One moment, Laia is sitting down for the start of the floor session.
The next moment, some kind of bizarre-looking monster is going at her with an enormous golden ring.
The moment after that, she's somewhere else.
One moment, Laia is sitting down for the start of the floor session.
The next moment, some kind of bizarre-looking monster is going at her with an enormous golden ring.
The moment after that, she's somewhere else.
Concerning. She will give the electric sheep some space.
Create Water, Create Water, Create Water, just like the temple cistern.
"Thank you! It's a few hours till dinner, but I can put on the TV if you want, or you're welcome to take a walk around the ranch."
"It's slang for 'television' — if your planet doesn't have television it's probably easier to show you."
Then she'll lead her back inside and show her a metal box! She presses some buttons, and it starts playing a complicated, highly realistic illusion of a pair of strangely-dressed people.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It's time for 'Moves for Living.' Today we will learn about the move Scald. Our guest expert is Dr. Technic Al'Machine, a professor at Castelia University."
"Hello. I'm Dr. Al'Machine. Scald is a scorching-hot move that blasts the target with water, and may even leave it with a burn. In everyday life, this move might be useful for making yourself a warm mug of hot chocolate!"
(The illusion cuts briefly to a monkey-like creature with an oddly-shaped blue head blasts a jet of water at the camera.)
"I see... I learned a lot. Well then, everyone, until next time, good-bye."
"Most moves aren't exactly spells, all Pokémon can learn at least some moves even if they aren't magic. They're more like... physical techniques, usually. ...The box isn't magic either. And it doesn't just teach about moves, I can put on a different program if this one is boring you."
"It will be downright fascinating if it turns out I can prepare Scald in the morning but I'd love to see what else the box can do!"
The woman presses some buttons on a smaller box. It begins playing an illusion of a city, though the buildings look nothing like any buildings she's ever seen. In the foreground is an enormous wheel with smaller gondolas all around it. Two people are standing in front of the wheel.
"Today, on “Eyes on Unova,” we will introduce you to a young nomadic dancer who loves to ride the Ferris Wheel! Hello! I've heard you ride the Ferris Wheel every single day, is that true?"
"Well, I've been riding it every day, but lately I've been thinking I might move on for a bit."
"What got you interested in the wheel?"
"The steady, rhythmic way it moves is a lot like dance, when you think about it."
"But now you're moving on?"
"A dancer who only dances a single dance will get sick of it eventually, don't you think?"
"I suppose so. Thank you very much. That was our report from Nimbasa City!"
Buttonpress. Now the illusion-box is playing the image of several — animals? Monsters? It's not really clear — all of which are wearing human-like clothing, holding various objects, and dancing. In the background, music is playing.
The furthest-right creature, which looks sort of like a cross between a flying squirrel and a bee, tosses a pink umbrella into the air, and the sound of clapping plays. The creatures continue dancing for a few moments longer, and then the lights go dark and the curtain goes down.
"...before we bring you your results, a brief word from our sponsors!"
Buttonpress. Now the illusion-box is playing the image of a snow-covered city. Snowflakes fall slowly to the ground, collecting in front of a brightly-painted door.
"...collect the hottest gossip about Gym Leaders seen around town!" a human voice is saying. "This week, we're following up on a letter we received last week, and visiting the Icirrus Gym in person! Are the rumors about Brycen true? We'll find out!"
The camera moves towards the door, which slides open to reveal a room with a floor completely covered in ice.
"Brrrrrrr. It's freezing in here. Next time I'll just send him an email."
She smiles. "I like it too! You know, if you go on to Virbank after this, you could visit Pokéstar Studios and see how some of this gets made."
"When I'm at home I'm an actress, is that part of how they make the illusions with actual actors at some point in the process?"
"Oh, it's not an illusion! Basically, they use a very fast camera to take a lot of photographs, and then they play them one right after each other. But the humans you see onscreen are almost always played by real human actors."
"Okay. Uh." She grabs a photograph of a Herdier off the mantlepiece and shows it to Laia. "Cameras make... pictures of things exactly the way they looked at the time? —Sometimes the shows on TV get edited so they don't look exactly the way they really looked, but that's the general idea."
Smile. "Do you want me to put on a movie to watch until dinnertime? Movies are... like television but longer, and almost always telling fictional stories."
The alien mentioned that Shelyn is associated with love as well as art, so she puts on a rom-com, Love and Battles: Miguel's Story.
The movie revolves around a pair of Pokémon Trainers, Penelope and Miguel. Their eyes meet — the movie treats this as enormously significant — and they end up in a "battle" with each other, which appears to involve them having their weird-looking creatures fight each other. (Penelope's is a "Lickitung," a vaguely-humanoid pink-and-yellow creature with an enormous tongue; Miguel's is a "Smeargle," which has a tail that strongly resembles a paintbrush.) The non-human creatures don't appear to speak whatever this language is, but subtitles appear onscreen to translate their thoughts.
Initially, Miguel is only motivated by the possibility of winning prize money from Penelope, but as their Pokémon battle, he starts to fall in love with her. He decides to throw the battle on purpose as part of a strategy to seduce her. (His Smeargle thinks he's being a bit ridiculous.) Penelope seems surprised to be doing so well — Miguel is apparently an "Ace Trainer" — but it doesn't occur to her that he might be losing on purpose.
Eventually, Penelope's Lickitung knocks out Miguel's Smeargle by throwing a rock at it. However, in the process, the rock grazes Miguel. Miguel congratulates her on winning, and attempts to offer her the prize money. Penelope, meanwhile, is focused entirely on whether Miguel is okay, and refuses to accept the prize money even after he insists he's unhurt. In lieu of giving her the money, Miguel offers to keep practicing with her, and she accepts; the movie concludes with the strong implication that the pair of them will end up as a couple.
The whole movie takes place against the backdrop of a city street, but it looks more like Absalom or maybe Axis than like any city Laia's ever been to. Whenever either character expresses romantic interest in the other, rose petals fall from the sky.