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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"...huh."

Okay, so he's not a ghost robot, just...a regular robot. How about that.

"...wait, Tesla?"

"Yes, like Nikola Tesla. It's a long story."

And there are so many strange things he wants answers to. First on his list.

"What is that other thing in the room with you?"

Kotoha glances over at where the fox is still snickering, frowns slightly, and recalls him into his pokeball.

"That was my Zoroark, who thinks he's a comedian."

There's a slight pause as she plucks a different pokeball from somewhere beyond the view of the COMP and releases something that looks very much like a UFO with eyes.

"This is my Magnezone."

She pauses slightly at this, because revealing something always works better with a dramatic pause beforehand.

"His name is Tesla."

He isn't exactly sure what he just saw. Trying to figure out how the one got sucked into one of those balls and the other just popped out. Also, that is one strange robot.

"Well, if you named it, you have good taste in names."

"From your perspective, do I have any strange dents or bumps on my head? I am pretty sure what you just did, didn't make sense."

"Uhh...you've got those ridges on top of your head?"

She makes a few vague gestures over the top of her head to show what she means.

"But they look deliberate. And what about that didn't make sense, exactly?"

"Are those things solid? If so, how do they get into those balls?"

That's the part he can't figure out. There are scientific laws involving mass that are crying right now.

"And those ridges are deliberate. I thought they look cool."

"Yeah, they're solid. It's, um...hold on..."

Kotoha pauses for a few moments to wrack her brain for the answer.

"I...think it's some sort of mass-to-energy-to-mass conversion? I know they're still solid inside the pokeballs, at least."

She shrugs.

"Sorry, it's not my area of expertise, just something I read in a magazine once."

"I am getting a headache just trying to imagine that."

He really, really does not want to think of how bad an idea that seems to be. Still, it's working. He can see it working even if he rather not believe it.

"Okay, so what about that robot, Tesla? Did you make it?"

"Tesla's not a robot, he's a Pokemon just like Zoroark. I caught him on the outskirts of Virbank City."

"Wait a minute. Pokemon?"

Robo is out of touch with the latest trends in entertainment but...

"Those things are called Pokemon?"

Yep, this place just hit another level of weird. He might not know them on sight, but he has definitely heard that name before.

"So it's kind of like your pet?"

Kotoha raises one eyebrow at that.

"They're friends and partners, not pets."

"Friends and partners then."

Robo has no reason to argue that one. Plenty of people feel the same way about their dogs and cats.

"How many of them do you have?"

"Six of them came with me, if that's what you mean. I have more of them back home, but...well. You know."

She shrugs.

"I'm starting to understand more and more."

Thinking on how much he hates being forced into these sort of things, the idea they can return home gives him a choice. He's without a lot of his resources here.

Still, he hasn't left yet.

"So, are you sticking around to see how you can help?"

"Pretty much, yeah! I mean, I'm pretty much one of the top-ranked Trainers in the entire world, so it'd be pretty selfish of me to say I couldn't do this and leave, after all."

It'd be reasonable if she did decide to go home. Some people just can't turn their backs on problems, though. He has to give her a lot of credit there.

"Okay then, it sounds like we're here for the long haul."

There are plenty of issues to deal with back home, but there are entire teams he has trained to deal with them. Here, there's just him.

"Any idea on where you're starting? I am thinking about seeing what people have organized and decided what to do from there."

He's also not 100% how he feels about what is going on here, but if they are playing games with the lives of people something must be done.

"For now, I'm working on familiarizing myself with the terrain and finding a way to support myself outside of the stipend. I was planning on making my first network post a job search, but...oh well."

"Money might be useful all things considered. I'm not cheap to maintain under the best conditions."

And scavenging parts is not high on his list of things he wants to be doing.

"First, I should find out how many of my employees are around."

"Sounds like a plan! I'll see what I can do to help, okay?"

Kotoha is, as always, relentlessly optimistic.

"Meanwhile, I guess I'll keep an eye out for a strip mall that needs a new general manager or something...might as well play to my strengths."

She is a strange kid.

"I'll let you know if I see anything. I may just have to make due."

1st Pokeball - An Unwelcome Prank

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