Prom 2023 - Back to the Falls!

[indigo_league]

What’s this? There’s glitter in the air. What’s this? There’s dresses everywhere.

Oh right. It’s Prom time.



From the afternoon on, on Friday the 7th of April, your characters will all be arriving at Tohjo Falls via the transport arranged for by Lance. He did end up borrowing a few of those Corviknights from the JKBA, but there are also several of you who will find themselves flown to the Falls by one of Lance’s Dragonites or Charizards. Please give them a poffin if you are able, they are all very good boys and girls.


Your characters will be set down on a tiled driveway (more like flyway, Ha) in front of an impressive-looking villa. Those who have been here before might note that the villa has gotten a bit of a renovation and an update. Turns out that when Team Rocket kidnaps you and keeps you captive in your own home for several weeks while wrecking the house and digging Arceus knows how many basements beneath the house, you might be entitled to some compensation.

And from the looks of things, Lance and co used that compensation to turn their little vacation home back into something where they can relax in peace.

After you arrive, you’ll be greeted by Lance or one of the other Elite Four members, who will give you a quick run-down. You are free to explore the house and surrounding area at your leisure. Please respect their privacy and do not go into any of the locked rooms. You’ll find your accommodations behind the house, so feel free to head there and unpack. Oh, and, there will be a little announcement later, so if you could be in the dining room for that, that’d be stellar.

Well, off you go!




WELCOME (BACK) TO THE FALLS

THE SIGHTS The Villa As mentioned by Lance and Co, parts of the villa are off-limits to guests. Not to worry, there is nothing nefarious hiding there this time. It's just that those rooms are the Elite Four's private quarters, and they'd rather not have people go through their underwear drawers! Other areas that are off-limits include the kitchen, but this is just for practical reasons; wouldn't want to get in the way of the cooks preparing lunch and dinner. Still, even with these off-limits areas, there is still plenty to see. Library On the upper floor, there is a decently sized Library for anyone who needs a bit of peace and quiet. The books within are part of the Elite Four's personal book collections. There are a lot of books related to each members' preferred Pokemon type, as well as a very sizeable collection of books on Pokemon Battling, strategies and counter-strategies, in addition to a good number of autobiographies from famous (former) gym leaders and Elite Four members. Their books aren't all business though! There is also plenty of fiction available, as well as non-fiction related to the Elite Four's personal hobbies. The books are not marked, so it's hard to tell which book belongs to which E4 member, so have fun trying to figure out who added the books on glassblowing to the collection, and to who the knitting books belong to. Gallery Also on the top floor is a gallery that contains the many prizes each Elite Four member has won over the years, as well as some interesting artefacts they've found during their lives. Ever wanted to see Lance's first badges? Or perhaps Bruno's weightlifting trophies? And wow, looks like Will participated in some contests back in the day! Okay, those things probably aren't worth hours of visiting, but there is also a collection of photos of various legendary pokemon, as well as some items related to them, such as a feather that is said to have belonged to Ho-oh, a scale that was left behind after Groudon and Kougre fought and could it be true? One of Hoopa's hoops itself? Fascinating! Dining Room Obviously where characters can dine. Unfortunately, the dining room itself is not big enough to fit all characters at once, so they've also set up some tables outside among the tents, and people are asked to check back if there is no space. When not in use to have dinner in, the room is left open and available to anyone who'd like to use it. Ball Room Now that prom night is finally here, your characters may enter in what was previously forbidden. Yes, beyond these doors lay a mysterious land of, uh... tables and a dance floor. Listen, there is only so many ways you can describe a ballroom, okay! There is a central floor where people may dance if they so desire, and around that spot, plenty of tables and chairs have been set up for you to rest your tired dancing feet at. Though there is no big dinner served at prom, there are staff flitting around with refreshments and canapes and, fitting the style of the villa, tapas. There are, of course, also flutes of champagne and wine and other adult drinks. Note the emphasise on adult, there. Don't expect to con these waiters into giving you something if you are underaged. (instead, try and find a trusted, untrustworthy adult friend. It's okay. We won't tell your mom. Pool Outside, of course, is the pool. This hasn't changed that much from previous visits here. It's... well... it's a pool! What more can we say? It's a good place to have some fun and play around, but if you are more into relaxation or perhaps even catching some rays, there's also plenty of space around the pool with plenty of deck chairs available to you. It is still only April, so to make sure nobody catches pneumonia in the pool, the water has been heated. Please do not heat the water further. You know what we are talking about! The Accomodations Those who have visited before may remember that the Villa doesn't exactly have enough bedrooms to house all promgoers. In fact, there have been years where you just kipped on the floor in the garage-like area. Maybe Lance is trying to match the standards set by previous organisers. Maybe there was a little extra money left over after the renovations to plurge, but this year, you won't be expected to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag! Instead, behind the Villa, beyond the pool area, there is a field of tents. And these aren't your basic little travelling tents. These tents look pretty luxurious. True, you will still be sharing them with a few others, but at least you'll be sleeping in something like a regular bed. There are also some chairs and benches dotted around the area, where you can sit and relax, as well as a few open tents that have tables and benches inside of them where one could eat breakfast or dinner. (And, of course, there are tents available too where you can take care of the, ah, less glamourous needs of the human body. No need to bring your own TP either, it will be provided!) The tents house four people each. If you, for whatever reason, want to cram more people inside, Lance will be a little startled but will allow it. If you try to grab a tent all to yourself, Lance will give you a very disappointed look. The Surroundings If your character isn't the type to hang out for hours by the pool or spend their entire Saturday already getting ready for prom, why not go exploring a bit? The area around Tohjo Falls is normally off-limits to people, after all. This might be your only chance to see it. (unless we come back again here next year) While exploring, your character has the option of trekking into the forests behind the villa or descending into the cave that houses the waterfalls this area has been named for. Wild pokemon can be found in each area, though please be careful! As few people visit this location, the pokemon here are very unused to humans. Please always bring a strong pokemon with you when you go exploring! And who knows, if you keep an eye out, you might run into an unfamiliar pokemon or two... Forest (lvl 20-45) Charjabug, Corvisquire, Venipede, Sizzlipede, Fletchinder, Greedent*, Whirlipede*, Nincada*, Flapple**, Appletun**, Talonflame**, Ninjask**, Shiinotic**, Sprigatito**, Centiskorch***, Vikavolt***, Corviknight***, Trevenant***, Scolipede*** Cave (lvl 20-45) Sandshrew, Woobat, Rolycoly, Noibat, Roggenrola, Aron*, Glimmet*, Sandslash*, Rhyhorn*, Carkol*, Noivern**, Swoobat**, Boldore**, Fuecoco**, Lairon***, Rhydon***, Glimora*** Falls (lvl 20-45) (Fishing/Surfing) Qwilfish, Staryu, Arrokuda, Wishiwashi, Finneon*, Skrelp*, Lumineon*, Relicanth*, Starmie**, Overqwill**, Quaxly**, Seadra**, Gyrados***, Barraskewda***, Dragalge***, Kingdra***

---

THE ANNOUNCEMENT


Once everybody has arrived and has been given some time to unpack, it's time for the announcement Lance has been teasing. What is this unique opportunity he mentioned? Will this have anything to do with prom itself? Has Lance conned us all into attending a Tupperware party?

In any case, you all gather in the dining room. The Elite Four is gathered at the front of the room, Lance taking the center stage. Will is standing next to him. For a moment Lance just glances out over the crowd, as if checking that everybody is here, before he clears his throat and begins.

"First of all, let me say that I am very happy to see you all here. It's been a few years since we last were able to greet you in our home, and here is to hoping things won't end as badly as last time.

But that is not what this announcement is about. Rather, there is going to be some changes within the Elite Four. Changes we'd like to make you a part of.

A few months ago, Will announced to us that he will be stepping down from his position as Elite Four member to--" Lance seems to pause for a moment, looking at Will, "--pursue opportunities elsewhere!

Of course, we cannot leave his spot unoccupied, so in the last few months, we've been hard at work vetting and narrowing down the choices for who will replace him. And finally, we've been able to narrow it down to just two remaining candidates. It's been a struggle, let me tell you! We've had so many qualified and incredible trainers who wanted to join us, but we believe we've found the best two.

And that is where you come in!

As I said, we have been able to narrow down the field to two final choices. And what I'd like to offer you this weekend, is an opportunity to take an active part in deciding who gets to be our newest member. You all, after all, have proven over the years that you not only care about pokemon, but you've also grown to care about this world, often helping us out when situations were dire. We believe you, as much as anyone, have a right to determine the future of this region.

In just a moment, I'd like to introduce you to our two final applicants. I can already assure you that they are both excellent trainers, and very skilled battlers, as well as individuals who we believe we can rely on in a bad situation. What we'd like if for you to cast the final vote on who takes over Will's position.

Throughout this weekend, they will make themselves available for questions. Please ask them anything you wish to know, and please also discuss the manner among yourself if you wish. Whichever person you choose, know that we already feel we could work and depend on either of them. At the end of this meeting, we'll distribute voting slips to everyone. These cannot be replaced, so please hold onto them, and once you've made your choice, please submit them to the vote box in front of the Ballroom before the start of the dance. Then, during the party on Sunday, we will reveal who will become our newest members.

Now, I've said quite enough, so let me introduce you to our two final applicants--"

The dining room doors open, and two figures stride in, walking to the front to join Lance and the other Elite Four members.




"Please welcome Bede from the Galar region and Malva from the Kalos Region"

---

Not sure what is going on? Why not check out our prom FAQ

Comments

[4play]

I don't think it's wise to disregard somebody's just because of their age, but the rest I very much agree with. Props to the brat for having the skills and will to get there, but this isn't supposed to be a training camp.

[He scoffs.]

What are they going to do with all those he'll inevitably screw over while he 'learns'? "Oh, sorry your life-long dream was busted and you were told to Get Good or Try again in your next life, Old Coot, but at least it will help the kid grow!" ? That's not even a good joke!

[IV isn't laughing, that's for sure. After a moment he shoots Armstrong a look that promises nothing but trouble.]

Should we let the Higher-Ups know that there might be a leak?

[motherofallomelettes]

[Armstrong nods in agreement with IV's surmisal. The sheer amount of blind acceptance this ill-behaved nepotism-hire seems to be getting is frustrating in the extreme, so it's nice to have someone else with actual skepticism to vent to.]

"You know the stakes get worse for the whole learning thing right? The Gym Leaders act like the equivalent of Old-Western Sheriffs for the Regions, responding to things above and beyond the scope of threats the Jennies are able to handle, and the Elite Four are meant to be the level beyond that. Can you really see that little primadonna handling high-stakes situations like hostage situations or terrorist attacks? God help the poor bastards that have to put their lives in his hands, and God help the other members of his team if they have to rely on him for support when the chips are down."

[Feeling the heat of being pissed-off welling-up in him Armstrong reaches into his back pocket to retrieve his cigars, but realizes that he can't smoke in the current setting and simply rests back into his seat in a state of even further anger.]

[4play]

[Pretty pissed, aren't we? IV watches the older man work himself up into a right huff with an amused glint in his eyes, but says nothing. The difference in tempers between his two 'partners' is something he is definitely planning to keep in mind and use for his own, though.

Armstrong's bad habit of ignoring certain questions really is annoying, though. So the teen sighs and shakes his head.]

Don't go turning on the sprinklers on all of us by lighting one up now, please. I'm not ready to get wet.

[He is tempted to make a joke about Armstrong hating wet-behind-the-ears kids, but decides not to poke the bear - this time.]

His inexperience might be a wrench in the ways of the elites of this place. It will be interesting to see if they can use this chance to grow, or if they'll stumble for a while.

[Translation: we're in public, but this kid bringing down the rest of his team might still be good for us.]

[motherofallomelettes]

"From what I've seen I hold nothing but contempt for the Pokemon League, but it's still disappointing to see such a clear lack of critical thinking from our fellow castaways. You'd think with the shotgun spread of worlds they come from there'd be a variety enough of experiences to be able to make good judgements regardless of what ambitions we're trying to bring about. Instead it just seems people are seeing a kid and going awwww. It's frankly ridiculous."

[His cigars stowed back in his trouser pocket, Armstrong leans-in close enough to IV to ensure neither of them would be overheard.]

"I do think you're right that there's a rat in the ranks. I don't know who else is a Rocket here though, so I'd tread carefully on that. We can't know if they've just got loose lips because they're a dumbass, or that they're deliberately sharing things. If there is someone who's passing notes, so-to-speak, then we're going to have to be extra careful that we don't end up in whatever correspondences they're leaking."

[Leaning back up to his normal seating position, Armstrong goes back to speaking normally.]

"From what I've seen though, this one's a bust. Any time an election is going-off you want to get working on your campaign months ahead of time, so both of these people were playing things like rank amateur's by waiting until the last minute. That's just sloppy, and our people were somehow even sloppier... which is saying something."

[4play]

[IV is tempted that the league elites claimed that they did vet the candidates out beforehand, so the 'kid' should be up to snuff - at least in the skills and knowledge department, if nothing else. IV suspects that Bede has his fair share of experience in doing pokemon fights as well, but he still knows too little to make a good call on that.

Still, it's amusing watching the other man get that upset over the kid's age. Somebody is being clearly jealous here.]

That's comparing pears and apples. [He shrugs his shoulders. He has been doing that a whole lot since earlier today.] Think of it more like sports than politics. Both want to be the last one picked to still get onto the cool team~!

[While he's gesturing widely to empathize the silliness of that idea he also flashes Armstrong a hand sign that implies that he's understood what the other is meaning. Not the right place to go in depth discussing Rocket things. They will have another chance.]

Have you considered what else you are going to do while we are here? I'm planning on using the chance to go hunt for some more monsters for my team before socializing later on.

[motherofallomelettes]

[Armstrong's level of frustration stemmed more from the lack of critical thinking demonstrated by those he would have thought to be his peers than from the accolades piled on to the nepotistic half-pint, but he'd considered this entire operation a loss from the time the Rocket announcement went out so it felt pretty on-brand for what he was coming to expect of his criminal "superiors". Discounting the Rocket connection, though, the event itself had been quite a pleasant one and it had certainly been nice to take a break from listening to police scanners morning, noon, and night.]

"Hmmm... there are a lot of accommodations here, not counting the weird fact that we're in tents instead of proper rooms, so it would honestly just be nice to relax someplace nice. I can already guess that everyone who feels like being rowdy is going to hit the pool, so I think I'll pass on that. The library could be nice, but I've been doing pretty much nothing but hitting the books for the past month straight so that doesn't sound ideal either. I might check out the gallery or take a walk in the woods if nothing else."

[Of course getting five-star cuisine tailor made by an in-house chef sounds like a fantastic time after existing off of cafeteria food, but you can't exactly say that you're idea of a good weekend is eating without sounding like a weirdo.]

"Speaking of our accommodations... who'd you end up getting for roommates?"

[4play]

Maybe they had some problems with guests trashing the rooms before. [IV smiles vaguely as he shrugs his shoulders dismissively.] Or maybe they just forgot to hire a cleaning crew in time. Or they thought it'd be more romantic.

[Honestly, he'd had way weirder accommodations in his run across Asia for whatever tournaments. Which doesn't mean that their current accommodations are all fine and dandy by his standards, but they are easy enough to accept ....once he got over some unexpected complications.]

I asked a girl who helped me a couple of times to be my date, and some others. She and I come from the same place.

[Not quite the full truth, but he doesn't feel like confusing Armstrong with talk of alternate universes and how they found out about it.]

I take it you came with Ol'Whitey?

[motherofallomelettes]

[The referencing of Monsoon as Ol' Whitey gets an amused smile out of Armstrong. He's used to most people knowing him by that distinctive grin of his but, then again, he's also used to that being about the only organic pieces of the man there were to recognize in the first place. Having him as a wholly flesh-and-blood individual again certainly brought the sheer paleness to a whole other level, so it'd be both interesting and amusing to see how many people end up recognizing him on that front now.]

"Given the attitude that seems to permeate the Pokémon League I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't want "outworlders" sleeping in the main house. Sounds a bit dramatic I know, but they pulled exactly that crap on us castaways with the Breeder Association. We were closed-out of membership there for years and, even now that it's opened for us to join, we're only allowed partial privileges. Basically, they want us to sit in the back of the bus because we're not originally from here."

[Armstrong looks at IV curiously.]

"So you've got another person from your world now too eh? I'd imagine that could be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, having someone to actually reminisce with is something for which there's no substitute. No matter how close this place might get to our own homes there's inevitably going to be things here that make you feel a million miles away from home, and having someone who understands that is certainly a blessing. On the other hand, if there's things from your home that you're trying to leave behind... then having someone who brings all that with them isn't something I'd consider ideal. Hopefully it's the former for you rather than the latter."

[4play]

Something like that.

[It's hard to miss Monsoon's albinism when you hang out often enough with him to notice how it affects him - it's one of the reason why IV never chose to pick on the other's abnormal love for sunglasses; he might be an ass, but even his standards are above picking on a hereditary disorder. If anything, IV harbors a secret respect for Monsoon's ability to not let his eye-catching looks and the other side-effects get in his way.

He looks at Armstrong in a strange way for a second before he turns away, his own reddish eyes following one of the other guests.]

We are from different continents, but we're both familiar with the same metropolis, so that's probably the best from both cases. We can learn from and lean on each other without getting in each other's space.

[Duelists are competitive, after all, especially when both are also some kind of show(wo)men. Putting two together in a close space is much like having two big cats meet - they either get along really well really quickly, or the opposite will be the case.]

It makes kind of sense to me, at least with the Breeder's League. Us 'otherworldlers' are a damn mixed bag from who knows how many places, it's rather natural that they'd want to give some individual test runs before handing out unlimited access to their precious club.

How did you come to know Whitey?

[motherofallomelettes]

"Is your fellow castaway a Duelist as well? I've bumped into a couple of those since arriving to the prom here, so they must be a pretty heavy fixture of your world. Bumped-into one of them literally punching a pillow in my quarters... he's one of my tentmates apparently, God helps us all.

[Armstrong shakes his head. "The Chazz", as the youth had called himself, was certainly a character. There was a better chance of Hell freezing over than of Armstrong ever using the ridiculous monicker, but he was definitely entertaining.]

"Oh Monsoon? He's actually the most straightforward of my subordinates in terms of how we came to work together. While there's complicated networks of shared deployments and cooalition work for the majority of my Winds of Destruction Monsoon simply put in an application for the position. He had previously worked for some big-hitters overseas and came over to work for the winnning team when the opportunity presented itself."

[Thinking on the happy accident that had delivered him his Ninjitsu-enthusiast colleague brings an amused smile to Armstrong's face.]

"He'd gotten banged-up pretty badly, so World Marshal were the ones putting him back-together already. With him wanting to come aboard one of our subsidiaries it was a match made in heaven."

[4play]

She is. And I'm not surprised, most in our world are at least at some point in their life. It's a very popular sport.

[It's also why they need to make a clear distinction between casual Duelists and those who do it seriously like a full-time occupation.]

Yuzu happens to be an 'Action Duelist' while I am a classical 'Pro' one. Casual Duelists are pretty much your run off the mill people who go skiing in their free time, compared to dedicated Olympics athletes. [Hopefully the explanation and comparison should make things a little easier to understand. IV tilts his head lightly and smiles, as if he just heard a great joke.]

Which one did you run into? It seems that there are quite a lot of Duelists around, although many seem to be from different times and places. ....and somehow I can imagine Monsoon doing just that. He doesn't have one tense fiber in his body, does he?

[motherofallomelettes]

"It was a young and quite self-important young man named Chazz Princeton. He was quite insistent that I should know how important he is. I don't think our meeting went quite the way he thought it would though, so he's at least been a docile tentmate from that point on. Last I saw Monsoon was still having fun messing with him. He really does seem to be gleaning endless entertainment from the people we've been running into. Utterly incorrigible."

[Armstrong chuckles a bit at his colleague's childishness, but then begins to ponder IV's words. If duelists were something akin to prize fighters than Martial Arts must be wildly popular where IV is from. He was aware that they were much more prevalent in many Asian countries than they'd been in the U.S. but they must really have taken-off if the majority of the population did it at one point or the other. Outside of the explosion of popularity they'd seen in the 80s and 90s martial arts were more a tool to learn self-defense or a way to stay in-shape than a form of public entertainment but, from the sounds of it, it was big enough in IV's world to have multiple classes of them. How bizarre.]

"Dueling must really be an epidemic in your world. If more people duel than don't I'd imagine whoever handles the marketing and merchandising rights to the Dueling circuits must be raking in an ungodly profit. Is it like that worldwide, or is it mostly in particular regions?"

[4play]

Oh, Chazz! He's quite funny to mess with, isn't he? Don't be too mean to him.

[He is smirking, though, because IV himself is quite fond of messing a little with the boy in question. He is entertaining, in a so-far-good way. So he can't blame Monsoon at all.]

At least he's having fun. That's better than just getting frustrated, right?

[Another smirk. Watching others get frustrated and mad is a lot more entertaining to him now that IV isn't on the receiving end of it.]

It is. It's worldwide, and they did that back when there was still a monopoly, too. Nowadays there's several bigger and smaller companies who are all fighting for their share of the market. I'm using a customized Duel Disk from a barely known specialist company, for example.

[motherofallomelettes]

[He smiles. Chazz certainly has gotten around hasn't he. With an attitude like he had it's hardly surprising that he'd linger in the minds of those who met him, but it pleases Armstrong to know that IV's mind had also immediately gone to taking the piss out of the young man.]

"I wasn't. Considering he's staying in my tent I had to lay some boundaries though. I'm pleased to say they seemed effective though, as he's stopped puffing his chest out and trying to act like a big man every three seconds now."

[Shaking his head with a look amusement, Armstrong signals to one of the waiters to bring over a fresh drink.]

"If it's that big then I'd imagine there has to be some major competition throughout the different markets. There different industry leaders in the different countries or has a particularly big player managed to squeeze the others out? I know with ours there's only a handful of names that rule the roost in terms of holographic and virtual technology, with ArmsTech being the big name Stateside. They've got the U.S. on-lock but the minute you go overseas it's like territory in the mob. Different countries and different cities are solidly the domain of their given megacorporation."

[4play]

Hopefully you didn't crush his ego too badly. [IV doubts it, though. Chazz seems to be a lot of things, impressively resilient most of all.]

How he decided that he wants to room with you two out of all options still beats me, though.

[He definitely hadn't felt any desire to. They might have the same goals, but there's only so much of the two older men IV is willing to endure at any given time of the day. Big egos needing their own space, and all that, he figures.

He watches Armstrong get himself another drink with a look of amusement.]

Kaiba Corp used to hold most of the global monopoly for a long time. They're also the inventor of most of the used technology, so that's of little surprise. That genius is generations in the past now, though, and a lot of others have caught up. I never paid too much attention to what's what with the different producers. [He shrugs his shoulders.] Like I said, my own set is a custom-built.

[motherofallomelettes]

"We didn't mess with him too badly. He mostly seems upset at our fourth tentmate, who claims to have been a literal God in their world. I know this place takes all sorts, but I'm definitely going to have to draw the line at that. I've seen too many people who claim to be Gods back in my own world to give credence to some kid coming in and telling me that I'm totally dealing with the Real McCoy this time. I'm sure I'll be spending plenty more time with them... whether I like it or not, so who knows how crazy the crap they get up to will be. If it gets too bad I'll make them sleep outside though, so at least myself and Monsoon can both know that there's a line the nonsense will stop at."

[Hearing IV talk about Kaiba Corp sparks an odd feeling of familiarity in him. He could've sworn he'd heard that same name somewhere on the network but, if they're pretty much the uncontested megacorporation of his world, then it's unlikely they're simultaneously bopping around here in this bizarre purgatory. Still, in the event they are it would definitely be something worth keeping his ear to the ground on.]

"From the sound of things they remind me of Hughes Aircraft Company. It was founded and owned by a brilliant inventor of the same name but, less than a decade after his passing, the whole company ended up getting sold to an American Motor Company that did nothing but piss away the lead he had on his competitors. Nowadays that company isn't even a frontrunner in the market, and pretty much every other company has caught-up or surpassed them. The big leaps forward in tech that he pioneered still moved the whole industry forward though, so he's still a household name almost a half-century later. It a similar kind of deal with these Kaiba Corp folks then?"

[4play]

Hughes? Like Howard Hu- A, yeah. That. Or them, more likely. [He saw a documentary about that once. IV thinks about it for a moment, thinking about how much what little he still remembers about that guy could be compared to what other little he really knows about the raise and fall of the once biggest singular manufacturer of Duel Monsters.]

.....You'd be better served asking one of my brothers about that, though I can honestly don't tell you which one to go to. Most likely V, technology and science are more of his thing than mine's and M- III's. [Whoops, almost said Michael there again.] From what little I remember it wasn't quite that fast a crash once the original brothers were gone, but I guess it was just hard to keep up with the pace they set for so long. Kinda hard to replace somebody like Leonardo Da Vinci kinda thing, yes?

[Another helpless shrug of his shoulders, because hell, IV is only playing the game, not one of its developers.]

They got a head start, but between monopoly laws and ambitious competition they didn't manage to hold it forever. That's pretty much it. Now what's that about you also rooming with a god?