explosivecombat | 02X - Reintro. [Text/Locked Audio to the Rocket Frequency]

02X - Reintro. [Text/Locked Audio to the Rocket Frequency]

[TEXT]

[Well! Those of you on the network today will be greeted by a bit of audio late this morning, from a device ID that's been bouncing back all attempts at contact for the last several weeks.]

...Oh, that's cute.

[...well, if that wasn't the most triumphant return ever, I don't know what is.

At the very least, however, he seems to get over whatever he's almost audibly linefacing at long enough to realize that the device is recording something; he promptly switches the thing over to text - he's never really liked talking at the machine when he's addressing all of Johto.]

My, it seems this place does still have its sense of humor, doesn't it? And here I thought that perhaps I'd only lost three days at worst - it was a bit of a surprise to find out otherwise.

Ah, but that's neither here nor there, is it?

[Kimblee, hon.]

There's not much to report from home, unfortunately; however, it'll be a pleasure getting in contact with all of you again - hopefully you've all been at least reasonably well.

[Oh, well. At least he doesn't seem too off-put by the whole disappearing-for-a-month-and-a-half thing?]

[PRIVATE AUDIO - TEAM ROCKET FREQUENCY]

[...At least, not until the audio message that goes out over the private Rocket network a few minutes later; Kimblee's voice is cold and clipped, and the amiable "tone" from the text earlier is completely absent.

He has no idea if he still holds his rank or not; he suspects he doesn't. Like hell if he won't throw it around anyway. He's a bit displeased at his life basically being a .gif from Community, and he's going to figure out what in the good hell is going on if it kills him.]

This is Team Rocket Beta Solf J Kimblee, reporting back in for duty; to my superiors, I admit that I don't know what happened, but I assure you that it won't happen again.

To the rest of you - check in with me immediately, particularly if you're one of my subordinates. I'm receiving a lot of "ID Not Found" nonsense, and I need to know who's still present; given that and various things that I've had to hear about secondhand, I expect a full report regarding what happened here from someone, I'm not feeling particularly choosy right now.

New members to the organization - welcome to it, and you have my personal apologies for the disarray. For now, you're welcome to introduce yourselves; it'll serve you well to know that I'm good to those who are good to me. Again, prove yourself useful and you'll be rewarded.

None of this is a request. Allow me to make that much clear.

[...oh dear. Well. At least he's not in much position to actually do anything at the moment - this is Team Rocket we're talking about, and if somebody's on the network very vocally overstating their importance and/or competence, that means it's pretty much a day ending in Y.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, yes. Almost -

[...he just realized something. Leto take the wheel.]

Almost 100 years ago, actually; it was 1915 in my world.

Whoa, no way! That's really cool! What was the world like then, huh? I guess that's kind of a broad question, um... where are you from?

[...good...lord, um.]

Most people here don't seem to have heard of it - it's a country called Amestris. It only seems to exist at all in two versions of the world, and as such only the people from there seem to have heard of it.

I take it you're not familiar with it, either?

Ah, no, I've never heard of it. That's weird. Is your world a lot different then?

It's very different from this one, though that isn't exactly an uncommon thing, is it? But from what I've heard, it's different from most other worlds, yes.

Where are you from, exactly...? I don't believe you've mentioned it.

I'm from Japan! Uh, actually that brings up a good point, is the geography in your world the same as ours? I kinda doubt it, since I've never heard of Amestris before.

Japan...I've heard of it, though I don't believe we have that particular nation, either. But that's where Tokyo is, correct? I've heard of London as well - I believe that's in England, if memory serves; I've actually seen pictures of it. With the large clock tower and everything? Those places seem fairly common among the several worlds represented here, at least, though I don't know if they're at all close to each other...ah, and America, also. I've heard of that - Philadelphia, I believe, is the city that was mentioned to me.

But those are all places I've heard of here; we don't have anything like that where I'm from. Amestris is a landlocked nation; we have Drachma to the north, and the annexed region of Ishval to the east - beyond that is the Eastern Desert, and beyond that is Xing. To the south is Aerugo, and we're bordered by Creta to the west.

We're more or less constantly at war with all of them; the borders aren't terribly pleasant places. I've only been outside Amestris' borders once in my life, and that was for business, not pleasure.

Edited 2013-05-10 05:20 (UTC)

Oh wow, really? That sounds pretty fucking-- err, sorry. That sounds intense. I've never been out of the country, but I've got plenty of time to do that when I get home.

[...............he's never going home.]

So you're from a different world entirely, huh? Is it different from ours? Ah, ours is... pretty much like this but without the magical animals. And more transportation. ...And more roads and shit-- sorry.

In many ways it's far less technologically advanced - for example, we have cars, but they're very expensive, and it's mostly those in the employ of the military that have access to them. I don't know how to drive, and I know relatively few that do; it's strange to me that most people in other worlds are almost expected to know how. Horseback riding isn't uncommon, however, and we still do have something of a cavalry in our military. These...motorcycles you've mentioned are something I've heard of only in passing, from people from this world - I'm unfortunately not familiar with them myself, though I have enough of an idea of what they are to be able to visualize them.

We have trains in Amestris, but they're steam-powered; we have electric power, but some still use gas-lights, and we're not nearly to the point of using electricity for the trains, like they are here. We use mostly coal and steam power, not oil. We don't have any of those...flying things, either - helicopters? Those. I've been in one since being here, but we don't have those where I'm from.

We don't have video games, though the ones here amuse me, and I've had a few described to me from other worlds that seem rather interesting. We do have movies, but no television.

Although I will say that we also have technology that most here have never heard of and seem to consider alarmingly advanced, and we have ways of doing certain things that are far more efficient than anything in this world. So at least there's that.

Whoa, shit-- sorry, sorry. I can't imagine living like that. But I guess it's what you're used to, so all this probably came as a huge shock!

[He laughs, but settles quickly enough.]

What kinds of technology are you talking about? I mean, it'll probably go right over my head, but it sounds pretty interesting.

[Maybe he'll be able to remember enough to tell Ishimaru at least! ...Oh wait, he doesn't want Ishimaru to know that he was talking with a Beta within the organization.]

Prosthetics are the main technological advancement that come to mind - they're called automail and made of metal; they're connected to the nerves somehow, I believe, and they function as normal limbs would. They're really quite impressive and I have no idea how they work, outside of what I've just described to you.

We also have medical practices that allow for some very advanced healing; I've been severely injured in the past, something that left a fair amount of my internal organs severely damaged, and I likely would have died from those injuries if they had been treated normally. One of our doctors ensured that the injuries were almost fully healed in a matter of hours.

No way! That sounds fucking-- sorry. That sounds awesome! I mean the healing, the metal limbs, eh, not so much. I mean, I'm sure it looks cool as... uh... Well, I'm sure it looks cool! But it doesn't sound like it'd be very practical.

Ah, I can see where it would sound that way, yes. That individual I told you about earlier - the one who refused to kill - actually had two of them. An arm and one of his legs. He certainly could fight more than well enough with them, let's put it that way.

And the healing...I suppose it is, though I would have preferred not to need it - the incident that required it was rather unpleasant, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Huh, really? I guess they would be useful for fighting...

And yeah, I figured it was pretty bad, but at least you lived, right?

[...well seeing people return with their memories is always encouraging but why couldn't it be someone he likes better...]

That seems to be par for the course as far as people leaving and returning with their memories goes-an acquaintance of mine spent roughly five minutes back in our world before arriving here months later. It seems rather aggravating, and I rather hope it's not something that happens to me.

Anyway, welcome back, I suppose. I believe I came into possession of one of your Pokemon after you left-will you be wanting it back?

[...never mind that he hasn't actually looked at the thing, he kind of just... put it in the PC and set to training the Pokemon belonging to his friends who he won't admit are his friends]

...So I did, yes.

[That time, anyway.]

Ah, but it seems we've gotten off-course in our discussion, haven't we? I'll be sure to contact you once any relevant assignments come up, Mr. Oowada; until then, I have tasks to attend to and order to attempt to restore.

Anything else, before we part ways for the time being?

[Goodness, it seems the Lord of the House of Repression is just going to outlast everyone when it comes to being stuck here, isn't he? Except maybe Cobra...

...really, Johto could get rid of literally all of the other "foreigners" and yet Kayneth and Cobra will still be here, given how their luck is.]

Ah, Lord El-Melloi - returning that would be greatly appreciated, though I have to admit curiosity when it comes to what managed to find its way to you.

[Was it something stupid and cute? He sort of hopes it was one of the stupid cute ones, just because it would amuse him.]

But at any rate - that sounds hideously annoying for both you and your acquaintance, depending on how useful to you that acquaintance was.

Oh you are far too kind.

[Even though she thinks the pleasure is mostly his. Either way, Barby can tell she'll like Kimblee if things keep up in this direction.]

Anyway, to answer your question I arrived here about a month ago, as you can imagine I'm still pretty new.

[He knows that name.]

[The camera comes up on Blake holding a Petilil by the top leaves. The little plant is waving a dandelion as it squirms and giggles at this new game.]

[A galaxy of loathing is compressed into one snarled word.]

You.

[... is that a threat]

nah thanks. if I had to choose between "quiet but boring" and "wrecking shit" I think I'd stick to the former

Ah, no, I don't think so. Thanks for your time!

Of course there is.

[Now where does he begin? Archer can't seem to stand still and after a moment, he starts pacing. He's silent for quite some time, trying to find something to say. This shouldn't be that difficult.]

I take it you've realized how long you've been gone. I only recently arrived again. I remember returning home, but I didn't remember anything about this world while I was there.

It feels like it's been a long time since I was last here. I have no way to judge how long I was back home, however.

[He cuts himself off there, staring at Kimblee expectantly.]

But none of what happened is important now. We're back here and nothing will stop us from reaching our goals.

Of course, Mr. Oowada. Don't mention it.

[...what an odd child. But if he wants an assignment, he'll get one eventually - for now, however, end feed.]

[Kimblee just watches him; Archer is clearly agitated and at this point, he knows better than to interrupt when Archer is agitated. He'll let him talk it out; he isn't sure what to think of the knowledge that Archer doesn't quite...finish it, and he takes a second to process it.

No way to judge...?

Ah, but Archer's said that he was in the middle of battle, hadn't he. And some sort of array -

...oh. Oh.

He's quiet for a moment longer, unfolding his arms and then folding them again, the gesture awkward; he doesn't let the silence linger, however.]

Of course - understood. I remain entirely at your command, until dismissed from my position; my loyalty is still yours.

[He steps forward after that's out there, closing some of the distance between Archer and himself; he reaches out one-handed, running his fingers through Archer's hair, the gesture gentle.]

Relax, Archer; whatever happened back home can't touch us here. You know that.

[More of an obvious statement, but hey.]

As it is with most people, I believe. I can't really say one way or another, as the latter seems to be par for the course back home; it's not exactly welcome, but it's vaguely familiar.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 10 of 18

02X - Reintro. [Text/Locked Audio to the Rocket Frequency]

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

no subject

[text]

no subject

[text]

no subject

[video]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject