Treasure Town ~ Main Square

[Namohysip]

"Eh?" Soda squinted at Nip. "Well, yeah, Eggant Berries exist, but what the hell does that have to do with the name Eggant? Bah, whatever." He waved dismissively. "Eggant sounds like a normal enough name."

"Hm." Maple frowned disapprovingly toward Cabot. "I suppose you do not, but it would also be wise so you do not need to explain why you use such... interesting vocabulary for a name. I've never heard something quite like it anywhere in the world, and that will probably be strange."

"And, it's fun!" Owen said, grinning. "See?"

He sowed Cabot his profile, which Owen had even figured out could take pictures, as his smiling face was now in the top corner of the display, along with his name: Charmander Tamato. Additionally, there was an alias block nearby, which he placed 'Owen' in.

Meanwhile, Soda casually peered over Cino's shoulder. "Going for something exotic, eh?" he said, smirking. "Someone's trying to go for the ladies." He didn't seem as interested in 'Biscuit.'

 

[Torchic]

"Uh, eheh," Cino laughed nervously, "it's... just something I used to like to eat before I moved out of my village. Uh, different worlds and all that stuff. Nothing too exciting. I wasn't sure if it would actually count in here, but it does, surprisingly."

...Do they know they have food as names?

 

[Namohysip]

Soda gave Cino an odd look. "...You eat people named Leberkase? What kind of..." Soda stepped back "Y'know what, I ain't gonna ask. Just don't eat people here."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian was quick to grow accustomed to the device. It was a bit more advanced than the kind of technology Explorers used in his homeworld, but it resembled something he'd have seen there in a decade or less.

After mimicking what some of the others did, he navigated the screen with his smaller flower vines and input the word 'Rosemary'.

"I like Rosemary," Cynthian said, smiling like it was Christmas eve. "I think it suits me."

 

[Virgil134]

"Hm." Maple frowned disapprovingly toward Cabot. "I suppose you do not, but it would also be wise so you do not need to explain why you use such... interesting vocabulary for a name. I've never heard something quite like it anywhere in the world, and that will probably be strange."

"I mean I guess..." Cabot murmured. "So do I just pick something I like to eat and name myself after that?"

"And, it's fun!" Owen said, grinning. "See?"

He sowed Cabot his profile, which Owen had even figured out could take pictures, as his smiling face was now in the top corner of the display, along with his name: Charmander Tamato. Additionally, there was an alias block nearby, which he placed 'Owen' in.

"Oh that's so cool! I didn't know these badges could draw pictures of us!" he exclaimed as he looked closer at Owen's picture. "How did you get it to do that?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Okay, hang on," Soda said immediately, getting to his full height. "Why are literally all of you guys acting like you guys are calling yourselves food? What's wrong with you?!"

...Mm. So that's what their names are translating to. That might not be a useful venue to follow, Cabot. It seems that this language, so far away, is... getting equivalencies for the strange names, too. Hmm. What are your normal names sounding like to them, I wonder...?

 

[Adamhuarts]

"But... Your name is a beverage, Soda," Cynthian asked, tilting his head in confusion.

 

[Namohysip]

"The fuck kind of a beverage is named Soda--oh, wait, I think I had a margarita called Soda once, guess that makes sense..." Soda grumbled. "Didn't taste any good, though."

 

[Virgil134]

Eh?! But weren't you supposed to translate everything for us, Diyem?! If they're not actually named after food then why are you translating things like that?

 

[Namohysip]

How dare you question me! Do you have any idea how strange this language is? I have to set aside an entire segment of my mind just for translating everything you perceive. Do you have any idea how hard that is? It's subconscious at this point. Perhaps one day I'll turn it off and show you all how much work I put my power toward. Hmph.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot visibly flinched and reflexively took a step backwards, clearly taken aback by Diyem's sudden outburst. He fumbled for words a moment but didn't up saying or thinking anything, and instead moved his gaze down towards the ground.

 

[Torchic]

"No, I think you misunderstood, Soda. We had a food that was called the same as this. It's something only me and others in my village ate. They were not Pokemon. I mean, it was processed meat, yes, but it was not just some wild we hunted for that."

Yes, they didn't know they were named after food.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen frowned, looking at Cabot, then at the sky. He figured that not a lot of the group heard that, but he did. "I guess these names are so strange that they just become words to us," he said. "We must be in a really faraway land..."

Soda looked between Owen and Cino, then Cabot, and then ran his claws through his mane. "Right. Food. We're named after food to you guys. Seems legit." He rolled his eyes.

 

[Ambyssin]

“If you have a problem with it, take it up with our supervisor.” Necrozma paused. “Oh, wait, you can’t. Because he’s not here.”

Necrozma fiddled with the badge and typed in a pseudonym:

SOURDOUGH

 

[Persephone]

Hmm. How did the telepathic voices get into her deino head? Neither Cuicatl nor her mother had ever had any luck speaking with Alice telepathically. Cuicatl had to learn Alice’s own language for that and her mother had sort of just figured out what the hydreigon wanted.

Dragons are many things, but they are seldom subtle.

Food name. She needs a food name. For some reason. That’s...

Why? Why why why why why? Couldn’t she be named after anything else? This was definitely going to be a distraction in battle. And it’s already hard enough to navigate a battlefield while blind.

But she must. Ātōlli is fine. Something ground down endlessly that still finds purpose. And she had gone many, many days subsisting entirely on small sips of the drink.

She eventually sort of maybe wrote the word on her badge. It was a little hard to check that, but now seemed like a bad time to ask for help.

 

[Chibi Pika]

“And lastly,” Maple held up one of the bags. “We have some gifts for you all. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the items later, but we have for you the latest iterations of Destiny Village’s Guild badges. You are now all provisional members of Arceus’ Guild. It has a holographic interface, group communication capabilities through voice as well as text, mutual geolocation between team members, and various other applications that have been built inside thanks to Destiny Village’s constant efforts to technological advancement.” Maple spoke as if it was recited from some sales pitch, but since it was free…

"Oh my fucking god an actual phone give it to me," Starr said, practically bowling people over to get to Maple. Phones were the worst and also she needed one immediately.

He sowed Cabot his profile, which Owen had even figured out could take pictures, as his smiling face was now in the top corner of the display, along with his name: Charmander Tamato. Additionally, there was an alias block nearby, which he placed 'Owen' in.

"...You're telling me this fantasy Pokemon world has social media," Starr said in a total deadpan. She really, really shouldn't have been surprised. "Amazing. Of all the things to copy from human culture, you picked the absolute worst. Great job," she said, while setting up her profile because obviously she intended to use it. She could have an actual profile owing to not being a goddamn fugitive in this world. Amazing. Terrible. Whatever.

How dare you question me! Do you have any idea how strange this language is? I have to set aside an entire segment of my mind just for translating everything you perceive. Do you have any idea how hard that is? It's subconscious at this point. Perhaps one day I'll turn it off and show you all how much work I put my power toward. Hmph.

Starr's hackles raised at Diyem's outburst toward Cabot. "Hey lay off, alright? Not his fault your shitty translator made everyone here sound like a dumbass."

Speaking of, she'd need to come up with a new name. Not that she was any stranger to going by aliases, but... food puns. Seriously??

"Look I get that our names don't translate or whatever, but mine's, y'know, an actual word. Why the hell wouldn't that translate?" she said, knowing full well that it probably did, but sounded just as stupid as... well, someone calling themselves Soda.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa had arrived a little after everyone else, leaving it til the last minute to leave her latest bout of training at the Dojo. She'd hardly done anything else for the last week, since the incident at the Bluff put her on the back foot and thinking constantly about Starr. Tired and a little out of breath, she didn't say much until she heard Diyem's outburst.

Brisa's coat sparked with irritation. "How dare you question me? I don't recall us agreeing not to question anybody when we signed up for this. Lay off. And fuck you for even threatening to strand us without a common tongue."

She planted herself by Cabot in solidarity and snatched a badge for herself. A food name. Something that wasn't too far off her own name if possible, something that she wouldn't mind eating, something not exactly demeaning. Oh, perfect. Brisket.

 

[Umbramatic]

Mithos is suddenly here, with a cellphone.

"This is so cool! I can talk to ANYBODY, no matter where they are! I'm gonna call myself Baguette because it sounds funny."

He looks around.

"What did you guys call yourselves?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

After a moment of thought, Celeste punched “Nazo” into the device. The berry was supposed to have the power of the stars in it, so it seemed fitting, even if he mostly knew it as the berry that would burn the nose and wet the eyes of anyone nearby when it was burned as an incense.

Something about Diyem’s comment really pissed off Celeste. He turned his head to the sky and responded. Aloud.

“Aww, are you in a bad mood? Need us to tell you how much we love and appreciate you while we put ourselves on the line doing all the real work for you? I’m sure Allmother Arceus herself weeps for you. Just make sure you aren’t mistaken for a child throwing a temper tantrum... Because apparently you’re fine with us killing those, after all.”

 

[Persephone]

“Wait, we’re, um, killing kids now?”

Cuicatl wasn’t sure how she thought about her own gods asking for this. A mortal stranger, even a draconic one? No way was she doing it.