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My what? It isn't mine!

[Is it? He looks back at it and the creature lets out a friendly "Char!" which just leaves him blinking in bafflement.]

...I guess I am.

Err...yes it is. [Kali whuffs, giving a disapproving head-tilted stare at Zuko. How dare you not acknowledge one of your pack, puny human.] Well...since you're new here, I guess nobody told you that everyone is given a companion like this little guy when they're brought here. [And she pats Kali on the head.] This one was mine when I first got here.

[As if to compound the freakiness of it all, she offers her hand to him to shake.]

My name's Maka, welcome to Johto!

Uh... I'm Zuko. [But more importantly:] Johto? What country is that in?

[He's never heard of that town name, and he's more than a little thrown off by this scenario.]

I have things I should be doing, and I was travelling with some others. Where are they?

[Now comes the hard part, oh boy.]

Not wherever you came from...this is a different world entirely. And I don't know where your friends are, but if they're not here, chances are they're back in your world. As for the things you have to do, let's just say that's...been put on pause for a moment. From what I understand, things are put on pause back at your home, too, and it'll all resume when you go back.

[Not that she can't understand having important things to do back at home, but Maka's found that a lot of people do so it's not worth complaining about it.]

Who knows, maybe this will be a temporary visit and you'll go back. [...She's not sure why that thought occurs to her, she just has a feeling it's happened before.] You just have to be patient is all. I know it's tough being away from home...I've been here seven months now, and I haven't seen any of my friends in that time, but I'm sure you'll get out of here.

[Zuko just... blinks at that whole explanation.]

Are you kidding?

You're saying I'm just supposed to deal with this and that's it?

[Sigh...she wishes she was kidding, but she just shakes her head.]

I know, it's weird, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this. If you're not out of here after...let's say five days, you can hit me.

I'm not going to hit you!

[He looks appalled. What sort of person does she take him for?]

[She looks confused by his reaction.]

I was just saying, if you wanted to. [This girl demanded that her friend punch her in the face after resolving a conflict between them because she felt it wasn't "fair" that she punched him first. Yeah. Shonen logic.] Is there anything else you wanted to know?

Anything else about this place would be helpful. Like why do I have this [He points to the Charmander, who seems completely unbothered.] in the first place?

[What is it? What does he do with it?]

Sure! When we're brought to this world, we're assigned with an animal that has special abilities called a "Pokemon." This Pokemon is here to assist us with battling other Pokemon or breeding or whatever else objective we choose to pursue in this world. A goal a lot of others pursue, though, is catching and cataloging the Pokemon of this world that they discover.

[She makes a gesture at Kali and the Houndoom spits out a flame to demonstrate her own abilities. It disperses immediately and Maka continues on.]

Some Pokemon are categorized by elemental abilities, but others have more combat or mind-oriented abilities.

[Err, what else, what else--right, Maka points off in the direction of Goldenrod's Gym.] When trainers help their Pokemon grow strong enough, we can compete with "leaders"--top Pokemon trainers of this region--and earn prizes. They keep telling us there's something special waiting if we beat all of them, but nobody's found out what that is at this point. We're free to explore this region but at the same time there's places we can't go.

That sounds ridiculous.

[Sorry little animal... things. Zuko just looks at Maka, deadpan.]

I'm not an animal trainer. I have more important things to do with my time. Like running a country.

Your country isn't here, and even if this world was intending to keep you I'd still tell you to deal with it, because that Charmander isn't going to stop following you.

[She shrugs. Yeah, sorry Zuko, the world isn't impressed with Fire Lord cred.]

So just because it's following me, that means I have to train it? What kind of a deal is that?

[Can't it just follow someone else?]

The deal we all get when we're brought to this world, so at least I can assure you that everybody's getting the same treatment.

[Nope, he's stuck with it.]

But I guess you don't have to train it? You can just keep it as a pet. But it won't get stronger or evolve if you don't do anything with it. And you're required to have one Pokemon with you at all times if you're exploring this world so you can't drop it off somewhere.

Required? Why is there a requirement for that sort of thing?

[Will he get arrested if he doesn't?]

[She shrugs. Again. Isn't this a nice theme.]

I saw someone try to leave without theirs and they got stopped and told that it was too dangerous to go alone. Considering the logic of this world I have the feeling that someone will pop out of nowhere to tell you that if you try to leave without it. I don't know how it works, whether it's magic or something else, but somehow someone will know that you've broken the rules.

Dangerous? It's not like I can't fight on my own. Maybe someone else might have trouble, but I have my bending.

[He holds out a hand, and a ball of fire appears in the center. The charmander claps its front claws, once again not seeming to mind that it isn't wanted.]

Ohh!

[Neat trick! Maka looks impressed by it anyway.]

I know, I can fight on my own too, but...in actuality, even though all of our abilities are intact today? They're not usually, we're just regular people any other day. And besides, I'm pretty sure that's another thing that's a part of the rules that people will somehow know that you broke--attacking Pokemon directly, I mean. I'm not sure if punching another Pokemon trainer in the face that won't leave you alone is a penalty. [Which obviously means she hasn't tested it.]

They take our bending away too? What for?

[Is this some world actually run by the animals or what? Is this supposed to be how they maintain peace or something?]

...Bending?

[Okay, supposing he's referring to the fire trick that he had.]

I'm assuming they do that so we'll all be on even ground. And so we don't kill each other.

Really?

How do they even do that, though? And can we get them back?

[Because the idea of someone just taking his bending away is a little scary.]

I don't know how they do that, but then again nobody does. It seems like it's gonna stay a mystery. We can only get them back on odd days like this when people like you start visiting and we're all sent to different places, it's like some disruption in the world's balance.

What do you mean, people like me? What exactly is going on around here?

[Sigh. Why are boys always so troublesome?]

I've said before that your visit might be temporary, right? People like you are just visitors here, not permanent residents like us. What I've been telling you, that's the extent of what I know and nothing more than that.

What's the point, then? Why train this little guy if I'm not going to be staying here? And what am I supposed to be doing?

[Sorry, Maka. There's just too many questions.]

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soundmind - 2013-12-01 23:43 (UTC) - Expand

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twodragons - 2013-12-02 02:20 (UTC) - Expand

MINGLE TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT

For some reason I got the mental image of a growlithe. Whoops. >_<

Pfft actually I didn't question it at all, also my own darn fault

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