video;

[shiro2hero]

[It's the Indigo Plateau. Still cold, still looking as chilly and mountainous as ever. With a notable exception - namely, a bedraggled-looking Shiro and his equally bedraggled team of pokemon. They're all crowding around him, trying to get a look at the camera.]

[Shiro is... grinning? Widely. He looks happier than he's looked in a long time, with one arm slung around his Aggron's broad neck, the other holding the camera out as far as possible.]

- Okay, okay! Come on. It's recording, guys, get in here.

[Umbreon hops up onto his shoulder, fur a little singed, sticking up in weird places. Marowak peers up from the bottom of the screen - helmet dinged and nicked in places. Gallade wiggles in, Gengar waving delightedly - lifting its hand up over the top of Gallade's head. Which... means Incineroar just flat out picks up Gallade to get in on this too, all of them squishing in with their Trainer like it's a big class photo.]

Hi everyone. Long time no chat. We've been busy up here... had a bad run first off, but the team pulled it together. They pulled it together really well.

[With a chorus of Pokemon agreement.]

And that means?

You're looking at the 13th Champions of the League.

[More loud, boistrous Pokemon cheering. Incineroar ends up dropping Gallade to scoop Shiro up instead. There's not much else he can do - and ends up fumbling the 'gear. It lands face-up, thankfully, for more shots of celebrating Pokemon.]

[Celebrating pokemon and Shiro's bemused, final statement - ]

... guys, we need to go back and apologize to Bruno again. Calm - calm down a minute! You didn't let me say it on the recording - !

[/END FEED.]




[Except for a final text.]

Formal apology goes to Bruno. Again. I swear I can count to four.

Comments

[shiro2hero]

Probably -

I've got to admit, I didn't pay much attention to the ground while I was out there.

[fingersandteeth]

Ah, well. Mostly it's just crazy rock formations. They look a lot like alien planets from Calvin & Hobbes comics.

[shiro2hero]

Ah yeah, those. I remember those.

They definitely made for some big obstacles to race around.

[fingersandteeth]

You ran foot races around them? Or drag races?

[shiro2hero]

Kind of like drag races?

Hoverbike races.

[fingersandteeth]

Oh right. You're from the future, so of course hoverbikes are an option.

Huh. Maybe in the future, California really is only beach. And a lot narrower after the seas rose.

[shiro2hero]

Only an option if you like adrenaline.

[MAYBE IT IS we just don't know anything about Voltron Earth it's really ridiculous.]

Especially if you had cliffs on the course.

[fingersandteeth]

It sounds fun, but I'd probably wipe out pretty easily. You're braver than me.

[shiro2hero]

It was a major hobby of mine, back home. Setting records, finding new routes... all of that.

[fingersandteeth]

Do you miss it?

[Given, you know, the utter lack of hoverbikes here.]

[shiro2hero]

A bit, yeah.

I've made up for it with my Skarmory, most of the time.

[fingersandteeth]

Oh yeah, I remember them from the race last year.

That was fun, actually. I wonder if they'll have another one of those eventually.

[shiro2hero]

Maybe next time it won't be a footrace.

[Because that's totally why he lost!]

[fingersandteeth]

I hope it's a water race myself, so I can ride Fail Whale again.

[Who got to race last time despite the lack of feet because it was ruled that bouncing was fine.]

[shiro2hero]

Maybe you should organize something like that.

I don't have water types myself, but I can think of two experts off the top of my head who'd probably join in.

[fingersandteeth]

Armin would love it, wouldn't he?

Huh. I'll think about it, though. Probably nothing too fancy, just a race across the bay in Goldenrod. You'd probably want to wait until summer. Maybe turn it into a charity event like the Bewears conservation one that Scorpia held... possibly for Lapras?

[Given how well Scorpia's Hugs for Bewears campaign went, both as a crime and a charity, maybe he could fold a heist into it.]

[shiro2hero]

And Lance.

[Lance and Bruce Whalis.]

Wait, a Bewears conservation event? Was I passed out for that one?

[fingersandteeth]

Think so, yeah. It was over Valentine's weekend? And the week leading up to it too, really, although the culminating event was on the weekend. She and Steve Palchuk went out around Goldenrod in these Bewear costumes and hugged people and Steve signed autographs because he'd just made twelfth champion and Scorpia sang this song she wrote about Bewears. I wasn't in town at the time, but she sang it for me later. It was pretty catchy.

[They'd also had one of the other Rockets pickpocket anyone who hung around but didn't put anything into the donation bins but sssshhhh. Sometimes things can be crime and charity.]

[shiro2hero]

... Yeah I was. Definitely not on the network or anything, around Valentine's day.

[Partially because he was sick as hell. But mostly because all the personal baggage around the date.]

Huh. That sounds like it was a lot of fun. I didn't even know Bewear was endangered.

[fingersandteeth]

... I'm honestly not sure how much they are? But Scorpia is very passionate about Bewear advocacy and I think the organization she was raising money for actually does a lot with helping them adjust back to living in the wild, because evidently there is a problem with people getting these cute little Stufful and not bothering to everstone them, then releasing them after they evolve because what's cute on a tiny Stufful is less cute with a big Bewear.

[shiro2hero]

Ahh... that kind of thing. I'm a little surprised that happens here. You'd think people would know better, if their whole world revolves around Pokemon.

[fingersandteeth]

You'd think so, but thoughtless and short-sighted people exist everywhere, even here in cuddly pet utopia.

... also I think sometimes people don't realize how big Bewears are opposed to Stufful until they actually evolve.

I mean, I'm fairly sure that most people deal with their Stufful evolving well enough? But there's enough of them that don't that the organization is needed.

[shiro2hero]

Yeah... you're not wrong there. Look at Team Rocket.

[Those bastards, says his tone.]

Maybe they should start passing out free everstones. Like shelters will do chips on pets.

[fingersandteeth]

[Steven is very proud of himself for not wincing.]

Yeah. The nature of the world and how easy it is to get by does a lot to reduce the worst kinds of crimes here, but we've still got the local mob equivalent. No place is perfect.

Free everstones aren't a bad idea, though. Especially for people that don't have big living spaces.

[shiro2hero]

Well... now that I've got the Elite Four out of the way... I've got some time on my hands. And I owe them a few things.

[Like a couple right hooks. Specifically the right one.]

Maybe gyms could start supplying them. Or pokemon centers.