001. [Video/Action for Goldenrod Rocket HQ]

[garbagechild]

[Video]

<sub>[Victims of motion sickness beware, because there's about to be a good two minutes of jerky, dizzying footage of the floor, the ceiling, an upside-down bed, and what appears to be the foot of a small child. The telltale sounds of hands grappling with a PokeGear are what dominate the audio feed, but murmuring in the background are what sound like deep, rumbling growls and a youthful, high-pitched voice-- probably belonging to the owner of that foot.]

[And then all at once the camera stops and gives everybody a great view of a pair of nostrils and, somewhere above them, a slightly more pleasant-to-behold pair of bright blue eyes.]</sub>

--ink... I think it's a toy.

But not the kind you chase.

The other kind.

Um.

A puzzle.

_{[The screen jitters again-- now it's mostly tangled black hair on the screen, and a bony shoulder poking out a shirt that's way too big for it. Behind it is an expanse of leathery-looking flesh probably belonging to whatever's doing all that growling.]}

Ahuh... yeah, it's definitely a puzzle. I can tell 'cause it's got a lot of buttons.

_{[A chorus of deafening beeps sound as the kid promptly sets about trying to solve the puzzle by PRESSING EVERYTHING until the PokeGear is gently removed from his grasp by a set of bulky, blunt-clawed hands. And then, at a proper angle for the first time in this entire broadcast, a Kangaskhan's face appears in front of the screen, rumbling softly in greeting. She knows what a PokeGear is for! ... But then almost immediately a pair of pale little hands pop over the Pokemon's shoulder and try to grab the camera back.]}

No, no, I wanna solve it! I wanna solve the puzzle! Please? Please! Pl-- whoa!

_{[Standing all the way up, the Kangaskhan holds the camera in front of her and starts to plod across the small, undecorated dormlike room they're in, presumably towards the door, and presumably with her pint-sized trainer dangling from the 'puzzle'. Aaaand after some jostling, the feed cuts.]}


[Action for Rockets]

<sub>[In a building full of sneaky people, another sneaky person doesn't really stand out unless they're particularly bad at sneaking.]

[It just so happens that Wrath is not exactly the best at this.]

[Give him trees or bushes and sure, he can creep around like a good little let's-not-run-into-this-thing-in-the-dark. But all these winding hallways are slightly more alien territory, and there's only so many ways you can hide behind a corner without getting spotted. Especially when your GIANT KANGASKHAN STARTER KEEPS ON MARCHING STRAIGHT DOWN THE HALL LIKE SHE DOESN'T EVEN CARE IF THEY'RE SPOTTED.]</sub>

Mama!

_{[This flustered hiss comes from behind an open door, where Wrath had ducked upon seeing a couple of much-taller Rocket Grunts go strolling past. Now he's peeking out, expression somewhere between frustrated and oh my god WHAT ARE YOU DOING AAAA]}

Don't do that, they'll see you!

<sub>[HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE. Only that they're humans, and they're wearing uniforms. Uniforms that are drastically different from the ones he's used to seeing, of course, but he's had precisely one (1) significant experience with dudes in uniforms, and it was a really bad one. MIGHT AS WELL NOT TAKE CHANCES.]

[The Kangaskhan, however, has other plans. She's marching towards the Mess Hall and seems a little exasperated that her trainer isn't following her. :I HUMANS.]</sub>

Comments

video;

[a_sin_for_him]

[No. Oh god no. Lust freezes with her 'gear in hand, staring at the jerky video with an expression of growing horror. She's either far too sober or not sober enough to be confronted with this.

Which is mainly why she doesn't think to cut her own video feed. She forgets about it entirely. Wrath is on her video feed. Wrath. All she can do is stare, stunned and stricken, questioning the video's reality.

This is a miserable time for Envy to be wherever the hell he currently was.]

video;

[garbagechild]

<sub>[WELL LUST, IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL ANY BETTER, HE'S ABOUT AS HAPPY TO SEE YOU AS YOU ARE TO SEE HIM.]

[In fact, when her face unexpectedly pops up on his screen, he yelps and drops the 'Gear with a clatter, grasshoppering backwards and up onto the bed. His last memory-- besides the horrible, disjointed visions of running away from the Gate that had flashed through his mind's eye, anyway-- is of being SKEWERED BETWEEN THE EYES by her.]

[And while he'd arguably deserved it... that's still super unpleasant.]</sub>

YOU!

_{[This is hollered off-camera, as the only thing the screen is currently showing is the ceiling. But after a moment or so, when Lust fails to crawl out of the screen Samara-style, there's a creak of bedsprings and a patter of footsteps before Wrath appears again, crouching over the 'Gear and scowling.]}

You.

video;

[a_sin_for_him]

You!

[Lust repeats the exclamation with little thought. That little bastard! Why did he have to end up here?!?

And where the hell was he?]

[Curious about the yelling, Lust's Jigglypuff pokes her disgruntled looking face into the corner of the screen, wanting to see what was making that shrieking sound.]

[armoredsoul]

[Al spends a good five minutes looking at the post, not sure if he should reply or not. While on the one hand he misses his friend dearly, he doesn't know if this Wrath will be like the one he saw over the weird weekend, and he's not sure he wants to deal with that again.]

[At least he can't cause nearly so much property damage now...but he also has even less of an idea than the other homunculii of what he'll need now. He needs help from someone, and he's not sure how many of the others here would be willing to help him. So, with a sigh Al turns on the feed and hopes.]

Wrath? It's Alphonse.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Well, fortunately, Wrath has at least gotten the 'WHAT IS THIS AND HOW DO I USE IT' period mostly out of the way with Lust, so Al will be spared having to try and talk to someone who keeps disappearing because he doesn't know how cameras work.]

[... He's still got some learning to do, though, because only about half his face is in the frame when he answers. Have fun talking to his hair, Al.]</sub>

--Al... phonse...?

... You're not Alphonse.

<sub>[... SORRY AL.]

[HERE WE GO AGAIN]</sub>

[armoredsoul]

[SIGH. Well, maybe it'll go a little better this time. Hopefully.]

[Who is he kidding this is gong to be a disaster.]

I'm not lying. I'm just not in the armor anymore. --ah, tilt it a little to the right, your face isn't quite all in the frame.

[Video]

[babel_hacker]

[Holy crap, motion sickness. Atsuro have to look away for a moment, before he looks back at the screen once he assume it's fine now.

And of course the feed's all over the place.]

Hey, are you okay?

[A young man's voice called out from the PokeGear. If Wrath checks the screen, he would see a young man's face on it.]

[Video]

[garbagechild]

<sub>['MAMA' THE KANGASKHAN WOULD LIKE TO FORMALLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE HORRIBLE SHAKYCAM HER TRAINER IS SUBJECTING THE NETWORK TO.]

[The screen jitters to a halt as Wrath actually takes the time to stop... whatever it is he's doing with the 'Gear and see who's talking to him. Fortunately, he's moved past the whole 'Oh my god WHERE ARE YOU. Are you behind it? .... oh my god. Are you IN it?' phase.]</sub>

Who're you?

_{[He ignores the inquiry after his wellbeing entirely. RUDE.]}

[Video]

[babel_hacker]

[NO IT'S OKAY AT LEAST IT'S JUST MOTION SICKNESS???

And wow, rude, ignoring his question!

...Well, okay, he's not that offended, as a long time resident in this world.]

I'm Atsuro Kihara! Or just Atsuro. I'm just your friendly fellow Pokemon trainer living here after being brought here.

[Rocket Base]

[rocketralph]

_{[Here comes another one of those HUMANS in uniform. Or a wall that was pretending to be a human wearing a uniform. Ralph had just come back from a mission he wasn't too proud of so when the gap between the Kangaskhan and himself closed, he tried to play the good guy by lifting his hat to her.]}

Ma'am.

_{[Pokemon did whatever they wanted in this place. Example: the Horrible Yellow Rat prancing at Ralph's feet. They'd done a job! A real job! Oh happy day! She had a shiny rock she was going to show Steve! It was a ground-type thing.]}

[garbagechild]

<sub>[The Kangaskhan let out a pleased rumble, nodding courteously to Ralph. What a gentleman!]

[Then she looks over her shoulder, fully intending to introduce her trainer to one of his future coworkers-- oh now where did he get off to?]

[She turns in place with the Pokemon equivalent of muttering, tail sweeping across the floor. HE WAS BEHIND THAT DOOR A SECOND AGO...]

[Meanwhile, a nearby potted plant seems to have grown a pair of eyes. Maybe it's a Tangela that got into the building somehow. ... Or maybe it's Wrath, huddling behind the leaves and staring up in awe and horror because my god that guy is at LEAST as big as Armstrong. Maybe bigger.]

[And Wrath doesn't like Armstrong. Not at all.]</sub>

[Action]

[grapeeater]

[There's someone in a uniform, and he spots the kid easily. He's got a Vulpix and an Absol trailing him, and the Vulpix stops to say hello.]

Hi! New person? Hello!

[Micchy sighs, and tugs his hat down a bit.]

... Stop that. And you - you don't need to sneak around here.

[Action]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Um, excuse YOU, stranger, he obviously needs to sneak.]

[The short, indistinct figure behind the door shrinks further back from the Vulpix and its trainer, mistrustfully.]</sub>

Are you a state alchemist?

_{[The Kangaskhan's sides swell and fall in a deep Poke-sigh, as she shakes her head. SHE'S REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS, her trainer is obviously a little confused.]}

action

[cawsforalarm]

[Fortunately for Wrath, this white-haired Rocket Grunt isn't very tall; as a matter of fact, despite being sixteen, he's short enough to pass as someone younger than that. He also has a cloak drawn around his shoulders with a Murkrow riding in the hood, peeking over his shoulder wherever he goes.]

[...He's also standing directly behind Wrath, because unlike another child we could mention, he does know how to hide in the darkness.]

[Both his and his Murkrow's eyes seem to glow uncannily in the dim light.]

Mmmmmmornin'.

action

[garbagechild]

<sub>[H-hey, he's out of his element, okay?]

[Wrath is a pretty observant kid, but this is foreign territory and he wasn't quite expecting a hiding place to already be occupied.]

[With a barely-stifled gasp, he springs into the air like a jack-in-the-box, impressively high for such a little squirt (and he'd have gone even higher if it weren't for this sudden being human thing...) and whirls around, nearly tripping over his Kangaskhan's own feet as he scrambles backwards.]

[And then HISSES. Loudly.]

[The power of WORDS seems to have temporarily abandoned him.]</sub>

video;

[ossifragant]

[You know, Greed has seen plenty of things since arriving in Johto; after eight months new people showing up is nothing short of routine for him and he barely pays attention to it.

That being said, it's usually not small children playing around with the 'Gear so that makes him pay attention right away.]

It's not a toy.

[Guess who has no idea about what Wrath looks like?]

video;

[garbagechild]

Of course it's a toy, it has buttons.

<sub>[He says this as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. Why would anything be covered in stuff that's so fun to press not be a toy?]

[The screen jitters again, now at least showing Wrath's eyes instead of just a color blur.]</sub>

Also, it's mine. I can call it a toy if I want to!

[action]

[ajustcaws]

[...MMMMMMMmmmmmm... someone's being stealthy!

...someone not doing a good job of it! Cynthia didn't know what was going on here, but... well, she did kind of have to wonder, given that if you actually figured out what was going on, you wouldn't be quite as cheerful about things as she was.

TIME TO BE THE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD PEGASUS KNIGHT, THEN! She's only in uniform because people get on her for not wearing it, but she's... probably a little more cheerful as she marches on up than a lot of Grunts.]

Hey, kid! Having a little, uh, trouble...?

[...she's loud and probably behind him, so she might startle him a bit...]

[action]

[garbagechild]

_{[That's the SECOND time he's been inadvertently crept up on today, and while his reaction isn't quite as dramatic as it was with Henry, he still squeaks and startles visibly before whipping around, fists up, all ready to start throwing punches.]}

Trouble! NO! I'm not in trouble, YOU'RE in trouble!

<sub>[And then he... uh... growls. At her.]

[The Kangaskhan sighs, dragging a heavy paw down her face. ARCEUS GRANT HER PATIENCE...]</sub>

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[...there was no icons in this mun's collection to express the level of "what" Veronica Madaraki was currently feeling. At the least, she's not weirded out by this for the reasons that you would think.

Sigh. What was her life.

She watched everything happen, flinching a little as the screen violently jerks and moves and oh. That's a Kangaskhan, she's never seen one before. Cool.]

Uhh... Hello? This isn't really a puzzle.

[If Wrath ends up looking into the Pokegear, he'll see someone that's a little older then him with stitches crisscrossing across her face and on her neck.]

[Video]

[garbagechild]

_{[His voice is a little muffled when he replies, because he is currently pointing the damn thing away from himself and it keeps falling sideways onto the mattress as he tries to pry open the little latch on the back.]}

Well, if it's not a puzzle, it wouldn't be so hard to figure out.

_{[FOR THE LIFE OF HIM HE CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW SO MANY PEOPLE CAN BE CRAMMED INTO THIS THING.]}

Video forever

[nvcr]

[There is a man. He is wearing a shirt, but it is rolled up to the elbows, and both his forearms and the skin that envelops his collarbones are covered in elaborate black tattoos incorporating strange, geometric patterns and desert flowers in twisted shapes and arrays that probably no one understands.

No snakes anywhere, though, so as far as we know, he's human. Probably. We never bothered to check.

More importantly, he is smiling, but he looks more concerned than happy. He smiles with his mouth, Wrath, but not with any other part of his body.]

Whoops! Careful with these phones, tiny human, I'm not sure if they let us have new ones if they break.

Or rather, I haven't asked.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[... Wait, tiny HUMAN? EXCUSE YOU, MISTER, WRATH IS... well. Hm.]

[He does want to be human. He's just... so many different kinds of not okay with becoming human like this.]

[So Cecil is rewarded with this weird, thousand-mile stare for a moment or so while Wrath tries to figure out how exactly he feels about being mistaken for a thing that he both hates but also desperately aspires to be and SUDDENLY IS but doesn't want to be. #HomunculusProblems.]

[He finally settles on asking:]</sub>

... They can break?

[ACTION] how did I miss this

[sadisticwarfare]

[Speaking of uniforms, there's some jerk in a uniform that's probably a bit too familiar. He's carrying far too many books and research notes (they're all stacked up neatly) and he's conversing with the Alakazam walking beside him.]

--I wasn't expecting an evolution so quickly, but they're more powerful now--

[He cuts himself off when he spots the Kangaskhan, raising an eyebrow. The Alakazam beside him just looks completely bored.]

...I don't recall anyone in the base having one of these. Where's your trainer?

[Don't worry about trying to get the message across to him, that Alakazam is a good translator!]

[ACTION] no worries WELCOME TO THE TRAINWRECK

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Oh yes.]

[Oh yes.]

[Wrath recognizes you. Even though his time spent under Archer's jurisdiction had been relatively brief, there's just no forgetting it when someone fires rockets at you and then straps you to a table to experiment on you. That kind of sticks in your memory. You know, just a little.]

['Mama', on the other hand, has no idea about the connections between her brand new trainer and any HONORABLE HIGHER-UPS OF THE GREAT TEAM ROCKET. So she stands to attention, like any loyal Rocket Pokemon should, and nods respectfully to the Alakazam before turning to beckon to her young companio--... er.]

[The shadowy space where he'd been crouching seconds before is now empty. The Kangaskhan blinks at the Total Lack of Trainer for a second or two, before turning back to Archer and the Alakazam, shrugging a little sheepishly as if to say Well, he was here a second ago!]

[Gosh, she's had her trainer for maybe half an hour, tops, and she's already lost him. This is NOT her day.]</sub>