We Are All Pokemon Trainers Discussion

...Wheeee~! Don't get me wrong, I kinda love overthinking

So it only has to be relevant to the (RP) character.

That pretty much. I guess in the end I'm asking why — what is there in those events having such significance that they could not have in the AU — note that, Luke for example would have had a "meet your best friend" with his AU!Starter anyway so there is no reason "meeting a creature that could have been your friend in another lifetime" is more "evocative"... But I'm taking this for now.

Dinnertime.

EDIT and that got me thinking... poor AU!Luke's Starter when he realizes that Luke is essentially, from a timecoordinated perspective being alienated into having always loved another creature that should not have existed more. Awwww, poor of many mons...

edited 21st Jul '11 5:44:59 PM by SilentReverence

But the AU isn't real. It shouldn't exist. And on the smallest of levels, in the back of the mind, where you dare not even take a peek, everyone knows something isn't right. It takes meeting an important figure in your life to make you realize it, though.

I'm pretty sure there's a trope for what I'm talking about, but I don't know what it is.

Lotus-Eater Machine?

Wistful Amnesia?

edited 21st Jul '11 5:44:40 PM by stargirl93

It's a bit of both, I think.

Awwww, poor alternate universe. Once it exists, it does exist and it is real and continuous within its own perception and within the rules of the universe. From the point of divergence, AU is reality, whereas RP is a timecoordinate aberration that "should not exist", from where creatures emerge that are stealing Trainer's love for their "real" mons... and and setting them on a quest to destroy universe, destroy normality... Are we the good or the bad guys then?

Also, Wistful Amnesia seems to fit the mold better...

EDIT: Quoting Luke from the chatroom:

edited 21st Jul '11 5:51:02 PM by SilentReverence

...Hey, I remember an earlier discussion about whether or not everyone keeps their "understanding Pokemon language" abilities. From what I remember, when the two timelines cross or whatever, the AU selves gain that ability.

Sorry for the semi-derail.

edited 21st Jul '11 5:51:41 PM by stargirl93

Just pointing out, if killing one Yanmega took the RP for a darker turn than expected... wiping out an entire world is kinda...

But there wouldn't really be anything "new" per se. Everything would just be in the wrong place. Luke's AU!Starter, for example, would belong to someone else in the OT.

We can't just destroy it! The people and mons in the AU have lives and feeling too! Are we really any better than Cyrus if we wipe it out for the simple reason that it's not OUR universe?

edited 21st Jul '11 5:55:24 PM by Luke924

But Luke's AU!Starter would have a bond and cherished memories with Luke that its RP counterpart WOULDN'T have. Basically, what this amounts to is having to utterly rip up any characterization or bonding for divergent teams in the AU, or to not have them to begin with...

edited 21st Jul '11 8:08:59 PM by TracerBullet

Wait, Doesn't RP! Lake come to the Au without taking over his AU! self?

Who said anything about destroying it? It's still our world. It's only Time that has changed.

Cyrus causes the Time Explosion (to pull a term out of nowhere), causing the events of history to go wonky. We regain our memories of reality one-by-one, defeat Cyrus, and save Primal Dialga. Dialga fixes time, causing everything to return to how it is supposed to be.

There's no world to destroy. There's just a reality that everyone (and I meant everyone) has the smallest of suspicions is wrong.

edited 21st Jul '11 6:00:39 PM by BadWolf21

But it isn't our world if the events have proceeded differently... Let's put it this way... Let's assume AU!Luke's starter is a Typhlosion... How does AU!Luke go about telling his starter that the 4 or so years that the two have enjoyed together simply weren't meant to be, and that his starter's desire to continue to be Luke's Pokemon is at its core wrong? THAT'S the problem that we face if we have to junk the AU!Verse at the end.

Which is why this is part Lotus-Eater Machine. At the end, everyone wakes up, realizing their proper place in Time.

If what Tangent Came up with is correct, the AU's not getting junked.

The Au Selves get control of their bodies back,at the end of the arc and things go back to normal on both ends. The problem of RP!Luke explaining that will still happen, but AU!Luke will still Exist.

I would be more comfortable with that if the AU wasn't a total Bad Future. Unova is a mess, thanks to Artemis and Scolipede (even after they're defeated/reformed, there's still a giant power vacuum, and other infrastructural issues to sort out), Hoenn is partially flooded, and Sinnoh is gone and has an open portal to the Distortion World in the middle of where it was.

edited 21st Jul '11 6:10:05 PM by BadWolf21

Even so- The thing about humans, and mons- no matter the situation, we build from it. We make friends, have lovers, start fights, and tell stories about all the above. The friendships are real, yes?

Even if it feels it could be better, you aren't just going to throw away the "wrong" world you have built so that people who look like you can have a more comfortable life.

Never mind what happens with Pokémon that could only have hatched in the AU... all these Gold Conference babies would never have existed if the group hadn't formed. There have to be similar situations on the other timeline.

The main problem that I see with your assumption with the AU Wolf is that as bleak as it is, there is NO hope for it to get any better... In a setting where creatures that are effectively Physical Gods roam around...

edited 21st Jul '11 6:18:39 PM by TracerBullet

You guys really seem to be overthinking things somewhat.

Agreed.

You have to overthink if you want to pull of a proper story involving time shenanigans. And I assume we're trying to prevent Unfortunate Implications / Fridge Horror / Expendable Clone and the like.

Let me try a different tactic.

In Back to the Future, Part II, does anyone question that Marty has to go back to 1955 to prevent the Biff-controlled version of 1985 from coming to be?

I haven't seen BttF, but if Biff was toppled, would the residents of that timeline prefer being wiped from reality, or try to make the best of their world?

Shoot, even if Biff/Cyrus wasn't toppled. Change time, you die. Don't change time, maybe you die, maybe you live.

/All the Myriad Ways.

edited 21st Jul '11 6:39:03 PM by stargirl93