FIRST ERRAND ➣ VIDEO / ACTION [GOLDENROD CITY]

[deaftly]

[ ACTION - GOLDENROD CITY ]

[Hey, Team Rocket, how's it going? Has the base been peaceful lately? Because it certainly isn't going to be today. In fact, if you're unfortunate enough to be walking the hallways, you might see a Grunt get tossed into a nearby wall (or you, if you're really unfortunate). Thankfully the poor guy's alright, just a little stunned, but the shrieking that follows implies that this wasn't some sort of horrible Pokémon-related accident.]

Give me some answers, fucker! I don't give a shit about Pokey-mon or whatever the fuck you're talking about!

[The guy doing the shrieking is... actually fairly tiny. He's about 5'8" and doesn't look like he could toss a guy his size down a hallway. He's wearing a white suit and actually looks presentable, if not a bit pissed off.

...Okay, "a bit pissed off" is a horrendous understatement.]

Are you working for the fucking doves? Is this some kind of a fucking joke? If you shitheads think you're going to capture me again--!

[Naki bends down to grab the poor Grunt by the collar, hoisting him up over his head without much difficulty. The Grunt tries to say something, but Naki doesn't even finish his own thought, much less let the Grunt get a word in edgewise. Instead, he turns and tosses the Grunt down the hallway. Again.]

I'll fucking kill you! I'll fucking kill you all!!

[...Someone please save that poor Grunt.]

[ VIDEO ]

[Well, it's almost a day later and it seems someone has finally managed to get Naki to sit down and listen to reason. Somehow. Now that Naki isn't in the base anymore, he's actually much calmer. The video doesn't reveal much in terms of background and is shot from a low angle, revealing the sky and... not much else. Naki is standing, leaning in a bit to look at the camera, and holding a Magikarp by the tail. He shakes the fish at the camera and glares into it accusingly.]

This thing sucks.

[...Thank you, Naki. Surely no one has figured that one out.]

What's the point of Splash? It doesn't do anything. That's all this useless thing knows.

[The Magikarp flops around a bit at the word "useless", like it's responding to being called by name. Naki looks disgusted and shakes the fish before dropping it unceremoniously to the ground. The camera follows the fish before turning back up to face Naki.]

Where do I get something good? If these things are our only weapons here, I want something powerful.

[Did you just miss the part about training Pokémon to make them stronger, or...?]

Oh, if anyone's got any information about getting home, that would be great too. I just got here so I'm still trying to figure this place out.

[...]

And what is with this stupid music?

Comments

[cawsforalarm]

[Henry seems to be able to walk straight, which is good; significant cranial damage on day one of Grunt-dom is not something that anyone should aspire to. He toddles along behind Naki, listening interestedly to his talk about this 'Tokyo' place and occasionally making the appropriate awed noises.]

Gosh... your city sounds so awesome!

[And as soon as they move out into Goldenrod proper, he commences staring at everything else, too. By the time they finally stop by the Pokémart, Henry's eyes are the size of saucers. No response... just gawking.]

[deaftly]

...Yo, Henry, you still here?

[Naki waves a hand in front of his face, looking a bit concerned now. It would kind of suck if Henry suffered some permanent damage right off the bat.]

[cawsforalarm]

--Uh?

[He snaps back to reality. Or, well, as close to reality as Henry can get, anyway.]

Whoopsie! I'm here, I'm here.

...I've just never seen anything like this place before.

[And by that, of course, he means the entire city. Because lol, Medieval Fantasy Europe.]

[deaftly]

Your uh... shit, what was the name of your country? It doesn't have cities like this?

[Actually, that would make sense, wouldn't it? Henry seems to be from a world straight out of a video game, and how many fantasy video games take place in a city?]

[cawsforalarm]

Not even close... pretty much everything here makes no sense.

[Hell, he needed to ask his Vulpix how to use a Pokégear.]

[deaftly]

Yeah? Well, I can't help with everything, but if you've got any questions I can try to answer them. Tokyo was sort of like this - with the big buildings and the close streets like this. It sounds closer than whatever you guys had, at least.

[cawsforalarm]

Nya ha, thanks!

[Even though he seems to be taking it in stride, Henry is very surprised by this. That's... really nice of Naki to offer; most people are too busy attempting to avoid Henry or pleading for their lives at this point in the relationship. Why is he so accepting?]

And I guess if you wanna find out what your Pokémon is saying or whatever, I can help you with that. [Hooray for animalspeak!]

[deaftly]

...Wait, you can talk to these things? Like you can talk to me?

[That's... that's pretty incredible, actually.]

[cawsforalarm]

Uh-huh. My magic is gone, but that power sure isn't! I'm pretty relieved, actually. Getting to feel punches in the face again is one thing, but being stuck talking to humans is totally different.

[Because to be perfectly honest, humans kind of suck.]

[deaftly]

[You bet they do.]

So you can normally talk to animals too, huh? That's pretty cool! I never really thought about what animals would have to say.

[cawsforalarm]

Oh, they've got lots to say! Most of them have their heads screwed on better than humans, too.

[deaftly]

Huh, that sounds pretty interesting. Oh, what uh... Pokey-mon did you start with?

[cawsforalarm]

Well, I got a little fire-breathing fox named Embers -- she named herself -- and then... [Henry reaches into a pocket of his cape and comes out with a little baby Murkrow. Probably not old enough to be separated from her mother, but what can you do.] ...Cawdia! Embers said she could take care of herself back at that place I woke up in, so I left her there.

[deaftly]

Oh hey, that's a pretty cute bird. And you have a fox? At least you didn't get stuck with a useless fish. All it did when I called it out was flop around, so I left it in the room.

[Naki...]

The other one's uh... well.

[Naki fishes the Pokéball out of his pocket and drops it. A Cubone pops out, looking up at them studiously.]

...I have no idea what this thing is, honestly.

[cawsforalarm]

Is that a bone?

[Henry drops into a kneeling position immediately, fascinated by the new creature. And then he proceeds to address it while ignoring Naki, because priorities.]

Hi, I'm Henry! This is Cawdia.

[deaftly]

[...Thanks, Henry.

The Cubone seems pleased that Henry is directly talking to him, so he's content to greet Henry. He doesn't have a name yet, but Naki has taken to calling him "Skull", so he introduces himself as that.]

[cawsforalarm]

Nice to meet you. [And he holds out a hand for the Cubone to shake, or sniff, or whatever it is Cubones do.]

[Meanwhile, muffled sad violin can be heard in the distance for Naki.]

[deaftly]

[The Cubone sniffs it at first before lightly headbutting Henry's hand in greeting.

Naki just rolls his eyes before butting in.]

Your head still hurting? We should get that medicine if it is.

[cawsforalarm]

[Henry laughs when the Cubone headbutts him, but he keeps his hand out. Not too long ago, his hand would have been completely numb to something like that.]

[...And then Naki says something and Henry remembers he's there.]

Mmm... [He actually has to think about this. Sorting out pain signals is weird.] It's going away. I should be fine.

[deaftly]

Well that's good! Do you wanna check this place out?

[cawsforalarm]

Yeah, sure.

[Henry straightens out again, flashing Skull another smile as he does. He looks ready to explore!]

[Yay...?]

[deaftly]

[Well Skull is perfectly content to follow Naki and Henry around, so Naki enters the Pokémart and immediately looks around. It doesn't look too different from some of the larger marts in Tokyo, but Naki imagines it's pretty strange to Henry.]

Huh, it looks like these Pokey-mon things are really big here.

[There are so many floors full of items for these things...]

[cawsforalarm]

[...Henry doesn't seem to have heard, because he's already running over to look at all the weird stuff on display.]

Wonder what all these things do?

[He's looking, of course, at the ten bajillion different types of Pokéball. Cawdia is placed on his shoulder as Henry begins going through them, pressing buttons experimentally. Are they just decorative, or do they have actual uses, or...]

[deaftly]

Oh hey, those things look like...

[Naki pulls out Skull's Pokéball and holds it up next to the ones on display.]

That's what these Pokey-mon things are kept in, I think. You can call 'em back using this thing...

[He presses the button on the center of Skull's Pokéball and recalls the Cubone. Naki pockets the ball again and picks up one of the display balls.]

These have some cool patterns on them though.

[cawsforalarm]

...

[Henry isn't really a fan of the concept of Pokéballs to begin with, so the fact that people have patterns for what is essentially a portable jail cell kind of rubs him the wrong way. But of course, he doesn't say or show any of that; he simply puts down the Great Ball he was holding, smile still firmly in place.]

I think it's better to keep them out, but I guess this could be useful if they're hurt or something.