shiningboxofjustice | PSL Post - Athrun Zala and Yukari Takeba

[ Yukari didn't say anything else for a few moments, mostly because she wasn't exactly sure what else to say there since the conversation had kinda...died off. But before she could even think of anything else, her eyes were drawn to a yellow shape that darted out in front of them for a moment before scampering away. ]

... Do you have any idea what that thing that just ran in front of us was?

[The movement had also caught Athrun by surprise. He's staring at the direction that the thing ran off in.]

...Not really. Looked like maybe some kind of rodent? It was moving so fast, it was hard to tell.

[Even for a Coordinator, it was fast. Athrun caught a bit more, but that's all he's got.]

... Think we should go try to get a closer look at it?

[ Of course, that might make it attack them, but they did still have their pokemon. It really shouldn't be that big of a problem, right? ]

I think so. The more we know about this place, the better.

[And that includes researching Pokémon. Athrun fixates on the direction the creature went and begins to move.]

[ Yukari nods, following after him and not saying anything as they slowly moved closer to wherever the creature was. And sure enough, it didn't really take them all that long for it to come into view.

And it looked like he was right. It was definitely some sort of... rodent-thing. With yellow fur. And was huge. Not that it was surprising for a pokemon, considering everything, but still.

Caterpie jumped off of her shoulder, landing near her. She wasn't sure if he wanted to fight the rodent or not. ]

... Should we both attack it at once? [ Hopefully the thing wouldn't pick up on whispers. ]

[Athrun contemplates courses of action. They've never tried to go two-on-one before. The soldier within him is saying it's the best way to ensure victory, but battling with Pokémon seems very different from war. Plus there was no telling what could happen if they tried. He'd rather make it less of a gamble if they're going to experiment, and wait until they've returned to civilization.]

It's just one. I think one of us should engage it, with the other waiting to provide backup if necessary. We don't know how it would react to two opponents.

[ Yukari nodded, grabbing Caterpie's pokeball and recalling it for now. Atrhun did have a good point, after all. ]

Okay. You mind doing the honors then?

Me?

[Athrun figured that Yukari would want a shot at it since she was the one who prompted them to go after it. However, he wants to learn more about this world they're presently stuck in, and capturing a never-before-seen Pokémon would help them do that.]

All right, I suppose.

[Athrun stands up and throws one of his Poké Balls. Out comes the Charmander. He'd thought of using his Weedle, but figured that poisoning it would be counterproductive.]

Charmander, let's go!

[And the Charmander leaps into action. The Pikachu is faster, however, and hits it with a Thunder Shock before it can use Scratch. Charmander keeps going, however, and lands its blow. The Pikachu then uses Tail Whip -- a useless move, considering its only attack is a special attack -- to which the Charmander uses Scratch again.

So far, so good.]

Why not?

[ Though honestly, maybe Yukari should've been the one to go after it, since she did see it first. But before she could change her mind, Athrun was already going after it with his Charmander. And then the yellow thing starts shooting LIGHTNING at it. ]

Okay. Yeah. That's definitely something you're going to need to catch. Lightning and I really don't mix well at all.

[That catches Athrun's attention. He actually looks away from the battle to give her a surprised look.]

Really? That's not something I ever would have guessed.

[In the meantime, Charmander gets hit by a Thunder Shock and hits back. That gets Athrun's attention back to the fight. He then throws a Poké Ball at the Pikachu.

Shake, shake, shake, ding! He goes and picks the ball up.]

I guess that could have gone a little better, but what's done is done.

It has to do with the whole Shadow thing I told you about before. It probably doesn't matter here but...

[ She still wants to shudder even thinking about it. If she had the lightning rat, she'd probably be instinctively trying to get out of the way every time it tried to do an attack.

Though at least Athrun doesn't have that much trouble with the Pikachu. ]

Yeah. We... should get better at this once we know more about how all of this works.

Some sort of inherent vulnerability?

[That's the best guess he's got. At any rate, he lets the Pikachu out and begins tending to its wounds.]

That, and once our Pokémon get stronger. And we catch more of them.

Pretty much. Yeah. I'm not sure if it's just me or if it's anyone who's Persona uses wind attacks, but it's not something I really want to risk.

[ So yeah, no shocking her Pikachu. Please. ]

Well, I suppose that's good to know. I think I saw that Flying-types are vulnerable to Electric-type attacks, too.

[Athrun finishes treating his Pikachu's wounds, then calls it back into its Poké Ball.]

All right, let's get moving.

...You know, I wonder just how diverse these types make using them.

... Well, it definitely makes sense with the pokemon.

[ Yukari frowned, looking over at where the Pikachu was for a few moments. ]

That's a pretty good question. I mean, we already know that they can have more than one type, which makes it even more so than those that just have one type. There's around seventeen types, aren't there?

Eighteen. There's...Normal, Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, Steel, and...uh, Fairy.

[Athrun has a superb memory, so it was not too difficult for him to memorize the names of every type. Of course, recalling all of their weaknesses, resistances, and immunities is a different matter.]

I just have to wonder, does each type have certain combat characteristics beyond just type advantages and disadvantages? Like, if you'll pardon the military reference, having mobile suits designed to establish air superiority as opposed to having mobile suits designed to support ground troops.

... Maybe, but I'm not sure if nature would be as clear cut as military stuff would be.

[ Also, seriously, pokemon had way too many types to remember. At least back when she was fighting shadows it was just Fire, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Dark.

Hopefully they wouldn't come across any dragons anytime soon though. That didn't sound like something that'd be easy to handle. ]

I suppose only time will tell. Though don't forget that nature has laws, too. I learned them all too well while studying to be an engineer.

[Back to walking.]

Well, yeah. But I... thought you were asking more if some pokemon just ended up the way they were to be able to fight something else.

[ ... Yeah, okay. That sounds stupid even to her now that she said it. Still, they were walking again, so hopefully they'd not need to talk more about it and they can just keep going to wherever they needed to go. ]

Well, I figure natural selection would take care of that.

[What could adapt would survive, and what couldn't would perish. It was a universal truth of all species.]

So, if you're not comfortable with Electric-types, what would you be more comfortable with?

Assuming that the whole pokemon training thing didn't keep that from happening.

[ She didn't really need to think about the answer to his question for a moment. It was an obvious answer to her. ]

Flying types. Which... might mean that my last capture might not have been the best idea after all.

And I'm afraid Bulbasaur might not be much better. Anything else? It might help to catch a neutral type and then use that to catch a bird.

Well... that or a type that's strong against flying.

[ Which was... Electric. Well, there was also Ice and Rock, but she didn't know where she was going to get one of those anywhere near here. ]

Something neutral will probably work better though. I mean, assuming I'm trying to get it soon.

I don't think we'll find much of that in the forest, I'm afraid. From what I've heard, it's all bugs here.

What do you say we focus on getting out of here? If we want more training, we can always come back once we reach Pewter City.

Hey, getting out of here is going to get no argument from me at all.

[ At least, as long as they were able to actually make it out of here before it got dark. ]

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... crap. I'm sorry I let this go for so long again.

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