The Quest for the Legends

Carl: It is still in the ball, which I have locked inside a safe where it cannot materialize even if it learns to break out of it.

May: Not a chance. I got frustrated at his luck with paralysis a couple of times, but that was just an inconvenience.

Jolteon: I kind of wanted to be a Flareon like my mother, but I didn't mind so much which one.

Twelve, you mean. I don't really know about that; I've known some pretty smart twelve-year-olds and from remembering when I was twelve myself kind of think people tend to think of children as a lot more stupid than they really are (I was unable to write to save my life, and unable to tell that a bright blue background on a website does not look good, sure, but I know I could could debate and make rational arguments just fine when I was thirteen, and I can't really believe that all happened in that one year in between).

That said, it is also simply a tradition, hell, pretty much a law of children's books, films, series and entertainment in general to portray children as perfectly capable of rational decisions, thinking things through, coming up with good ideas and so on, for the very simple reason that even if real twelve-year-olds wouldn't be this rational, they can still tell when characters in a book are being blatantly irrational or useless and feel patronized if all children their age are being shown that way. As I said, I'm not actually convinced this is entirely unrealistic, but even if it is, writing them this way is kind of akin to not writing about people going to the bathroom - yeah, unrealistic, but it makes the story better (having the main characters make stupid mistakes all the time and being too immature to do anything useful is just tiresome), extends the potential target audience and avoids offending anyone.

Emotional maturity is something of a different matter; people have commented that Mark's general emo-ness at the beginning sounds a couple of years older than he is, for instance. But at least my twelve-year-olds aren't falling in TRUE LOVE OMG.

May: I'd get it back. Didn't Quilava teach you anything?

Sparky: It was okay. My mother died of cancer when I was seven, and that kind of brought it down.

Mitch: My life was pretty normal when I was a kid. I had a good family and friends. Then I went out on that Pokémon journey of mine, and, well…

Butterfree: I've been fine. I haven't gotten into a lot of League battles, but I understand that.

May: I get annoyed sometimes, okay?

Mark: Um, well, I like Dragonite best, but which one wins would probably depend on the individual Pokémon and stuff.

Alan: Eh? I don't really know and hope I won't have to find out.

Razor: No.

May: …no. Go away.

Ouch, I've been neglecting this thread lately.

Razor to InnerDemon: Challenging Nightmare to that duel. It's what started the entire ordeal.

Nurse Joy to InnerDemon: *smiles* I had a Treecko as my starter, a Wingull, a Teddiursa, a Geodude, a Leta and a Numel as my main team - as time went by, they eventually evolved, of course. And battling first while he watched, yes, he would do that. Always under the pretense of being a gentleman, of course. The sneaky bastard.

Sparky to yllfll: She had ovarian cancer.

Sparky to elyvorg: Oh, I haven't given it much thought why I am the way I am. I do like your theory. 83

Alan to steele: Er, well, she's… twelve. o_O It would be weird.

Mark to steele: *freaked-out expression*

May to steele: Oh, sod off with the romance questions. I have better things to do than think about boys in the middle of the League. Besides, Mark is a wimpy plush toy and Alan is a preachy goody-two-shoes.

Raitwo to SandStormBuisle: He's Master.

Mewtwo^2 to SandStormBuisle: …

Funny things, those Clone Balls.

May: *raises eyebrow*

Pichu kid: Well, that's why I made sure to be early! If I'd still been too late, I'd have picked another starter and then caught a Pikachu somewhere.

That would depend on the situation; generally I'd only kill off a character when it makes sense for that character to die.

If I just specifically wanted to kill off one of each of their Pokémon and would engineer the situation once I'd chosen the Pokémon, I'd probably pick Sandslash from Mark's team because he is nice and loyal and his loss would be tragic without being quite as downright cruel as if it were Jolteon, plus that he is the least interesting to write and so as the author I'd miss his presence the least. May would probably lose Spirit because I'm mean like that and it's the one that would affect her the most by far, though Floatzel would also be a possibility in that regard if I didn't want to give Spirit the axe, and Flygon would be a possibility if I wanted to go for the nice-and-loyal-and-didn't-deserve-it death. For Alan it would be Charlie, because he would be so utterly crushed and horrified and it would be adorable and fun to write.

May: Well, probably Tyranitar. He's the strongest and has a lot of good moves. Well, Spirit's stronger, actually, but I wouldn't use her in a one-on-one; that would be kind of cheap.

May: What? You can't just kill Spirit. She can defend herself. And aren't there better ways to make me upset, if that's what you want to do? Anybody hurts Spirit, I'll kill them, so don't you even think about it.

May: What? You can't just set up a situation like that. I'm not going to choose to make somebody die. I mean, if it had to happen, I'd rather it be Mark, but I'd first try to save them both.

Dragonite to steele: I enjoy being with Mark. I like getting to see new places and fight new opponents.

Letaligon to steele: I'd make him.

Mitch to steele: Hm?

May to Scyther: Well, it makes no difference to me whether he's just a thieving little git or an ignorant thieving little git. Come to think of it, of course he's ignorant, what with having a brain the size of a pea and needing super-clones to win a Pokémon battle. No surprise there.

May: Um, no. It's not like he would listen to me. Besides, I don't need cheap tricks like suddenly sending out legendaries to win the League.

May: Hmph. You can't do that. This is pathetic.

Razor: Polish? They don't need that.

May: What are you people always on about, calling me abusive? Do you see me beating my Pokémon? Sure, I expect them to battle well, and I don't sit around thinking about their feelings all day, and I guess I was a bit impatient with Lapras sometimes, but I am NOT abusive. And I'm better at battling than them.

May: *glare*

Alan: Well, I've seen Dad's Noctowl, naturally, and Christopher's Scizor when I was journeying in Ouen, and, um… I think I saw a shiny Swinub once?

Jolteon: I like my color the way it is.

May: Well, sorry if I hurt their feelings, but it's not like I stand there shouting insults at them all day. If you have a breakdown because somebody gets annoyed at you once or twice, I mean, okay, sorry, but that's really not my fault.

Scyther to Kitsune: I can't really hug anyone, sorry.

May to Kitsune: *rolls eyes*

May to Eloi: That's stupid. You can't just group people into predefined personality types like that. I'm me, not some "trope".

Mark to Eloi: Um, I guess she can be kind of like a Tsundere without the "dere" part? Sometimes she's a Jerkass, but other times she's all right, depending on her general mood at the moment. She's been getting better that way recently, too.

Leah to steele: Right now, my team consists of Tiberius the Venusaur, Webster the Ariados, Felix the Alakazam, Willow the Arcanine, Manos the Tentacruel and Sheena the Weavile.

Mutark: *sniffs suspiciously*

May: Using only Pokémon of one type is kind of stupid; it means anybody can exploit your weaknesses and walk all over you. I'd go the way of Rick and find myself a non-type-based theme that passes the League's restrictions.

Alan: Um… I'm not sure. Maybe Water or Grass-types. Or then again, maybe Fire.

In Thunderyu's head he's just "me". He has a mental image of himself like everyone else, but still wouldn't think of himself internally as anything other than just "me".

Monarking to SilverLatios47: I have a purpose out here. If I were captured, I could not serve it.

May: Feh, critical hits. It would be neat, but it's sort of cheap and luck-based. Not my thing.