explosivecombat | 021. [Anonymous Text + Images/Locked Audio

Entry tags:

021. [Anonymous Text + Images/Locked Audio - Rocket Frequency]

[ANONYMOUS TEXT + IMAGES]

[Kimblee hasn't been back in Goldenrod City for very long; he's well aware of the attack on the Tower, however - his contacts here have made him very aware of that.

He's well aware that he shouldn't do anything rash; however, his pride does have quite the tendency to get involved in decisions where it really has no goddamn business being, and as such, an anonymous text goes out over the network.

Seth's clearly making a reappearance tonight.]

It seems some of you have been enjoying yourselves lately.

[There's no clarification regarding exactly what he's talking about; however, there are, as usual, pictures accompanying the text.

The first is par for the course, as Seth goes; a set of six Pokéballs held in gloved hands, on chest-level with the person holding them - his face isn't visible, but the red R insignia on his uniform clearly is, even in the dim light of the room.

The next three photographs are decidedly more straightforward, in terms of what he's trying to get across; each image contains two Pokémon in heavy, reinforced cages set up in front of a black backdrop of some sort - birds, all of them. They seem alive, though "unharmed" is a bit of a stretch; they seem to have been roughed up quite a bit.

More text, clearly continuing on from the first line.]

So have I.

[One more image follows, similar to the first - though instead of Pokéballs clasped in his hands, he has a white card pinned between his index and middle fingers, the words written on it scrawled out in thick, blocky lettering as though someone had gone over the words repeatedly, obscuring any sort of distinctive handwriting for the sake of making them far less identifiable.

TELL FALKNER THAT SETH SAYS HELLO.]

[AUDIO / PRIVATE - TEAM ROCKET FREQUENCY]

[And a few hours later, once Kimblee has decided he's done instigating for the day, the Rockets will be granted something decidedly more sane and far less...uh, directly ominous.]

A good evening to all of you; I hope that it finds you well.

[Again, the voice over the locked Rocket frequency tonight is calm and possibly surprisingly pleasant, especially given what one usually encounters around the base in Goldenrod; the person speaking is clearly a bit soft-spoken and his voice is gentle in a bit of a high-pitched sort of way, but there's firmness behind his words. Authority. A bit of arrogance, perhaps, but it's just as easily taken for confidence.]

My name is Solf J Kimblee; I hold the rank of Beta in this organization. It's been quite some time since I've been in our beloved hometown; regrettably, business has kept me away, but it won't be that way for much longer.

To those new to the organization - I welcome you to Johto, and I would like to take the time to get to know you personally. I can offer you work and opportunities, should you require direction; should you just want someone to speak to regarding your sudden arrival in this world, I would like to help you - I can't promise you answers, but I can offer my assistance in any way I can. For those who have arrived recently, but haven't met with me personally yet, I would like to invite you to do so as well.

And those of you who have been here for a while - I'll expect some sort of proper report from at least one of you, regarding the incident that occurred last week. Many of you know exactly how well I adhere to Equivalent Exchange; offer me valid information and I'll gladly reward you.

I look forward to speaking with all of you; I would prefer meeting in person, simply know where you are and I'll gladly meet you.

Until then~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Jeez another one claiming that Johto or whatever isn't a game. These are some serious characters, man.]}

Yeah, sure, and the background music is just in my head. There's been a mistake, I'm not supposed to be on the Bad Guy team. I'm not even supposed to be here!

[...ohhhh, oh oh oh, hold on! Hold on, he's heard about this. It was a good while back, but...]

Ah, I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding - I believe you're referring to...what was it, video games? Is that what you're talking about - the "game" we're all in?

_{[Ralph is actually quiet for a good moment. Fine. Okay. He'll humor this guy.]}

Yes. This video game. I need to find my medal and get back to my game.

[Well, that's. It's something...?]

Has anyone explained to you how this world works? It sounds as though you've just arrived; has anyone spoken to you yet, or am I the first?

No! Nobody's told me anything! I woke up with nothing but these weird clothes and a bossy yellow armadillo. There was this kid out in the hall, but she didn't know anything either.

_{[Ralph finally leans back from the gear. It's easy to see that he's now at the edge of the HQ lobby. He's been storming around the base in a huff since he woke up.]}

[...it's at that point that Kimblee glances offscreen for a moment, offering nothing but "Ar...cher..." toward whomever he's looking at; there's a brief, quiet conversation that passes between Kimblee and someone else across the room, most of it rather hard to hear (though the phrase "bossy yellow armadillo, though" is repeated more times than is really necessary), and he does seem...a bit more composed when he returns his attention to the device.]

Ah...allow me to apologize for my rudeness just now; I recognize the area you're in. Would you like me to meet with you in person? Perhaps I can explain this place and what's happening here to you a bit more thoroughly.

I'd appreciate that. The faster we figure out what happened, the faster I can get outta your hair.

_{[He's not going anywhere.]}

Of course. Give me a few minutes, then; stay where you are.

[...yeah he's not exactly prepared for the bundle of massive he's going to be facing, is he. How are we holding up here, bro...]

_{[Hey, Kimblee. See that grumpy-looking brick wall wearing a little hat? That's your guy.]

[Ralph has been scanning the lobby and watching the Pokemon skitter by warily until the face he recognizes from his little video phone dohickey appears. Then he stands up and folds his arms.]}

Start talkin', buddy.

[Oh for the love of all things holy and several things that are not, this guy is...

...he's...

...good lord, he's Sloth, that's what he is. Just far louder and presumably less lazy.

Well, now that that comparison can't be unseen, Kimblee is...weirdly more okay with this; he's one of the few, the proud and the stupid whom massive inhuman size just makes kind of contrary. ...admittedly kind of like one of those little foofy yap-yap dogs who don't seem to realize they're snapping at a Rottweiler, but still.]

First of all, as much of a pleasure as this is, rudeness won't be tolerated; I don't believe I've gotten a name out of you yet. Let's start there - what would you have me call you?

_{[The wrecker has had a good long while to fume about his situation. He almost, ALMOST thinks about tugging out the edges of his regulation shirt to curtsy just like the strange girl with the horrible floating skull thing had done earlier.]

[But he doesn't. You have to be a Good Guy, Ralph. Stay cool.]}

Ralph. Wreck-It Ralph.

["Wreck-It"...? Goodness, somebody had mean parents ~~thinks the proud owner of the stupidest name in Amestris~~, but he can work with it. Sort of.]

Mr...Ralph, then. As I stated over the feed, my name is Solf J Kimblee - I'm a "foreigner" to this place, as you are, from the country of Amestris. I admit that I was a bit surprised by the sudden allusion to video games; you mentioned being...from one? At least, that's what I'm assuming you meant by returning to "your" game...

_{[Ralph's brows furrow as he converts everything Kimblee says back into game-speak. He's about decided the people in this game are either coded different than anyone he's ever met or just delusional.]}

S'right, Fix-It Felix Jr. over by the far arcade wall. It's been sitting over there for thirty years. Thirty years of flawless gameplay might I add.

_{[He puffs his chest out just a bit.]}

Never heard of Amestris. And just where is this?

_{[He hasn't heard anything about any new games and the more he looked at it, the less he was able to figure out what the 'point' of this game was or what the players were even supposed to do.]

[Or where the screen was. The FPS bot in Hero's Duty had been the first thing like that he'd ever seen. Maybe this game was even more advanced...it was sort of scary, actually.]}

Ah, well, from what I understand, the game itself is called "Pokémon," but what I'm referring to as "this" is the region we're in, known as Johto; there's another region a good distance from here called Kanto, you can get there by taking the train, but all of us wake up in Johto at the start, seemingly at random. Some of us wake up in New Bark Town, which is a good distance away, and some of us wake up here; depending on where you wake up, you're sorted onto...well, I suppose to put it into your terms, "good guys" and "bad guys", though I wouldn't simplify it that far myself. You either wake up in New Bark Town as either a trainer or a breeder - your "good guys" - or in Goldenrod City - that would be us, and I suppose we're serving as the "bad guys."

[Lord almighty, this is going to make his head explode; he's actually incredibly grateful that he's had conversations with people who understand how these sorts of games work and what Pokémon...is, however.]

The point of the game appears to be to collect several Pokémon - those would be creatures like your bossy armadillo - and train them to be strong fighters; the goal is to use the creatures to fight a series of people known as Gym Leaders. If you defeat their creatures with yours, they give you a badge. Such as...ah.

[Give him a moment, let him dig his case out; he flips it open easily, revealing all eight of Johto's Gym Badges inside.]

These. As I said, that appears to be the point, but I don't believe that to be the case; obviously, I've collected all the badges and therefore "won" the game, but I still haven't been able to leave the game itself, which is supposed to be the prize.

I think I've discovered what the true objective is - perhaps you can assist me with it, should you want to escape the game so badly.

_{[Oh thank goodness finally something that made SENSE. Pokemon, huh? It sounded like something he should have known about, but he couldn't really put a face with it...well. Besides all the faces around him.]}

Well, that figures. I'm sure you guys do some fantastic work here, but I'm sorta tired of bein' the badguy sssooo...

_{[HO SNAP THOSE WERE MEDALS. LIKE EIGHT OF THEM. Ralph zones out temporarily. He's never seen anything like them. They're all different shapes and made out of something besides gold.]

[However Kimblee's other words finally click into place. Kimblee had left his 'game' as well, he'd said. But...]}

Wait, wait, wait a second. Back up. Escape? You mean you can't leave? That doesn't make any sense. Who's playing this game?

Believe me, if I could answer that, I would take it up with them personally.

[That aside, however - all right, you seem to like all this game talk. Let's see if he can translate the rest into words you'll like -

...wait. Wait, what did you say just now - ...oh, that's perfect, if he can angle this properly...]

Unfortunately, we can't leave the game anytime we like; it seems to be built a bit differently than most. However, there is a way out, if we can find it, and I think the easiest way to do that would be to work together.

You said that you're tired of being the "bad guy" all the time; would you like to be a hero, then? We've all been trapped here for quite some time; ensuring that we can all leave this game and return to where we belong would certainly qualify you as one.

WHAT? _{[He looms over Kimblee, that temper of his finally flaring up.]} I don't have time to be an armadillo walker or whatever the heck!

_{[From the sounds of it, it wasn't this Kimblee fellow keeping him here. This game was different. Ralph had wanted different but he didn't want this kind of different! He clenches his fists, but when he hears the word 'hero' his attention shifts.]}

Yeah. Yeah, I would like to be a hero.

_{[Clearly the game they were in had to be broken. If he could help that would be even better than twenty medals. And he could rub that in Gene's stupid little Nicelander face. Yes.]}

[Kimblee doesn't flinch from that sudden fit of rage; his expression darkens decidedly, and he draws his hands together in front of his body - it's an instinctive motion, one designed to make it easier for him to get his gloves off quickly. His arrays haven't been functional in all the time that he's been here, but his alchemy will probably always be his default thought when it comes to protecting himself.

However, Ralph seems to settle eventually, and Kimblee shifts the motion easily to clasp his hands casually in front of his body, entwining his fingers loosely around one another and tipping his head a bit, the usual gentle smile crossing his features again.

...it's a bit of an odd expression, kind of simplistic; it tends to happen because he doesn't know what else to do with his face. Just left of normal if you're looking carefully, but really, it's close enough for most.]

I'm glad to hear that, and I'm doubly glad that you allowed me to meet with you in person; this isn't something that can be said over the communication devices, but you aren't alone.

[He glances quickly around, ensuring there's no one close enough to overhear; when he's reasonably convinced, he continues on.]

Not all of us in this place are villains; there are some who are here as the result of an accident, or because that's the role that has been chosen for us in the past. I was seen as the villain of my own story, hated and reviled for being different from most. They called me insane, said that I was engaging in heresy, when honestly, I was just doing what I was told and what I was made to do.

The point of the game we're in, I believe, is to defeat the villains. They're holding the machine that will allow us to escape. If we find the machine and use it, we win. We can leave, and return to our own worlds; we'll get the heroic recognition that we desire and deserve. Would you be willing to assist me with something like that?

_{[Ralph taps his chin thoughtfully as he takes all this in. You can almost hear the gears turning. He was pretty frustrated with himself at making all those space marines angry and then winding up in a busted game of all places...but this sounded doable. Fixable even.]}

And just why is that exactly? Doesn't everybody know who the real bad guys are--the guys who broke the game?

[oh leto take the wheel how the hell is he supposed to answer this

think, kimblee, thinkthinkthinkthink - ]

The break in the game has ensured that no one here realizes exactly what's going on. Some have heard of the game and have worked out that they're in it, but don't realize that their own stories are nothing but games. It's affected people's sense of reality, unfortunately; I wouldn't suggest trying to awaken them to the truth, either. Several people have already attempted that, it's met with either disbelief or people getting very upset. It's best to let them think what they will, and guide them in the right direction using other methods.

[HE IS FROM 1915 AND HAS NEVER SEEN A VIDEO GAME IN HIS LIFE THAT ISN'T TETRIS

HOPEFULLY IT ISN'T OBVIOUS THAT THIS IS PUREST BULLSHIT

DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE PSYCHOLOGY IN FIX-IT FELIX JR????]

_{[Look out, Kimblee, here comes another one of those long thoughtful silences that just might end in another brain-cruncher. What Kimblee said made some sense. The girl with the Duskull didn't understand his game speak. Was it that...he and the other arcade games were just so oldschool that the new ones didn't even think of themselves as games anymore? Ralph had known he was an 8-bit villain for thirty years. He lived in the woods. They moved his stump. He wrecked their building. Day after day after day, quarter after quarter. He'd never known any different.]

[He tried to think of how weird it had to feel to these other 'out of the loop' people. Kimblee obviously knew his stuff. What he said sounded like a real problem. Ralph was pretty sure that if he tried to wrap his head any further around the idea of 'not a game' that he'd have a code aneurysm.]}

Welp. That sounds like quite a pickle you got there, Mr. Kimberly. I'll do what I can.

_{[He offers a freakishly large hand for a shake.]}

[...well! He would like to say that that went exactly as planned, but right now he'll just content himself in the knowledge that you didn't completely shatter his brain again.

He'll kind of look at that hand as though he's not entirely certain it won't bite him, though he does reach out to reciprocate; he isn't taking his gloves off, however, hopefully you weren't expecting that.]

I'm glad to hear it, Mr Ralph, I -

[...wait.]

...ah..."Kimberly"?

_{[Not at all! Gloves or no gloves, it doesn't make any difference to Ralph. He stands up again and takes his hat off to scratch his head.]}

So what should I do?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

021. [Anonymous Text + Images/Locked Audio - Rocket Frequency]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked]

[Video- Locked → Action]

[Action]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sorry for the delay! School stuff!