Topic: RPM POKEMON ADVENTURE THING

[Quickman]

(He's just tired, dazed, and still sick.  Expending all that energy isn't doing his beleaguered immune system any favors.)

[Dr. Wily II]

(True. But imagining Mewtwo with a Swirlix head... I wanna eat it... *drools*)

[Quickman]

After a long moment, noting that he hadn't been seen, Mewtwo pulled himself to his feet and made his way to a side door, disappearing into the Center.  He found his room, overrode the lock, staggered in, and flopped down on the bottom bunk, utterly exhausted.  He idly remembered his computer, left on the desk in Wily's room.  No matter, the device was locked, and only he was able to access it.

Mewtwo yawned and scratched at an itch.  His head was still swimming and had begun to take on a dull ache.  His eyes burned and watered with each blink, so he closed them and ignored how uncomfortably warm his eyelids were.  Some sleep should ease that sensation, as it would his developing headache and the odd aches under his arms.  He just hoped that no one would request him to use his powers at that capacity right away.  Overriding locks and other minor acts were one thing, rewriting a person's psyche was another.

[White-Jet]

Back in Kojiro's room, both he and Mime Jr. rewatched the footage caught on the smartphone, though Mime Jr. could just be mimicking his current behavior.

The proof was on the screen; a powerful mind-changing attack that more than implies everything Domino told him was true, Mewtwo has mysteriously begun enslaving humans using his powerful psychic abilities, and Team Rocket is the only ones aware of this.

He prepares to send this information, via e-mail, to Domino, but something seemed to stop him from uploading it onto the attachment file; what he heard earlier from the old man before Mewtwo enacted his explosive mind manipulation and, for that matter, the attack itself.

He kept calling Mewtwo his son, and cursing an Alakazam for whatever psychic spell it cast that caused him to falter between sadistically provoking the powerful Mew experiment to do him in, and meekly pleading with him to free him from his predicament.  Granted the old man doesn't recall anything that's happened after being freed, but the events leading up to it were too surreal and informative to just include the explosive tail end.

That brought him to another conundrum.  If that attack was the reason that green-haired trainer fondles over him like a slave, how in the world could he have gotten her under his spell without others witnessing it.  She didn't appear to be the type that would wander into the wilderness without a reliable Pokemon to back her up, and according to the files, most of her time had been spent catering to both the gym and a sushi restaurant, both are public places, and both leave little time for her to want to go travelling around a region for more powerful Pokemon.  And given how Mewtwo had been acting in the Pokemon Center since attempting the attack, it stands to reason that he isn't the type to go sneaking into a public area and using an attention grabbing attack to turn her into his crumbling slave.

There has to be some other way to get the trainers to realize they were following a brainwashing Pokemon and help him and Jessie capture him before his psychic lock becomes too hardened to break with a mere glance at the footage he collected so far.  Perhaps he should also start investigating the old man and figuring out his ties to Mewtwo and this Alakazam he claims has been causing such calamity within his subconscious.

He closes the e-mail tab on his smartphone, prompting Mime Jr. to look to him in confusion.

"It's not enough...." he mutters, "I need more before I can draw those trainers away from that Mewtwo and convince them that they've been brainwashed into his selfish ambitions....  I also need to keep an eye on that old man and see if the Alakazam he cursed could also be an accomplice working side by side with Mewtwo...."

Mime Jr. merely cocked his head to the side in the cutest way possible, "Mime...?"

[Dr. Wily II]

Back in Dr. Wily II's room,  the man was helped onto his bed with assistance from Quickie and Sakura. He smiled, and thanked them before they left the room to let him rest. Given the room was dark, Dr. Wily II did not notice that his belongings were sprawled all over the bed until he tried to lay down. He fiddled around, and picked up something. "Isn't this Mewtwo's?" He focused his eyesight, and noticed that there were CDs laying around. Dr. Wily II smiled.

"So you saw..."

[Quickman]

Quickie walked down the hall to her room and entered it, finding Mewtwo sprawled on the bottom bunk.  "There you are!"  She walked up to him, noting that he had stirred when she spoke. "You put on quite a show out there," she sat on the edge of the bunk, "it seriously looks like a bomb went off out there.  Honestly, I wonder how they're going to write that off..."

"Psychic discharge," Mewtwo said half-heartedly.  He coughed and rolled onto his side.

Quickie nodded and reached to scratch him between the ears.  Only, she withdrew her hand and placed her palm flat on his brow. "Holy crap, you're burning up!"  She confirmed her findings by touching the tip of his ear, and then running her fingers through his fur. "And your fur feels just nasty!"

Mewtwo stared at her with a half-lidded gaze. "I did expel a large amount of energy not too much earlier."

"Yeah, and you did it while you were sick," Quickie folded her arms. "Just because that tracking device was the source of the infection, removing it doesn't mean you're magically cured."  She shook her head. "I didn't need to intern at a Pokemon Center years ago to know that," she nodded to Mewtwo, "though, that internship did tell me that high fevers and Psychic Pokemon are a bad combination."  She stood. "I'm going to go get Nurse Joy."

"No!" Mewtwo sat up quickly. "No, all I need is some sleep."

Quickie folded her arms again. "Who is she going to tell?  Unless a trainer signs a release, then what condition their Pokemon are in are of no business to other people, let alone the kind of Pokemon." She sighed and put her hand on Mewtwo's shoulder. "Look, all Nurse Joy will do is check you over and take care of that fever.  She's not going to turn you in to Team Rocket, or the authorities, or anything like that.  Her job is to care for sick and injured Pokemon, and you fall into one of those categories right now."

It took a moment, but Mewtwo's stubbornness finally relented. "Very well.  Go fetch her."

Quickie smiled at him and headed for the door. "The sooner we take care of this, the better."  With that, she left the room.

[White-Jet]

After returning the smartphone to its camera feature, he and Mime Jr. poke their heads outside, noticing Quickie heading towards the lobby most likely to fetch Nurse Joy.  He places his finger against his lips and shushes to Mime Jr. before bringing the camera out and focusing it on the door she came out of, waiting until the green-haired trainer returned with Nurse Joy before turning on the record button.

[Mirby]

Taylor noticed some people heading towards her and waved at them.

[Pyro]

Pyro appeared in front of James/Kojiro with his back turned to the disguised Rocket. He did not even seem to acknowledge James and called out, "SHAZAM!"

Then a lightning bolt lanced from out of the blue to strike James and leave him slightly singed though, oddly enough, it left his smartphone and Mime Jr. unharmed. Pyro glanced at his hands and flexed his fingers. It was as if he had expected something to happen but was disappointed to see that his call did not have the desired result.

"Weird," he said before walking off, "It worked in the movies."

(Sorry, but after all the talk about that Alakazam, I just had to reference Shazam. )

[White-Jet]

Kojiro just stood between the doorframe and his room, the bolt not only frazzling his blue hair, but incinerating the band keeping his topknot up, causing it to drizzle down into his straight, jagged-edged neck-long flow.  Mime Jr., meanwhile giggled breathlessly while pointing at the wide-eyed disposition of his trainer as he struggles to keep focused on the task at hand.

"Still...as...a...rock...." he strains before inadvertently tipping back into his room and landing stiffened on his side.


Posu and Nega pulled Merrick's card back some as the wave towards the new arrival.

"Pli-li!" the female Plusle greeted.

"Mi-mi-mi?" the male Minun greets as well.

[Mirby]

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Taylor greeted them.

[White-Jet]

"Pli-li," Posu replies.

"Mi-mi," Nega nods.

Merrick decides to stay silent upon the two cheering Pokemon's upheld paws, not wanting to speak up since not everyone has gotten accustomed to the sight of a talking card just yet.

[Mirby]

Taylor noticed the central figure between them, remaining quiet. She looked at him and said, "Hey you there, that mouth just for show or can you actually talk? I don't mind chatting it up with Pokémon, but it's much easier to talk with someone who speaks the same language I do, ya know?" She smiled.

[White-Jet]

(You realize Merrick's a Hierophant tarot card, right? And if Taylor somehow managed to see the picture from when Posu and Nega pulled it back that he looks like the one she greeted back at the entrance. )

[Mirby]

(She has... good eyes?

I mean I actually do have really good vision, and she was studying things she found suspicious... Good memory? )

[White-Jet]

(I can work with that. )

Posu and Nega look to each other, not sure who she was referring to.  Merrick sensed otherwise and nudges his card, startling them into repositioning them to an upright position with the picture facing the new trainer.

"Sorry about that," he said while scratching the back of his head, "Not a lot of people have seen a talking tarot card before."

[Mirby]

"We live in a world inhabited by Pokémon, some of which look like ice cream or cotton candy and all manner of normally inanimate and silent things. A talking tarot card isn't all that out of the ordinary in comparison, ya know?" Her companions nodded in agreement. "Anyways, I'm Taylor. And you are?"

[White-Jet]

"I'm the Hierophant; but most of my friends call me Merrick," the card responds while placing one hand behind his back and using the other to present to the Plusle, "This is Posu...." he then moves his hand to the Minun, "And this is Nega.  They're with a Riolu named Ryo as part of an experiment a cheering and fighting squadron named Blazkrieg are testing to add a new division to their cheering section."

The two cheering Pokemon squeak their respected names while waving again to Taylor.

[Mirby]

"Interesting... I didn't know there was stuff like that going on in this region... By the way, the Litleo is Kovu, that Pancham there glaring at you is Darunia, that Froakie hoppin' around is Bobert, and this blade is a Honedge known as Steve," she said, introducing her companions. "Great to meet people; just got to this area this morning... So, tell me, is that Pokémon Center still functional or...?"

[White-Jet]

Merrick scratches the back of his head again while Posu and Nega cocked their heads apart from each other, looking somewhat unsure of what whether to answer.

"I see one of the trainers confronting Nurse Joy, so I think most of the equipment is still workable despite what happened earlier," Merrick said.

[Quickman]

Meanwhile, in the Pokemon Center...

Nurse Joy stepped out of the room and nodded to Quickie.  "The antibiotics should do the trick, but I'll give it some medicine to lower the fever.  It should take no more than a couple days to start showing signs of improvement, and it will be over the infection in about a week.  Plenty of rest, keep it hydrated, and an over-the-counter fever-reducer is all it needs.  How cooperative is it with taking pills?"

Quickie shrugged. "He's cheeked stuff before..."

"I'll get you a pill gun, then, and show you how to use it," Nurse Joy walked away.  After a few minutes, she returned, an ice pack draped over her arm, a vial in one hand, and an oral syringe in the other.  "I'll warn you now, when you use one of these, you're pretty much asking to be bitten."

Quickie nodded. "As long as I don't lose a finger."  Chuckling, she and Nurse Joy disappeared into the room, not noticing Kojiro's spying from practically across the hall.

[Mirby]

"Hmm... well we were going to go to the Gym, but perhaps we'd better see if we can figure out exactly what happened here... Not for any official reason of course, but just to sate our curiosity, ya know?" Kovu looked ready to go on an adventure, and Darunia was still glaring at Merrick.

[White-Jet]

Merrick seemed irked by the Pancham's intimidating glare as he looks towards Taylor while raising his card to her eye-level, "I shouldn't go into detail, but all I can say is that it was from a powerful Pokemon you might not want to bother right now."

Meanwhile, in the Pokemon Center...

Nurse Joy stepped out of the room and nodded to Quickie.  "The antibiotics should do the trick, but I'll give it some medicine to lower the fever.  It should take no more than a couple days to start showing signs of improvement, and it will be over the infection in about a week.  Plenty of rest, keep it hydrated, and an over-the-counter fever-reducer is all it needs.  How cooperative is it with taking pills?"

Quickie shrugged. "He's cheeked stuff before..."

"I'll get you a pill gun, then, and show you how to use it," Nurse Joy walked away.  After a few minutes, she returned, an ice pack draped over her arm, a vial in one hand, and an oral syringe in the other.  "I'll warn you now, when you use one of these, you're pretty much asking to be bitten."

Quickie nodded. "As long as I don't lose a finger."  Chuckling, she and Nurse Joy disappeared into the room, not noticing Kojiro's spying from practically across the hall.

...or would be spying if he wasn't dazed in his room by Pyro's botched magic trick.  Mime Jr. hovers around him, pressing his finger against his bottom lip while cocking his head left to right in curiosity.

"Mime...?"

He then drifts closer to Kojiro and begins Tickling him, causing him to laugh almost breathlessly before springing back to his feet, fully aware of what had just happened.

"That brat!  How dare he interrupt important Team Rocket business!?"

Kojiro pokes his head back out into the hallway, seeing Quickie making her way back into the room with what appears to be two different kinds of syringes and an ice pack.

"Hmm....  Whatever Mewtwo used has completely overtaxed him, it seems...." he mutters, "It doesn't look like he'll be doing any of that brainwashing Domino has been warning us against...at least...not for the rest of the day it seems...."

He then skips out of the room, flattening his back against the adjacent wall and crab-walking towards the room Quickie is in, stopping at an angle where he can see the two but not be spotted at the same time.  Mime Jr., ever the mimicker, follows him in the same manner.

[Mirby]

"Darunia, stop glaring," Taylor said calmly. The Pancham crossed his arms in irritation and sat down. "Sorry about that, he tends to get stuck glaring from time to time... Anyways, I gathered as much. Wasn't like I was gonna bug it anyways; if it can do this, I wouldn't stand a chance!" Taylor chuckled. "Anyways, should refresh these guys before challenging the Gym, ya know? Catch ya later!" she exclaimed as she jogged over to the entrance.

[Quickman]

After a few minutes, Nurse Joy left the room and headed for the lobby to assist in the cleanup.  A few minutes after that, Quickie stepped out of her room and looked back inside. "Hey, I'm gonna go help them clean up your mess.  I know you didn't intend for the damage, but no one really knows for sure that it was you, at least I don't think so.  You rest, I'll be back."  Closing the door, she headed for the lobby.

In the lobby, Nurse Joy put on some gloves and began to examine the broken doors.  She noticed Taylor coming over and smiled.  "I apologize for the mess... We're still functional, so you may come in.  I will need to make a statement with the police later, but if you require anything, do let me know."  She bent to pick up some debris and dump it into a garbage bag that was held by a helpful Chansey.