garbagechild | 001. [Video/Action for Goldenrod Rocket HQ]

[Video]

_{[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.]}

--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]

_{[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.]}

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!

_{[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.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

......Well you don't have to go back there. You're here now. You're safe.

_{[At that, Wrath blinks and just stares at her for... quite a long time.]

[It's the first time anybody's said that to him since...]

[Well.]

[Since a time that he doesn't like thinking about.]}

... I've never been safe before.

Can it be like that all the time?

[...She'd never seen someone give a look like that. Veronica almost did not understand what it meant until he spoke.]

...Y-yeah, it can be. Keeping people safe is my job, actually. I'm a bodyguard.

[She guards bodies.]

Really?

What a strange job.

_{[But like before, he doesn't sound mocking so much as just perplexed at the notion.]}

...It's not that strange. Lot's of people have that kind of job back home.

[Likewise, there wasn't any anger in her tone, simply a determination to get her point across that her job was pretty important.

After all, it was the reason she was alive.]

I'm the best there is at what I do, too. I've taken out all sorts of threats.

_{[Wrath's main job thus far has been the exact opposite of that. Except it also seemed to revolve around taking out 'threats'. HUH.]}

Oh.

I'm pretty good at that!

Taking out threats, I mean.

_{[Hell, after his initial training, most of his missions had just involved one of the others pointing at someone and telling Wrath "Go."]}

Oh, really?

[She eyed the kid briefly. She knew better then to underestimate anyone's abilities, but... this kid seemed to have trouble with just using a pokegear. How would he be able to fight?]

_{[Well, she's not WRONG, but thankfully he's never had to handle machinery any more complicated than a gun. And even that wasn't exactly in the sense of using one. Just getting to see how it worked.]}

Yeah!

I'm a good fighter.

I'll fight anybody!

_{[His Master had seen the possibilities surrounding having an incredibly bloodthirsty, bitter potential wrapped up in adorable, harmless-looking packaging and decided WELL SHIT, HE'S GONNA BE THE LITTLEST ASSASSIN.]}

[What a coincidence, the professor thought THE EXACT SAME THING. Let's make a killing machine, and make it TOTALLY ADORABLE while we're at it.

Veronica chuckled briefly at that, even smiling.] Well, uh, maybe you'll get that chance around here sometime.

_{[A SURPRISINGLY-EFFECTIVE STRATEGY!]}

You think so?

I hope so!

Fighting is fun and I miss it.

_{[Actually, it's really only fun when you can't die, and he'll discover very quickly that here, he is no longer invulnerable.]}

[A nod of agreement. Hmm, she liked this kid's way of thinking.]

If you have any powers, you're usually not supposed to have them. But, twice a year, you can get them back. It's only for a little while, but I got into a big fight during that time.

[Judging from her grin, it was awesome.]