islandshore | 52 - video/action for travelmates;

[Here we have Riku. Or more specifically, we have Riku and a book. When he looks at the camera, it's with a soft chuckle. Then he starts reading off the page.]

A young man, callow and foolish in innocence came to own a sword. With it, he smote Pokémon, which gave sustenance, with carefree abandon. Those not taken as food, he discarded with no afterthought. The following year, no Pokémon appeared. Larders grew bare.

Just let that sink in for a second. A sword. Killing and eating Pokémon. Still with me?

[Then he'll continue.]

The young man, seeking the missing Pokémon, journeyed afar. Long did he search, and far and wide, too, until one did he find.

Asked he, "Why do you hide?" To which the Pokémon replied...

"If you bear your sword to bring harm upon us, with claws and fangs, we will exact a toll. From your kind, we will take our toll, for it must be done. Done it must be, and for it, I apologize."

To the skies, the young man shouted his dismay. "In having found the sword I have lost so much. Gorged with power, I grew blind to Pokémon being alive. I will never fall savage again. This sword I denounce and forsake. I plead for forgiveness, for I was but a fool."

So saying, the young man hurled the sword to the ground, snapping it. Seeing this, the Pokémon disappeared to a place beyond seeing.

[Riku snaps the book shut, placing it down. Afterwards, he shifts into a more comfortable position, arms folded over his chest.]

So, ignoring the obvious anti weapons message here, this story's pretty interesting. It's an old legend from the Sinnoh region, and if it holds any truth, it means that the people in this world used to use real weapons and actually hunted Pokémon. Plus, when you look at stuff like Skarmory's Pokédex entry, you see bits about forging swords from their feathers. You gotta wonder why they stopped and why they're so paranoid about people defending themselves.

You think it's because people abused that power?

[Either way, he's glad he swung by the library. Sometimes they actually do have interesting reads.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Maybe it had something to do with people ending up training pokémon instead?

[ She pauses for a moment. ]

I mean, like, maybe one of the legendary pokémon wouldn't allow trainers to exist while people were still using weapons to fight them?

Or I guess people might have just realized that controlling lizards that can breath fire was a better idea than trying to fight them themselves?

Well, that's assuming trainers existed back then. It's possible that trainers resulted because of something like this, but I wouldn't put it past a legendary to step in.

It's definitely better to have them on your side than to intentionally antagonize them. Won't argue that.

Yeah... though I guess if people were using weapons to fight, if trainers they might not have been like now. Where everyone is a trainer of some sort.

[ Hikari pauses for a few moments, trying to think. ]

But you're right, this is pretty interesting. I'm surprised that none of us have really thought about this before. I mean, we did all think of 'why aren't weapons allowed', but not the how they stopped being around part.

Or at least that's what I've noticed anyway. I guess everyone else who's brought here mostly care about other things when they first get here.

Well, you can't really blame them. Getting plucked out of your world tends to skew your priorities a little.

Yeah. I know. I mean, I might've been used to different worlds existing when I came here, and even I was still a bit surprised at how different things were here.

The background music's one of those things that sticks out from the get-go. Can't say I've bumped into anyone from worlds where that's the standard.

Yeah. I... still don't really get why that happens, but at least it's easy enough to ignore once you get used to it?

[ Though really, background music like this would've fit in really well in the Digital World, now that she thought about it. ]

As long as it's not Violet City.

[It's said dryly. Whether he's serious or not remains to be seen.]

[ Okay, Hikari can't help but giggle at that. ]

Yeah. The music there is really repetitive, especially for how long most people need to stay there training before they can move on.

... How long were you there when you first got here anyway?

Months. Granted, I did hit Azalea once or twice, but I kept having to go back and forth due to my friends leaving and then popping right back up in New Bark Town.

It got old fast.

... Wow. I don't know if I would've been able to stand it if I had to keep going back there like that all the time.

I mean, it'd be one thing if you were staying there to train until you beat Falkner, but to keep having to go back... well, I can't imagine how that'd be.

At least you don't need to worry about having to stay there for long now though even when people show up since your pokémon can fly you there, right?

Flying helps, but lately I've been pushing Psych to get better range with his Teleport move. Being able to just warp to places makes backtracking a million times easier.

[It's been hard work, but he can at least hop between a few of the cities with some focus. Goldenrod, New Bark, Celadon, Olivine... it's a start, at any rate.]

That's right, I remember Kairi saying something about you being able to pick her up by teleporting back when she showed up again. How hard has it been to train him to be able to teleport to different cities?

Pretty tough, yeah. He's just one Pokémon, and he really has to strain himself in order to warp to a new city. I doubt he'd be able to warp from, say, Cinnabar island all the way back to New Bark Town, either.

Yeah. That definitely seems to be too far to go to, no matter how good he got at using the move. But still, being able to choose which town you go to with it definitely helps, even if you have to fly part of the way if the trip is too far.

Still, it kind of stinks that they don't have airplanes and buses. Guess it'd be hard to set up roads without cutting into Pokémon territory, but it's just weird how you can go from big, industrialized cities to wilderness just by taking one step into the routes.

I'm not sure about that. Sure, it makes things a bit more difficult for us travelling, but you have to admit that the scenery is pretty nice. And it definitely gives this place a bit of a unique charm.

Yeah, you've got a point. Plus, there's nothing like soaking it in from the sky. You get to see a whole lot more from up there.

Yeah, we really do. I didn't realize how much I missed flying like that until I taught my Charizard how to use the move.

52 - video/action for travelmates;

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio

audio