"Of course! I've been training Pokémon practically my whole life! I especially love the power and beauty of fire types; there's a lot more subtlety to fire than most people think."

"Nice! I've just been fighting them as I go and collecting whichever ones look coolest. Like Daana'd and Pasiap, here. ...well, whichever ones look coolest and that I can give appropriately heretical names, anyway, I've been going with this Elemental Dragons theme and I kind of don't want to break it at this point."

"I'm not familiar with whatever religion you're committing heresy in--I'm First Church of Arceus--but those are some cool species and some cool names! Neither of yours are actually a dragon type, though. Easy mistake to make if you don't check the Pokédex entry."

“Ah. Is ‘type’ a scientific term for something? I’m not from this world, I’m missing some apparently very basic knowledge.”

"Another world, huh? That's a new one! So, types are the way Pokémon are categorized, it's based on which attacks they're most resistant and vulnerable to. Attacks have types too, see, and they match up like this." He pulls a portable device similar to Nurse Joy's out of his pocket and pulls up a chart, which he shows to Aril.

Aril looks it over. "Mostly seems to make sense. So, Pokémon are sort of... defined by combat, huh."

"Yeah, I suppose you could put it like that. Fighting is what Pokémon spend more time doing than anything else, and it's the thing they're way better at than humans are."

“Huh. Natural aptitudes, then, like with Castes.”

He turns to Daana’d. “So even though you’re as smart as I am, now, you still probably like fighting better than, say, math. Not that I like math particularly... fine arts, then. Unless you’d like to see some art. Would you?”

(Aril is somewhat distractible.)

"I like fighting very much! What is art?"

“Oh, of course you wouldn’t know - art is when people make things to be beautiful. Like...”

Aril sings a few bars of a Northern folk song popular a few centuries ago. His voice is rich and glorious, filling the room. His feet tap as if he wants to dance along to it, but considering Blaine, he rules against it; the undying love of an elderly human is not something he needs in his life.

”Like that,” he says after he’s done. “Only you look at it, and usually it isn’t as good.”

"That was very nice, but not as good as a good fight."

"You're a good singer!" says Blaine. "How come you talk to your Pokémon so much?"

“Oh, sorry, I’m completely excluding you - she says she does like fighting a lot, she didn’t know what art was before I showed her, and that she likes music, but it’s not as good as fighting.”

"You can understand your Pokémon? If you really can and you're sure you're not just imagining it, you should go to Aether Corp. They've been trying to invent better ways to communicate with Pokémon for years."

“I’m very sure I’m not imagining it, but my method isn’t likely to generalize. I guess you might be able to replicate it with sorcery? But I don’t get the feeling you have sorcery here, and teaching it to people sounds unutterably tedious.”

"If we have this 'sorcery' I've never heard of it. Ah well, it's good that someone can understand their Pokémon, even if it can't be made to work for everybody. Say, I don't suppose you could understand my Pokémon?"

“Sure I could. Is there something you want me to say to them?”

"That's great! Can you ask them if there's anything they want from me, or want to tell me, that they haven't been able to communicate? They understand me a lot better than I understand them, I think." He lets out his Ninetales, his Rapidash, and his Arcanine.

"Hey guys. I can understand when you talk; is there anything you want to tell Blaine that you haven't been able to tell him?"

The Arcanine says she really likes fighting flying types, and that she loves Blaine very much. The Rapidash likes being ridden around really fast even though he's super tired afterwards, and also he loves Blaine a whole lot. The Ninetales can't think of anything to ask for, but definitely wants Blaine to know she loves him.

Aril conveys all of this. "It's nice that they love you so much. Are Pokémon always like that? Because Daana'd is."

Blaine smiles. "If you love your Pokémon, and take good care of them, and help them learn and grow, they'll love you back." He pets all of his (the Rapidash's flaming mane doesn't seem to bother him), and tells them by name what good boys and girls they are, and puts them back in their Pokèballs.

"Good! Oh, by the way - where is this Aether Corp you mentioned? I might make a visit."

"Saffron City. I can show you on a map, if you want."

"Yes, please."

Once Saffron City has been pointed out to him, Aril will bid Blaine farewell, re-ball his serpents, and make his way over to Cinnabar Labs. He's got some technology to figure out.