compnetwork | 1st Pokeball - An Unwelcome Prank

The camera feed snaps on suddenly, revealing a creature somewhat like a fox staring directly into it before winking and placing a finger to its lips. It snaps to attention as a young-sounding voice calls out from behind it.

"Okay, Zoroark, time for rehearsal! Today it's Brycen-Man, okay?"

The outline of the fox-like creature - Zoroark? - shimmers and distorts, resolving into a strangely-dressed man. It walks away from the camera and takes up a stance across from a young girl in an equally outlandish outfit, who clears her throat before drawing herself up and pointing directly at the masked man the fox turned into.

"Hold it! The Messenger of Truth and Ideals, Riolu Girl, is here! Stop right there, Brycen-Man! I cannot allow your mischief!"

The masked man laughs at this. He snickers so hard, in fact, that the illusion drops, leaving Riolu Girl staring at him, completely unsure of what's so funny. Still snickering, the fox points at the video feed with one finger, the masked girl looking in that direction. Her eyes wide behind her mask, she scrambles for the table the COMP is resting on.

"AAAA! That's not funny, Zoroark!"

Staring directly into the video feed, she starts babbling frantically.

"You didn't see that! NOBODY SAW THAT. THERE WAS NOTHING TO SEE."

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Kotoha's already removed her mask, but at this question she practically preens - for a Trainer, interest in their pokemon is the greatest icebreaker!

"Oh, he's a Zoroark! I received him as a gift from Rood of the Seven Sages."

With that, she casts a sly glance over to where Zoroark is still snickering.

"Of course, at the time he was still a little baby Zorua..."

That does it - Zoroark stops snickering to scowl at Kotoha.

[So this girl is a type of demon tamer? But hm, need to ask more questions.]

Are Zorua and Zoroark demons?

[With all of her studies and knowing about demons, Miyako can say the species names somewhat easily. They're foreign on her tongue, but after hearing Kotoha's pronunciations, she picked it up.]

"No, they're Pokemon. Completely different thing."

A slight pause.

"Oh, and my name's Kotoha. What's yours?"

Miyako Hotsuin.

[Pokemon, huh?]

What are the differences between Pokemon and demons?

"Well, from what I've seen, Pokemon are actual biological creatures."

A slight pause.

"Occasionally very strange biological creatures, yes, but they exist in the world in a way most of the demons I've seen so far...don't."

Demons differ from common animals by their basic, biological make-up.

[Spiritually and other things that would take too long to explain.]

How do they exist in your world?

"Demons, you mean? They don't. I'd never seen any outside of stories until I came here."

It's quite common for the public to know them as simply stories. In most cases, they don't have the spiritual sensitivity to find them or the demons simply don't approach humans.

[Or they're sealed.]

And Pokemon?

"Pokemon are, you know...animals, basically. Varying levels of sapience, for the most part. Most of my team is on the high end of the scale."

She pauses for a second, thinking something over.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure the closest thing to an actual demon I've ever seen was a Ghost-type pokemon called Spiritomb. They're native to the Sinnoh region in Japan, I think."

It must be unique to your world. We don't have Pokemon in mind, and demons are mostly unknown to the public until recently.

[Thanks, Nicaea.]

From your words, should I assume it's normal for humans to have Pokemon teams?

"Of course! Even kindergarteners have Pokemon!"

Are they domesticated?

[Because man, there's all sorts of dangerous, risky potentials there.]

"...no?"

Kotoha has no idea what to make of that question.

"I mean. I can kind of see where you're coming from, but...it's like asking if humans are domesticated."

Are they not in some ways?

[Oh, boy, Miyako, tune down that bitterness there.]

...But I can see the apparent differences between our worlds. While anyone can have Pokemon, only certain people can use demons.

Kotoha looks thoughtful as she considers the implications of that statement.

"Wouldn't that lead to a fundamental power imbalance in your society? Do Demon Trainers make up some kind of elite class over the people that can't use demons?"

In most situation, no. The existence of demons was kept from the public. Demon tamers wouldn't be known to the rest of society.

[However, in the world of meritocracy, such a world might happen. But, well, they lost.]

"...wow, I...I can't really picture how that would work."

A society without the aid of powerful creatures in public?

"Yeah, and the whole thing with keeping them secret, too..."

Humans can live their lives without demons. The secrecy is necessary to prevent potential abuse of power and deaths for untrained fools.

1st Pokeball - An Unwelcome Prank

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