4 ∅ [Video]

[callbacks]

[The video starts on an unsure-looking Kirlia. He starts to edge away, but Dave--apparently behind the camera--speaks.]

Naw, go ahead, dude. C'mon. Don't be shy.

[The Kirlia sighs, extremely put upon, and then ballet-toes back into place. There's a Dawn Stone on the floor nearby; the Kirlia bends primly at the waist to pick it up, and:

Presto.

Wart the Gallade examines his arm-blades for a moment, then shoots Dave a look as if to say, "If we're quite done now." Dave chuckles quietly.]

Yeah, yeah, thanks for humoring me, bro. The moment has been secured for posterity. Duty discharged. [The relief on the Gallade's face is palpable before Dave turns the camera towards his own movie star mug. Hello, Johto.]

So, hey. I get that baby's first evolution is probably ancient headwear for most of you, but he's the first guy I got all the way to his final form. That's worth some kind of jokey home video.

[Yeah, because he's obviously being ironic about this. He's not Proud Dadding all over his starter, no sirree.]

Anyway, I've been hearing about a bunch of different evolutionary paths our Poképals can take, and, I dunno. I'm curious, I guess. If you ever made a choice like that, what made you pick one way or the other?

Comments

[bent_the_world]

I've heard about that...that some Pokemon are actually ghosts.

It really reminds me of some stuff back home.

[video]

[defyingfrigidity]

That's.... [Downright bizarre.] Interesting.

I suppose Anna talking to the paintings around the castle must seem incredibly normal, then.

[islandshore]

Well, as far as Knight goes--

[Riku turns the camera toward a Gardevoir who is currently sipping tea and munching on a Croissant with an Alakazam and and Weavile sipping tea beside him.

He pans back to himself shortly after.]

He was already a Gardevoir when I got him. Asked him about it one time, and he said, and I quote...

[He clears his voice, putting on his best snobbish accent.]

"I prefer the elegance of my natural evolution." Sometimes I just let them choose so there's less bickering later. Still, if I had the choice, I probably would've gone for a Gallade, too. They're just too cool to pass up.

[Cue an indignant huff from offscreen.]

video;

[callbacks]

Aw, hey. That's a nice name. No wonder she's a happy camper.

[callbacks]

Ooh, home stuff. What kind of home stuff.

[Korra, you can't just say a thing like that and expect a man not to ask.]

[video]

[callbacks]

Haha. Yeah, that's pretty mundane on the Strider scale of eccentricity. I talk to myself all the time. Like, even when I'm not time-traveling.

[callbacks]

Me and Wart were in pretty solid agreement from the get-go from what I could tell, so I didn't really have to negotiate any kind of disagreement.

[Which is in part why he's wondering how people do handle that.]

But, so yours talks to you? Your Gardevoir, I mean. Like, with words, not just meaningful looks and the occasional illustrative gesture.

[islandshore]

Yeah, with telepathy. I thought all Psychic types did it.

[He'd seen other trainers' Psychics do the same, at any rate, but maybe it's a matter of preference. Every Pokémon's different, after all.]

I've seen some people teach their teams to write, too, but sometimes they don't really have to go that far.

[Nods, gestures, they still get the job done. He can understand Flare pretty well without words, at any rate.]

[bent_the_world]

Spirit stuff.

Not all spirits are people who have passed on, most aren't, but some people choose to become spirits when they pass.

[armoredsoul]

Hehe, it does get surprisingly complicated. I can send you a list of some books I found helpful when I was doing some research on evolutionary lines and movesets, if you'd like?

video;

[irenicly]

Sylveon really are a cute type of Pokemon.

[callbacks]

Huh. Wart?

[Dave's Gallade looks up from his post-evolution self-examination, then shakes his head a little, shrugs, and makes a slightly dismissive gesture in Dave's direction.]

Mm. I think that means he thinks he doesn't need to. Something about the contents of my brain being an open book anyway and his not having much to say.

video;

[callbacks]

They're all kind of like that, aren't they? You know, with the cutesy Japanese anime thing going on.

[callbacks]

Wait. Wait, if spirits aren't ghosts, then what are spirits where you come from? Like, nature spirits?

[bent_the_world]

Sort of. They're...everything. They're immortal and powerful and are tied to and represent basically everything. Some are a lot stronger than others. The sun and moon are spirits. Or...have spirits connected to them. The oceans have a spirit, important stages of life have spirits, even ideas. But not all spirits are attached to something like that. They just are, and always were and they live in the Spirit World.

But sometimes people can become spirits. Of their own choice, or if a powerful spirit rewards them with it. There's a ton of folk stories of oppressed lovers and abandoned orphans being turned into spirits.

[callbacks]

Yyyeah, I guess a winter reading list couldn't hurt at this point. I mean, I could ask Jade about some of them, probably, but I gotta figure this all out for my own self eventually.

[callbacks]

So, are they like...gods? Kind of? Maybe they fall somewhere in between gods and natural forces...

video;

[irenicly]

[He laughs.]

That's true.

Some Pokemon aren't very cute, though. They're still pretty interesting, though. When I watched the anime, there were only 150 of them and then I came here and there are hundreds more.

[bent_the_world]

Yeah, I...I guess they are.

[She's never thought of it quite like that, but...it fits.]

I mean...the embodiments of chaos and peace are the oldest and most powerful spirits in existence. And the whole world is connected to them.

video;

[callbacks]

Haha, oh man. You watched the anime? I mean, don't get me wrong, dude, this is a judgment-free zone of residence. You just don't seem the type.

[Bro, you're six-foot-a-million and look like you're in the yakuza.]

[callbacks]

Chaos and peace, huh? Not time and space? That's new. I mean, to me. 'Cause time and space are the fabrics of the cosmos where I come from, and Space is kind of the thing from which all the universe is generated while Time is...well, anyway. I dunno where exactly chaos and order would fall into all that.

[bent_the_world]

Time and space don't mean anything in the Spirit World. Not really. They might as well be illusions.

But chaos and order...that's like the universal answer to good and evil. At least where I come from. They were there before anything. One destroys and one protects and when things get thrown out of balance....

Trust me. It's really bad.

[callbacks]

...I don't think my universe has an answer to good and evil. We just kind of gotta figure that shit out as we go.

I get what you mean about stuff getting all fucked up when things are thrown out of whack, though. So. I guess you help with that? Being a hero and all.

[bent_the_world]

Uh....yeah. You can say that.

You know those ancient all powerful spirits of chaos and peace, and how I'm the Avatar which means I'm reincarnated through all eternity and the connection between humans and spirits?

Yeah that second thing is because the good spirit kind of lives inside me.

[callbacks]

Oh.

[...]

Like, in a dual residency way, or is it more like a sort of May the Force Be With You kind of deal?