Heights Camp.
Having a connection that's more intimate than words can describe, Joshua often finds himself having to properly categorize what are HIS feelings, or the feelings of his partner.
While they are two distinct entities, the line between them is blurry, and sometimes he finds himself catching a stray thought or feeling that he knows isn't his own.
Telepathy is the closest word for it, but it's not entirely accurate. To be honest, Joshua and Jophiel don't even need to use words anymore. With their minds connected their thoughts, feelings (even primal and hormonal), and even sensations are openly heard and felt by the other party without bias. Information literally cannot be misunderstood.
The only reason the two of them ‘talk’ is purely because they want to. Sure, both of them can share information near effortlessly without dey, but the two just enjoy the… almost pyful use of transmitting their lines of thought to communicate.
It's like a married couple pretending they're meeting for the first time, both of them are pying into it and there's always an undercurrent of btant affection, but they like it, so they continue to do so.
There are some… awkward side effects to having such a closely bound telepathic connection.
In times where Joshua is looking Jophiel over, either just habitually checking her health as his Vet Brain takes over, or just generally looking over her body… Jophiel almost immediately starts walking or posing herself in such a way that emphasizes her hips, or something of the like.
And whenever his eyes are inevitably drawn to them, his immediate and unfiltered thoughts are picked up by the mare, which almost certainly results in her growing an award winning shit-eating grin as she looks back at him.
He wouldn't mind so much if she didn't DO THIS SHIT IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
…Okay.
Little off track.
That being said…
Joshua wonders what psychics around the pokeworld must think about him using such an amazing phenomenon for spoiling a mare.
(“Lower…”) Jophiel's sultry voice feels like silk rubbing against his brain.
His hand lowers, fingers buried in her criminally soft fur as he scratches along the base of her jaw and along her neck. His other hand scratched along the side of her barrel.
A long sigh comes through the link. On the outside, Jophiel exhales loudly as she ys across his p. She's a little heavy, but surprisingly light for a horse.
(“Thank you so much…”)
“I don't mind, but couldn't you just reach those spots with your telekinesis?”
She chuffs.
(“It is not the same”)
Spoiled.
Joshua is recouping, back at camp and going over his pns.
Volo? Gotta go. But the bastard is slippery, and he hasn't seen any sign of him since Togepi almost got eaten.
So where does that leave him?
He still has to calm down the Nobles, and get the ptes. Volo has the Spooky Pte, so that's not an option.
Volo uses the Pyer Character to collect the ptes because HE can't, the Noble and Ride Pokemon don't like him, meaning that without Joshua he can’t get anymore ptes.
…so where the hell did he go?
Jophiel could brute force it, flying across Hisui and ‘pinging’ until she finds Volo's psychic signature, but that could take weeks with how rge Hisui is.
The only pce he KNOWS Volo will be is the temple, where the Pyer Character has a final battle with him.
So… just keep following the main plotline?
But now he has to deal with potential assassinations, which aren't TOO bad now that he's aware of them, but it's still something that he has to keep track of.
Part of him just wants to calm all the Nobles right now, it would be a pain, but he could do it.
…should he do that?
[StevenStoneOffical: Something on your mind?]
Oh hey Steven.
Joshua hums, noting the shifting weight as Jophiel turns on her back, inviting Joshua to her underbarrel and chest fluff.
He's not going to say no to that.
“Just thinking about what to do, really. I already know Volo has it out for me, but it doesn't change much of what I pn to do… I just wanna rex and catch Pokemon man…”
[StevenStoneOffical: I also find myself craving a simple life, so I can certainly rete. I don't recall someone asking before, but have you ‘seen’ this pce before?]
“Yeah, this whole thing was a game in… my old world… yeah”
Old world.
His mood sours.
[StevenStoneOffical: Apologies.]
Joshua shakes his head.
He knows that ‘not thinking about it’ isn't exactly healthy, but…
His mom is dead.
His dad is dead.
His friends.
His ho-
Figure in the trees, watching.
Bck tendrils in the ground, festering.
Corpses, abandoned by time, left to rot in a world they were never meant to be.
There is something watching yo-
Stop.
Just… stop.
Joshua forces himself to breathe.
The world around him is so full of life, the wind brushing against the trees, the soft grass beneath his legs.
Remember that.
SEE that.
Jophiel is staring at him now, he knows that look.
“It's… fine” He breathes out.
His hands continue moving, pulling his attention back into focus.
Joshua looks over at the logs, back at Steven’s message.
“The… game. Legends Arceus, it was about a fifteen year old kid getting kidnapped by Arceus to run her errands. It's exactly what I'm doing right now”
*beep*
>IT IS NOT LIKE THAT<
“Lie again and I'll talk about the leaks”
>...<
>IT IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT<
[Lol what?]
[Lmao]
[Leaks?]
[...who is he talking to?]
[Don't you want to come to our world? Why send you here?]
“I do, but I guess I have to ‘finish’ this world before I can move on”
[...he's gonna see the merch]
[oh no]
Joshua blinks.
“Huh?”
[StevenStoneOffical: You have merchandise.]
[Dude don't tell him!!!]
[It's the fanart section all over again…]
[What do you mean ‘dude’. BRO that is the CHAMPION]
“...mind expining, Steven?”
[StevenStoneOffical: While there is no official merchandise, as you are in no position to give actual consent to it, fan merchandise has been created by some independent creators. The st time I checked, they are rather popur, and the funds from them are being put into an account linked to your Trainer ID.]
“Steven I don't HAVE a Trainer ID”
[StevenStoneOffical: Joshua. It takes ten minutes maximum to register for a Trainer ID, and most of that time is just for filing the paperwork.]
[StevenStoneOffical: You already have a banking account and most of the documentation ready, it just needs a signature, and then you will be set. Access to your account should take a day at most.]
“...”
…really?
“Wow…”
Joshua is honestly surprised.
That's… stupidly efficient.
“Uh… thanks Steven. I'm… not sure what to say” Joshua says, a bit embarrassed.
[StevenStoneOffical: Of course. I wasn't lying about helping you, Joshua.]
Is Steven cementing himself as number one homie? Sure seems like it.
[I<3Gible: geez, get a room you two]
[StevenStoneOffical: Cynthia.]
[I<3Gible: Yeah yeah, the paperwork for Sinnoh is ready too. Btw Lance isn't answering his emails soooo…]
[StevenStoneOffical: Please don't discuss those kinds of things here. But yes, Lance is on vacation right now.]
[I<3Gible: Of course he is]
…
Joshua decides to check on Jubilife.
Laventon and Akari are fine, mostly just busy with helping the Vilge after the attack.
Cyllene is somewhere in the Gaxy Team HQ, so is Team Leader Kamado.
Damage to the outer wall is still being repaired, and the line for the medics are a lot smaller, but overall it looks fine.
The sun is about to set, he'll just stay here for the night. Tomorrow will be a long day, but he wants to make progress.
Luckily, the house he stayed in during the first day here is still vacant, so he stays there.
Joshua turns off the stream for the night, but he doesn't immediately head to bed.
He DOES flop down on it though, he just doesn't head to sleep just yet.
He thinks.
…enjoying himself.
Wasn't that the purpose of his… he wouldn't say SLOW but… measured pace?
It's not like he's in a rush.
Going on a Pokemon adventure is a dream for an old Pokemon nerd like him, who grew up with the games and the show.
But he has to admit, he kinda misses air conditioning. Laventon is… a friend(?), but he's certainly not close, neither is Akari.
So as fucked up as it is, he wouldn't really mind just up and leaving. He'll tell them of course, but… come on!
He has to reel back in that part of him that wants to… ‘speedrun it’. There's plenty of time and plenty of opportunities for him and his team to grow.
Like the Grit Rocks, he hasn't forgotten about those, he's just saving them for ter.
Maybe he's just feeling homesick for a world that no longer exists…
…isn't there a German word for that?
He doesn't know.
…
[OBSERVATIONAL NOTES BY JOSHUA ABRAMS:
Along with the notes I am taking for Cynthia about ancient Sinnohian history, I will be keeping my own logs regarding the progress and various information regarding my team, along with various other information I deem appropriate.
Jophiel - Garian Rapidash (Nightmare Variant)
Uriel - Zebstrika (Nightmare Variant)
Ace - Vaporeon
Cyndaquil - (Hisuian Variant)
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Jophiel-
Jophiel's unique evolution into a mythical/semi-divine species has caused some esoteric effects on her biology. While I do not have the tools to measure it, I do know that Jophiel is noticeably lighter than a Pokemon of her size should be.
From hoof to head she is around ~6ft tall, with her horn going over, but generally eye level wifh myself. She is growing as her body takes in more nutrients from a specialized diet I have set up (40% hay 40% fish/meat products 20% Leppa/Oran Berry) (further note: fish may not be necessary, as her wings don't have feathers that a fishy diet would help with) and an exercise routine.
While her size does increase by small amounts, it seems that her muscles just get increasingly dense and stronger in a way that the human body simply cannot replicate, and that is where most of her weight is coming from.
Despite this, she is light enough that even without the Expansion Suit, I could lift her without too much effort. At first, I wondered if her bones became hollow like a bird's whenever she evolved, but with her sturdy disposition and the general esoteric nature of Pokemon I have come to disagree with that conclusion.
I wondered if she was just subconsciously using Flying-Type energy, but upon inspection I learned that I was wrong, multiple Pokemon tend to float in the air and it makes me wonder if it's just an inherent ability and not tied to type-energy at all.
What I've come to learn is that there's a very blurred but distinct ‘line’ between ‘species’ and ‘type’.
Jophiel is a Psychic/Fairy type, but despite this her body seems to passively absorb ‘life’ into her coat and mane, and even perform minor amounts of Chlorokinesis using the fur at her fetlocks.
This ‘life’ energy seems to be separate from her neutral energy reserves but can actively tap into it as a sort of second storage. Strangely enough, despite her massive reserves from abusing Leppa Berries, she has found it more ‘economic’ to use the energy stored in her coat.
Context: Pokemon convert neutral energy (vitality, general energy) into type-energy which then forms into moves. But in some cases the two are interchangeable.
This kind of inherent ability is also seen simirly to Uriel's ability to store Electric-Type energy in her own mane. Which makes me think that her wings are just a passive expression of her ‘species’ rather than actual flight-capable appendages.
(She doesn't even fp them, should've been obvious).
In my next log, I will probably go over how Type-Energy affects a Pokemon’s mood and, on a rger scale, personality.
…and yes, probably how Pokemon reproduction works, too.
Much more interested in what Vaporeon and Uriel can do, considering the implications of what Pokemon can do outside of moves.
End. ]
(A/N: I'm gonna be honest, I'm not exactly sure how fast I should make this arc, or how closely to the game I should make it. Trying not to timeskip so much but DAMN. Updates may be slower, ideas nof coming in as quickly)
