friendyousohard | 11th Spell: [Video/Action for Union Cave]

[The gear clicks on in steady hands, focusing directly on Twilight's face. She checks it out a moment before nodding in satisfaction.]

Looks good, Starswirl. Make sure to keep it recording so I can review this later.

[She clears her throat and goes into scientist lecture mode.]

Date: September the Seventh by Johto's Calendar.

Location: Outside Union Cave, Azalea Town entrance. Preparing to re-enter the cave.

Experiment: In order to test the effectiveness of the Repel item sold in the shops, I wore the fragrance through the Cave and am now going to return into it as the item has worn off. I will document the difference in the frequency of encounters and use this data to determine a rough estimate of the effect. Further experiments may be necessary depending on my results.

The experiment begins now. Come on, Starswirl.

[She turns and heads inside the cave, walking along at a sedate pace. Soon enough there's the sound of wings flapping.]

Hmmm, we seem to have Pokemon already. Well that's a fairly large difference in and of itself.

Wait, just how many of them are-

[She's cut off with a shriek as a Zubat flies by, and another buzzes the gear. Starswirl quickly drops the gear and goes to help his trainer, causing the image to drop to the ground and start showing nothing but rock. Before the gear shuts off, Twilight shouts:]

It's in my hair! It's stuck in my haiiiiiiir!

[It clicks off after that.

A few minutes later, the gear clicks on again, showing a very grumpy Twilight sitting outside the cave with a bandage on her face and her hair looking like it just went through a wind tunnel. One full of various debris.]

Conclusion: There is no need for further study. The item clearly works, and works very well.

Also, a personal note here.

I hate Zubat.

Can't believe I had to catch the rotten thing to get it out... [She mutters a few more inaudible things as she switches the gear back off. Well, no one ever said scientific research was easy.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nothing a little while with a brush won't cure, anyway. At least I learned a valuable lesson out of it.

Did you ever have any problems like this with Zubat during your travels, Emmy?

Oh, yes; one almost got caught in my hair going through Mount Mortar, which gave me quite the fright; fortunately my Machamp grabbed it before it did any real damage! Although she....grabbed it a little too hard and it fainted straight away, which I suppose was useful....I did feel a little bad, however...

[[Really, she was lucky her Machamp hadn't snapped the poor thing in half. She doesn't quite know her own strength, sometimes.....]]

Some of the wild Pokemon in this place can be quite scary; I caught my Blitzle after he almost ran me over! Do you think it's worth investing in some 'Repels', then? I've never actually thought to use mine, which in hindsight seems a tad silly of me.

Pretty impressive for a fighting type to take out a flying type so easily. Then again, we are talking about a fully evolved Pokemon against a first stage. But it sounds like them getting stuck in hair is a real potential problem.

[Maybe she should be wearing a hat in caves...]

Anyway, it depends on whether or not you think you're running into too many wild Pokemon on your travels. If you're okay with the amount that jump out at you for a battle already, you may as well keep going as you are. That's, um, an interesting story about your Blitzle, though. Was he deliberately charging you or was it an accident?

Oh, I believe it was an accident; the grass was fairly high and I don't think he saw me as he was charging along! So that was alright. The problem for him, however, was that he crashed straight into my Nidoqueen, and she was...less than impressed...

[[At least she'd gained a new Pokemon out of the whole mess, but really...those Ground-type attacks do quite the number on the scenery.]]

I can't imagine how I made it through this place when my Pokemon were only small; when I think back, it was really quite a dangerous sort of thing to do! But there's a sort of comfort that comes with powerful Pokemon, at least; you feel rather fearless after a while.

Although if they're going for my hair, that's a whole different story!

I... can imagine.

[Her mind is painting a very vivid picture of the fate of that poor Blitzle, in fact.]

I know what you mean. After the way I tore through the last gym I took on I've been feeling almost invincible... I try to remind myself that I'm back in the early areas and the opposition gets much stronger later on, but I'm not sure it's working well.

Well, I suppose it's good that we're confident in our Pokemon's strength for....obvious reasons.

[[Hopefully you will understand the meaning of her Knowing Look there, Twilight.]]

On the topic of 'later on', have you ever been to Kanto? I visited there once, but it was very brief; now that I've gotten all the badges here in Johto, I'd like to test myself against those other Gym Leaders. Apparently they're much stronger than the ones here!

Confidence is good, yes. Overconfidence... well, I'm just going to try to keep a reasonable assessment of myself and my Pokemon to avoid it, if I can.

[And if she can't, Lightning will pop up out of nowhere and smack her upside the head with a lecture.]

I've heard that too. But no, I can't say I've ever been there. I still have six badges to get in Johto before moving to the other region seems reasonable, particularly if the gyms are that much harder.

[[Oh don't worry, Lightning has given Emmy a good lecture or three in the past.....not undeserved, either....you're going to need to be the level-headed, let's-look-before-we-leap one in this squad, Twilight!]]

Haha well, I'm just concerned I'm going to need to get a job! Money from the badges has sustained me rather well so far....although I don't really spend too much money, anyway. Oh goodness, I sound very spoiled right now, don't I? I've just considered....well, Pokemon training to be my present career! It does take up a lot of time, after all.

Do you do a lot of these experiments in your spare time then? They sound rather intense.

[Fortunately, Twilight's pretty good at that. All she needs to do is start thinking of Emmy as Rainbow Dash, and she'll have a general idea of how to work with her in an intense situation.]

Well, I would think that being a trainer more or less does count as a career. Just because we're having fun... usually, doesn't mean that we aren't providing a valuable service. Strong domesticated pokemon seem to be absolutely vital for the continuing function of this place, for a variety of reasons.

As for my experiments, I do one whenever it seems like the best way to find the answer to a question I have. Sometimes they wind up like this, but more often my results are a lot less... unpleasant.

You make a good point about the Pokemon; I shudder to think about what would happen to Johto if there weren't strong, kind-hearted trainers around to keep the peace as best they can.

[[It doesn't bear thinking about, really!]]

And I would hope your results are a bit more....well, fulfilling than a Zubat to the hair!

My theory is that Pokemon trainers originally came about as society's one line of defense against wild Pokemon. Without them, humanity in this world would simply not have been able to survive. And that's still true, just... slightly less obvious since they're, well, everywhere.

[She can't help but laugh a bit.]

Usually, yes. But at least I did catch it!

Edited 2012-09-17 09:06 (UTC)

11th Spell: [Video/Action for Union Cave]

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