Searching Far and Wide

[intricate_engineer]

Glen was creating a prototype for a new gate design. It was meant to be affordable and provide quick transport between individual homes. She tests several objects and a rat and everything seems to be working.

She steps through. Instead of finding herself in the room next door, she finds herself standing on a sidewalk in an empty city. The buildings are tall and perfect, colorless with doorways far too tall for any human. The roads have no straight lines and twist in on themselves. There is no life or sound.
Glen tries to stay calm. She begins to walk along the road, randomly opening doors and exploring buildings that are as silent as the rest of the world.

She opens a door that she hopes will lead onto a roof and is instead met with warmth, and soft noise, and color.

Comments

[the_very_best]

"Animals are weird! Were they actual size? They seemed really little."

[intricate_engineer]

"I'm not sure what you saw, but there are animals the size of a fingernail."

[the_very_best]

"That's teeny!"

[intricate_engineer]

"Do you guys know about microorganisms? Maybe you don't have them. Huh."

[the_very_best]

"We have those, but they're not the same thing."

[intricate_engineer]

"One cell, then a handful, then thousands. It's the same idea just more complex and scaled up."

[the_very_best]

"Yeah. 'Mon just don't get - teeny."

[intricate_engineer]

"So are microorganisms never Pokémon? What's the smallest Pokémon?"

[the_very_best]

"Joltik is the smallest. Yea big," says Bella, gesturing four inches high. "Baby Joltik would be smaller. You can hold them in the palm of your hand, but they're by far the smallest 'mon."

[intricate_engineer]

"What's the largest?"

[the_very_best]

"Wailord! They're huge. They might not be the heaviest but I think they take up the most space."

[intricate_engineer]

"How big are they?"

[the_very_best]

"You could... maybe squeeze one in here if you took out all the furniture," Bella says, glancing around the bar.

[intricate_engineer]

"Oh, not that big then."

[the_very_best]

"Not that big?"

[intricate_engineer]

"There are animals with eyes the size of this room."

[the_very_best]

"....that's horrifying."

[intricate_engineer]

"We usually keep our distance."

[the_very_best]

"I bet. So I guess animals just have more size variance than 'mon."

[intricate_engineer]

"They do seem to follower stricter rules. Most animals have much larger natural variations in size and coloring, but it seems like all 'mon of the same type are closer to being identical."

[the_very_best]

"There's variance! Sometimes you get color mutants. Dusk used to be an unusually fluffy Eevee. Fireflower's big for a Rapidash. I think I mentioned designer Bulbasaur."

[intricate_engineer]

"Yes, but it's comparatively limited. In some species of animal, almost every individual is a slightly different color. Some species have a huge size range. For example bears can be 400 or a thousand pounds."

[the_very_best]

"I guess human weights can vary by a factor of two and a half... I haven't spent a lot of time putting Pokémon on scales, you understand."

[intricate_engineer]

"I am generalizing."

[the_very_best]

"You haven't seen that many 'mon! Maybe there are midget Rapidash half Fireflower's mass."