defyingfrigidity | First Flake [video]

[When the 'gear flicks on, the camera seems to be pointing at.... the ground. The ground, and a black-shoed foot. The camera shakes for a minute, and the voice of a young woman can be heard speaking.]

Is this strange device really meant to be used to communicate with others...? But how...

[It's then that a somewhat worried-looking Snorunt comes into view, its little arms raised. Whoever-it-was pauses before giving the device over to the creature. The camera then spins, and focuses on the owner of the voice; a pale, fair-haired young woman dressed in typical trainer clothes, looking very confused.]

I'm just not sure how I'm meant to-- [She's cut off by the Snorunt, who makes a few noises before moving closer and holding the pokegear up, getting a better view of the girl in the process. She sighs.] Okay... fine.

[She clears her throat and stands up straight, a rather regal-seeming posture for someone dressed in such casual clothes.] My name is Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and I'm afraid I've been kidnapped. I've been told that no, I really haven't been kidnapped, but... I can't exactly believe that, can I?

[Her brows furrow, then, and her shoulders seem to scrunch up a bit in a show of nervousness.] I need help. Information. If I can at least be told where exactly this "Johto" is, how far away I am from Arendelle... I would very much appreciate it. [She begins to wring her hands together, now clearly showing signs of someone who's deeply unsettled.] If there's any way at all to contact those back home... please... I need to know. My staff, my... my sister... they must be so worried....

[Her hands are now clenching each other tightly as she tries to calm herself, but it doesn't seem to be of any use. So, rather quickly, she approaches the Snorunt, taking the gear out of its hands and fumbling once more with it.] A-As I said, any help would be greatly appreciated. But for now, I'm afraid I must end this conversation. I apologize for how abrupt this is. G-Goodbye.

[Can't let them see, can't let them see--]

[Thankfully, she finds the right button to hit, and the screen goes dark.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Greetings, your Majesty. By this point you've probably received a run down of the basics, but as the one who gave Anna her initial briefing on this world, I figure it's only fair to extend the same courtesy to her elder sister.

My name is Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia of Equestria. I can honestly say it's a pleasure to meet another of Arendelle's royal house.

Oh my. That's quite a unique name, Twilight. [Granted, a lot of these names sound very unique. But that... stands out. Not in a bad way at all, though!]

Thank you very much for the welcome and the offer of help, and I very much appreciate you helping my sister. I can't say I really have any more questions for now, but... I suppose if you have any advice, I would be glad to hear it. I've never been out on my own like this before.

Most Equestrian names are unique, and most of them seem to bear some comment on people from other worlds. I've been told it's "cute", though personally I don't see it. In addition, I can assure you I've never heard of a name like Anna or Elsa before my arrival here either, so the feeling is mutual.

At any rate. For a starting trainer I only have a few pieces of advice. First, balance your Pokemon. Collecting too many of one type can be a severe handicap if you don't know precisely what you're doing. For that reason catching on the first routes should be limited. Use the wild Pokemon to strengthen your starter instead. Second, if you aren't familiar with surviving in the wild, it's important to learn how to lean on your Pokemon for help. They're adept at dealing with this world, and they can do a lot more than just battle. Third, never hesitate to use the gear to get help with a problem. There are plenty of people around here who are more than willing to answer even the smallest questions.

And finally, if at all possible, don't go it alone. You, of course, won't have any problems with this. After all I'm sure Anna's rushing to get to you even as we speak. But I can't emphasize enough how much teamwork and unity are invaluable in this world, both between humans and Pokemon and between each other.

[Elsa nods as she listens to the advice. It's a lot to take in, but she hangs on to every word.]

Thank you for all that advice. I appreciate it, truly. Though I have one more question; you mention... balancing. How do I know how to do that? Is there anywhere I can study the different types of Pokemon and such?

[Such is the nature of asking Twilight Sparkle for advice. Getting her to be brief is a major accomplishment.]

Well, there are seventeen different "types" that Pokemon fall into. [Eighteen actually but the whole Fairy thing hasn't been sorted out yet.] Some Pokemon have more than one. Ideally, you'll be wanting to form a party where each of the members has at least one type unique to them, since some types work better or worse against others.

For example, that Pokemon you have there is called a Snorunt, and it's an ice-type. That means it works well against rock, ground, grass, dragon, and flying types, but fares poorly against fighting and fire. The first thing I'd suggest you do is find other Pokemon that can cover those weaknesses. Flying and psychic types do well against fighting, and water, rock, and ground smother fire quite well, for the record.

[Oh geez there are DRAGONS here? This..... this is certainly going to be An Experience.]

So some advantages one type has over another seem easy enough to guess, if you know how some of those elements work in nature. As an example... I assume fire is also something that would be strong against grass?

Precisely! You catch on quickly, though of course some of the matchups aren't quite so obvious.

I'll list off the types for you, in no particular order. If you want to hear more about one in particular just ask. They are: normal, flying, psychic, bug, grass, fighting, poison, ice, water, fire, steel, electric, ghost, dark, dragon, rock, and ground.

[Those... all seem rather bizarre, but for the sake of not taking up too much of Twilight's time, Elsa will just narrow it down to a couple...]

What about "normal" and "dark"?

Those are two of the more misleading types, really. "Normal" just seems to mean anything that doesn't fall directly into one of the other categories. They're good all-arounders, and have only one weakness: fighting types. Normal type attacks don't do so well against rock or steel however, which isn't surprising when you consider they usually involve direct physical moves like headbutting or tackling the opponent.

"Dark" doesn't refer to a lack of light or evil nature, but to a certain disregard for rules or convention, and a tendency to be perfectly fine fighting unfairly. They tend to do things like biting, striking from the shadows, or ganging up on an opponent. They're devastating against psychics, to the point that psychic attacks have no effect on them whatsoever, and they're also quite strong against ghosts. But fighting types are very powerful against them, as are bugs.

First Flake [video]

[Video]

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