You have no chance to survive

[these_balls]

Who: Rocket Grunts, Magma Grunts, and Aqua Grunts! Basically all the Grunts!
Where: The Whirl Islands and Cinnabar Island
When: February 1st
Summary: Pretty much this
Rating: PG-13? It doesn't need to higher than that? Right, guys?
Log:

The orders are pretty simple. Go in. Wipe out the Team Aqua and Magma Grunts. That's it. So there's not going to be any farewell speeches or anything like that from the Admins because they're of the opinion that you guys have totally got this.

And if you don't...

Well, don't worry about that for now.

Instead, just worry about getting to the nearest base and boarding a helicopter. After that, you've got a short (or long, depending on which base you're heading to) ride ahead of you to some islands in the middle of the ocean, inhabited by a bunch of Aqua and Magma Grunts who have no idea this surprise is on the way. So just do what you do best, Rockets!

And as far as the Admins are concerned what you do best should be to win at all costs. Anything less and well, that would just be an embarrassing return to the region for them. And nobody wants that.


QUICK LINKS
EVENT INFO | QUESTIONS | PLOTTING POST

☆ HELICOPTER RIDE THREAD ☆ TEAM AQUA BASE THREAD ☆ TEAM MAGMA BASE THREAD ☆ AFTERMATH THREAD

Comments

DURING THE HELICOPTER RIDE

[these_balls]

Since there's nothing to do on the possibly long ride over there, why not chat with your fellow Grunts in the helicopter? The admins aren't here, and the pilot's busy flying the chopper, so it's not like anyone's going to tell you to shut up and focus on the mission or anything. Feel free to mingle to your heart's content and don't worry too much about who got on where or how long the helicopter ride is! Or exactly how everyone fits in these helicopters anyway.

MAGMA HELICOPTER

[aufsassig]

[If you have the misfortune privilege of being in the helicopter heading for the Magma Base along with Schuldig, it's entirely possible that you will end up seeing him doing one of three things along the way:

1) Looking out the window, and by extension quite possibly judging the hell out of the NPC pilot for his skills (or in Schuldig's opinion, his lack thereof).
2) Fiddling with something in his backpack, which he's got pinned neatly between his feet and the support of his seat, so it doesn't move around while in transit.
3) Playing Tetris on his Gear and annoying fucking everyone.

Hey, it's a long flight, and he's got to keep himself entertained somehow.

However, aside from the small handful of ways he may be making a petty nuisance of himself, he's not at all withdrawn or giving the impression that he wants to be left alone; his body language reads as relaxed and open, and he'll cheerfully chatter to anybody within earshot if he catches them looking. Feel free to hit him up, even if it's just to tell him to turn that damn music off; he'll probably oblige.

Alternatively, text him! He's got his Gear out anyway, and we get wi-fi up here...right?]

MAGMA HELICOPTER

[ajustcaws]

[Aw, yeah, flying! And you can actually sort of tell where you are in the air, too. The jets that took everyone to Kalos went over the clouds, so it was really tough to see anything cool... but these were a lot easier to see out of!

So at least very early on, Cynthia's going to be glued to one of the windows and watching the scenery go by. ...however, it's kind of hard to keep her mind on one thing at one time, so eventually, she starts trying to chat up the NPC pilot and ask if she can drive.

...the answer is always no, but she keeps asking again every once in a while just in case he changes his mind.

In between that, though... well... it's catchphrase time. She's got to come up with some killer opening lines to throw at these nerds, after all! But she's actually at a bit of a loss this time around.

...maybe it's because she's helping the criminals fight other criminals so is this really bad?? She kind of wishes she was with those Team Aqua guys, actually, they seemed pretty cool. But anyway! She'll look over at anyone in earshot and give them a very serious look.]

Comrade, I have a very question of critical importance! Do you know any good magma puns that would be good in a finishing line? I'm totally blanking out over here.

AQUA HELICOPTER

[unkinder]

[With the helicopter being far too full of strangers for his liking, Nagi has found a seat as far back as he could manage near a window. This is the first time he's ever actually been out on call for Rocket duty like this, and one might wonder why such a young kid has been enlisted into their ranks anyway. Well, trainers are usually supposed to be around ten, aren't they, so it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise if you think about it.

While usually he would have his Gear pulled out in an effort to make himself look as unapproachable as possible, right now it's put away and his gaze is directed somewhere past his knees at the corner of the seats across from him. He's got a minimized pokeball in his hands; he doesn't seem interested in letting out whatever is inside, but instead is just rolling it around between his fingers to give his hands something to do.

Perhaps he's full of nervous energy, or just incredibly lost in thought about something. It's hard to tell, since his expression isn't giving away much. Guess you'd have to ask to find out!]

MAGMA HELICOPTER

[ortion]

[Helicopter rides are nothing new for Dist by now- he's put his personal one to use quite a lot since his promotion to Division Head. But of course it's always a little different when he's not actually piloting it. It means he needs to make good use of the free time on the way there.

Sitting on a very large and very fancy chair that probably takes up way too much space for its own good and...also appears to be floating a few inches off the ground, Dist will either be tapping away at an electronic tablet he brought along (likely double and triple checking his work for the projects he brought), grooming his Roserade whenever she's out and sitting on his lap, doing touching up his makeup with a lovely purple compact and straightening his lab coat...he's basically doing everything he can to busy himself so he doesn't get bored.

While he's doing any of these things, he's perfectly open to chat with other Rockets! It's a long ride, so anything to pass the time helps.]

Magma Helicopter

[silentscales]

[For the first few minutes in the helicopter, Snake and his ekans seem comfortable enough, sitting in one of the seats and examining the structure around them. Snake, however, seems to grow more and more nervous as he thinks about the contraption and what it was going to do. Flying on a pokèmon sounded natural enough, but he was starting to doubt this machine would be able to get off the roof safely.

By the time the helicopter takes off, Snake is holding onto his seat and his ekans seems to be trying to help him calm down. He remains petrified until after he starts talking with some of the other grunts, finally distracted from how close they all are from imminent doom.]

TEAM AQUA BASE

[these_balls]

If you've been deployed to the Whirl Islands, you have the easier of the two drop offs. The helicopter lands outside one of the cave entrances and each Rocket's been given a map which should, in theory, lead to the Aqua base and not get any of you horribly lost, never to be seen again.

But assuming everybody makes it there in one piece, you'll find yourself at the base! Which isn't really much to write home about, but Team Aqua's Grunts are wandering around the base and definitely ready to deal with any intruders. Especially Rocket intruders who are looking to loot them or try and kick them out. They're not in the mood to deal with any of that today.

(frozen comment) WHAT YOU CAN STEAL

[these_balls]

-WAY TOO MANY ESCAPE ROPES (seriously take as many as you want)
-1 Nugget or Rare Candy per Grunt
-1 of these or an Incense per Grunt
-1 Damp Rock per Grunt
-1 scarf per Grunt. They don't do anything, but man do they look cool!
-Various berries
-Various Pokeballs (Mostly of the Poke, Great, and Ultra variety. No Master Ball here, sorry)

[grapeeater]

Team Aqua, huh? Well, there's an easy solution for that. Micchy's got one hand on his Kadabra's Pokeball, but he has Aki the Pachirisu on his shoulder. Hopefully they won't run into something too difficult, but you never know.

His first stop though is going to be those computers. He leans over them and tries turning one on as long as no one's around. What are you working on, Team Aqua?

[fauxtographs]

[While Emmy has found she doesn't really enjoy most of what Team Rocket tends to do (which came as no real surprise, honestly...), as soon as she'd found out the details of this particular mission, she signed up right away. Dealing with those idiot teams from earlier? That sounded far more like a pleasure, rather than work!

So after zipping down from the helicopter, she dashed into the base, keeping up a quick pace while looking around. It doesn't seem all that impressive...]

The Rocket base is a lot nicer than this...it smells so salty in here...

[Well, regardless, she's here to do a job, so do it she shall! After testing one of those warp panels, Emmy has found herself in a boring room with nothing more than a door and some crates. How boring - she wants someone to fight! Time to nip out through that door, then!

Surely that will end well, and not be a bad idea!]

[dressofheaven]

Stealth is not really Ilya's forte, and she's not even bothering to use it here. Riding into the base on the back of her loyal Metagross, she casually lets her eyes flick over to see if there's anything worth taking with her as she makes her way through, each step kicking up quite a bit of racket.

Which is just how she wants it. Whether she attracts the attention of her fellow Rockets or Team Aqua, what she wants to do is get this over with as quickly as possible and get back to her friends. Preferably before they become suspicious.

But no one says she can't have some fun first. Gesturing at Talos to go faster, she snickers to herself as her Pokemon's heavy footsteps echo down the hallways...

[nostabbing]

[At last, all of those months of casing the security systems of jewelry stores in Goldenrod City to keep her skills honed are finally coming in handy! When Parker lands at the cave outside the Aqua Base, her natural first inclination is to check both her gear and the layout of things, looking for structural advantages that she might be able to put to her use — air vents, service corridors, particularly large sewer systems.

(The first thing she actually does, upon a moment of reflection, is to check and see who's here with her; this is a team setting, that's right, and she has both people to watch out for and people to support her now. Right.)

That said, being here at the base like this on Rocket orders isn't...quite sitting right with her, somehow. Of course she was at Tohjo on Halloween, and of course she remembers that Team Aqua had just as much to do with possibly ending the world as anyone else did, but even so...

It's...weird, right? Going after bad guys on a bad guy's orders? It's just...weird, somehow.

Maybe it'd be better to take this one slowly and see what it's all about first, before rushing right in to attack things like the organization wants.]

[ardent]

[Well, at the...very least the Team Aqua grunts aren't the only ones really not wanting the Rocket intruders to be here?

No, really, Ishimaru isn't entirely sure why he's here; he'd come because it was a good idea at the time, because promotions were probably something he should want to seek if he wanted to be at all useful in working against Team Rocket eventually, be...cause....

He's really not comfortable with this, and he'll be trying to re-affirm himself as he goes because man.

That said, though, several of the storage cases have his attention; he isn't going to loot them, but it might be worthwhile to see what-

...wow, that's a lot of Escape Ropes. Okay then. Um. Sure.

...

It's going to be a long invasion.]

[evilfrenzy]

[If the Rocket admins wanted enthusiastic Grunts for this mission, they've certainly got one in Rideaux. He's been on the lookout for opportunities to expand his Rocket resume in hopes of climbing the ranks, plus he gets to put Grunts from one of those other idiotic teams in their place for the second time. Yeah, he is all for this.

What do you mean he's a doctor and should be focusing on the injured? He ain't got time for that today!

Accompanied by his faithful (though not nearly as enthusiastic) Rocket starter, Slasher the Zangoose, Rideaux makes his way further into the base, pretty much seeking out Grunts to take on rather than taking the stealthy route. He doesn't feel like he has anything to fear, even if he has to take multiple Grunts on. From his experience, they're nothing compared to him.

He may have made an inaccurate assumption there, but that's Rideaux for you.]

TEAM MAGMA BASE

[these_balls]

Now if you're being dispatched to the Team Magma base, you have a slightly tougher way of entering. The base is below Cinnabar Island, so the entrance happens to be on the side of the island. The actual side. So you'll basically be jumping from the copter into the entrance. The Rocket pilot has mercifully gotten close enough that any idiot could make the jump, but still, that's a thing to be aware of.

Which might look suspicious to anyone that's familiar with Cinnabar Island. Here's this entrance to a super secret base constructed on the side of an island that's basically undergone perpetual construction forever? Could the construction company on Cinnabar be a front for Team Magma? Or just glitched into an infinite loop of constructing nothing forever?

Conspiracy theories aside, there's no map leading to the base, it's a simple straightfoward path leading into the Team Magma base. Oddly enough the layout and lootable items are almost identical to the Team Aqua one. So maybe there is something up with that construction company after all.

The Grunts are about as likely to take your arrival about as well as their counterparts too. So stay sharp, Rockets!

(frozen comment) WHAT YOU CAN STEAL

[these_balls]

-WAY TOO MANY ESCAPE ROPES (seriously take as many as you want)
-1 Nugget or Rare Candy per Grunt
-1 of these or an Incense per Grunt
-1 Heat Rock per Grunt
-1 scarf per Grunt. They don't do anything, but man do they look cool!
-Various berries
-Various Pokeballs (Mostly of the Poke, Great, and Ultra variety. No Master Ball here, sorry)

[divinitea]

[Celes had remained silent during the helicopter trip, keeping her cap pulled down low over her eyes and hovering near the back, away from the others. She's still not quite sure what possessed her to respond to the orders, but...well, she was frankly getting sick of lying around in her bedroom, and the thought of beating up some random criminals sounded just up her alley. Hopefully she'll be able to smash some things, too. That sounded nice.

...now if only the uniform wasn't quite so stupid. This skirt with these boots....horrendous...

At least she has Victoria the Gothitelle to help her make it to the ground without embarrassing herself.

So if you happen to be a member of Team Magma, you might notice a female grunt with (DANGAN RONPA SPOILERS) short black hair and rather pale eyes, walking silently through one of the rooms in the base, accompanied by a Gothitelle.

...speaking of which-]

You're rather happy today, you know.

[It's true; Celes has never seen Victoria quite this...exuberant. Could it be because of all this Team Rocket nonsense? Hmmm...

...well. Anyway, Celes will keep walking around the room, her hands linked together in front of her. Maybe there's something worth stealing in here...that's what Team Rocket does, isn't it? Steal things?

...

...oh, whatever.]

[aufsassig]

[SHIT YEAH JUMPING OUT OF HELICOPTERS INTO CAVES ON THE CLIFFSIDE OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST MISSION EVER

Quite predictably, Schuldig's wired as fuck when he hits the doors of the Magma Base, and for good reason; someone's throwing him a party, and he's hype as hell to walk in and get it started.

It is, of course, company policy to have his mask on and his distinguishing features obscured, and he's doing his best to suck up to the business these days (having received a grim reminder of why precisely that tends to pay off in a crisis); he doesn't expect to need the physical assistance, though, when he's got his Alakazam and his Hypno ready for action.

And since espionage really isn't his style, he's just going to waltz right in looking for trouble — or waiting for it to find him. Presumably if he goes and ransacks some of the crates in one of the storerooms, someone will clue in to that sooner or later.

Heeeeeeere, nerd-y nerd-y nerd-y...]

[ajustcaws]

[jumping from the copter

jumping from the copter oh man this is so awesome she's just got to just do the best pose when she lands

MAYBE SHE'LL DO A SWEET BACKFLIoh no. Points for trying, Cynthia!! Anyway, it's weird to be wearing a uniform on an actual mission, but since she's going into battle she's put her armor on over it because it looks cool and it's good to be defensively oriented! ...maybe. Anyway, she's... not actively trying to steal anything because that's not terribly heroic, though she might... snag a Rare Candy if she finds one... don't judge her

...MOSTLY, THOUGH, SHE'S GOING TO SEE IF SHE CAN FIGHT A GRUNT. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE'S HERE TO DO RIGHT

KICK SOME BUTTS AND CHEW BUBBLEGUM?]

[explosivecombat]

[You know, there are definitely some upsides to having Archer deployed to a different base; while they almost always work together, it's...interesting to do this more or less on his own, for one thing.

For another, it keeps Archer from having a heart attack because Kimblee is seriously pumped about jumping out of a helicopter more or less into a volcano. Adventure!

That said, however, Kimblee isn't terribly interested in screwing around with theft and he isn't adept enough with technology to get anything valuable off the computers; however, since this is a base run by nerds for nerds and Amestris is a country where the nerds reign supreme, the various displays and mechanical...things lying around manage to interest him anyway.

...and let's be honest with ourselves, they weird him out way less than the warp panels. Those warp panels are giving him a serious case of The Wig. So the less he touches those, the better.]

[twinsanity]

[Alfred is actually more on board with this than he'd thought he would be; really, showing those upstarts from October who's boss sounds like a lovely prospect, as far as he's concerned.

So he's going to not even bother with the stealth route, though old habits die hard as hell and he's still trying to clear rooms as best he can before entering them; this is aided by his...Remoraid, which is being a good gunfish like he wanted.

...No, really, he's carrying her propped up against his shoulder like a goddamn rifle because of course he is.]

[ortion]

[As the Rockets begin their raid of Team Magma's base, a particular Rocket has chosen to hang back near the entrance. And by "hang back", he's literally floating several feet in the air on a very large and fancy chair. If looking up from below, one can see the several Magnemites and huge Magnezone attached to the bottom and back of the chair respectively. Presumably they are the ones making the chair's defiance of gravity possible.

While other Rockets are working on taking the base, Dist is monitoring their progress. Specifically, those who are using his experimental Pokemon. He has all of those Pokemon tracked and is carefully watching the data pouring in through his electronic tablet. To him, their success means his success on this mission, so he wants to make sure they're performing to the best of their ability.

Naturally, he doesn't expect the Magma Grunts to just let him sit around like this, being a Rocket and all. For that reason, a Metagross is positioned directly under the chair, keeping watch for any approaching Grunts. Should one come close while Dist isn't watching, Kaiser Dist X-M2 will alert him.

Bring it, nerds. Just try to interrupt his evil science time.]

1/2

[katostrophic]

[Now that he's arrived at the base, Kato doesn't hesitate to get to work quickly. He's got his Lunatone hovering by his head and his laptop hovering on the other side, and Kato is focusing his attention mainly on the latter. All his collars are online and seem to be responding properly, so with any luck, things will go well.

Time to test that theory.

Reaching into his pocket, Kato retrieves a Pokeball and idly tosses it against the wall.]

Lussac.

[His Gengar appears immediately, cackling to himself and rubbing his hands together. He's also wearing one of Kato's collars, strapped around his arm. After a nod from his trainer, he disappears through the wall, and after a moment, he returns.]

None of our members on the other side? Good.

[With a rather arrogant wave, Kato directs Lussac to stand beside the wall...and promptly smirks.]

Surely I don't have to spell it out for you?

[...he doesn't, no. With a mad stream of cackling, Lussac begins to glow white; Ranpu puts up a barrier just in time for Kato to view Lussac using Explosion, blowing a rather large hole in the wall.

...Kato may be cackling a bit himself.]

Good, good! Why bother wasting our time with these warp panels, when we can just go through the-

[whitehairedprettyboy]

[ Valmont's exit from the helicopter is... actually pretty graceful, surprisingly. Lands on his feet and everything. He hasn't done too much that requires his physical skills in a while, so it's nice to know he's still got it.

All right, so now he's inside, and he's got his Servine and Gothorita out, the latter because it's his strongest Pokémon and the former because, well, it fits with his aesthetic. Even if his aesthetic is almost completely obscured at this point. He's got on the godawful uniform with its stupid mask, like he's some kind of petty bank robber, but what really rankles is the fact that he has to keep his hair up under the (dumb, tacky) hat. Honestly, what's the point of having a beautiful ponytail like his if you can't even show it off to your enemies?

God, he misses his own criminal organization. The Dark Hand didn't have any dress code, that was for sure. Possibly to its detriment.

Well. The sooner he can defeat one of these Magma grunts, or whatever the hell it is they're meant to be doing here, the sooner he can change and go home. Where are the grunts? Perhaps the other team members have taken them all out, and he won't have to get his hands dirty at all. The thought is an appealing one.

In the meantime, he's looking around to see if there's anything even remotely valuable in this base, Servine assisting with opening various crates and Gothorita keeping a lookout. He's not having too much luck. What the hell do they need all these ropes for? ]

AFTER THE BATTLE

[these_balls]

Congratulations to the winners! And to the losers well...you tried, and nobody can take that away from you. The helicopters are en route to pick everybody up, but it's going to be a while before they get there, so feel free to talk among yourselves, collect any items you haven't grabbed yet, and just poke around what's left of the bases.

But given the battles and the fact that some people have been setting off explosives and who knows what in some of them, you might want to tread carefully. Still, it's definitely worth checking things out for those items since after the admins finish remodeling, they're going to be conveniently lost during construction. Or stored in a Rocket warehouse next to all those other items Team Rocket has a seemingly endless supply of. But get them now while they're free and don't require a requisition form or anything like that!