The Last City: Welcome Home (part 2)

Maia shouts "Time for part 2 of "The Last City: Welcome Home"! SOOOO it turns out that my homeworld also has *anthro* pokemon, and they're allowed to be trainers to boot! Time to investigate this "Galactic Corps", and *possibly* bust some heads (read: have pokemon battles). To join or spectate, luge S3 E8, n-stage -OR- t #14307, we're getting started in about 15 minutes!"  (Public-shout)
You feel a wrenching sensation...
Nina-Stage
All the world's a stage, and this one is an ad-hoc RP zone! See current poses and/or the GameInfo object to determine where and what is happening.
Obvious Exits:
   [O]ut
Contents: Mako, Dawnwing, Maia, Elaraea, and GameInfo
Mako peep
Featherwing has teleported in.
Featherwing has arrived.
.Vahno gets onto the N-stage that isn't there.
.Vahno has arrived.
Casimir has teleported in.
Casimir has arrived.
[OOC] Elaraea pops out of the pokeball!
Cinnamon has arrived.
[OOC] Cinnamon emits a spectation-chu.
[OOC] .Patashu says, "Hello!"
[OOC] .Patashu says, "https://wiki.spindizzy.org/index.php?title=The_Last_City:_Welcome_Home If you want to see the previous log."
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "Sadly, Tomosu is still canonically digitized.  I've been waiting for the right moment to perpetrate A Progress (tm)."
[OOC] .Patashu says, "Let us know if you ever want to Plot or Scheme."
[OOC] Elaraea is still fully digital, Tomosu could use a rental body like her
[OOC] Cinnamon was considering something Halloweenish, but Halloweenish seems to be an area of effect situation!
[OOC] Casimir says, "Alternately, you could do what I did and sent another interested party"
[OOC] .Patashu says, "We'll be in SPindizzy ICly if you want to send anyone without having to retroactively justify it"
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "Toooo be fair, I'm not sure my schedule's consistently clear enough for regular plottiness just yet either way.  ;.;"
[OOC] Mako patpat
[OOC] .Patashu says, "Then enjoy a spectate"
[OOC] Maia nodnods.
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "(As an aside, I went ahead and poked at a robot a while back to try and force it into approximating a candleghost out of nostalgia.  The image generator came astoundingly close to comprehending what a Tomosu should look like.)"
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "(For added sure-why-not, it came out pixel-ish.)"
( Last time: you went to Cinnabar Island by way of the Distortion World! Maia saw a mysterious figure who immediately vanished and nobody else noticed! Maia and Mako posed as trainers for the rest of the party, and sold a couple of Nuggets for the proceeds (and bought some pokeballs in case you want to ride in one, as well as extras, some healing items, and an Ultra Ball for the look of things)! You followed a pokemorph named Venus to Pallet Town, where she supervised some Galactic Corps grunts as they removed some newspapers which were critical of the Galactic Corps and replaced them with propaganda! You then hit up the current Pokemon Professor of Pallet Town, Professor Vanilla, to learn some bits of lore. We are now going to montage to SpinDizzy and back (now that we've been to Cinnabar Island and Pallet Town, Mako can just portal us there). What will you do in that timeframe? )
.Patashu . o O ( Ah, it's Fly rules. Convenient! )
Elaraea will.... hit up Sew What to get some Trainer-style threads! 
Mako will likely start by finding a spot to set up a more stable gate. Preferably one that won't dump is into the ocean... ar we gonna have to navigate the void every time? >.>
[OOC] Maia says, "I mean, that's pretty much how Mako described it to begin with. |3"
( We are not! )
Elaraea not just Trainer-style, but something that can only need a bit added to go up into the Pkmn Contest Circuit
.Vahno says, "Kinda wonder if any pokemon have asked to become more anthro..."
Dawnwing is absolutely going to need to get hirself a full-anthro form at some point! Going back over at taur-size is probably still gonna Alarm people.
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "I'm picturing the SNES Mario's Time Machine surfing minigame to portal anywhere."
[OOC] Maia grins to Cinny. We had to come through the Distortion World on our first trip.
[OOC] .Patashu says, "And emerged in the water."
[OOC] Elaraea used SURF.
Mako oh, good. Then she can set up a gate real easy. Mostly this involves visiting poke-ikea, getting a door, and putting it up somewhere inconspicuous. >.>
( Interestingly, when using Maia as a beacon specifically from outside Maia's world, the path of least resistance appears to be the vicinity of the western coast of Cinnabar Island. But once Mako is actually in Maia's world, she can just set things up wherever she wants according to her own abilities. )
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "Hmm.  If there's periodic returning to mainline SpinDizzy, I miiiight be able to jump in at a later date, maybe.  ;.;"
Mako is not well versed in gate building, b ut she'w been studying. There is a nonzero chance that the first couple times she tries this you end up dumping yourself into the bamboo lake on return. But after some adjusting all is well.
[OOC] .Patashu says, "if you do want to join later we can help retroactive you in"
.Vahno says, "Saaay, can we set up a connection to their internet so we can look through info while here?"
Casimir will remain as he is, for now. He went through the trouble of getting into this form, might as well not waste it. He may though, while on Quodlibet, lament somewhat being too small to conveniently use the helm in his ship, instead go to Pata's base to practice battling some- and aside on that: "I kinda get why Kranith always wants to pick fights now. Something about being a monmon makes this even more fun, kinda addicting." Vanilla did mention that the new instincts can change you a bit; at least in Cas's case it doesn't seem -too- dramatic. Ah, he'll aside to Maia: "I don't know if you plan to actually use us as your pokemon de-facto, but I do feel I aughta ask, what kind of moves should I try to Sketch? I have one Sketch and a free slot to fill."
Elaraea says, "Considering my remote worked, Yes. but we'll need an endpoint on that side."
Maia grabbed one of the propaganda-newspapers, and is poring over it to see if she can get anything useful, or anything from what the Galactic Corps isn't saying. "... 'glitch entity' ...? Gonna elaborate on that?" She looks up at Vahno. "Oh. If you *can* set that up that'd be awesome."
Dawnwing says, "Buy a house, get residential internet, make a network bridge?"
.Vahno says, "Not a bad idea..."
Dawnwing says, "And if we -can- rent or buy some property, putting the local gate in the basement or something might not be a bad idea..."
Maia looks to Casimir. "Hmmm. I think that's gonna be pretty sitational, and depends on who or what we go up against. You'll learn Sketch multiple times as you grow, too, so it's not like it's a one-shot deal."
Elaraea says, "I like this plan"
Mako says, "I have -no- idea how that works, to be clear."
Elaraea says, "It'll give us a main base where we can stash stuff too, without having to portal offworld, gives us a place to show up from, and a mailing address."
Mako says, "And a hard gatepoint"
Casimir nods, "Alright. Plus I heard I can just relearn moves, so-." Muses on the other topic at hand. "Might not even need property. Does the pokemon world have data centers? If so, just rent a server slot and 'contract' custom hardware."
Maia hmm! "*If* we can cough up the money ..."
Elaraea says, "now... how much is a typical place in one of the smaller towns?"
[OOC] Dawnwing ponders. Sie admits sie's never thought of Dawn as 'limited to The Four Move Slots,' mostly because that's not how the animated media tends to do it, so far as sie's aware.
[OOC] Maia says, "True!"
[OOC] Elaraea says, "the way I interpret the four Move Slots is you can *know* any number of Moves, but you can only have 4 registered in Regulation Battles"
[OOC] Casimir is sticking to it for game parity since we're in a game-style plot. But will start ignoring it if everyone else is, and has before in morphish plots etc
[OOC] Maia wasn't thinking of it in terms of 'number of slots', but non-game media is the general reason why I kept "as you grow" vague.
Dawnwing says, "Also, like ... how close do we want to be to that lab?"
( *Buying* a house might be a whole thing. Given you can raise the money for it by just spamming nuggets or their equivalents, that's not the problem. But it's not the kind of thing you can buy at the drop of a hat, there's contractual stuff to go through. Casimir's idea of just doing data center co-location is warmer. You could even ask Professor Vanilla if you can set something up! Renting or booking a hotel room is also easier to do on short notice. )
[OOC] .Vahno says, "So the move tutor isn't really teaching you old moves or whatever, but allowing you to legally rewrite the move card. or whatever."
[OOC] Casimir says, "A good way to wave it in"
Mako honestly figures renting a motel room, or whatever airbnb equivilent, for an indeterminate time, is probably a good idea. Something with rooms, privacy, and a kitchen
[OOC] Mako says, "Makes sense. There has been at least one Move Rememberer or whatever it was called."
Elaraea . o O ( considering how itinerant most Trainers are in the competitive circuit, there's probably Road Motels aplenty )
Elaraea . o O ( not everybody likes to camp every night )
( Yeah, exactly - it would raise 0 eyebrows that you show up on a new continent as wandering trainers and have the pokecoins to blow on renting. )
Elaraea *does* ahve some Planning Chops, but some may recall her putting her head down on a table of notes with the remark, "I have Regrets"
.Vahno says, "Or maybe set up a secret base somewhere. That's a thing some folks do."
Elaraea fingertips on Vahno's arm. "That's once we get established. A long-term rental in a road motel can be ready in an hour."
.Vahno omf on Ela.
Elaraea *comedy beat* ... "AAAA."
Casimir says, "The problem with secret bases is they're cape bait. Inconspicuous right up until someone blows the cover and puts them in the newspaper-"
Casimir smirks a bit.
Maia mouths 'cape bait?', pauses, and then shakes her head at Cas. "Nnnnot that kind of 'secret base'."
Casimir says, "Seriously though, if we want to actually -own- a place or long term rent, why not a shack in the boonies? Most of the benefits of a secret base, a fraction of the drawbacks."
.Vahno says, "Eh, maybe."
Casimir looks to Maia?
Elaraea says, "Again, harder initial setup. We can get a LTR at a motel with a 'terminate whenever' permission, and look for a Secret Base at leisure"
Casimir muses to Ela. "Yeah... I'm not sure how long we'll even be questing around. I guess the question is, what's next?"
.Vahno says, "Fly around, selling nuggets at various stores and pawn shops across the country to subtly build up capital for our projects?"
( The kobolds in the room look over to Maia, expectantly. )
Casimir . o O ( What'll even be our projects? )
Mako says, "That's a lot mroe effort than should be, I think..."
.Vahno says, "...Eh. Fair."
Maia looks to Vahno. "We probably need to deal with the Galactic Corps *before* doing anything really big. But aside from finding the info we originally wanted to look up ..." She gestures with the newspaper. "The newspaper mentions that the Galactic Corps HQ is in Veilstone City in the Sinnoh region, so we might wanna poke around there sooner rather than later."
Featherwing has disconnected.
Maia says, "I ... we'd need to see what the old newspaper said first, but the fact that someone's even *considering* comparing them to the rocket empire, it's kinda ..."
Dawnwing says, "...Also, wouldn't what they did with the old newspapers be considered theft?"
[OOC] Maia says, "*Rocket Empire, capitalized"
Maia shrugs to Dawnwing. "For all we know, they were doing it legitimately, which is bad for a different reason."
.Vahno says, "Well, anthros are a thing, so... I could go Anthro Ninetales and... ya know... join up."
Casimir ehhhhs. "I dunno. People tend to be flippant with comparisons. You should've seen how many people, aaaaaall the time, compared their political opponents to a certain historically infamous regime on my homeworld."
Elaraea says, "Clearly we need to know more"
.Vahno says, "Also, I am psionic myself, so I could, in fact, probably shut that Gardegal out."
Casimir nods. "Heck... heh. Thought comes to mind. I could walk right up to their headquarters and ask to join. Or let myself get captured... but then one of you would have to fetch me."
Maia looks like she wants to argue with Casimir, then at Ela, she just goes "UUUGGGGGHHHHH. Yeah we do at that."
.Vahno says, "Heheh."
Dawnwing says, "...Right. Psychic. I -really- don't want her looking too closely in my mind."
Casimir says, "If I or one of us is posing as a rookie wannabe, or gets captured... why would the boss even pay us any attention? One of many."
.Vahno says, "Paranoia."
Casimir looks to Vahno. "Point. She didn't seem the type, but, I could easily be wrong."
( A kobold raises a paw. "What if they just read your thoughts and figure out you're doing an inside job thingy?" )
Mako uuugh. "I'm a magi, not an esper. PSi is beyond me...."
Maia opens her mouth, then nods to the kobold. "Yeah, she *did* sorta ... *sense* us or something on her way out."
Casimir looks to the Kobold. "Well I was going on the idea of being below notice but... mnnn. Yeah, maybe not."
( A second kobold looks at the first thought. "It must be so hard to lie in the Pokemon World." The two kobolds sage nod. What a travesty. )
( *at the first kobold )
.Vahno says, "Again, I could probably shield myself."
Maia says, "Sssssso. Uh. *Fastest* thing would be to hit up a library! Or, uh, borrow internet access from Professor Vanilla if she's cool with it. I mean I'm wearing the same face I had when the Rocket Empire killed me, and nobody seemed to recognize me by sight, but that was a long time ago ..."
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "For the record, I am reading 'newspaper' as 'newspapper', like the old-timey style Homestar videos."
[OOC] Maia XD
.Vahno says, "People look like people all the time. "
Casimir says, "Plus, you don't look like you're a hundred twenty or so years old."
.Vahno says, "Anyways, yay or nay on me trying to join up?"
Maia gremlinsnickers. "Hah, yeah."
[OOC] .Vahno says, "Also asking Oocly because, uh... possible DM headaches?"
Maia mmmmm, "Let's wait until we learn more basic info first."
Mako says, "Yeah, that's a "Save for later" idea I think..."
Casimir looks to Vahno. Maia. "I'm leaning yea but, yeah."
Mako says, "JOb one is stable base of ops, then information"
.Vahno says, "Alright. So... where to for base?"
[OOC] .Patashu says, "If I'm understanding how Mako's portaling works, if you go to Sinnoh once, then you can portal to and from Sinnoh and Kanto by stopping off in Spindizzy?"
Dawnwing says, "If Pallet isn't actually host to a branch office of those Galactic jackasses, why not there?"
[OOC] .Patashu says, "In that case you may as well just get a base where it's cheap n quiet"
Casimir says, "I vote get a two weeks lease on a hotel room in Veilstone City. Somewhere in the outskirts that's in bike distance but not direct line of sight of the Corps HQ."
.Vahno says, "Agreed..."
[OOC] Mako says, "A gate will go to: Another Gate, A strong Signal, or somewhere you've been before. Getting BACK is the hard part, which is why mako wants a specific place. She's relying on Maia for base of ops rules"
[OOC] Mako says, "Theoretically mako could make the trip without but she doesn't know how."
Maia nods slowly to Casimir and murmurs, "We'll need local transit to *get* to Veilstone regardless ..."
.Vahno says, "Maybe a city away from Veilstone..."
Casimir slowly sways his tail. Looks to Dawnwing. "Too far for you to fly?"
Dawnwing says, "I don't know where Veilstone -is- yet."
Dawnwing says, "...I'ma need a map."
Maia nods to Dawnwing. "Yeah, I'd need one too, offhand."
Featherwing has connected.
Mako says, "Man, didn't they used to give those out willy nilly?"
.Vahno says, "Ask the prof if we can print off one."
Dawnwing says, "Or just gimme a computer with an internet connection; there's -no way- they don't have global mapping here by now."
Casimir says, "Sounds like our itinerary then is: return to the pokemon world, look for transit to Veilstone, secure transit, by battle or nugget secure a room there or in a nearby town and begin research on Galactic Corps."
Maia nods to Casimir. "Sounds like a plan!"
( Kobold thumbs up! )
Mako tosses her hair. "I'm gonna continue playing human I think. At least one or two of us needs to look the part just in case and I won't draw any other attention unless we get jumped."
.Vahno says, "I think I'll stay quad for now, unless we decide to infiltrate."
Maia nods. "Yeah, I'm *also* gonna stick with playing human."
Dawnwing says, "...Would be nice to be able to get away with -not- hiding heads."
( A kobold suggests, "Hydreigon?" )
.Vahno says, "Works."
Dawnwing says, "...I do have one up my family tree! But I don't have any actual bodies of that form, myself."
Maia looks to Dawnwing, then to the kobolds.
.Vahno says, "...Right."
Elaraea says, "... I think you're about to be offered a Proxy body of one."
Casimir looks to Dawnwing. "Might be easier to disguise as one and not have to worry about folks bumping invisible heads."
Dawnwing says, "Wish I could just say 'Quodlibet Regional' and leave it at that, but nobody over there is going to have any idea what a Quodlibet is."
( A kobold brings out a Hydreigon onesie. :3 )
Dawnwing will keep this, even if sie can't wear it right now!
( Are we good to go, then? )
.Vahno is good.
Dawnwing nods affirmative!
Mako is likely selecting a few doodads to beef up her toolset, because she has no desire to get STuck again, but thinks she's good...
Casimir slowly sways his tail, steps over and pets Vahno. It's a dog-pet-dog world... that's not so bad is it? All the same, yep, ready!
.Vahno sluuuuuuuuuuuuurps Casimir.
Elaraea gets dressed up, Trainerstyle. ... The ballcap is very custom.
Casimir snrks, bleps.
Featherwing mrbts. (ooc: Sorry, got distracted...)
[OOC] Maia says, "It happens!"
( Pallet Town is just as you left it; the Galactic Corps grunts are long gone. There is an airport in Saffron City, and you can take a flight from there to Jubilife City, in the southeastern part of the region; this is approximately at the opposite end of the region from Veilstone, however. The airplanes allow one (1) pokemon per trainer; the rest will be allowed to connect via their pokeballs to a virtual reality space that lets them see outside of the plane. Who's going where? )
Featherwing is okay either way. Will let others decide.
Casimir likewise, would be fine flying pokeball class if we go that route. Heck, he's just happy to be here as it stands.
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "SOrry for the momentary idle!"
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "I was reminded that Tomorrow is Trash Pickup"
Casimir . o O ( Back to the Pokemon World, world of friendship, adventure, and strangely stable customs. )
.Vahno <I have no idea if this synth proxy can even fit in a pokeball...>
Maia . o O ( Pokeballs 'just work' regardless! )
.Patashu . o O ( We also have universal healthcare here! )
.Patashu . o O ( headcanon that healthcare is so good in the Pokemon world because Pokemon get into scraps all the time )
[OOC] Casimir says, "The miracle healing machines also help"
[OOC] Mako says, "Doot Doot Doo-doo-doooo~."
[OOC] .Patashu says, "yeah my headcanon is those are the 'egg' in the 'chicken and egg'"
Mako . o O ( That jingle is in my heeeeead )
Dawnwing . o O ( There's plenty of synthetic pokemon that ball up just fine already! )
Featherwing . o O ( It's the Don Quijote of Pokemon. )
.Vahno . o O ( Okaaaay fiiiine.... )
Mako watches throug hthe windows. She can play "Rich socialite" well. Also it's nie to fly without using her own power any
Dawnwing hasn't been in a ball before! ...So long as sie can be assured it's Safe, sie'll give it a try.
Casimir also hasn't been in a ball before, but heard it's actually surprisingly cozy and -is- actually a biological monmon here, so doesn't hesitate much.
.Vahno will stay out if no one else is gonna.
Dawnwing . o O ( Of course, holo-disguise or not, a pokéball will probably recognize that Dawn is not -baseline- though sie remains Compatible. )
( The plane itself also much more high-tech and comfortable in general! Though ... while you're flying, visible from the VR space as well, a Galacitc Corps styled jet flies past from behind, apparently headed in the same direction. It's considerably faster, though, so it quickly leaves your plane behind. )
Maia murmurs, "The newspaper did mention some basic info, by the way. The boss is called Idalia, the commanders are Sol, Mercury, and the gardevoir pokemorph, Venus. Kinda scattershot, the article kind of assumed we already knew who they were."
Mako says, "I am sensing a theme ith these commanders. That's on brand for a Team, at  least...."
Maia nods, "It was like that for the Team Galactic they're based on, too."
( Fresh Water, Soda Pop and Lemonade are available as drinks on the plane, natch! )
Dawnwing hopes the plane-VR will still let hir communicate with everyone riding in normal seats!
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "The weirdest Discord chat."
[OOC] Elaraea says, "woop, got zero-notice AFKed. back"
Casimir . o O ( Like the ol' Concorde, the passenger plane that was too cool for all that 'being practical' stuff. Turns out the reason normal passenger airplanes have gone about the same speed since the dawn of the jet age is that simply is the optimal cruising speed of the passenger plane 'meta'. )
[OOC] Casimir says, "Welcome"
Elaraea will probably register in the 'person' category to not have to figure out how a Ball will interact with her Proxy Link. 
Dawnwing comms over the VR, [If they're such big names, there's gonna be articles on 'em on whatever the planetary wikithing is, right?]
Mako . o O ( Forget wiki, we just gotta look at the tabloids... )
Maia . o O ( There was no 'Aqua/Magma Imperium' or whatever because anyone that stupid would never make it as a genre-busting empire like we're dealing with here )
Casimir [Depends. Some keep it down low, but this Venus gal is waaaaay too full of herself for that I'll bet.
Maia says, "Yeah, that's part of the info we're gonna look up as soon as we're settled in."
Elaraea has to figure out how to kind of ... bundle her tail around to fit into a plane seat.
( The seats are designed to change shape slightly in order to accomodate tails. )
Elaraea oh good, They Thought Of That
Elaraea . o O ( so, room at a motel, get the portal deployed, possibly rent a Bill's PC? )
Mako . o O ( Terrible thought. Bill is the pokeverse's Cloud )
.Vahno will poke at the internet for a bit while they travel. He's idly curious. There's probably a good few folks who have gone anthro... have any pokemon tried it? I mean, some have learned to speak, so if they can ask... why not?
Casimir enjoys the window-seat panorama view from inside a pokeball. Studies, in fact. What all else is visibly new in the world?
Featherwing simply meditates wherever the frog is at the moment. -.-
[OOC] .Patashu says, "thinking-typing"
( Vahno: Surprisingly, it seems to be a much harder operation then pokemoning a human. But there's been a breakthrough within the past few years and a few successful examples, including an Arcanine anthro male who used to do Beauty Contests (and, ah, still does). )
.Vahno will... slide a few of his photos to Ela.
Mako... oh my
Elaraea oh dang. That's Fiiiiiine.
( Casimir: Hard to say what's new and what's old from an airplane window on a planet you're unfamiliar with, but you do see some neat sights: a robust train system, and what looks like an oversized greenhouse out in the wilderness (some kind of terraformed enclosed-ecosystem park?). )
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "Safari Zone 2100"
( You can also do some research on the Galactic Corps' higher ups as you scour the internet from the plane... )
Maia performs the positive action of Disregarding That, and looks up some basic info about the Galactic Corps leadership.
.Vahno suspect the main reason is... well, the generally massive structural shift.
Maia ... yeah that.
Elaraea peers over Maia's ... tablet? from the next row back. "Anything useful?"
( So the first thing to know is that the Galactic Corps is like a reboot/rebranding of the old Team Galactic. Its leader, Cyrus, wanted to create 'a world without spirit'. Literally, 'if we stopped feeling intense emotions we'd all get along'. Thankfully and obviously he failed. The new Galactic Corps is more aping the style and power while distancing itself from those ends; just trying to be a power player, muscle out competitors, maybe end strife by being the only one on top, make a lot of money in the process, that kinda thing. )
Maia has a hard look on her face as she reads about this.
.Vahno <Sadly, we must oppose that, even if they are Truly Good.>
Featherwing opens one eye and looks over the info.
( You look up Venus. She's a born-into-money socialite from Kanto who self-funded her pokemorph transformation and joined Galactic Corps, in her words, 'Cuz it sounded fun!'. Nihilist in the positive sense, 'if nothing matters, you may as well live life doing what motivates you' kinda way. )
Casimir [Yeaaah you know what they say about the road to hell. Anyone willing to tread on people's rights for the 'greater good' is worse than any robber-baron. The good news, I think this Venus gal is just another lizard-brain. That'll make her predictable.]
Maia smirks at Casimir's comment. Quoting Venus at the Cinnabar pokecenter, "'Thanks-a-million, smell ya later!'"
Dawnwing sends Casimir a row of dragon-face-sticking-out-tongue emojis at Casi.
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "Zap the last two words off for redundancy, I derp"
Elaraea hmm. "Typical, but they looked very well-organized."
[OOC] .Patashu says, "thinking-typing..."
Mako says, "<Depending how we play our cards, either a huge pain or maybe an ally, egotist but that can be said for a lot of Team types.>"
Featherwing (Indeed.)
( Some other notable commanders: Mercury, an idealistic activist from Hoenn who apparently fell in with the wrong crowd, because he thinks working for Galactic Corps is the best way to better people's lives. Sol, who claims to have Cyrus's mantle, with a similar backstory, but insist that he isn't interested in erasing all spirit, just ruling the business world in a totally normal way, and that this is for the betterment of mankind. (He also has a living sister, Luna.) The boss is called Idalia, who's wiki page is shrouded in mystery - she's believed to be related to Cynthia and Ianthe (two notable historical figures in their own right) but the exact relationship is unclear, and she keeps her cards close to her chest. )
Mako looks over the data. "<Lotta these commander types seem like they're doing the wreong things for the right reasons, at elast.>"
Mako says, "<Or is that the other way around?>""
.Vahno says, "<Guess we'll find out.""
Elaraea checks the flight time...
Maia hm. "I know about Cynthia, she was a pokemon champion who helped her successor Dawn take out the old Team Galactic. I ... *met* an 'Ianthe' in my time, I could see the family resemblance, but she disappeared during the Rocket Empire takeover. I'd assumed '*got* disappeared'." She takes a deep breath. "Speaking of which!" She looks up the Rocket Empire and how the revolution take up.
( If you have to check, you're not there yet. -w- )
.Vahno will... look for a... Maia Oak, wasn't it?
[OOC] Maia typing~ (since this was my thing)
( The Rocket Empire, as its name implies, was a complete power grab. Headed by a man named Giorno, they were smart enough to try to keep pokemon trainers on lockdown; they captured more various relatively unique and powerful pokemon, including legendary pokemon who were known as deities or other powerful beings, specifically to keep them out of the hands of anyone who might stand in their way. A revolution formed against them, and really kicked into gear after the Empire tried to interfere with the neutrality of Pokemon Centers, which are dedicated to healing everyone and anyone's pokemon. )
( The leader of the revolution was was an ambitious woman called Gloria (true identity unknown, but one of the possibilities is a descendent of Professor Oak named Maia Oak! There's precious little *other* info on Maia.), who died in battle against the Empire, and her place was subsequently taken by Ianthe, a political prisoner of the Empire who had been very ... driven, by emotions and a kind of spiritualism; she seemed to have an attitude of "I wasn't going to be a revolutionary, but I felt in the spirits that you're steering the world in the wrong direction, so now you're my problem", sort of thing. She retreated out of the public eye while the world was reconstructing after the Empire fell. )
[OOC] Maia says, "That turned out a bit longer than expected, I split it up for readability ^^;"
Maia nods along as she reads. "Don't see anything inaccurate, up to, uh, my ... yeah." She sits back heavily in her seat.
.Vahno cough
Elaraea mmmm. "Bit surreal in an unpleasant way, huh?"
Maia nods. Murmurs, "I don't really have much continuity-of-self from before my first MissingNo freakout, when I got Magearna'd and then Master Balled for a hundred years. But ..."
Casimir [First time?... Ah, sorry.]
Maia, automatically, "Bite me."
Mako hmmm....
Elaraea /party @Maia :teeth:
Maia sniffles slightly. "At least I've got ... *some* kind of closure --" She stops. Flatly to Elareaea, "Will you fucking stop that."
Elaraea says, "sorry"
Dawnwing [You -did- start with the BiteMe...]
Maia UUUUGGGGGHHHHH. ... Yeah she's a bit better at least.
Casimir [In the end... hey. Someone picked up the torch for you, and made good finishing your work.]
Maia says, "Haha, yeah ... like I said, closure."
Mako says, "<Fact that family name has done quite solitary is interesting. We're missing something there.>""
Maia says, "Hm? Which the who-now?"
.Vahno says, "<What was Ianthe's last name anyways?>"
Maia checks. "... Looks like they're mononymic. I mean a lot of people are."
[OOC] Maia, basing this on how few people in the games and shows actually *have* last names.
.Vahno . o O ( Well, there goes tracking the family tree. )
[OOC] .Patashu says, "Big culture of 'setting off on your own', too."
Maia looks to Mako. "Oh you mean Ianthe's family?" She looks back at the article. "Uh, sorry, I got distracted from that part of the topic."
Maia hits 'back', ends up at the Galactic Corps article. "-- Idalia's family, I mean. Yeah."
Mako says, "Yeah. Can't possibly be the same person, right? .... I'm gonna regret saying that aren't I? ... but still, that's the only one we don't have data on"
Elaraea re, regret: "probably"
Mako says, "Look, I have bad reference for normal mortal lifespans."
Maia shrugs. "I mean. The brief time I met her, Ianthe didn't strike me as someone who'd, uh, do *that*." She gestures to the Galactic Corps article as a whole.
Maia makes a face. "Yeah that's. too long."
Casimir [People do change, especially going through things like that, but... well. I don't think we'll meet her again. Still, it might be a note to keep on the pad.]
.Vahno says, "<Never know how time may change someone... Still, they might just carry the name.>"
Maia nods, and shrugs. "Well ... Idalia's the one we need to look out for, whoever she *is*. We gotta worry about the Galactic Corp itself, first."
Casimir muses... [Heck of a thought. Someone who turns revolutionary against an empire... has a daughter who goes on to be the boss of a new empire.]
Casimir [Great to the nth grand daughter but still.]
.Vahno <Probably not too far along...>
Featherwing has disconnected.
.Vahno says, "<So, what do we do once we land?>"
Maia says, "Uh, get to Veilstone, set up a base in the general vicinity, and start looking up intel on the Corps." She looks to Casimir. "Right?"
Mako says, "<Check for a good motel for starters. You ever tried to sleep on a plane? Aaaaaa.> z.z"
[OOC] Maia says, "We're in winding-down-time, FYI"
Casimir [That was what I added up, yep.]
( This plane is surprisingly comfortable. Of course, you haven't tried to sleep here yet. )
Dawnwing can probably sleep just fine in the ball! So long as sie doesn't wake up later to find out that sie's been stolen or something.
Maia, to Mako, "The Pokemon Center in Jubilife can probably help us there."
Casimir would be tempted to decorate his teammate's pokeballs. If he weren't stuck in his own. Ah well!
Maia hms. "There's one more thing ..." She does a search. "The propaganda paper namedropped a 'glitch entity' -- another thing it assumed the reader already knows about, as something the Galactic Corps was looking into, but hadn't dealt with yet."
Elaraea fingerdrums on the seatback. "Another Glitch Entity then...
Mako says, "That's true.... but... anther one? THAT is...."
( The search results make it seem like some sort of urban legend -- a woman with long, white, loose hair and a dress of black crystals, with nobody ever clearly seeing her face or whether she even has one, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and then gone the next moment. Nothing really substantiated, though; nobody's been able to take a photograph, either, but there are a couple of sketches. The Galactic Corps response seems to suggest that it's real. )
Maia hmms. "... Yeah, that looks like the figure I saw at Cinnabar ..."
Mako says, "Wouldn't make that big a fuss if there wasn't /something/ there."
Dawnwing says, "I ... don't think I caught the figure on Cinnabar. Sorry."
Casimir [Yeah... though now I wonder. 'Glitch entity'. Wonder if Giratina actually had nothing to do with your circumstances?]
Dawnwing sends that as a Message, not speaking! Whoops.
Maia says, "Oh, 'another thing' as in they already assumed we knew who Sol and Idalia were."
.Vahno says, "<Hate things written like that.>"
.Vahno says, "<It's why people have no idea what the third jar was for.>"
Maia says, "I mean, it was a propaganda piece, not an encyclopedia."
Maia ... "Third jar?"
[OOC] Cinnamon says, "Mayonnaise.  The third condiment."
[OOC] Maia ANYWAY! ... I think it's best if we wait until the next installment to land.
[OOC] Dawnwing ditto!
[OOC] Maia says, "Questions, comments, shenanigans?"
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "Sorry again for my slow. Been focusing a -lot- on poll results"
[OOC] .Patashu says, "(same lmao)"
[OOC] Mako says, "Ominous! I'm trying to figure how to best make mako useful. :P"
[OOC] Maia grins.
[OOC] .Vahno has been pondering an important question...
[OOC] Maia oh?
[OOC] Maia says, "... IC, or OOC?"
[OOC] .Vahno says, "Think I'd look good in the GC uniform as an anthro ninetales~?"
[OOC] Maia XD
[OOC] Dawnwing says, "Doo iiiit"
[OOC] Maia says, "(... Also what *is* the 'third jar' thing in reference to)"
[OOC] .Vahno says, "19th century thing. Dining sets of the era contained 3 jars. Salt, Pepper, and a 3rd jar that no one really noted down because it went without saying."
[OOC] Maia nodnods.