[Okay, yes, this is... weird. Very weird. If he's a newly arrived otherworlder, when would he have time to established ties with Giovanni... or whoever else 'Boss' was?
And then, suddenly, it all falls into place. The kid isn't an otherworlder. Not at all. He's a Rocket from another faraway base--a plant in their little gang, to keep an eye on them and report back what they're doing, because they'd got ambitious and cocky and had provoked the reformation of the PGC and that was enough for the admins to risk sending someone in to pose as another otherworlder so they'd take him in.
And Steven... Steven would have fell for it if he hadn't heard the kid talking to 'Boss' on his gear.
He doesn't let any of this revelation show up on his face. Instead he smiles gently at the kid and says,]
Yeah. All of this... it's a lot to take in, isn't it? Especially when you're from another world entirely. But I'm sorry to say that you've been taken from your world and immediately press-ganged into the Rockets. It's-- not always the easiest position to be in. The rest of the otherworlders, they show up at Fake Mom's house and she chivies them out the door onto their pokemon adventures and that's that. Here they expect us to work for them--but honestly, it's not at all taxing once you're done with Mandatory Training Hell and we're more than fairly compensated, I think.
[Even if he's a plant by the admins, that doesn't mean Steven shouldn't treat him like any other otherworld transfer. Much better for the admins to think that they'd fooled them--if they exposed this kid, they might not recognize his replacement. It had only been chance, after all, that Steven had overheard him.]
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And then, suddenly, it all falls into place. The kid isn't an otherworlder. Not at all. He's a Rocket from another faraway base--a plant in their little gang, to keep an eye on them and report back what they're doing, because they'd got ambitious and cocky and had provoked the reformation of the PGC and that was enough for the admins to risk sending someone in to pose as another otherworlder so they'd take him in.
And Steven... Steven would have fell for it if he hadn't heard the kid talking to 'Boss' on his gear.
He doesn't let any of this revelation show up on his face. Instead he smiles gently at the kid and says,]
Yeah. All of this... it's a lot to take in, isn't it? Especially when you're from another world entirely. But I'm sorry to say that you've been taken from your world and immediately press-ganged into the Rockets. It's-- not always the easiest position to be in. The rest of the otherworlders, they show up at Fake Mom's house and she chivies them out the door onto their pokemon adventures and that's that. Here they expect us to work for them--but honestly, it's not at all taxing once you're done with Mandatory Training Hell and we're more than fairly compensated, I think.
[Even if he's a plant by the admins, that doesn't mean Steven shouldn't treat him like any other otherworld transfer. Much better for the admins to think that they'd fooled them--if they exposed this kid, they might not recognize his replacement. It had only been chance, after all, that Steven had overheard him.]