019. [Text/Action for Mahogany Town, and one other thing.]

[explosivecombat]

[TEXT]

Does anyone know if the hideous creatures permeating this region of late are deceased humans, deceased Pokémon, or some ungodly combination of both?

It's nothing I had ever given thought to before, nor will your answer affect my thoughts on them. I'm merely curious about what it is that I'm repeatedly destroying, and whether I have something unfortunate to look forward to if this place decides that I'm the lucky person who dies on a permanent level out here.


[ACTION]

[Well, a very brief time after that text hits the network, it seems Kimblee has escaped whatever Ghost-free location he was in before.

Kimblee hasn't taken kindly to the ghosts here; he never has, really, and the fact that they're now in the cities isn't doing anything to help with that little issue. However, he's also never taken kindly to the idea that he simply can't do something, or the knowledge that some things are simply beyond his physical and mental boundaries, and it seems that today he's finally reached something of a breaking point.

He has Dorian out with him today, as well as Ramsay; he's loaded the latter with TMs, taking full advantage of the fact that Absols can learn Damn Near Everything. Kimblee himself seems to have decided that he has absolutely no fucks left to give; people in the general vicinity of Mahogany Town this evening may notice a figure dressed in white wandering through the fog, looking vaguely like one of the undead himself. His motions are tightly controlled, the orders he's giving his Pokémon clipped and tense; he's also trying to act like every time he comes across one of the Ghost-types everywhere he doesn't promptly flail a little and overkill the hell out of the poor level 20s with Fire Blast from a level 100 Fire-type.

He seems...determined (it's just a very skittish sort of determined, okay) to find and destroy every damn ghost in this town, judging from the flames everywhere; the local ghost population likely has no idea what it did to have quite this much hell rained down on it, but there certainly is a lot of hell going on here, goddamn.

...he really doesn't like ghosts, okay. At least they can't be harmed with Explosion, else this would be much, much worse.]



[PRIVATE TEXT TO EMMY ALTAVA]

Miss Altava,

I apologize for the abruptness of the message, but I need to speak to you immediately; get in contact with me, if you can?

Comments

[islandshore]

Could be something as simple as reincarnation. The eggs could, I don't know, pick up the souls of somebody who's just recently died.

...Which is still pretty disturbing in hindsight.

[explosivecombat]

Yes, exactly...I suppose it's fortunate that we seem largely unable to die here, then.

[islandshore]

Yeah, but it's still pretty strange. Why is it that some people have managed to die, but we've lucked out? And then there's Pokémon. We can't kill them, but they can eat each other and their eggs.

If nothing else, it's pretty inconsistent at times. Not that it's ever made sense here.

[explosivecombat]

I can't say that I disagree with you there, honestly; I haven't been here quite as long as some, but I've seen enough oddness to last several lifetimes and then some.

As for our apparent inability to be killed, as little sense as it makes, that isn't something I'm about to complain about; my home world isn't a peaceful one, and while I'm not exactly going to complain about that, either - things will be what they will, and it's still more or less home, after all - I can certainly appreciate the immortality.

...although I admit I've never seen the cannibalization these creatures apparently partake in. Do they really...?

[islandshore]

Think just about everyone can, honestly. It's like a safety cushion; even if they get thrown into disaster, they're guaranteed to make it out in one piece. Bet that's especially handy for thrill seekers.

As for hunting... yeah, they can. Carnivores, anyway. I know for a fact that Sneasels and Weaviles prey on Pokémon eggs- preferably Pidgey. Pidgeots are apparently eat Magikarp, according to the Pokédex, and I'm sure that any wild carnivores have no choice but to prey on other species. Not like they can walk up to a store and buy meat, after all.

[explosivecombat]

Fair enough! At the same time, given what these creatures can live through, I almost wouldn't be surprised if eating were something they found pleasurable, but unnecessary for survival. Breed the right moves onto them and some species can explode as soon as they're hatched; if a creature at level one can effectively blow itself up and merely be rendered unconscious, rather than being completely decimated for its effort, I think it's safe to say that these things don't exactly adhere to any sort of common logic. To say nothing of the capsule system used to catch them, and the mechanics of the PC in general.

However, I won't deny that many of them certainly do enjoy it, as some humans certainly seem to enjoy it; a matter of personality for some, I suppose.

[islandshore]

It's definitely an odd case. Berries are pretty abundant in the wild, so there's definitely no shortage of food. It could just vary between species or personalities... I try not to wrap my head around it too much since nothing here makes any real sense.

But, man, imagine releasing a bunch of bred Pokémon into the wild with fully developed moves and then some. Wonder how it'd affect the habitats of the local wildlife; obviously, they aren't born with the power to cope with those kind of moves. I mean, I doubt a bunch of Pidgeys and Sentrets would expect Hyper Beams, Flare Blitz, and Draco Meteor, for one.

Even worse if they're the kind of Pokémon that crave destruction or the person who reared them is.

[explosivecombat]

Well, I must admit it's an interesting thought, though not an experiment I would necessarily recommend carrying out, simply because the local wildlife may not be quite as forgiving as it collectively has been so far. Obviously you get your rogue individuals, but for the most part the creatures here seem strangely accepting of our presence, and patient with both our training them and our mistakes in doing so.

[You know, until they get sick of you and try to blow you up; Kimblee may not have forgiven his Electrode for that little stunt just yet, warranted though it may have been, and the Electrode in question doesn't seem to want anything to do with him besides.]

It's an interesting setup, really; the human aspect of the world seems designed to cater to these creatures, while the creatures seem to have accepted and adapted to the presence of the human element. Odd, but interesting.

[islandshore]

They've probably just adapted after working with humans for so long. Pokémon are pretty crafty-- most are just as intelligent as humans, and I'm sure they'd recognize a beneficial relationship.

You might even argue that trainers bring out the potential in a Pokémon that they'd never achieve on their own.

[After all, TMs, tutors, even egg moves... they're all techniques the Pokémon don't learn by leveling alone.]