whateveryoueatliveitspart

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[Video]

[The feed opens on Apollo sitting against a tree in Goldenrod, holding a shiny new Plain Badge and Rock Smash HM. A pile of empty Potion spray bottles is visible beside him at the edge of the frame. For someone doing a badge post he doesn't look that happy. He seems more worried than anything.]

I don't get why the badge is supposed to be the important part. The HM is more useful.

[He glances off-camera at something for a moment before looking back and getting to the reason he's making this post.]

Are all the gym battles this hard? Everyone fought really hard, but if that Miltank had lasted much longer they would have lost. They're all pretty tired after that battle, but even though it was really close this time they still want to try and beat the gym in Ecruteak City after this. I'm not sure anymore. If they can win here can they win at the Ecruteak City Gym?

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...I gotta say, you're the last person I expected to see with a gym badge. I thought you hated battling.

[He doesn't look happy to have been reminded of that.]

I do. I need some of the HMs though. I was going to ask if there was a way to borrow them from someone, but all the Pokémon with me have been wanting to fight more and kept asking me to challenge the gyms after they found out I needed the HMs. They all said that they were okay with risking getting hurt, and when I asked the Pokémon at the gym they said they were okay too, so I guess it's okay to let them fight a little bit? I'm still not going to challenge gyms that don't have HMs though, so I'm not going to try and get all the badges or anything like that.

[This is the sound of a kid obviously trying to justify something to himself. He doesn't want his team to get hurt but he wants them to be happy too, but they'd be happier if he let them get hurt and...]

[Wait, he's talking to them? She hasn't heard of anything like that - except for psychic pokemon, that is. However, she doesn't press the issue. Apollo looks like he's having a hard enough time without adding questions on top of it.]

...I know it's rough. I mean, you obviously care a lot about your pokemon, and I know you don't want to see them get hurt. You want to protect them, right? But sometimes...

[takes a deep breath, getting her thoughts in order]

Sometimes, you just have to trust that your friends can protect themselves. Or else, you could end up hurting them more than whatever it is that you're trying to protect them from.

I know they can take care of themselves, but I don't like my friends getting hurt for no good reason. I don't want to hurt them by not letting them do what they want either though.

[He pauses while he tries to come up with another way to put it.]

Is it better to try and make sure someone's happy or is it better to try and make sure they're safe?

[Things were much easier back home. The animals didn't usually want to fight just for fun or a challenge. Meeting animals that did was a bit confusing for him. He wasn't used to having to think this deeply about things.]

If you can, you should try to make sure that they're safe and happy. But if you can't have both...

[looks straight into the camera, her expression solemn]

Then I'd make sure that they're happy. There's no point in keeping them safe if it's just going to make them miserable - and if you don't listen to them, they will be miserable.

[He nods slightly.]

You're probably right. A life where you're never happy wouldn't be nice to have.

Yeah. It would be like being kept in a cage - sure, nothing could get in and hurt you, but you can't get out of it, either. You'd just be trapped there, unable to do anything but watch the world around you.

And, I think maybe that's why your pokemon want to fight. Like it or not, battling is just the way things are done here. They don't want to sit by and watch you do all the work - they want to get out there, and show the world what they're made of.

[Well now he feels like a bit of a jerk.]

...I think you're right.

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