GINKO INTRO

[onegreeneye]

[There's a staticky buzz of someone holding the Pokegear with his hand over the mic, giving way to a quiet muttering as the person holding it turns it over in his hand. It's only after a few seconds that the camera catches anything other than the ground or his palm, finally ending up, purely by chance, on the face of an exasperated-looking man with shaggy white hair and a green eye.

Who, as it happens, does not realize that the thing he's holding is making everything he says publicly visible, and is mainly busy prodding uncertainly at it and complaining under his breath.]

Yeah, this is just what I needed today, for sure... dammit, how lost am I, don't recognize anything around here, 'specially not--

[He hesitates, glancing over his shoulder and looking very concerned for a moment. The camera shifts as he starts walking again.]

--aaand the purple ball is still there. Great.

Comments

[armoredsoul]

[...welp. This man is gonna need some help, alright.]

Um, the Pokemon is gonna keep following you. You're it's Trainer, now.

[onegreeneye]

[Oh god the weird device is talking now. Ginko jumps a little, staring down at the screen in sheer confusion.]

--What?

[armoredsoul]

Eheh! Sorry, Didn't mean to startle you. Do you know what a phone is? The thing you're holding is kind of like that--people can see and hear you right now. You just arrived, right?

[onegreeneye]

...What's a phone.

[In other words, no, he doesn't know.]

They can-- well. Uh, alright. That's... unexpected. And I assume so, given that I have no idea where this is, except that it's not in the middle of a forest.

[armoredsoul]

Ah...in short it's something that can transmit sound through various electrical means. The PokeGear can also show video, which is...well, basically a moving picture of whatever the machine's 'eye' is pointed at. It makes keeping in contact when you're out traveling a lot easier.

Mmm, you're not anywhere near where you were before. We all get dragged here by something, we haven't figured out what. This place is called Johto, and the town you're in is called New Bark.

[onegreeneye]

[This is... a lot to take in. But he's doing his best.]

...Right. And the... purple ball...?

[After some uncertain fumbling as he tries to figure out where the camera actually is, he manages to point it in the general direction of the Venonat following behind him.]

[armoredsoul]

[Well, there's a lot he needs to know!]

Like I said, that's your Pokemon! It's...um, hold on, lemme check this thing...

[Give him a minute to fiddle with the Pokedex app for a second. Search by purple coloring...oh!]

It's a Venonat. We're all given a Pokemon, I got a little blue lion cub. They're meant to be our partners while we're here.

[onegreeneye]

A... Venonat.

[That... sure is a name for an... animal?]

Wait, what do you mean, 'partners'? I'm... supposed to work with it?

[armoredsoul]

Mm-hmm! Look like it's Bug and Poison type...which basically means it has abilities that relate to those two things. Classifications around here are really weird.

[Al nods with a small smile, and an Eevee pokes his nose up into the frame from where he has been resting in Al's lap.]

Pretty much! There's a lot of friendly competitions that involve having Pokemon spar against each other, and traveling between towns wild Pokemon might get startled and attack you as well.

[onegreeneye]

Bug and Poison... [Yes, he's going to keep just repeating what Al says, apparently. He's also going to keep frowning and looking confused.] How does something have abilities related to bugs?

[Unless this is some all-NEW kind of mushi nonsense, but it doesn't sound like that's what Al meant.]

They-- sorry, what?

[That seems like a lot to take in?? This thing is supposed to fight for him?]

[armoredsoul]

[Al just. Sort of shrugs.]

I have no idea, the moves all look like they're just scratching or shooting things at each other, but apparently there's some sort of difference.

[Ah...yeah, Al can sympathize there.]

Yeah, it's...it takes a while to get used to. I didn't like it much to start, either.

[onegreeneye]

Yeah, no kidding... how common is this?

[Are there just animals fighting all over the place all the time???]

[armoredsoul]

Mmm...it's pretty common, but trainers are usually willing to respect if someone just doesn't want to battle their Pokemon. You can run away from wild battles some of the time, but that's not really a guarantee with how persistent some Pokemon can get.

[onegreeneye]

Alright... good to know.

[Yeah this is going to take some time to process.]