determinator | ♕ EIGHTH COMMAND | VIDEO - PRIVATE TO ROCKETS

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♕ EIGHTH COMMAND | VIDEO - PRIVATE TO ROCKETS | VIDEO / ACTION [ROUTE 34]

[ VIDEO - TEAM ROCKET ]
[The video opens to a neatly arranged pile of eggs. They're sitting all across a bed - one Team Rocket members may recognize as being in the base. The camera pans slowly over the eggs before moving out to focus on all of them. Archer's voice cuts in smoothly, though he doesn't appear in the frame.]

Good afternoon, my fellow members of Team Rocket. [You can practically hear the smirk.] I've come to you all today to offer you a deal. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Breeding Center outside of Goldenrod, correct? I would be interested in starting a competing business - one catered to the needs of our organization.

[The video turns to Archer then. He's sitting crossed-legged on one of the chairs, smirking. Sitting beside him is a Persian, who has her head rested next to his legs. In typical super-villain fashion, he's petting her head and attempting to sound menacing. Whether or not it works is really up to the viewer. The over-the-top haminess might be killing things just a little bit though.]

I would like to offer every member of Team Rocket one free egg. I specialize in finding unique combinations of egg moves to breed onto a Pokémon, as well as Pokémon the Breeding Center doesn't have in stock. Unfortunately, I would like to make some money off of this - any other eggs you may be interested in will cost money.

The following list contains all the Pokémon, egg moves, and prices. Please get back to me as soon as possible to receive the egg you want. It is first come, first serve, and I'm afraid I don't have a great number of these.

[Archer's smirk widens and he moves to fold his hands in his lap.] Thank you for your time.

[With that, the feed ends and a moment later, a list goes out containing all the information Archer specified.]

[ VIDEO - 2 HOURS LATER ]

[After he's sent the eggs out to the members of Team Rocket, Archer opens the video feed back up again, panning slowly over the remaining eggs.]

I'm selling several Pokémon eggs. I'll send a list out shortly containing information on the species, egg moves, and prices. Thank you in advance.

[Sure enough, that same list will hit the network a few minutes later!]

[ ACTION ]
[If you're wandering out just south of Goldenrod City later tonight, you might notice a bit of an odd sight. Archer is out training his Pokémon. Five Pokémon stand before him ~~but he only has four photos~~; Drapion, Gengar, Luxray, Jolteon, and Vaporeon. Archer stands perfectly still, his hands folded behind his back. He's smirking as usual.]

Arbiter, Isolani, Caïssa, Blitz, Epaulette... I believe it's time we did a little more with our training, wouldn't you agree?

[Each Pokémon reacts to the words differently, but the overwhelming sense of anxiety is present. Whatever it is Archer's up to, it isn't something the Pokémon want to do.]

Of course you would. Now then, Arbiter.

[The Drapion steps forward, swinging his headarms into a fighting stance.]

Attack me.

[The command is abrupt and cold, though Archer's smirk never fades. The Drapion hesitates - the fight leaving it almost immediately. Pokémon don't attack humans normally - this isn't something they're supposed to do. They are never supposed to harm their trainer. Archer doesn't seem to mind, and he moves on.]

Isolani, then? [The Gengar shrinks further into the shadows.] Caïssa? [The Luxray growls and sparks, but she doesn't attack.] Blitz? Epaulette? [The Jolteon and Vaporeon huddle together and shy away from Archer's gaze.]

Pathetic.

[The single word is sharp and all five Pokémon flinch. The reprimands for disobeying their trainer are horrible. They've seen what happens to those Pokémon who don't earn Archer's favor. It isn't pretty.]

I intend to train all five of you - but if you can't even attack a human, how useful will you be? Attack me.

[The Drapion moves then, firing off a Pin Missile attack. It's a weak attack as it is, but humans aren't meant to take Pokémon attacks.]

[That doesn't matter though - the attack doesn't connect with Archer. He doesn't move at all, but suddenly the attack is repelled, bouncing off an invisible forcefield around him. He smirks.]

Excellent. Alekhine!

[His sixth Pokémon teleports into view then. The Alakazam is Archer's favorite; he's had it for several months and it has been trained to protect him at even the slightest indication. The other five Pokémon seem to heave a collective sigh of relief.]

How far away were you? [The Alakazam doesn't give any verbal response, but it seems he's communicating with his trainer anyway. Archer nods, smirking.] Perfect. Using Protect at such a large range will certainly be useful.

[Not like he's planning on getting himself separated from his Alakazam, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Archer turns to the other five Pokémon.]

Again! I want to see what you all are capable of!

[Each of the five Pokémon will take their turns firing off attacks at their trainer. The Alakazam looks rather bored as he repels them all with Protect.]

[...Needless to say, Archer's methods of training are a bit on the crazy side.]

[OOC: This is a double post ~~somehow~~, so you'll get either Archer or Kimblee responding with information about the eggs! Any questions about the second set of eggs on that list up there will be fielded by Kimblee! The action part is entirely Archer, however! If you'd rather reply to the action, we can just handwave the transaction!]

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Yes, of course. I doubt any of the heroic-types around here would let me get away with something like this.

[The fact that he's so close to the city should say something, however.]

How have you been?

[The shift in topic is abrupt, but Archer relaxes a bit more. His Pokémon remain at attention - minus the Alakazam, who has gotten bored and is now flinging rocks at the poor Gengar. After a moment Isolani will start using Protect to shield himself from the relentless onslaught of pebbles.]

[...His Pokémon are winners, okay.]

[You can have the most flippant gesture ever for your effort; it isn't a concentrated sort of flamboyant, such as the ones Kimblee usually offers, but rather large and sweeping, his hand flicking sharply away from his body in a dismissive gesture.]

I've been doing well enough, really; at any rate, I can't complain. Am I assuming the the heroic-types have been giving you trouble?

[Somehow or other, this gesture isn't anywhere near as ridiculous as Kimblee's. He's not sure what that says about Descole or Kimblee. ...Or maybe himself, but like hell if he'll ever acknowledge that there's anything wrong here.]

No, they haven't, but I can only imagine how irritated they would be.

[Oh of course not, Descole! They haven't really done anything to him! ...Literally. He's been laughing at them this entire time. Though the deal with the bombs was rather disappointing, if only because it led Kimblee to do something horribly stupid.]

How fortunate that you've been able to keep out of the recent setbacks, then - a couple of our explosives experts seem to have suffered what must have been a bit of a blow to their egos lately, if not their reputations.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

[Unfortunately...]

It's a minor setback, however. The ones who interfered will be dealt with, I'm sure.

[He doesn't particularly care, but he knows Kimblee won't sit by and let them get away with showing him up like that.]

One of the...artists at work was a friend of yours, if I recall - Kimblee, wasn't it?

[Descole was kind of present for the shrieking histrionics at the masquerade ball, and the repeated shrieking of the person's name; it was obvious when the white-suited thing you spend so much time with disappeared.

Said white-suited person has also been spending time in the lab, and linked to Cobra by the latter's yelling over the entire damn Rocket network. He knows Kato already; the only other one that's been working on explosives, then, must be your friend.]

I imagine you must want them dealt with rather quickly, if that's the case.

[Archer's smirk tightens a bit. He's not surprised that Descole knows - it's kind of hard to keep his shrieking histrionics to a minimum, after all - but it's still not something he's very pleased with. If Descole can connect them so easily, how many other Rockets can?]

Kimblee is capable of taking care of this himself. He'd be insulted if I attempted to fight his battles for him. Likewise, he'd be irritated if someone else took out the ones behind it.

[The answer is very dismissive; of course he couldn't care less about Kimblee! He'd totally throw him under a bus at the first available moment, Descole!]

[...This isn't working, is it.]

[...not...at...all...

Either way, Descole laughs a bit at that; the sound is an almost practiced one. A bit too dramatic. Although really, that's nothing too out of the ordinary, as most of his reactions carry that sort of quality to them - as though they would come across as almost natural from a distance, when seen by an audience, but up close they're...more than a bit odd.]

I didn't mean to imply that he couldn't take care of these things himself, my friend; believe me, I understand where that would be horrendously insulting. At any rate, the names of his adversaries have recently been released; I'm certain you've seen them by now. If he didn't know who they were before, I'm sure he does now.

[There's no attention drawn to that statement at all, really; it's just a comment, nothing more, before he moves on.]

Although really, you seem to have quite the arsenal for handling your own battles - might I ask how those eggs you requested are working out for you?

[Yes, Archer did notice Cobra's list. The smirk doesn't fade at all, but the only response he gives is a quick nod. Yes; Kimblee should have the names of those behind the bomb diffusing now. He imagines Kimblee will go after them at some point, but hopefully he'll have enough common sense to tell Archer first.]

[...Then again, there was that ridiculous battle on top of the Steelix...]

[Anyway, Archer focuses more on Descole's question.]

The Scyther should hatch soon, but the Beldum is working out as well as can be expected for now.

[It only knows Take Down, can't learn Protect, and is level one. So.]

You did mention that it will be wonderful once it fully evolves, however. I can't wait to see it.

[And he's kind of got the patience of a saint when it comes to raising these things. ...Level fifty Glameow.]

Ah, the Beldum - it should reach its first evolution point at around level 20. Until then, there isn't much to be done with it, unfortunately.

[...yeah, uh, congratulations on that Beldum, Archer. They're little steel failures for quite some time; Descole got his at level 15.]

I can assure you, however - the power is more than worth it.

[YOU LUCKY BITCH]

Excellent. I'll certainly keep training it, then.

[Not like he actually gives up on any of his. Except that bee. Fuck that bee.]

[What can he say? Johto loves him -

...hold on what bee]

You seem to do rather well on the training front, despite the methods you're employing - do you train all of them to attack humans, or is this a special set for you?

[...Nothing, nothing~ You totally won't be hearing anything about it over the Gear later~]

Of course not, that would be ridiculous. As you can see, it's taking quite awhile with these.

[The Pokémon flinch at that tone, but Archer seems content to dismiss their failure for now.]

A few of my others have been trained, but I only intend to use them for protection.

[...That's a lie, but there's no reason for Descole to tie him to the attack on the Kimono Girls just yet.]

[Descole pauses for a moment at that, looking at the set of Pokémon Archer was not-so-indirectly disapproving of just now; his hand finds his chin as he does so, his pose contemplative, before he speaks again - his words are accompanied by another of those odd sweeping gestures, hopefully you don't mind!]

Well, I don't see why you would only use them for protection - now that I think about it, I have to admit that it's rather pragmatic. If someone is commanding an army of creatures that obey only them...really, it only makes sense to take out the trainer.

Unfair, perhaps, but the best strategies often are.

It would be ridiculous not to use them to their full potential.

[It sounds like Descole hasn't trained his to attack humans. Yet. Maybe someday they can have an awesome battle where they attempt to take one another out!]

[~~And then everything was Pokespe and nothing hurt.~~]

[No, he hasn't, because he isn't batshit insane and actually has something that resembles a soul. But he can acknowledge that that's pragmatic as hell.

He can also acknowledge that he is...really not liking the vibe he's getting off of this conversation. Things like that aren't supposed to alleviate tension; the fact that this...actually seems to have doesn't sit well with him, nor do the odd shifts in Archer's expression that happen once in a while. They weren't nearly as noticeable over the Gear; this is...odd.]

Ah, I'm afraid you would know better than I, my friend; I've been kept rather busy in the name of scientific pursuits. I have yet to explore these creatures to their full potential; hopefully that will change reasonably soon.

[Hey, it's not his fault he only has half a soul! ...Actually, yes you can; he was the one who ordered the soldiers to enter the city and then followed them in.]

[Archer doesn't notice anything odd from Descole at all - there's the mask to hide his eyes and there's also the fact that Archer is still a bit too worked up to really care. He normally doesn't get like this.]

What have you all been doing then? Working in the labs?

[Hopefully you're doing something awesome, like breeding literal murderbeasts. Come on, Gorthan, do this thing!]

[...don't get him started on Gorthan.]

Oh, of course. Although nowadays I don't know if it's so much working in them as it is ensuring the new arrivals don't blast it all to kingdom come.

[...DON'T GET HIM STARTED ON KATO, EITHER...]

...So I see you've met Kato.

[No really, what other response is there? Good going, Kato. Let's try not to blow up the base, okay?]

Sounds like you're having fun though.

[He'll just be shooting another obvious look at your Pokémon there before returning his attention to you, Archer.]

Likewise.

[Archer's smirk widens; oh Descole, you're amusing.]

I suppose you could say that. I needed to do something to entertain myself.

Not satisfied with the assignments you've been given?

[...that's actually a legitimate question, not intending to pry.]

The assignments are fine, but they're not enough. I imagine working in the labs would be different.

[Archer does seem a little bothered by that - there really isn't much to do within Team Rocket at the moment. It's boring.]

We could always use a few more, you know.

[Not what you meant and he knows it; doesn't mean he can't tease you anyway, though he's not being mocking about it.]

No thanks, the technology here is still a bit much for me.

[That much is true, but Archer smirks anyway. He's pretty sure that white-haired woman would stab him in the face with a scalpel anyway.]

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scientificflair - 2012-04-27 17:43 (UTC) - Expand

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