[video]

[onebetter]

[ James has propped up the PokéGear with a lot of care to sit steadily on top of something and film James from the shoulders up. He's facing the camera with a serious and dutiful expression. It probably looks a little like he's a youtuber.... or like he's on a military skype conference. Either works. ]

This is Lieutenant James Griffin of the Galaxy Garrison.

I'll be skipping past the 'I have found myself in a strange situation' since I assume that's a regular occurrence for this place, but I do still have a lot of questions.

What's the identity of this woman in New Bark Town who introduced herself as, and I quote, "your mom, silly", and now steadfastly refuses to open the door for me again?

And what's with the music playing? Where is it coming from?

Also--- [ And that's where he's cut off by a pounce from a Lillipup that decided it has had enough of being ignored. James turns towards it. ] Hey, wait a moment, alright? I'm not done here! Don't give me that look....

[ Defeated, he picks up Lillipup and holds it in his arms, scritching its head as he turns back towards the camera. ]

Also I'd love to obtain a vehicle at some point. I'm willing to work for it.

Griffin, signing off.

Comments

Video

[sleepallthewayhome]

She's a liar. She tells everyone she's their mom when they show up here. I think she likes lying.

[Newt is not a fan and is not in the group that thinks 'Mom' has a tragic backstory.]

The music's just in the background, you can't turn it off. You just get used to it after a while and you can listen to other music on the radio or on your gear to drown it out.

[onebetter]

Well, that's not disturbing or anything.... Both of these things really.

Everyone shows up at that woman's house, too? I guess there's my explanation for why she won't let me back in, it'd be crowded.

[ Whether or not this is truly an 'explanation' or just more questions in a trenchcoat...? Who knows. ]

[sleepallthewayhome]

Yeah, everyone wakes up there but we don't get a lot of new people really.

It's nice here but there's a lot of weird things like the music and the lying lady that people don't know why it happens. And some people have been here for years.

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[marmoron]

[On the list of things Keith wasn't expecting to be dealing with today: this. Just everything about this. Somehow James Griffin, the Garrison's insufferable good boy, is just about the last thing he'd expected to see amidst the usual chatter people post about their pokemon. In fact, he outright yells what the actual hell making his Houndour startle and growl.

Good thing he didn't hit reply before yelling that. But there's a fuckton to unravel here, like the fact that the guy's apparently older now, but apparently just as stiff and -- god. Time shenanigans are a goddamn trip and a half. Keith takes a couple of deep breaths, though it doesn't do a whole lot to diminish the accusatory look on his face.]

Who made you a lieutenant.

1/2

[onebetter]

[ James doesn't have the advantage of getting his reaction out of his system first. The feed is open now and there's... there's Keith on the screen looking just about the same way he did when James last saw him.

There are so many things wrong with this.

James nearly drops his dog, who startles at the sudden loosening grip, then gets caught again as James realizes that NONE OF THIS IS LILLIPUP'S FAULT and he should probably hold on. ]

What the---

[onebetter]

[ Alright, this isn't dignified, he needs to start over. Try again.

This is only Keith who disappeared from Earth four years ago, who disappeared from Voltron, who disappeared with Voltron--- and also he has a real case of babyface. Okay. He can deal with this.

At least what Keith is saying is not at all unexpected. James catches himself and his expression turns to a scowl. ]

Admiral Sanda and the war that you couldn't be bothered to come home for. Thanks for asking.

[marmoron]

[The only reason he doesn't even crack a smirk at James' uncharacteristic lack of composure here is because he's starting to get real confused real fast. Of course, given the nature of Griffin's accusation, the confusion mostly manifests in anger.]

I've been fighting a war while you were playing around on simulators for months so I have no idea what you're talking about.

[There's obviously a space-time discrepancy going on. Even through his immediate irritation, Keith can more or less surmise that something is up around James' timeline, but from all accounts he's received from everyone else, the future has some troubling things ahead, but Shiro had said "nothing serious" happens.

In all reality this should be more concerning than anything else, but for now he's not taking this from James lying down.]

[spacebaloney]

[If this guy's a Youtuber, he needs serious help. Way too sternof a face to get any subs, but maybe the hair will get him a few likes.

But it's still a serious face Lance recognizes and probably unlike other certain Voltron members, one he doesn't mind seeing.]

Griffin, yo! [He tosses up a hand to the camera in greeting as he's standing half way in the ocean during his daily swim. Clearly these pokegears are water proof.] When you'd get here?

[Answer the questions being asked? Never.]

[onebetter]

[ .... James looks puzzled. Like, seriously puzzled. You spend three years desperately waiting for some people and then they're having a beach day. That's... kind of underwhelming. ]

I arrived this morning. I assume you've been here for... years?

[spacebaloney]

[Everyday's a beach day when you live in a beach house!]

Just one, really. Shiro's been here longer than that, though.

[This turn of conversation has Lance thinking now. It used to be him being the last to arrive and the one here the least longest, but things have changed and people have left only to come back in a different time and mindset. Seems like he and Shiro are the old guard now.]

There's a bunch of time difference bullshit going on. Probably because of a wormhole or ten. It all just starts blending together after a while.

[pidge_out]

[Pidge is initially pinged by "Galaxy Garrison", and then the name and face register slowly afterward. And the recognition makes her perk up slightly (people from home!), but at the same time... Well, it was never like they were friends.

Still, it probably won't hurt to say hi. So she does so, opening the video feed with a sort of anxious smile and a wave.]

Hi Griffin. I'm guessing you only just got here, huh?

[onebetter]

[ If he could, this would be where he'd go running to Commander Holt who's been worried sick, but he can't. Behind him is only 'Mom's' house and an unfamiliar world. And things truly just keep getting more and more bizarre. ]

Yes, this morning. And I really direly need to get back - and so should you, really.

[pidge_out]

[There's a blink. Then a slight raise of her eyebrow. The gears seem to be visibly churning behind her eyes.]

You don't need to worry too much about getting back quickly. When you get transported here, your timeline back home basically freezes. If you're ever sent back, you'd be picking up exactly where you were and apparently won't even remember your time away. There are some serious space-time anomalies involved in being here.

[Which brings another question to mind...] ..What's the last thing you remember before showing up here?

Video;

[schachmeister]

Vehicles aren't really common here. There are bikes. And there is a train that runs between Goldenrod City and Saffron City, as well as several ferries between Kanto and Johto. For the most part, people use their pokemon as transport. Or use the warp pads in the pokemon centers if they have visited the cities before.

As for 'mom', [You can hear the finger quotes in his voice.] she gets that way with everybody. I don't think anyone has figured out just what her deal is. Everybody who arrives in this world does so in her house, but afterwards, she never really seems to remember people. At least, the last few times I visited the city, she never recognised me.

[onebetter]

Bikes as in... bicycles? Or are the motorbikes too?

[ Please... this can't be true.... How did he end in a world without motorized transportation, someone wake him up from this ancient past immediately!! ]

It doesn't really make sense for a place to have all these modern items but no cars either, but I have no reason not to believe you. It's just really strange.

[schachmeister]

Regular bicycles, though I think you can get ones with little electric motors too.

Cars... those are those carts that move without horses, right? [Speaking of the old-timey past, guess who is from there!!] I've heard those are a bit more common in some other regions, especially in the big cities, but I think for the most part people are just so used to riding or flying on their pokemon that there isn't a great need for them.

[forsaintcecilia]

Y'know, I never really figured out who that lady who said she was my mom was. It was kinda creepy, so I never went back there... Oh, and you get used to the music eventually. Turns into white noise, y'know?

I think you could get something like a car or a motorcycle here if you wanted, but most people use Pokemon for transportation.

[onebetter]

This is going to take a lot to get used to.

[ James sighs. He's beginning to get the picture of this place and he's not sure he liked it. ]

Transport on living creatures is a thing of hundreds of years ago, but I suppose these 'Pokémon' are superior to ordinary horses?

[forsaintcecilia]

I dunno if I'd call them "superior," but Pokemon are totally different from animals. Even though a lot of them look a lot alike. But yeah, flying on a big Flying-Type Pokemon is usually the fastest way to get around!

[lordofthefries]

She's not opening the door for you? She always opens the door for me when I come back home. Maybe if you tell you you're hungry, she'll let you in.

[That always works for Sasha, but then again, Sasha's probably the only person here who actually likes the Mom lady.]

What's a vehicle?

[That sounds like a big scary word.]

[onebetter]

[ He'll just demonstratively go and knock on Mom's door again, to no avail. Mom really wants him to start his Pokémon journey, thank you very much. ]

You know, like a car... a motorbike... a truck... Any of those.

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[shiro2hero]

[That's... that's a familiar name. All of it is. Galaxy Garrison <>and the young man's name. But distantly. It's been a long time since any of them talked about that place.]

[He turns the video on -- and, sorry, James, for the sight of the man on screen. Because the Sevii Island sun has given him some color back, and Lance had dyed the white fluff of hair the colors of the Lions months back.]

[But the rest probably looks the same.]

I know you, don't I? You... you were in Keith's class?

[onebetter]

[ No.

Just... just no.

James feels a strong urge to just turn his video device off, tuck his head into his sleeping bag and stay there.

He is not looking at legendary pilot Takashi Shirogane with a rainbow (??) hairstyle. He's just not. It feels as if every single Paladin had known that James spent the last three years desperately waiting for them and gave their best to be as un-warrior-like as humanly possible. James is having a minor - or maybe major - crisis here. ]

Officer Shirogane.

[ HE'LL SALUTE ANYWAY, even if his soul feels hollow doing it. ]

Yes, sir. After your... leave of absence, I have been promoted to lead the MFE Ares squadron, a series of short-range battleships incorporating Altean technology. At your service.

[tookashirototheknee]

I have no idea who that woman was, because she's way too calm to be my mom.

[Here's a face that you probably never expected to see outside of a historical vid. His hair's shaggier, he's got a scar on his cheek, and his glasses seem to have migrated to his sister.

He's waving from what looks like a science lab, wearing a long, white lab coat over a nerdy space t-shirt.]

I'm Matt, also Garrison, but no idea what my rank would even be anymore. Junior science officer sounds best.

[No shit, Sherlock. The entire damn school knew you.]

[onebetter]

Matthew Holt, I know. I work with Commander Holt.

[ James nods, seriously. It really is a convention for people lost in space around here, that's for sure. Commander Holt would at least be overjoyed, if only James could get the message back to him. ]

Actually, your mother is also at the Garrison currently.