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[neverfinishanyth]

What sort of tools would be required to dismantle a pokeball? Has anyone else attempted such a thing? There's nothing quite like this device where I am from, it's very intriguing!

Oh, and one other thing, I almost forgot. Must one battle to obtain their pokemon? Some of them appear quite friendly, so perhaps merely offering them the pokeball would suffice? I'll have to do some studies about this, too….

So much to do, it seems. One hardly knows where to begin!

Comments

[neverfinishanyth]

You are attached? I suppose I should wait to hear how it is going before I offer my congratulations.

sorry he's a secret rocket (ssshhhh)

[fingersandteeth]

Ah. Yes.

[It's funny how not all that many years ago Steven would have never mentioned having a boyfriend so casually. But it's nice being out. It really is.]

And it's going quite well, really. It's only been a few months, but we were friends before that. He's very much an advocate for apricorn-made pokeballs--that's one of the reasons I thought of sending you to Kurt.

[And also because after the job he did for Team Rocket last summer, he feels like sending business Kurt's way could in a small way make up for the whole stranding him at the bottom of the Slowpoke Well thing.]

it's fine he's a secret bff to an assassin shhhhh

[neverfinishanyth]

Then I am very glad to hear it! It's truly amazing how much things have advanced from where I am from.

[Please pick up the subtext phone, he can only speak in signals about these sorts of things.]

And I will take you up on your recommendation, if I am given the chance.

so. uh. funny thing about his last job back home...

[fingersandteeth]

[Oh don't worry, he's picking up on it. And will likely be leaving a text in Leonardo's inbox soon, if he's got one set up.]

It's not surprising when that happens. There are people here from all sorts of places and times and technology levels. People from before mechanical devices were commonplace and people from when it's possible to travel between the stars. Not everyone is originally human, either--even though something about being brought to this world manages to make us all human.

hehe :3

[neverfinishanyth]

Then I suppose I am very lucky to find myself here! It certainly doesn't seem possible to run out of things to discover.

just for his local supernatural community

[fingersandteeth]

There really isn't. Even when the wonders of this world start to seem almost ordinary--and there are definitely parts of this world that still seem wondrous to people of my time, such as the warps--the sheer variety of our fellow guests from other worlds means there's always something new to learn about theirs. Many people here come from Earths that have entirely different geography and dating systems and history.

[neverfinishanyth]

Even this device I'm using to speak with you is something almost impossible to describe, were I to attempt to describe it. To instantly send and receive messages that would take a pigeon days or hours is no easy feat.

[fingersandteeth]

It's not too very different from a smartphone from my time, but I think I understand. If you're used to messenger pigeons, then it's likely your technology level is closer to Armin's or Dimitri's respective worlds.

(Even in my world, devices like the pokegears are relatively recent. Enough that they were more or less invented within my lifetime.)

[neverfinishanyth]

What is it that makes these phones so smart, I wonder.

[fingersandteeth]

All the features that the pokegears have, I think. Traditional phones only allow you to speak via voice over great distances.

[neverfinishanyth]

Makes as much sense as anything.

[fingersandteeth]

They're properly called 'telephones' back home. I don't know if your world had a Greece or not, but the etymology is Greek—I believe it means something like 'far away sound?'

[neverfinishanyth]

It's much different than the sounds you might hear if you were to hold a seashell up to your ear.

[fingersandteeth]

Much.

Oh, since you're interested in berries and apricorns, do you want me to see if we've any to spare around the apartment? If we do, I'll send it to the Cherrygrove Pokecenter for you to pick it up when you get there. They're used to holding packages for people.

[neverfinishanyth]

That's very kind of you. I would appreciate any you happen to find!

Is there some way I could thank you for this service? I don't have much besides paper and pen right now.

[fingersandteeth]

I don't have any particular requests at the moment, but I'd be interested in hearing about what discoveries you make on your journey. Otherwise I can let you know if I need a favor.

[neverfinishanyth]

I will share anything particularly interesting that I happen to find, of course!

[fingersandteeth]

I look forward to hearing about it—especially since I missed quite a bit of the early routes after getting a lift westward from someone with a flying pokemon.

[This is a lie, of course. He's still never been to New Bark or Cherrygrove. When you're press-ganged onto Team Rocket, you just wake up at the secret base in Goldenrod City rather than at Fake Mom's house. But it works as a reason why he doesn't have the Cherrygrove warp.]

[neverfinishanyth]

You've flown, too? What was it like? I suppose I will find out myself soon enough, but I cannot help asking! I've always dreamed of such a thing, you see.

[fingersandteeth]

[Luckily even if he's lying about hitchhiking from Fake Mom's house, he really has flown before, so he can answer this one with confidence.]

Quite a few times by now! Both on airplanes and on pokemon. They're two very different experiences. With airplanes, everyone's squeezed very tightly into the long cabin. You have to stay in your seat for most of it and sometimes it gets a bit cramped. Because the cabin is enclosed, you don't really feel the air in your hair or too many indications that the plane is in motion, except when it's taking off or landing. But you end up going very high in the air when you do fly on a plane. Quite often higher than some clouds.

Flying on pokemon is very different--especially if you're using your own pokemon or tagging along with another traveler. The first time I tagged along with someone, it was on the back of a dragon and I ended up having to cling to my lift's waist. Later I ended up with a flying pokemon of my own (a fighting bird called a Hawlucha) and managed to get the permit to Fly outside of battle--because they do require permits for that, which you can get by beating certain gyms--and for a time my Hawlucha ended up carrying me by his *feet* with a little harness, because he was both shorter than me but also *very* strong. I eventually ended up catching a Golurk--they're something like automatons inhabited by ghosts and can be taught Flight--and now I let him carry me in his arms.

In any case, when you fly on your own pokemon or ride pillion to someone else, there's far more sensation of motion than when you're in an airplane, because it's mostly open air. You'll feel the wind in your hair and on your face and it's often harder to hear anything *but* that wind rushing by. It's a bit easier to get vertigo too, if you're inclined to such things. Pokemon don't usually fly as high as airplanes to--they stay underneath the clouds--but the air up there is cooler than it is on the ground. You'll want to bundle up if you fly in winter. On the other hand, it's very pleasant in summer.

There's also Ubirds, which might end up being the first chance you'll get for flying here. Ubird trainers are a special category of trainers who specialize in flying types. When there's special events, they gather in the middle of towns and at pokecenters and you can pay them to fly you to the special event for a small fee. I think there's even an application for your pokegear to tell you when they're accepting passengers? At any rate, quite a few of them have gondolas that their pokemon will carry their passengers in--it lets them take more passengers that way. Riding in Ubird gondolas is sort of the happy medium. You get more of the sensations of flight than you would in an airplane, but not nearly as many if you were riding on the back of the pokemon or being carried bodily by them.

(They just announced a special event at Moomoo Farms this weekend upcoming, actually, so you should probably get your chance to travel by Ubird then.)

[neverfinishanyth]

You cannot see it, but please know that I am taking very thorough notes from what you've just told me. I shall keep an eye out for these Ubirds, and other sorts of birds as well.

[fingersandteeth]

The gym you have to beat to get a Flying permit in Johto is in Violet and it's the easiest gym to beat--but the thing about that is, Pokemon have to learn a special 'move' to carry you. So if you want to fly on your own as soon as you're allowed to, what I suspect you should do is talk to someone who breeds Pokemon in order to get an egg for a Pokemon that's born knowing that 'move' (called simply 'Fly'), so that once you've got your Flying permit you don't have to worry about finding a device to teach another Pokemon 'Fly.'

[neverfinishanyth]

Do these breeders advertise their services?

[fingersandteeth]

They do! Every now and then you'll see them make posts to this network announcing a clutch of eggs.

Actually, a little girl I know named Kiri just had her first clutch of eggs and I know for a fact that there's Pokemon who should know Fly in the eggs, because she's a bird specialist and I helped her teach a lot of the breeding pairs Fly before she left on her trip with Geralt and Jaskier. The way breeding seems to work here is that if both of a Pokemon's parents know the same 'move' then the Pokemon will be born knowing it.

Anyway, let me get you her contact information. She's very sweet—I'm sure she'll help you find the perfect flying partner.

[And in another moment Steven will link him to Kiri's inbox.]

[neverfinishanyth]

Thank you for your assistance, with this and other matters. I'm sure I will speak to you again shortly.