouth to answer Venkman's question when he promptly just. Leaves. He blinks, watching Venkman walk away for a moment, a vaguely puzzled expression on his face. He opens his mouth again when Peter picks up the Meowth by the scruff of her neck, and then shakes his head, putting his hands in his pockets.]

It was merely a suggestion.

[About a half-hour later, Egon knocks on the hotel room to make sure that Peter actually...y'know, got back safe. He takes a small step back. In his hands, he carries a large paper bag filled with bagels and some...electronics, for some reason, and two coffees.

When Peter opens the door, Egon inclines his head towards him.]

Took the liberty of picking up some supplies. How's Ray doing?

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