Maximillian Wright's Story

An Ambassadorial Apprentice was a young person who joined Attica’s Ambassadorial Corps for credit, to build a future in, or because their guardians wanted them to. It was the lowest ranking position in the Ambassadorial Corps, but it was still important in some ways nonetheless, especially because the apprentices often accompanied senior ambassadors. Maximillian wasn’t certain that he would stay with the Ambassadorial Corps in the future, but he had been given an important assignment by both his mentor and his mother. Snorkledork, his Piplup, made a noise, snapping Maximillian out of his thoughts.

”What is it, Snorks?” Maximillian asked the Piplup he had been bonding with in this city for the past few weeks. His voice was flat, and his eyes were bored from sitting here for hours. Maximillian’s question was answered when he followed Piplup’s gaze to a starship entering the port they were told they would be landing in.

”They’re finally here!” Max’s face re-energized. He grinned, eyes wide as he watched the heavy runabout that had finally arrived over three hours after he said it would landed. Aboard that starship, his mentor and the delegation with him were! He knew that wasn’t the only vessel from experience, and that this one probably came from a larger ship; maybe not even a carrier, as most vessels have a compliment of some sort in runabouts or shuttles. Out in space, there was likely a flotilla or larger of vessels using part of their multi-component stealth system.

The runabout docked, and a walkway ejected from it as its door dematerialized. From it, Ambassador Algo Wabia, her automated unit escorts, and the 2 other members of their 4-person delegation came. Ambassador Algo Wabia was a humanoid with healthy beige skin that had discrete white markings, and she had a single large bundle of flesh and muscle (similar to what the Togruta in Star Wars have) that was colored white and blue fall from her head. She was tall for a Paloran female at 6 feet, and her powerful physique was one you would often find in a warrior. The Ambassador had a past as a soldier, and always kept a retractable blade concealed in a spatial container rune on her wrist that she would activate when a battle came, and her exercise routine explained why the Ambassador still had that powerful physique.

Maximillian waved to his mentor, the woman giving a nod to the boy who ran towards her and her delegation.

”Max! How are you?” She chuckled as the boy gave her a hug. wrapping an arm around him. ”I don’t think you’ll ever be as tall as I am.” She teased.

”Whatever.” Max scoffed, joining her in her formation as they walked to the meeting place.

”I wonder which meeting we’re having first.” The blue eyed boy looked to his Piplup, who blew a bubble at him so he would pop it. He chuckled softly, and continued walking, Piplup by his side.

OOC Clarification: There is an 8-ship escort flotilla in space, cloaked into an artificial dimension that allows them to view and move around in their origin dimension because the artificial dimension ‘vibes’ with them. The largest vessel in it is a destroyer (or maybe the light carrier), as Ruula is a relatively peaceful planet. It contains a destroyer, a light carrier, a capital gunship, 3 frigates, and 2 capital gunships.

An elder man with a peppy Growlithe by his side walked into the room, carrying a backpack that seemed a bit large for his size and age. Living on the plains and practicing the old ways kept a body strong, though. "Welcome, welcome. I'm so glad we finally have a buyer for this stuff. I've smoked peace pipes for a while, and let me tell you, this is some of the better stuff I've had. Not as good as the small batch, traditional stuff, but it should work. Do we have time for a short demonstration of its...medicinal properties, or should we just get to how to roll and smoke it? This ain't like tobacco, younguns. And of course, we expect fair payment for a quality product."

”That didn’t take long.” Ambassador Algo Wabia said, giving a bow in greeting to the elderly plainsman before them. She smiled as she rose back up, watching the micro expressions of the man. The Ambassador didn’t sense anything misleading, and, according to his telepathic message, neither did Maximillian. Maximillian taking notice of a lack of being misled when they weren’t being misled wasn’t the greatest success story, because he was still learning. There was no guarantee Max would know if someone was lying in the future.

”Payment will not be a problem. We are Atticans. I am Senior Ambassador Algo Wabia, youngun’, and I am older than I look.” The Ambassador said playfully. She nodded to Max to speak after she was done.

”This shall be a transaction of whole plants, and your latest harvest of kush.” He said, blushing when he remembered that he didn’t have to announce what they were doing to most of those they interacted with in an official capacity.

”An example of your work would be acceptable. Our next meeting is not for a while.” Maximillian said, looking to his mentor who soon spoke.

”Ease up, Max. You’re too stiff. You need to relax for these kinds of things. Be warm, and inviting.” Algo motioned for the man to showcase the product, for politeness for the most part, knowing that it was likely that back at home they knew how to use it themselves. Personally, she hadn’t a clue, and Algo Wabia would like to have a clue, especially if it helped treat the symptoms of some of her more serious issues. The Attican citizen and employee hadn’t ever before used marijuana, despite knowing its advantages, but now she was all for it; why, she wondered, if not for the relatively lax legislation on all but shipment, and not for anything else - perhaps it was simply her stubborness showing as usual.

”I believe we would be interested in a permanent shipping schedule. Our legislation for shipping has already been modified, our product ideas are already prepared, and research to do with the plants themselves has already been planned. We would also be interested in those ‘small batch’ products you spoke of. They could do well for our super-premium tier, a tier above the premium product my sources tell me you’re offering. If the premium product is as good or better than kush in its normal state, then we will certainly love the idea of small batches being grown or shipped to us in addition to the other products of yours.” The Ambassador spoke in her usual calm, deep voice, and adjusted her robes. She looked over her shoulder at the other two members of her delegation, wondering if they wished to speak. The one on the left shook his head, and the one on the right waved his hand to dismiss the thought. Telepathy-granting implants were useful, but most of them still used body language quite often to signal things.

"As it so happens," Heywood started as he fumbled with the projector, "marijuana has been shown to be possibly beneficial in treating a variety of maladies, and hemp has many other utilitarian applications as well. With your tech, who knows what else you'll think to use it for? But first, let's show you how to roll a proper joint. I've got a few papers here with me..."

Practiced, weathered hands expertly rolled up the loose leaf into a tightly packed bundle resembling a cigarette. "Some people extract the oil from the plant and use that to achieve the desired effect. But before selling you the small-batch premium stuff, I want to see you sell out of that first shipment to ensure there's consumer demand on your end."

The Growlithe gave a loud yip, emphasizing the old man's last point. "Do you have the payment that we agreed on with you? If so, we can trade right now and our business is concluded."

”Yes, our technology is useful in that regard.” The Ambassador said, her reply less engaged than her other comments as she watched the man roll a joint, memorizing it. Her eyes focused in on the fluent movement of his fingers, mind working to copy them down like notes she would never forget. The muscles of her lips moved to the left a little, and she got a little closer, watching the final step. Algo returned to her position as soon as the man was done.

”I think there will be lots of people who will like it! Medical marijuana has been something people have used for a while, and there are lots of stressed out people. Plus, there are other things it treats.” Maximillian said in his usual bubbly manner, giving a grin to the plainsman who had ventured out here to meet them for their first meeting in this place. The ‘office’, actually just a really, really nice hotel room, was a temporary renting, but they were going to make use of it for both meetings.

Algo stepped forward, waving over a spatial storage mark on her wrist, a flat, diamond-shaped metal device with a lighter gray on the outside, a darker gray on the inside, and several things that looked like buttons on it materializing in her six fingered right hand that had noticeable webbing on it. She pressed a button, a full-colored holographic screen with numbers and words on it displaying to be scrolled through with her finger, a part of it pushed.

”Press your thumb to this area here,” Algo held it up to Heywood, ”and our transaction will be complete. You can prepare the shipment, and then hail the hauler that will be arriving shortly to pick up the shipment. If this is successful enough, you may have to expand your operation to meet our needs.” She said.

"Got the shipment with me." The Growlithe yapped and obediently started dragging in a medium-size crate by the straps, large enough to require two people to move safely. Whatever these Pokémon were, they were clearly very intelligent and capable, given how they could be seen all around the city working alongside humans. "I don't much understand how my thumb could be used to complete a transaction...I'm more for the old ways myself. But if this is how it has to be done, then so be it."

He stood up, took a deep breath and pressed his thumb to the digital signer. It was done.

Emiko Touko landed, wheezing from the rush. "All right, Unfezant, return. Now to give Burgh his marching orders. Knowing him, he'd likely favor Sticky Webs so our guys can safely unload on them from a distance."

Where else would Touko be? Still directing traffic and giving orders, this time barking into her Xtransceiver at an old friend.

"I don't care if you're having the shits right now, get your ass to Virbank and help Roxie, I am not having some of my best backup bottled up!" She was clearly channeling her inner boss bitch as she shouted at the troops to start moving up to gain ground and engage the NRE forces, who had brought knives to a gun fight...and the UPL had orders to shoot to kill, forcing the enemy Pokémon to choose between protecting their Trainers and being effective combat units.

"Burgh, get your big boy boots on, let's show them they picked the wrong side in this fight!" After giving everyone their marching orders, she moved to hold the Skyarrow Bridge, the gateway to the eastern part of Unova. The Striaton leaders were strong, but not as strong as the Shadow Triad...and she couldn't bear the thought of the enemy getting all the way to her home town.

Touko biked quickly across the Skyarrow Bridge, retreating to Pinwheel Forest to establish a command post deep in the woods. The stage was set, now everyone just had to play their part and hope she started her first war on the right foot.

Emiko Touko couldn't believe it. Her side was...winning? "I guess that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket! Melaine may be amazingly strong, but everyone else is a PUSH OVER! Fire teams, move up, they're just about to break!" Then something came on the monitor in one of the Nacrene warehouses where she had set up her command post, getting a good view of the action as well as directing logistical traffic and protecting the east end of the Skyarrow Bridge from a surprise attack. "Wait, no, not the fact that they're flying in using super strong birds, I can get Skyla to worry about that. I'm talking about the dude by the ice cream shop, he's way too calm about this. Get a team over there, assume hostile. I want him alive."

Stay calm, Touko. It's just like a normal battle. You've got this, she repeated to herself, one hand on her chest as she rode the edge between exhilaration and over-stimulation.

Emiko Touko was positively giddy, watching the glorious sight of victory unfold! "Burgh. They're retreating. Mop up any stragglers, take captives if you can. James, grab Allen, you two are with me. I'm going in after them. We have a chance to end this war right here before more people get killed."

Wren's ears perked up at the comment, causing him to turn around from the path he was walking. What was this war the stranger was talking about?

Ahem, excuse me. What did you just say?

he inquired, lifting his hand to his chin in puzzled repose.

Touko skidded to a stop on the bridge as some random citizen asked her about some sort of war going on.

"Wherever you've been, you'd better get back there. Some Diancie went all power trippy and established her own freaking Diamond Domain right over in the harbor there, and recently declared war on us. If you're a strong Trainer that can take out the Shadow Obelisks that have popped up and are juicing her up to where not even I'm a match for her, that's great, but for now I have holdouts to mop up and capture. I'm trying to rendezvous with a couple of my friends so we can strike at the enemy territory, so with all respect..."

And then she just gave Wren a hip check out of her way before continuing to the Castelia pier to meet up with James and Allen.

"Ah, James, it's been a while. Good to see you've been well. Who's your friend and why does he look like he wants to battle me? We do not have time for this, we can't just let the NRE retreat to lick their wounds and prepare for the next attack. I managed to catch them by surprise this time by having the troops use guns in addition to their Pokémon, but they won't fall for that again."

Wren Harrington stood in surprise, stunned by the sudden interposition. Not quite an experienced trainer just yet, he stepped back a bit as the commotion unfolded.

Yes! Well, thank you ma'am!

he stammered, unsure of which direction to go. Looking eastward, he turned on his heel and shouted over his shoulder,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be back soon!

came his echoing response before he disappeared off into the wilderness.