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

I kind of understand the thought process. You get into a fight with a bear, you shoot it, it goes down. End of story.

You get into a fight with, say, a Misdreavus, you shoot it, it goes through, and uses Shadow Ball...

A big war between human weapons and Pokemon has to have a lot of destructive potential. If the ancient residents of Johto had to choose between one or the other, they made the companionable choice.

Edited 2013-08-20 04:05 (UTC)

True. But then you've got us.

[He shakes his head, leaning back against a wall.]

The people here have this peaceful mindset. Everything can be solved with friendship and Pokémon battles. For them, that's probably a decent way to live. Can't fault them for their happiness, but...

[His expression sours, twisting into a sneer.]

I bet you that most of us come from worlds where that's not even an option. The rockets I've encountered are more than happy to turn Pokémon into living weapons and fire them at anyone who gets in their way. The local law enforcement's useless, and with the risk of getting charred, electrocuted, smashed, or mauled, it'd be smarter to reevaluate their laws. Times change.

Friendship and Pokemon battles... no one ever noticed the disparity there.

[He says it with a laugh, because the alternative is to let himself be affected by the mention of worlds where that's not an option. He really doubts Tony Zucco would have been convinced not to murder his family by losing a Pokemon battle...]

I think we're both giving these people's autonomy a little too much credit. If this really is based on the game, they probably can't get around their programming. It was designed to amuse young children.

Programming... Right. When you look at it that way, it sort of justifies how sheltered they all are.

[Still, it's tough reconciling the more game-like aspects with the realistic ones. His eyes close, and he slowly exhales. What a mess...]

The thing is, if you ignore the endless music, the ledges, and how cheery everything is, this place feels real. The only time it really felt like a full-on video game was when the MISSINGNO. appeared.

But that doesn't mean it is real. [He glances at his egg again, since that hurts a little bit to say.]

I mean, there's ways to make it appear real. Like magic or complex VR, and then MISSINGNO. just happened to break the illusion.

True. It could just be an elaborate simulation. Someone else suggested it's real but behaves like a program. Really, all we can do is guess until we find something concrete to go off of.

[Which could be never. Hard to say after three whole years.]

Trippy. And until then, we can go as crazy as we want with guesses. Like: Do they have psychic powers where you're from? It could be all happening one way, but something, maybe the Pokemon themselves, are influencing us to see it another way.

[He shrugs.]

Here's the question. Judging by their actions during the fossil thing, the Gym Leaders seem to have more autonomy than others. Is there someone, somewhere, who knows definitively?

Ha, see, asking that kind of question is kind of complicated. Back on the islands, there's no psychic powers or anything, but there are other worlds out there, and I'm sure at least one of them has something like telepathy. I'd have to check with Sora, since he's made it that far.

[He'll also shrug, cupping his chin in one hand.]

And I'd say that if anyone knows, it'd either be one of the professors or someone from the Elite Four. Problem is, neither of them come out and chat with people like us.

Are any of those other worlds video games, by chance?

Although I guess there's no way you can know, unless you have someone to ID it with you at the time, and I'm guessing those other worlds don't... collect people like this.

[...maybe there's a gotta catch 'em all goal for otherworldly people. Augh.]

"Like us" as in visitors, or as in "non-professors or Elite Four members?"

52 - video/action for travelmates;

video;

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video; sorry this is so late!

video; np