2024-01-13: New Markets
- Log: New Markets
- Cast: Jessie and James, Anne Aomori
- Where: Aomori Pokemon Lab, Viridian City
- Date: January 13, 506 PC Filgaian
- Summary: Jessie and James come back to Anne Aomori's lab for their next piece of equipment, and to talk about their next mission. But already there's scaffolding being built for a plan ahead of /that/ one...
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"So our last attempt was..."
"... a crushing failure!"
"But, this time..."
"... we'll catch them off-guard!"
"Myowrrrrth," Meowth mrowls, as he pads after two electricians entering the Viridian Laboratory -- to fix the wiring, surely. There's no other reason two electricians would be walking in this afternoon, would there?
Of course, Anne knows the sparkies are coming. They called ahead. Because...
... they're not really sparkies.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
The wiring they have to fix is in a lab room, with a lot of computers and a bunch of machinery that is important and useful. Anne Aomori is also there, and she's waiting. She is alone in here for now; she's cleared the room and had her assistants off doing other tasks.
She's in a labcoat today, because she's in the lab, and Laqui is once more out of his Pokeball, lounging lazily by the cabinets. And when Jessie, ames, and Meowth arrive...
Anne reaches up to adjust her glasses.
"So you have a good plan this time, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Only the best plan!" "A totally fantabulous plan!" "Myow!" Jessie, James, and Meowth all contribute their enthusiasm, as they pile in. (Jessie is in suspenders. Somehow, she makes them look good.)
Meowth is the one who hops up onto the lab table first, to present Anne with a FLYER advertising the benefits of the Dunsparce Spa, with directions even a Visitor could follow. "Mwawr!" He chirps, pridefully, because --
"We made them!" Jessie translates, appearing behind Meowth as her hands grasp the edge of the table and she leans over it. "We're making sure everyone goes and takes a break at the Dunsparce Spa..."
"... so that we can steal their Pokemon," James finishes, all too cool, and he's even pulled out one of his roses to punctuate his point. "With all the Trainers and those Visitors relaxed by the spa's waters, stealing all kinds of rare Pokemon will be a cinch!"
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
"Fantabulous," Anne repeats thoughtfully. She has to extend a little rope here; she wants to encourage them, after all. And she does note the enthusiasm...
Meowth hops onto the table and Anne does not immediately tell him to get down, because instead she takes the flyer and reads it.
"Not bad," she says of the work, and then looks up again to regard Meowth, James, and Jessie. In that order.
"Yes, it's a solid plan," she says. "Very creative."
"But what you need is a way to avoid being zapped by that little Pikachu Oak's lab assistant owns again, right? Luckily for you, I have just the thing."
She gestures to a table, where there is something to uncover for them, which they now have permission to do.
"After all, stealing doesn't matter much if you can't manage keeping..."
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
Meowth belongs on the table. He's the boss cat, you know. The Boss's Top Cat! Didn't you see him on Giovanni's shoulder?!
Just ignore what happened after that, it's not important.
He bats a paw in the familiar stance of the lucky cat, as Anne regards him. James taps his rose to his lips, and Jessie grins, pridefully.
"Hey, that's right!" James exclaims, as Anne reveals she has just the thing. Meowth pulls at the covering over the contraption, and promptly gets himself tangled in it, with much the same imagery as a kitten tangled in string.
The other two, at least, are able to behold a cage made of rubber, large enough to house their catch, with extractor-claws to grasp the unwitting Pokemon and pull them into their prison. It's too large for them to carry on their person... but it would fit perfectly on a hot-air balloon's basket.
Like, for instance, Jessie and James'. They spent three months of their salary on their new sweet ride!
"This is perfect!" Jessie exclaims, poking at the rubber and feeling it give just a little. "None of those twerps will be able to electrocute this -- and it's going to be hard for that Eevee to shatter it physically, too!!"
She twirls over to James, and clasps his hands in hers, doing a little dance as they both sing-song: "We're gonna get the Pokemon, we're gonna get the Pokemon~!"
"Mrar!" Meowth declares, in punctuation, as he finally wriggles free of the cloth.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
Anne reaches out and strokes behind Meowth's ear, idly. Lucky cats deserve a pet or two. And then of course... he's tangled in it.
Well, that's not a bad sign.
But Anne is pleased at the work of her assistants right now. "Exactly. It would be difficult for the three of you to fail with equipment like this."
That Eevee... yes. The powerful Eevee, too...
They do a little dance. Anne smiles. She reaches out and nudges Meowth again.
"By all means, celebrate..."
"...Once you've completed the mission," she says. "I'll be counting on you to win this time. When my sympathies come out I won't have as good a supply of Pokemon, so you need to make sure to bring me powerful ones for the Boss."
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Meee," Meowth mews, quite happily, when he's pet.
"With a trick like this," Jessie and James say, in tandem, each stretching out one hand for a victorious 'V' even as they're still holding their other hands together, "we can't lose!"
Meowth does a happy little dance, only to pause, when Anne finishes her sentence. Jessie and James do, too, looking at each other with a terrible dawning sensation of responsibility.
"Oh, boy..." "... it's all up to us?!"
"Mrowrr-rrrrr!" Meowth declares that she can count on them, bapping his paw to his puffed-out chest.
"But -- but hang on," Jessie says, holding up a finger as she turns to Anne. "Are you thinking you're going to get found out, Professor? You've flown under the radar since..." She pauses, as she tries to remember, only for James to supply: "Since forever!", which is basically true, as far as Team Rocket's existence is concerned.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
Responsibility...
"It is," Anne answers, all up to them. But Meowth at least seems proud and ready. "That's right, Meowth. Maybe your confidence will rub off on them."
But Jessie wonders, and James helps. Anne looks between the two of them--and nods.
"Mm-hm. Until now it's been easy; my research has largely been under the table for these things. But with the approach of these Visitors, things are growing unpredictable. I've been with Team Rocket since near the beginning, as you know. But what our operations look like tomorrow may be different from what they look like today."
A pause. "But it's not all bad. I admit, I wouldn't mind the chance to get out in the field, now and then. It's been a while since I have. I have a few things I'd like to try out, too."
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Mrrrrowr," Meowth agrees, folding his paws with a firm nod. He's the real leader, here. They should listen to him more!
James folds his arms, with a thoughtful frown. "Those Visitors are really shaking things up," he says. "I'd almost say they have the spirit of Team Rocket, just by being here..."
"But that's why we have to think on our feet!" Jessie declares, slapping her fist into her palm. "Of course, you'd know that better than anyone, Professor!!" It's only natural that Jessie looks up to Anne; her dim childhood memories of her mother include memories of Anne, after all.
(And now her mother is gone, well...)
"Mwar?" Meowth bats at Anne, and gestures his paws out, as if to indicate her Big Plans.
"Yeah," James grasps his rose (where was he keeping that?!) and tilts it towards her, "what are you planning to do, Professor? If you let them know on your own terms... I bet you'd be able to steal a lot of Pokemon while they still trusted you."
"Imagine if we were Professors!" Jessie exclaims, hands grasping to fists. "People would just give us their Pokemon! Say, do you think we could dress you up like Professor Oak and trick them?"
"I'm so much more better-looking than he is," James smirks, "but I can disguise us as anything."
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
"Some might," Anne says of the Visitors and Team Rocket's spirit. "This one woman I met who proclaimed herself an evil sorceress, maybe. The two lab assistants I've hired from Filgaia, less so."
But Jessie of course is confident in Anne. She smiles. Meowth is only the first to express interest...
"That's true," Anne admits of stealing Pokemon. "But for now my plan is to wait. I'm gathering as much information on these Visitors as I can. I mentioned the two 'lab assistants'--they're a naturalist and a sorceress. I've been able to learn a lot about Filgaia at the cost of information they could've found in a library easily."
Then a laugh. "I'm not sure you have enough fuddy duddy energy to pull off Oak, but then, you are a master of disguise..."
A beat, "I'm thinking, though, to act in a different way. We have plenty of us who can gather Pokemon--I'm going to gather power and resources in their world, before they know what I've done. As soon as the Boss gives me the clearance."
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Heh heh... you've been busy," James chuckles, hearing Anne's plots. "And you got some extra pairs of hands out of it, too..."
He taps his rose to his cheek, and says: "I'm an actor." But she's acting in a different way --
"You're going to Filgaia?" Jessie asks, blink-blink-blink. "Do you think we have a better shot if we plunder another planet, Professor?"
"Mrowrrr-rowth!" Meowth yowls, paws on his hips, before he points at Jessie and James. "Mya!"
"You're right, Meowth!" Jessie agrees, clapping her hands together. "We should go with you! Who knows how much we could steal on another planet?!"
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
"I did. For now. I have a feeling they won't appreciate the fact that I didn't mention my affilitations," she says, adjusting her glasses. They glint menacingly in the florescent light of the lab.
"True, true." An actor. But blink blink--
"Meowth has it. I do think that."
"It's just a matter of pinpointing what's valuable there. If nothing else, Nedians would pay a lot of money for artifacts and evidence of other worlds. But I think there's more than that. And I'm willing to bet on it."
"You should come with me," she agrees. "After you finish your current mission, of course. They don't have Pokemon, but they should have plenty else of value. And it's a world away from Nedian authorities who could do anything about it."
"...And away from their jurisidiction, too. They can't bother us for crimes outside their borders very well, now can they?"
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
Anne is very menacing, but luckily, so are Jessie and James. (To the people of the Energy Nede, anyway.) "They'll be in for quite the shock," James agrees, smirking.
"I wish I could see the looks on their faces!" Jessie agrees.
"Mrewr?!" Meowth demonstrates, looking comically aghast, only for Jessie and James to laugh at his theatrics.
They settle down, though, in time to focus on crime. "The Visitors are majorly powerful," Jessie considers, folding her arms. "If we could steal one of those things which makes them so frightening, then we'd be the forces to be reckoned with."
"Something even more powerful than a Pokemon?" James asks, tilting his head.
"Something we can use to make our Pokemon even more powerful!" Jessie fills in the thought, her eyes burning.
"Rrrowr," Meowth smacks his paw into his chest, again.
"I guess we're the right people for the job," James says, thoughtfully, as he looks down at his rose. "I still know all that Symbology, after all, and you can actually fight. Even if they insist on fighting us without our Pokemon..."
"We'll still be trouble!" Jessie finishes, hand on her hip.
<Pose Tracker> Anne Aomori has posed.
They're cute to watch, these three. Anne smiles again. And then the matter of crimes, "There's a lot of those things--but the biggest is just their experience in a more hostile world. But that's something we can gain."
Jessie and James think of power. Anne inclines her head. "Just so."
"Indeed, that's what I was thinking. You'll need to train, of course. But between Jessie's combat skills and your Symbology, you could go far that way, even without your Pokemon. ...But since you have them, too, you have a bigger advantage still."
Anne shakes her head. "I admit," she says, "I never got to test my skills like when I was young with your mother," she says to Jessie. "I'd like to see how they stack up against these 'Visitors' for myself."
"But not until it's time. Not until we're ready. You three need anything else for now? Or are you ready for your mission?"
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Camping in the wilderness! Fighting off the wildlife! Diseases in the water!" James exclaims, on the matter of that hostile world. "It's just like the history books, isn't it?!"
"Mreh," Meowth says, as if he's amazed they've survived.
"But we've had a tough life!" Jessie, who has objectively not had a tough life by any Filgaian standard, declares. "We graduated from the school of hard knocks, so this won't be hard at all!"
She double-takes, though, when Anne brings her mother up. "Your skills?" She asks, because ninjas are masters of the art of disguise, so obviously Jessie doesn't realise a thing. "Huh. Then this will be exciting for you, too, Professor!"
Jessie and James are busy getting ahead of themselves, of course, which might be why Anne pulls them up. "Oh, yeah, the mission!" Jessie says, while James kind of looks aside at the camera as if to remark on how she'd already forgotten about it. "No, we'd better get right on fitting this to our balloon! Thanks, Professor!"
With that, the three electricians hoist up the machine, and carry it out with them. It's normal for electricians to be handling a gadget like this, citizens. It's important electrical equipment.
Probably.