callbacks | 4 ∅ [Video]

[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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, so you like giving him a hard time. I can respect that.

Is that pretty common for you guys, not wanting to evolve? I sorta thought it was a cultural given, like growing up is for us human types.

It depends on the evolution type. Those that gain simply by more experience, it would be odd for those to not evolve. Some that evolve via the stones may just have not been in contact with those yet. Those sorts of evolutions that are considered more 'odd'... it depends. A Pokemon that evolves through bonds that has been with its trainer for a while would certainly been an odd sight, and one would question the Trainer, for example.

Huh, I guess that makes sense. 'Cause then it's like, okay, what's wrong with your relationship that it hasn't transformed your buddy yet... What about you, how do you evolve, then? I mean, if you wanted to.

Essentially. And to evolve to Alakazam, I must be traded to another Trainer. ... Why this is the case, I do not know. I can be traded back, of course. But I prefer being like this, because it irritates him.

Right, I get you. Huh. Only evolving if you get traded... I guess that's sort of like sports.

[How is that like sports?? At all????]

Or like that dumb saying, you know. Like if you love something you're supposed to toss it off a roof and if it loves you too it'll come back.

... I have never heard of that phrase.

Christopher Marlowe.

I might've paraphrased it a little.

I do not know who that is, either. But I must confess I do not read much.

Yeah, me neither. Also he probably has a Pokémon pun name here, I don't know.

[Also Dave is talking out of his ass.]

If staying the same didn't bug your trainer, would you still want to? Like, I get that you're fine that way, I'm just interested in what you guys think of the whole deal so I'm asking all the angles.

... Probably. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages, if I didn't have a trainer. I admit he knows how to work around such things, even if he seems an idiot sometimes.

So he's a strategy guy? When it comes to battling, anyway, I guess.

Yes. His tactics may sometimes be unorthodox, but he saves most of those for opponents who he claims deserve no honor. More of the time he studies type matchups and pushes us to train what we're best at so as to cover each other.

Uh, what do you mean by unorthodox? Like the sly, cheaty kind of unorthodox, or the cool, making creative use of your environment unorthodox? Because one of those is more awesome than the other.

[The Pokemon visibly hesitates for a minute.]

Both. Usually the latter. Sometimes the former, but not very often.

As long as he's selective, I guess.

[Bro, you're not supposed to admit it.]

You're cool with that? Fighting like that.

[Hey he's not the one who calls the shots.]

It is a creative use of abilities. It took some training to deal with short-range teleports, and for the Onix in our party to learn where to position herself for explosions.

Explosions?

She knows the move Explosion. Sometimes it can be useful to get out of somewhere, or to blast away rocks in a cave.

Oh, okay. That makes sense.

[Dave lets it go. Dave does not know what Explosion does to the Pokémon using it.]

He doesn't sound that bad, dude.

He thinks he's worse than he is, really.

Isn't that how it always is. Sorry you gotta put up with it, though. You seem like a reasonable guy.

Thank you. I appreciate it.