5th Spell: [Video/Action for Ecruteak Pokecenter]

[friendyousohard]

[It's late night when a set of images, clearly pictures in an old book, flicker by the gear. First one of Entei, then Raikou, then Suicune.

After the third one, the gear turns to show a very tired-looking Twilight Sparkle, bags under her eyes and all. She yawns, but shakes the sleep-fog out of her head.]

Given the current situation this may seem like an odd time for a question like this, but it's very linked with this town and my curiosity is just eating me alive here. Can anyone tell me anything about these three Pokemon? Particularly if anyone's been lucky enough to see them, I'd like to hear the story.

[She sighs and rubs one of her eyes.] Really glad the Centers have their own generators. Hope someone gets the Power Plant up and working again... anyone know anything about what's going on there? I'm guessing not since it's out of the way, but it's bugging me, so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance.

[Private to the PGC]

[As soon as she's got the filter up, Twilight starts looking more alert, wary, and worried. The bags under her eyes are still there though, so it's obvious she is tired, just full of nervous energy.]

This is a message to the Pokemon Guardian Corps at large from Squad Seven member Twilight Sparkle. I believe I may have discovered the source of the recent weather phenomena, and although my research into this issue isn't yet complete, this is important enough that I have elected to share this with all of you immediately.

As you may have guessed from the content of my post before now, my theory revolves around the three Legendary Beasts of Johto: Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. The legends I've been researching all agree that Suicune has the ability and, presumably, the desire to purify tainted waters. I think it's obvious that if that's true, the recent events would have awakened it. This explains the cold weather and the brief mist we experienced earlier, as these are signs of Suicune being on the move.

The full fury of the storms we're dealing with now would be the result of Suicune's influence mixing with Raikou's and Entei's. As to why Raikou and Entei would have been roused, I can only come to one conclusion: Suicune must have been lured into a trap and captured, and the other two are attempting to rescue it. I think it's obvious who would be behind a trap like that.

I feel it's necessary to point out that this is all only a hypothesis. Without visual confirmation of any of the Beasts it's impossible to prove. But everything seems to point to this chain of events. If I find any more evidence to prove or disprove this, I will let you all know immediately.

As to what we can do about this if it is indeed the case... that, I'm afraid I don't know. If any of you have suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Thank you for your time.

[OOC: For the curious, this is how Twi figured out what was going on. Thanks for the help, Carmen and Robin!]

Comments

[enjoymyatelier]

You really don't have to tell me twice. If nothing else, the bizarre properties of these creatures make it difficult to say anything for certain.

[friendyousohard]

Yes, that's why I've been researching Pokemon in general as much as I can since I arrived. I've learned a lot, but... there's just so much. I could spend days on each individual species, and there are over six hundred if I'm counting correctly!

[enjoymyatelier]

Ah, have you? I had been wondering if anyone else was interested in that sort of thing. I know there are native researchers, but the natives strike me as being somewhat off.

Over six hundred is a bit daunting, though... don't many of them evolve from other Pokemon?

[friendyousohard]

Yes, but each evolution deserves its own study, particularly as some evolutions can be wildly different from their original forms.

[enjoymyatelier]

True, but it does mean that you don't have to spend as much time tracking each individual Pokemon down, especially given that the evolutions seem rarer in the wild than unevolved Pokemon.

[friendyousohard]

There is that. Point of fact, evolved forms seem to be rare even when the Pokemon in question are easily high leveled enough to have evolved that way already. It's probably one of the big reasons why they want trainers.

[enjoymyatelier]

Are they really self-aware enough for that?

[friendyousohard]

I wouldn't doubt it. Some Pokemon are said to be as fully intelligent as any human. Look up Alakazam sometime.

[enjoymyatelier]

I haven't encountered that Pokemon yet, but I'll take your word for it.

[that is going to be quite a head trip, man]

So, whenever they jump out of the tall grass, they're basically throwing themselves at people in the hopes that they'll be caught?

[friendyousohard]

That's the theory, and pretty much all of the evidence I've seen seems to support it. The only real exception would probably be the Legendaries, but then again, that might be why they're almost never seen.

[enjoymyatelier]

Well, if Pokemon seek out trainers in order to become stronger, as you're implying, then I would assume that Legendaries assume they're powerful enough as-is.

[friendyousohard]

Given our current situation, I'd agree with them on that.

[enjoymyatelier]

Perhaps it would be possible to temporarily partner with one of them if you were impressive enough, of course...

[OR IF YOU HAD SOME SWAG RELATED TO THE LEGENDARY AND A SUMMONING CIRCLE...]

[friendyousohard]

Well... if you had goals that coincided with the Legendary in question's, and you had some way to impress them, and they needed a human partner in the first place, I guess that could happen. But that sounds like the realm of storybooks.

[And not ones that turn out to be 100% factual history like she keeps finding.]

[enjoymyatelier]

It's not entirely outside the realm of possibility. I'm sure stranger things have happened here.

[friendyousohard]

That depends on what you consider "strange". A godlike being choosing to offer a trainer its strength is pretty out there... But so is an army of living trash or six attacking several cities.

[enjoymyatelier]

That's precisely what I was getting at. Granted, I suppose you could say that they're strange in slightly different ways.

[friendyousohard]

Well, Pokemon swarms aren't an unheard of thing. Them being manipulated into swarming by an outside force, however, is something I don't think has precedent, though I could be wrong.

[enjoymyatelier]

I think the fact that it was a swarm of living trash is more unusual than the fact that it was a swarm to begin with. Though, if that is the case, that would make it even stranger.

[friendyousohard]

True. But a surprising amount of Poison types seem to spawn out of those sort of situations. Koffing, for example, is born from essentially air pollution. Maybe it's just that they wouldn't swarm in a natural environment.

[enjoymyatelier]

That would make sense, yes. Given that Pokemon such as Grimer and Koffing related to manmade things, it stands to reason that, with the correct resources, someone could force a swarm of that sort of Pokemon more easily than they could force a swarm of, say, Pidgey.

[friendyousohard]

Precisely. Point of fact, forcing more "natural" Pokemon to swarm artificially might be borderline impossible, though I'm not willing to rule anything out completely.

[enjoymyatelier]

In theory, it's possible, but causing a "natural" swarm would likely involve doing something extremely destructive, so only a madman would consider it.

[friendyousohard]

Which means that we should probably be on the lookout for something like that the next time a certain group decides they want something.

[Because Team Rocket is insane. Twilight is certain of this now.]

[enjoymyatelier]

Oh, certainly.

[yeahhhh they kind of seem that way...]

In any case, this was a fairly profitable discussion. Thank you for all the information you've provided. May I have your name? I don't believe I caught it.