generalflirt | Appointments Post ( II )

[ That little smirk doesn't catch Ikki's eye - she's focused on Soren entirely - but Soren himself sees it. That's why he doesn't really think it through too much - if that would have even helped - but follows what Masaomi said, attempting to mimic the pikachu.

He does begin to start glowing, but then there's a squawk and the energy abruptly fizzles out. Ikki takes half a step forward before stopping - never go near someone who lost control of their bending - and hovering anxiously, while Soren himself is stunned for a few moments. ]

Soren! Sifu, what happened?

A limitation in the move, I guess... [He frowns. He was probably being rude to Soren, doing that. Linda looks proud that Soren couldn't handle her power. Haha.

Masaomi isn't really looking at the scene now, instead fiddling with some dials over here]

You see, mimic is a move where a pokemon tries to change their own energy to use other pokemon's moves. In theory, Soren should have been able to copy Linda's electricity, and possibly even produce his own Thundershock.

[And now he turns to face the bird and the two girls] But, it's harder for him to copy an electric move. Do you know why, Ikki?

[Let's see if Chien ever mentioned weaknesses.

...Fortunately, this was only a small jolt. Soren probably ~~lost 20 or 30 HP~~ was comparatively barely hurt. Linda, for her part, stops her charging through. She tilts her head at the bird and makes a little piii sound. It's a rough questioning, but she's asking if he's alright? ]

[Still just here, listening, watching.]

[ Yeah, yeah, he's fine, Linda. That shock was nothing, barely even static electricity. Insert more bird boasting here. But he does shake himself and gives Ikki a somewhat more comforting trill of reassurance. ]

...No? [ Taking her eyes off of Soren, Ikki frowns a little, baffled. Chien never mentioned weaknesses, nope. Still, she gives it as much thought as she can. ] ...Because it makes flying harder?

That's close, actually. [and now he fiddles with some more dials here, grinning to himself as he looks away once more to follow the two out of the corner of his eyes.

Linda meanwhile shrugs. Well, good, as long as you're not dead from that, putz.

But as for Masaomi] Okay, Ikki, just as there are four elements in your world, for pokemon, there are something like elements. But they're called "types" - every move a pokemon can make has a type, and every pokemon has one or two "types" which are their core essence. You've probably noticed the labels looking through your pokedex earlier, right?

Soren's says "normal" and "flying". [ That's as much a confirmation as it is a question.

Something occurs to her, and she points the pokedex at Linda this time. There's a new screen of information, now. ] ...And Linda's electric!

Exactly! Now, unlike the elements of your world, every type is specifically strong or weak against a series of other types. For example, Linda - who's essence is electricity - is weak against "ground" type moves. But as a flying type - Soren will often not even be hurt by ground type moves at all, because he can fly away from the Earth.

[ Just like she could probably fly away from earthbending herself - although not against, say, Aunt Toph. ]

So you're saying that Soren is weak against electricity? [ He doesn't like it said all blunt like that, but yes, you got the gist of it, kid. ]

That's right. He's also weak against a two other types, as a flying type - Ice and Rock, specifically.

[He studied up for his fight with Chien, even if Linda couldn't have learned any rock or ice moves. Not to mention Silver drilled him on learning his types, considering them a basic skill of being a trainer. To that end - and because he is confident he has this simulation finished, he turns to look at Ikki front on again]

[ Ice, Rock, and flying. Ikki tries to commit those to mind, nodding, and then pauses. ] Rock and Ground are different types?

Mmmhm. [He rolls his shoulders, shrugging] There's actually seventeen types in all. I won't expect you to remember all of them from this one recitation, but I'm going to list them to you now, so listen well, okay?

[He pauses here, to make sure she's focusing on listening and only listening]

[ Ikki nods, once. She's got a decent memory, but this definitely sounds like something she's going to have to recite at home a lot, especially if she's going to have to know how they're strong or weak or...anything.

Masaomi has her complete and utter attention. Hopefully it isn't disconcerting. ]

[...Actually he feels a surge of pride. his mentee. his student. His kouhai. his smile perks up again, become sincere and genuine]

Electric, ground, rock, steel, flying, water, fire, grass, poison, dark, psychic, ghost, bug, fighting, ice, dragon and... normal

[ why are there so many elements. Electric is Linda, Flying and Normal is Soren, and Ice and Rock are bad for Soren (as is Electric). Ground can be Bolin, because if Aunt Toph is anything she's steel, and Katara is water and Uncle Zuko will be fire and grass - grass can be Lee because it's really green, which makes poison...Uncle Sokka, because he ate so many sweets he made himself sick, and dark will be Shikamaru because of shadowbending, ghost will be grandpa, bug will be Shino who she's never met but who they live inside of, and fighting is Korra and dragon has to be Uncle Roku.

If she fixes the names on people, it's a lot easier to try and keep them all inside her head. Linda Soren Bolin Aunt Toph Katara Uncle Zuko Lee Uncle Sokka Shikamaru grandpa Shino Korra Uncle Roku. ]

...'Kay!

A....ha. And. Open your pokedex, and go back to the top menu. Scroll down a bit, and there should be something that says "type" There's a little chart there to remind you about the strengths and weaknesses.

[ She follows directions easily enough, and oh gosh this chart has numbers and coloured boxes and is just all around intimidating.

...Ikki's going to make some crayon-coloured flash cards when she gets home, yeah. But she holds a finger to the pokedex to follow the line of the chart that is probably the most relevant. ] So fighting, bug, and grass. Those are Soren's strengths?

Yes - when he uses flying moves. Remember that both pokemon and moves have types. But as a flying time, and I'm sure you noticed, a lot of his moves are flying type. Or normal type.

[And he nods here. She's following... he's glad she's following, because all these technical details he knows are complex. He can only imagine going in to being a trainer with a pokemon who's evolved, learned a bunch of moves, and has his own developed battle style. Sympathy is lining his voice. They might be friends, but the road to being partners he can't help but suspect will be uphill]

So if Linda used a flying type move against a bug type pokemon, it would still be strong? [ She knows Linda doesn't have those, from the list she scanned, but Ikki's just double-checking against what she just got told.

It's all a little mind-boggling, but at least she isn't trying to figure it out alone. ]

Correct.

[He nods, and then after a little pause...] Though... a move is always a little stronger when a pokemon is using their own type of move. For example, Linda has a lot of normal and a water move she knows, but those, while they do give her a lot of variety, will never be as strong as lightning is to her. Because electricity is her birthright.

[And he smiles, warmly, at Ikki]

Does that make sense?

Yes! [ So flying moves are a bit stronger when used by Soren. Okay. ]

...So, since Soren is two types, does that mean he's also got two sets of weaknesses and strengths?

[Normal type moves are too! Contrary to what Gamefreak said in Gen1, Normal gets STAB! ...Anyway]

That's right, but there's a little trick there.

[And now his smile turns coy, to see if she'll notice is: Flying is resistant to fighting, and normal is weak to it]

[ She's looking at the normal line of the chart now, Masaomi.

And Ikki officially has two questions. ] Waaaaait, but it says Normal is weak with fighting but flying is good against it?

...And what happens if both his types are bad at something?

The numbers on the chart are a little shorthand... if a pokemon is weak to something, the damage it'll take is twice the normal amount. If it is strong against something, it'll take damage half the amount. In a case like Soren's with fighting types, those two cancel out, and the damage is normal.

[A beat, and then he holds up two fingers.]

Let's say this is normal damage.

That would make this- [Four fingers] Damage for what you're weak against. And this [One finger] Is damage for what you're strong against.

...And they stack. Therefore, if both types are strong against something - say, A steel and rock type hit by a normal move... [And now he bends his one finger half way down] This, if your damage. Now, if both types are weak - like when Linda attacks a flying and water type-

[He brings up his second hand and holds up eight fingers] This is the damage.

[ No one mentioned there would be math in this lesson! Ikki looks more than a little flustered, but keeps listening. Maybe it's not going to be...difficult math.

Oh.

Oh, okay. Finger math is something Ikki feels okay with. Her eyes do widen at the eight fingers for the damage of Linda vs. flying and water, but Ikki nods, once. ] So you try to avoid eight-finger damage?

Definitely. Because no matter how strong you are, when you take damage like that, it's massive.

[...And then he drops the teacher poise, relaxing his shoulders and chuckling. He goes anecdotal] There's a monster of a snake pokemon called a Gyarados. These things must be between twenty and thirty feet long, and they scare the crap out of me. But because they have that type - flying and water - Linda can trounce them way easier than you'd think.

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