[PRP] Mission: Carnival Capture

[TawnyAngel]

It might not be much of a mission, but it was a sodding mission. He'd had to work for it, oh but he'd had to work for it! There had been finding that flyer, the spark of an idea, working it all up in his head to make it sound vaguely useful (Look! Rare pokemon! Maybe shiny! Ooooooh!), and then working in a bit about taking a grunt to give them field experience. All in all bloody exhausting but it had worked and he was now standing in the garage waiting for one 'Adam' to show his face. If there was ever a given name that warranted you taking a pseudonym upon joining Team Rocket - Aulus, née Kurt considered - it was something like Adam. It was only a small step up from Bernard or Henry, unless of course the guy was going for some kind of Biblical fall vibe.

Oh well.

The mission brief he had written stated plain clothes and so Aulus was wearing blue jeans with a black tank top, and a black hoodie over the top of that. The most notable thing about the Agent was probably the fact that the right arm of his hoody was pinned up to a little above the elbow, rather drawing the eye to the lack of an arm. The second most notable thing might be the scar running down the left side of his face and over his eye. The third might be that fact that he had a tiny little purple Spinarak snuggled up against his neck making cute chirring noises that Aulus was currently ignoring in favour of projecting his 'I am such a stone cold badass do not eff with me' persona. Internally he wondered vaguely if, after this mission, he might be able to talk Alex into a Transformons G1 marathon; he could use some stupid cornyness as much as he could use some action.  

[Magician Arcana]

An actual mission, given by an Agent! Holy crap this was so exciting! Adam had double checked his side satchel, making sure all the necessary things were there - extra pokeballs, money, food and heals, a rope, and a first aid kit. Manny bobbed happily beside, chipring ly off and on as he observed the prep. The ghastly had no idea what was going on, but his partner seemed tickled pink and therefore he too was happy.

"All right! See you, Naka."

--------

Stepping into the motorbay, Adam practically gyrated with excitement. Manny looked wearily about, sticking close to Adam.

Someone was standing beside a rig, in plain clothes. That had to be Agent Aulus. Adam looked over his own clothes. Ripped jeans, a loose hoodie and a graphic t-shirt. It looked comfy and it was, plus it'd blend in. Adam kept his earrings and lip ring, but everything else was missing from his face. It felt a little barren.

Approaching the Agent, he waved and grinned, "Hey! I'm Adam! This is Manny. We're Oh... Uh..." Crap, no. Adam cleared his throat, "I'm Grunt Orvell, or Adam... And this is Manny my Ghastly. You're Agent Aulus, right?" Adam was starting to realize that everyone used a code name. Maybe I should go by Bones? Grunt Bones? Agent Bones? It's kinda cool!

"Dude what happened to your arm?" His eyes were drawn to the pinned arm of the hoodie. No filter Adam blurted out the question, clearly curious and surprised. Then he heard the chirping, and looked up. Aulus had that aura that made Adam nervous and excited. Maybe they'd get in a fight. Wait, no. Fighting an Agent probably was frowned upon. Yeah, not the best idea. His attention was finally stuck on the chirping thing. A mon! "Is that a Spinarak? It's super cute!" Manny took to hiding partially behind Adam, staring shyly at the two.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus Scowled. The expression fully deserved its capital letter, having been carefully honed over the last thirteen years or so for maxim effect. "No it's not a Spinarak, it's a brand new miniature Salamance," he replied dryly, trying to pay full attention to the Grunt and not to his totally adorable Ghastly. "And this?" he jerked his head towards his right side, "It fell off when I asked too many rude questions. Yes though I'm Agent Aulus, and you," he pulled a set of keys out of his hoody pocket, which he then tossed at Adam, "are driving."

He'd handled that alright, right? He hadn't flinched at the arm question or said anything stupid, nope, he'd been a spiky git and there was safety in that. "I hope you've got everything you need," he added, "we'll be out for a good few hours." He thought about asking Adam if he'd remembered to use the bathroom because they wouldn't be stopping when they got on the road bu it seemed like too much. Was he getting soft, or better at judgement, or just something else? Ugh, he hadn't a damn clue and that seemed to be the case far too often recently. Oh well, so long as he looked like he knew what the hell he was doing, right?


The Spinarak meanwhile had stopped chirring and had crept back down over Aulus' shoulder; it was now only just peeping over, looking just as shy as Manny did. the little bug called with a tentative wave.  

[Magician Arcana]

Instinctively, Adam's body tensed. He expected a blow. Maybe a punch - No. Aulus was missing an arm. He'd kick. It was safer and less likely to leave him unguarded. Either that or a firearm, which Adam only then recalled Agents could have. Would this mission require such extremes? It was only when the head-jerk happened that Adam relaxed. It must be a new injury or loss. He's acting defensive about it.

"I got all the s**t, sir. No worries." Sobering, the grunt caught the flying keys and hopped into the car before turning on the engine. It was difficult to tell if Aulus was as angry as his persona said, or if it was defensive. Only one way to find out. Adam barely concealed his grin. I'm gonna poke the bear hell yesssss. This is gonna be great. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he pulled out and in moments they were on the road.

"So, Agent Aulus, thanks for taking me on this mission. It's my first one ever, so it's pretty ******** cool." Adam kept his eyes firmly on the road, "I'm surprised they kept you as an Agent even if you lost your arm. That's pretty impressive. You must have some awesome skills. I had a couple foster sisses that were missing limbs. Said it was such a bummer. Really ******** sucked.

"Did it happen on a Raid or a Mission or something?"

Manny had floated still in the back seat, but upon hearing the bug's question, he relaxed slightly. The other was just as nervous. Paul did seemed pretty nice and friendly. They were also both poison types! Being afraid of Paul seemed sillier by the second. Slowly edging forward the Ghastly continued,  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus grunted vaguely and got into the car, fully prepared to go complete porcupine. Adam's next words however... well they didn't lower the quills but they didn't raise them further either. "On my first proper mission a mountain fell on me," he observed, "let's hope we avoid a repeat performance today." Oh for the days when they most he'd had to worry about was the possibility of death and a ridiculous crush on Claire. Fun times.

Adam had kept talking though and Aulus was left struggling to decide how to react. After a distinctly noticeable pause he shrugged. "I don't need two arms to beat the s**t out of people but I'm not denying that it ******** sucks. I'm getting a new one made though, better than real." So they said, but no matter what it did it wouldn't be real. Ugh! He was being whiny again and there was not point in that, he should be grateful and he was but... but it was complicated.

"It was a raid if you will, yeah," he continued after another short silence, looking straight ahead rather than at Adam. "I was part of a team that went to investigate the crashed Galactic mothership. We were briefed to find out what happened and recover anything of use. Other than Shaymin DNA - which we recovered - pretty well all we found was an amazing engine... and Crazy Dave, who set off the ship's self destruct. We all got out but," Aulus shrugged, "not quite fast enough." It wasn't like this was anything Adam couldn't find out by asking the right people anyway so there was little point hiding it from him.


Paul chittered softly and wriggled on Aulus' shoulder. he replied, He wished he could stay home in a safe corner somewhere but Aulus had said he needed him and so here he was.  

[Magician Arcana]

How does a mountain FALL on someone? Adam wanted to ask, but kept uncharacteristically quiet as he listened to Aulus' response. Lost during a mission on a mother ship of all things and caused by some dude named Crazy Dave. Adam almost doubted the explanation. It just seemed to fantastic. There was just that tinge of regret, or perhaps it was self resignation, which made Adam accept it as truth. After the Agent finished talking there was silence except for the tires on the road. Then, Adam sighed and cursed loudly.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! That's really tough, dude. I'm sorry. I mean, yeah you can get a new arm, but it's not exactly the same. Is it going to be like... Like just a basic prosthesis or is it going to be fully functional? It'd be kinda amazing if it was fully functional, but that's some serious scifi s**t." Adam snorted softly, realizing that the whole story had been scifi. Mothership? Wowza.

"They told us in training that Raids are the most dangerous, but most exciting, missions. It was an honor to be on one, but the danger was high. Guess they weren't kidding," Adam flicked his eyes over to Aulus and grinned brightly, "But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? You gotta be a tough motherf*$@ to handle that."

Manny hadn't considered it, but... Yes a mission could be dangerous. Oh no. The little ghastly grew glum for a moment, worrying to no ends that it's relatively weak powers would lead them both to trouble. Adam and he needed to train! He looked at Aulus, but... There were no spikes. Oh! The ghastly flushed. Figuratively. Figuratively spiky.

Swallowing, Manny eyed the road,  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus gave a brief sharp laugh. "Welcome to Team Rocket, sci-fi s**t is our middle name but it doesn't sound good on the recruitment posters." Yeah he was one tough b*****d! He was, of course, naturally suspicious of any praise from a stranger but he tried hard to take it at face value. "It'll have a near normal range of motion, sensation, a grip that can crush a can like a paper cup, and built in dex functions," he elaborated, "and you can thank our robotics and programming departments for that." He would thank them, a lot, especially the latter as it was Alex and he actually felt comfortable being nice to him. It would be a bit of a sad outlook if he didn't. "I don't know about stronger," he added, "but what doesn't kill you certainly makes you 'still not dead' and that's always good. Raids are dangerous, sometimes people don't come back or they get captured and not everyone who captures you is going to be nice to you." To say the least, and the less he thought about that one the better.


Paul shrugged, which was quite an amusing sight when done with a little Mexican wave of limbs. Humans were pretty confusing sometimes. Paul continued, These were phrases that Paul had kind of picked up from being around Rockets, and more military minded pokemon; he could use them at the right times but didn't think a lot about them.  

[Magician Arcana]

"But it'd be ******** great. SCIFI - Rockets of the Future. I think that's a better tagline than," Adam made a goofy voice and waved a hand around dismissively, "'Pokemon exist for the profit of Team Rocket". Seriously, who came UP with something so cheesy? Then again, memories of training floated in the back of the blonde's mind. Those hardened faces, angry scars and brutal fights... This WAS a criminal organization. Even if a lot of people Adam met seemed like a bunch of goofs, they were the guys your parents warned you about.

"Pretty amazing, really. I can't wait 'til I can get into the programming part. It's gonna be great." A good mental challenge and programming. Apparently they could make limbs. That far outpaced any hopes Adam had for the program and Tech department. Since he was pretty newly minted, he hadn't been assigned any projects. Soon enough he'd have to figure out who to report to and get some interesting works done.

"Yeesh. Sounds like a pain in the a** if you ask me, but I guess the outcome must be worth the risk." Either that or the grunts, Agents, and Elites were seen as expendables. It was a sad, but very probably, outcome, "So dude, are you like a specific type trainer? Or do you just get mons that are adorable to offset your 'I eat nails and dreams' from breakfast demeanor?"

Manny laughed despite himself as Paul waved his limbs around cutely. There was something comforting about this little Spinarak,

It was so weird using all this new lingo, and words that the ghastly wasn't 100% sure he knew meant. At the very least his guesses weren't too far from the truth.

Quote:

(Feel free to say that they got there when you're ready/don't want them to chatter anymore~ c: )

 

[TawnyAngel]

Quote:

Thanks!

Aulus looked over at Adam again, eyes narrowing. "Don't push it, mate, or I might make you eat nails later on. Your own." After a short pause to let the message sink in he continued; "I aim for a diverse squad, I've got eleven now and I'm still planing to expand. If you're going to be a specialist field agent you'd better have pokemon ready for any situation.... And you can't avoid missions just because the consequences might be a pain in the arse. Or other body parts."

And then there was the rest of what Adam had said, the reason he hadn't been more aggressive at the grunt's - perceived - tease. Maybe he just had a soft spot for nerds now. "If you want to get into programming I can introduce you to the department head. He's hardly going to take you on as a personal protegee but if you're feeling lost he can direct you." That was the good thing about Alex, and a poor thing about him. Alex dealt with people, even when Aulus suspected he didn't actually feel like doing it. His partner- former partner was nearly always chilled and thoughtful in everything he did, not like idiot-face 'I lose my temper and threaten people for no good reason'. Ugh.

"I don't know who thought up the tagline," Aulus added absently as his mind wandered off on the trail of what he should do, should be. "They were an idiot though, obviously. Psh, exploit pokemon. Good luck using a mega stone."

Paul agreed, a bit uncertain about specifics but trying to be positive.  

[Magician Arcana]

Adam's eyes jerked over to Aulus, clearly surprised and pleased by this turn of events. Aulus knew the department head? Holy s**t that was amazing. A bright grin spread over the grunts face as excitement zipped over every nerve, "Really? Seriously? Oh man, Aulus seriously that's ******** great. I really really need to meet someone in the tech department so I can like get to work and s**t. God that'd be ******** awesome I'd owe you dude." First mission, first agent, and now his first possible referral. This was perfect! Nothing could make today bad.

Manny put the names in mind. So they were a bit tough and could threaten him? Oh an Absol was a little scary. Weren't they dark types who could hurt a ghost? Manny wasn't sure, but he didn't feel like asking was a wise idea,  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus shrugged but he couldn't help being mildly gratified by Adam's reaction. It was... nice to please people? Well people who weren't dicks anyway and so far Adam wasn't striking him as a d**k; maybe nosey and seriously chatty but he wasn't finding himself taking against him. "It's no big deal," he replied after a short pause, "Elite Hayes was my partner for a short while before he was promoted. I expect he'll be pleased to have an enthusiastic new recruit. Do you know the basics already?" That would be a big plus.

Paul replied with a little nod,  

[Magician Arcana]

An Elite. Of course the head of the department would be an Elite. It was just... Thinking of dealing with someone in such a position made the grunt a tad nervous. Still, he didn't let it show and cheerily answered Aulus' question, "Yeah man! I got all the basics down pat. I know basic coding, and some simple hacking. I'm sure I'll need to polish my skills, but I'm not a newb to computers or technology." Flicking his eyes over to Aulus, he shot him a bright grin, "So what is Hayes like? Nice? Strict? Mean?"

Friends were good, Manny had decided. He was already making friends with some of Nakura's pokemon.  

[TawnyAngel]

There was a lot he could say about Alex, more than he could say about pretty much anyone else he knew. Most of that stuff however was personal though, not suitable for sharing with strangers. Aulus shrugged. "Well I've never worked for him so I can't speak of him as a boss. He's... calm though, he doesn't get worked up about stuff." He didn't let it show anyways; Alex's armour was different to his own, Teflon that let everything just slide off rather than razor spikes to lash out with. "Not sure I've ever heard him raise his voice because he was angry.... So yeah, calm and levelheaded, and dedicated." Also lots of other stuff but again, personal.

Paul shook his head. He'd never really got used to the idea of trying to measure time but humans were pretty obsessed with it, with measuring most things in fact. Paul had sometimes wondered why this was but he'd never come up with an answer and he supposed it didn't matter anyway.  

[Magician Arcana]

"So he sounds like a pretty decent dude to work with. Awesome. I can dig that and deal with that sorta boss," Adam hated to be told what to do, but if the boss wasn't going to yell at him or make him feel like a pile of slime, well... Then maybe things were looking up. Thoughts of projects kept popping up. Working on computers was so fun and Adam's fingers twitched involuntarily against the steering wheel. Soon.

Manny didn't remember much of the outside world, so he assumed that he had been made in the labs. That was what Nakura's pokemon, Celty, had mentioned to him.

The road had changed and became paved, a two lane affair that was shifting into a larger three highway, with traffic now meeting them. It seemed very possible that they would get there soon. Adam's mind shifted tot he mission, "So... Anything we need to go over before we get there, Aulus?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Right, mission. Aulus was actually a little surprised that he had been distracted enough by smalltalk not to have gone over all that already; much as he was loathe to admit it this Adam guy was okay so far. "Yeah," Aulus nodded, "a few things. First off we're just going to go in and look around, act like normal visitors to scope the place out. Once we've worked out what assets the place has that might be worth taking we'll withdraw until after it closes, sneak back in and take what we can. I'll pay our entrance and food and whatever else inside, if the mission goes decently I can claim it back from petty cash."

What else did he need to go over? This was Adam's first mission.

"Some ground rules," Aulus continued. "No leaping out crying 'prepare for trouble' or whatever crap, we keep as low a profile as possible. If we have to engage with anyone we don't announce ourselves as Team Rocket, let them think we're just petty thieves or whatever. Next you need to listen to me and do as you're told, unless you think I've missed something key. In that case tell me what it is if there's time but if not then use your initiative and do what you think best." Low profile, listen but don't be a total drone.... What else? "Anything specific you want to ask?"