[21] Video/Action for Goldenrod - "I'm gonna rule this world."

[lieutenantantichrist]

[In a square in the center of Goldenrod City, a small crowd has gathered. A show is about to start.

There's a crude stage that's been freshly hammered together. Near the back, a little Snubbull is tapping in the last few nails. The platform wobbles but holds as a man climbs up it, then takes a place at a podium in the center. He's wearing a white button-up shirt and, in concession to his ambitions, a tie. He looks toward the camera.] Hey, Newt. You got that thing running?

[The camera's view nods up and down.]

All right.

[He holds his arms up for silence. Then, when no one quite pays attention, he barks,] Hey! All of you! Shut up!



[That's much more effective. When the eyes of the curious onlookers are on him, he plants his hands on the sides of the podium and clears his throat.]

All of you. Locals, people from the real world, people from the fuckin' moon. You know me. See, I've been here a long, long time. Two damn years, and I know some of you have been here longer. I was thinking about that, and you know what I realized?

[His voice gets louder and clearer as he finds his rhythm.]

I realized I'm not a fuckin' tourist. None of us are. This is our world as much as it is theirs-- and nobody is doing dick to run it.

Look around. Everybody does whatever they damn well please, and that's real nice right up until the minute some idiot starts planting bombs around. The closest thing to somebody in charge is the police, and they're a goddamn joke who give terrorists a week picking up garbage and then set them loose again. There's nobody calling the shots.

That changes today.

[His boots thud on plywood as he tramps back and forth along the stage, and his speech takes a turn toward harangue.]

When bees and sharks came crashing through people's windows, who smacked them right back out? Me. When some moron went around shooting lasers at the city, who knocked him out of the sky? Me. When a couple armies of fire and water idiots tried to wreck up the place with giant monsters, who went out to stop them? [He jerks his thumb to his chest.] Me.

[His voice is getting louder and louder. The cords stand out on his neck.]

And I'm not some jumped-up fourteen-year-old who thinks he's magic. I've been around the block in the real world. I have decades on the front lines. I haven't just lead people, I've lead them into tenements full of crackheads with shotguns. That has to mean something, even here.

Somebody around here has to get shit in order, and I'm done waiting.

[His tread takes him back to the podium. He grips the sides with his coarse-knuckled hands and leans over it to look straight into the Gear.]

I'm not asking you. I'm telling you.

From now on, I'm the head honcho around here.

[He jabs his finger at the camera.]

Stand with me or get out of my way.

Comments

[lieutenantantichrist]

[The guy throws his head back like a horse. And not a cowboy's horse; one of those horses that does fancy dancing for rich jackasses.

Blake decides to take it at face value.]

So you're with the program.

[Video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

You'd rather just sit back and let it go down the crapper?

Whoever Simon is, he sounds like somebody you should be taking a lesson from.

[explosivecombat]

That's why you invoked me in all but name, I'm sure. It's obvious that what I've done has gotten to you; I don't need to be able to see you to know that. Your words tell me enough.

As for the rest of your assertion, I've invited you to stop me several times in the past. It's hardly my fault that you haven't done it yet.

[conquersworlds]

Of course. I've done this before.

video;

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake's acquainted with that ugly glare. He's gotten variations from every shape and size of humanity you can find in a city of a million and a half, and a few real standouts from Yusuke himself.

The little spark of hope that seeing him had kindled dies hard and ugly.

His lip curls. It feels like a blow below the belt.]

What I'm trying to do is get some goddamn order around here. Nobody else is stepping up to the plate. Or are you fine with the mad bombers and terrorists running around scot-free?

[There's bite in his voice.] I don't see you doing anything to make this a better damn place. So pitch in or shut your mouth.

video;

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake returns it. Now he's getting somewhere.]

First thing's first: set up a headquarters and a police force.

video

[lieutenantantichrist]

First thing is, you get deputized.

[Blake sees a lot of potential in this kid.]

Then it depends where your skills are. What would you say, brains or muscle?

video

[lieutenantantichrist]

Magic and hot air balloons, sure. Why not. [He's heard weirder.] It may be real, but if there's magic, it's not the real world.

[That being the one he comes from. Hey, just working up to an admission that other worlds exist took him a good long time.

He likes having his qualifications acknowledged.]

What are the cops gonna do, toss me in jail for being better at their job? As for the powers that be, that's the whole point. There aren't any.

People in general, they'll complain, then they'll get used to it.

[video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Pretty well? Pretty well?! [His arm shoots out in a fierce gesture.] There's goddamn terrorists running around and nobody but fuckin' civilians stopping them! Is that okay in whatever magical Wham-reject town you come from?

[He reins himself in and moderates his voice.]

So people have scraped by through disasters on their own, that's fan-fucking-tastic, but that's not exactly an ideal situation. When something big comes along, you can't waste time arguing. You need somebody calling the shots.

People here'll have the sense to see that.

Video

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Oh, they could have long chats about that.

His eyebrows jump up and his eyes widen.] Holy shit, lady. Nobody said anything about any purges. I'm not Josef fuckin' Stalin. Just a guy who wants to clean the place up.

[Seriously, goddamn.]

Nobody's getting murdered.

[Video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Getting shot out of the sky like a moron?

[Blake points a finger at him.] All you ever did was blow shit up. Any idiot can do that. I'm gonna build something.

[video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Oh look at me and my big fancy giant robot. Some of us have to make do with riot shields and batons.]

Political opponent?

[He sweeps his arm at the murmuring crowd.] Have you been paying attention? There aren't any of those. That's the whole point. There's nobody to stand in my way. It's a power vacuum, and I'm here to suck it up.

It's a chance to do some good, here.

[Action]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Kid, I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there's nothing around here to overthrow. The closest thing to leaders is the people who run the gyms. They don't even do anything but get in magic animal fights and hand out prizes. There's a job to be done and nobody's doing it. I don't see why it shouldn't be me.

[The stubborn look on Blake's face makes him and the bear look remarkably similar.]

I'm not an invader, I'm a damn concerned citizen.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[That gets Blake's attention. His brows furrow.] Run for office?

[Experience could be useful here...]

[conquersworlds]

[...Well, technically he did that, too.]

It was more like what you're doing, I think! What I did had very little to do with an election.

[lieutenantantichrist]

How come you mad bomber types are always looking for attention? Didn't your daddy hug you enough?

[But he has a point there, and it needles Blake. He should have caught the asshole by now...but he won't fail.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

You're saying you took over a place.

[video]

[solas_ion]

Actually? Yeah, that's pretty fine with me. Let 'em stop the organization that's done a grand total of fuck-all in the three or four years I've been here, if they're strong enough for it. Strength's all that matters, especially in a place like this.

And what makes you any better than Team Rocket, comin' in here declaring yourself ruler? I've dealt with someone before that thought he was above everyone else, y'know....had all the power in the world, and you wanna know who stopped him cold? A teenage human kid that disagreed with him.

Here's what I'm drivin' at: I don't give a shit what you think you've been through. It's obvious you're some idiot human with a god complex that has no real concept of what he's doing. There's a difference between 'establishing order' and 'taking over the damn world'. You're gonna fail, and you're gonna get your head kicked in by the people you don't think can recognize a threat when they see one.

Video

[bylight]

Could have fooled me with your high and mighty speech. You're all self-righteous right now. I will not be surprised if you take it a step too far and start murdering to 'clean things up'.

[She doesn't know who Stalin is. She's going to assume it's someone really, really bad if he used it as an example.]

Re: Video

[nasa_dreams]

Yeah, it feels real to everyone. But, the first time I was here, I took a bomb to the face, and not only lived, but only had to re-grow my eyebrows. Think about that for a bit, yeah?

Sure, but you also have to follow the rules of the game- just like the rules of the real world you're trying to push on it.

[video]

[captainash]

There are none that you know of. If anything can bring a shadow government or a political conspiracy out of the woodwork, it's a threat to their power. What did you just give them? An excuse to see you as a threat, to have you eliminated or disgraced. And right now, you have nothing to counter those potential attacks. You're a sitting duck.

[Part of his vehemence is born from anger, from disappointment. But a much greater part is born from worry, from the memory of the look in Flit Asuno's eyes after Grodek Ainoa had been found dead.]

[Action]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica hated crowds like this, and she especially hated when someone saw fit to make themselves heard above everyone else.

Even worse, what Blake says next starts to seriously rub her the wrong way. Her Gengars notice this, both of them extremely curious now that their normally stoic adopted trainer was much angrier looking.]

You know.... [she starts slowly, her tone apathetic.] You should get people to like you before you say stuff like that.

[conquersworlds]

That's exactly what I'm saying, my friend.

[explosivecombat]

I'm hardly the one making the blatant grab for attention here, am I? I'm just talking to you personally, in response to you giving some sort of highly-charged speech that no one is going to take kindly to unless they're an idiot, and wondering if your father didn't hug you enough - something that I think I'm well within my rights to do, given that little display of yours.

You'll make him proud one day, I'm sure.

[Video]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

If you think that is all I am capable of, then you are ssssorely mistaken! But go ahead! Build whatever you like, I'll make certain that it's torn down!