Twilight couldn't help but look around warily after the creepy voice's warning. Every alleyway seemed to hold hidden dangers and every person or Pokémon that wandered past felt like a potential threat.
"Hey, how's it going?" Twilight and Sunset both jumped out of their skins as Elaine called out to them. "Whoa, what's gotten into you two?"
"I-it's nothing," Twilight replied. "What are we doing now?"
Elaine looked at them curiously, but shrugged and let it slide. "I'd kinda like to go and see Victory Road. Why don't we go and fetch your chalk, first, then we can head over to Victory Road and get some food on the way back?"
"I… guess that's a plan?" Twilight replied unsurely. "What's Victory Road?"
"It's a path to a place called the Indigo Plateau." Elaine pointed down the road. "Trainers make their way there once they've beaten every gym in the Kanto League, to challenge the Elite Four and become a Pokémon Champion. It's been my dream to go there since I was a kid."
Twilight looked at her curiously. "Professor Oak mentioned the Kanto League earlier, what is it?"
Elaine smiled and gestured for Twilight to follow. "Come on, I'll tell you as we walk."
"Okay." Twilight stood and held her arms out to Sunset. "Do you want another lift?"
"Shimmy!" Sunset shook her head and hopped to the ground.
"Fair enough." Twilight tried to put the phone call to the back of her mind as she and Sunset fell into step alongside Elaine and Pikachu. "So… the Kanto League?"
Elaine pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket and held it up. You know how Pokémon trainers catch and train Pokémon? Well, the Pokémon Leagues is a way for trainers and their Pokémon to battle each other to see who is the strongest. Whoever can beat all of the gyms and the Elite Four is officially recognised as a Pokémon Master."
Twilight stared at her in appalled surprise. "You make your Pokémon fight each other?"
"We don't make them do anything," Elaine countered. "Well, good trainers don't, anyway. You do get the odd scumbag who forces Pokémon to do things they don't want to," she admitted. "Thankfully, there's laws against that sort of thing, and it's usually pretty easy to tell if a Pokémon is being mistreated. They don't really tend to hide their feelings much."
"You mean there's Pokémon that want to fight like that?" Twilight asked.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed.
Elaine shook her head. "It's not just about fighting, though for some people it is, it's about testing your strength and the strength of the bond between Pokémon and Trainer. That, and some Pokémon tend to be hyperactive or aggressive little twerps, and regulated battles are a safe and legal outlet for their energy."
"Right… safe…" Twilight somehow doubted that that was entirely true, but there wasn't much she could say to refute it at the moment. She'd have to wait and see with her own eyes.
Sunset frowned, considering Elaine's words as she walked. No matter what the wannabe Trainer said, having Pokémon fight for entertainment or as some sort of bizarre job didn't sound ethical in the slightest.
"Why the long face?"
Sunset glanced sideways to see Pikachu scampering along beside her. "How long have you been waiting to use that joke?"
"Pretty much since I met you," Pikachu replied shamelessly.
Sunset rolled her eyes. "I'm just having trouble believing that these Pokémon fights are as safe and ethical as she says they are."
"I can't say one way or another," Pikachu replied. "I've only been with Elaine for like a day, so I guess we'll have to find out together. I think it's pretty cool, though. I'm looking forward to testing my strength against other trained Pokémon."
"That makes one of us," Sunset muttered.
"Hey, if you don't want to fight, then you don't have to. It's pretty simple," Pikachu said flatly.
Sunset certainly hoped that that was the case. While the phone call had basically told her that violence was an inevitable occurrence in this world, she'd rather avoid it as much as she could.
"Okay, we should be able to get some chalk just in here," Elaine said suddenly, pointing to a small art supply store.
A few minutes later, the group left the supply store with several thick sticks of chalk stores in a tin inside Twilight's backpack. There was no way that Sunset would be able to write with them normally, but it would be easy enough to simply cover a hoof in chalk and write on a sidewalk like that.
With the chalk acquired, Elaine took the lead again as they made their way through the streets of Viridian City. Now that she was paying more attention to the people around them, Sunset noticed that an awful lot of them seemed to be looking her way. She hoped it was just because she was, apparently, a Pokémon that none of them had ever seen before.
Eventually, the group reached the edge of Viridian City. Paved sidewalks and tarmacked roads gave way to a dusty path that meandered through an area of open woodland.
"This is the way to Victory Road," Elaine said cheerfully. "I've never been here before, but I hear that there's a whole bunch of Nidorans around here. Let's see if we can catch some!" Twilight shrugged uneasily, a sentiment that Sunset shared, but before anyone could reply Elaine gasped and stopped abruptly. "I almost forgot!" She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. "Alright, it's time to get to know each other, Bellsprout!"
The Pokéball burst open and Bellsprout appeared in a flash of red light. The little Pokémon glanced around curiously before looking up at Elaine, who crouched to see it better. "Hey there, little guy," Elaine said softly.
The Bellsprout ruffled its leaves and bobbed its head. "'Sup."
"Do you want to walk around with us so we can get to know each other a little better?" Elaine asked.
The Bellsprout nodded. "Sure."
"Okay!" Elaine clapped and straightened up, then set off along the path, Bellsprout and Pikachu following in her wake.
Sunset and Twilight shared a surprised look before setting off after them. Sunset subtly watched the Bellsprout as she walked. It waddled along on its roots, seemingly perfectly happy with its new life.
"Hey, I'm Pikachu!" Pikachu said brightly.
"Bellsprout," came the flat reply.
Pikachu giggled and turned to Sunset. "Don't worry about him. Bellsprouts never talk much. Still, it'll be nice to have another Pokémon friend to travel with."
"Yep," Bellsprout agreed.
Sunset tilted her head curiously. "Are you really fine with being a Trainer's Pokémon?"
"Yep, 's why I stopped," Bellsprout replied.
"I told you," Pikachu smirked. "Lot's of Pokémon prefer joining a Trainer than surviving in the wild."
Sunset nodded in surprise. She wasn't a hundred percent convinced, but so far she hadn't seen any evidence of a Pokémon not being happy with a Trainer.
"Hey, I was right! There's some Nidorans!" Elaine called out.
Looking ahead, Sunset saw several rabbit-like Pokémon chewing on grass: some purple and small, others pale blue-grey and bulky. They all chattered amongst themselves as they ate.
"Aww, they're so cute!" Twilight cooed.
One of the Nidorans looked up at that moment and spotted the small group approaching. "Heads up, Trainer people!" Most of the Nidorans scattered instantly, leaving behind only a single pair: one purple and one blue-grey.
"A male and a female, perfect!" Elaine whipped a Pokéball out of her pocket and readied it.
"Are you sure about this?" The blue one, Sunset suspected it was the female, asked.
"Yep!" The purple Nidoran pawed the ground and grinned. "Let's see if these trained turds and their keepers are good enough to serve me!"
Elaine held a hand out in front of the group protectively. "Stay back, Bellsprout, Shimmy, looks like we have a feisty one."
The male Nidoran snorted. "Like I'd pick a fight with weaklings, now show me what you've got!" He made to charge, then tripped as a Pokéball smacked him in the forehead. "Huh?"
There was a flash of red, and the Nidoran was sucked into the Pokéball. The ball rolled around on the floor, its light flashing wildly, then finally it fell still.
"Alright, I caught him!" Elaine shouted ecstatically.
The female Nidoran, surprisingly, just rolled its eyes. "I told that idiot he was going to bite off more than he can chew?" She shook her head, then looked up at Elaine. "Well? Are you taking me too, or what?"
"Oh, do you want to come as well?" Elaine tilted her head to the side, thinking, then glanced at Twilight. "Hey, why don't you try catching this one? That way we'll have one each!"
"Me?!" Twilight yelped. "I can't catch a Pokémon, I don't know the first thing about being a Pokémon Trainer!"
Elaine raised an eyebrow and gestured to Sunset. "Uh, you already have a Pokémon. Besides, it'll be easy. I'll teach you anything you don't know."
"I'm fine with it," the female Nidoran said in a bored tone. "It'll be more interesting than going back to the clutch alone, anyway."
"Are you sure?" Sunset asked.
The Nidoran nodded. "Sure. I haven't seen a Pokémon like you in this area before, so I'm guessing I'll at least be able to travel to new and interesting places with you guys. Just don't expect me to throw myself at your Trainer's feet in worship every time she gives me food."
"Wouldn't dream of it, so long as you don't think for an instant that I actually belong to her. I'm my own person." Sunset scribbled in the dirt that the Nidoran was happy to be caught.
Twilight read the words several times, as if hoping that they would suddenly gather a different meaning if she just looked hard enough, but finally sighed heavily. "Okay." She pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket and frowned at it. "First I press this bu-wah!" The ball nearly slipped out of Twilight's grip as it grew in size.
"Wow, you really are new at this," Elaine muttered. "Now remember, when you throw it, you have to try and hit the Pokémon with the little button, otherwise it won't work."
"O...kay…" Twilight hummed and squinted at the Nidoran, reaching back with her arm as she took aim. A memory of her dismal performance in the physical aspects of the Friendship Games suddenly had Sunset fearing that the Nidoran was about to receive a concussion, but before she could say anything Twilight hurled the ball with a grunt of effort.
It landed about three feet short, and two feet off to the right.
Sunset slapped a hoof to her forehead.
The Nidoran stared at the ball in blank shock. "Uh, what?" She looked up at Twilight. "Are you for real?"
"Wow. You suck," Elaine said flatly.
"It was my first try!" Twilight said defensively. She retrieved the ball, got back into her starting position, and tried again.
The second attempt was even worse.
"No wonder she's never caught a Pokémon before," Pikachu said quietly. "Seriously, how bad at aiming is she? At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if she managed to miss the hole when taking a sh-"
"Hey! She's not that bad!" Sunset snapped. "Her talents just lie in other areas."
The Nidoran shook her head. "This is just sad. Hold on." She picked up the ball and walked over to Twilight, dropping it at her feet. "Look, just do it from here and get this over with, before I feel even more sorry for you."
"A Pokémon having to help a Trainer capture it, now that's something you don't see every day," Pikachu mumbled.
"Heh, 's funny," Bellsprout added.
Twilight picked the ball up, blushing furiously, and touched the button to the Nidoran's nose. There was a flash of light, and the Pokémon was stored safely in the ball. "Yay, I caught a Pokémon," she said dully.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure the next one will be easier," Elaine said bracingly. "Anyway, now that I think about it, I should really be registering these Pokémon in the Pokédex."
Twilight looked up curiously as Elaine pulled a little red object out of her pocket. "The what?"
Ah, the classic ethical issues of Pokémon training. It is a pretty sweet deal for the Pokémon... provided they don't find themselves snatched up by jerks.
In the heart of every Nidoran lies the entitlement of royalty.
And yeah, I imagine hand-eye coordination is a pretty major stumbling block for some trainers. I always figured Pokéballs are monster-seeking missiles, but that doesn't work when going by Let's Go rules. At least Twilight should find the Pokédex more to her taste... provided she doesn't throw a fit over the lack of peer review.
Also, there's something subtly fitting about Twilight's first capture being a princess. One that she fumbled through and needed help to achieve.
I can definitely see sunset wanting to battle.
Random trainer: you looked me in the eyes, let’s battle. *trows poke ball and releases pokemon*
Twilight: oh, I don’t really want to fight or anything.
Sunset: what kinda idiot just starts fights on walking paths? And who would seriously accept such a stupid...
Pokémon: HEY UGLY!
Sunset: *eye twitch*
Pokemon: YEAH YOU! WERE YOU JUST BORN THAT UGLY OR YOU LOSE SO MANY BATTLES THAT YOU BECAME UGLY?
Sunset: Oh it is on, I’m going to kick your fu shimmy shim shim shimmy shimmy shim shimmy
Elaine: wow, your sunset is raring to go!
10536316
I'm not going in to the quagmire that is ethics of another univers.
And ofcours they do, one day they will grow up to be Nidokings and queens.
I think pokéball toss is a part of thier P.E, and is a reqied grade.
Bellsprouts has a deep black voice and no one can tell me otherwise
Except in the anime with Ash :p
Twilight and Sunset would probably be more down to have fun with contests, but Kanto is boring and doesn't have any contest halls. Still, who wouldn't like a fashion/talent show combo?
10536371
Morgan freeman or Samuel.L.Jackson
10536401
Someone get these mother fucking ekans off my mother fucking battlefield!
10536371
what accent do you think? im thinking welsh
Seriously? I don't think it can be any easier than that. The training wheels had training wheels!
10536316
And in said rules, the Master Ball is so explicitly such a homing missile that Mewtwo has a special animation where he tries to deflect it telekinetically, without success. (The Bird trio also have special animations)
10536405
From the streets of chicago I'm feeling. He's gonna come out the pokeball and do a crip walk then use bullet seed
Pffft, Twilight's lack of physicality makes for good comedy. Also, the male nidoran's little royalty rant was gold, considering that their evolved state is nidoking.
AAAAAAH! So hyped to see this updated!
10536398
If I remember right, I think the anime version of Kanto actually does have contest halls, but I think we are primarily going off of game canon here. Would be an interesting thing to explore, though if they do end up participating in one.
10536316
Of course catching pokemon is ethical. Not because there is any logical reason for it, but just because it has to be for the narrative to work.
'Mon of few words, I see.
Though not everyone knows: in the Pokemon universe, the humans are technically also Pokemon.
I'm waiting for the part where Elaine tries to get them to make an egg.
10536778
That would have some interesting implications.
Elaine: "So, are you planning on having your Shimmy lay an egg?"
Twilight: "What?! Why would you even think she could lay an egg?!"
Elaine: "Because that's how babies are made?"
Twilight: "Not always. Humans don't lay eggs, for example."
Elaine: "...Yes they do."
Twilight: -freaking-out noises-
Had a really bad day, but this made it much better. Thank you.
Ohh, Twilight you gonna have a troke when you learn about Evolution.
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As funny as that would be... well, not my decision anyway.
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Humonmon
Heh. I had flashbacks to both Pokemon Go and the Pokemon Pebble Version webcomic here. Fun times.
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Imagining Elaine's face when she realizes male and female nidoran, and pokemon of their respective lines, can't breed.
Alternatively, imagining Elaine's face when she learns there are such things as baby Nidoqueen.
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According to the games, as of gen 5: Nidoran (female with any compatible male), Nidoran (male with ditto) Nidorino (with ditto), and Nidoking (with ditto) can all be bred to produce eggs for both Nidoran (male and female). NIdorina and Nidoqueen are not known to breed. This is hilariously confusing, and possibly the best argument for a soft reboot of the video games (okay, the second best argument; the best argument is the most recent generation in general).
You actually have to hit the Pokémon with the button on the ball too? That’s a bit much for some ten year olds isn’t it?
10536778
this is game theory we talking about, and about 80%-75% of the stuff on it is nothing but madness of a grown aludt children.
10536949
That's digimon not Pokemon.
This was a fun chapter hope to see more.
That Bellsprout seems cool.
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i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/233/200/c60.jpg
10537537
Speaking of, why is it just accepted that 10-year-olds go on months-long, cross-country journeys without adult supervision? Is this a thing that would be actually culturally acceptable... anywhere?
Another nice chapter. I really look forward to new chapters.
Um, just something i think you'll need to correct. When a pokemon is released from its ball, the light is white. Its only red when the pokemon is sucked in for capture or when returned.
10536778
Interesting theory, and would make a lot of sense for why wild Pokémon want a trainer. It’s more than just easy access to food and shelter, but to ally with a strategist for fights. Pokémon in all media are depicted as intelligent, so teaming up with a human and their access to technology, resources, and strategic thinking is a no brainer.
But it does beg the question: if humans are Pokémon, why can’t they understand each other like Pokémon can to even entirely different species?
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Going by the show, apparently they can, but WE can't. My thought? MatPat is close to the mark, buuuut... They're Pokemon, WE aren't. However, the language the humans use is close enough to ours that we can understand them. Mostly.
10536375
I thought that too... but it's the difference between helping a Trainer with catching, and just joining.
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Personally, I go with the "this is the agreement between species" thing, where it was hammered out to work like this. It's not like Pokémon didn't partner with humans prior to the Pokeball's invention (as mentioned in the Lucario movie).
Of course, for that to work, the Pokeballs would have to be the "house" variety, instead of the "cage" or "brainwashing" types. Different ball types generate different environments, with Master being a dream palace no one would refuse. Sure explains the anime scene where Mewtwo breaks out of a Master Ball (Giovanni is just that abhorrent to him).
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If it's all the result of an agreement between species, then why don't we ever see other pokemon wanting to be pokemon trainers? Why aren't any pokemon training humans, for that matter? The obvious answer is the fact they can only understand, but not speak the human's language, which is also preventing them from taking a more proactive role in society. It's ultimately the language dynamic which is keeping the pokemon subservient to the humans, regardless of their feelings on the matter, and this language dynamic was very much intentional in the writing.
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The language barrier is not something that can't be overcome by a determined enough pokemon, though. There's a fairly long list of Pokemon capable of clearly communicating with humans through various means, be it telepathy, possession or even just straight up learning the language.
We know the many of the pokemon belonging to trainers fight with them of their own free will. Ash has arguably let more pokemon go than he even owned, and many of them left reluctantly and only because their situations asked it of them. Heck, 'we do this of our own free will, so please don't destroy the world' was Pikachu's argument against Mewtwo in the first movie. Almost every trainer who treats their pokemon with kindness has such a bond with pokemon, so you kinda have to accept that pokemon aren't being forced into pit-fights against their will, but for whatever reason want to travel with trainers and fight. The setting as we are shown just stops making sense otherwise.
10538448
That's not the point I was trying to make. I get that the pokemon who have human trainers do it of their own will, but why don't pokemon ever want to do anything else? Why aren't there pokemon business owners, politicians, teachers, and bureaucrats? Hell. if pokemon are so smart and capable, why don't they just make their own civilizations? They have every reason to, since living in the wild is more dangerous than having the backing of a society, but they never say "To hell with human civilization, let's do it our own way!"
10538516
Desire, I'd say. What would a pokemon gain from becoming a bureaucrat? Or a business owner? To a human, those things are necessary because of human society, but a pokemon who does not live in human society has no need for these, and those who do live in human societies tend to find their own place in them.
10538594
Well of course if they lived in the wilderness, they already manage their own affairs, and those who do live in societies don't manage their own affairs for the same reason children don't. Humans do it for them. Pokemon have no choice but to be happy with that arrangement, once again, because of the language dynamic. It all keeps coming back to this whole "We understand you, but you don't understand us" thing.
Let's say that suddenly all the humans in the world could instantly understand Pokemon speech all at once. (I don't know, bear with me here. Let's say Mewtwo used his psychic power to rewire all the human brains in the world) Do you honestly think that nothing would change? In either the short term or the long term?
10538628
Beyond people now being able to understand pokemon? I don't think much will change, no. Pokemon like Meowth and Movie 2's Slowking show that the only thing holding pokemon back from learning how to speak to humans is the desire to learn do so. If any pokemon is genuinely unhappy with the current dynamic and it really is the language barrier what's stopping them from changing it, they could change it. That very few have (Meowth is the only one that comes to mind, and even he originally only learned to speak human to woo another Meowth) shows to me that it's more the lack of desire on the pokemon's part than anything the humans are doing.
10538657
So you don't think that humans could and would keep asking pokemon increasingly complex questions? If pokemon could all be understood by humans, that would give humans a reason to ask questions that had answers that were more than a nod or a head shake. And the more questions humans ask of pokemon, the more dependent humans will become on pokemon for information, which is the opposite of how it worked before. This would give pokemon a new kind of leverage over humans that they didn't have before.
10538662
Sure, but would that matter in the grand scheme of things? Pokemon already have all the leverage they need over humans: they are the super powered creatures that provide human society with cornerstone elements it needs to function, whereas humans are just humans. Things like pokemon fights, or day to day things like miltank or mareep farms exist because the pokemon want to work on them. If they don't want to anymore, they can just stop, and there'd be nothing the humans could do about it.
10538686
So basically, your whole argument hinges on the idea that the desires of pokemon as a whole won't ever change? That's not logistically possible in any kind of real context, so it therefore only happens because the writers have decided it will, not because there is any sort of logical structure for it.
It's kind of similar to the idea that the muggles won't ever discover the magical community in Harry Potter. Once again, it's not logistically possible with how fast information moves, but the writer just said that this was the situation, and can't give a logical answer for why.
10538712
Not for humans, no, but pokemon aren't human. You raised the point of pokemon not building civilizations of their own before, and that's true. As far as we know, every civilization both modern and ancient has been human. But there is absolutely nothing stopping pokemon from building their own civilization. They have the intelligence, can communicate with eachother in complex terms without issue, and yet as far as we know they never have throughout the entirety of the pokemon world's existence. If you ask "but why haven't they?" there aren't a lot of answers beyond "because they don't want to." Yeah, you can argue that it makes no sense that no group of pokemon ever tried to build their own civilization or tried to integrate as a human in an existing one, but that's just how the pokemon world rolls. It's one of those things you just have to shrug and accept.
10538735
Ah, but that's the beauty of fan fiction. you don't have to accept anything the original writers feed you. You can make it your own.
10538754
Very true, though you do have to be careful not to fall into the pitfall of trying too hard to explain a series' inconsistencies.