The Pokédex - Extended Fanon Edition

Physical description for Charmander line: All stages of the evolutionary chain look rather like a large, bipedal, mundane lizards. Charmander, the first average about 2 feet tall, with a head about the width of it's body. Reddish-orange coloring, cream belly and the flame on it's tail are very distinctive of the species. It's claws are incredibly tough, and it has short sturdy legs, no doubt helpful in all the uphill travel and even climbing it would deal with in it's native habitat.

Eep! interrupted. I'll finish descriptions later. Don't die, little topic!

Evolutionary Stones:

Some pokémon have genetically unstable structures that cause them to evolve when combined with foreign genetic material. The most common is moon rock (Moon Stone), which seems to contain genetic material from a long-extinct spacefaring species. Although much is unknown about them, it is suspected that they used spikes for defense (hence Clefable and the Nidos).

Fire Stones are from an ancient lionlike pokémon, causing a flaming mane: Arcanine and Flareon. Water Stones are from an eel-like creature, Leaf Stones are amber from a preserved plant, Sun Stones are from a photosynthetic pokémon or one that used phosphorus for illumination, and Dusk Stones are from a large nocturnal species.

Eevee has the most mutable genetic structure from what has been observed so far.

I've had a notepad window for the Trainer Card entry open the last few days, but other pursuits have distracted me... four of which were/are Pokémon related, but they aren't even the half of it...

LIVE! <A little bit of catch-up here...>

Trainer Card

Purpose

The Trainer Card is the official license for training Pokémon. It certifies that the bearer has passed an exam in elementary animal care and has demonstrated common sense in handling a Pokémon.

Uses

While not strictly required to train Pokémon, a Trainer Card is needed to enter Gym matches, official tournaments, and most unofficial tournaments. In addition, modern Pokéballs require a trainer ID to tag their captures with, making a Trainer Card mandatory for purchasing them. Also, certain high-dosage medicines require additional certification for purchase, which is signified by a Trainer Card annotation.

In practice, a Trainer Card is one of the easiest to obtain forms of official identification- the test is typically passed on the first try, and with parent/guardian consent a card may be issued as soon as one's tenth birthday. Thus, even most non-trainers get a Card.

Features

Like any ID card, the Trainer Card sports the name and photograph of its bearer, along with a registry number. The back has space for a signature.

Furthermore, the Card may carry annotations, including:

• official receipt of Gym Badges (though most Trainers prefer to carry the physical badges anyways)
• Pokémon League Champion (in the deputized agent sense, not statistical ranking sense)
• Lab Research Assistant
• Potent Pharmaceuticals License

edited 14th Apr '10 11:35:09 PM by Tangent128

My own design for a pokedex has a slot for a Trainer Card to be inserted.

By my own reasoning, all pokedexes have a Wireless interface system inside them. This allows the League Mainframe to keep updating your Trainer Card, which by my reasoning, has e-book style electronic ink under a tough plastic skin. This allows it to constantly show you your badge count and bank account.

Trainer Cards are probably issued at a regional level, so designs will likely vary.

Not sure if banks would issue their own cards or use the Trainer Card; the latter would probably make identity theft easier.

More recent Card designs may use an E-Ink display. Certainly a lot flashier than decals.

Annnd I still need to catch up on Gyms, Champions, and such, but I don't think we've discussed Pokédexen yet.

Banks utilize existing Trainer Cards for League Trainers, and continue to issue normal bank cards for non-trainers.

The unique Trainer ID + Secret ID in each Trainer Card allows Researchers and Rangers to keep tabs on Registered Trainers so they don't just vanish for no good reason (which could imply some pretty terrible things). Trainers with Pokegears or Pokenavs are easier to keep tabs on because of their inbuilt 2-way GPS systems.

Edit: Oh, yeah, Pokedexes. In truth, a lot of what goes in the pokedex is actually rumor or observed behavior from various wild specimens (the Raticate entry about it losing its speed and balance without whiskers was from young Red witnessing the aftereffects of a fight between a Wild Raticate and a Wild Fearow, for example).

Pokedexes are powerful PDA or Smartphone style systems, each successive generation getting more advanced.

1. Gen1 pokedex: an auto-logging E-book with internal speakers.
2. Gen2 pokedex: a modified Game Boy Colour with added Wi-Fi and Pokegear interactivity, allowing it to use the Pokegear's GPS to track the Runners.
3. Gen3 pokedex: Basic PDA system Pokedex with better resolution and sound chip.
4. Gen4 (Sinnoh) Pokedex: Smartphone with scroll-wheel.
5. Gen4 (Johto) Pokedex: What essentially amounts to an iPad.

Pokedexes can also track your party data, and use the same bandwidth as Pokeball data transmission, so it can scan your party without having to let them out of their pokeballs, useful when someone is injured and you want to track their health without letting them out to feel their pain more tangibly.

edited 15th Apr '10 10:29:52 AM by AceOfScarabs

Still, not sure why banks would be particularly interested in catering to Trainers.

If Pokédexes are particularly pricey devices, it's probable that not many trainers are going to have them. Mostly lab assists, well-off types, and dedicated strategists.

I'd be willing to go with the idea that Pokédexes are more of a rarity. The deputies and the lab assistants are the only ones in the game and manga with them, and we only see them owned by people sent out by the profs in the show.

Yeah I'm willing to bet that Pokedexes are very rare, considering the Manga makes a big deal about Pokedex holders.

Possibly most people merely have enhanced smartphones, and the Pokedex is far, far more advanced than any normal smartphone. After all, only the Pokedex has a direct network link to the League Mainframe.

If anything the "Smartphone" would be a pokegear. It seems everybody has one, and it can have apps!

So's the Poketch, and it even has a touchscreen.

Still a bit distracted, sorry.

Probably many people just have a "Pokémon Care Manual" App or physical book, yeah.

Would a Pokédex essentially just be a portable computer dedicated to research purposes? They track sightings in the games, which isn't really useful beyond story rights for a typical trainer, but can be very useful for tracking a species' range and migration. We also see from the show that they have advanced visual recognition systems.

I'd posit they also allow for making video recordings of interesting behaviors and submitting them to a research video archive.

On another note, does anyone want to revisit Pokéballs briefly? We never really made much progress on which kind of babble to use for them- should we approach them as operating on more technological or metaphysical principles?

Re: Catching Legendaries.

Put simply, you don't.

Beyond a certain power level, Pokemon become immortal (or at least ridiculously long-lived) and unable to be captured. Not to mention that their immense powers would make them dangerous simply to be around. One could imagine having The Dialga walking around would be about as safe as a black hole flying through your town. Only truly unusual circumstances can bring them into contact with our world.

However, they still like to interact with the world and learn new things. So they spawn an avatar to face challengers. They do have a certain amount of pride, and demand only the very best from would-be partners. By purposely limited their power and perspective, they never run out of things to do and learn about. They can sustain multiple avatars due to immense mental capacity (think multiple windows for a really good multitasker). If the trainer they have partnered with dies with no heir, the avatar is dissolved.

Manaphy might be an unusual case; a young legendary that has decided to spawn multiple "real" kin and send them off into the world. Only Manaphy Prime can create new Manaphy. The spawned Manaphy breed Phione, a permanently neotenous version.

I always had that theory. Why would a being like Arceus allow itself to be stuffed into a plastic ball by some kid, regardless of how worthy he is. In reality, the obtainable Arceus is simply an avatar used to test trainers it finds interesting. The real thing is far, far, far, FAR more powerful.

And another idea - those avatars don't necessarily look like their users.

The true Arceus could really have a thousand arms, you know. Perhaps they like A Form You Are Comfortable With.

On the topic of pokemon care books, I imagine they hand out free manuals and textbooks at schools, pokecenters, and other such places.

I imagine life must be easier for a Researcher-sponsored trainer, with their fully pimped-out Pokedex and advanced field gear. Trainers who started with useful practical skills still have advantages though.

A Pokédex is a handy reference source, true, and its access to academic databases saves one from spending money on reference books.

Pokécenters and the like would pass out public service pamphlets with essential care instructions, but for more detailed information on a species (advanced ("TM"?) moves, breeding notes, variant colorings, etc.) one probably has to buy a book dedicated to the line.

Though most Researchers probably prefer to employ Trainers who have already shown some aptitude.

I figure that many Gym Trainers are in fact earning their badges via a slower Apprenticeship to the Gym Leader.

Researchers tend to pick "good kid" type trainers with strong empathy and a talent for Catching, Breeding or Battling.

Also, there was a depressing piece of fancruft in the Platinum LP on the SA forums, about how some of those Grunts of whatever Team Wicked you're trouncing are in fact unfortunate trainers who weren't skilled enough to survive properly, and were recruited like those poor sods who were enticed into a life of crime under the various Mob lords.

And then there's my little spiel about Ronin trainers in my LP of Soul Silver (see my sig - shameless plug go!).

I like to think some of the trainers you encounter in clusters are in fact not skilled enough to survive in the wild alone, and band together for protection.

Direct Link to Spiel

Yeah, while we're aiming for a large bit of Reconstruction, realistically the roaming life is hardly a picnic.

As Pykrete noted, while most kids do head out on a journey, most are also back the next year.

Many of the remaining Trainers stay at it because they're good at it, or at least can enjoy themselves; sadly, others are only out because they can't return home, or else going home would be even worse.

School Program Trainers must have some kind of pocket money, unless they're skillful enough they're gonna make losses getting steamrolled by Badge-toting Researcher-sponsored Master-to-be trainers.

I also imagine they continue to keep (some of) their pokemon after they go back to school.

Makes you wonder what happens as they get older though- do office workers bring their Pokéballs with them, or do they leave their Pokémon at home?

Depends entirely on the job and the Pokemon.

If it's a manual-labor-intensive job and the Pokemon can lend an appendage, they're well appreciated and their presence is accommodated. Keep in mind a Pokemon is cheaper to support and can probably pull its weight better than its trainer.

If it's a pen pusher job, they're probably left at home, though one or two might be taken in the ball for self defense (and let out at lunchtime, etc). If the workplace is particularly relaxed and the Pokemon well-behaved, they might be allowed to be out and about for the sake of company and the worker's sanity.

edited 28th Apr '10 10:10:33 PM by Pykrete

Some people continue to have their pokemon help out in daily life, and some also take part in a little after-hours battling/sparring. It'd certainly help you to get to office if your good old Skarmory can just pick you up and Fly you straight to the next city.

Some of the most survival-oriented trainers with excellent tracking skills end up becoming Rangers and Explorers, and thus their pokemon become very important to their job.

edited 28th Apr '10 10:15:59 PM by AceOfScarabs