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

[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.]

[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.

[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]

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

[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.

[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?

[bent_the_world]

Uh....we're connected in ways I can't even begin to try and explain.

That spirit, Raava...she and the dark spirit have been in opposition forever. But neither one can win, because the world needs both. But back when humans were still new, and almost nobody could even use bending, the dark spirit tricked the very first bender and became more powerful. So Raava merged her lifeforce with the first bender, to combine their strength to subdue and trap Vaatu again. And ever since then the Avatar has carried Raava through the generations, sharing existence and keeping the balance of the world.

[Super simplified version of what happened, but she doesn't want to bore Dave.]

At least until some really awful stuff went down, but it's fine now and everything's the way it should be.

[More or less. The whole thing's just started over again. She's lost her connection to her past lives, but not to Raava and she'll just be the next Avatar's first past life.]

[Only Korra could manage to be both the umpteenth Avatar and the first.]

[callbacks]

That sounds. Really complicated and actually kind of annoying to have to deal with eternally? But you do you, I guess.

[Understatement of the year.]

Hey, how come you never hear about the good side getting out of control and having to get itself curbed? I call bullshit on the universe.

[bent_the_world]

It's complicated, yeah, but...it's really a huge honor. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Well, that's part of being the good side, right? But it definitely happens with people. Sometimes the worst wars start with the best intentions.

[callbacks]

Mmm. I guess that's true. I wouldn't know from wars, though. Weren't enough people left to start much of one in my interdimensional neck of the woods.