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[torinoko]

...I have some time to spare, it seems.

[Well here's a new face, clearly on the Ferry headed for Kanto. She's found a nice secluded deck to sit on. In the background, a galarian meowth is doing laps around this deck at full speed.]

So I'll ask a question while I'm waiting. I'm given to understand there is a great many of these...Pokemon.

[She pauses, and leans back to make a ps-ps-ps at the Meowth, who comes immediately running to gnaw on her hand. It's fine. It's only a little extremely painful. She's fine.]

...How many of them are cats, like this one is?

[SHE NEEDS EVERY SINGLE KITTY.]

Comments

[bestswordmaster]

They do. Some Pokemon can even learn to speak it themselves, though I am given to believe it takes quite a while to teach them. I haven't bothered. My team has more important things to train for.

[Felix glances at the Meowth gnawing on her hand. In a wry tone, he says,]

Ah. I see you're already acquainted with the Galarian Meowth.

[Morfis' message appears to be making the rounds, because after a moment, a blue cat with an eerily blank stare wanders onto the screen and peers into it. Completely unblinking. It might be looking directly into this girl's soul.]

There's Fellstar now. He is a Meowstic - a psychic cat. The female Meowstic are white.

[torinoko]

Baal was given to me upon my arrival. [Her words imply this was a curse, not a gift, but she's still giving this creature tummy rubs...she pauses at the sight of the Meowstic. Stares back. Don't look at her soul, young pokemon, she's married to Satan and technically immortal, we don't know what it looks like in there.]

Oh...he's quite handsome! [She is cooing. This is the best day. But her brain catches up with her--]

Training? For battle, then?

[bestswordmaster]

[If the abyss in her soul stares back, Fellstar's not telling.

The Meowstic's expression doesn't change, but somehow it seems to be preening a bit at the praise.]

Obviously. I can hardly defeat the Elite Four without a strong and well-trained team. Battle is how they grow - not simply in power, but in body and personal potential as well. Most of the Pokemon you will see here have fully evolved from their original forms.

[And speaking of fully evolved--Felix shifts the camera's angle to focus on a literal Blue Lion with a smaller purple housecat riding along on his back.]

This is Alexandre, a Luxray. He is an electric lion. And the smaller one is Fantine, a Delcatty. She is...simply a cat. A fair number of the feline Pokemon are of the so-called 'Normal' type, which is largely meaningless.

[Fantine greets the woman on the screen with a happy little chirrup, while Alexandre just gives her a stoic nod.]

[torinoko]

[Misaki has at least the dignity not to mimic the chirrup back in front of other humans, but she is smiling. So many cats! SO MANY CATS!!!]

...So it's difficult to make a viable combat team with only cats. [Disappointing.]

The Elite Four....I saw a little bit about that in the booklet, but it's woefully lacking in information on what kind of organization they and these Gyms are.

[bestswordmaster]

Not at all. I could very easily assemble multiple teams of six cats each, with different types, moves, and specialties among them. For instance, your Meowth there is a Steel type, while the Meowth native to this region is Normal, and a third regional variant is Dark.

[As Felix talks, all the cats onscreen perk up their ears and turn to look at something the humans haven't heard yet. Soon after, what at first appears to be a walking lump of steel wool creeps onto the scene, hunkers down in the grass, and starts chewing on it as it gives the woman on the Gear a wary glare.

Felix folds his arms with a mildly irritated exhale through his nose.]

And this is Nuisance. As he is the evolved form of your cat, I am certain you can figure out how he earned his name. Anyway, the Elite Four are the Pokemon battling champions who test the skills of those trainers who manage to defeat each of the gym leaders in both regions. Those who emerge victorious may join the Aurora League, which is a separate group of highly respected trainers with their own gyms that are not part of the Victory Road circuit.

[torinoko]

...I am assuming that the Aurora league is the goal of many an outsider?

[Well now gears are turning in her fuzzy head. She does, however, spare a glance and a smile for Nuisance.] ...He's not very fond of strangers, is he? I've no doubt at all he's earned his name.