victory_road | 5. Video

Entry tags:

5. Video

[Apparently one of her pokemon is filming this because the camera is a bit further away then usual. You can see Newt sitting by a bed, and also off to the side there is an Eevee sitting on the floor. He is also holding onto a dolls head. It's for moral support.

Newt meanwhile looks at the camera.]

I have a question. If you're af...if you don't really like a certain type of pokemon that much. But you still want to get all the gym badges. Do you think it would be easier to get the gym themed for them over with first? Or should you wait and maybe you won't be so afraid of them in the future?

Oh and does anyone knows what this is?

[She holds up a Spell Tag]

Vasquez brought it back after Halloween but I'm not sure what to do with it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you have someone to go with for friendly support? People are willing to help you out. Whether it's taking on the gym or getting better at being around things you're scared of. I was around in case things didn't go too well for my partner.

By the way, I'm taking your advice and I'm going to try and get that Porygon. Even if I'm afraid of birds. I'm going to make an exception because it'll be useful and it seems like one that won't freak me out.

[Fucking asshole birds.]

Um, I have some people I could probably ask. I'd have to wait and see though, since I just stay with my pokemon by myself so I don't have anyone close by, I don't think.

[It's easy to lose track of people in this world with all the travelling.]

Oh! Good luck with the games, you'll have to play a lot but they can be fun. And a Porygon doesn't really look like a bird so I bet you won't be that afraid of it either.

Why don't you stay near someone?

[It's a legit question. He knows kids in this world can take care of themselves, but it seems generally safer if they at least stay near other kids. Even here, one can wander off the road and get lost.]

[He considers explaining something else, too, about how hard it was to get over his dislike of androids in the beginning. That it was really difficult, but some of the related baggage still stings. He decides to just point out-] I bet some of the Pokemon you're scared of go through an evolution where they look pretty dumb.

Stay near someone? ....Oh. I just didn't really think of that. I just picked a place to stay for the winter where I could get a job and train.

I'm used to being by myself. I always thought it would be safer....

[She is slowly getting over her fear that people around her will die but it's kinda hard to shake that gut feeling.]

What do you mean they look dumb?

Well, some look like porkbuns with eyes. Some look like big green shoehorns.

And I say this knowing how dumb we humans look at different stages of our life or when we have a bad day.

[He knows what he looks like after a bad bender.]

Oh.

I'm not sure. You think they'd be less scary if they looked ...dumb in one of their evolutions?

Every once in a while. [He says thoughtfully, nodding a little.] Sometimes seeing something when it's vulnerable and weak or a little silly makes it less scary.

[She seems to think this over.]

Maybe. I never saw the monsters back home when they weren't scary. Even when they were tiny they were....bad.

[Probably because at their 'silliest' looking, they had just burst out of a persons chest.]

Maybe I can look up the pokemon here.

[They sound like nightmares, but he's not going to ask her about it just yet. Not when she's trying so hard to work with it. She's a strong little girl.] Yeah. Look at 'em with your Pokegear first, anyway.

Like Silcoon or a Metapod.

And remember you don't gotta rush anything. This is the one place where you got all the time you want to take to do what you need to do.

That's a good idea. I don't think I know those ones. Are they scary?

Yeah. I like having time. It's...nice.

I personally don't think so. One looks like a silk ball and the other kind of like a...

Shoehorn. [He repeats.] That's the best description I can think up for the thing. And I don't even know if you know what one of those are.

Oh...wait, I think I've fought those. They look like moons. They're not too bad, even if it is scary that there's something inside them and that reminds me of-

[She pauses because she's looking something up.]

Oh. I don't think I'd like the first one. ....the monsters at home if they caught you and didn't kill you right away, they'd use....really gross stuff to wrap you up like a cocoon so the thing in the egg can get you.

[She may have experienced that first hand.]

So they really did act a lot like wasps and spiders then, huh?

Well, those turn out to ones that look like... um. I can't remember if it's the moth looking one or the butterfly looking one. [He manages to surpress a softly breathed 'shit' as it escapes his memory, and his screen jostles because now he has to look it up.]

Yeah it's a butterfly. Metapod turns into a butterfly, too.

They didn't fly or sting people....um, unless you count them stabbing people with their tails when they were big. Or the second mouth in their mouths.

....I don't really know much about wasps or spiders though.

[Her lessons were kinda random.]

Butterfly's are nice. I like those. Do they always come from cocoons?

[Holy shit, kid.] That sounds way too many mouths to me. [Pretty simple assessment of a nightmare description.]

Yeah, they do. Always. Because they have to grow from a fat little caterpillar to a big winged bug, and the only place to do that is in a blanket they make themselves.

Yeah. They were really bad. I hope I never have to see one again.

[Even if the pokemon here remind her of them sometimes....they're not them. It's hard to remember since it's been almost a year and that's like forever when you're seven.]

Oh. So they go to sleep as a weird bug and then they wake up a butterfly?

I wouldn't want to either. [Statements of the obvious for 900, Alex. Still, though, he doesn't want her to live the rest of her life in fear because of it. Even shoving being a dad to the side, he's seen a lot of trauma in his career.]

For normal butterflies, yeah. They just make a cacoon to bundle up and rest. They have to eat a whole lot of plants and grass before going in there. For Pokemon style ones, it looks like they gotta go through a really plain cacoon evolution that can't do all that much.

[It's something to work on to be sure.]

That sounds, less scary then I thought. I hope the ones here don't feel trapped though when they're a cocoon.

It's probably really frustrating. They're used to having little legs to run away with, and then they're just a thing with eyes and all they can do is be tough enough for other Pokemon to kick around. They gotta wait until they get good wings to fly with.

Pokemon like that should learn to hide better. It's safer and then they won't get kicked.

Sadly it's the only way for some of them get stronger. But it helps if they have good trainers with good pokemon that could keep them safe and help them recover afterward.

Do you think you would eventually be okay with a butterfly as a bug pokemon? Because if you wanted, I could try and evolve one for you one day and we could trade. And that way you wouldn't have to go through the scary steps if they bothered you too much.

I guess.

[Hiding is safer though.]

Maybe....that's really nice of you.

I'll think about it.

Just don't worry too much about it. Take your time. Healing always takes time and they hurt you pretty bad.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

5. Video

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject