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[thetombkeeper]

[The feed starts to Marik holding the small, freshly polished face mask of Yamask in one hand as he settles in to sit back down then passes it off to Chenzira, who looks quite pleased and sets it back to its proper spot on his tail. There's an amused smirk before he turns his full attention to his device. What a fitting time to bring up ghosts with the holiday he's unaware of approaching.]

I've been trying to learn as much as I can of Yamask since I arrived in this world. I think I've got a fairly good understanding of them by now. I wasn't entirely convinced of their pokedex entry at first but after spending more time with them, I believe there's some truth behind their story of origin. It's too on the nose not to be.

I don't know if anyone's interested in hearing about it. I.. guess if people want, I can post a summary of what I learned.

[It's a weird thought, that people might be genuinely interested in hearing what he has to say instead of him just talking to hear himself speak. Because he does that a lot. Not as much as before but still.]

I've tried asking some of the natives about it, particularly the people working at the Ruins of Alph but they all gave rather vague responses that didn't answer any of my questions at all.

[Marik clicks his tongue in annoyance.]

I know Yamask aren't the only ones with human origin. There's a number of ghost types that are said to be once human in their previous life and some that take others to the Afterlife.

[He's been reading up on the legends of the legendary pokémon in his free time, trying to make sense of everything.]

So both reincarnation and an afterlife exist here. Has anyone been able to learn any more stories or history about... any of those subjects? I'm genuinely curious.

[A pause as he exchanges a look with his Yamask.]

And does anyone have or seen a Cofagrigus in person? Neither myself of Chenzira here want him to evolve but I'm still interested in learning about his evolved species.


[attachment: text file titled "research notes"]


[ooc: I'll be tweaking with the info and layout as time goes on. ]

Comments

[logical_lioness]

[She gives Marik a wide smile and then turns to rummage on her desk before proudly producing a thick, tabbed notebook. She starts flipping through it, skimming pages before landing on one of the pages she's looking for.]

Here we go! Okay, so Mismagius - obviously the name appears to be derived from a combination of Mage, Magus, and mischievous, and the pointed shape of their head is synonymous with a witch's hat, so it makes sense. They've been likened to banshees - that's a female spirit in Gaelic folklore with an ear-splitting cry - as it's pre-evolution, Misdreavus, wails at night to frighten people.

[She glances over at her Mismagius, Umbra, who just pokes her tongue out at Hermione. Hermione rolls her eyes.]

[mutters] There's definitely a common thread with ghost pokemon and making mischief, that's for sure....

[thetombkeeper]

[The blonde is absolutely delighted to see the massive book Hermione produces. As soon as she starts talking, he's typing away on his gear, copying down everything she says.]

That's interesting that there seem to be pokémon from different countries' folklore here. I'm not... even going to begin to figure out how or why. I'll just chalk it to to the Gods.

How does Misdreavus evolve? I haven't gotten around to leveling mine all that much...

[logical_lioness]

[Finally, someone who actually listens when Hermione imparts important information! She's ecstatic that Marik actually seems to be paying keen attention. If only Harry and Ron were as studious...]

Given that there must be some sort of connection between all of our worlds, or dimensions, if you will, it's actually not that improbable that there's a mixture of folklore. It's unclear exactly how long people have been arriving here - it's highly likely stories were passed down from others who arrived here a millenia ago who made similar pokemon comparisons, and then it just became a jumbled mixture of pokemon lore.

[She pauses, and then leans over to grab something off screen. Her hand comes back, holding a dark, purplish stone.]

With one of these. It's a Dusk Stone. Interestingly enough, it's actually used to evolve 2 ghost-type pokemon - Misdreavus and Lampent. I got this one recently, in case Colza wants to evolve.

[Hearing his name, Colza, her Lampent, floats into view next to her, patting her face cheekily with one arm.]

[thetombkeeper]

[As much as he denies it, Marik does enjoy learning, especially if it gives him an advantage in something. This research however is mostly to keep himself busy. ...Totally nothing to do with his Tomb Keeper duties and what not.]

Hmm... Yeah, that does make the most sense...

[If they were all transported into the past, who's to say there haven't been more instances of that, causing otherworlders to alter the lore and studies. That's far more involved than he wants to dive into a subject though.]

I saw those at the convention. You don't happen to know what determines if a pokémon evolves normally or through specific means, do you? What makes the stones so special?

[logical_lioness]

[Hermione frowns in thought, tapping a finger against her bottom lip.]

There's no really obvious determination that I can tell from the outset regarding how a pokemon evolves. I imagine it's just been field research that's been noted down and then tested...humanely, I hope. Everything I've discovered has come from reading up on different pokemon.

From what I understand, the stones aren't stones as such - they're actually more like crystals. The power within the different kind of crystal reacts to the genetic makeup of the pokemon, causing it to evolve. At least, that's what all the books seem to imply.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are new, undiscovered evolutions as new crystals with different makeups are found. That would be a pretty exciting discovery. Take Eevees for example. Of the 18 known pokemon typings, Eevees have evolutions into 8 of those typings - 9 if you include Eevee's regular 'normal' typing. Seven of those are through stones.

So, theoretically, given Eevee's unstable DNA, you could argue that Eevees have the potential to evolve into all 18 types, under the right circumstances - but as yet, those haven't been met for the missing types.

[thetombkeeper]

[Marik listens intently to Hermione's explanation. While he isn't writing notes about this in particular, he's still very much interested in trying to wrap his head around how everything works here.]

Huh... As bizarre as it sounds, it really reminds me of how monster summoning sometimes works in this card game from my world. Anything 5 stars and above need to meet specific goals before you can summon them, whether that's through sacrificing a certain number of lower star monsters or having to have the correct timing or battle conditions met first.

... That's just a card game though. Not living creatures. It's weird... to have almost the same logic applied and to have to actually work, you know?

[logical_lioness]

[Hermione blinks, her eyebrows creasing in confusion.]

You mean, like that Magic: The Gathering card game? I've heard a little bit about it - some kind of new fad or something back home - but I've never played it. I've really only played games like checkers, chess, and exploding snap.

But from what you've described, the principles seem the same as evolution.

When you think about it, pokemon really demonstrate Darwin and Wallace's theory of evolution and the concept of induced mutation, just at a sped up rate.

[thetombkeeper]

Mn... I've never heard of that game. The one I'm talking about is named Duel Monsters. Maybe they're similar though if they're both trading cards games? ... And what's exploding snap?

[Okay, now she's officially lost him. Marik's eyebrows arch and he offers an uncertain smile. Poor kid only has a twelve year olds' education and even that was limited to mostly just learning about his tomb keeper duties.]

I'll... uh... take your word for it. I'm afraid science [or anything] isn't my area of expertise. S-Still, I appreciate all the information you've given me, Hermione.