lucetilogs | Mission: Burying the Past in Zompania

Mmmhm. That's the way of Pokémon, isn't it?

[ Or at least, he'd always been taught that - the ones in the hands of pacifists such as Ikki were the minority. They were from a world where a warrior culture existed from animals to man and in their union too. So he says it as a matter of cause. ]

[ Speaking of Ikki... ]

Well, there was a girl here who didn't seem to - she was making music with her pokémon. [ Before she left. Alas. He continues quickly ] Some people back home battle with their pokémon now and then, but then you get people who won't do it at all.

[ And he includes, particular for what was said: ] Lots of pokémon can fight, but I don't know if I would call it their way.

Ah... [ He considers a moment, and then nods to himself ] You're right, when you put it like this. Ikki and Yellow-chan both were what you'd call pacifists, and their partners acclimated to that same pace. [ And he turns now, to watch the beginnings again of the tail fight. Linda, of course, is being very competitive. It's her nature ~~well, characteristic~~ ]

In my case though, Linda and I have been partners since she was born. And there's no denying that I fight, these days, and so naturally, she fights too - for me and mine, and for her own desire to be the best.

[ A little more sheepishly: ] She's a bit of an egomaniac, that girl.

[ Pikachu may be a jolly natured, but he's been a battler pokémon long enough to adjust his own competitive nature to favouring winning fights (and who doesn't like winning?). He shall take on a girl tail on tail if that is the fight.

Red follows Masaomi's gaze, shuffling so he can properly watch without putting pressure onto his hands -- which, actually, they will be lowering down with the shovel into his lap. ]

Egomaniac? [ he thinks on the word ] Like really bigheaded?

[ Sorry, just got to confirm. But that's what it sounds like, ego and maniac put together. ]

Oh, the biggest. But then, Linda is the strongest, and I know that to be truth.

[ But as he says it, the "truth" is not necessarily the truth. It's the truth you tell your best friend to humor them, and accept to make it easier. In essence, it's spoiling her. Not that he's not confident in her abilities - oh he so is, and figures that she can win this weird tail fight thing for example - but that he objectively knows there are some bars set far too high.

Linda is naughty natured. ... She's a bit of a thuglife. But she is dignified, thank you. ... Which is why she's going to tail shove your sorry tail into the dirt ]

[ Okay, good one there, Masaomi. You do get the smallest of snorts from Red. ]

Bigheaded. [ And it's very clearly directed at Masaomi.

Now. What is honour in pokémon battling beyond keeping to four moves in proper trainer matches? Every pokémon should be thug life.

But if you want to slap this tail into the dirt, you'll want to make sure you're quick enough - and being quick has always been a defining trait for this pikachu. Move fast, dodge fast, hit hard - and live life to the fullest: it'd be a motto for this pokémon if he cared for such things. Pikachu turns his body to face away from Linda, swapping his balance on the ground from his lower legs to his upper. In that same motion that's meant to sweep his tail away being knocked, it gives his swing some added power as it makes its way back around to Linda, aimed at her person. Much spin, so wowe.

This is likely going to look somewhat like some sort of weird pikachu ritual dance so please enjoy the show. ]

Have you met Ash and his pikachu?

Only in passing.

[ It really is. Because Linda is also quick... but more so powerful. Masaomi and her have ended up (accidentally!) sacrificing a lot of her ~~special attack~~ electrical power to make her very physically strong by Pikachu standards. Go in quick, hit hard, get out. Maybe do a few cool tricks. Unfortunately for her, she also has a temper on her, and the result is that while she dodges the initial strike- she does her own little show off thing and use her front paws to launch herself into the air to do a little flip to do an aerial hit with her tail. Which is totally not easy to dodge or deflect. Totally]

I met the guy once when we were at Seventh Heaven.

[ Red - and Pikachu - are sure of her owning strength in the way that she moves-- well, Pikachu doesn't have time to be impressed (but definitely, he's taking this very seriously), but Red can be from his position of a spectator. She didn't look bad so far for a non-pokémon world bred pikachu. Not that he had ever considered that they should be that different, but you know.

Their own focuses had never been on heavy hitting moves without electricity, though being able to slam hard and knock into an opponent in a situation where energy-based attacks wouldn't be viable was certainly an explored area, half in case Pikachu ran low on electrical energy, and also if he was in a spot where he couldn't use it.

Pikachu's already back on his lower feet at the end of the maneuver, his twirl there complete in the same move it was done with. His ears inform him of her place before his eyes get the chance, and maybe he could deflect her, spin into a ball and swing his tail above him- but he knows that eve without seeing yet her full potential, that this pikachu will have momentum on her side to slam him harder.

So instead Pikachu pounces out of the way, skidding his legs against the dirt to turn himself around to be faced when she lands, down on all fours. ]

I guess you know Gold better. [ He did mention him earlier. Oh, and Johto, so- ] And his Silver?

Yeah. If I'm going to go down the list, Gold's been my friend for years now, and Silver's... been at times a friend and at times a mentor for me. Cilan-san's been helping the both of us out with something important for month, albeit he's not from Johto. And Crystal-chan... [ ... What is Crystal to him? He licks his lips, an shrugs ] she's a "friend" of mine.

[ He says all this, now quite distracted from the whole digging holes thing. He's trying to observe Red's Pikachu - he's pretty sure that this guy is actually faster than Linda, or at least equally as fast. It's interesting to see how they have likely been raised different. Linda, when she's dodged, hisses a little to herself and touches down on both of her hind legs. She turns to face her butt against Pikachu, and brief considers coating her tail in iron--

But that wouldn't be the contest, and she knows it. So instead she makes the lunge again, in a much less flashy manner. Still, given the time she needed to get her footing again, no doubt he'll have time to react if not get moving first. ]

[ Pikachu hears the hiss, just as Red hears that pause in the follow-up for Crystal. The difference between the two is that Red takes it to be because she's still rather new and doesn't think on it at all, while Pikachu takes note of it in his head. Usually if the enemy hisses, it could mean two things - one, that the enemy was an ekans or arbok; 2, that they may be the sort to fall easy to taunts.

It was one of those lessons learnt from multiple battles, both from trained and wild pokémon. Though hey, also -- this time he was impressed that she landed on her feet than hitting the ground with her tail.

Red thinks about answering in something more than the hum of acknowledgement that he gives, but he loses focus to watch the pikachus carefully. They're both not bad, really- he already knew Pikachu didn't need to depend on him wholly, but neither did this Linda need to rely on her trainer either.

Pikachu sees her begin to move and goes for it first, the advantage being his in speed when already being on all four legs. He makes a curve in his run than going head-on, aiming to attack her from the side. He jumps mid-air for his swing, allowing no option for her to knock him off by the legs should she get the idea to try quick enough. ]

[ Oh, if we're falling into silence: Masaomi's eyes focus on the butt-battle too and go sharp. If he was treating this more seriously, he would be shifting his position for a better vantage point. It's something he drilled into himself from Silver: a trainer has spacial awareness. In a Pokémon battle, because you aren't the one directly fighting (so different from how he fights the war, really) your responsibility is direction. That direction is best given when you can see the battlefield from an angle that your partner cannot, and therefore you can direct better positioning.

...

But yeah that's not a thing. Linda actually ends up half-finishing her own movement against Pikachu's - the result is that both tails connect against each other. And while she could have hard a harder swing, perhaps, if she was able to wind it up properly, as is, it functions more or less as a tail guard and she's shoved back. ... and she insists, when she is, that because it was tail to tail it's not a hit for him ]

[ Again, the move already has a landing pre-determined -- since the blow wasn't head on, Pikachu's body was aimed to meet with the ground ahead of where he was afterwards even if the blow hadn't connected.

Though there is a stutter when his feet hit the dirt with a skid, not unaffected by the tails connecting. It's not everyday you get to whack tails mid-air with another pikachu and know how it feels. Still, no biggy, he's on his feet and controlled enough to backflip once or twice to make some more space between them.

Once still, Pikachu's tail goes forward, the pokémon positioning himself at an angle to show the tail more. It flicks, and with it Pikachu holds out a small paw that motions in a 'come get some' fashion, the rise at the side of his mouth and sly sound from it adding to the challenging demeanour. ]

[ Man, you could even call this cute. Or so Masaomi thinks.

Because Linda is so opening that challenge. Of course she'll come at you, mouse-boy. You think you're such hot stuff. She'll wind her tail back and make to hop over to him so that she can swing her tail in a wide but fast arc towards him once she hops over to the close the distance. She's so got this ]

[ Red wonders if Pikachu isn't playing a risky move when he knows nothing about how well Linda operates so early in, but... leave the pikachuing to the pikachu!

Pikachu's own tail flips back the second he knows he has her attention, mouth still skewed but not from any effort. He's down on all fours, going towards Linda in turn and letting himself be her target for a time until he hops himself up into the air, over the swinging tail --

and landing on her head.

Which is used as a diving board, with the same landing being the spring to get over the side that she came from. He hops a few steps forward, then turns to face her direction.

Hi Linda. ]

[ Oh wow you- you!!! are a tool. Know what, she is going to flips herself around at that and try to swat at him in the same motion as it, because that was (admittedly impressive) rude as hell.

... Even ruder that Masaomi snorts at it ]

[ Woah woah woah, time for a connecting tail thwap!! Let's not get all butthurt about this!!

Meanwhile, you know what (since Masaomi snorting reminded Red of his existence-) ] By the way, what was that move she did before? Where she glided down in the air - did she learn that naturally?

[ Considering all the people who are happy to teach here (like ninjas! that was, uh- fun to Pikachu), there was no telling how it came to be. ]

Mmmhm. Well, we had to work with her power a little, but it's called Magnet Rise, apparently.

[ Wow. Wow. We're going down, we're going timber ]

[ Butt bashing, butt dodge, butt bashing, butt dodge. ~~Hey Masaomi, what level did she learn that at.~~ ]

Huh... so you just found her trying to pull it off?

No, no, not quite like that. More like... we discovered it on accident. [ How does he explain this without sounding like a total freak to someone from a Pokémon world? He knows that this caused problems in the end, but. He sighs and makes to stand properly and not lean on the shovel ]

See, I have two close friends who are deeply traumatized by electricity, and when Linda was a Pichu, she didn't have a ton of control over her own powers. But then, what baby does? [ Shrug ] Either way, we ended up on a mission where we were working on developing her spark in controlled ways - and we realized that her charge could make a little magnetic field. So we worked on it more.

[ ... pichu...? What Masaomi says is a little confusing all around, but... ]

How did you know you were making a magnetic field?

Because she was pushing away metal things, or sometimes pulling them in. Until we worked out how to make use of it, metal things like my earring just kept moving to and fro.

[ OH, that makes sense... like his magnemite back home.

Though Red does think on that for a moment, trying to imagine it and hmming shortly and quietly to himself. (Also- that guy has an earring? Like thugs on motorbikes??) He frowns in time however, when he considers other things said. ]

By the way... by calling her a pichu, did you mean she was still really young when you took her on a mission?

Yeah. A few months old at the time, but it wasn't a combat mission and she didn't want to get left behind, so I didn't see the issue with it.

[ A shrug. He doesn't know for sure if he can say that worked out in the end or worked against them in the end. ]

Oh. [ His face softens. ] It's not, just missions make me think about fighting mostly. [ And cooking on ships. He doesn't know if a pikachu at a few months old is really that young or not!? He doesn't even know how old Pikachu is himself.

Red stands up finally, twisting his arms and bending them at the elbows while opening and closing his hands; he's been sitting for a good while now or so it feels like, so getting back to the job soon seems like a good idea. ]

Sorry for distracting you.

I think a lot of people think like that. There's a risk of being attacked in a lot of them, to be fair.

[ Shrug. But yeah, it does feel like a good time to get back to work, even if Linda is still trying to get to the fighting. Masaomi exhales and goes back to actually digging the hole. Oops he got lazy ]

Mission: Burying the Past in Zompania

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