Dustin listens with narrowed interest, although he does end up using most of Ash's explanation to give himself time to physically recover. A few kneads of his hands so he can release the fried multimeter, a quick once-over to make sure he didn't skid or crack his head on the floor or something, then with a groan, Dustin hefts himself back to his feet.
There's...honestly a lot about that story that doesn't make a lot of sense to him. The names, mostly, though Dustin can infer a lot by context. A 'Pokemon' is the same sort of alien Pikachu is, that much he knows already. A 'Legendary' would be some kind of special subspecies, then - like an elder dragon in mythology. Greninja is probably another one. The fact that all of this mess involved some kind of special alien-boosting power and mind control technology would have absolutely been a sticking point for Dustin months ago, but it's a testament to how fucking bizarre things can get on this planet that, now, he just accepts what this ten-year-old is telling him at face value. Ash has superhuman abilities related to his connection with a specific species of alien? Sure, why not. Probably explains why he seems barely affected by Pikachu's electricity.
What takes him more off-guard, actually, is the apology. "What--no, don't," Dustin says, blinking rapidly. "I should have done more preliminary tests to determine Pikachu's output parameters before diving immediately into a demonstration. That's my fault for not doing basic fucking research."
He waves his hand in a dismissive circle near his face - a sort of agitated gesture, but from the way Dustin's face reddens, he's still mostly annoyed at himself.
"Besides," he continues in a huff, "The final product should be able to handle him at overload, with some room to spare. I'll use this to make sure it does."
"Yeah but.. I knew how strong his Thunderbolt attack is-I coulda given you a heads up. See, we're just kinda used to Team Rocket coming up with these whacky robots that can absorb electricity. Well, to a point. We over powered pretty much all of those, too." Ash admits, looking thoughtful.
"Pikachu? (Are you okay?)" Pikachu asks, watching Dustin carefully. He really over did it, he should have known not to go full power immediately. Now it looks like this Thunderbolt could have done some real damage.
"I guess I should go ahead and mention it Pikachu can produce at least a hundred thousand volts at a time."
Dustin just waves Ash's explanation off at this point. No use trying to assign blame anywhere (especially not when it's so much easier for Dustin to just blame himself and get on with his life), corroborating data points involving robots or otherwise. It's when Ash gives him a number that Dustin actually perks up - and looks properly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna die," he says first at Pikachu's fussing, before narrowing his attention in on Ash. "--Is that an estimate, or have you actually measured his output before?"
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There's...honestly a lot about that story that doesn't make a lot of sense to him. The names, mostly, though Dustin can infer a lot by context. A 'Pokemon' is the same sort of alien Pikachu is, that much he knows already. A 'Legendary' would be some kind of special subspecies, then - like an elder dragon in mythology. Greninja is probably another one. The fact that all of this mess involved some kind of special alien-boosting power and mind control technology would have absolutely been a sticking point for Dustin months ago, but it's a testament to how fucking bizarre things can get on this planet that, now, he just accepts what this ten-year-old is telling him at face value. Ash has superhuman abilities related to his connection with a specific species of alien? Sure, why not. Probably explains why he seems barely affected by Pikachu's electricity.
What takes him more off-guard, actually, is the apology. "What--no, don't," Dustin says, blinking rapidly. "I should have done more preliminary tests to determine Pikachu's output parameters before diving immediately into a demonstration. That's my fault for not doing basic fucking research."
He waves his hand in a dismissive circle near his face - a sort of agitated gesture, but from the way Dustin's face reddens, he's still mostly annoyed at himself.
"Besides," he continues in a huff, "The final product should be able to handle him at overload, with some room to spare. I'll use this to make sure it does."
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"Pikachu? (Are you okay?)" Pikachu asks, watching Dustin carefully. He really over did it, he should have known not to go full power immediately. Now it looks like this Thunderbolt could have done some real damage.
"I guess I should go ahead and mention it Pikachu can produce at least a hundred thousand volts at a time."
no subject
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna die," he says first at Pikachu's fussing, before narrowing his attention in on Ash. "--Is that an estimate, or have you actually measured his output before?"