"And THAT, you guys, is a–!" Wait, should we use translated names for the attacks? ... Well, if we're already calling all the people from this world by their names from the English versions of the games... maybe if it was in Unova, it'd be reversed? But it's called the Kamehameha, even in the dubs. Hm. "Super Kamehameha!" he proudly declares. The duck watches in awed horror, jaw dropping, as Core-fish claps furiously.
"Corr! CORRR! Magnifico! DIVINE!"
Sighduck stares. The raw power in that attack... it took about as long to pull off as a Solar Beam, but it was orders of magnitude more terrifying. He'd be surprised if the people back in Eterna City didn't notice.
The party's moved a bit further away from the city - on to the peak of Mt. Coronet actually, now that Lucy isn't here to slow them down. In the background wild pokémon watch in rapt fascination and horror. The native golbat, machoke, nosepass, snover, and others are careful not to be spotted by the Trainer. His presence was a bit confusing at first - only two pokémon? In a place like this?
"MAAAAACHOKE! Eat this, whelp!"
"Hiyagh!"
*cRACK*
OH. Yeah, probably best not to get his attention. And once he started firing lasers... Well, uh, screw that.
"Okay, guys! Now you try again!"
The platypus pokémon raises an eyebrow. Now that Gohan has... fully realized their sapience, he's been using more and more complex terms to explain things. That doesn't change the fact that Sighduck has no idea how to use aura in any way, let alone that 'ki' stuff.
"COR! Super Special Plus Ultra Death Laser Claw Beam Attack!"
Gohan frowns at the poor attempt, claws flailing. Core-fish's form is getting better, but the results definitely aren't. The most that happens is... nothing. The ruffian fires a Bubble Beam a second later, and proudly decides that it resulted from his stance.
"PsypsypsypsyPSY! Kamehameha!"
Sighduck used Psybeam!
Sighduck has made more progress... but that's not exactly the kind he really wanted. Checking his Trainer Card... er, well, at least he applied some of the technique, but he doesn't seem to have made any real progress with out and out ki- er, aura manipulation.
Aaaand the duck lost Confusion in the process. At least Psybeam seems to be a good replacement. He sighs, slipping the digital card back into his backpack as the two continue to... well, try to replicate his technique. You know, Roshi did say it took him fifty years to learn how to do the Kamehameha...
"Okay guys, uh, I think we're done here." He claps. "Good training."
"Cor! Ah, yes, I have passed this test!"
"PSY DUCK. Thank the Great Old Ones, my god, I'm down to a single PP..."
Gohan then starts to hike down the mountain. The two pokémon under his command waddle behind him, bickering on whether that was a useful use of time. Core-fish doesn't think so – while he's glad he 'impressed' Gohan, he also doesn't think they got anything important out of that 'dance routine'. Sighduck thinks that while they haven't shown any ability to manipulate aura yet, the form shown is good for getting one's juices flowing and all that jazz.
The wild pokémon watch them go. When they pass below the horizon of what they can see, they finally start to emerge, warily eyeing each other – but united in the face of a new alpha species.
"Clef... And I thought a human exploring the moon was a bit unnerving..."
"Absol. Ab absol. I don't know. He's strong, but doesn't seem particularly dangerous."
"NOSEPASS! NoseeeeeePASS? First they order around the gods! Now they start shooting lasers! They really are fighting hard to keep up appearances, aren't they? The top spot and all."
"Clefaaaairy~. Please, as if their hives would function without us youkai letting them. That's probably just a one-off freak."
"Luuuuunnatone... Luna. Luna. I have seen the four corners of the universe... and never have I been beholden to such a terrifying display of power. That was... unnatural."
...
Ah, the Eterna City Pokémon Center! A beacon of hope for all trainers whose pokémon have been beaten into unconsciousness - and the place where Lucy and resident trainers-in-waiting are going through their short education.
Gohan, backpack full of harvested berries and a cool rock he found, walks up to the counter. "U-um, hello!"
"Hello, welcome to the Pokémon Center!" the nurse says with a curtsy. "What can I do for you today?"
"Can you heal my pokémon...?" he asks as he sets his two Poké Balls onto the counter. She nods, smiling as she takes them and places them into the machine besides her. For two seconds.
"All done!" she chirps, handing them back.
"Buh?"
"Oh, is this your first time?" ... "License, please?"
He wordlessly shows her his Trainer Card; she nods and accepts it, yeah, he must just be new. "Do you need anything else?"
"Um..." Huh. What does he need? "Is... is there any way for me to find specific pokémon? Kind of easily?"
That's a surprising question. She thinks, putting a hand to her chin as she ponders this question. 'Kind' of easily? Well, the easiest way would be to trade, right? But nobody's here. Oh!
"Well, the upstairs room is occupied with a lesson today, but you can use that PC," she points out. "It's hooked up to the new Global Trade System. I'm sure you can find just the pokémon for you!"
He bows ("Thank you miss!"), causing her to giggle. "Ah, you're very polite!" She waves as he meanders over to the PC...
GOHAN booted up the PC. Which PC should be accessed?
/GOHAN's PC
Accessed GOHAN's PC. What do you want to do?
/Turn Off
Which PC should be accessed?
/Global Trade Link
/Pokémon Listings
/...
/Aura
/Advanced Search
/Max Price - 1200 Poké
/Search
/Max Price - 5000 Poké
/Search
/'aura using pokémon'
/Search
"... Hey, uh, nurse?"
"Hm? Yes?"
"How do I... uh, find aura pokémon?"
"Aura pokémon?" she asks. "I don't know... well, did you try searching for any specific species?"
"But I don't know which ones can do aura stuff."
"Hm. I know lucario can use aura... but those are really quite rare. Will you be able to afford one?"
"... No, I don't think so," he sighs. That book Cynthia had listed a good number of them, didn't it? She probably knows. "Ah, do you have a phone?"
The nurse blinks. A phone...? Ah, oh! She had almost forgotten about those... they were a bit of a failed experiment a few decades ago. The plan really did sound clever, but the towers that would allow the signals to be transferred were simply too hard to guard from hordes of hungry Electric-type Pokémon, and for the similar reasons any landlines wouldn't stay in one piece far outside big cities. It's only with recent space technology that a derivative idea, the PokéGear, has been taking off.
"You can borrow my Pokétch if you'd like, but I don't know if I have the right number." Yes, that's right, the Pokétch Company had recently been bought out by Silph. That might honestly give them the final leg up they needed on Devon.
"Ah, that's all right!"
孫 悟飯 活性化 その ポケッチ。 どっち アプリ すべき なる 開いた？
/ポケモンリスト
ラッキー (100%)
ハピナス (100%)
/戻る
"... Miss? I can't read this."
"Huh? Oh, I'm so sorry! You didn't look like a foreigner," she says as she takes the watch back for a few seconds. As she fiddles with it, she fills him in: "Are you from somewhere in Unova? I heard that lot of the younger people there don't even know that Unown wasn't always universal. I grew up in the country, so I guess I'm just more comfortable reading in the old language." She hands it back – this time with the writing legible to him. Scratching her head, she goes on: Heh, I think even the pokémon have been adapting. "It's been quite a while since I've seen any in Sinnoh use their old cries."
He considers this as he clicks back through the Pokétch. ... He couldn't read the symbols, but they did seem familiar, didn't they? Maybe the same language existed back on his Earth... in a version that wasn't dubbed into English.
"What sort of pokémon are around where you're from?"
"Ah, actually, we don't have any," he says as he finds the app he presumes calls people. She looks a bit surprised.
"None at all?! That's a bit strange. Are you around Orre?"
"I guess?"
She purses her lips as he turns back to the watch. He must be from even deeper in the boonies than she was.
GOHAN booted up the Pokétch. Which app should be accessed?
/Call
Whom do you want to call?
Angela
Caroline
Cherri
Copper
Ezekiel
Gardenia
Jenna
Lindsay
Lloyd
Looker
Oleander
Roxy
Satoshi
Yvette
/Cherri
...
RING RING...
["Ey, Trishaaaaaaa... been a while."]
Gohan raises an eyebrow simultaneously with the nurse behind the counter.
"Hey, uh, it's actually me! Gohan! Uh, heeey..."
[Eh? You again, kid? ... How'd you get ahold of Trish's Pokétch? You steal it from 'er?"]
"W-what, no! I asked if I could borrow a phone..."
["Tch. Coulda gotten a free Pokétch."]
"..."
["Whaddidya need, kid? I'm a little busy... uh... watching The Diary of a Poké Romantic."]
"O-oh, um, all right. Do you think you can put Cynthia on? If she's there, I mean."
["Sure. I'll just call her and give the number of yer phone. Pokétch. Whatever."]
"Thanks?"
["Don't mention it, kid."]
... ...
"Christ, the kid's going right after Cynthia? ... Oh my god, this is the kid that came into town with her little sister. AH." The nurse gulps, but it gives way to a smile. This kid must be something - but something good, if he really is in the champion's good graces. "Sooooo... how was she?"
"Huh?" he asks, turning back to look at the nurse (Trisha?) as the phone pings with a notification. "How did you... oh, it must've been easy to overhear, heh?"
"Easy enough, I guess," she said with a shrug. "I heard her introduction loud and clear. What did you need from her?"
"I actually needed to talk to someone else?"
RING RING...
"Oh!" he says, glancing at the device. The words 'UNKNOWN NUMBER' are displayed loud and clear on the monocular monitor. "I have to take this! Sorry!"
...
"Hey!"
["Hello? Gohan, is that you? Cherri told me you needed to talk to me?"]
"Mhm, uh... I'm sorry if you're busy, but, uh–"
["No, no, it's fine! Really! I was just eating lunch. What do you need?"
"Do you remember those pokémon... the ones that your book listed as being able to use aura stuff? I kind of wanted to try some things out."
["Ah. Trying to figure out if you can apply your ki stuff to pokémon battling?"
"Yeah, actually."
["Hm. The clauncher, mienfoo, riolu, squirtle, and togepi lines are all able to learn Aura Sphere. Those might be a good start."]
"Mhm, mhm, which one would be the best choice for me?"
["Weeeell... clauncher, riolu, and mienfoo are from nowhere near here. Togepi and squirtle would be better choices... actually, maybe just squirrel. They're quite rare in the wild, but they've been domesticated for a long time. Finding a seller shouldn't be too hard or expensive, if you don't make it too much of a point to pick out one with outstanding potential for battle."]
"Sqwertle, huh?" he says. It feels weird thinking of a pokémon as 'domesticated', especially after the fact that... you know, they're people. But pokémon eat each other. Man, this place is brutal. "I'll see if I can find one. And I'll share everything I find out with you!"
["Thank you! Hear from you some time later, Gohan."]
Introduction: What Makes a Monster?
In order to explain what makes something truly an unknown monster, we have to go over something you may have thought yourself familiar with: what makes a pokémon. Many a mysterious demon or youkai has been reported, only for it to be revealed to be a newly discovered pokémon (such as voltorb), or even a mundane one. This book makes great distinction between different types of cryptids – artificial beings, pokémon, animals, and truly unknown monsters. While the only qualification for a cryptid is that it is a creature has been claimed to exist withought having been conclusively proven to, it is still useful to attempt to classify such between taxons, or add them to something else entirely.
In the past pokémon have been regarded as mythical or supernatural, but with recent advances in technology they are slowly becoming accepted as another mundane, if extremely hard to figure out, part of life. They've even finally been granted their own kingdom – Electrobelia. The exact origins of pokémon life are unknown, though we believe them to be derived from a common ancestor with animals and fungi. This is due to their uncanny ability to mimic other walks of life – a great variety of other organisms have had their body plans imitated by at least a few species of pokémon, and the recently proven fact that animals and pokémon are relatively compatible on a biochemical and genetic level.
But what defines a pokémon? Firstly, their sheer commonality - similar to Plantae's dominance over most of Fungi, pokémon run circles around animals almost wherever they are both found. Animals are typically seen as the scrappy survivalists, but it is rare for a species to hold a significant advantage over any pokémon in one-on-one combat. Even the lowly magikarp can easily fend off animal would-be-predators. This is likely due to their defining physical property – intense aura.
All living creatures have an aura field. That which is commonly referred to as pokémon typing is simply the attributes of such – it can vary by individual, but its properties are predominantly fixed by species or subspecies. Pokémon's dominance lies in how their aura is far more robust than any other known life-form, even allowing the weakest to shrug off immense damage without so much as a scratch until it is depleted (An interesting note: aura force cannot persist without a medium to support it. That is, no external aura manipulation abilities have been observed to work in vacuum).
The leading theory is that their aura is sparked by their relative genius compared to most animals, though it could be the other way around – evidence for this theory include how humans and other notably intelligent animals such as rodents, pigs, and parrots have demonstrated slight usage of aura compared to more ordinary members of the biosphere. Humans, by far the most intelligent animal, have even shown the existence of Aura Masters – individuals capable of freely experimenting and manipulating the forces of aura without restriction to inborn abilities. Even among pokémon, very few have the capability to manipulate it beyond nigh-set in stone maneuvers termed 'Moves'.
Properties of aura have been determined to be the key to identifying pokémon. Poké Balls utilize their uniquely pervasive aura fields for a revolutionary purpose we all too often take for granted - conversion into pure electrical data. This simply doesn't work on animals or ordinary objects; they lack the metaphysical properties to be broken down as such (though there have been no official tests on human Aura Masters or psychics). The invention of object dissolution, or storage in the PC, is a direct result of reverse-engineering the properties of pokémon auras – there's a little bit of artificial pokémon properties in every potion you buy from Silph.
As such, a pokémon is a very specific thing. An earthly creature with particular aura properties compared to its fellow organisms. It follows, then, that a newly discovered creature without these universal properties would not be a pokémon. Regardless of appearance or other properties, if a Poké Ball cannot at least attempt to break it down into data it is not a pokémon – and if it displays phenomena similar to Moves, it is most definitely not an animal either. The latest hopeful was in the discovery of Beldum – but a single tossed Great Ball put a rest to that.
A strange side effect of aura – humans tend to hear pokémon say 'their names' when they vocalize with intent to communicate. It is completely unknown why this is, though some believe their may be a connection to psychic phenomenon. It is notably different between areas – a kantonian bulbasaur may vocalize its thoughts as, well, 'Bulbasaur!' while a ranseian counterpart will seem as though it is saying 'Fushigidane'. Through observation it has in fact been observed that pokémon speaking different 'dialects' actually cannot understand each-other: the implications are doubtless astounding, but lost on me. In either case, pokémon appear to be unaware of how they sound to humans other than the fact that we cannot understand what they are really trying to communicate. They can understand us just fine, so long as they know the language (the pokémons' usage of 'common names' actually appears to be rising in correlation with the adoption of Unown Standard, while other terms such as the aforementioned fushigidane and bisasam are apparently related to older, local tongues).
Interestingly, apricorns and related plants actually appear to be... not plants at all. They share more properties in common with pokémon, and are as such currently considered members of phylum Electrovegeta. This classification may change - more and more professors are becoming proponents of the idea that it is simple convergent evolution. However said families of flora do share notable characteristics with Grass-type Pokémon...
— Cynthia White, Cryptid and Mythomonster Handbook