This seems strangely familiar (Invite Only)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Ash shook his hair back into place (which meant back into the matted mess it typically was) and put his hat back on his head as Prue spoke. He nodded.

"Yeah, I've been traveling around for a long time; I know how to handle myself," Ash said. Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder as he said that. "Besides, if anything happens, I've got Pikachu and all of my other Pokemon to help me out."

The ones he was specifically thinking of for this situation were Grotle and Staraptor. Grotle could cut through undergrowth and probably fight off whatever Pokemon were in this jungle, and Staraptor could watch the skies.

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Malcom had no intention of insulting anyone or even sounding haughty; he was just stating the facts in his usual blunt manner, the same way he stated them to anyone and everyone. Besides, the two looked like ordinary pre-teens to him, even if they had monstrous looking pets. Last time he checked, the chances of people their age having experience with jungle travel was slim, but then it took a lot to surprise him anymore thanks to this whacky island. Face still a blank slate, Malcom glanced back at Prue and Ash, blinking once at them before returning to the task at hand. He'd already cleared a few feet and was starting back into the jungle, speaking as he hacked at the vines and branches with his machete.

"I'm not familiar with the customs of your world. What is obvious to you may seem impossible or unlikely to me and vice-versa. Please try to keep that in mind. Also, this jungle is probably unlike the ones you're used to. It may not have those creatures you carry around with you, but it has many mysteries and dangers of its own.... By 'Zelda,' I'm going to guess you mean one of your pets and not the videogame character. Though I wouldn't be surprised to run into him on this island.... Anyway, feel free to utilize them however you see fit as long as they don't get in the way. Now come on, we have a lot of ground to cover. I just hope we can get back to the village before nightfall...."

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Ani, Prue is 24. She's not a pre-teen nor does she look it. She does look a bit younger than her age, but certainly no where near pre-teen. XD)

Prue still felt insulted. If he didn't know them, he just needed to ask! She wasn't quite sure what he meant by video game character. It wasn't the only Pokemon of hers that had a ironic nickname without any knowledge of certain franchises. The games released on the Wii in her world tended to be quite different than those of other worlds, after all.

In any case, she was frowning and had an annoyed expression. She reached over to one of the pokeballs on her waist and enlarged it. If Ash was paying attention he'd notice that the top was now semi-transparent. She pressed a button on the front and more differences to Ash's world would become apparent. The Pokeball did open on a hinge, and the light that came out was white, but if someone were to rewatch the scene on a high speed camera they'd realize that a miniature Gardevoir had been visible for half a second before being enveloped in that light.

The light flashed away and a Gardevoir was now in front of Prue. She had a light pink triangle hanging from her neck by a white rope. It hung down to the top half of the red inverted triangle-like piece on her chest. She blinked and looked around. There were emotions from people she didn't recognize. Something not quite negative and not quite positive from the odd man with indigo hair and neutral but kind ones from the boy and his Pikachu. She gave a slight bow.

"Gardevoir, Garde Voir."
("Greetings, my name is Zelda.")

"Pachii~"
("Hiiiii!")

"Zelda, Malcom says there's a lot of dangerous things here. Mind keeping an eye open for them?"

Zelda blinked and looked over at who Prue had indicated. She gave a slight nod and walked ahead of the group just slightly. She didn't walk ahead of Malcom though, seeming to recognize him as the leader of the group, more or less. She turned to Prue and seemed to be waiting for something. Prue had refocused on Malcom.

"Alright!" She threw a hand into the air and seemed like she was going to jump. She didn't, "We're ready! Let's go!"

...she did seem a little hyper. The scene went from lame to cute as Sora made the same action with one of her paws, almost falling off in the process. She shouted out "Pachi!" as well, voicing the equivalent of "Yeah!".

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Ash nodded. "Yeah, let's get going!"

Of course, they couldn't exactly get going yet, because with their luck, yet another portal had opened up over this exact spot. A young man, who was clearly quite a bit older than Ash, fell out of the sky and landed rather painfully in front of Ash and Prue. Ash jumped back as the cloud of dust came up, and leaned in closer to examine the figure who had fallen. He was still twitching on the ground.

"Woah! Brock!" Ash said, his eyes widening.

"Pika-Chu?" Brock?

The figure lay there twitching for a moment before looking up at Prue. And the effect was instantaneous. Suddenly, the tanned young man jumped up and grabbed both of Prue's hands. There were hearts in his eyes, and if this were a shoujo manga, there would be those annoying pink bubbles and sparkles everywhere as he began to speak.

"My name's Brock, and it seems I have fallen right into your arms, and maybe right into your heart too, and--"

There was a flash of red light, and suddenly Brock flinched in pain before falling over twitching again.

"...and maybe I'll just fall right into Croagunk's Poison Jab agaiiiin...." Brock said as he fell. Standing over him was a Croagunk, who was holding up one hand glowing with a purple Poison Jab attack.

"Croa..." Croagunk croaked. Ash laughed.

"Haha, same as always, I see. But why did you fall out of the sky too, Brock...?" Ash asked.

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

((GAH. Sorry, didn't even cross my mind to check her age in her profile so I jumped to conclusions since Ash is a pre- *glares at FF* -a teen.... And now there's a cat in my lap. Hmph. Won't happen again. ))

Malcom jumped a bit as there was a sudden flare of light behind him, instinctively whirling around and ready to hack any visible threats to pieces with his machete. Instead, he found himself looking at the strangest creature yet, one that looked rather humanoid and strangely alluring. Blinking a few times, he slowly lowered the weapon and nodded when Prue spoke, to indicate that he was the one who had spoke of the danger. Malcom watched the being, Zelda, walk over and stand slightly in front of him, obviously planning to walk just behind him for the journey. He liked this one; she- he guessed it was a she- was quiet, reserved, obviously respecting, and seemed to carry a certain observant and wise nature he always admired in others.

And of course, Prue's actions merely made him view her as a teenager, though she looked to be in her twenties. However, before Malcom could act on her exclamation and turn back around, a fresh portal opened up above them and spat out another member for their party. This one was another male, though he appeared to be quite older than Ash, nearly his own age even. From said boy's exclamation of what he guessed was the newcomer's name, he supposed the two knew each other. However, Malcom was so surprised by Brock's sudden recovery and personality change that he actually showed some emotion (oh my god) and blinked, eyes widening and eyebrows raising.

It ended just as suddenly as a frog-like creature appeared, jabbing at the man with a hand and sending him toppling to the ground in obvious pain. The entire scene almost made him chuckle, but his persona blocked the reaction and allowed only a small smile to form on his lips. Sliding the machete into its holster, Malcom strode quietly over to Brock and looked down at him, hands on his hips. Okay, so the man was pretty attractive, though the chances of him returning interest were slim to none if the previous ten seconds were anything to go by. Alas, his poor, unlucky love life; Prue was attractive, too, of course, but she didn't really appeal to him in that sense. Ash was too young. Period.

"Hnn.... Brock? A friend of yours? Hm. I don't mind helping out one more person, but it lowers our survival rate by about another five percent. But.... is he all right?" Malcom promptly dropped into a crouch and picked up a nearby twig, poking Brock in the cheek with it repeatedly. Just because he was stoic and emotionless, that didn't mean he was sane (no Luketic truly was); he was just the least crazy of the bunch. And poking things was fun. Especially with sticks. Yay wood.

((....yay for innuendos. :3))

[mugenginga]

Prue eeped in a way that once again belied her age and hopped back. Zelda's eyes had widened and she'd suddenly used Teleport to move a few feet back, which if Malcom had noticed was choosing to focus more on the new arrival. Prue winced as Brock hit, and had opened one eye and her mouth to ask if he was alright when two things happened at once. She realized he looked damn familar and she thought the name she'd heard supported it and... he was grabbing her hands and doing something not unlike how she pictured a proposal to go.

Her cheeks flushed bright pink. She was all but glowing with steam coming out of her ears, and there seemed to be the sound of a trapped animal trying to come from her throat. Kind of a gargled stuttering squeak. While she tended to be the type that had advances go over her head, this was anything but subtle and she looked in some kind of stasis between shocked and rather broken. She looked like she really wanted to run the hell away when suddenly Brock collapsed, a full shiver passing through his body and a Croagunk holding onto his foot and looking ready to drag him off.

"Wh...wha.... wha........" Prue stuttered, kind of just standing there in completely embarassed shock. She was still as bright as a Christmas ornament.

Zelda was facepalming by this point. When Brock had collapsed she had looked towards the man and blinked a few times. Sora had positioned herself so her paws were on Prue's head. She was pushing down on the woman's head, speaking in that peculiar way she had. To the Pokemon in the area, it was quite clear she was trying to get Prue's attention. After a few seconds of that failing Sora slid off the back of Prue's back and ran over to Brock. She looked at what Malcom was doing and at the Croagunk. She tilted her head sideways.

"Pachi?"
("Broken?"

"Garde. Voir Voir Garde Voir?"
("Excuse me. Are you quite alright, Prue?")

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"The only thing that's broken with me is my heart... and maybe my coccyx..." Brock said, not quite aware that was answering Sora's question. In any case, he seemed fine. He looked toward Malcom as he realized that the man was poking him in the face with a stick. He jumped up with a, "Hey! Quit poking me!"

"Yeah, he's fine. He always does that!" Ash said. Pikachu gave an exasporated, "Pika" in response.

"Ahem... yeah, my name's Brock. Nice to meet you," Brock said. "But wait..." He turned toward Ash. "Where are we, anyways?"

Ash shrugged. "Malcom says that this place is called the Dimensional Island. I guess Dialga and Palkia sent us here after we got sucked into that portal."

"Guess so..." Brock said.

Croagunk continued sitting next to Brock, slowly croaking.

[Sweet_Chef (Ani)]

Malcom merely blinked at Brock's response to his poking, straightening as well and proving to be even taller than the man. He stared at him emotionlessly for a few more moments before whirling around to face Prue and began poking her in the cheek with the stick instead. Hey, it had worked on the boy, why wouldn't it work on her too? At Brock's question, Malcom had opened his mouth to repeat himself, but was grateful when Ash said it all for him. Well, except for the Dialga and Palkia part, he'd never mentioned them.

Not turning away from his "work," he opened his mouth again and spoke tonelessly to the other males. "Not sure who you're talking about, but.... I doubt you getting sent here had anything to do with them. Lots of people get sent here through random portals from other dimensions, so the chances of those two having anything to do with it are slim to none. Just saying. I like keeping the facts straight. We can get moving as soon as Prue snaps out of it...." Malcom was very close to telling Brock to fix her, seeing as he'd broken her in the first place.

[mugenginga]

Prue practically screeched and literally fell on her but as Malcom poked her in the cheek. She swatted with her hand, managing to hit the stick. Whether or not it went out of Malcom's hand was based on his own reactions. She blinked and realized she was on Brock's level and her face flushed again. She shook her head and rubbed her cheeks, almost as if she were trying to get the blush out of them. Zelda looked concerned for a moment, but looked over at Brock at some unspoken message. Sora had jumped and her fur had poofed out a bit as Prue screamed, but she had calmed down quickly and run over to Prue. She had her paws on Prue's legs and was looking up at her. Prue spoke while still rubbing her cheeks.

"Did you say Brock? ....uh, that's weird. I mean, you're way too young to be the Gym Leader, but I swear you could be his younger twin or... well, younger brother or something. You look almost exactly like he did when he was younger... But brothers wouldn't have the same name, right? Man, I'm so confused!" The last part was said with great exasperation.