worktodo | 005 | Saffron City

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005 | Saffron City | Video / Action;

TESTING: VALIDATION

☉ SAFFRON CITY LABS ☉
1212 Amber Lane, Saffron City, Kanto
Audio: (555) 765-3666 — Text: (555) 756-6732
John Deerling, Ph.D., Laboratory Director
Toxicology Report
Report Issued: 10/09/2012 14:40

Patient Name: REDACTED
Patient ID: 20H914G
Chain: 421335
Age/Level: 30L
Gender: M
Species: PARAS
Workorder: 125781

Specimens Received:

ID: 001
Tube/Container: CLEAR GLASS VIAL
Volume/Mass: 5g
Collection Date/Time: 9/01/1989
Matrix Source: "STUN" SPORE

Positive Findings:

SEE ATTACHED SHEETS FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS

~
[It's afternoon waning toward evening in Saffron City, and at the moment Albert Rosenfield can be found in one of the city's small Pokemon parks, a briefcase stowed securely on a nearby bench and a pink rubber ball in one hand. With him today are his Scyther, obediently hovering near the bench and briefcase like a good underling, and his Poochyena, who appears to be more interested in the ball than anything else.

Albert, meanwhile, is spending the majority of his time giving the ball a series of thoughtful squeezes in his hand while he thinks, but occasionally rears back and lets it fly in a surprisingly graceful arc — at which point Gandhina unfailingly tears off after it, paws scrabbling at the grass and dirt as she hurtles off into the distance to retrieve her toy.]

The problem isn't going to be isolating it, it's going to be getting it to stick around long enough to do any good. However those mushrooms came about, evolution or divine design, you've got to give them some credit — we're looking at pretty nasty stuff here. Direct contact ought to be the easier of the two to handle, once we come up some way of making the neutralizing agent stick. Respiratory...unless you've got any bright ideas, we're gonna need a mask.

[At this point, Gandhina comes charging back with a now-somewhat-slobbery ball in her teeth, and Albert crouches down to retrieve it from her, but sets it aside and stays down to examine her adorable puppy muzzle and jowls.]

Hold still, you dumb mutt — you know, I was going to say it'd be a problem to cut off the use of your jaws with a rig like that, but anything that keeps you from picking up everything under the sun —

[Pleased by the attention and presuming these words of her master's are praise, Gandhina's tail is wagging at about a mile a minute.]

Dummy, grab the tape measure and toss it over here. Not the easiest task in the world without a set of opposable thumbs, I know, but hey, you're a bright bug, I'm sure you're up to the challenge.

[And then, as a Scyther leans over to retrieve the aforementioned tape measure, he abruptly notices that the Gear is on and quickly — and probably a little guiltily — shuts it off.]

~
[Later, a more intentional bit of commentary from Albert hits the network.]

So whose bright idea was it to hide all the tolerable cities on the other end of a six-hour train ride? Skyscrapers, business districts, a concert hall. Five minutes out of the station and I'd already counted eight coffee peddlers.

Now all that's left is to turn a corner and come across a bakery selling thirty-one flavors of pie, and by golly, we'll have ourselves the makings of heaven here.

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[Beep beep beep. Thanks, Star Trek, this is pretty legit.]

Okay. Speaking of keeping busy. Remember Gordon's secret code about keeping tabs on the Rocket Team?

Yes.

I was talking to the kid a couple weeks back. He was having a minor crisis over this place and the bad people in it because the game's changed but we're still using the same playbook.

For lack of anything better to do with my expertise at the moment, I'm thinking of writing some new pages for the good guys.

_{[That would be Reid, Coop's pretty sure.]}

He's one of the people who's played the games before coming here.

_{[Thinking out loud ... It's really a question, but he's assuming he's right from the way Albert phrased that and how he referenced 'Pokémon' right off the bat in his first post.]

[And again, Coop is glad to have Albert here. He's a lot of things, but dedicated to his cause is chief among them.]}

What did you have in mind?

[He would be right. And he will forever be "the kid", much in the same way that every once in a while Coop is still "the kid" in Albert's eyes, still the freshly-minted agent from all those years ago who had to slick back his hair before anyone would take him seriously.]

Artificial advantages. Every idiot who shows up here can flip open their tricorder and get a full listing of every creature in this place, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they're capable of. Any crook worth his salt will have read the thing cover to cover. That means our advantages are going to have to be ones that don't get listed in there.

That stuff that Thing blasted Gandhina with a few months back — I think I can come up with a way to neutralize it before it sinks in. Whatever's the active agent in those poison-curing berries, it's not particularized to a specific type of poison — it's a general cure-all. My guess is, you isolate that and figure out a way to apply it externally, and you've got yourself a pooch that can't be hit with any poison you throw at her.

That could be useful. Team Rocket has relied heavily on poison-types in the past.

_{[He muses on that for a moment, goes through the timeline of that particular even in his mind. And recalls all the poison types on the train, too, almost a year ago. Any poison attack in a confined area is a hazard that perhaps not eliminated but still cut back could make things one hell of a lot easier.]

[Coop was never much for science and hadn't even considered the possibilites here the same way Albert does. Had gone for the more natural approach of looking at what pokémon attacks that could nullify the effects of others. So he's impressed by the new range of possibilites that open up here, and lets that show. Even if they can't make it all work, there's a very good chance that they'll manage to get at least one ace up their sleeve.]}

That's where I need you.

[Because of course they are a team, of course it doesn't even occur to Albert that this is something he would be embarking on alone. It might give him a certain advantageous perspective, his tendency to hold Johto at arm's length, but the weaknesses in that perspective can only be covered by someone who's embraced the place, and that's where Cooper comes in.]

I know you've got connections. Anything you can find out on their trends of behavior — the way they attack, the methods they use, what might be coming when our guys have to tangle with them — the more we know about them, the more we can try to counter on our end. But this is one beast you know far better than I do.

I can tell you right now that they're fond of surprises.

_{[Somewhat darkly, really.]}

And that they're likely to have quite a few connections on their own. From what I can tell they've been getting progressively more dangerous as well - I imagine that's thanks to the outsiders they've recruited.

I'll tell you one thing, if those blunderheads that call themselves a rebel faction of peacekeepers keep going the way they have been, the Rockets are going to be the only ones that ever have a surprise on their side. Might as well just put up a damn billboard for all they know about subtlety.

[Still not impressed. No, sir.]

We know at least one of them likes to use explosives. Think they've ever seen a sniffer dog before?

We do what we can with the people we have, Albert.

_{[And Coop agrees that there's a lot of refinement to be done here - but he's also acknowledging that they are still an amateur group, and one that's managed pretty well so far.]

[As for the question ...]}

Given the variety of worlds ... I wouldn't count on it. _{[Hm hm. Wouldn't help against explosion and self-destruct, like that time with the bugs - and man, he's only now realizing just how long he's really been here - but it's still a definite advantage towards things like the Lighthouse and the time the Game Corner was threatened.]}

It's more than likely that they have their own scientists, possibly even a lab. My opinion is that dabble in a lot more than explosives.

Nobody bats an eye at somebody walking around with a dog at his heels around here. And it might get us more than just a planted charge. If the people who build and set it are walking around, there's the chance of residue in their clothes and on their skin. Dog might get you an ID on who some of these guys really are.

[The chances of passing one in a crowd are slim to none, maybe, but a long shot's better than no shot at all, isn't it?]

Whatever they've got is probably better than what I've got access to. But the more you can find out, the more I can try to combat, anyway.

We could train Sheriff if you could provide the components he'd have to search for.

_{[See how well that takes. It's definitely worth a shot.]}

There's a lot of ground to cover. I'll get started on a list with the most important details when I get back - we should sit down and discuss this thoroughly.

And get Gordon on board, too.

Anything that might've been left behind when the lighthouse blew is long gone by now. On the other hand, there's always the chance that hissing chowderhead will send one of us a mail bomb and do the hard work for us.

[He remarks, ever so dry.]

In the meantime, I'll scout around and see if I can make some guesses about what they might be using. Breakfast on me when you get back? It's the least I can do for sparing me forty-eight earplug-less hours in close proximity with Gordon.

I'm happy to do it, Albert. _{[Touch dry himself, but not without a small smile as he nods.]} And breakfast sounds fantastic.

When you get back.

[A PAUSE.]

Oh, and Coop.

Yes, Albert?

Have fun on your vacation.

I'll be sure to show you the pictures.

_{[And end feed. See what he did there.]}

[THISFACE.JPG.]

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