[video]

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

[Waking up in an unfamiliar room causes a bit of mood whiplash for Spinel. She doesn't recognize anything here, even the note she finds doesn't make any sense to her. A much bitter, fearful part of her wonders if Steven and his friends just decided to dump her here just to get rid of her. She can't ruin a happy ending if she's not around, right?

She toys around with the two Pokeballs, and her two partners emerge - a Zorua and a Vulpix. They look up at her expectantly, but she's not sure what they want.

Her PokeGear is a little further away, and she tries to extend an arm to grab it but... she can't. She can't stretch out any of her limbs. That's when panic starts setting in. She knew it! They did something to her so she can't cause anymore trouble! And her skin is a different color too. What's happened to her? Why can't she use her powers?!]

Haaa ha ha... normally I love a good practical joke, but I don't think I get this one.

[The feed shows a human girl with pink hair and pigtails sitting on a bed, looking around a blank room with uncertainty.]

Comments

video

[fingersandteeth]

[... well. This is certainly a thing. Time for Steven D to get on the ball in greeting her.

Steven D, by the way, is a handsome human male approaching early middle age, with brown skin, black hair, and glasses.]

Have you read the letter yet? It's-- meant to be an explanation. Possibly not a very good one.

Basically, you've been stolen from your own world from a space llama god and press ganged into a criminal organization where the only competent members are your fellow transplants.

Welcome to [sigh] Team Rocket.

video

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

[Space llama? Criminal organization??]

Well... that's... not the explanation I expected to hear. I read the letter, but I thought it was a prank...
So lemme get this straight: you're telling me I'm not on Earth anymore?

Re: video

[fingersandteeth]

Not your proper Earth, anyway.

But yeah. You're in another world. And... you're kind of stuck with the rest of us.

The admins--the people native to this world who're in charge of the facility you're at--are going to put you through a week of crime training starting tomorrow. You're not allowed to opt out of it, unfortunately. Once that's over, they'll let you free and then you mostly just have to deal with them whenever you turn in your quota. Otherwise your time is your own.

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

[This is a little much for her to take in. But in the back of her mind, she thinks, "this is what you wanted, right, Steven?"]

And what happens if I don't wanna do it?

[fingersandteeth]

[Dryly,]

Evidently the one thing the native Rockets are actually good at is hunting down deserters.

[He sighs and shakes his head.]

Look. The next week isn't going to be much fun for you. I won't lie about that. Just-- grit your teeth and get through it and once it's over, you won't have to do it again. Getting your quota in shouldn't be so hard, it's only one pokemon every other week and even though they say it has to be stolen, they don't actually check. Most of us just catch something.

And even though the Rocket from this world are a pack of useless mooks, our little crew of people who've also been taken from their worlds--the only other people who can see this channel you're posting on right now--we're all right. We can help you through this.

Just, you know, talk to us so we know what you need?

Oh--and my name's Steven Durante. Carly and Dirk and I are all privates, which is the next rank up from you. Handsome Jack, who's an alpha--that's the rank just under admin and the highest anyone from another world can rise--is the boss of our crew and he takes care of his own. And if you need someone to talk to Jack for you, well, I'm your man.

[VIDEO]

[fortuneglass]

Ohhhhhh, oh no...

[Carly answers with video, and she's looking mighty concerned about all of this.] Oh you look even younger than Connie even....

[THE TRUTH MAY SURPRISE YOU CARLY] I'm so sorry, it's really not a joke...but, the good news is, you're not the only one here? Better ways to wake up, mind you but...

Ah-m! Let's start simple~! My name is Carly Nagisa! And while the situation could be better, it's really nice to meet someone new, so I'll try to help you with anything I can!

[VIDEO]

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

"Younger"? I mean, I guess 6,000 years isn't that old. Not for a little ol' gem like me!

I'm Spinel... uhhh... could you start by telling me where I am? And if there's someone named "Steven Universe" around?

[insidescoop]

[Mouth opens, mouth closes.] ...Boy! That isn't the number I was going to guess. I think the last 'gem' I met was Rose...

[Bit of muttering, might be hard to pick out. But oh-] Well, this is Rocket Headquarters...or, you're in Rocket Headquarters...Very secret by the way, don't share that around you'll end up in a lot of trouble and not a lot of people will be able to help, for aha, obvious reasons, [she coughs.] But-

...Steven? ...Oh dear, I think he was sent home actually... ...His parents sure haven't mentioned him lately, and I mean, I travel with the two...

OH! But if you know Steven, does that mean you know Connie?

She'll be really happy to hear there's a friend from home here, oh wow~!

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

... You know a "Rose" gem?

[That's... gotta be one of Pink Diamond's gems. Ughhh that gives her more feelings than she wants right now.]

Steven was here? But I was just- [fighting him.] - uhhh nevermind. Connie's one of Steven's friends?

I'm not sure she'd call me a "friend". Iiiiii kind of screwed up big time with Steven and his friends.

Text

[conniemaheswaran]

[Something about the new transplant tickles at Connie's memory. The face, that hair... but it has to be a coincidence. Right?]

[Then Spinel opens her mouth and Connie realizes that nope, this is definitely not a coincidence.]

[This ought to be interesting.]

SPINEL? Is that you?

text

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

[Spinel knows vaguely of Connie, even if they never got to interact really. But over text, she has no idea.]

Yup, that's me! But uhhh who is this?

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie, from Earth. I was part of the rescue team while you were busy with Steven.

[She wasn't about to air out Spinel's dirty laundry in front of everyone.]

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

[Connie? She vaguely remembers Steven shouting that name.]

You're one of Steven's friends? Uhhhh oh geez, I've got a lot of apologizing to do.

[Is there a big enough "I'm sorry for almost destroying your planet"?]

[Video] I'm so sorry

[wonderland_vogue]

[Lydia's at least in the Rocket quarters for now and is just rolling her eyes so hard before turning the video feed on, here we go. Her own zoroark is sitting on the sit of the bed she's laying on her stomach on and her ridiculous vulpix is curled against her side.]

You're stuck here. You're in a criminal organization. Don't listen to the natives here because they're useless garbage. Get used to it. [Who pissed in her cheerios this morning.]

[video] no worries!

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

Get used to it? Gee, maybe I don't want to! Who's gonna stop me if I just wanna leave?

[Spinel no....]

[wonderland_vogue]

From what I hear, they'll hunt you down until either you come back or you get arrested by the police. And even then I doubt they'll stop on the latter half. [She's just shrugging slowly, not seeming particularly bothered by any of this mess.]

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

... Great. Just great. I didn't sign up for any of this!

[She falls back on the bed dramatically.]

Can you at least tell me what happened to my powers? I can't stretch my arms out or anything. This body feels really weird.

video;

[breakyourlife]

Ohhh, this isn't a joke. The training you get when you first get here is actually kind of the opposite of funny.

[Steve found this out the hard way. Although it probably wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't so obnoxious to deal with.]

video;

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

... What kind of training? And what if I don't wanna do it?

[Because tbh that doesn't sound like fun to begin with.]

video;

[breakyourlife]

Crime training?

[There's... probably a proper name for it.]

You learn about stealing, escape routes, that sort of stuff. It doesn't matter whether you want to or not. You've just got to.

video;

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

Escape routes...? That kind of sounds like fun. I still don't get why I gotta do it. Somebody should've asked me before dropping me here!

Video

[thedifferencebetween]

Another one? Holy crap, this place is jumping these days...

Yeah, you've been benignly kidnapped. I say 'benign' because it's not like you're in any danger or anybody's holding ya prisoner, we just can't get off this world. All of us on this closed network went through the same friggin thing.

You're fine, you're gonna be fine.

Video

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

I kind of had some important stuff going on before I got here... although maybe it's better if I'm not there.

So who kidnapped everybody? It couldn't have been the Diamonds, and I don't think there's anyone more powerful than the Diamonds.

Video

[thedifferencebetween]

I dunno what a capital D Diamond is - and that's not a request for more information, please don't assume it is - but apparently it was a magic space llama that's more powerful than everything.

Just go with it, kiddo, you'll save yourself a hell of a headache!

Now here's the important stuff. Since you're here, on this network and at the Goldenrod rocket base, that means you're a Rocket! And that's a big old secret, so don't go mentioning that to anybody else. I'm Handsome Jack, I'm basically in charge of you. You need anything, you got any questions, you bring'em to me. I'll take care of it.

Video

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

Well... I guess first thing's first. What's a Rocket?