14th Grail: [Video]

[dressofheaven]

I don't tend to make a big deal out of this sort of thing, ordinarily. But under the circumstances it seems appropriate.

[Ilya holds up Claire's Rising Badge to the camera, then shows off the other seven badges pinned to her collar. She adds the last one and makes no effort to restrain her victorious smirk.]

That's the eight badges of Johto collected. I hope the elite battles over in Kanto give a bit more of a challenge. I don't suppose anyone can give me an idea of what to expect from them. I'd like to hear any stories you might have.

Oh, but I'm feeling nostalgic. Even if you haven't fought the elite matches yet, even if you only have one or two badges, why don't you tell me about them? It seems like as good a way as any to celebrate, at least until I get my little gathering underway.

Also, Claire, if you're listening. Gyarados still isn't a dragon type.

Comments

[dressofheaven]

That's right. Now that I've gathered the Johto ones I can battle the elite Kanto teams. They're at their highest level of strength and they're using six Pokemon, so it's bound to be quite a bit more interesting.

[Ilya mostly just does it for the fun of it. The one badge she really wanted was the Storm Badge, so she could use Fly, and she's had that for a while.]

There are so many dragons she could use though. Garchomp, Salamence, Hydreigon...

[irenicly]

[Sometimes challenges can be fun. At least, Banjou assumes as much. Challenging the gyms seems like it would be worth it, anyway.]

I didn't realize there were that many.

[What a shock.]

Maybe she's had the Gyarados for a long time, before she decided to become a gym leader. It's hard to tell.

[dressofheaven]

Maybe. They do evolve from Magikarp, and those are basically everywhere, so it would make sense. But it still seems kind of silly.

[And frankly, she's not inclined to give Clair slack. The woman's irritating at best.]

[irenicly]

It kind of does. Who knows what she was thinking.

[Maybe she was just programmed that way? They are in a video game...]

I wonder if her level 100 team actually has all dragon-types.

[dressofheaven]

That's a good question. One more reason to come back after I've gathered the Kanto badges, I suppose.

[irenicly]

Is there someone who trains dragon-types in Kanto? Maybe you'd be able to compare the two.

[dressofheaven]

No, all sixteen of the gyms focus on a different type. The only ones that are left out are dark and fairy types.

Fairy makes sense, of course, but I do wonder about dark...

[irenicly]

Fairy's a new type, so I'm not surprised to hear that.

I'm surprised about dark-type, though. There's really no leaders who have a dark-type team?

[dressofheaven]

Not in Johto or Kanto. Maybe outside of the two regions we can reach, but that's just a guess. Of course, they had to skip one type, after all even before we discovered Fairy there were seventeen types and only sixteen gyms.

[irenicly]

Maybe that means that there's a dark-type trainer in Kalos.

It's not like we got the chance to see the region.

[dressofheaven]

Or in whatever region those two massive Legendaries that showed up over Halloween came from.

Or were you not here for that?

[irenicly]

[Oh, right, that was in a different region, too.]

I was there. I guess I was a little preoccupied; I wasn't exactly thinking about what that region was like.

[dressofheaven]

Even if you'd been paying attention, it wouldn't much have mattered. We weren't in the region they came from at the time. Just kind of... between Kanto and Johto. I think those two came from... someplace that started with an H. I can't recall the full name.

[irenicly]

Really? I guess I never learned that part.

I figured they were from around here. I guess three groups trying to cause trouble is a bit much, even for this place.

[dressofheaven]

That's also too many Legendaries for one area. Johto already has Lugia, Ho-Oh, the three beasts, and Celebi. Kanto has the three birds. That's more than enough Pokemon with that kind of power.

[irenicly]

Lucky for us people aren't constantly trying to catch Legendaries and have them fight.

[dressofheaven]

Well that would be very entertaining, at least!

Though if I had a Legendary, I'd probably try to keep it from fighting other Legendaries as much as possible. I'd have other things to do with it.

[irenicly]

[That makes him smile. The idea of Legendaries would still be a little absurd to him if he hadn't nearly watched two of them destroy the world last autumn.

Maybe in the hands of a responsible trainer they wouldn't destroy the world?]

Battling someone's Pokemon with a Legendary might be entertaining.

What would you do with one? Ride it around town?

[Admittedly, that would be a good use for a giant Pokemon.]

[dressofheaven]

Take over the world.

[She's still grinning... that probably implies she's joking. Right?]

[irenicly]

[Oh, well... that's...

Banjou's going to assume she's kidding, though by his nervous laugh, it's obvious he's not entirely sure.]

I guess I can... see why that would be tempting.

[dressofheaven]

Actually, I'd probably need more than one Legendary for that. Unless it was Arceus, but I'm not arrogant enough to think I can capture the Creator Pokemon.

[And now she's pondering the idea thoughtfully.]

Come to think of it, even with a full six-Pokemon team of Legendaries, world domination is a bit of a stretch. It's fun to think about though!

[irenicly]

[Banjou shakes his head, smiling faintly.]

People would keep arguing with each other about who gets the Legendary, wouldn't they? It's not like there's more than one of any of them.

Obviously whoever catches it first should get to keep it, but you might end up with a lot of jealous people.

[dressofheaven]

Let them be jealous. The one who earned it has rights to it.

Assuming, of course that you can catch them. I have my doubts about that.

[irenicly]

Well, the llama did play games with people. Maybe it would let people catch it temporarily.

[dressofheaven]

Arceus? I think that might be too much to hope for. That's the creator deity around here. Anyone gaining power over that one for even a few seconds could be extremely dangerous.