dash rapidash dash

[the_very_best]

Morning - early morning, as it's always possible some phenomenon will only appear before sunrise in a way that she can't find simply by staying up past dark - finds Bella having let herself out of the Tower (conscientiously not letting any Porygon out into the wilderness). She never walks if she can help it. Fireflower is much more surefooted, and enjoys the exercise more. She hauls herself up onto the Rapidash's back.

Comments

[the_very_best]

Boots and socks go in Bella's backpack, her jeans get rolled up to above her knees, and she releases Zag. "Gonna go for a swim," she tells him brightly.

"Oone!" He trots obediently into the water; she wades after him and manages to perch on his back.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock leaves his shoes on the shoreline and hops aboard Irene, who undulates after the other pair.

[the_very_best]

Bella leads in a wide spiraling pattern, from the outer edge of the lake to the center. "Which of your Pokémon was your first? I can't see importing a Kanto traditional starter for one twin and not the other, but maybe you traded yours or were already attached to something by the time you started?"

[bitofafiction]

"I started with Ditto."

[the_very_best]

"Childhood friend? Zag used to be my mom's, she caught him when I was eight, but he liked me better and she gave him to me." Bella scratches behind the pokey fur on Zag's cheeks and gets a contented "linlinlin" in reply.

[bitofafiction]

"You could say that, yes."

[the_very_best]

"Strategizing must be really tricky with a Ditto. Your opponent knows everything you can do and vice versa, the only question is which one's tougher underneath. And luck."

[bitofafiction]

"I like the challenge."

[the_very_best]

"Yours can hold shape, I guess, some of them lose it as soon as what they're copying is out of sight, that gave you an advantage when Juu was down for the count and I sent Branch," says Bella. And then, smugly, "Just not an insurmountable one."

[bitofafiction]

"Mycroft's very good," he says cheerfully. "I dream of teaching him to remember things he has previously copied."

[the_very_best]

"That would also be an interesting research project. Any avenues of investigation?"

[bitofafiction]

"Nothing has yet sprung to mind."

[the_very_best]

"How smart is Mycroft? 'Mon vary a lot - I don't just mean the legendaries some of whom are supposed to be able to talk, I mean even just from one - one Bidoof to another, some of 'em are dumb as rocks and can barely learn to interpret commands about which attack to use and some of 'em are very bright. Zag's my smartest."

[bitofafiction]

"I have been blessed with unusually astute Pokemon," he says, patting Irene's neck. She arches it smugly.

[the_very_best]

"All of 'em? Lucky. Branch isn't even bright enough to react when I talk about how smart he isn't in front of him. The rest are somewhere in the middle."

[bitofafiction]

"You is the low end of the scale for me, and it's still smarter than most of the Porygon."

[the_very_best]

"How did it come by that name, anyway? Did you name it when you were three or something?"

[bitofafiction]

"Tony did, actually. Dummy is the first Porygon successfully created; he's been naming them similarly ever since. Half the flock rhymes with Bob."

[the_very_best]

"Rhymes with - oh dear. I suppose it is rather a lot of all one species to have to come up with names for," giggles Bella.

[bitofafiction]

"In my humble opinion," says Sherlock, "that is no excuse for naming an innocent Pokemon 'Flob'."

[the_very_best]

This sends her into paroxysms of giggles. Zag thinks it's funny too.

[bitofafiction]

He grins.

[the_very_best]

"Do the feral ones even answer to their nicknames?"

[bitofafiction]

"The Bob contingent is chancy, but some of the rest of them do."

[the_very_best]

"Interesting. My mom used to try to tame wild 'mon with nothing but food and cooing and it didn't really work even insofar as getting them not to attack her if she got too close; I certainly wouldn't have expected any of them to answer to a name. I guess the Porygon are different from random Starly or whatever."