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Bella's not sure where she has wandered. She thought she was about to walk into a shop, but this appears to be an unattended bar. With none of the windows associated with the shop she thought she was entering. It could be an elaborate psychic assault of some kind, but it doesn't feel very... assault-y... and she was in the middle of a town and doesn't think any humans want to sic their 'mon on her. It's strange. She approaches the bar, looking around warily, hand hovering near her belt.
with Max (Benedict)
with Earth and Lightning (kappa)
with Ann and Sabrina (kuuskytkolme)
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the_very_best
can_i_stay
"Well, when you put it like that, of course not."
She motions towards the stranger. "How about you... I don't think you've told us your name yet? Are you going to take up the offer?"
She motions towards the stranger. "How about you... I don't think you've told us your name yet? Are you going to take up the offer?"
the_very_best
"My name's Bella. I don't know, I'm already here without knowing how I could have gotten here or having any way to find out besides asking the bar questions, I'm not sure how taking a drink would make anything worse. Not really thirsty enough to try it yet though."
can_i_stay
"Charmed to meet you. I'm Ann and this," she says and points to the other girl, "is my sister Sabrina. You don't know how you got here either? Hey Bar, do you have something to do with that?"
the_very_best
I do not control the door. I do apologize on the establishment's behalf if it has inconvenienced you, but I am unable to complain to the management.
"I'm not even that much inconvenienced, just kind of perplexed," says Bella. "My first thought was it was some kind of psychic 'mon attack, but it really doesn't seem like it."
"I'm not even that much inconvenienced, just kind of perplexed," says Bella. "My first thought was it was some kind of psychic 'mon attack, but it really doesn't seem like it."
can_i_stay
"Psychic what? You keep using that strange jargon, I have no clue what you're actually talking about."
the_very_best
"Do you... not... okay, this is a weird magic bar, maybe you're from somewhere... weird. This is a Pokémon." She bounces one of her red-and-white balls off the ground; in a flash of red light there appears a creature.
"Shao?" asks the creature.
Bella scritches it on the head.
"Shao?" asks the creature.
Bella scritches it on the head.
can_i_help
Both of the girls stare at the creature.
Sabrina is the first one to speak. "Well. That's like nothing I've ever seen. What is that and where did you get it from?"
Sabrina is the first one to speak. "Well. That's like nothing I've ever seen. What is that and where did you get it from?"
the_very_best
"She's a Mienshao, it's a kind of Pokémon. Her name is Juu. I have five others of different kinds. I got one from my mom and the others I caught or traded."
the_very_best
"Just - out in the wild. Wherever, except usually not in the middle of cities. Pokémon are creatures that can move around but aren't humans."
can_i_stay
"You just described animals. Okay, humans are a subset of animals, but you just described animals."
She looks around in bewilderment. "Bar! You seem to have at least some kind of explanation for everything. What is going on in here?"
She looks around in bewilderment. "Bar! You seem to have at least some kind of explanation for everything. What is going on in here?"
the_very_best
Pokémon have several properties in common with each other that do not apply to conventional animals. Bella's world does not have any population of conventional animals except to the extent that humans count.
"What's an... animal?"
An animal is like a Pokémon except that they typically come in a wider variety of species, have a much smaller lower bound on their size, do not evolve in the way you are accustomed to Pokémon doing, are weaker and more fragile, usually do not respond as well to training by humans, cannot go into Pokéballs or PC storage, and usually do not produce anything you would recognize as an "attack".
"What's an... animal?"
An animal is like a Pokémon except that they typically come in a wider variety of species, have a much smaller lower bound on their size, do not evolve in the way you are accustomed to Pokémon doing, are weaker and more fragile, usually do not respond as well to training by humans, cannot go into Pokéballs or PC storage, and usually do not produce anything you would recognize as an "attack".
can_i_help
"Just... How do you not know what an animal is? Bar? And Bella's world? Does she have her own personal world or something?"
the_very_best
Many other people also live in her world, but you do not. Her world does not contain animals as you understand them.
"So that explains why you were confused before about Pokéballs..."
"So that explains why you were confused before about Pokéballs..."
can_i_help
"So you mean like parallel universes or something?"
A smile spreads on her face.
A smile spreads on her face.
can_i_stay
Ann rolls her eyes and looks at Bella.
"So if you don't have animals, do you eat those Pokémon things? How animal-like... come to think of it, you don't have any idea what's animal-like. How different are Pokémon from humans?"
"So if you don't have animals, do you eat those Pokémon things? How animal-like... come to think of it, you don't have any idea what's animal-like. How different are Pokémon from humans?"
the_very_best
"Uh, some people eat some kinds of Pokémon, but I don't, most people don't. Some of them give milk or eggs or other edible stuff but I wouldn't eat an actually butchered 'mon. We eat plants - not plantlike 'mon, just regular plants. And 'mon are generally not as smart as humans, although they vary a lot, and they can make attacks and they're tougher and stronger and they evolve and they work with Pokéballs." She puts Juu back in her ball and the ball back on her belt.
can_i_stay
"For the record, where we live most humans eat some animals, and I don't think there are many animals nobody's tried eating. Animals can be smart too, I think there was a woman who taught a gorilla to sign, that's the smartest I know of. Of course most species of animal are universally dumb. And as far as I remember most living things in the planet are bugs, both in number and mass, and they have too tiny brains to have anything else but instincts."
can_i_help
"That's all well and good, but there are so many more important things. Like attacks? Evolve? How do Pokéballs work? Please explain."
the_very_best
"Uh, I don't know how Pokéballs work, I'm not an engineer, I tried making my own out of an Apricorn once but it didn't work. Pokémon fight a lot - each other, mostly, if one attacks an undefended human the human's in a lot of trouble so we try really hard to avoid that - and they do it with, well, attacks, which are more powerful and often flashier than the kind of thing you learn if you go to a martial arts class for humans. I mean, some 'mon do things humans can learn as martial arts, but they're better and more natural at it, and humans cannot breathe fire. My 'mon are all already fully evolved so I can't really show you it happening, but -" She releases another creature, pets it, and says, "This is Dusk, and this," she taps a few buttons on her watch and displays the screen, "is one of his baby pictures. He evolved and now he's an Umbreon instead of an Eevee."
can_i_stay
"They look so different... Only a few animals change shape that drastically. It's called metamorphosis, and I don't think anything that has any kind of skeleton can-"
can_i_help
Sabrina interrupts her.
"Stop talking science, I don't think she cares. Anyway, how many of those do you have? What can they do?"
"Stop talking science, I don't think she cares. Anyway, how many of those do you have? What can they do?"
the_very_best
"I have six, which is the most anybody can have active at once unless they're herd 'mon or extremely tame or something. What they can do is... pretty vague. Rachis can carry me around flying? Branch and Fireflower carry me around on the ground? Zag can swim?"