video / text

[thatwasours]

{ VIDEO }

 

[a man in his late thirties comes onto the feed. his bag is open next to him with the contents ruffled through, and there's an open Pokéball on the ground. the lower left sleeve of his trenchcoat is also leaking blood from what looks like puncture marks (a bite wound?) and is slightly singed, but he doesn't appear to be paying it much mind.]

 

I read the handbook, but there's one thing I'm not getting. These creatures-- Pokémon --are they pets, or are they weapons? The information here contradicts itself. It says here that friendship is an important part of raising the things, but as far as I'm aware, you don't usually make nice with animals you're teaching to cockfight.

 

And what kind of anarchistic society is this that the person with the strongest Pokemon wins every possible interpersonal conflict? All right, so it's not that different from most third-world countries, or your average political standoff, but seeing that kind of thing on an individual, culturally-encouraged level is a little disturbing. [he lets out a snort of disapproval.] Might makes right, I guess.
 
 

 

 

{ TEXT, LOCKED TO SELF AT 30% }

 

LOVE DETERRENCE

 

[the clumsy, highly experimental nature of the lock makes it fairly obvious that this is someone trying to work out how to filter and hack.]

Comments

video;

[cardboard_boss]

Huh? [What the hell?]

....

Kaz?

You're here too? What the hell is going on? [As if the blond could answer his questions because right now he was so damn confused.]

[thatwasours]

[so the Phantom's here, too. that explains nothing, but it's more than Kaz had to work with five minutes ago.]

Not sure. I have a few theories, though-- help me narrow it down.

Have you found anyone else? And tell me something only you would know-- I mean, something that you would know that I wouldn't, and I wouldn't be about to invent or imagine by myself.

[cardboard_boss]

[Yeah, he's here and completely confused about the whole background music and Pokémon deal they've been dealt with.]

I've you mean have I spoken with anyone else? Yeah a few people over this communication device. [People answering his questions of help over the network mainly. Kaz wanted to know something he didn't?]

Regarding this place? These Pokeballs as their known can fit Pokémon inside. They shrink down into these tiny balls by using some form of advanced technology. [Magic one person said.]

[thatwasours]

No, from Mother Base. Is anyone else we know here?

As for the Pokemon-- I got that. Look in your bag, there's a short handbook with the basics.

[because Kaz is Kaz, the first thing he had done in the situation is sit down, take stock of his possessions and surroundings, and immediately skim the informative-looking booklet. and also, push the button on the Pokeball, which is now laying empty next to his left hand. somewhere in the woods right now, there is a very angry dog spitting fire.]

[and for perhaps the first time in his life, Kaz doesn't jump at the opportunity to become a verbal information dump, and says--]

Go ahead and read it. It's not long.

[Boss may or may not notice that Kaz's left hand is visible in the video feed, therefore, what is holding the camera up?]

[cardboard_boss]

[Boss was so caught up with being a new arrival he nearly missed Kaz's meaning behind his question. Of course. The men from Mother Base. What else could he have meant? Snake sighed.]

No. Just us so far.

[No sign of any of the men from back home. Was it really just them in this new world? At the mention of the handbook Snake looked to his backpack on the ground and scanned over it with his good eye. Always one for good advice was Kaz.]

Seems we get friends when we arrive here. [He indicated DD, who was wagging his tail with his tongue out, staring up at his master. Boss angled the camera to show Kaz his Pokémon.]

Going to call him DD.

I'll take a look and get acquainted. You alright though, Kaz? [Since the guy was not in the best of shape being without some of his limbs. Yet, Boss could see his left hand. What the?- Who was holding the camera up?]

[thatwasours]

Yeah, I'm fine. I--

[he's about to launch into more pointless speculation about what happened, but then his eyes fall on DD The Second.]

Wow. What is it with you and finding dogs? I mean, I got a dog too, but...

I, uh. I'm sure I'll find it.

[cardboard_boss]

[Boss frowned as Kaz spoke. He didn't sound too sure about his friend being fine.]

They seem to find me. This little guy popped out of the Pokeball when I opened it. [Yep. Boss couldn't resist the urge to press that button launching his canine friend nearly into his lap.]

Find what?

[He's confused and worried.]

Audio

[thedifferencebetween]

Finally! Someone who makes some friggin' sense around here!

Yeah, it's messed up. Make friends with the local wildlife! Use your new friends to beat the shit out of other local wildlife! And pets! For profit!

I mean, it's an easy system, not gonna argue that, but it's freaking nuts.

Audio

[thatwasours]

[huh. this guy gets it. and he's amusing. Kaz grins, briefly, not that it's visible over audio.]

Profit? So cockfighting is a lucrative business here? The handbook mentioned betting, but is it actually possible to make any kind of significant money? A living...?

Audio

[thedifferencebetween]

Depends on how you define 'living', sport. Surviving? Sure, you won't starve, beating up kids' pets for their lunch money. But that's about what you'll get, starting out, lunch money from kids.

Gotta get real good at it, to make the big bucks. Get yourself some dragons, a couple of electric dinosaurs, that kind of thing.

Which also can be taken from random kids just wandering on the roads, because there's absolutely no exotic animal licensing or child protective services on this planet. It's like parents want their spawn to get devoured by local wildlife.

[thatwasours]

[this. face.]

There are just kids running loose? With all the--

[okay, he doesn't know what, exactly, but given the words 'electric dinosaur' combined with the fact that in the last five minutes he's encountered a fire-breathing dog and some kind of telepathic green thing, he's starting to get the picture.]

Is anyone actually looking after them? What--

[actually, he decides he'd rather not know the exact mortality rate.]

Is there at least some kind of social safety net that keeps these kids from getting killed en masse? I mean, not just the obvious casualties, but the untreated injuries alone...

[thedifferencebetween]

No idea. I really don't care enough to find out, it's not like they're my kids.

But I seriously doubt it, judging by the number of free range brats running around. I figure it's one of those 'let the strong survive' kind of deals.

[thatwasours]

[a long-suffering sigh]

I don't even like kids, but that sounds like the sort of thing someone should be doing something about.

Not that they'd cooperate. Anything that's dangerous attracts kids like flies, all of them trying to prove they aren't kids anymore.

[Video]

[crouching_sin]

They're both, depending on how you use them, though just treating them as weapons will likely make them resent you. As for battles, it's not always pure strength - it tends to also rely on strategy, type matchups, and creative thinking. It is a bit strange that it's so ingrained in the culture here, but I suppose as newcomers we don't really have a huge say in what the local culture is.

[Video]

[thatwasours]

That...

[he bites back 'we'll pretend, for a moment, that that paradox makes sense']

All right, so what kind of animal would trust me if I continued to put it in dangerous situations? Even humans will build up resentment if they know you're putting them in the line of fire for your own protection. Every time I throw that ball, I'm asking whatever's inside to get hurt so I don't have to. They might be animals, but they must be smart enough to grasp that they're not gaining anything from this.

I'm not trying to change the culture here, and I don't think I could. I'm just just trying to make sense of how things ended up this way, with all conflicts between humans being handled by proxy battles between animals.

[Video]

[crouching_sin]

Believe it or not, most of them tend to enjoy battling and becoming stronger. They seem to have a natural drive for it. Just why that is, I'm not sure. Every time I've asked the Pokemon I have that can speak, she's just been confused as to why I would think they don't. Certainly, some Pokemon are less aggressive and eager to fight than others, but on the whole they seem to enjoy battling.

What they gain from it is experience and growth, new abilities, and sometimes changing into another form. It's an odd method of evolution and building up of strength, but that seems to be how things go around here.

[thatwasours]

[he was going to argue about the ethics of breeding animals with an innate drive for fighting, but--]

You... have one that talks?

[crouching_sin]

Telepathically, but yes. Some Psychic-types can do that. They can even direct it into the Pokegear to communicate like we do. One moment...

[He turns away for a moment, and a Gardevoir floats over to stand next to him.]

Hello there.

[thatwasours]

[oh, holy shit has Kaz had enough of psychic and paranormal abilities in his own world. if there's anything further to the psychic link than speech, the Gardevoir immediate receives a healthy dose of apprehension, wariness, and various flashes of a floating red-headed kid with a gas mask, generally against a background of destruction and things on fire.]

[his voice comes out in a breathless gasp.]

You're kidding.

Uh. So you really can talk.

[video]

[solas_ion]

Eh--it's a little of both, to answer your first question. [Lancer shrugged his shoulders, tilting his head to one side as he tried to evaluate where Kaz was coming from. It wasn't often he saw newcomers taking things quite this seriously.]

As for the second... [Another shrug.] Can't help you with that. The place's always run pretty well, tell ya the truth.

[video]

[thatwasours]

That's what I'm getting at. Even if these things have a natural drive to fight, how do you raise something to be both a weapon and a pet? You'd have to be both its master and its friend, hold both the carrot and the stick.

[video]

[solas_ion]

Ain't that hard, really. They're a lot more intelligent than even your above-average wolfhound. So all you really gotta do is be strict without being a complete bastard, and most cases you can manage pretty well with that.

[thatwasours]

Being a complete bastard seems like it'd be a quicker path to making the most efficient fighter.

I haven't seen a lot of dogfights, but the way I understood it was that you don't leave any room for kindness in them, or they'll hesitate.

[solas_ion]

Usually, you'd be right. Hell, I've been on the wrong side of a guard dog before, and a damn good one at that. But these guys ain't out for blood so much as they're out to knock one another around a little.

[He shrugged, making a vague gesture over his shoulder; a Houndoom seemed to respond to it and sat down beside him with a huffing noise and a few embers from her mouth.]

But s'like I said--they're damn smart. Only attack when and what you tell 'em to, long as you treat 'em pretty well.

[thatwasours]

Really. And it doesn't dull their edge?

[he squints into the video feed at the Houndoom]

Looks like you got a bigger one of... whatever those are. Mine's still a puppy, I think.

Did yours bite?