User blog:GamerNerd i/Transcript: Mission Start - Some Seedy Communications

This time I wasn't surprised. At least they sent me an email rather than just dropping it on my desktop. And so far, no side effects on the last one. Yay!

We get a small glimpse of the kids' powers, but it's not much. The utility is apparent, though.

//Yeah, yeah, I know I promised more action, but I don't want these to become too long. Due to how I write, these are probably best done in parts.

Transcript
The video begins and the footage is going a little crazy. It was randomly looking around, so that the surroundings were unidentifiable. The primary audio is the boy's voice.

"Rotom! Rotom! Focus on us! Not there, here! No, don't- N, do something!"

Then the image glows reddish, and I hear the girl say a word; but it's definitely not English.

"Tas!"

The screen stills, and the boy rushes into vision, muttering as if trying to comfort the camera. The girl stands behind him. He seems focused on something out of vision, and I assume that he's fiddling with the device. After a minute or two, the image steadies and rises, much more focused and in control. The boy smiles, and the girl giggles a little.

"You were right, Ai," the girl says in between chuckles. "The little guy definitely makes that machine a lot cuter."

"Yup, that's why he's one of my favorites. Both helpful and attractive." Ai responds. He then seems to speak directly to the screen. "You comfy now, little guy?"

The reply is staticky and electronic. "That'zzzz a lot better! I can actually control myzzzelf... Thizzz is zzuch a zzztrange machine."

Ai and N both laugh. "Good. You know what you need to do, right?" Ai asks. "Yup! I'll follow youzzz around and make zzzure I get it! Then you'll zzzend it to that perzzzon! Then we do it again!"

The two laugh again, and I can't help but smiling. "I think we can officially start this now," N says. "So, hi there again. As you may have noticed, Ai figured out how to have a moving camera."

"Your host, so to speak, is a Rotom possessing a modified BOB unit," Ai explains. "Rotom is an Electric-Ghost type Pokémon with the ability to possess electronics, kind of like a poltergeist. The BOB unit is a robot with multiple sensory functions, including vision and hearing. Pretty convenient."

"So, anyway, this is going to be the first time that you- both of you actually - will see us in action. We're heading to Suburbia, the world of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. There was a transmission once that actually crossed the line, and we didn't think much about it. But now, there are more and more trying to cross, and we've got to investigate," He glances at N. "We ready?" N nods, and Rotom bounces up and down in excitement, shaking the view. The kids laugh again. "HE sure is. Alright, let's go." Ai turns around and opens a rift similar to the one that he walked out of after he died (long story). Ai and N walk through, and Rotom follows.

The transition is brief, as if walking through a doorway. As Rotom looks around, apparently in awe, I see that we are now on one side of a familiar lawn. A checkerboard grid covered it, and near the house five lawnmowers were lined up, one per lane. I liked the way the pink tricycle near the door was designed. Across the street, a purplish fog hung over an ominous graveyard. Rotom turns around just in time to see Ai close the rift.

"Welcome to Suburbia," he says. "Well, at least one part of it. Keep an eye on the sky, and stay off the lawn when it's clear, otherwise we'll be seen. And even then, do your best to stay hidden," he warily glances at the lawn. "I don't think that we'll find anything here, but we might as well look. Let's check the house first, since we won't be seen by them if we're inside." He begins to move toward the front door.

N spoke my mind. "What are you doing? You just told us to be sneaky and you head straight for the front door?" Her face contorts in confusion.

"I know what I'm doing," Ai calmly replies. "In these games, when the Zombies get to the door, they enter without breaking it down, and therefore the door is unlocked. The resident makes no move to flee, so he has no way of knowing when someone - or something - enters the house. Therefore, if we don't bother him, we'll be fine. I'm still going to use a cloak, just to be safe." He stands still for a second, focusing. Suddenly I can only see a vague, transparent blue outline of him and his features. He opens the door and walks inside.

"Soundzzz valid to me! That didn't make zenzzze at firzzt, but I zzzzee now! Let'zzz go!" I get a brief look at N's face palm before the screen turns to follow Ai, with N close behind.

N pauses near the door and beckons to the camera. "Rotom, come here and stay close," She pulls out a black cloth and what looks to be a wax doll. She covers the doll with the cloth and speaks in that strange language again; "I'mun." Black smoke billows from the cloth, and now she too is only a vague outline, even less defined than Ai. I can only assume that Rotom is invisible as well. She picks up the cloth, with the doll still in it, and walks inside. Rotom follows.

The interior seemed under-furnished, and the cardboard boxes explained why. The poor resident hadn't even completely finished unpacking before he or she had begun to be attacked by zombies. Granted, the plants fight in the resident's place, but someone has to plant those seeds. Some basics were scattered around: pots and pans by the stove, a TV set up in the living room, a temporary office space with a laptop.

Ai was at the laptop, plugging what looked like a USB drive into it. The drive was oddly shaped; it looked like a turtle. The View projected a small screen in front of him. He turns toward the camera. "This should be able to scan the computer for attempted inter-dimensional contacts. I'll need some time to remote hack it though, so why don't you guys take a look around? I haven't checked upstairs yet, nor have I checked the greenhouse." The screen displayed what looked like a top-down tank shooter, and he begun to play. Rotom mumbles in confusion.

"I'll explain that later." N says. "Come on, he won't be doing anything interesting for some time." She heads upstairs, Rotom following. There wasn't anything interesting, other than seeing the resident asleep in a bedroom.

The greenhouse was in the backyard, which was nicely set up for a barbecue and had a pool. Well, if you consider two long lanes with grass on either side that extended to the back fence a pool. It even had the odd checkerboard pattern of the lawn. After glancing at the pool with confusion, N moved toward a button labeled, "To Greenhouse."

"Why would you need a button to get to the greenhouse..?" N muttered. She pushed it, and a teleporter, a ring of stones around a green holographic door, was revealed in an opening in the wall. N walked through, and Rotom followed.

For a greenhouse, it was massive. Its area easily could've covered the lawn. It seemed that there was even a second story. The glass was foggy, but I could see movement on the inside. The shadows in the glass didn't seem human, and there were many of them. They appeared somewhat small; None were taller than N's waist. She warily opened the door and went inside.

A bell-shaped plant greeted her. "Hi there! Who are you? You don't look like zombies."

N was so surprised that her invisibility thing sparked and dissolved.

Rotom made me laugh. "Hey look! It'zzz a Bellzzprout!"

The plant responded in confusion. "Bellsprout? What's that? I'm Peashooter."

N regained control of herself, but was unable to stop staring at Peashooter. "Hi..." was all that she managed to say.

"Why the strange look? Haven't you seen us before? We're all over the place!" Peashooter continued to be perplexed.

At this moment, Ai walked in the doorway, without his stealth. He saw Peashooter and grinned. "Hey, there you are, buddy! How've you been?" He puts his hand out and the sprout jumps into it. Ai places the little guy on his shoulder.

"Aidan!" Peashooter replied happily. "I haven't seen you in a long time! Well, not in person, at least." Peashooter hollers deeper into the greenhouse, "Everybody, get in here! Aidan's come to visit!"

All kinds of plants come out of the various nooks and crannies of the green house. Rotom looks back and forth in awe. There is green everywhere, but a rainbow of colors displayed itself too. A pouting Sunflower comes to the front, and Ai puts it on his shoulder too.

"There you are. I know you two like to stay near each other." The Sunflower giggles and smiles again. "Well then," He turns back to Peashooter. "Where's the others? I noticed that it's just you veterans right now."

"Oh, the usual." Peashooter responds, "Some of them are on missions, and others just prefer to be outside the greenhouse. Some groups went to their home time periods."

N finally manages to speak fluidly after about five minutes of her just staring. "You know them?" She asks incredulously. "I mean, I know you got dropped here originally, but..."

"Yeah, it's the same dimension, which explains a lot," Ai casually scratches Chomper under the neck. "This is Lily's world."

N observed a somewhat dejected Cabbage-pult who was being fussed over by a Marigold. "This is the one that you said does all those asking games..."

Peashooter hops off Ai's shoulder and over to a computer embedded in an apple. "Oh yeah, that. Some other humans ask us questions, and we answer. There's one of the humans who visits us pretty regularly as the mediator. She also brought this machine that Magnifying Grass usually manages that can... change stuff sometimes." He gestures to what looks like an artificial snow maker. I personally realize that this must be the fabled effect machine. "Sometimes it gets irritating, but it's usually just a lot of fun."

"So those signals we were getting were coming from here?" N asks Ai. "If what you showed me about this was right, then why haven't we picked up on this earlier?"

Ai shakes his head. "No, they're not here. I sensed these signals a long time ago, but since I knew what they were I left it alone. These aren't the transmissions we're looking for." He turns to Peashooter. "Well, either way, would you guys mind if we hung around for some time while we figure something out? I can explain why we're really here. Maybe you could help?"

Peashooter agrees. "By the way, what's that floating ball?"

N glances at Rotom. "We'll explain all of that eventually. But you reminded me that this should probably stop here." She and Ai both beckon Rotom to a corner. "So, I guess we're not done here yet. I know this wasn't long, but after seeing your other writings... This is going to be pretty long anyway. So let's cut it here. We'll regroup, and get back to you eventually. Remember to get this published, okay? Thanks so much."

Ai reaches out to do something, and Rotom draws away. "I'm in here, remember? I can do thizzz by myzelf!" The kids laugh again, and the footage goes dark.

Trivia / Explanation of References

 * //Despite occurring in Lily's canon, I've taken a few.... liberties with some of the details.
 * //I do not know where the plants live, or how they respond to questions in the Ask the Plants threads.
 * //The thing about Lily actually coming in to pose questions and get responses was made up. Maybe she'll add it to her canon. It also helps to explain why there are gaps between answering questions, as during that time she is traveling. (It's a joke guys. I know you have a life too, Lily.)


 * Rotom, as stated, is an Electric-Ghost type Pokemon. It's unique in that its forms allow it to change its stats and type - all of which are based on appliances and electrical devices. The Rotom Pokedex also shows that it is not limited to these devices.
 * //The Rotom Pokedex's speech patterns - primarily the tendency to replace "s" with "z" - is used for this Rotom as well.
 * N utilizes two Egyptian "power words:" tas and i'mun, which mean "bind" and "hide," respectively. Mythological Egyptian spells such as these are featured in Rick Riordan's The Kane Chronicles trilogy.
 * She also makes use of a shabti, a wax doll used for various purposes in Egyptian magic.
 * Her disguise sparking refers to what is seen to happen whenever someone using the i'mun power word loses focus.
 * The BOB robot is from a Nerf video game... of all things. In the game it is the main antagonist.
 * It can be assumed that the "transmission that crossed the line" was the L.E.A.F. transmission before the announcement of Garden Warfare 2.
 * //"I liked the way the pink tricycle near the door was designed." refers to a much simpler line in the original Zombies on Your Lawn music video.
 * Ai's "stealth" is used in Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm. In the game, this "cloak" hides a unit from enemy sight under certain criteria. The blue outline is how allied players are able to see through the cloak.
 * Ai's preferred method of hacking comes from the Sly Cooper series. In this game, the character Bentley is able to hack computers, often represented as a top-down shooter mini game.
 * Rotom mistakenly identifies Peashooter as a Bellsprout, a Pokemon with a very similar appearance to a Peashooter.

What did you think? Great! Keep it up! Story sounds good, but format is meh. Good stuff, but probably best not to keep going. It's not done? I can wait. It's so bad, IT'S TIME TO STOP! Keep going. Maybe it'll get better. I'd like it better if the format was better. tl;dr :/ GAH! IT'S INCOMPLETE!