7th Lecture Babbled Ε Accidental Video/Action for Violet Υ Backdated to Tuesday

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[Well, sort of accidental. Reid doesn't know about it, but Missy totally turned it on on purpose.

At first, all there is is smoke, and the sound of coughing.

And then there's light, and for those who are familiar with it, Violet from outside the Violet Gym. Missy felt the need to televise this because LOOK LOOK HER TRAINER GOT HIS FIRST BADGE EVERYBODY! 8D

While Missy is chattering about how awesome the battle was and how proud she is of Reid and how she wants to ride a bird now and on and on, Yang looks ready to collapse, Reid is cradling Elle in his arms because she's already collapsed, and Reid is doubled over in a horrible hacking coughing fit. Missy flies circles around him with his Munna (who is being ridden by a Litwick) and a Yamask, and after about a minute of straight coughing, the Yamask starts to grumble and floats right at Reid, pressing one appendage to his back, another at his throat, and forcefully straightening him while massaging the esophagus.

The coughs stop immediately, and Reid gets rigid at the unexpected contact. After a couple more moments, the Yamask releases him and floats back into the ring of undamaged flying Pokemon, grumbling about how he should just be like everyone else and go into a gym with massively over-leveled Pokemon next time.]

Uh, thank you, Amanda. You see, guys, this is why I teach you about physics. He was more experienced than me and had stronger animals, but taking advantage of thermodynamics--

[Elle paws him in the chest. Less lecturing, more going to the Center.]

Oh, right, sorry. [He starts approaching the Center, and his new badge gleams on his shirt.] While the nurse is looking at you both, I'll get something to thank you.

[And he is still blissfully unaware of Missy broadcasting the whole thing.]

Comments

audio;

[doitrockapella]

My, what an entourage you have.

audio;

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[?? Why is Carmen's voice flying around his head?

Reid looks up, and finally notices that Missy is carrying around his communicator.] Missy--

[Damn it, you're not even recording something interesting! Snatching that communicator and promptly switching to audio.] Yeah. Yeah, I really only intended to keep it at four or so, but it grew. And I already have three more on the way.

But I suppose I did intend to get at least one of every type.

audio;

[doitrockapella]

[Because she is THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and is there inside his mind. Or his Gear. Either way.

See, this is one of the few things she has drilled into her own roster's mind from day one, a rule that only once has ever been disobeyed (and only then in dire circumstances) — the video function of the Gear does not get activated. Period. Or else.

Keeps life simpler that way.]

It never stays at only four or so. Even if you try to avoid it, they have a funny way of finding their way to you anyway.

audio;

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[Reid is not as good at this as Carmen. Because she's awesome at everything and he's just smart with everything.] That was Elle for me. My Vulpix. I found her with a twisted paw--I didn't even intend to keep her, but after I had caught her and brought her to a Center, she refused to leave. Similar story with Amanda. [Only with less twisted paws and more possessions and sad teenagers who didn't know where else to go.]

audio;

[doitrockapella]

My Slugma followed me around the Burned Tower for the better part of an hour before I finally caught him just to save him the trouble. And I've recently adopted another in a similar way — we were leaving, and he seems to have decided he didn't want to be left behind.

[But it does warm her heart, this talk of helping wounded Pokemon, so +10 to Reid on that one in her esteem, oh yes.

But hang on, now, she's doing a quick mental tally.]

Amanda is the girl that possessed you? You kept her?

audio;

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[To Reid, it was the natural thing to do. Poor girl would have died without a little medical care, and Reid is nothing if not compassionate.]

Yeah. Amanda's my Yamask. I didn't intend to keep her, but she didn't want to leave. She said that she's making up for running amok in my body. [And Reid doesn't insist on her leaving because he knows she has no where else to go, and really, she's just a kid. That aforementioned compassion dictates that he not throw the sad dead kid in the cold. And her reminding him of Amanda and Adam and therefore Tobias Hankel might have something to do with that but shush.] There's friction between here and the rest of my roster, but it's getting better.

audio;

[doitrockapella]

That's only to be expected. Though she does sound reasonable enough, if she's that conscious of the complications she caused you and determined to make up for them.

[But admittedly, she's sort of glad the one that ended up possessing her didn't stick around as a part of her roster, but went on to whatever destiny awaited him. She wouldn't have minded having him around, exactly, but it would've been utterly weird, and she doesn't particularly envy Reid's position in keeping his.]

Speaking of noteworthy ghosts, I have one that might interest you.

[video]

[darkenedgales]

[Under normal circumstances, the first thing for Crow to do would be congratulating the guy on getting the badge, but this is far from "normal circumstances", if only because winning against Falkner usually doesn't include tons of smoke, coughing fits and-- wait a moment, did he just say "physics". The duelist tilts his head with a confused expression at that.]

... You teach your Pokémon physics? For real?

[Says the guy who tried teaching his how to play card games.]

[video]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Well... yeah? [Reid readjusts his grip on Elle.] Not only to give them a firm grasp of how things work, but to encourage logical problem-solving skills individually and through teamwork. Amanda's learned how to make waterspouts--that is, I mean, water tornadoes--and Amanda and Elle have learned to make a fire cyclone together. Usually, one needs a screen to make one, but Amanda's learned how to improvise using her own body to focus the air into rotation to the creation of a controlled-sized fire tornado--similar to her creation of waterspouts too, actually, since they usually involve hot and cold air moving in such a way that they begin to rotate--and once I have an Ice-type, it and Elle will be able to make a waterspout or a small tornado.

They're figuring out how to neutralize electrical charges now, so they'd have the upper hand in a fight with an Electric-type.

[If you listened to all that, kudos.]

[video]

[darkenedgales]

[He did listen, but stopped following (or even registering, for that matter) after the first sentence or so. Forget what we said about Reid no longer surprising him, because he sure as hell is shocked (and kind of overwhelmed, to be honest) now.]

That's, uh... [What's the right word for it?] ... smart.

[video]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[It will be a cold day in hell when Reid stops surprising you. He still surprises his team, and he's known them for nearly ten years.]

Thank you?

It felt like the right thing to do, since I want them to be able to strategize creatively and effectively if something happens and I can't help them. Teaching them chess would cultivate that kind of thinking, but actually teaching them physics seemed to give them more concrete ways to apply what I taught them.

[video]

[darkenedgales]

[As much as Crow approves of creative strategies, he's still somewhat skeptical of whether Reid's methods really work the way he seems to think they do.]

That's all fine and dandy, but don'tcha think they rely more on their instincts than physics knowledge?

[video]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Oh, yeah, instincts are what anyone would rely on, and most of the time, instincts are smart to go by. This is not meant to be a guide for strategy, but supplement. For example, during my battle with Falkner, Elle set fire to the floor and filled the room with smoke, ruining Falkner's and his team's visibility. When his Honchkrow attempted to dispel the smoke with wind, Elle released a burst of extremely hot air underneath it, making the air immediately beneath it extremely buoyant, which disrupted its flight enough to make it fall to the ground, while this entire time the heat and smoke rising from the flames has been damaging its sight, breathing, and feathers.

Now, this is pretty simple thermodynamics, something you would learn in a high school physics class. Both heat and smoke rise, so when you're in a fire, you should stay close to the ground where you are less likely to be burned or suffocated and work from there. Unfortunately, the Honchkrow didn't attend a high school physics class, and as a bird, its instinct is to fly. When it flew upwards, it flew through flames right back into an area choked with smoke and heat, leading to it suffocating and burning its primary flight feathers to the point it could no longer fly or fight. Patterns similar to that repeated over and over in the battle, since Falkner was only taking note of the type of animal I was using and the fact that the birds couldn't see, instead of thinking about how convection was disrupting their ability to fly and how heat was damaging them.

[Oh God, the lectures. Why would you ask him about these things, Crow?]

video

[islandshore]

Huh. Does using physics even work here?

[Riku looks at the feed with one raised eyebrow. Really, the idea never occurred to him, though he has his own nasty tactics, like no spoken commands.]

video

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Mostly. There are some instances where it doesn't, like a bird being shocked when it's flying in the air or just sitting on the creature doing the shocking, but once you understand when it applies and when it doesn't, it's very useful.

[Reid should totally try that next. If he ever learns how to keep him mouth shut, that is.]

video

[islandshore]

Guess the thought just never crossed my mind.

[Hmm.]

So how exactly do you apply it to battles?

[This is fascinating. Very fascinating.]

video

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[What have you done?]

Well, the most obvious application here with my current roster would be the use of thermodynamics, which was what I was talking about. The use of heat could actually be just as effective as the use of fire if utilized correctly, since heat in a cool environment will affect the movement of air, buoyancy, and most obviously, the temperature of the room. Sudden creation of a heat current would disrupt the flight of birds and, if the temperature is different enough from the surrounding air and the bird is appropriately caught by surprise, can imbalance them. If the floor is on fire while you do that, it could have devastating consequences.

Actually, if you are in a match where you have two or more animals at once fighting for you, or you have objects and items you're willing to add to the battle, you can use various combinations with a Fire-type alone that could create miniature tornadoes that could have very destructive effects on a small area, such as a tornado with shrapnel, or a tornado made of fire, or even one that is electrically charged. And that's not taking into account other combinations with Electric-types, which--

[He will not stop talking on his own, Riku.]

video

[islandshore]

[...Well, that is a lot of words.

Give him a second to process that...]

So, basically, you're combining attacks together or using the Pokémon's powers in unexpected ways?

video

[leftinbasketforfbi]

...Basically...? Yeah, that works. It's the application of outside knowledge to make creative strategies. I'm not generally a fan of brute force, mainly because it's pretty easy to counteract once someone stronger than you comes along.

[video]

[newberktown]

[Wow, that...seemed like destruction that could impress the twins, back home.]

Thermodynamics?

[Please, continue. c=]

[video]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Thermodynamics, otherwise known as the branch of physical science that deals with the relations between heat and other forms of energy--such as mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy--and, by extension, of the relationships between all forms of energy.

Once again, I'm not sure how closely your world's Vikings match mine, but have you ever heard of physics before?

[video]

[newberktown]

[Reid, please. With the company he keeps?]

A little bit--here, with Carmen.

[video]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Okay, good. Has she gone over the laws of thermodynamics with you before, or have you mostly learned about things like Newton and the laws of motion?

[video]

[newberktown]

Mostly Newton's laws, and things like gravity and vacuums.

[video] Thank you, Wikipedia

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Good! Good, that's good. Then you're familiar with the very basics of physics. Well, there are four basic laws of thermodynamics:

The first law of thermodynamics is that heat and work--which is the force exerted on an object multiplied by the distance it traveled--are forms of energy transfer. Energy is invariably conserved but the internal energy of a closed system changes as heat and work are transferred in or out of it.

The second law of thermodynamics is that the entropy--that is, in layman's terms, the amount of energy within a system that turns into heat and isn't available for useful work--of any isolated system not in thermal equilibrium almost always increases. Isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermal equilibrium—-the state of maximum entropy of the system—-in a process known as "thermalization".

The third law of thermodynamics is that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches zero. The entropy of a system at absolute zero--the coldest possible temperature that can exist--is typically zero, and in all cases is determined only by the number of different ground states it has. Specifically, the entropy of a pure crystalline substance at absolute zero temperature is zero.

And then there's the Zeroth law of thermodynamics, which is that if two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they must be in thermal equilibrium with each other. This may seem completely redundant, but it helps define the notion of temperature in a tangible way.

[If you understood that, congratulations. If you didn't, he is capable of saying it in more simple terms, but he needs to be asked to do so.]