Pokémon battle! And we'll see who is the better trainer! And we'll see who has the bigger Pokéballs!

[mischiefbreeder]

Who: Gold (mischiefbreeder) and Silver (tsuntrader), plus any spectators!
What: Silver issued a battle challenge to Gold, who accepted.
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: The Battle Dome
Summary: Gold and Silver have been in Luceti together for a year and yet have never had a single Pokémon battle. Deciding it's time to rectify, they head off to the Battle Dome to throw down!
Rating: PG? I mean, it's Pokémon...
[Gold had been anxiously waiting for this day. Sure, the standard format for Pokémon battles involved just battling whenever your eyes meet, but if they did that, there'd be constant battles all day, every day. Therefore, these things had to be planned.

...Besides that, Silver was his rival. Always has been, always will be. That makes this battle special. A battle to settle old scores... No, a battle to determine who's the best trainer out of the two of them, and furthermore... To show everyone just how it's done.

It was time. Their battle lies ahead.]

Comments

[endgames]

I think people could stand to gain a little more from it.

[But elaborating anymore on that would be acting contrary. From what he's been told, everyone thinks his world is backwards in a lot of respects, so understanding that it's better to leave and let lie.]

But what you had to say was pretty cool, all right. You should bring up that stuff more often, man. Sometimes it's nice to have some intelligent conversation.

[savedtheworld]

[He winces slightly when Katara speaks up. She was listening. And there was one more thing he'd have to explain to her. He gave her a slow nod before returning his attention to the other guys.]

I did think they were really interesting, Masaomi. Especially with all those strange similarities. I'd like to have more talks like this, too.

[markofthebrave]

[You guys. She was sitting right here. Of course she was listening.

And she wasn't surprised at Shikamaru's answer. Of course he would think a way of disengaging from the world would be beneficial. That was one of the reasons why she worried about him.]

I guess it just goes to show that we've all got more in common than we thought. Even if parts of the elements of our worlds are different, the essential root is still the same.

[generalflirt]

A...aha. You say "world," I say "country." [To correct that, quickly. He doesn't disagree with Katara's sentiment, but he's always quick to remind people that... Earth is huge, with many conflicts ideologies. Hell, that thing he summed up isn't even universally accepted in Japan] I mean, in China the elements art Water, Fire, Metal, Wood, and Earth.

[endgames]

[-great, now he wants to know about that. Wood is an element, albeit one you can only get from a rare bloodline limit.]

Disagreements are a common ground too, of course.

[savedtheworld]

[He nods along with Katara, remembering that pantsless guy's wise words at the swamp. And we are all branches of the same tree. But still... wood? You can't even bend it!]

I bet there's still some similarities with all the other sets of elements. And yeah, Shikamaru, it's natural that there are bad things in common across the worlds along with the good.

[markofthebrave]

[Oh Aang, you're such a good mediator. She gives him a quick grin - don't worry, she's not going to take offense and start an argument.]

That's true. And I remember Robin telling me about wood when he was explaining a philosophy of elements to me. He called it Tai Chi.

[Because Katara has a special memory for all discussions about elements.]

It reminded me a little about what you were saying, Masaomi, about elements also being inside a person. He said that with Tai Chi, the world achieves balance through working with all the elements, and that people can find the same balance if they act with the elements instead of against them.

[It had made her think of Aang, at the time.]

He said wood eased sadness, supported fire and mediated pride.

[generalflirt]

Mmmhm, that's a common enough sentiment. [literally dozens of different things like that, and Tai Chi is one of those things. He nods, anyway. And he rocks back, petting Linda once more. But then... he remembers that he's actually in a position of power here, where he can give instruction. He pulls the journal back over to him and tries to remember the five Chinese elements.

...Okay.

He quickly draws out this, albeit with Japanese hiragana which'll be auto-tanslated rather than the Chinese symbols. He's surprised he's able to remember this.]

The Chinese elements I just referenced function like rock-paper-scissors. The outer arrows imply those strengthen the one they point to. The inner ones defeat the one they point to. I'm sure there's meanings attached here and Tai Chi works in something similar to them, I just don't know it.

[endgames]

[Oh the rock-paper-scissors thing he gets. If there's any deeper meaning to it in his world, he probably slept through that lesson. Better to leave that kind of thinking to Aang and Katara.

For himself, once everyone's had a good look at that paper, he'll be pulling out his own journal.]

[savedtheworld]

[He returns Katara's glance with his own glance and very glancingly gives his own smile. The mention of "tai chi" does swirl up some shadows of ancient memories - he's sure he learned of it in that dark cave in the other life. But soon he gets fascinated by the next set of elements, so much that he doesn't even think to make any more glances at any of the people surrounding him.]

That's a real interesting way of looking at it. It's too bad they don't have any air. [A defeated shrug.] Our elemental set is kind of different. Since there's just four, each element has one that's it's opposite. For me, that meant it was hardest to learn the element that was the opposite of my own - earth.

[markofthebrave]

[Geeze, how many ways can someone 'glance' at her anyway? She smiles.]

But you got it in the end.

<small.[Katara moves to see what Shikamaru's doing with his journal.]

[generalflirt]

[...Yeah he's got nothing here. He just shrugs and goes back to petting Linda, glancing over to Shikamaru's stuff too]

[endgames]

[After a few moments, he finishes sketching this.]

Our has a similar setup to the one Masaomi just described. [So again, outer arrows strengthen and inner arrows defeat.]

Though this is only the basics. Some shinobi will pick up a second element to compensate for one weakness. Rarer still, others are born with the ability to combine two of these, to make a different element like wood.

[He places two fingers over water and earth as he says this.]

[savedtheworld]

[He gives an appreciative grin to Katara and looks over Shikamaru's shoulder at his journal.]

Oh, this one has wind! Neat! [He tries the lines.] Let's see, it's weak against fire... [A slight frown. He can take Zuko!] and strong against water. [He then grins again at Katara, this time more teasingly. He then glances from the book to Shikamaru.] Which ones are you good at, Shikamaru?

[markofthebrave]

[Hey, that's a good question. Katara wonders if Shikamaru will answer it.]

[generalflirt]

[Yeah, same.]

[endgames]

Strongest against lightning, actually.

[It supplements water. But oh, question.]

None of 'em. I taught myself a fire jutsu recently, but it was a pain in the ass since my chakra isn't that nature.

[savedtheworld]

[He takes another look at the page and realizes his mistake. He likes the idea of supplementing water a lot better. And strong against lightning? That's just empowering. Like the time he deflected Ozai's own lightning.]

I like that one better now. [To Shikamaru, with mild disappointment.] Oh, so you don't really do elements.

[markofthebrave]

[...that really just figures, doesn't it.

He would raise a topic to tell people about his culture and various strengths and weaknesses and be completely immune to any questions about it.

And since they're in public and she knows how paranoid he is about the Battle Dome, she's not going to ask the obvious question.]

[generalflirt]

[...That's missing elements. He is still petting Linda and ignoring the two Avatar people here while he locks eyes with Shikamaru, giving him a hard sort of glance. You're contradicting the lectures and yes he listens to those]

[endgames]

[He returns it. Hey, he contradicted nothing.]

Not those elements, anyways. My nature doesn't fit in that line-up.

[...though yes, still being vague because Battle Dome. Talking about chakra natures isn't the same thing about talking the formulas for his jutsus, at least.]

[savedtheworld]

I see. ...I think.

[He blinks, still pretty confused.]

[markofthebrave]

[...that's the look Shikamaru has when he knows he's being clever. And that's the look Masaomi makes he's being perceptive.

Well, okay then, boys, fine. Be that way.]

It's interesting that each element has an assigned weakness. For us, it's just all about how well you can bend - but these elements are automatically weaker to these other ones?

[So weird.]

[generalflirt]

Fire isn't weak to water?

[He's assumed it was. this whole time]

[endgames]

It is - to both your questions. To break it down simply...

Fire surpasses over wind, wind over lightning, lightning over earth, earth over water, water over fire.

But we don't bend elements like you guys do, so much as learn specific techniques. The strength of those jutsus is most important, but when otherwise evenly matched, the element is the deciding factor. A lit candle wouldn't stand up to a strong gale, for example.