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[Fai is looking unusually somber, and even in monochrome, it's easy to tell that he's a lot paler than usual. On his shoulder stands Babycakes, now evolved into a Floette, like an equally serious guard of honor with her flower like a rifle against her shoulder.]

[The young man says nothing at first, just holds up a rather skillfull sketch of a poké ball. Those with a bit of knowledge in history should probably recognise at least the general shape and design of it.]

Nevermind that they put those machines there to force Tyrantrum to evolve without their consent, but... they use these. Team Evolution, I mean. They keep pokémon imprisoned in these things, just like in the old days.

[He draws a deep, shaky breath.]

Despite how abhorrent this practice is - and believe me, I understand if you're angry - we should remember that they are from a different place with different laws. Wild accusations and demands aren't going to do us any good, is it? It's better if we try to reason with them, try to make them see why such treatment is wrong.

After all, the people in the old days were not all evil. If they were, why would the Savior have thought us worth sacrificing herself over? They were just ignorant.

But I thought you should be... warned.

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Perhaps I do not explain myself clearly. It is certain that use of these devices was a great intrusion upon us - but what I mean is... how is it that this city is so conscientious of such things? In opposition to these visitors.

Oh! Oh, I... Sorry, I made assumptions. [He shakes his head a bit with a bleak smile.] It is because of the link that the Savior made between us and the pokémon of this world, I should say. She gave us the tools to learn from our mistakes through her humility. They don't have Enlightened where they come from, nor any technology like the Warp Bands, so in a way... it makes sense.

[Tiki ponders this over for a few moments before nodding slowly. When she speaks again, there is a slight edge to her tone.]

Yes... And so she ensured that those who followed after would never again repeat the mistakes of the past. It is a question I have held since I first arrived here to find human and Pokemon living in harmony. There can be no doubt her legacy lives on.

And yet... I doubt they will be so quick to understand your point of view.

I believe I have some questions for these people who have never learned the lessons of the past.

Edited 2014-02-22 22:51 (UTC)

We have people among us that can speak to, understand, even be pokémon. Even those Enlightened who can't feel a deep connection to them. [He absently runs his fingers over the blue stone set in his forehead.] But the people from that city have never been able to see their side of it - I don't even think they understand what they did wrong in the first place, like you said.

At least the one I spoke to seemed eager to learn, but I doubt they will all be so compliant. People rarely are when told they're in the wrong, huh?

...They cannot be blamed if they know no better.

[Tiki speaks diplomatically after a long exhalation. She had personal reason to suspect they were hardly innocent in the way they dealt with Pokemon... but that was a story for another time.]

I shall pray that the people of your city shall face this with integrity and resolve. May the gods grant you wisdom.

Can't be blamed? Oh, I definitely blame them. [And there it finally is, an edge of proper anger, sharp and hard.]

I do think they're ignorant, that they probably do what they do because they've never considered there being another way. But that doesn't make slavery right, and it doesn't make them less guilty. It just means I think they can be redeemed, that's all.

[He sighs, and he... does notice the way she speaks, as if she stands apart in a way.] You aren't human, are you? I mean, from the way you speak, it sounds like you didn't start out that way.

[There was a time, long ago, when nobody thought anything of the use of the Pokeballs. Not even the Pokemon themselves. It was the way things had always been. But Tiki will nod again in response to Fai's anger.]

Yes.

I am what this city calls a Shifter. I fear I hold little clout due to my status as a recent immigrant and more than a bit of bias due to my nature.

[That actually gets a real smile out of him.]

Of course you're biased. But so are we, and so are they. This is not a question where objectivity is really an option - it rarely is when you move from facts to ethics, is it? [He chews his bottom lip, an anxious gesture that belies his attempts to relax.] But where you come from doesn't matter. You're of this world as much as we or them... and more than that, you have experienced what few of us and none of them can possibly imagine. I would say your word - and the word of all shifters, no matter what sort - is invaluable in this, to tell the truth.

...I thank you. It is gratifying to hear you think so. There are many stories we could tell to those who would heed them.

[She pauses once again in reflection.]

But then... such tales are not truths for all Pokemon, either. The reality is that there exist as many wild, feral beasts as there do those of intelligent and discerning nature. We who traverse the paths of both man and beast must know that best of all. Once upon a time, to use such technology to tame these creatures must have seemed appropriate, even necessary.

Just as there are cruel humans, so also there are cruel Pokemon. Mayhap these people act as they do because of their own experiences.

I...understand. If nothing else... a society that saw itself attacked once, that saw their people dying and their culture dwindling, and that only survived because they had a pokémon strong enought to protect them on their side... well, it's not hard to see why fear would make them stick to their old ways. Especially with no Enlightened among them.

[He swallows hard, because those words had still been hard to get out - there is only so much generosity he can manage, and it's been worn a bit thin.]

But the fact is still that they have come a long way from then. Most wild and feral pokémon act the way they do because they will survive unchallanged, not out of innate cruelty. And these people don't do it out of cruelty either, but for an even worse reason, in a way. They do it in the everyday stupidity of ordinary life, because it's more comfortable to neither change or grow, or question what they're told.

It's not the cruel or evil people who scare me. It's all the others who are no better or worse than anyone else, who'll do despicable things just because they always have. That's terrifying.

The true tragedy of what happened five hundred years ago would be if it were ever allowed to repeat. What is it that these people think about that time...? Are the gods nothing more than legend to them? Or perhaps they have never heard of the gods at all...

[Tiki sighs slightly.]

Neither man nor Pokemon can survive another such war.

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