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]

Normally I don't like ouchies, but for some reason my nerve damage is gone! So I can feel stuff again.

Come on, pleeeeeease?

[deaftly]

[He's not sure what to make of the whole nerve damage thing, so he'll just ignore that. He's not going to ignore the potential for violence however, and Naki takes a moment to crack his knuckles.

Then he throws a punch directly at Henry's face because he's awful like that.]

this is all i ever wanted out of CR tbh

[cawsforalarm]

Hrk--

[Whoa, that was a punch. Henry stands there and takes it, but he does stagger backwards into the wall, clutching his head... and giggling.]

Man, it hurts just to laugh, this is so weird...! Hee hee...!

well this can only end in stupid, sorry about your face henry

[deaftly]

[Naki throws back his head and laughs, moving once again to crack his knuckles. He doesn't go for another punch though, instead looking pretty impressed with Henry.]

Not bad! Most people can't take a punch like that and stay on their feet!

[That might be because he's not throwing normal, human punches, but apparently the thought that his punches have been weakened here doesn't even occur to Naki.]

nah it's cool bro

[cawsforalarm]

Well, I've got lots of practice, nya ha! [Spoilers: his nerve damage isn't a birth defect. Thanks, sadistic Plegian military school!]

[He's still grinning, though the novelty of the pain is beginning to wear off.] ...But I gotta hand it to you, I am getting one doozy of a headache.

[deaftly]

Well it's certainly no fun if you collapse now. Let's go see if we can find you some of that headache medicine you humans--

[.............wait.]

I mean uh... There uh... should be a store or something somewhere nearby that we can find the medicine at! C'mon, let's go get some!

[Naki admittedly has no idea how to get out of this base, but he picks a direction at random and starts walking.]

[cawsforalarm]

Mm? Sure, got it!

[Without question, Henry follows Naki's lead. If he noticed the part about 'humans', he doesn't say anything about it. Heck, there are not one but two nonhuman races that look almost identical to humans where he comes from, so maybe this guy is just a really strong manakete or something.]

[deaftly]

[Whew, he's never been more relieved. Naki is perfectly content to chatter aimlessly about Tokyo while they walk. He talks about the city rather than the issue of ghouls verses humans, but it's obvious that he's very fond of Tokyo.

He finally stops in front of the Pokémart, staring up at it.]

...Well, this certainly looks promising. Shall we check it out?

[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.]