51 | Video

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[The feed displays one Cobra Commander. One Cobra Commander who apparently doesn’t care about hiding his location today. He’s in an office, and it’s the same one the Rockets have seen on his last video, but it may be a somewhat hard to figure out since the camera’s shaking back and forth. Also, he’s yelling. Really loudly. If this office wasn’t part of Team Rocket, there’d probably be an officer en route to issue citations for disturbing the peace.]

Look at thissss! Look at it!

[The camera swings around to show an open crate. It’s rather large, but doesn’t seem to have much in it. There are some scraps of colored paper on the bottom of it, and that’s about it.]

Thisss crate was carrying very important cargo and one of you had the audacity to sssteal it! And not just ssteal it, but leave me thisss…this garbage in its place!

[Yet another camera turn to a desk, clearly Cobra Commander does not care if anyone gets motion sickness from his rage fueled camerawork. On top of the desk are several items, and he takes the time to focus on each one of them. The first is an overturned sack and an assortment of play money, some of it shredded into confetti. The second is a plastic disc, similar to HM02. The third is an obviously fake deed for Cianwood City. Now that everyone’s gotten a good look at this stuff, the Commander finally turns the camera to his face, and he's definitely not done yelling yet.]

One of you decided to steal my property and replace it with thisss junk! And I have a very good idea of who it was sssince they were stupid enough to leave a note! And you will pay! You will pay dearly! I will recover my property and make sure you ssssuffer for your little joke! On earth I’ve held the world hostage and brought nations to their knees! I’ve committed numerous criminal acts here in Johto, and all of that will pale in comparison to what I’m going to do when I find you! All of them! I’ll use every connection I have in Johto and Kanto to have you found and destroyed! And if anyone tries to help you or get in my way, then they’ll suffer the sssame fate! Or worse!

And to that brat who thought he could assault me and get away with it, I haven’t forgotten about that! I’ll get you too! Remember that! No one attacks Cobra Commander and gets away with it! Especially not you!

[He could go on and on, but he'll cut the feed there. Being attacked and robbed in the same week has done wonders for his temper.]

Comments

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I’ll be sssure to let you know if there is.

[Giant statues in his likeness? Cobra would definitely approve of that.]

I underssstand. After all, not all Pokémon are willing to be used as mere tools, are they?

[Which is why he forces them to be! And that explains why all his Pokémon use Frustration.]

[licentious]

Excellent.

[ The only person in Johto who would! ]

Well, no. However, I suppose most of my pokemon would be bored if they were just delegated to office work. The stronger the relationship with your pokemon, the more effective they usually are. [ Or at least, that's what she learned from Envy. She knows that happy servants make competent ones! ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Oh, there’s still a strong relationship between my team and myself, but it’s closer to a military unit and its commanding officer.

[He gives orders, and they obey. Or else!]

I believe in rewarding successs and punishing failure! None of this bonding and compassion nonsense the trainers spout!

[licentious]

[ Lust is quite divided on this. On one hand, her family did get a lot of crap done solely because they were family and they trusted each other enough to take orders. She knows Gluttony would be a thousand times more difficult to deal with if they weren't siblings.

On the other hand, bonds are stupid, foolish and pathetic for humans. ]

I believe I follow suit in that regard. Although, I do have a habit of making them want to work for me. [ In other words, there is a bond. But it's heartless and manipulative. Yaaaaay. ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[Heartless and manipulative bonds are the best kind!]

Yesss, it can be a real problem if they don’t want to work for you.

[Like that horrible Ditto he had a long time ago.]

However, with the proper conditioning that problem is easily solved.

[licentious]

I wouldn't want to condition them in a way that builds resent. I have little tolerance for small end passive aggressive bickering and ordering wars, and, I'd rather not anger some of these pokemon. It wouldn't be wise to taunt one the size of the house. [ or one that can burn you to crisps. ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Of course, of course. I’ve found that the best way is to treat them like a military unit. There’s no need to coddle them, and they may be unhappy, but in the long run, they learn to obey orders without inssssubordination.

[After all, there’s a reason why all his Pokémon are named after various minions and vehicles.]

[licentious]

I believe I treat them more like a team. My discipline style adapts based on the pokemon's personality. Some of them need gentle reinforcement, others need more strict ways of reinforcement. [ She learned never really to apply the situation to a whole. ] I find it's better to catch flies with honey than vinegar. It makes espionage and manipulation so much easier.

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I agree with that. You can't raise all Pokemon the sssame way. I wouldn't think of raising my Trubbish the same way I do my Arbok!

[Then again he raised Trubbish by throwing it in a box for the foreseeable future.]

[licentious]

I wouldn't think you'd raise a Trubbish at all. [ A backhanded compliment, to some extent, but, then again, she wouldn't expect a glory hound to raise a Trubbish, ever. ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I didn't plan to! The egg just appeared one day! I didn't even know what it was until it hatched!

[And then he didn't know what it was after it hatched since he almost threw it away.]

[licentious]

Hm. It seems like Johto is sending such a strong message. I think that Johto looks upon me favorably. [ She sends out two more pokeballs while withdrawing Absol. It's a Cubchoo and a Smoochum, both of which are shiny. The cubchoo seems to have sparkly snot dripping from his nose too and it looks like he might sneeze any moment. ] How else would you explain these?

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[He hasn't seen the regular versions, so he's not sure what's so special about them.]

I have no idea how to explain them, but I would suggest getting that one a tissue!

[Because sparkly snot, ew.]

[licentious]

It's called Cubchoo. It's eternally sick. It's usually a more muted blue, but, for some reason, mine is purple. [ Cubchoo starts to sniffle. This isn't going to be a good sign.

ooc: permission for Cubchoo to sneeze? ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

{OOC: Permission granted!}

Eternally sssick? Why would anyone want something like that?

[licentious]

Because, it usually makes your opponents more hesitant to approach them so you can make the fi-[ Cubchoo sneezes, creating a glitter bomb of sorts. Golden mucus splatters everywhere, and, there's an oddly pleasing light blue mist around Cubchoo's the area. ] As I was saying, [ Continuing on like nothing happened. ] usually your opponents are too hesitant to approach so you get the first strike.

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[Well, that’s…ew. He’ll definitely be requisitioning some disinfectant from Rocket HQ after this meeting.]

And strike with what? Ssssnot? And I hope you realize, you’re responsible for cleaning up this mess!

[licentious]

[ Oh. It is gross. Lust just tries her best to remain ignorant that her pokemon nasally soiled her commander's room. ]

With an ice attack, but close enough. I'll have someone qualified to clean this get to this immediately. [ ...So gross... ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Does the ice come from its nose too?

[He really hopes it doesn't, but at the same time, it needed to be asked.]

And yes! Immediately!

[licentious]

Sometimes. It could cause spectacular collateral if used wisely.

[ Good news, Commander Cobra! It does sneeze out frozen ice blocks! ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[He's really not sure what to make of that. A Pokemon that sneezes sparkly snot and ice blocks. That's really something else.]

What about germ warfare? Is thissss stuff contagious?

[licentious]

I don't think it's contagious at all. I've never gotten sick from him, and I raise him.

[ In short: No. ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

A pity. While I'm ssssure the ice attacks can cause quite a problem, being capable of germ warfare would have made it that much more useful.

[licentious]

All it seems to do is sneeze and sniffle. I doubt that's truly troublesome for anyone. [ but she could be overestimating these humans and their immune systems...somehow! ]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

The only ones troubled would be hypochondriacs! And there's hardly enough of those to cause any real terror!