Operation: Express Car; [train plot log]

[these_balls]

Who: Everyone who wants to participate!
Where: Goldenrod City, the Magnet Train, Saffron City.
When: November 23rd, 11AM-5PM
Summary: Heist on the Magnet Train!
Rating: Might go up to PG-13, possibly R if exceptional violence of swearing occurs.
Log:

They've spent the last few days preparing. He wasn't sure at first, how this was going to turn out, but the Team is confident. They are confident and now he, Archer, is also confident. He has no reason to expect failure; he tells himself, even if they fail, this will cement them back in the public eye. A threat again. It makes his collar hot to think.

He reviews the plans again, Petrel's notes and schematics, engineering details. Phase 2 will be the most delicate, but he's confident in the abilities of the recruits. The aliens, the outsiders, are strange, but useful. They have skills no other Grunt would possess. Archer recognizes he has been given a tool, and only a fool would fail to use it.

At 9:30AM on November 23rd, Archer sends a message through the Rocket Network. It is short, and simple, and jubilant.

Operation: Express Car START

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It's a nice day out, considering. Cold, yes, but the kind of cold that buries itself deep in the lungs and blows the mind into crisp clarity. Cheeks are red, movements brisk to retain heat, and around Goldenrod's white-dusted Magnet Train station, the energy is thick enough to taste. People in their thick winter coats press together, some alone, some with families and friends, most with their trusted pokémon. The larger creatures are returned to their balls, tragically fated to miss the voyage, while smaller breeds are held in their trainers' arms or scurrying around their ankles.

The station attendants are supervising while customers pass through, touching the microchipped Rail Pass to the card readers and moving in slow, sluggish trails through the gates. There is no shoving; the atmosphere seems too cheery for it, excitement manifesting in the form of loud, vigorous conversation. The train itself is gloriously slick, smooth and polished as a new bullet or a freshly-minted coin, humming with power. We ask our passengers to please mind their electric-types, reminds the stationmaster over the PA, as we seek to avoid any trouble or inconvenience during the ride.

Once you've passed the gate, find a seat and stow away your luggage. Relax, unwind; it's a long six hours ahead.

[[ ooc: I kindly ask that players please DO NOT POST until all the subthreads have been made. Thank you!

GO FOR IT! Remeber to tag yourselves in!

NOTE: YOU CAN NPC ROCKETS IF YOU CAN'T NAB A PC ROCKET FOR PLOTTY FUNTIEMS. ]]

Comments

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ ... so she's going to end up in the thick of Koffings anyway, isn't she? She's mid-sigh as she sprints forward, using one arm to sweep the irritated Koffing to the side and inwardly thanking Shishido profusely when it lets out a retaliatory Smog. The shirt at least keeps her from hacking up a lung.

Yoru catches what's going on in a split second and hurries over to distract the Koffing, leaving Makoto to go after the second Rocket. She'll just have to trust that Shishido can hold his own until they can clear out some of this chaos. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[One rocket and he's fine, given these guys are as scrawny as he is. He's not strong-- that's Choutarou's specialty-- but he's pretty fast on his feet, both literally and figuratively, and it's hard to pin him down for too long. Of course, he's the one doing the pinning, ready to sock the guy in the face before one of the Koffings who wasn't being blocked crashed into him, earning a deep hiss as he crashes against a chair.

He quickly chokes out--] I'm fine! [---before Makoto could get any ideas, the words muffled against the shirt as he wrestles with the pokemon. Tori lets out a cry of protest, too busy pushing back his own enemies to assist.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ Makoto doesn't really look all that convinced - on the contrary, her eyes narrow after a momentary flash of alarm - but she's got her own problems to deal with until Yoru comes to assist with a kick hard enough to send one Koffing flying down the corridor like a gas-spewing soccer ball.

This leaves her trainer free to assist-- namely by going for a leg sweep on the Rocket heading for the toppled tennis player for revenge. ]

Hold on--!

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[The arm rest of the chair digging into his back was annoying, but Shishido wasn't about to complain about that more than the possibility of inhaling a lot of smog at this distance. Even his shirt can't filter out that much. It takes him two more shoves and a rough kick to get it far away enough for him to scramble to a less disadvantageous position, irritated.

They need a more solid plan. This kind of rough-housing isn't going to work if there were more coming.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ a well-aimed elbow keeps the Grunt staying down and Makoto gasps out a breath before she's back on her feet again and moving decisively towards Shishido. She prefers fairer fighting methods, but if there's one lesson she took away from her father, it's that not everyone sees the same way, and to prepare for the unexpected. ]

There'll be more on their way, probably. [ she doesn't face him, instead moving to cover his back with her own. ] And I don't think we should split up.

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[He grinned at that, though it was sharp and tight, tension running high through him as if he was in a match--- except potentially more fatal.]

Never planned on it. [His eyes narrow slightly.] Poison's more likely on your side than mine. You think you want Tori stationed there?

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

Take Yoru, then. You might get more of the rough and tumble stuff. I can have Lala slow them down a little in the meantime.

[ this does feel remarkably similar to waiting in the wings to perform, but the adrenaline's coursing even higher now and it's less excited anticipation than it is high-level alertness. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[He nods at that, eyes narrowing.] Let's show these assholes that they chose the wrong crowd to mess with. [And cue Rocket alert as a few start coming in, alarmed by the fight earlier.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ Makoto's response is a return nod, and then a Pokéball is tossed up and there goes the Feebas.

There's a split second of the Rockets staring at it rather dubiously, and then Lala lets loose with an Ice Beam that turns their path into a Slip & Slide. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[Shishido had been pretty dubious too (Wasn't that the pokemon he named after Atobe?) but seeing the Ice Beam was reassuring, and he whistled lowly at that, bracing himself as the ones in his direction decided to go with just charging straight.

Yeah, okay, slight problem.] Commands! What are your pokémon's moves?

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ off the top of her head? Ugh-- Makoto steadies the Skitty with one hand and lets Lala flop rampant on his ice patch for some surprisingly hardcore Tackles before she answers. ]

Quick Attack, Foresight, Endure, Force Palm, Counter, Feint, Screech, Reversal-- she's pretty good at picking up what she needs to do, even without you telling her!

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

Works for me. [Oh right, Rockets. He moves forward enough to meet the closest one head-on, trying to push him back as he calls out Foresight and Quick Attack, letting her decide the rest of the moves.

He just hoped there weren't civilians that they had to rescue, since their hands were full enough as is.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ thankfully, Life is fortunate enough to give them a full six minutes in which to take down some off the opposition. Even with Yoru a little reluctant to take orders from someone she doesn't quite know, seeing Shishido in action is enough to earn her respect. Most of it. Enough of it to follow orders wholeheartedly, and to follow up on his attacks to drive the Rockets back.

Makoto can't exactly fight Poison-types hand-to-hand, so she'll have to rely mainly on Tori and Lala. Frozen Koffings thankfully don't move that fast.

And it's about that time when there's a thin wail and a cry of "My baby!!" ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[... Well, damn.

Shishido quickly shoves the Rocket member away, making sure to give him a sharp punch to the face before he tries to figure out where the cry had come from.]

Where the hell are you?!

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

Shishido, over-- [ Makoto points towards the next compartment, with the door slid half-open. From the looks of it, one of the Grunts is holding a baby in order to get the passengers to hand over their Pokémon and to keep any noble-minded trainers with bomb-defusing intentions at bay. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[... Oh hell no.

He doesn't even think about it, almost immediately unzipping the tennis bag he had with him to grab his racket.

Guess what he's up to.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ Shishido.

Bro.

Now is not the time to engage the Rockets in a little game of tennis. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[It totally is when he's off to smash the ball into the enemy's face.]

What are you waiting for? Rush in! [He can't do it from his position.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ she'll ponder this later, but as soon as he yells, her gaze sharpens and her speed picks up. There's an advantage to being the fastest idol, and she puts it to full use here, pivoting and moving in low and quick. That baby will be out of their hands by the time they hit the ground. ]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't watch and wait to see if she catches the baby, he's certain she will-- he was that confident in her abilities, at least. Instead, he turns sideways, his body parallel to the corridors so he can watch both sides of the train for the rockets as he starts giving orders to the pokemon, quick direct ones for using brute force.]

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

[ sure enough, Makoto straightens up with the baby squalling in her arms and gives it a little bounce to surprise it with a tiny hiccup. ]

It's okay, I've got you. Niichan really got those guys good, huh?

[ and she'll step over the bodies and return the baby to its mother, checking ahead to make sure there won't be any more Rockets sprinting their way quite yet before she heads back to help Shishido. ]

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[For Shishido, adrenaline's still running high inside him, making his gaze a little too sharp from focus, before he marginally relaxes at the sight of both of them safe.]

You two good?

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

Great!

[ with a victory sign, even. ] That was amazing, Shishido!

[scudservetoface.livejournal.com]

[He looks a little more relieved at that. Good.]

Good sprint. Looks like you saved the day there.

[thisisfriller.livejournal.com]

That was teamwork! The baby might've gotten hurt, if not for you.