usedacrobatics | ROBIN √ 001 √ 3-19-13

[The gear snaps on after falling out of the bag. Heard in the background is the sound of a Pokeball releasing its occupant, and wings flapping. The Pokemon, a Taillow, nudges the Pokegear towards the edge of—yes, it’s a roof. The bag was tossed up on to the roof of Mom’s house, the gear and Pokeball were jostled by the impact, and they are now both looking over the edge at a boy dressed in a red and black bodysuit, with a yellow and black cape. He’s climbing out of the bedroom window. The Taillow focuses the camera on the “R” logo on the kid’s chest. It looks important!]

Ooookay. Definitely not in Kansas anymore. Kansas would be so good right about now.

[He edges a little further out, seating himself on the windowsill, back towards the outside, and sizing up the roof. He catches sight of the bird holding the camera and grins, the eye lenses of his domino mask widening to reflect slight surprise. He doesn’t realize that it’s recording yet.]

Me not being in Kansas anymore must make you Toto, huh? Or Dinah. Birds holding cameras seem a bit more Wonderland than Oz, but I’m not the expert. So long as you’re not Cheshire, I think we can work with it, though.

[He looks back up at the roof, still grinning. He grips the edge with both hands, and pulls himself up with a grunt, and mutters:]

Since when does this require effort?

[Another grunt of exertion, and Robin forces his body upwards into a handstand, trying to balance on the edge of a sloped roof, before turning a quick tumble into a crouch.
It… doesn’t work that way. His legs are wobbling slightly, and when he tries to swing into the tumble, his balance shifts and he topples over with a brief yell of shock.

In the opposite direction.

Off the roof.

Shocked yell out of the way, Robin begins trying to grip something, anything on the wall while the Taillow squawks in distress and drops the camera. The Pokegear rights itself on the ground just in time to see the bird grasp the Boy Wonder’s cape.
It slows his descent, but the weight is too much for a small, level 5 Taillow and the two crash into the ground, Robin groaning as his knees absorb the impact. He gives the bird a pained, but grateful look.]

Well, you have Superman’s color scheme down. We can work on the rescuing thing.

[He flops over, lying on his side. Taillow uses his wings to shade his eyes from the sun, and Robin gently strokes the bird’s breast. Annoyed:]

I cannot believe I just fell off a roof. Nobody saw that, right? I just fell off a roof.
Batman would kill me if he knew I actually fell off a roof. I mean, there goes my reputation. Say nothing of the mystique. A roof. Not even a big roof. It’s only two stories—and—

[He notices the Pokegear Taillow dropped. It’s lit up.]

Why is that thing—

[Click!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I try not to do the scowling too much. My mentor's really good at it, so anything I do? Totally redundant.

[He's a little mean, too. He can't really fault her, and hey, at least she doesn't know his real name.]

That'd be repetitive and redundant. *Nod.*

And, it'd be repetitive and redundant!

So planning on wearing the mask all the time? Want spares? I could manage something for you on that! *She tries to be helpful.*

So was that particular turn of phrase.

[He smiles politely.]

Classified information. But tell me what you'd do. I'm pretty far out of my element right now. Used to working more in the shadows.

Was it?

*She knows it was, it was kinda obvious.*

Well, whatever identity you're hiding it has very little impact on your home. Everyone returns home when they left, and without memory of here and what we know here. So friends and family won't really be protected by keeping your face hidden.

On the other hand the mask looks really cool, so I say you should keep wearing it!

Whether or not it's cool is a pretty important thing, I'd say.

[It also makes him that much less human, and that much more credible, if he's up against criminals, superstitious and cowardly that they are.]

What's crime like here? That'll probably factor in. If I was to try and foil them, would it help to have an identity they don't know about?

Well, there's Team Rocket. The police force isn't exactly effective about them. And they're managing to get a leg up on the gym leaders now. Bowser outed himself as Team Rocket already, but most people keep that side of their life quiet.

But... that's the thing. Your Gear's ID is tied into the device so you and maskless you will be pretty easy to connect. Well, until you get a second gear. And if you wear the mask all the time that'll be like a new face, one they can recognize over the network and such?

But other than Team Rocket things aren't really that crimey. Some Pokemon thieves, some muggers and pickpockets, a few arsons but some of them are accidental. The police force usually focuses on rather petty things like leaving town while you're under contract to a job.

[He sets into a pretty stiff poker face, disturbed as he is by the idea of not having a costumed alter-ego to fall back on. Probably the thing to do would be to retire Robin for a while. Have this be the only time he appears on the Gear. Can't connect what you aren't sure exists, after all. Once he's convinced that this little episode is, if not forgotten by the people who responded, they'll no longer be looking for him, perhaps he'll suit up again, but stay off the gear.

It's an idea.

If it's an actual ID, it'll be his real name. So once these calls are over, he resolves to change into civvies and try to make sure that Robin won't be seen outside of this first town.]

So if someone steals your Pokemon, you just use your other Pokemon to track them down?

No, if someone steals your Pokemon you get your friends to help you.

Trying to go after a pokethief yourself while you're down a member is stupid, and could get you hurt and more of your pokemon stolen.

*Imogen is surprisingly rational for someone who acts crazy seven days of the week.*

Then can we be friends, because clearly I'm going to need some.

[She seems intelligent to him, and a little eccentricity isn't to be heavily questioned. He was raised by Batman, for heaven's sake.]

I guess I should start leveling up and team building soon, too.

That's silly, we already are friends.

*Well, eccentric she has in spades. Next to her idiosyncracies which she has in hearts.*

That's usually where to start, but leveling also is a bit more work here than in the games. So it'll be a good call to lay low and stay out of trouble for a little while. Not, like, invisible ninja lay low. But don't try to pick a fight with any bad guys till you're holding a team in the 30s.

[He hears that and the Batman-trained, always-prepared overachiever in him retranslates that to 40s. He punches one hand in to the other, hearing that.]

One of the things about the games is that every area has a level cap, so to speak, where all the Pokemon will be in the same range. And you don't get as much value out of beating something if your level is already too high.

If it's harder, I'm guessing that's still true.

There's an incongruity in the levels. The wild levels are like they would be in the games, but the gyms are a sudden jump from the surroundings. Training Pokemon takes a lot more battles, and none of the trainer battles earn you nearly as much money.

And the people that have been here a while have a huge head start to bother with. It all takes so much looooonger, sucks huh?

I guess because not everyone here is ten. They had to make it more difficult, so I feel bad for the actual ten-year-olds.

[Speaking from the lofty vantage point of being thirteen and nine months.]

How long do people generally stay here?

ROBIN √ 001 √ 3-19-13

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