Winslow High, Nurse's Office, October 18th, 2010
"-I knew you could see me!" Madison shouted as she suddenly rocketed up from where she had been laying on a bed…ok wait that didn't seem right.
Madison's head whipped around, and with a start she realized she was no longer in the park. Instead, she was in what looked to be the nurse's office, laying on the cot students used when they were sick (read: when they wanted to skip classes and take a nap), and she was not alone either. A wide-eyed Emma was in the room with her, sitting in a chair beside her bed and staring at her, mouth agape with surprise, before, to Madison's shock, she jumped forward and pulled Madison into a sudden tight hug.
"E-Emma-wha-!"
Clack…
[8-20: North Vegas Square - A minor district of New Vegas in the Mojave Wasteland. With a Natural Power of 20, the Docks district of Brockton Bay is now forcibly expanded to include the North Vegas Square, and the city is quite simply bigger than before! Thanks to its power as well, the installation is seamless and causes no earthquakes or similar events. While normally the Square would be a radioactive pile of rubble and squatters, the buildings have now been restored to their Pre-War splendor, with Pre-War technology both furnishing and powering the buildings, while the Square also comes with a small contingent of Protectron Enforcers, pre-programmed to obey the local government and police, as well as able to identify the local gang members of Brockton Bay! To protect and serve!]
There were a few reasons Madison was so surprised right now. First, Emma was not a hugger. Not this kind of hugger anyways, with so much emotion behind the action. It was completely unlike her, and would have normally felt far more disturbing to Madison if not for the second reason she was panicking:
a pretty, developed girl was pressing herself against Madison-
Face burning red, Madison couldn't help but push Emma away, something she instantly regretted however when a flash of hurt crossed Emma's face.
"S-sorry Ems, you just-uh, startled me…" Madison said sheepishly, only for Emma to gasp, eyes widening once more while her (still perfectly maintained, Madison couldn't help but notice) eyebrows rose.
"Ah-oh, no! I'm so sorry too Maddie too, I didn't even think-I was just so worried about you, I mean you looked so sick earlier, you were spacing out so much, and then you just
passed out right when you hit your head! I wanted to call the hospital right away but the school was all-" Every word out of Emma's mouth was more and more disconcerting. This wasn't how Emma talked, this wasn't how Emma
acted, this wasn't-this wasn't right. Emma didn't sound like herself, hell she didn't sound like the girl Madison had just seen in her dream. Instead she sounded more like…that weird, innocent, happy version of Hebert in her dream…
"And then I found those uh…" Emma's voice dropped to a whisper, "those
things in your bag but don't worry Maddie your secret's safe with me-" Madison was pulled out of her thoughts, her confusion about how strange Emma was acting was momentarily forgotten.
"Wait-Emma what
things in my bag?" Madison interrupted the red-head's long-winded tirade. "What are you even talking about?"
Emma tilted her head quizzically before a look of understanding crossed her face. She glanced around the room, as if to confirm they were alone in the nurse's office for the moment before she said, "Oh Maddie, you know-those weird, uh…ice gloves in your bag? I'm really sorry for unmasking you like this but-but I
promise you can trust me!" Emma was beaming, eyes twinkling with excitement, but Madison was just completely lost. Ice gloves?
Unmasking?! Did Emma think-
"Emma do you think I'm a fucking
cape? I don't even know what fucking ice…gloves you're talking about-I just-and you're acting so weird-and why are you calling me
Maddie?! You and Sophia always call me Mads at most-"
"
Sophia?!" It was Emma's turn to interrupt Madison however, and Madison was taken aback by the sheer amount of
fear she heard in Emma's voice. "M-Madison, what are you talking about? That-that
psychopath has been on the run for months! You-you didn't see her right? They said there was no way she would come back to the Bay-" Emma's hands were shaking, her shoulders hunched in fear.
But Madison couldn't even reply, only staring at Emma blankly, dumbfounded. Sophia was…on the run?
Emma, Sophia's best friend, was calling her a psycho?
"I…Emma, you and I were
just talking to her in the hallway! She-she was with us at your house last week!" But Madison's words didn't elicit the response she'd expected. Instead, Emma looked…concerned. Concerned and
scared, even, but whether it was
for Madison or
of Madison, the teen couldn't tell.
"Maddie…it…it was just us in the hallway this morning. Taylor would have been there but I think she was running late today."
…what?
Clack…
[6-5: Wurmple - The Worm Pokemon, Wurmple are native to Hoenn and, as per their name, resemble large worms. Depending on their particular breed, Wurmples are capable of evolving into either the majestic Beautifly, or the toxic Dustox! With a Power of 5, a Level 5 wild Wurmple manifests in the nurse's office!]
And then, suddenly, there was a giant pink worm, its flesh covered in spines and bumps, which dropped out of thin air right onto Madison's lap.
Madison stared blankly at the giant insect.
Emma also stared blankly, dumbfounded.
The worm turned to both of them, first Madison, then Emma, before it tilted its head in confusion and made a strange, high pitched screech.
Madison screamed.
Emma screamed.
The giant worm screeched even louder and suddenly thrust its head forward, glowing, and slammed itself into Madison's chest, her screams cutting off with a choked gasp.
Clack…
[7-8: Storytelling Bird - A talking bird encountered by the Link of A Link To The Past, who offers to tell profitable stories for a price. With a Power of 8, the bird's greed has grown, and he now charges more for people to hear his stories.]
Her arms waved wildly, her body in shock, and suddenly her heart skipped a beat as five glowing blue orbs suddenly appeared around her. Two almost immediately dissipated, crashing harmlessly against the walls and cot of the office around her.
One orb, however, immediately fired itself off-not at the worm, but at a large green bird which suddenly appeared mid-air, flapping its wings. The bird's massive eyes widened and it just barely swerved out of the way, losing a few feathers in the process as it squawked indignantly before flying out the open doorway. In the chaos Madison could almost swear she heard it shout, "How rude!"
The other two orbs rocketed themselves through the air towards the worm, which screeched once more in alarm, and with speed that a weird giant bug definitely should not have had, threw itself out of the way of one of the orbs. The second, however, caught the worm midair, and the creature was suddenly sent hurtling backwards, crashing through the window, shattering it in the process, and landing outside.
Emma stared at Madison, dumbfounded, while Madison tried to regain control of her breathing, still hacking after getting hit by that weird worm's tackle.
"You're a cape." Emma said once more, this time as if she were stating a fact.
Madison could only sit in the cot, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Those things had appeared out of thin air…just like…the sword in her dream…
The color drained from Madison's face. "Oh, god, I'm a cape."
Both girls looked around the room, at the shattered window and the stray feathers scattered across the floor. It was Emma who broke the silence first, grabbing the shellshocked Madison by the arm. "We…we should go." Madison just nodded numbly, and let herself be dragged out of the room by the redhead as they both fled the scene.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Bit of a shorter chapter, but I started writing the stuff that will be included in the next chapter, like where they're gonna go, reactions to the fact that Madison has powers, etc. but it just wasn't really flowing well so I decided to break them up and drop this section as its own chapter, while the next chapter will have all the really good stuff.
For now though, let's get on to the rolls! Alright Madison, you just got back from your trip through time, surely you won't do anything cra-and that's another Nat 20. At this rate I'm gonna have to force in karmic dice or something lmfao. But compared to the previous Nat 20 this one is wayyyyy more chill. Just a replica of the North Vegas Square, nice and refurbished, safely implanted into the Bay....with a cache of Pre-War technology. PRT will be drooling over this (or incredibly pissed if someone else gets to it first lol).
Ironically the lowest roll is the one that's the most important. And so the jig is up, not with a bang....but with a Wurmple. I promise I did not rig the Random button just so I could make that pun lmfao. Wurmple used Tackle, and it was Super Effective against Madison's doubts that she was not, in fact a cape. Sadly Homing Soulmass was also Super Effective on Wurmple (don't worry tho, lil' guy's still alive).
I should also say this concerning Pokemon: I, personally, really really really dislike the thing where in some fics where just every Pokemon is as smart as a human and has their own mental speech and complicated emotions and such. Just doesn't jive with me. Some Pokemon it only makes sense of course, the Gardevoirs, the Lucarios, a lot of Legendaries like Arceus and such, and some even make sense to be able to actually properly communicate with humans (Gardevoir, Arceus, etc.) but every Pokemon? Just...nah. This Wurmple is obviously smarter than a worm, but I'd say it, and similar Mons, are like....really intelligent dogs at most, in terms of how smart they are. Sorry if you enjoy that kind of Pokemon portrayal but it just isn't my thing.
Storytelling Bird....exists now. Honestly I just thought it would be funny if he almost got shot, it's hard to get more minor than this thing on the Zelda wiki lmao. Hopefully he doesn't get himself shot by someone haha
But yeah, Madison is aware she has powers, Emma knows she has powers, and you can already see some of the consequences of time travel here as well. RIP to my plans for Trio interactions, they got time wiped by fucking stupid Boruto jutsu LOL