John Egbert (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ghostytrainer) wrote2011-01-15 09:14 pm
ghostytrainer) wrote2011-01-15 09:14 pm
Entry tags:
[ooc] animus application
Player Information
Name: Katar
Personal Journal:
robokatarAge: 23
Contact Info:
Other Characters Played: none
Character Information
Character Name: John Egbert
Character Series: Homestuck
Character Age: 14
Character Gender: Male
Game Transplant
Canon Point: Act 5, Act 2; John: Be the someone who is Jade's server player.
Former Game:
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
route_29 (1/16/11 to present)Background Link: Homestuck on the MSPAwiki.
Game Background:
Route_29 is a Pokemon-based jamjar set primarily in the the Johto region (the Kanto region has been accessible only since the end of 2011). Characters are brought to the world with no explanation and wake up either in New Bark Town (trainers and breeders) or Goldenrod City (Team Rocket Grunts). They have no way of going back home so really their only option is to deal with it and accept their new lives as monster tamers. For the most part, life is simple and idyllic save for Team Rocket's occasional mischief, so it's not very hard for some characters to PREFER Johto to their own homeworlds. Death is not possible in Johto, anything that would normally do so just causes a character to "glitch" and wind up back at the last PokeCenter (basically a hospital) they visited. Technology, while it exists, is several years behind modern-day Earth, yet (almost paradoxically) there exist a variety of relatively advanced machines by Earth standards. Examples would be the capsule-based capture and storage system as well as the healing machines. While cars exist, travel is done mostly by walking, biking, or riding on a pokemon, though cruise liners, ferries, and a bullet train exist as well. However, all three of these have fixed routes and can only be used to access certain cities. Much to many newcomers chagrin, every city, route, cave, and forest in Johto comes equipped with its own constantly-repeating soundtrack that is as impossible to turn off as it is to explain.
To put it simply? It's a Generation II jamjar.
John has been in route_29 just shy of two years. A log of everything that happened in 2011 can be found here, and 2012's log is here. They're set up in such a way that one can hopefully get a basic feel for what he's been up to without having to read every single thread. But there are a few occurrences (predominantly game events) that I will elaborate on.
April 2011 marks John's first two big events during his stay. The first was a mod-plot in which Team Rocket manipulated Johto's radio waves in order to make wild bug-type pokemon go crazy and attack basically everyone and everything in sight. John and his friends happened to be traveling at the time, though luckily their group was so large and their pokemon were at decent enough levels that this posed little problem to them. A few days later, on John's birthday, the group reached Union Cave where a player-run, cast plot was put into motion. Gamzee Makara had a sober episode, bludgeoned John to unconsciousness with a rock and then attacked the rest of their party, injuring several people. John had a concussion About a month or so after this incident, the downside of having John and Gamzee partner up while traveling became apparent when the juggalo managed to get John and half of their travel party high on Paras mushrooms, which became his replacement sopor slime. (unfortunately, this had to be mostly handwaved since Gamzee's player lost motivation and ended up dropping shortly after getting the log up). A few weeks later, Team Rocket pulled another radio wave stunt. This time it affected water-types instead of bugs. More importantly, it affect trained water types in addition to wild ones. The reason for this being that they were attempting to summon and capture Lugia off the coast of Olivine. This prompted region-wide storming for a number of days. Luckily, TR did not manage to get their hands on the powerful bird.
Save for a fourth wall event a little after that, things were more or less quiet for a while. John and Rose started dating in early June and a few weeks later, John experienced his first and only true horror event in Johto. For a week, there was a minor swarm of ghosts and "ominous" pokemon such as Murkrow and Houndour. They were, however, more or less harmless. It was the swarm of Shedinja shortly afterwards that was thet problem. Anyone who looked into the back of one had their soul stolen, leaving behind the empty husks of their bodies. The stolen souls were sent to an oftentimes warped dreamscape, though they had no idea that what they were experiencing wasn't real. While John himself was able to avoid this, Rose and many of his other friends were not as lucky. Eventually, it was discovered that the only way to get someone's soul back was to take out the Shedinja who had stolen it, which prompted a region-wide bug hunt for about a week.
On Halloween, John and several of his friends were possessed by mischievous ghosts and made to act like whatever it was they were dressed up as. John was dressed as a Haunter...this went about as well as it sounds. There were many failed attempts at fazing through things, about an equal number of attempts to float via jumping off of staircases or out of trees, and more faces were licked than John even wants to think about. At the end of November, Team Rocket once again made a very out-in-the-open move by attacking the first magnet train trip to the newly-opened Kanto region. The train was hijacked and set up with a bomb, which the train's passengers had to fight to diffuse. John was among them, and luckily they managed to avoid a rather explosive end and were the first outsiders to set foot in Kanto. In December, there was another fourth wall weekend. Like the previous one, John's memory of it was erased, leaving the entire thing feeling like a very strange dream.
This brings us to 2012, which was not without its share of bizarre happenings, though fortunately there were none quite as horrific as the Shedinja event. On Valentine's day, a strange song in the air gave pretty much everyone a good feelings love-high. John ended up proposing to Rose, despite the fact that it's something he wouldn't have done under normal circumstances due to how young they were(she had only recently turned 14 and he was only 13 at the time). Once the high wore off, however, the two decided to make it official, knowing that it would be a while before they actually tied the knot. This event also marks the first appearance of Gen V pokemon, as well as "shinies" (rare, different colored pokemon that sparkle. John ended up having one of them "follow him home"). John's 14th birthday came and went with little huzzah, Dave disappeared again (to date, Route has had 5 different Daves) and it wasn't until May that anything really significant happened again. Predictably, it was Team Rocket causing trouble again. They hijacked garbage trucks in six major cities and proceeded to fill them up with garbage. Then, once the cities were sufficiently backed up and smelly, they used their signature radio waves to turn the garbage into Grimer/Muk and Trubbish/Garbodor. In all the hysteria, they attacked and generally caused chaos while outsiders banded together to attempt to take out the devices hidden in all the cities and stop the waves. Unfortunately, only 3 of the 6 devices (one for each city) were taken out, resulting in a "bad end." Apparently, Team Rocket's plan all along was to use the garbage as a ruse to capture Suicune...and it worked. And Suicune, in turn, work up it's bretheren: Entei and Raikou. The three beasts caused meteorological pandemonium in their rage, though eventually they all managed to escape and disappear once more.
Though this was hardly the end of it. Team Rocket managed to get DNA samples from the three beasts and spent the next months synthesizing a serum to give them the powers of the beasts. Unfortunately, their plan backfired. Not only were their human experiments unable to control the beasts' powers, but they ended up spreading the infection. As a result, many inhabitants wound up with both powers and horrible mutations. Everyone was infected to different degrees, and by different "types" (though only water, ice, electric, and fire powers went viral) and the stronger your powers, the worse your mutations were. John was a thunder infection level 5, the highest level possible. His powers were strong enough to short out several pokegears as well as destroy a bathroom. And his mutations...well, he was basically a Thundercat. Though the powers wore off after a week, the mutations stayed for up to four months afterwards. In John's case, they didn't wear off completely until just before Halloween. Due to the size of his teeth, he spent a majority of this time unable to talk and was forced to write/type everything in order to communicate. Eventually, his teeth shrunk to a point where he could talk, though not without pulling a Sollux and lisping. During the week that all the infected had powers, TR predictably wrecked some shit, namely: several centers and gyms, putting them out of commission entirely for several weeks.
Speaking of Halloween, a few days before that particular holiday, several of John's friends were possessed by a pokemon called Yamask, which caused them to believe that they were different people. John himself was unaffected, and highly enjoyed this swarm since it consisted of several different types of ghosts. In mid-November, a biregional tournament was held, drawing in many outsiders to test their skills across three level brackets. John entered the Advanced and Elite brackets, only to get knocked out the first round of Advanced and the second round of Elite. But hey, he tried and he learned some stuff. Finally, the November 24-26th marked the third fourth wall event that John had been present for. However, this one is the only one worth doing into detail about due to the fact that it is the only one John retained his memories of. In the past, fourth wall events were treated as dreams, and characters were more or less unable to remember all the crazy shenanigans of the weekend. This time, however, they could remember parts of it clear as day. For the first time in two years, John was reunited with his father, only for the man to disappear come Tuesday morning. He also got to spend time with the Other Father again, whose disappearance a week beforehand shook John to his core. On Sunday, he glitched out and became his "trickster" self. This is the one portion of the weekend that John has no recollection of whatsoever, due to not really being present for it. Though since trickster John kind of made a network post, he's heard about it.
And as far as major events and milestones go, that about covers everything. John has adapted well to his life as a trainer, and has quite a bit to show for it, including all eight Johto badges, four of the Kanto badges, several level 100s, and over 40 pokemon. Sure, he's not a master or anything, but he's not doing too bad for a teenage goober.
To put it simply? It's a Generation II jamjar.
John has been in route_29 just shy of two years. A log of everything that happened in 2011 can be found here, and 2012's log is here. They're set up in such a way that one can hopefully get a basic feel for what he's been up to without having to read every single thread. But there are a few occurrences (predominantly game events) that I will elaborate on.
April 2011 marks John's first two big events during his stay. The first was a mod-plot in which Team Rocket manipulated Johto's radio waves in order to make wild bug-type pokemon go crazy and attack basically everyone and everything in sight. John and his friends happened to be traveling at the time, though luckily their group was so large and their pokemon were at decent enough levels that this posed little problem to them. A few days later, on John's birthday, the group reached Union Cave where a player-run, cast plot was put into motion. Gamzee Makara had a sober episode, bludgeoned John to unconsciousness with a rock and then attacked the rest of their party, injuring several people. John had a concussion About a month or so after this incident, the downside of having John and Gamzee partner up while traveling became apparent when the juggalo managed to get John and half of their travel party high on Paras mushrooms, which became his replacement sopor slime. (unfortunately, this had to be mostly handwaved since Gamzee's player lost motivation and ended up dropping shortly after getting the log up). A few weeks later, Team Rocket pulled another radio wave stunt. This time it affected water-types instead of bugs. More importantly, it affect trained water types in addition to wild ones. The reason for this being that they were attempting to summon and capture Lugia off the coast of Olivine. This prompted region-wide storming for a number of days. Luckily, TR did not manage to get their hands on the powerful bird.
Save for a fourth wall event a little after that, things were more or less quiet for a while. John and Rose started dating in early June and a few weeks later, John experienced his first and only true horror event in Johto. For a week, there was a minor swarm of ghosts and "ominous" pokemon such as Murkrow and Houndour. They were, however, more or less harmless. It was the swarm of Shedinja shortly afterwards that was thet problem. Anyone who looked into the back of one had their soul stolen, leaving behind the empty husks of their bodies. The stolen souls were sent to an oftentimes warped dreamscape, though they had no idea that what they were experiencing wasn't real. While John himself was able to avoid this, Rose and many of his other friends were not as lucky. Eventually, it was discovered that the only way to get someone's soul back was to take out the Shedinja who had stolen it, which prompted a region-wide bug hunt for about a week.
On Halloween, John and several of his friends were possessed by mischievous ghosts and made to act like whatever it was they were dressed up as. John was dressed as a Haunter...this went about as well as it sounds. There were many failed attempts at fazing through things, about an equal number of attempts to float via jumping off of staircases or out of trees, and more faces were licked than John even wants to think about. At the end of November, Team Rocket once again made a very out-in-the-open move by attacking the first magnet train trip to the newly-opened Kanto region. The train was hijacked and set up with a bomb, which the train's passengers had to fight to diffuse. John was among them, and luckily they managed to avoid a rather explosive end and were the first outsiders to set foot in Kanto. In December, there was another fourth wall weekend. Like the previous one, John's memory of it was erased, leaving the entire thing feeling like a very strange dream.
This brings us to 2012, which was not without its share of bizarre happenings, though fortunately there were none quite as horrific as the Shedinja event. On Valentine's day, a strange song in the air gave pretty much everyone a good feelings love-high. John ended up proposing to Rose, despite the fact that it's something he wouldn't have done under normal circumstances due to how young they were(she had only recently turned 14 and he was only 13 at the time). Once the high wore off, however, the two decided to make it official, knowing that it would be a while before they actually tied the knot. This event also marks the first appearance of Gen V pokemon, as well as "shinies" (rare, different colored pokemon that sparkle. John ended up having one of them "follow him home"). John's 14th birthday came and went with little huzzah, Dave disappeared again (to date, Route has had 5 different Daves) and it wasn't until May that anything really significant happened again. Predictably, it was Team Rocket causing trouble again. They hijacked garbage trucks in six major cities and proceeded to fill them up with garbage. Then, once the cities were sufficiently backed up and smelly, they used their signature radio waves to turn the garbage into Grimer/Muk and Trubbish/Garbodor. In all the hysteria, they attacked and generally caused chaos while outsiders banded together to attempt to take out the devices hidden in all the cities and stop the waves. Unfortunately, only 3 of the 6 devices (one for each city) were taken out, resulting in a "bad end." Apparently, Team Rocket's plan all along was to use the garbage as a ruse to capture Suicune...and it worked. And Suicune, in turn, work up it's bretheren: Entei and Raikou. The three beasts caused meteorological pandemonium in their rage, though eventually they all managed to escape and disappear once more.
Though this was hardly the end of it. Team Rocket managed to get DNA samples from the three beasts and spent the next months synthesizing a serum to give them the powers of the beasts. Unfortunately, their plan backfired. Not only were their human experiments unable to control the beasts' powers, but they ended up spreading the infection. As a result, many inhabitants wound up with both powers and horrible mutations. Everyone was infected to different degrees, and by different "types" (though only water, ice, electric, and fire powers went viral) and the stronger your powers, the worse your mutations were. John was a thunder infection level 5, the highest level possible. His powers were strong enough to short out several pokegears as well as destroy a bathroom. And his mutations...well, he was basically a Thundercat. Though the powers wore off after a week, the mutations stayed for up to four months afterwards. In John's case, they didn't wear off completely until just before Halloween. Due to the size of his teeth, he spent a majority of this time unable to talk and was forced to write/type everything in order to communicate. Eventually, his teeth shrunk to a point where he could talk, though not without pulling a Sollux and lisping. During the week that all the infected had powers, TR predictably wrecked some shit, namely: several centers and gyms, putting them out of commission entirely for several weeks.
Speaking of Halloween, a few days before that particular holiday, several of John's friends were possessed by a pokemon called Yamask, which caused them to believe that they were different people. John himself was unaffected, and highly enjoyed this swarm since it consisted of several different types of ghosts. In mid-November, a biregional tournament was held, drawing in many outsiders to test their skills across three level brackets. John entered the Advanced and Elite brackets, only to get knocked out the first round of Advanced and the second round of Elite. But hey, he tried and he learned some stuff. Finally, the November 24-26th marked the third fourth wall event that John had been present for. However, this one is the only one worth doing into detail about due to the fact that it is the only one John retained his memories of. In the past, fourth wall events were treated as dreams, and characters were more or less unable to remember all the crazy shenanigans of the weekend. This time, however, they could remember parts of it clear as day. For the first time in two years, John was reunited with his father, only for the man to disappear come Tuesday morning. He also got to spend time with the Other Father again, whose disappearance a week beforehand shook John to his core. On Sunday, he glitched out and became his "trickster" self. This is the one portion of the weekend that John has no recollection of whatsoever, due to not really being present for it. Though since trickster John kind of made a network post, he's heard about it.
And as far as major events and milestones go, that about covers everything. John has adapted well to his life as a trainer, and has quite a bit to show for it, including all eight Johto badges, four of the Kanto badges, several level 100s, and over 40 pokemon. Sure, he's not a master or anything, but he's not doing too bad for a teenage goober.
Personality:
General:
Like any number of teenaged protagonists in tales of fun and friendship, John Egbert is a quirky, fun-loving boy with a heart of gold. He has a fondness for pranks, magic tricks, terrible movies, and paranormal lore. At the same time, he has a rather intense dislike of baked goods, specifically those bearing the Red Spoon of the Batterwitch (Betty Crocker) on their boxes. Overall, he tends to walk the path of the "nice guy" and can be described as easy going, agreeable, and more than just a little bit goofy. While at times he can say insensitive things, this is more due to his shortcomings in the concept of "thinking before you speak" than pure nastiness. There is, however, an exception to this. Like any normal person, if you push him enough he will drop the nice guy demeanor. Mostly this involves a bit of snark and blocking you on pesterchum.
Perhaps his most defining trait is his stalwart and nigh unbreakable optimism. John is constantly looking for the silver lining in even the most hopeless of situations and he won't give up until he finds it. Even if he has to go through a hundred stupid ideas first, eventually he will figure something out. Or at least, that’s the general idea. He is a seemingly endless fount of good cheer and positivity for those around him (save for the people who piss him off).
While John is not the most intelligent character in the series (but by no means stupid), he is undoubtedly one of the most inventive and resourceful. After reading about a magic trick involving marking cards with a hole-punch, he realized that the trick could be adapted and used with SBURB’s punch card-based alchemy system. From there, he was able to mostly crack the binary cipher behind the system and fully utilize it to create a variety of items to help him on his journey. He even figured out how to do simple item subtractions (he managed to "subtract" clown doodles from a movie poster, but was unable to remove a flower pot, violin, and cinderblock from a jetpack). When he creates a hammer too large and heavy for him to pick up, let alone wield, he creates the Remote Control Ghost Gauntlets which allow him to use it. Later on, John is tasked with retrieving a bomb out of the core of a planet; however he does not have nearly enough time to find the entrance leading to said core. His solution is to drill through the planet with a giant tornado, which he creates with his control of the wind. Admittedly, trying to use a Barbasol bomb to put out a fire ended up being kind of a bad idea but how was John supposed to know that shaving cream was so flammable? He was just trying to save a bunch of salamanders from a crispy fate.
In addition to being incredibly positive and inventive, John is also a very friendly individual. He places great importance on friendship and even goes as far to remind his teammates that he is not their leader, but rather their friend. And there is a HUGE difference between the two. He is a very good listener and despite being an oblivious goof, has the uncanny ability to see through the fronts his friends sometimes put up and tell or give them exactly what they need. As stated previously, John has his moments where he can be pretty unkind and nasty, but it takes quite a bit to push him to that point. The trolls provide the best example of this. When we first see John talk to a Karkat, he is far from kind to the grey-texted alien. But when we consider the fact that all four of the trolls antagonized John AND his best friends for months before the game even began (meaning the four kids had no clue as to why they were being tormented in the first place) it is not all that hard to see why he was less than happy to hear from them again. Especially considering the fact that John thought he had ditched them by switching his messaging handle. But under normal circumstances, he is very warm and accepting of people (though he will throw in the occasional sarcastic quip or teasing jab). He trusts and accepts a person until given a reason not to and even then he sometimes continues to trust and accept anyway, evidence to the contrary be damned.
And this leads us to of John’s biggest shortcomings: he is trusting to a fault and too naïve for his own good. Following advice from dubious sources has gotten him killed on two separate occasions to date. For example, when Terezi tells him to go face his denizen after only being in the game for a few hours, John goes right along with it despite the fact that this is clearly not only a bad idea, but a downright stupid one. John is not at all new to video games and should have known that fighting a creature that was, at the very least, a miniboss (if not a final boss) at his meager level could only end in failure, even if the creature in question was supposedly asleep (spoilers: he wasn’t). Despite the fact that both this death and the second one at the hands of Vriska ended up being beneficial (to either the timeline in general or John himself), the fact still remains that listening to internet trolls is never a good idea. Especially when the trolls in question have either threatened to kill you or flat-out told you they were going to kill you months before actually going through with it.
In this same vein, John can also be quite passive, though not in the pathetic, backbone-less sense. He has the tendency to do things (or at the very least, consider doing them) simply because someone tells him to, despite how little sense the command may make, how dangerous it is, or how dubious the source. In addition to this passivity, John is also not the patient type. Whenever he ends up having to wait for something to arrive or happen, John has the tendency to get somewhat upset and rather irate. This also holds true for when information is being withheld from him, as evident by his conversations with Nannasprite (his ghostly spirit guide through the Medium made from a harlequin doll and his grandmother’s ashes). Tied closely to this is John’s laziness. This is especially evident early on in canon, when John would rather have Rose throw refrigerators at enemies than get up and fight them himself.
John's tendency not to think things through before acting on them is an unfortunate aspect of his that often causes people to consider him unintelligent despite evidence to the contrary. Predictably, this can get him into lots of trouble, such as the aforementioned example with Terezi. Another example of this occurs much later in canon, when Karkat informs John that either Rose or Dave must die in order to defeat Jack Noir. John’s immediate reaction is to suggest that he go on the suicide mission instead because he is "apparently immortal, because of this god tier business, so the bomb probably would not kill [him]!" However, as Karkat is quick to point out, John’s immortality is only conditional and maybe, just maybe, a suicide mission to save the entire world would count as heroic (one of only two ways in which to kill a God Tier character). Obviously, Karkat prevents him from actually going through with it, but if he (or someone else) hadn’t pointed out how dumb it was, John likely would have gone through with it in order to save Dave and/or Rose.
Last but not least, John has a stubborn streak a mile wide though this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s more like a double edged sword. On the one hand, if he were not a stubborn individual, he would not so doggedly pursue the best possible outcome in every situation. Stubbornness and nigh unbreakable optimism go hand-in-hand, after all. But on the other, if he gets a BAD idea, he will just as doggedly pursue it. Even if presented with evidence to the contrary, John will still attempt to go through with a potentially bad idea. The best example of this is when Dave and Future Dave try to tell him not to listen to Terezi’s advice and blast off into space and get himself killed like a doofus. It wasn’t until he remembered Dave’s birthday letter (mere feet away from the final gate that would lead him to his denizen and his death) that he changed his mind and listened to his friend, saving both himself and the alpha timeline in the process.
Route-related Changes:
Since we’ll be here all day if I try to explain all the CR-related stuff John has gone through, here’s a link to his CR chart. This contains general opinions of the characters John has interacted with over the course of nearly two years in Johto and also details relationship changes where applicable (Rose, Dave, Karkat, and Vriska being some of the ones that have gone through the most changes).
The thing you have to understand about being taken to a place like Johto is that it’s basically every child’s dream come true. Because let's face it: who doesn't want to live in a world inhabited by magical creatures with no adult supervision? John embraced the life of a Pokémon trainer and adapted very quickly. A little too quickly and strongly, if we're being completely honest. Once he found out that Jade was already and Johto (and had been for a while), he lost his sense of urgency to go home. If she was safe, then it didn't really matter that he was taken away in the middle of trying to get her into the game. And with the arrival of Rose a week later, he very quickly lost any and all desire to return home. All of his friends were here now and they were all alive and well, why bother going back to a place where they would constantly be in danger and are doomed to fuck things up astronomically? (John has yet to actually experience this but he's been spoiled enough by his friends to get the basic idea of what happens) And again: Pokémon and no adult supervision. Awesome. Long and the short of it: John very much enjoys his life in Johto. And he intends to stay there! (Even though he actually has no control over that and he knows it)
The biggest difference between this John and his canon counterpart is how he interacts with people. John seems to be an introvert with extroverted qualities. He’s perfectly fine with being alone and is more than capable of entertaining himself when left to his own devices. But at the same time, he doesn’t shy away from the chance to talk with others or meet new people. For a while, this was true in Johto as well. But in order to cope with the sometimes multiple losses of friends, John slowly became more withdrawn and detached from people as a whole. The main way that this coping method manifests is in his network usage. Initially, John had to exercise restraint NOT to post every little inane thing to the network and replied to others with greater frequency. Nowadays his presence on Johto's social network is far less frequent. He sometimes goes months without making a post of his own, and when he does it’s usually to ask a question or to do something like sell eggs. He no longer posts about evolutions or egg hatchings or beating a gym leader. When it comes to other people, there are three types of posts he tends to respond to: posts made by friends, posts asking a question, or posts by people who have lost someone. His reasoning for the first type should be fairly obvious. As for the second, despite becoming more withdrawn, John is still a helpful and friendly person by nature. So whenever he happens to catch a confused "help my Pokémon just changed shape" or a "now why can't my Fearow just fly me to Goldenrod?" post made by a newbie, he has no issue with offering answers or advice. He just doesn't attempt to pursue the relationship any further than that. Same goes for people who have lost someone. He's been in that position more times than he likes to think about and he always appreciated having someone to talk to in those instances. He won't slap away the hand of friendship if it's offered to him, but he no longer goes out of his way to offer it to people from other universes. Because when people from the Homestuck universe pull a reappearing act, they at least remember John's name even if they don't remember their previous visit to Johto. Others? Not so much.
Somewhat contradictory to his tendency of detachment, John has become quite emotionally attached to Rose. Considering the fact that she is one of only two of John's closest castmates that has never left him and with only a week separating their arrival times, this kind of comes as no surprise. The only trip which the two did not take together was the initial 3 day journey on route 29. Rose has taken care of John while sick, concussed, and high while John has done the same for a soulless Rose. Basically, Rose has become the one constant in John’s life in Johto (other than his Pokémon, of course) and he depends on her for a sense of stability. As long as Rose is still with him, everything will be alright.
On a more positive note, Johto John is more self-sufficient, responsible, and studious than his canon counterpart. As mentioned previously, adult supervision is a rarity in Johto. In fact, it wasn't until about a year ago that John had anything remotely resembling a parental figure. And even then, the Other Father didn't necessarily care for John in an active capacity so much as he provided emotional support and gave John a free place to stay if he happens to be in Goldenrod. As such, John has had to mostly provide for himself for his nearly two-year stay in Johto, which has given him a very strong sense of independence that most children his age do not have. Luckily, in Johto there is no age restriction on getting a job, only on the number of hours you're allowed to work. But even working part time, John has made more than enough money to support himself. He's been working as a medical assistant in the Pokémon Center of every town he's stayed in (save for Cherrygrove). This has given him some medical skills as well as work ethic, though his expertise is unfortunately in treating sick and injured Pokémon, not humans. Though there are probably a few things he can do that would be applicable to both species, such as setting a bone. As mentioned previously and in his CR chart, John has spent a great deal of his time in Johto with Rose Lalonde. No matter who you are, one of the side effects of this will be an increase in your weekly visits to the library. Though John initially complained about this, especially during the times when Rose called at 3am asking for company on a library trip, eventually he got to the point where he didn't mind and even began to enjoy these study sessions. However, the only things John will study without complaint are the things that interest him personally. This basically boils down to ghosts, battle tactics, ghosts, Johto legends, ghost stories, and occasionally something medical-related. If it wasn't completely obvious, his interest in the paranormal has only increased with his time in Johto, while other things such as programming and movies have taken a back seat. But only because Johto technology really can't be programmed and because the movie selection really isn't that great, even by John's standards. Recently, a bi-regional tournament was held in Vermilion City, pitting outsiders against outsiders over the course of several weeks. John entered the two highest brackets and was knocked out of one in the first round and the other in the second. While he was hardly expecting to win, he did figure he would get at least a little further than that. As such, he has now devoted even more time to buffing up his battle tactics, trying to compensate for oversights that he has now been made painfully aware of.
This John is also slightly more serious than he was in SBURB, or perhaps more accurately: he's better at recognizing when he actually needs to be serious. He's perfectly capable of being serious in canon when he wants to, but he's not always the best at recognizing when those times are (especially early on in canon). There are two incidents in particular that are responsible for this change, both of which happened in John's first year in Johto. The first occurred on John's birthday that wasn't actually a birthday (he hadn't been in Johto long enough for it to "count"). Back then, the entire Homestuck cast traveled together from city to city, a practice which has since been discontinued because of this particular incident. Though they all traveled together as a group, they made use of the buddy system and paired everyone off. John ended up with Gamzee basically because nobody else would put up with the juggalo. While passing through the cave separating Violet and Azalea, the pairs split from each other so that they could all race through the cave. Long and the short of it, Gamzee had a sober episode, went crazy, cracked John's head open with a rock, and left him for dead before moving through the cave to hunt everyone else down. Luckily Rose and Dave found John before it was too late and Karkat stopped Gamzee in the end, but John could hardly ignore the fact that this was partially his fault since he hadn't been doing his job as a travel buddy. The second incident happened two months later, when Rose's soul was stolen by a wild Shedinja. She was trapped in a dream world for a week while John agonized over the fact that there was little to nothing he could do besides watch over her lifeless body. He spent much of the week researching, pacing, and refusing to sleep. While, again, this incident was hardly his fault, it was still a pretty big shock to his system and yet another reminder that life isn't always fun and games.
Basically, after all his time in Johto, John is more or less acts the same way as he did when he was when he was taken from Sburb. But there is a certain level of maturity that he’s gained through forced independence and less-than-pleasant events. Though he is still a fun-loving guy, he is more capable of being serious when the situation calls for it and is generally better at recognizing those situations. Unfortunately, he is also slightly more withdrawn and has an increased sense of detachment from the people around him, with the exception of Rose, whom he has become rather emotionally dependent upon. Not to the point that they're attached at the hip or that he can’t function without her being right next to him or anything, but to a point that he becomes incredibly distraught if they are separated by more than just distance. Say, for example, one of them having their soul stolen, dying, or being sent home. In addition, he has become very attached to Johto and the comparatively mundane life it provides him. And also his pokemon. They are pretty awesome too and he loves them. It’s gotten to the point that he no longer sees himself as "just a boy." He is "just a boy who also happens to be a goddamn Pokémon trainer, thank you very much."
Like any number of teenaged protagonists in tales of fun and friendship, John Egbert is a quirky, fun-loving boy with a heart of gold. He has a fondness for pranks, magic tricks, terrible movies, and paranormal lore. At the same time, he has a rather intense dislike of baked goods, specifically those bearing the Red Spoon of the Batterwitch (Betty Crocker) on their boxes. Overall, he tends to walk the path of the "nice guy" and can be described as easy going, agreeable, and more than just a little bit goofy. While at times he can say insensitive things, this is more due to his shortcomings in the concept of "thinking before you speak" than pure nastiness. There is, however, an exception to this. Like any normal person, if you push him enough he will drop the nice guy demeanor. Mostly this involves a bit of snark and blocking you on pesterchum.
Perhaps his most defining trait is his stalwart and nigh unbreakable optimism. John is constantly looking for the silver lining in even the most hopeless of situations and he won't give up until he finds it. Even if he has to go through a hundred stupid ideas first, eventually he will figure something out. Or at least, that’s the general idea. He is a seemingly endless fount of good cheer and positivity for those around him (save for the people who piss him off).
While John is not the most intelligent character in the series (but by no means stupid), he is undoubtedly one of the most inventive and resourceful. After reading about a magic trick involving marking cards with a hole-punch, he realized that the trick could be adapted and used with SBURB’s punch card-based alchemy system. From there, he was able to mostly crack the binary cipher behind the system and fully utilize it to create a variety of items to help him on his journey. He even figured out how to do simple item subtractions (he managed to "subtract" clown doodles from a movie poster, but was unable to remove a flower pot, violin, and cinderblock from a jetpack). When he creates a hammer too large and heavy for him to pick up, let alone wield, he creates the Remote Control Ghost Gauntlets which allow him to use it. Later on, John is tasked with retrieving a bomb out of the core of a planet; however he does not have nearly enough time to find the entrance leading to said core. His solution is to drill through the planet with a giant tornado, which he creates with his control of the wind. Admittedly, trying to use a Barbasol bomb to put out a fire ended up being kind of a bad idea but how was John supposed to know that shaving cream was so flammable? He was just trying to save a bunch of salamanders from a crispy fate.
In addition to being incredibly positive and inventive, John is also a very friendly individual. He places great importance on friendship and even goes as far to remind his teammates that he is not their leader, but rather their friend. And there is a HUGE difference between the two. He is a very good listener and despite being an oblivious goof, has the uncanny ability to see through the fronts his friends sometimes put up and tell or give them exactly what they need. As stated previously, John has his moments where he can be pretty unkind and nasty, but it takes quite a bit to push him to that point. The trolls provide the best example of this. When we first see John talk to a Karkat, he is far from kind to the grey-texted alien. But when we consider the fact that all four of the trolls antagonized John AND his best friends for months before the game even began (meaning the four kids had no clue as to why they were being tormented in the first place) it is not all that hard to see why he was less than happy to hear from them again. Especially considering the fact that John thought he had ditched them by switching his messaging handle. But under normal circumstances, he is very warm and accepting of people (though he will throw in the occasional sarcastic quip or teasing jab). He trusts and accepts a person until given a reason not to and even then he sometimes continues to trust and accept anyway, evidence to the contrary be damned.
And this leads us to of John’s biggest shortcomings: he is trusting to a fault and too naïve for his own good. Following advice from dubious sources has gotten him killed on two separate occasions to date. For example, when Terezi tells him to go face his denizen after only being in the game for a few hours, John goes right along with it despite the fact that this is clearly not only a bad idea, but a downright stupid one. John is not at all new to video games and should have known that fighting a creature that was, at the very least, a miniboss (if not a final boss) at his meager level could only end in failure, even if the creature in question was supposedly asleep (spoilers: he wasn’t). Despite the fact that both this death and the second one at the hands of Vriska ended up being beneficial (to either the timeline in general or John himself), the fact still remains that listening to internet trolls is never a good idea. Especially when the trolls in question have either threatened to kill you or flat-out told you they were going to kill you months before actually going through with it.
In this same vein, John can also be quite passive, though not in the pathetic, backbone-less sense. He has the tendency to do things (or at the very least, consider doing them) simply because someone tells him to, despite how little sense the command may make, how dangerous it is, or how dubious the source. In addition to this passivity, John is also not the patient type. Whenever he ends up having to wait for something to arrive or happen, John has the tendency to get somewhat upset and rather irate. This also holds true for when information is being withheld from him, as evident by his conversations with Nannasprite (his ghostly spirit guide through the Medium made from a harlequin doll and his grandmother’s ashes). Tied closely to this is John’s laziness. This is especially evident early on in canon, when John would rather have Rose throw refrigerators at enemies than get up and fight them himself.
John's tendency not to think things through before acting on them is an unfortunate aspect of his that often causes people to consider him unintelligent despite evidence to the contrary. Predictably, this can get him into lots of trouble, such as the aforementioned example with Terezi. Another example of this occurs much later in canon, when Karkat informs John that either Rose or Dave must die in order to defeat Jack Noir. John’s immediate reaction is to suggest that he go on the suicide mission instead because he is "apparently immortal, because of this god tier business, so the bomb probably would not kill [him]!" However, as Karkat is quick to point out, John’s immortality is only conditional and maybe, just maybe, a suicide mission to save the entire world would count as heroic (one of only two ways in which to kill a God Tier character). Obviously, Karkat prevents him from actually going through with it, but if he (or someone else) hadn’t pointed out how dumb it was, John likely would have gone through with it in order to save Dave and/or Rose.
Last but not least, John has a stubborn streak a mile wide though this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s more like a double edged sword. On the one hand, if he were not a stubborn individual, he would not so doggedly pursue the best possible outcome in every situation. Stubbornness and nigh unbreakable optimism go hand-in-hand, after all. But on the other, if he gets a BAD idea, he will just as doggedly pursue it. Even if presented with evidence to the contrary, John will still attempt to go through with a potentially bad idea. The best example of this is when Dave and Future Dave try to tell him not to listen to Terezi’s advice and blast off into space and get himself killed like a doofus. It wasn’t until he remembered Dave’s birthday letter (mere feet away from the final gate that would lead him to his denizen and his death) that he changed his mind and listened to his friend, saving both himself and the alpha timeline in the process.
Route-related Changes:
Since we’ll be here all day if I try to explain all the CR-related stuff John has gone through, here’s a link to his CR chart. This contains general opinions of the characters John has interacted with over the course of nearly two years in Johto and also details relationship changes where applicable (Rose, Dave, Karkat, and Vriska being some of the ones that have gone through the most changes).
The thing you have to understand about being taken to a place like Johto is that it’s basically every child’s dream come true. Because let's face it: who doesn't want to live in a world inhabited by magical creatures with no adult supervision? John embraced the life of a Pokémon trainer and adapted very quickly. A little too quickly and strongly, if we're being completely honest. Once he found out that Jade was already and Johto (and had been for a while), he lost his sense of urgency to go home. If she was safe, then it didn't really matter that he was taken away in the middle of trying to get her into the game. And with the arrival of Rose a week later, he very quickly lost any and all desire to return home. All of his friends were here now and they were all alive and well, why bother going back to a place where they would constantly be in danger and are doomed to fuck things up astronomically? (John has yet to actually experience this but he's been spoiled enough by his friends to get the basic idea of what happens) And again: Pokémon and no adult supervision. Awesome. Long and the short of it: John very much enjoys his life in Johto. And he intends to stay there! (Even though he actually has no control over that and he knows it)
The biggest difference between this John and his canon counterpart is how he interacts with people. John seems to be an introvert with extroverted qualities. He’s perfectly fine with being alone and is more than capable of entertaining himself when left to his own devices. But at the same time, he doesn’t shy away from the chance to talk with others or meet new people. For a while, this was true in Johto as well. But in order to cope with the sometimes multiple losses of friends, John slowly became more withdrawn and detached from people as a whole. The main way that this coping method manifests is in his network usage. Initially, John had to exercise restraint NOT to post every little inane thing to the network and replied to others with greater frequency. Nowadays his presence on Johto's social network is far less frequent. He sometimes goes months without making a post of his own, and when he does it’s usually to ask a question or to do something like sell eggs. He no longer posts about evolutions or egg hatchings or beating a gym leader. When it comes to other people, there are three types of posts he tends to respond to: posts made by friends, posts asking a question, or posts by people who have lost someone. His reasoning for the first type should be fairly obvious. As for the second, despite becoming more withdrawn, John is still a helpful and friendly person by nature. So whenever he happens to catch a confused "help my Pokémon just changed shape" or a "now why can't my Fearow just fly me to Goldenrod?" post made by a newbie, he has no issue with offering answers or advice. He just doesn't attempt to pursue the relationship any further than that. Same goes for people who have lost someone. He's been in that position more times than he likes to think about and he always appreciated having someone to talk to in those instances. He won't slap away the hand of friendship if it's offered to him, but he no longer goes out of his way to offer it to people from other universes. Because when people from the Homestuck universe pull a reappearing act, they at least remember John's name even if they don't remember their previous visit to Johto. Others? Not so much.
Somewhat contradictory to his tendency of detachment, John has become quite emotionally attached to Rose. Considering the fact that she is one of only two of John's closest castmates that has never left him and with only a week separating their arrival times, this kind of comes as no surprise. The only trip which the two did not take together was the initial 3 day journey on route 29. Rose has taken care of John while sick, concussed, and high while John has done the same for a soulless Rose. Basically, Rose has become the one constant in John’s life in Johto (other than his Pokémon, of course) and he depends on her for a sense of stability. As long as Rose is still with him, everything will be alright.
On a more positive note, Johto John is more self-sufficient, responsible, and studious than his canon counterpart. As mentioned previously, adult supervision is a rarity in Johto. In fact, it wasn't until about a year ago that John had anything remotely resembling a parental figure. And even then, the Other Father didn't necessarily care for John in an active capacity so much as he provided emotional support and gave John a free place to stay if he happens to be in Goldenrod. As such, John has had to mostly provide for himself for his nearly two-year stay in Johto, which has given him a very strong sense of independence that most children his age do not have. Luckily, in Johto there is no age restriction on getting a job, only on the number of hours you're allowed to work. But even working part time, John has made more than enough money to support himself. He's been working as a medical assistant in the Pokémon Center of every town he's stayed in (save for Cherrygrove). This has given him some medical skills as well as work ethic, though his expertise is unfortunately in treating sick and injured Pokémon, not humans. Though there are probably a few things he can do that would be applicable to both species, such as setting a bone. As mentioned previously and in his CR chart, John has spent a great deal of his time in Johto with Rose Lalonde. No matter who you are, one of the side effects of this will be an increase in your weekly visits to the library. Though John initially complained about this, especially during the times when Rose called at 3am asking for company on a library trip, eventually he got to the point where he didn't mind and even began to enjoy these study sessions. However, the only things John will study without complaint are the things that interest him personally. This basically boils down to ghosts, battle tactics, ghosts, Johto legends, ghost stories, and occasionally something medical-related. If it wasn't completely obvious, his interest in the paranormal has only increased with his time in Johto, while other things such as programming and movies have taken a back seat. But only because Johto technology really can't be programmed and because the movie selection really isn't that great, even by John's standards. Recently, a bi-regional tournament was held in Vermilion City, pitting outsiders against outsiders over the course of several weeks. John entered the two highest brackets and was knocked out of one in the first round and the other in the second. While he was hardly expecting to win, he did figure he would get at least a little further than that. As such, he has now devoted even more time to buffing up his battle tactics, trying to compensate for oversights that he has now been made painfully aware of.
This John is also slightly more serious than he was in SBURB, or perhaps more accurately: he's better at recognizing when he actually needs to be serious. He's perfectly capable of being serious in canon when he wants to, but he's not always the best at recognizing when those times are (especially early on in canon). There are two incidents in particular that are responsible for this change, both of which happened in John's first year in Johto. The first occurred on John's birthday that wasn't actually a birthday (he hadn't been in Johto long enough for it to "count"). Back then, the entire Homestuck cast traveled together from city to city, a practice which has since been discontinued because of this particular incident. Though they all traveled together as a group, they made use of the buddy system and paired everyone off. John ended up with Gamzee basically because nobody else would put up with the juggalo. While passing through the cave separating Violet and Azalea, the pairs split from each other so that they could all race through the cave. Long and the short of it, Gamzee had a sober episode, went crazy, cracked John's head open with a rock, and left him for dead before moving through the cave to hunt everyone else down. Luckily Rose and Dave found John before it was too late and Karkat stopped Gamzee in the end, but John could hardly ignore the fact that this was partially his fault since he hadn't been doing his job as a travel buddy. The second incident happened two months later, when Rose's soul was stolen by a wild Shedinja. She was trapped in a dream world for a week while John agonized over the fact that there was little to nothing he could do besides watch over her lifeless body. He spent much of the week researching, pacing, and refusing to sleep. While, again, this incident was hardly his fault, it was still a pretty big shock to his system and yet another reminder that life isn't always fun and games.
Basically, after all his time in Johto, John is more or less acts the same way as he did when he was when he was taken from Sburb. But there is a certain level of maturity that he’s gained through forced independence and less-than-pleasant events. Though he is still a fun-loving guy, he is more capable of being serious when the situation calls for it and is generally better at recognizing those situations. Unfortunately, he is also slightly more withdrawn and has an increased sense of detachment from the people around him, with the exception of Rose, whom he has become rather emotionally dependent upon. Not to the point that they're attached at the hip or that he can’t function without her being right next to him or anything, but to a point that he becomes incredibly distraught if they are separated by more than just distance. Say, for example, one of them having their soul stolen, dying, or being sent home. In addition, he has become very attached to Johto and the comparatively mundane life it provides him. And also his pokemon. They are pretty awesome too and he loves them. It’s gotten to the point that he no longer sees himself as "just a boy." He is "just a boy who also happens to be a goddamn Pokémon trainer, thank you very much."
Abilities:
Since John hails from a relatively early canon point, he's a little lacking in the ways of supernatural abilities. His MANGRIT stat makes him stronger than your average teenage boy, but at this stage in the game it isn't much to write home about. While he can easily dual-wield hammers, he's not going to be slinging around refrigerators single-handedly or anything.
As the Heir of Breath, SBURB granted John powers over wind. Canon has not yet explained exactly HOW an Heir uses his aspect, but from what we have seen John, an Heir of BREATH has some basic elemental manipulation abilities. Though John didn't begin to regularly use his powers until after he ascended to the God Tiers, he has presumably had them since the moment he entered the game. He just didn't know that he had them and subsequently, had no idea how to use them. It wasn't until his life was put on the line that he was able to inadvertently use them. In Johto, all powers are nullified so John had no way of potentially developing his abilities, despite the fact that he knows he has them. When brought to the tower, I would assume that this power-ban would be lifted, which would put John back at having potential but no usable powers just yet. It will likely take time and a life-threatening situation or two to coax the "Windy Thing" out of him. However, given how spectacularly he failed to control Raikou's powers during the outbreak, John will be more than a little hesitant at the idea of learning to control his own powers.
What you really have to watch out for with this particular John are his pokemon, who have a variety of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses afforded them by their typing. Five of John's pokemon will be accompanying him to the tower and he will be attempting to regain a sixth via the request box at some point. In-depth information on his Haunter, Dusknoir, Rotom, Litwick, and Zorua can be found on his trunk contents page.
As the Heir of Breath, SBURB granted John powers over wind. Canon has not yet explained exactly HOW an Heir uses his aspect, but from what we have seen John, an Heir of BREATH has some basic elemental manipulation abilities. Though John didn't begin to regularly use his powers until after he ascended to the God Tiers, he has presumably had them since the moment he entered the game. He just didn't know that he had them and subsequently, had no idea how to use them. It wasn't until his life was put on the line that he was able to inadvertently use them. In Johto, all powers are nullified so John had no way of potentially developing his abilities, despite the fact that he knows he has them. When brought to the tower, I would assume that this power-ban would be lifted, which would put John back at having potential but no usable powers just yet. It will likely take time and a life-threatening situation or two to coax the "Windy Thing" out of him. However, given how spectacularly he failed to control Raikou's powers during the outbreak, John will be more than a little hesitant at the idea of learning to control his own powers.
What you really have to watch out for with this particular John are his pokemon, who have a variety of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses afforded them by their typing. Five of John's pokemon will be accompanying him to the tower and he will be attempting to regain a sixth via the request box at some point. In-depth information on his Haunter, Dusknoir, Rotom, Litwick, and Zorua can be found on his trunk contents page.
Sample Entries: Dave Strider's fifth return to Johto.
To say that John was excited to discover the fourteenth floor was an understatement. He was downright enthralled. It had been two years since he'd had the chance to see a proper movie, after all. And now that he had this magnificent spread set out before him, he was ready to hole up on this floor and watch every single DVD on these shelves.
Or, at least, this was his intent until he actually started LOOKING at said DVDs. As case spine after case spine revealed nothing but unfamiliar titles, John's hopes began to sink. Armageddon failed to show up after two thorough searches of the A section, and the same thing happened with Con Air in the C's. Missing from the G section was, not only Ghostbusters II, but also the original movie and there was a distinct lack of Little Monsters among the numerous unfamiliar L titles.
"Mac and Me, Mac and Me..." John muttered to himself, running his index finger across the spines of the M section and giving each case a scrutinizing look. "Mac an-- wow." About halfway through the section, he stopped, momentarily sturck dumb by a sudden realization. "I have really reached the bottom of the barrel, haven't I? Looking for Mac and Me, of all things...Christ, what was I thinking?" Two movie-less years or not, he wasn't THAT desperate.
"Hmmm..."
He tapped his chin, continuing to stare at the wall with a concentrated look on his face. From his shoulder, there came a quiet sort of ethereal cooing noise. The culprit? What appeared to be a small, white candle with a purple flame. A Litwick, a ghost-type Pokemon and one of John's constant companions from his previous life in Johto. The little ghost was currently giving her master a very curious look, head (and therefore, her entire body) tilted to one side. John merely scratched at her side with his free index finger, eyes never moving from the display of DVDs before him.
"Perhaps there's a chance someone has checked them out? There's another me here, after all. I wouldn't be surprised if he has all the good movies stashed somewhere..." It's what he would do, after all. He scritched and scratches at the Candle Pokemon a little more, still lost in thought and mumbling to himself. "Or maybe someone put them back in the wrong place...I did see an R mixed in with the G's after all. Hmm hmm hmmmmm..."
It takes John nearly an hour to go through the rest of the movies, mostly because he stopped to re-alphabetize every misplaced case. It's important for movies to be in an easily-accessible order, after all! But when even an exhaustive, overly-scrutinizing search failed to turn up any movies that sounded even remotely familiar, John was forced to face the facts.
The tower's movie selection was just as bad as Johto's. Maybe even worse. Without actually watching any of these, there was no way to be certain.
With a disappointed sigh, he flopped into the most vacant, cushy-looking chair possible. His head lolled backwards over the chair back, mouth gaping open as he stared up at the ceiling with a vacant expression on his face. Having abandoned his shoulder during his increasingly frantic search, the Litwick soared across the room and came to rest mere inches above her master's face. For a moment, she did nothing but stare before tapping his forehead with a single, stubby arm.
"ooooOOOOoo?"
"I just need to face the facts here, Chandel. I am never going to see another movie that isn't a) complete trash, b) a rip-off, or c) both of the above. Man...and here I thought there would be at least one good thing about this place."
The Litwick (Chandel, apparently) looks somewhat disheartened by that. "U-uuuuu..."
"Oh no, don't take that the wrong way now!" John sat up straight, twisting around in the chair to sit on his knees and face Chandel, resting his arms on the chair back. "This tower may suck balls from everything I have heard and seen so far, but at least I have you with me, right? And Elliot, Slimer, Tron, and Michael J. too!" He grins at the candle, resting his chin on his arms. "And Rose and all her Pokemon too, thankfully. Hehe, I am not sure what I would do without her here with me." Probably die horribly from a monster attack or by falling down the stairs before the first week's end. Or spend weeks in his room moping. Maybe some combination of both.
"But you know what?" He giggles and taps the Litwick where her nose would be, eliciting a happy squeak from the ghostly candle. "We have each other, so everything is going to be okay. We will survive this place and find a way back to Johto, just you wait. And we will take everyone back with us, even if it means getting stuck with two Daves."
"OoooOOoo!!"
And with that, the two dissolved into giggles. Yes. John was positive that they could survive this. That everything would be okay and that out there, somewhere, all their friends back in Johto were still there waiting for them.
Just waiting for them to come back home.
Or, at least, this was his intent until he actually started LOOKING at said DVDs. As case spine after case spine revealed nothing but unfamiliar titles, John's hopes began to sink. Armageddon failed to show up after two thorough searches of the A section, and the same thing happened with Con Air in the C's. Missing from the G section was, not only Ghostbusters II, but also the original movie and there was a distinct lack of Little Monsters among the numerous unfamiliar L titles.
"Mac and Me, Mac and Me..." John muttered to himself, running his index finger across the spines of the M section and giving each case a scrutinizing look. "Mac an-- wow." About halfway through the section, he stopped, momentarily sturck dumb by a sudden realization. "I have really reached the bottom of the barrel, haven't I? Looking for Mac and Me, of all things...Christ, what was I thinking?" Two movie-less years or not, he wasn't THAT desperate.
"Hmmm..."
He tapped his chin, continuing to stare at the wall with a concentrated look on his face. From his shoulder, there came a quiet sort of ethereal cooing noise. The culprit? What appeared to be a small, white candle with a purple flame. A Litwick, a ghost-type Pokemon and one of John's constant companions from his previous life in Johto. The little ghost was currently giving her master a very curious look, head (and therefore, her entire body) tilted to one side. John merely scratched at her side with his free index finger, eyes never moving from the display of DVDs before him.
"Perhaps there's a chance someone has checked them out? There's another me here, after all. I wouldn't be surprised if he has all the good movies stashed somewhere..." It's what he would do, after all. He scritched and scratches at the Candle Pokemon a little more, still lost in thought and mumbling to himself. "Or maybe someone put them back in the wrong place...I did see an R mixed in with the G's after all. Hmm hmm hmmmmm..."
It takes John nearly an hour to go through the rest of the movies, mostly because he stopped to re-alphabetize every misplaced case. It's important for movies to be in an easily-accessible order, after all! But when even an exhaustive, overly-scrutinizing search failed to turn up any movies that sounded even remotely familiar, John was forced to face the facts.
The tower's movie selection was just as bad as Johto's. Maybe even worse. Without actually watching any of these, there was no way to be certain.
With a disappointed sigh, he flopped into the most vacant, cushy-looking chair possible. His head lolled backwards over the chair back, mouth gaping open as he stared up at the ceiling with a vacant expression on his face. Having abandoned his shoulder during his increasingly frantic search, the Litwick soared across the room and came to rest mere inches above her master's face. For a moment, she did nothing but stare before tapping his forehead with a single, stubby arm.
"ooooOOOOoo?"
"I just need to face the facts here, Chandel. I am never going to see another movie that isn't a) complete trash, b) a rip-off, or c) both of the above. Man...and here I thought there would be at least one good thing about this place."
The Litwick (Chandel, apparently) looks somewhat disheartened by that. "U-uuuuu..."
"Oh no, don't take that the wrong way now!" John sat up straight, twisting around in the chair to sit on his knees and face Chandel, resting his arms on the chair back. "This tower may suck balls from everything I have heard and seen so far, but at least I have you with me, right? And Elliot, Slimer, Tron, and Michael J. too!" He grins at the candle, resting his chin on his arms. "And Rose and all her Pokemon too, thankfully. Hehe, I am not sure what I would do without her here with me." Probably die horribly from a monster attack or by falling down the stairs before the first week's end. Or spend weeks in his room moping. Maybe some combination of both.
"But you know what?" He giggles and taps the Litwick where her nose would be, eliciting a happy squeak from the ghostly candle. "We have each other, so everything is going to be okay. We will survive this place and find a way back to Johto, just you wait. And we will take everyone back with us, even if it means getting stuck with two Daves."
"OoooOOoo!!"
And with that, the two dissolved into giggles. Yes. John was positive that they could survive this. That everything would be okay and that out there, somewhere, all their friends back in Johto were still there waiting for them.
Just waiting for them to come back home.