04 voice/action

[pokeboy]

[ voice ]

Hi. Does anyone know how people make perfumes? Or the sticks that you burn and they give off smells.

And... I want to know about plants and medicines too! So if anyone knows just send me a message, okay? I don't want to know everything, just one or two things. Thanks.

[ AND THEN LATER ON IN THE DAY- ]

Hi, can I meet with someone who can make a ball of water without it touching anything? I want to try an attack on it, so - if you don't care about water exploding and you have a free hour sometime, let me know! Thanks!

[ Action ]

[ For the day (or even a few days before or after), Red can be found in a few number of places. First are trips into the bakery, grocery shop, convenience store -- heck, he'll visit all of the coffee/tea/restaurants/places that look like they serve food in them (oh, maybe he'll get a glimpse of that beautiful lady today...!). He shall also be carrying Very Big Bags that food is going in. After that - or somewhere in all of that, whenever the place opens - is a visit to the flower shop, the boy look at the flowers with his pikachu on his shoulder but really, he's waiting to see someone who runs it!

After that and grabbing a quick bite to eat is a visit to the Willow Tree, and then a visit to the Farmlands to see if there's anything to be done and to check in on Luke Skywalker's bantha Hamal. Doesn't matter if you're back to seeing him Luke, Red and him are bros. Red's pokémon Venusaur is out as always around this time (and everyone else, though those guys are eating), at a section of the ground with her multiple vines on the ground. Her flower is glowing softly, and the ground around her is actually poking out with small dots of green... is that grass? And do the plants in front of her look more grown?

Later on comes his training with a few people, as well as going to the Battle Dome when a room's available. Except there the trainer isn't always going to be inside, instead watching over them from the viewable pane on the second floor. (Hey is that Vegeta?? THAT GUY...) But there will be times when he's in there as well. Hey man who knows.

Considering the type of training they've been undertaking though, Red's not going to be at the battle dome the whole day -- his pokémon will need the rest. They'll take a walk into the forest, whether joined at whatever moment by Snorlax and Venusaur (Pikachu is an always, though the little mouse may be up in the trees at the time), sometimes stopping so that they can just chill. Red might be taking advantage of that whole just relaxing thang, but he may be testing out some tricks with the spells he's learnt. One of those will be creating a ball of light and then chucking it, bouncing it to go far - and then making it go in a flash of light at his command. What a nice waste of time.

And let's just throw in some other options too! Maybe they're on this day or a day before. Screw the rules of time. Training is an important thing for the trainer, and Red likes to make use of the open land once people get out of the forest towards the mountains. Nice and spacious, though sometimes he makes use of the teleporter to the hot springs to test the mountain ground as well.

Because they want to make some earthquakes, though trying to be mindful of other people around. With their training these days focusing more and more on how one uses their energy to cause bigger damage, getting it to do more than just shake the ground is worth testing out, and there's a different between the dirty earth and the rocky stone of the mountains...

(Gonna try hopping off if they hear anything suspicious approaching though! Yeah buddy we're talking about you. You know who you are.)

And then some days there's a visit to the beach. Big bird Lugia, are you going to be helping with that sometimes? Or at least a ride back to the village? Thanks bro. Because they've been having test matches against each other, Red's three pokémon against such an astounding legendary of the sea. And when they're not fighting? It's chilling on the beach together, Red with his journal out to read to the oversized seagull.

Or a Snorlax might be punching the water. Or kicking it. The sand too. Who even likes sand. ]

Comments

[friendshipfirst]

[ ALL RIGHT BACK UP THE MOUNTAIN WE GO and back to a blanket with food most likely made by Cilan on it. ]

[pokeboy]

[ Wow it's all still here!! When they approach, Venusaur is happy enough to sit herself down without getting on any blanket or picking anything up, and Snorlax makes a happy grunt, smacking his belly when he sees that oh yes, favourite time. Food time. ]

This place is good for training with magic too - have you ever tried learning any magic? Like the filial magic?

[friendshipfirst]

[ Don't eat all of it Snorlax. Snivy is watching you and might slap something out of you if you try she doesn't even care ok. ]

Eh? Magic? No, I haven't. I haven't even thought 'bout tryin' to learn anything like that.

[pokeboy]

[ HEY, HEY... Snorlax has been learning manners, okay! He's waiting... waiitinnng.... mmmmmm.... ]

Really? How about healing? You can use it to help out your pokémon too. There's Nala for filial magic, but it's better if you can learn magic from someone who knows it back in their world. Filial isn't safe to use outside the barrier.

[friendshipfirst]

[ Here have some food Snorlax. But don't grab more unlessy you ask okay.

Meanwhile Ash just shakes his head. ]

No, I haven't thought 'bout learning magic at all.

[ Honestly, he's notsure if he could ever do such a thing like that. ]

[pokeboy]

[ CHOMP. Food gone.

Can he have more now. No he can't because Red's going to start taking off his bag to get some food out (before he eats all of theirs!) ]

Do you want to see if my friend will teach you too? She knows some really good spells! There's healing, plus you can make lights or help stop things from dropping fast...

[friendshipfirst]

[ Well good Snivy is gonna go back to eating herfood now. Elegantly. Unlike Snorlax. ]

Mmm.. it's okay. I don't think I like the idea of bein' able to do something I couldn't do back home.

[pokeboy]

Why not? [ ?? ] It's not like you're going to do half of the things you do here back home anyway.

[ He unzips his bag, bringing out wrapped up food and containers, passing one over to Snorlax to scoff down. ] Aren't you practising with your stick Gold gave you too?

[friendshipfirst]

That's true, but .. I dunno. I know it'll be helpful but I don't think it'll feel right having that kinda power.

[ Ash's face falls a little when Red brings up Gold's cuestick. ]

To be honest, I haven't touched it since we all got home.

[ Just been in his room collecting dust. ]

[pokeboy]

[ Since they got home?


?

... wait. ]

Since Zompania?

[friendshipfirst]

[ He's just gonna nod his head here 'cause y e p ]

[pokeboy]

...But why? That's not even having some special magical power. That's learning to defend yourself. [ wait. ] Didn't you ask anybody about teaching you use it then? You know, when we talked about it and asking Saori?

[friendshipfirst]

I just... haven't really thought 'bout it. Even after we talked 'bout it and asking Saori I ... I never did. I haven't even asked Gold and he was the one who gave it to me.

[pokeboy]

But why? You know better than me how dangerous Zompania was, so -- why not?

[friendshipfirst]

I... I dunno. Maybe it's 'cause I'm not a fighter. Even after everything that's happened, here and home, it just doesn't feel right.

[pokeboy]

[ He opens up another container, laying it down onto the blanket. ]

Then... just learn magic. You don't have to learn how to attack people with it, you can just use it for defence. Or like healing, you can help out your pokémon.

[ He stops with his hands, one on his bag but not reaching it, staring into the dark. ]

...But don't you think it's more dangerous here than back home? Some pokémon ignore you, some just want to chase you out... but the people out there don't want to do any of that. They want to hurt us.

[friendshipfirst]

I.. I dunno if it's something I wanna learn and depend on. 'Cause then what if I can't use it?

[ He gives a small nod. ]

It is more dangerous here than back home. I mean... there's been a lotta danger back home too, including those that wanna hurt others, but the danger here is a different level.

[pokeboy]

Then if you know that, why won't you give it a go? They say nothing you learn here even sticks when you end up back home, so it's not like you're going to go home with super pokémon powers -- and you're not even going to know if you can use it if you don't try learning it.

[friendshipfirst]

... I guess. [ even though he actually sorta has Pokemon powers already? but he's not gonna bring that up. ] I still don't really wanna but I'm not gonna find out anything if I don't ask.

[pokeboy]

[ He can't get it. He's trying to understand it, but his brows knit and his mouth lines, and nothing comes to his mind. ]

I still don't get why. [ a beat ] Not even healing?

[friendshipfirst]

[ Ash shifts a little uncomfortably ]

I said maybe. But if I learn and then I can't use it when it really matters then I'm gonna wish I never learned it to begin with.

[pokeboy]

You said maybe, but you said you still don't want to. Because of something that might not happen? [ He stops right there. He doesn't want to repeat himself in a circle, doesn't want to give into the frustration growing there in his voice, so. Let's take a second.

Okay. ]

Did something like this happen in the past?

[friendshipfirst]

.... Kinda. I've seen Pokemon struggle to use moves that they rely on but can't use it for some reason too. I guess it's a bit different than what we're talking about, and it's better to still have something to use at all but... maybe I'm just scared.

[ There. he said it. ]

[pokeboy]

[ Being scared -- now that's something Red can understand, and hearing that results in a softening in Red's features. His hands are still on his lap, then his fingers relax over his knees. ]

I get being scared. It's scary out there. [ He stops, then shakes his head. ] No, scary's not right--it's terrifying. It's terrifying and it's disgusting, and I hate remembering everything we saw out there, I hate thinking about everything everyone went through.

[ All those people, now buried back in Zompania... ]

But you know, those pokémon you're talking about - they still had those moves they could use. They couldn't use them then, and maybe it's because they were scared too -- but they won't get over that if they don't try.

[ He lifts up a hand, motioning slightly as he speaks. ] You can leave the fighting to your pokémon, but there's still things you can do as a trainer Ash. You can heal them when they need it, and you can do more if you try, but you've got to try. When the potions and berries run out, you've still got a backup that way.

[ The hand sits back onto his knee and Red looks to the other pokémon with them, speaking again as he focuses back onto Ash. ]

Try thinking about your pokémon. What if one of them were feeling what you're feeling? What would you tell them? What would you want to do?

[friendshipfirst]

I try not to remember it. [ Which is ultimately difficult because of those but during the day? He tries so hard to focus on other things. Which might be part of why he hasn't tried to learn how to use the stick, or anything else.

So is he turning a blind eye to reality? Yeah, he is. But could you really blame him? Well... depends on who you are, truth be told. ]

Mm... it wasn't that. [ It wasn't said much more than a whisper, but he still nods. It is true that sometimes moves or abilities can't be used because they're scared but that's not always the case as he's fully aware. ]

I-- I do try to do the best I can for my Pokemon as a trainer. I... [ He trails off, not really even knowing what to say to that. Because even though he does his best, Red is right. There's more that he can do, isn't there. Learn to heal, for one. But ...

Pikachu hops into Ash's lap to give him a voice of reassurance. Ash looks down at Pikachu for a moment, before looking at Snivy and finally Charizard before turning back to Red to respond. ]

Depends. There are times when they should try their best to get over it so they can become stronger. But, there are some things that they don't really need to learn or get over. They're fine just the way they are.

[ A few of his Pokemon come to mind as his speaks. For the former there is Oshawott, who was afraid to close his eyes underwater. Thanks to getting over that fear he was able to use Aqua Jet more accurately and get stronger.

For the latter... there was Infernape and its ability, Blaze. Ash told him he didn't need to use it in order to be strong. And that no matter what Infernape decided to do Ash will be there for him.

This situation was a strange mix of both, wasn't it? He doesn't have to learn it but he'll be stronger if he did. Yet, at the same time it almost feels like he has to or should learn it because it's nearly necessary. It's that or something else. Something that he's even less wanting to do. ]

But, no matter what it is I'll be right there with 'em and help 'em in anyway I can.

[ With those words he goes silent for a moment before speaking up again. ]

I'll ask my Pokemon this too, but what do you think, Red. Do ya think that I need to learn how to heal? That I'll regret it if I don't? Or that there is no other way?