AN: This update was done within a day of the previous one, but held back slightly because the next update might take longer as I figure out plot points, and I'd like to space these out.


Pokemon: Hoenn; City Life50 (Fortree); Actual Starter: Eevee (Shiny50); Freerunning; Swarmed+100 (100)

Priority: Physical Fitness100; Survival Training100; Master Ball*3100; HM Collection50; Rebreather50; Psionics300; Savant600; Blend In300; Egg Move4 (Flail, Wish, Stored Power, Synchronoise)200; Combat Training100; Aura600 (2500)


-Day 2501-

God, waiting two years for a single new Perk is going to get old, fast. If only the Life Experience Supplement wasn't so insanely-overpowered as to justify the wait by a mile. But what did I do in the last two years? What did I accomplish in all that time while waiting for my next big 'payday'?

Well, I managed to defeat all of the members of the Elite Four. Not only on an individual scale, but doing so proved that I was worthy of also defeating them in groups. So over the course of a full year, I'd managed first to go through Unova's burgeoning Elite Four (seeing as it was the 'weakest'), then I took Evan to Alola to clear out its Technical Machine stocks, given that I didn't have much of the year left and, as I suspected, Alola didn't actually have an Elite Four set up yet. The Trials, sure, they were Gym-equivalents with relatively-small differences in the grand scope of things, and I absolutely steamrolled the Islands' Challenges and their Totem Pokemon in the quarter-year I had left by that point. Even fought and defeated Kukui and his team of Lycanroc, Alolan Ninetales, Braviary, Magnezone, Snorlax and Crabominable, which might have inspired him to set up the 'canonical' Alolan League.

Other than that, I spent the year working on the Japanese Elite Four's, which… took pretty much the whole year. Unlike Unova's, which allowed the challenger to heal in between fights, I went out of my way to request individual fights with each member. Even with my snazzy new credentials of having defeated the Unovan League, there was a little bit of imperialistic disagreement as to whether or not it 'counted', which I solved by claiming that my 'individual fight' request was solely because I felt like they would be too strong to fight in groups. While I was waiting, though, I succeeded in clearing out the Sevii Islands and stumbled across Lorelei in the process, and good fucking lord, she showed us what the difference between a Gym Leader and the Elite Four was. But despite her genuinely-scary strength, Evan still won.

And with that cred under my belt, the others were happy to indulge me when I returned to the mainland after another two weeks. It was a long and difficult time, with Dazzling Gleam and Shadow Ball the only things that made Karen, Sidney and Phoebe realistically possible. Not to say Aaron wasn't also a roadblock, but like Sidney, once we'd defeated them once, the actual Elite Four Challenges had them as the first to fight, so failure (if we had) would have been easily-recoverable. But while every individual Elite Four member took at least two attempts to beat (the above-mentioned taking three each), Evan's sheer moveset versatility and the lack of Agatha and Steven meant that each of our three 'combined' runs were first tries. Suffice to say, I went from a relatively-impressive Gym Challenger to having a not-inconsiderable amount of fame and fortune from all my 'combined' winnings and all three publically-available Hall Of Fame records suddenly having new names in them within the same year (apparently, a national first).


Aaaaand I was immediately reminded why I hadn't wanted the fame. The fortune, fine, odds are I'll run into other uses for it in the near future. But right now? I had fangirls. Actual stereotypically-vapid fangirls who were mostly looking for dates (and in two cases, straight-up asked to have sex, because of course someone would), and I had at least one phone call per day from always a different reporter asking for interviews, the third of which I agreed to solely because I knew the hype would die down much quicker once I was actually 'in the spotlight', so to speak (and because I recognised the names Gabby and Ty from Pokemon Emerald), and my parents were asking me if I felt I'd had enough and was ready to settle down and give Move Tutoring a try (which I didn't regret mentioning to them, because it was the least objectionable thing I could think of)…

I think the only thing that kept me from killing anyone were the facts that not only had I made it clear that I was not a social person in the thirty-minute interview, my lived-in Hidden Base was in a very awkward spot for most to reach (if they even bothered looking up its registration, I sure as hell didn't mention it in the interview. I've played Pokemon Emerald, I know how many Female Swimmers there are around Hoenn), and my Hidden Berry Farm had produced so much that I really didn't need to worry about it getting raided any more, a favourite of the fangirls… and the fanboys… and leaving me naked selfies of both genders with their names and phone numbers scrawled on the back, because that was actually a thing here and I don't know why I'm even slightly surprised, given how fit I am. The ones where they were 'playing' with their Pokemon, though…

I could go on a rant about how, while Pokemon are sapient beings, they're also kinda like willingly-indentured servants and kinda like… not children, but 'younger siblings' is a pretty good analogy, and most Pokemon can't give consent due to an inability to communicate in human languages or through telepathy. But either way, the point is that sending me pictures of banging them isn't going to make me magically want to sleep with their owners any more than pictures that feature them being plowed by either gender. As far as I, as a 'live and let live' individual are concerned, I just need to stop putting off getting some of those portable Berry Pots and set some Leppa Berries up in the Secret Treehouse.

Also, breeding proposals for Evan. Between her shininess, incredible power and versatile moveset (because of course there were publically-available recordings of challengers. I'd brought a copy of them myself, but knowing that beforehand would have been nice), there were a lot of people offering a lot of money to let their male Pokemon spend a week or two with her and bring back an Egg, which… well, I'd set up a PO Box at Fortree before the interview, solely because I was expecting to be sent potentially-lucrative mail and maybe some actually-important letters from someone who, say, wanted tuition. Instead, with Evan peaking over my shoulder while I tried to explain what each of the letters was for…

My first instinct was to bin them without saying (or thinking) a word, but my earlier analogy was kind of crappy when I referred to Pokemon as 'younger siblings/cousins'. I'd explicitly argued that most Pokemon were effectively kept in captivity by their owners because they had no consistent way to tell them whether or not they actually wanted to be their Pokemon, and using them for sex was even more disturbing when they lack clear consent. I felt, as with children having no input on whether or not they wanted to be born, that Pokemon likewise shouldn't be obligated to serve a Human solely because they dragged them out of the wild and uplifted them. It's unfair on both parties, it's not like a child could have any input on their being born, and very few Pokemon had the ability to ask to be uplifted or any reason to do so. But Evan was still 'family' to me, in a sense, and I wasn't going to treat her like an unruly child and take an opportunity away from her when it may very well be important to her, or to at least engage with me about it.

So, I turned to her, looked her in the eyes, and told her that these were for her.

Spending a good fifteen minutes explaining roughly what the letters were asking me, was awkward. Partly because she was visibly embarrassed by me talking about it, and partly because she was also visibly interested in what was being explained, and the situation surrounding it. The long and short of it was: "Some of the Trainers who saw you fight the Elite Four's are specialised Breeders, and they want to send some of their male Pokemon to mate with you, and take the Eggs to raise them to be very strong Eevee."

Her response? Not being sure how to feel about that. Her reasoning? It took roughly another fifteen minutes, but the gist of it was that sex was very different for Pokemon. Makes sense, in this world you can plant a Berry in 'soft, loamy soil' and in less than a week, grow a tree with a few more even without watering (though it obviously helped). Using the breeding mechanics from the games (which this setting apparently did), all Pokemon primarily preferred Pokemon of the same species, and secondarily preferred Pokemon from different Trainers. The reasons why? Partly because different Trainers meant a higher likelihood of genetic diversity, partly because all of a single Trainer's Pokemon tended to consider each other family, and thus it would be rather awkward (though not morally repugnant) to bang someone who was basically your adopted sibling. And firstly, because of 'compatibility issues'.

The idea of mating with another Espeon was [good], while an Eevee or one of its Evolutions was considered [acceptable]. The idea of banging something else in the 'Field' Egg Group was a bit more [uncertain], especially if they were from the same Trainer, but it was [workable]… with a few exceptions, of course. In the fandom, there was a recurring 'Hot Skitty On Wailord Action' joke due to both of them being in the Field Egg Group, but being vastly different sizes and still being able to breed regardless of which was which gender.

Funnily enough, I'd scanned through a catalog with her, and she'd considered a Wailord to be [simply not worth the effort], because of some deep-seated instinctive belief that she could, theoretically, produce an Egg with a Wailord father… but she wasn't sure how to do it in the here and now, or how such a thing would work (and I barely succeeded in restraining a 'just the tip' joke next to my almost-little-sister figure). The picture of a Mudsdale, on the other hand, had her eyes bugging out and her mouth hanging open. Given that the average size of a Mudsdale is eight feet, compared to her roughly three feet, and that they're categorized as the 'Draft Horse Pokemon', it's not hard to understand her reaction: unlike a Wailord, which looked and sounded ridiculous, her instincts were probably much more favourable to a Mudsdale… even though she seemed very nervous at the idea of trying to mate with something almost three times her size. Pre-evolved Mudbray were [fine], though, because they were also roughly three feet tall, though it did expand the criteria quite a bit by bringing pre-evolutions into the mix.

With that in mind, I helped her determine her 'preferences' and a system she could use. Other than Eeveelutions, she liked other quadrupeds and specifically those close to her own size: Ninetales and Persian were only slightly-bigger, but an Arcanine or Rapidash would be twice her size, and her trepidation at trying [that] with one was written all over her face. Also, she (and presumable all other Pokemon) had a deeply-ingrained fetish for Ditto. I think I caught her drooling over one, despite also being visibly dumbstruck as she tried to puzzle out why her instincts told her that Ditto was acceptable, but something like Muk wasn't (even though they were different Egg Groups, they were safe enough for Gardevoir to breed with despite being living chemical sludge dumps).

That had led into a bigger conversation about how this was entirely up to her: I had reservations, but no strong feelings one way or the other, and I felt that such a call should be down to her and her alone. That said, I organised an empty binder and told her that I'd check it each day, have her double-check it to make sure she hadn't had any second thoughts, and contact the owners of anyone she 'approved' of. If she wanted to use it, fine. If she didn't, fine. The option was there, and I wasn't going to pressure her either way. And no, I don't think badly of you because you find some Pokemon attractive, nor do I have a problem with you laying eggs. Pregnancy didn't really exist for Pokemon, they'd usually give birth to eggs within five hundred to two thousand five hundred steps, so it's not like it would stop her from training or endanger an unborn baby.

Also, she seemed to simply assume that her children's lives were up to them to live. Apparently, most Pokemon don't have parental instincts, which… makes a little bit of sense: some Wild Pokemon lived in herds and in times of great fortune, a mother might have the option to take care of their babies as long as they wanted, but that was more of an emotional connection than an innately-instinctual one. I suppose they do come out of their eggs fully-grown… and the eggs are always of the female (or Ditto's partner's) species, so there's no birthing complications to speak of, or issues with parents not knowing how to take care of their children. Either they figured it out, or they didn't care. Hell, most eggs hatched within the same day that they were laid. In general, Evan was pretty blasé about the idea of sex, treating it as 'just another thing' you do, like playing games or working a job.

Giving her an explanation as to how humans mated had her wrinkling her nose, though. I think she understood why I was uncomfortable, from a cultural point of view, when I wasn't used to the idea that she could just, have sex with whoever she wanted and not have to worry about sexually-transmitted diseases, or unwanted nine-month-long pregnancies. Even consent was apparently a fairly moot point with Pokemon: they didn't place all that much emotional importance on sex, were oftentimes more than capable of cutting their partner off if they did something they didn't want them to do to them, and Pokemon were never really not ready and willing for sex, they just… didn't care all that much about it.

On the one hand, I now feel significantly less revolted by the naked selfies which included 'playing' with their Pokemon, and I also understand why there are minimal laws about the act even in Japan (mostly for explicit 'Baby' Pokemon like Cleffa and Igglybuff, which I was very glad to hear). On the other, it feels kinda sad that Pokemon in this world didn't really have a concept of romance, and very strange how their family structures were mostly based around being adopted/captured and raised by the same human.

Eh, it's out of my power and I've already spent almost a full day trying to wrap my head around the issue. Let's move onto something more interesting, at least to me


Aura.

The power to 'manifest your soul on the earthly plane of existence', or whatever flowery nonsense you might use to describe it. For me, it was nothing quite as poetic as that. Once I confirmed the Discovery and laid back, I received a very odd experience akin to Discovering Psionics. Similar, but different. There was another layer of pressure in the air, now. One which I instinctively understood was 'Spiritual Energy', the tree we'd used for our Secret Treehouse being fairly robust and well-lived in. Evan was likewise a powerhouse to my new sense, and I could feel Pokemon both in the trees surrounding our little nook and in the river/waterfall leading down Route 119.

When I reached for the pressure inside me, my vision flickered and shifted to something that showed Evan surrounded by a gleaming dark pink 'Psychic' aura with flecks of white strewn throughout. Through the walls of the trees, I could barely make out my surroundings including dark blue 'Water' surrounded with either light purple 'Poison', light grey 'Flying' or black 'Darkness' over in the river, and light green 'Grass' with 'Poison' or 'Flying' highlights on the ground and some clear white 'Normal' auras in the trees. Playing with this helped me dial up and down the intensity a little, until it was permanently on but not actively impeding my vision. Then I 'felt' more than saw Evan move slightly to the right, and I realised that combining this with Psionics and Savant might be what I was looking for. "Hey Evan, can you tap into my senses for a few seconds?"

Being used to testing our powers in all sorts of ways and not having my inability to read the minds of others, she re-established contact in seconds and I felt her jerk both physically and 'mentally' at what she was seeing, visibly struggling to process two sets of visual information at once. "Too much?" The […!] I got in response suggested it was, so I reached over and pulled her into my lap while she shut her eyes and used mine to see her own aura, and flashes of the surroundings as I slowly panned through the walls of our Secret Treehouse. "Pretty cool, huh? Psychic powers have their own way of doing things, but that's all conscious effort. This is more… instinctual, a thing you learn by doing rather than thinking."

[Intense…] She sent back, slowly reaching out with her telekinesis to reassure herself that I was still there and we were still in our Treehouse. [Not too much?]

"Well, it'll take some time to get used to, but no. I think I can work with this. I just need practice, same as my psychic powers did. Give me a few days, maybe a few weeks, and I'll have this down pat, Aura Sphere and Protect too. And probably just in time." She raised her head and pointed it at my face, still not opening her eyes. "Something major's gonna go down in Orre in the next hundred days. Being able to perceive Aura might be the only way to deal with the problem without having to guess for every opponent. It might not, but better to be safe than sorry." And boy, do I need to see what I can-

…Evan just left my mind, rather abruptly. [How?] I looked down to meet eyes with her. [How do you know?] She asked again, curious but not accusatory.

…well, I suppose she probably doesn't care all that much, but… I definitely should tell her the truth. I do kinda need her help, after all. "…the full story, will take a long time for me to tell, and I really need to focus on getting down my Aura now that I have it. I'll even need to visit a guy in Sinnoh, and ask him about one specific technique that I don't know if I can even perform, because the way I got Aura doesn't mention anything about it. And, honestly? I don't even know where to start." I confessed. "Can you wait for another two or three months, just until the next crisis is solved? I really do need your help with my plan to stop this one really early, this is just a bad time to try and explain the rest of it."

[Fine. I trust you.] And that seemed to be that, as far as she was concerned. [What plan, and who are we fighting?]

"You remember that video I showed you of a Ho-Oh shooting a bad guy's escape helicopter out of the air?" Nod. "Well, that guy is out of the picture, but the news were wrong when they said that he was the leader. There are two teams in Orre: Cipher, who are studying how to make Shadow Pokemon; and Team Snagem, who they gave a Snag Machine to. The Snag Machine bypasses the anti-theft protocols on Pokeballs of all kinds, and lets them catch Pokemon who are already owned by other Trainers." Affronted, genuinely angry look. "Yeah, they're breaking up Trainers and their Pokemon like jerks. But it goes deeper than that. Cipher have figured out a way to change Pokemon: through a process I don't know much about, Cipher have figured out a way to 'close the door to a Pokemon's heart' by removing their emotions." Shock and fear. We'd faced criminal teams, but they'd never gotten anywhere close to their goals with us around, and they weren't already doing something awful before they got to that point. "Right now, the Shadow Pokemon they create can be purified by spending time with them and building up Friendship, the same way Golbat and Pichu evolve. But some time ago they captured a Lugia, and they've been experimenting on it. It won't be perfect when it attacks the S.S. Libra, but I'm expecting it to do so sometime next year, so as soon as we're gone with the family meetup, we need to get over there and get ready to intercept them, otherwise they'll kidnap the whole cruise ship and all the Pokemon on it so they can turn them into Shadow Pokemon too."

Now she was staring at me with wide eyes. [But! Lugia! That…! We can't beat a Legendary like Lugia!]

"We don't need to. I have Master Balls, remember?" That seemed to give her a good idea of what my plan was. "As far as I know, they never actually caught Lugia in a Pokeball, so I'm hoping that if I can get close enough, I can just poke it with one and that'll be that."

[But… Lugia fly, or swim. How will you reach it?] As soon as she finished talking, she developed a tick in her left ear. […you need me. You're not planning a Teleport, are you?!]

"Teleport's nullify momentum. I only need to pull out a Master Ball, tie you to my back, you Teleport us on top of him, I grab the ball after it catches him using my telekinesis, and you send us back to the ship. If he doesn't escape, super. If he does somehow escape, or the ball just fails to catch him because he is already registered, you send us to Phenac City from there and we wait to see what happens. If it ends up dropping the ship just north of the city, we can call the cops and guard it while we wait and hell, maybe they'll send the Shadow Lugia back out to attack us. But their conversion process isn't quite perfected yet, so if there's any chance we can break its conditioning, it's higher if we do it quickly."

[What happened to 'no taking stupid risks'?] She just stared, mouth starting to hang open.

"If we succeed, we get away with a Legendary and we more than likely save the S.S. Libra from being destroyed, all the Pokemon inside from being kidnapped, and at least two crewmen being thrown overboard and left to die. If we fail, unless we somehow get ourselves killed from falling despite my Aura barriers (which granted, I have yet to test), Cipher continue their plans as normal and either we or someone else takes it later in more controlled circumstances… and they probably get to experiment on all the Pokemon, and perfect Lugia's conversion in the meantime." I shrugged helplessly. "Nothing's set in stone yet, I'm still thinking of getting some assistance from a Unovan Elite Four member so I can simply fly up next to it, but that's probably less safe given that it's a Psychic-type and acting irrationally. Teleportation is instantaneous and impossible to defend against, in this specific situation. If you have a better idea or some alternatives, I'm happy to hear them, but I can't simply throw a Pokeball of any kind that far, and Master Balls are very valuable to risk."

[What about the police?] She immediately tried a different tack.

"The only one I have an 'in' with is Looker, and even if he did believe me, what kind of forces will the IPF be able to contribute? And hell, they'll almost certainly demand the Shadow Lugia be released to their custody, and I seriously doubt they'll be able to purify or control it." I sagged and grumbled a bit. "Not that I'm sure I can purify it, but I know more about 'purification' than they do, and if all else fails, we can at least get it away from them and keep it out of their hands, or we can storm Citadark Isle after it flees and hope that they call it back out to fight us before they try to perfect the conversion."

[…but why would we want to fight it, if we can't catch it?] She seemed very certain this flaw in my logic would dissuade me, but…

"The Pokemon HQ Lab has figured out how to create a Snag Machine, just like the ones Team Snagem use." …she didn't have the full story, or the sum total of my metaknowledge. "If all else fails, we can take it, catch the Lugia with a Snag Ball (which I know works with any Pokeball, including Master Balls), and we can give it back after we've stopped the corrupted Lugia from killing anyone else. And yes, that's theft, but it's done with good intentions and we'll return the device as soon as we're done."

[…-!-…] She was visibly trying to find a flaw in my yet-to-be-finalised plans, and realising in the process that, well… [Is there anything I can tell you that will stop you?]

"Not from making an attempt, no." I crossed my arms. "People will die if I don't intervene, that's a fact. If I wasn't confident we could do this, I wouldn't be suggesting it. And if I was confident someone else would take care of it, I would leave it to them. But I'm not, and I can't leave at least two people to die without at least trying to help them."

[…and what if I refuse?] She 'pointed' right back at me.

I just stood there, holding my pose, and waited. In seconds she was visibly losing her courage and struggling to keep my stare. "…are you scared of me, Evan?" I finally asked her, sighing as she jerked out of nerves and I continued. "If you really refused to help me catch it, I'd either give up on the idea and just focus on saving the two crew members and maybe guard the ship once it gets dropped above Phenac. Or I'd come up with a different plan, like trapping a Master Ball in an Aura Sphere to shoot it at the Shadow Lugia from the boat, or throwing lots of generic Pokeballs to stun it and bring it to the ground, where I could aim a Master Ball much more easily." I kneeled down to her level and hugged her. "You're family, Evan. I value your opinion, and I wouldn't hate you, or beat you, or abandon you, or whatever other terrible scenario you're imagining, just because you don't want to put your own life on the line. What part of this is worrying you so badly?"

She took almost half a minute to respond, before she seemed to know how to phrase it. [When we fought the other teams, they hadn't released their targeted Legendary yet. They were just humans with average Pokemon, and they were easy. Except for Team Rocket, but that was their best, and I still beat them all. But they never had a Legendary.] She tried to explain, projecting a mix of [instinctive terrified awe] and [deeply-ingrained frustration] through her Aura. [You can't, fight, a Legendary, he same way you can't fight a natural disaster. You can work around it, or calm it down, but challenging one head-on is impossible. You can't win a fight like that! And I know they're not the same thing, but if Lugia's some sort of emotionless killing machine, then they're not very different, are they?]

"I suppose not." I conceded. "But we're not trying to fight it, we're going to make one attempt to catch it with a Master Ball and run away if it doesn't work. Even if we didn't do that, we'd still have to be there to save those two crewmen who get thrown overboard. This Shadow Lugia's being mind-controlled, remember, it's doing exactly as it's being told and for all we know, it might not even be able to fight back if they haven't specifically told it to. Not that it would matter, because we are not fighting it." I repeatedly emphasized, pulling away a little and lifting her face to mine. "And even if it attacked us and we couldn't run away for some reason, you've defeated over twenty-five of the world's most powerful trainers in the span of a single year. You're much stronger than you think, Evan. Maybe you can't help your instincts telling you not to fight… what probably looks like a living god to you," I pushed past that particular point, "but you're not helpless just because you're not also a Legendary. I want to save Lugia as much as the two nameless sailors, and I know we can do this, especially if we have another fifty-or-so days to practice Teleporting to airborne target-s, or maybe you could try to learn Gravity to pull it down to the ship?" I stumbled over a new thought as it came to me mid-conversation. "Or use Trick to slap a Toxic Orb or an Iron Ball onto it? There's lots of options, and we have time to think of more and go over them. And, if this is really a sticking point for you, then we can bring some more people in on this. We're not alone, and we don't need them, but you have just as much say in this as I do. I literally can't do this without you, I don't-"

[I know that.] She 'whispered'. [You've never led me wrong before, and I trust you… But even if I didn't, I couldn't stand by and watch you go off to try and catch this Lugia by yourself. I can't not come with you, if it means you might die because I wasn't there to help you. I don't have a choice.]

"…I… yeah, okay, I can see that." I admitted, equally quiet as the gravitas of what I was asking, and the pressure I was putting on her, became more apparent. "And, I'm sorry for this. I shouldn't be putting you in danger because you can't let me put myself in danger without helping me. But people will die if I don't intervene, and I can't rely on the authorities if I don't have any evidence I can use to convince them. And what if being on the ship, with or without reinforcements, somehow causes Cipher to not attack it? We might change the game just by being there, but even if we didn't… I can't just stand by and let those people die, just because it's inconvenient to try to help, or because I'm scared about the crazy plan I'm making to save them."

[I know.] She huffed, finally breaking the tension and lightening the mood by rubbing her face against mine in a distinctly-catlike way, unnecessary force and all. [You're being too damn nice for your own good, again, and I don't like that you're doing it but I kinda agree with why you're doing it, so I can only get so mad about it, again.]

I smiled at her understanding. "Well, I wanna play around with my Aura for the rest of the day before we head to Iron Island in Sinnoh to seek tuition, so how about I pull out the consoles and we have a game night?"

Despite her weak protests about [taking this seriously], she did in fact agree to vegging out for the rest of the day while I got used to my Aura, and a good time was had by both of us.


AN: Just so we're clear, the lack of dialogue while my brain upchucks its thoughts on Pokemon Breeding, when the Pokemon are self-aware and being actively manipulated into it by humans, but they're still willing to mate with any other Pokemon in their Egg Group as long as they're undisturbed for a decent period of time, is solely because I don't want to approach the subject on FFN. Anywhere else, probably, but partly because it's not something I want vividly described on this website (with the risk of being banned and all), and partly because my parents read this. And I wouldn't be dipping into deliberately-horny territory, but it still doesn't seem like a particularly sensitive or appropriate idea to discuss this any further. Still, it's something you can't realistically ignore in a 'generic' world of Pokemon, especially one that follows game mechanics in the vast majority of cases.