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[worldisyours]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, RINDO KANADE. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 4.28.13.9 *** rindragon has joined 4.28.13.9

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[familyproblem]

We do. [He inches along the length of the branch so that he can reach out towards the fruit. Pinch one to check the consistency.] I think they're related. Oran Berries are a lot more widespread, though. Oranges can't handle climates like this.

[...releases the branch.]

Pokemon have a taste for them over other fruits. That might have to do with why they're missing from other worlds.

[worldisyours]

Huh…

[Rindo watches the branch bounce back into place with a thoughtful look. Wondering about the differences and similarities between worlds, like his and Akira's both having Shibuyas, but with a smattering of random little discrepancies. And now this.]

So… what are Pokémon, exactly?

[Beat had mentioned them when introducing Junior, but the explanation had been… uh… scattered? Incomplete? At any rate, it had somehow left Rindo more confused. Better to get it straight from the source.]

[familyproblem]

[Distant, coincidential fwee-heet-hee-hee like a trumpet fanfare.]

All the non-human creatures from our world. [Very slight stress on "our".] A lot of them resemble animals, but past a surface level, they're not actually the same.

[...Goes into his pocket.]

Beat got Junior from...someone else from our world, who had Mana bring her here.

[And pulls out Silvally's Pokeball. Is this anything? He's not sure if Beat actually...uses Junior's...for its intended purpose...whenever Gladion sees them, she's just out wandering. Surely he's said something about her origin, though.]

[worldisyours]

[Rindo gives the Poké Ball a puzzled look. Sorry Gladion you're explaining this one too.]

What are the differences between them and animals?

[He'd speculate, but he's worried he'd just embarrass himself by guessing wrong. He's curious about whoever brought Junior here and whether Silvally arrived in the same way, too, but… one thing at a time.]

[familyproblem]

[Yeah, alright.

Gladion breaths in as if about to launch into a canned answer, but pauses first, just long enough to really cut himself off.]

...The longer I'm here, [he replies instead in a thoughtful tone,] the harder it is to answer that question. I know the difference, but describing it...

[Ingo and Emmet never seem to have much trouble with it. But Ingo and Emmet never dealt with UBs, either.

Silvally lands again and, seeing that glint of red in Gladion's hand, takes a detour towards him with a curious squawk. Gladion looks up and hits the switch. The ball opens, then closes; Silvally vanishes abruptly, and reappears in miniature under the translucent red lid, blinking up at Gladion.

He hands the ball to Rindo.]

One difference is animals are just one family of living organism, but there are plant and fungus Pokemon, and hybrids more like us. And plenty that aren't even biological. Simulacrum or shade-like beings.

[worldisyours]

[Rindo nearly tunes out of Gladion's explanation when Silvally disappears into the ball before his eyes. He reflexively takes it, careful not to drop it, and stares inside. The object is light in his hand, somehow, despite apparently containing a whole Beast. Silvally appears to be fine in there, except… tiny. Rindo shoots Gladion a questioning look.]

Wait, is this a Pokémon thing too?

[familyproblem]

We call it a "Pokeball". [Nice and straightforward.]

[Tiny Silvally looks perfectly comfortable. It plunks itself down and curls up a little, even.]

Another difference is that, where I'm from, you have to look hard to find someone who isn't carrying at least one. The Pokemon inside might be a pet, or sometimes a...worker [still not sure wtf to call horses!! nobody seems to know!!], but usually it's more like a partner to them.

[worldisyours]

[…Cute.

Rindo looks away from Silvally and back at Gladion, attentive.]

…And Silvally's your partner, right? Did you bring it here?

[Gladion had called it a friend, after all. It makes sense.]

[familyproblem]

[Question That Makes Gladion Frown!]

In a serious lapse of judgement.

[Silvally unballs itself and bites his shoulder immediately.

Gladion winces! At the biting, not the sudden appearance of dog in his personal space.]

-I know, but it's true. I can't just avoid saying it forever. You shouldn't have to be here. None of us should.

[Forgive the mild outburst - this has apparently been a while coming, for Gladion to have that ready for the occasion.

He turns his face back to Rindo. (Silvally has not let go. It looks...cranky, perhaps?]

...Through Mana, right.

[worldisyours]

[Rindo blinks at Silvally's sudden reappearance, worrying about its outburst for a brief moment before realizing that the Pokémon hadn't bit down very hard at all.

The question had been asked in total innocence, but Gladion and Silvally's reactions paint a clear picture. Rindo mmmh's thoughtfully, not replying right away. He gets not wanting to inflict Ryslig on anyone, whether it be a fellow human or a Pokémon, but this place is… hellish at best. Had he been thrown in here without anyone from home, there's no telling how he might have ended up, and what he might have done.

So there's no judgment in his voice when he finally observes:]

…Looks like it doesn't agree. It must've missed you.

[familyproblem]

[Gladion...does not answer that directly. His gaze is elsewhere, as he reaches up to gently convince Silvally to please open its beak. As he works to pretend that he's not trying to avoid eye contact, and to pretend he's not nearly as uncomfortable with the whole topic as he is.

Because he's very uncomfortable with it. Embarrassed, even. And he doesn't want to respond to that.

It's...what is there to say. Nothing anyone can't guess. And Silvally would just keep biting him about it.]

It is what it is now. Plenty of other things to worry about. [Finally, he is released. Silvally accepts his hand as a substitute, mouthing it moodily. This continues to give Gladion a good excuse to keep his eyes on it.] ...Another difference from animals is which ones we bond with. It's not as restrictive as the divide between domesticated and wild animals. Not every Pokemon species is easy to communicate with, but it's—it's different.

[worldisyours]

[Rindo frowns. Fine, he gets the hint. He's not going to insist, since Gladion obviously doesn't want to talk about it, but he's definitely concerned now. He won't forget that. God knows there's enough guilt going around just existing in this place without adding even more to the pile with an impulse decision…

Anyway back to Pokémon.]

Where do Silvally and Junior fall in that?

[This… is kind of like being told about the Reapers' Game, except there's no unspoken expectation for him to have any clue what Gladion's talking about. So, a marked improvement as far as he's concerned.]

[familyproblem]

[The guilt curdles.

This question is a second, much thinner layer of awkwardness. Silvally's gaze darts up to meet Gladion's, pinning his thoughts in place before he can do anything to hide them away.]

Junior is a Lycanroc. A Rockruff, before she evolved. They're considered good for beginners as long as you can bond with them while they're young. She was brought here as an egg for Beat to hatch out.

[He's ready to keep going and say what he needs to say about the Silvally situation but how are we feeling about the concept of dog eggs along the way there.]

[worldisyours]

[Here is how: at first Rindo just nods along—sounds like raising a regular pet—before his brain catches up and processes the words. Visible confusion ensues.]

…Lycanrocs lay eggs?

[At least he has a vague idea what "evolving" entails? The result of it, if not the process or cause or mechanisms… Just enough not to ask about it right away.]

[familyproblem]

[ <- GUY WHO HAS, THANKFULLY, DONE THE READING AND IS AWARE OF MAMMALS.]

All Pokemon hatch from eggs, as far as we know. Even the ones that resemble mammal animals.

[As for whether they lay them, hahahahaha let's not even get into that. Gladion's too busy thinking except for Silvally who was, you know, mostly cultured in a tank, how should I put this.]

[worldisyours]

That's… hmm.

[That's weird!!! He's not gonna say it like that, but Visible Confusion only intensifies. And what's with the "as far as we know"? How can they not know? If he wasn't familiar with Gladion, he might have assumed he was being messed with.

He spends a moment trying to come up with a way to put his thoughts into words. There are a few false starts there. Eventually he just gives up and goes:]

…Nevermind. Carry on.

[Sometimes, when confronted with a concept as wild as dogs laying eggs, you just have to shrug and let it go.]

[familyproblem]

[That's hmmm?

Gladion still thinks animals giving live birth is hmmm. It's very weird.]

Gladly. [He doesn't want to think about it. :/ Explaining Silvally feels a lot easier in the face of that.] Silvally is...unique. As in, it doesn't have a species.

[As if showing him mercy, Silvally smacks its beak and bounces away again, leaving Gladion free to say whatever the hell he wants. He does relax minutely, watching it go. Fully aware that he just gave a profoundly bizarre answer that explains very little, but, hey. Nothing has exploded.]

You've seen for yourself what communicating with it is like.

[worldisyours]

[Yeah well dogs laying eggs is weirder, so.

Rindo stares at the Pokémon as it runs off, with bittersweet memories of Silvally hugs floating on his mind. It doesn't have a species? Or…]

It looks like a mix of stuff to me… but whatever it is, it's really friendly.

[A little smile there, because this boy is very much fond of the Beast.]

[familyproblem]

[Heh...

That's gratifying. The acceptance and the assessment. It's always morally correct to praise Silvally. Gladion cracks a sentimental little smile of his own.]

Would you believe it if I said that's a pretty recent development?

[worldisyours]

[As a weird human/plant/dragon hybrid himself, Rindo is in no position to judge Silvally's appearance without hypocrisy. It's… comforting.

This is now a Silvally appreciation thread.]

Huh. Really?

[Less incredulous-sounding and more just curious. It's hard to imagine Silvally being anything but friendly. (He is a little biased.)]

[familyproblem]

Really. It had already warmed up to humans a lot, but just over the last few months it's gotten a lot more...outgoing. It walks right up to new people now. [He realizes the error in what he's said, and his smile wavers thoughtfully.] I said humans, but—you know what I mean.

[worldisyours]

[Rindo laughs humorlessly. With his physical changes only a few weeks behind him, he doesn't even know what to think of himself as anymore. How do you shake off fifteen years of humanity? Gladion's been in Ryslig longer and clearly, he's not there yet. Should they even strive for that? He's not sure.]

Heh. Yeah.

[He doubts he'd have any unique insights on monsterhood to share with Gladion, anyway—not while he's still trying to catch up to everyone else.

…Silvally's a more comfortable topic. It hadn't just walked up to him; it had let him ride it and hug it without a protest. Had it changed that drastically, then?]

I'm glad it's adapting. Did it used to be scared of monsters?

[familyproblem]

That's the strangest part. It's almost like it took to monsters, as a group, faster than it did to humans. But I guess that's probably because of warming up to humans beforehand. [...Probably. Gladion crosses his arms, thoughtfulness intensifying. His perspective on the humanity of monsters is buried in there, under other, more active notions...]

...One more difference between Pokemon and animals. [Glances back at Rindo, finally, after staring at Silvally all this time.] We partner with or catch Pokemon for most of the same reasons people here keep animals for. But Pokemon are—on average—much stronger than humans or animals. Having them as partners offers power and protection, on top of everything else.

[Back out to Silvally. With a little nod out at it.] Silvally is particularly powerful. That's why I think it's strange it acts so...carefree around monsters. We're stronger than it. And you'd think going from being the strongest thing in any room to being surrounded by beings that can seriously harm you would make you more nervous, not less.

[worldisyours]

[Rindo has a bit of a moment, here. He is a very normal guy, supposed time-travel-and-death-game-participation notwithstanding. (It doesn't count if he doesn't remember.) And so he's not really used to… thinking about things in terms of strength, the way Gladion seems to be doing right now. You don't exactly ponder the power level of your classmates or random people in the street.

If anything, coming here has made him feel powerless. And yet here's Gladion saying they're stronger than Silvally? That they could take it in a fight? That's… Yeah, maybe that's objectively true, but it feels… unfitting. Suppose that comes with the territory of being made into a weapon with indiscriminate suffering as the goal—no one's going to tell you how to wield yourself, and you might as well cause as much hurt as possible learning what you're capable of.

Maybe that's how the Fog thinks, or something. He wouldn't be surprised.

…Anyway. Lots of thoughts, not many words.]

If you don't know, I couldn't even begin to guess… I wouldn't be surprised if it trusted you to keep it safe, though, if you're really stronger than it now.

[…Stares at Silvally. Surely a kick or a bite from it would hurt pretty bad, right?]

[familyproblem]

[Gladion is made freshly aware on just about every day he goes into town, in big and small ways, just how different a place power has in people's lives here. It shapes those lives no less than it shaped lives in Alola, but having power is something that's treated so strangely—swinging between rare and exclusive and almost unseemly to display at all. Amongst humans, anyways. Monsters are a sort of exception; their power is expected, and its use is dreaded.

Or so Gladion has gathered.

The upshot: however Gladion feels about his own body's actual newfound power, it honestly seems a little more natural to be treated as a monster in that way than it did to be treated as human for the short month he still was, when he could nearly blend in in a world without Pokemon. After all, it was only a year ago that he was certain he wanted to be seen that way, wanted people to see Null marching at his side and know instantly from its strength that he was someone to be taken seriously. The reality of what monsters actually are taints it all—knowing that people are afraid for a completely different reason, and right to be afraid for it—but there's something noble-feeling about trying to embody restraint, this time around. It's a little like his pride in Silvally's hard-earned command of its powers, and a little like walking through Aether Paradise and swearing to himself that he won't make his mother's mistakes.


Anyways.]

I think you're right. [Which is, well, why he's so upset about bringing it here, ultimately.] It's a dramatic role reversal.

[Gladion sounded an awful lot like he wanted to let out a world-weary sigh, there. He has such a serious look on his face right now. He is taking this sentence and wrapping it up to tuck into one of the chambers of his heart. But we don't have to talk about that.]

...On the other hand. It also knows what being the scariest thing in the room is like. So, maybe that has something to do with it.

[Empathy for their situations. And a weird sort of kinship it automatically lacked with other Pokemon.]