shadowdive | 40 // video

40 // video

[The feed opens up a bit into the bushes, a Buizel chittering away behind the screen and a Litwick wiggling just in the right hand corner, and paws are rolling the gear around. It takes a few minutes for the camera to be righted and pointing a direction that doesn't show leaves and snow, and then it's displaying a yard. A backyard.

Out in that backyard, Vanitas is practicing hand to hand combat with his Riolu and Croagunk; all three are working on their form today, led by "Instructor Zuru" the Scraggy. It seems to be going well enough, some simple arm thrusts and kicks being worked through, before they split into two groups. Riot starts off with a fierce volley of kicks at Zuru, who starts countering and dodging, and Vanitas takes a charge at the Croagunk.. who looks overly nonchalant.

It's a split second movement that the frog fighter makes, and not one Vanitas was particularly ready for; Croagunk used foul play and downright sucker punched his trainer in the gut, doing a fine job of knocking him off his feet and flat on his back. The resulting pained wheeze is enough to make the voyeur Pokemon go running, the Buizel leaving the gear behind in the bushes to time out on its own.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[His answer is very sincere now.]

So, yes, but it was worst than it looked. Frogs kick -hard-. At least your frog type can't tell you that you need to get up and do it again because you need more practice, my Sensei's toads always did that if they were helping with sparring.

[Vanitas wasn't expecting such a genuine response, and it shows in his sour expression chilling out instantly. Snorting quietly, he wheezes in his attempt to sit up now.] Talking frogs that beat on you the same as these ones do? Give me a break.

Back home theres a whole clan of them my Sensei has a contract with. At least none of the ones here can come after you with a sword. Nothing like a little purple toad half your size chasing you with a sword, let me tell you!

If swords were legal, I'd teach mine to use one; only after we came to an agreement about dicing me with it though. [Really, sword fighting frogs sounds kind of badass awesome. He might actually teach one of his fighting types to sword fight at this rate..]

Why not swap over to polearms then? I haven't heard any laws against staffs, and if you weight them properly when you cut them they'd be pretty sweet as a weapon.

They're too bulky for the way I was trained. I might look into that for Riot though, he's stronger than me without evolving still. It'd definitely be something I'd like to try fighting against though.

I hear you. I'm best with thrown weaponry and close range combat weapons. I'm gonna miss them -so- hard. But, hey, just gotta find alternatives, really. I know sparring with my mons has made things interesting.

Thrown weaponry.. knives? If you get a Skarmory, you can use their steel feathers as projectile weapons. They're sharp enough. Someone I knew used to do that.

Sparring is what keeps me ready for anything.

I'll have to let Tenten in on that one, she's got a Skarmory. I've been veering more toward the fire and grassy types myself, no pointy objects yet. [He gave his head a little shake.]

Oh yeah totally, Katon, my ponyta, is gettin better at trying to stomp me. My Deerling refuses to try though. I blame his former trainer.

First tip about fire types if you get a Charmander : don't get used to punching it in the snout. It'll bite, soon enough.

Ponyta, huh? I think it's because Deerling hooves aren't stronger than diamonds, where Ponyta hooves are. It's even in their dex entry how tough their hooves are.

My deerling won't spar with me at all! It's super annoying when he gets all righteous about it. Yeah, Katon is pretty awesome, he scored my leg with those hooves the other day, hurt pretty bad and mademeglad I mostly dodged it. I have a charmander! She's... clingy. Getting her to train is a wrestling match all by itself.

So he's being a pansy, in other words?

Heh, watch out about those hooves, seriously. A clingy Charmander is new, but I'll say they like learning to puff fire before learning anything physical.

I get that he had another trainer before me, but it's super frustrating. So yeah, pansy is a good word.

[He grinned at him.] Yeah Kiyo is a clinger. At least teaching fire breathing is easy, it's something I knew how to do back home so she picked it up pretty fast. Though, yeah, hoof dodging, good point. I think if I get clocked solidly with those I'll need a medic.

Oh yeah? Got any badges? That might be why he doesn't want to listen.

You know how to breathe fire? [Color him ultra curious.]

Well, no, I've only been here a few weeks and I heard they're not a huge deal for breeders anyway so I've been focusing on gettin a balance breeding pool of eggs. Him'n Katon are the only two I didn't hatch myself.

And totally! All kinds of kick ass fire techniques back home. I miss em. I mean, I'm pretty good with hand to hand, I mean, I was in a war zone, but breathing fire was nice and relaxing if you just wanted to practice.

So you're a breeder. Not sure overall then what could be it; just a prissy personality.

Heh, hand to hand is probably the most useful, if only because it's a skill you can take anywhere without needing anything extra. A war zone, so your world was at war.. with another world? Or just another region of sorts.

Pretty much what I figure yeah. I was assured he was so nice and friendly too, I'm baffled.

Eh? Worlds? Nah, just the countries. It's something of all the countries fighting the other countries and... it's a mess. Lots of subterfuge and stuff.

An actor.

I see. Yeah, worlds; the universe I'm from has many worlds that are all distantly connected, yet no one can travel between them except a few.

I guess even pokemon can be actors. Good point.

And that? That sounds complicated. Were you one of those? Did it take a lot of time to travel?

Not so much complicated as regions all in one world. They're just different locations with boundless space between them. I could travel between them easily enough, and it hardly took much time for me, unless I purposely took a sky corridor instead of a corridor of darkness.

You know, I've heard about this darkness stuff, but couldn't really get a good explanation of it. It that bad?

It's not the easiest to explain, [but considering who he is] but it's the physical manifestation of the dark thoughts and feelings in ones heart. It isn't just a persons heart though, it can be in anythings core being. It comes in all sorts of forms, depending on how much darkness gathers in one place.

That doesn't actually sound bad to me. Just like... basically it only happens when you can't be at peace with what's wrong, right?

No. Some people have more darkness than others. There is also the worlds with so much light, they cast a very strong shadow. One can't exist without the other overall, but how much of each is the factor. When enough darkness gathers, it can be enough to swallow worlds whole, devouring their light.

Darkness can devour people as well.

Okay so put that kind wrong. I meant, crap how do I put this. It's only bad when people can't embrace it and be happy with the bad too?

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]