victory_road

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Is there any reason I *shouldn't* release a six-foot-tall, extremely bouncy, spherical whale who keeps spraying water in my face back into the ocean?

[No seriously, is there? Because after this thing sprayed him at the beach, he'd decided to catch it so he could passively-aggressively turn it in for his Rocket Quota, but it turns out that the damn thing isn't high enough level for them to want it!]

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I suppose this means I should be more careful in naming them for the future, if they're really going to be stubborn like this.

It depends a bit on each individual, but sometimes, they really can be stubborn like mules.

[A pause.]

Uhm. That is, if you know what a mule is.

[Armin has learned not to make assumptions. His world might have had mules, other worlds have dragons and skeletal horses. And dogs. Okay, dogs mostly are a constant.]

Don't worry. I know what a mule is.

Alright. I didn't want to assume. I know people's worlds can be very different.

I'm beginning to get that impression, yeah.

I don't think I ever remembered to introduce myself, did I? My name is Armin. I've been here for a while now, so if you have any questions, I wouldn't mind trying to answer them.

Steven.

And I wouldn't mind knowing more about the local government, I suppose. And local attitudes towards those of us who're from other worlds.

Let me answer your second question first. When it comes to local attitudes towards those of us who have come from other worlds, I suppose it depends on how local you are talking about. I'm not sure exactly how much you know about this world yet, but you have probably heard that you can travel to the regions Johto, Kanto and the Sevii Islands. It was well before my time here, but Johto is where we Otherworlders first started appearing in this world. As much as I have been told by people who have been here longer than I have, for the first period of their stay, they could only travel through Johto. Kanto became available later, and even later still, the Sevii Islands (I was around when that happened). Within these regions, I'd say we are pretty well accepted. We are allowed to live and travel freely, participate in their challenges and contests and if you are interested in it, you can even qualify to become a gym leader. But, this world is actually larger than just those three regions. There is a lot more to the world, but unfortunately, we are not allowed to visit those areas. Apparently, despite the time we've spent here, we aren't yet accepted in those regions. It's unfortunate and I wish there was a way to change the attitudes those people hold towards us, but perhaps in time, they will see us differently. The people of the Sevii Islands certainly grew to change their minds about us, and now I can live and work there and they all accept me.

Edited 2020-02-19 01:02 (UTC)

I mean, I'm not surprised there's places that want to keep us out. People don't seem to change, no matter the world. I just wanted to know if I need to worry about becoming a victim of a hate crime.

[More than usual, he doesn't say.]

A hate crime?

[This is text so Steven can't see it, but Armin is just blinking at the screen in confusion.]

I'm sorry, but what exactly do you mean by a hate crime?

[His first reasoning is a crime inflicted based on hatred, but that seems awfully broad?]

[... oh god, why does he have to explain this? (What kind of lucky world does Armin come from that they don't have hate crimes?)]

Well. Suppose someone fits into a broad category of people that other people are prejudiced against. Maybe they're the wrong color. Maybe they're from another country. Maybe they sleep with people of their same sex.

When someone who hates that category of person attacks that person for no other reason than they hate people like them, *that's* a hate crime.

[(What sort of fortunate world does Steven come from that these people are given extra protections?)]

I see. I didn't know that sort of thing existed. I mean, I'm aware of people hating other groups of people for fairly meaningless reasons. Far more than I'd like to be, I suppose. But I never heard of such a thing being called a hate crime. Uhm, but as for your question -- I haven't noticed anything like that here? Admittedly, I've never specifically looked for it, but it feels to me that there are a lot of people here living with different colour skin without any issue. And a good friend of mine recently married his husband and nobody seemed to care about that.

[Like, if anything, Armin was among the small group of people who had been uncomfortable at first by such overt displays of homosexuality. But that was mainly because that sort of thing was Not Done back home. And if it Was Done, it was done behind three closed doors and under the guise of just being Very Good Roommates. The open acceptance here had been something he had had to adjust to.

Getting a huge gay crush on a cute British wizard had certainly helped some.]

There is one group you should look out for though. Not that they will target you for reasons like that. Have you heard of Team Rocket yet?

[Oh.

Fuck.

Right, of course. This was why everyone stressed not getting caught so much in training. And why you need to build an entirely different Rocket Persona with an entirely different Rocket Team.]

They're, what, the local organized crime, right? Like the Mafia. The Pokemafia.

I'm not quite sure what the Mafia is, but if you are worried about being targeted by anyone, you should keep a lookout for Team Rocket. They won't be looking for you because you are an outsider though. They try to steal pokemon from anyone at all. The more rare your pokemon are, the more of a target you'll be. Admittedly, a lot of the lower-ranked grunts are more obnoxious than anything else, but they are capable of a lot more than simple muggings on the street.

It's a thing from my world. It doesn't matter, really.

So they're a gang. With a really stupid name.

You still better not underestimate them. They were once able to kidnap the Elite Four and capture a legendary. Whatever their name might be, they can certainly be dangerous.

[Okay, but. Even if he's only a member of Team Rocket because he was literally press-ganged upon entering this universe, there's a little part of him that's pleased to know that they're actually competent and formidable.]

That sounds pretty impressive. The Elite Four are famous trainers, right? A legendary what?

[No. Wait. What else?]

A legendary pokemon?

Yes, Sorry. A legendary pokemon. Nephelis to be exact. And the Elite Four are among the most senior and skilled trainers in this region. They represent the Pokemon League and aid the Jennies when something big threatens to disrupt the peace. They are also the last four champions you have to beat if you are interested in opening your own gym.

Huh. If they're that formidable, I wonder if the stupid name is to throw people off, so they'll discount them.

I'll admit, I've thought about it, though not so much because of the name. The way some of the grunts act, you'd think they were as bad as that Skull gang that came around here once. [Now those guys had been bozos.] But then I think about the fact that they were able to kidnap Lance and the others and Nephelis, which clearly means they are very capable. I've wondered if it is on purpose. If they have these low-level grunts pulling idiotic things just so people don't look too deeply into what they can really do behind the scenes. Sort of like sacrificing some pawns in chess so your opponent thinks you are a rookie and will underestimate you. Or get overconfident and manoeuvre himself into a terrible position. I might be overthinking it though.

Or it might be the organization is full of incompetence on every level, but there's just enough members that *can* tie their own shoes that they make up for all the ones that can't. It's hard to tell.

Somehow I'm not sure which one would be more terrifying.

Until someone publishes a tell-all book after they get caught, I doubt we'll ever know.

I guess so. In any case, if you are worried about anyone targetting you, it's people like that you need to look out for. And they won't be targetting you for, well, any of those reasons you mentioned before.

Yeah. Only because I'd have something they want. Which means I probably shouldn't brag too much on here when I do have Pokemon worth stealing, in case they're listening in.

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text; Is this really where my life is heading? Trying to wing pokemon politics???

SORRY????

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