#Fate the Lampent

[schmidt-attack-pain-index]

Due to their QUICKLY dwindling numbers it is perhaps not NESSECARY to evaluate the Pokemon of AREA ZERO for the PAIN index in that no ONE will have to DEAL with an ENCOUTER with one... at the SAME time, it means I'm RUNNING out of time to RECORD data on them before they're ALL gone, and it SEEMS this was information MEANT to be left unknown. That doesn't SEEM right. To just let LIVING creatures go quietly into the NIGHT with no recording, no acknowledgement, not even a whisper...

NOT my usual AREA of reporting, but the IRON VALIANT is FAIRY/FIGHTING, so far as I can tell from its RESPONSE to attacks. It likes ELECTRICITY, strangely. It's shown no HOSTILITY towards PORT, my Rotom. This has made OBSERVING it easier.

It's been VERY hostile to the "ROARING MOON" specimen found, so I have not been able to RATE it yet as the two keep FIGHTING. It shows MUCH hostility towards PORT, but little towards FATE, my Lampent. I think it likes the LIGHT of the flame. IRON VALIANT seems to have the TYPE advantage, the ROARING MOON is certainly DRAGON type, at least.

[alternatepokedex]

retyping thoughts) Ice/normal Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure Littlem Lemment Lempanzer

This line is strange. and bad. Please don't look at it.

So Ice/Normal is a pretty tricky typing, huh? And such a shame I had to inflict this fate on the much cooler line that is the Litwick one.

This was not originally the plan, though. The "hamster ball" was a last-minute addition to Littlem, which at first was just the ball of fur with no other defining features. But that was boring, so... I made the challenge even harder for myself. Yet if I hadn't done that, I have no idea how I would've drawn the evolutions without pulling a Pawmi.

I liked the ideas of these symbiotically ice-bound lemmings initially, but looking back on them now, the wonder has really worn off. So what could I have done better to transform the beloved Ghost/Fire Pokemon they were based off of? A question that will undoubtedly haunt me until I maybe one day give these three a fresh attempt.

Ugh.

[vital-spirit]

OFFSCREEN POST

Ghosts from One’s Past: Part One

The sudden light from the outside world stung Lucario’s eyes as he pushed out the exit of Creepy Crossing. He’d never taken the Mystery Dungeon from that direction before, and even if Mystery Dungeons always changed their layouts, floors liked to have some things in common between shifting. Going the wrong direction? Well, there goes what ideas you had about what you might find on the floor, or the pokemon you might see. 

Still, they made it through without any serious troubles, even if the over abundance of ghost and dark types proved difficult for Bingo, and there was quite the rough patch that took the form of SEVERAL monster houses in a row. After all that, the abandoned town would be a nice quiet place to wind down and lay low without anyone knowing where they were hiding–

THUMP!

Lucario scrambles backwards and looks up, eyes moving until he realizes he’s bumped into a Golurk. Weird. But not the most unexpected thing. Depending on where you’re going, this might be a useful shortcut! Probably just someone else passing thr–

The Golurk mumbles something and takes a hulking step to the side, revealing a bustling town, filled to the brim with Pokemon browsing shops and sharing hushed secrets with friends. 

Lucario looks around quickly before his eyes land on two Dreepy playing near the town sign, an old, broken down thing reading “Lost”. A fitting title, yet undoubtedly one the town was not supposed to sport, judging by the large gaps between the faded wooden letters affixed to the sign. He looks back to the crowd, all gathered around the tracks and nearby station. A Gourgeist shows off baked goods to a tall Ceruledge, while a group of Lampents seem to be deep in conversation. 

Though a town once completely abandoned suddenly being filled to the brim with Pokemon is concerning enough, perhaps even more frightening was what was integrated within the groups of ghost types. Pokemon who did not possess spectral typed energy, but instead who’s transparent, misty bodies were undoubtedly that of actual ghosts. Pokemon that had once counted themselves among the living, but had met a grim fate for some reason or the other. 

Lucario slowly turned to look at Bingo. “Lillipup, I think we’ve fucked up.”

“‘We’?” Bingo looked up at Lucario incredulously, “You’re the one who was leadin’ us! You said we were goin’ to a ghost town! You’ve taken us to a Ghost Town!”

“I took you to the same town we’re supposed to go to! There’s no denyin’ that this place is where I meant to take ya, but it was abandoned when I passed through just a few months ago!” He looks around again, each ghost and ghost Pokemon more concernin’ than the last, each bearing spectral scars showing how they met their demise. A Cinderace with a detached head, holding it by it’s hip. A strangely wet looking Wooloo trots happily through the crowd, oblivious to the water dripping off it’s wool. Lucario watches them for a moment before looking back at Bingo. 

“Listen, I know it’s hard to believe since you don’t have the same Aura abilities I do, but there ain’t just ghost types in this town. There are just plain ghosts roamin’ around too.” 

The Lillipup blinks, scanning the area for a moment before glancing up at Lucario, confusion lacing her voice, “Am I not meant to see them?”

Lucario looks as if he is about to have conniption yet he forces himself to calmly ask her, “What?” 

“I can… see them?” She nods over towards the direction of the Cinderace, her eyes bouncing between the different spirits as she spoke, “It’s not hard to tell that they’re not part of the living.” The Lillipup seemed too calm about this.

Lucario follows her line of sight, not liking how she can apparently just see ghosts. He was not bullied as a child for this shit. 

“And you’re not just looking at a Yamask, right? Them bein’ real spirits is a myth.” 

“No! I’m ain’t lookin’ at no Yamask,” She huffs in response, “Here, I’ll prove it!” Bingo takes a few steps away from Lucario and looks further into the crowd, searching for a moment before her gaze locks onto something, “There! I see a Boltund who’s got some kinda wispy mist over their eyes and is wearin’ a striped bandana.”

“Boltund with a– What–” Lucario looks over to the Pokemon in question. The Boltund was frail, strength sapped from old age, but still looked determined and energetic. Though a mist covered much of her body, hiding her face from view, her trap scarf and white vest were still visible, and if you looked closely you could see knives not unlike Bingo’s attached to her shoulders. Pinned to her scarf was a star shaped badge with 10 points, made of gold and some sort of pink crystal. A Guild Badge, and a high-ranking one too.

“Bingo, we should find the Inn and leave as soon as possible. Come on.” He starts speed walking in the direction that he’s pretty sure the inn is supposed to be in, moving far too fast to notice the ghostly canine catching onto his scent. 

The Lillipup scampers after him in confusion, glancing back towards the direction of the Boltund as she attempts to keep up with the taller Pokemon before asking, “Is somethin’ the matter? Do you know ‘em or somethin’?”

“What do you think the answer is?” Lucario asks, pulling Bingo into a cramped side street and weaving through a group of Gastly.

“Well–” Bingo rolled her eyes as she followed suit, mumbling apologies to the Gastly before readdressing Lucario, “Sorry that it seems just a smidge improbable that you know at least one Pokemon in each town we’ve been through that sends you runnin’ with yer tail between yer legs! But I guess I should know better by now.” The Lillipup pauses for a moment before tacking on, “Mister Lucario, are you sure you aren’t afraid of women?”

“I ain’t afraid of women.” Lucario says firmly, leading Bingo into a worn down building. A sign above the door reads “Bed and Boarding!” with a second hastily added below to say “Vacancy!” 

“Alright, I’m going to go get our room if you don’t got any more questions or insults.” 

“I have one more question. Or several.” Bingo narrowed her eyes at Lucario, her ears flattening as she spoke, “What the fuck is up with you and that Boltund? What is happenin’? Do I need to know somethin’? Who was that?”

“That was Boltund. A member- well, former member, now- of The Guild. She was one of the best fighters in the entire Copper Continent and-” Before Lucario can finish, Boltund crashes into the Inn, jumping onto Lucario and resting a paw on his shoulder. 

“I taught him damn near everythin’ he knows!” she says happily, tail wagging. She pushes off his shoulders and goes back to standing on all fours as she sniffs at Bingo. “A child…” she says solemnly, nodding her head. 

Bingo steps back slightly as Boltund’s nose neared her, her body stiffening with a look of utter confusion while an awkward smile crept it’s way onto her face, “Yes…?”

Boltund gasps. “Lucario! You should have told me I have a grandchild!” 

Part One: Scene End.

[antihibikase-archive]

Some stuff about Grimsley Slater / The Gambler, Isagani.

Full name is Grimsley Slater, though Cheren, as a toddler, would call him Giima- Shauntal eventually picked this up and calls him Giima as well. Cheren occasionally calls him this from time to time, particularly, in more vulnerable moments.

As Isagani, he wouldn't go by his full name, just by the nickname Gani- he did this to keep his distance from his brother, The Heart; though the Hero of Ideals noticed that their nicknames were similar (Gani and Gabi, from Gabriel!)

Birthday is October 31, so his Unovan horoscope is a Lampent- something that he dislikes, but finds ironic much later on. (His distaste for ghost types, The Heart had a Lampent, Shauntal has a Chandelure!) This also means he's a Scorpio!

Is closer to his mother than his father, Noland, who he frequently butts heads with, even when he was a young boy- Noland regrets not being able to form a much better connection with Grimsley when he was little, and does his best to do better with Cheren. Grimsley is just annoyed that, despite Noland's attempts, both he and Eve still allowed Cheren to grow up lonely.

His first Pokemon is a Purrloin, though he gets an Oshawott from Cedric Juniper when he began his journey; his old team, at the time of challenging Alder, was Liepard, Samurott, Watchog, and Excadrill.

He has a Huntail by BW2, though he doesn't use it for battle; it mostly stays in the waters of Undella Bay, and Caitlin's staff at the villa often feed it.

He changes team members occasionally, especially against repeat challengers of the league; by post-BW2, he has integrated his Houndoom, who he previously found untamed, into his team.

That Houndoom is from his cousin Kuroba- otherwise known as Team Galactic Admin Saturn! Out of all his cousins, Kuroba is the one he's closest to the most.

Though he was unable to beat Alder, the league kept an eye on him as a possible candidate for a gym leader or Elite Four member- he initially wanted to be a gym leader for Castelia, as it may keep him close to his family, but he supposed fate had other plans and made him an Elite Four member instead.

He chose to specialize in dark types, as he heavily disliked bugs- and maybe also out of spite for the fact that Burgh, his rival for Castelia's gym leader spot, managed to take that place.

Childhood friends with Shauntal and Marshal; he also grew up looking up to Audrea Juniper, Fennel, and Dr. Colress- who he becomes drinking buddies with years later.

And speaking of Dr. Colress! He considers him his only friend outside of the league.. which is a terrible choice, since Colress only puts up with him since he's the reincarnation of The Gambler, who he knows is related to The Heart.

Genuinely wants the best for his brother, and doesn't take risks when it comes to him- though perhaps this is also what leads to their distance, as he wanted to provide for him the best he could, even if it meant he was absent for most of his life. He tries much, much better post-BW2, which is one of the reasons he seeks out a successor other than Cheren; he doesn't want to impose a role on him, and he wants to spend more time with him.

Mild design change; his eyes are indigo, and his scarf is red, to match with Cheren's ribbon! Both of them have vampire fangs.

[unite-battle-network]

Hau’oli v Earl’s (Violet City) Highlights (trainer academy summer tournament quarter-finals)

[Video ID: a Cinderace & Eldegoss from Hau’oli attacking an Earl’s Pikachu that’s inside one of it’s goal zones. It Volt Tackles the Eldegoss but is K.O.’d by the Cinderace’s Blaze Kick.]

Poor Cassia’s Pikachu was in an unwinnable situation here. This first game showed how intense Deedra’s Cinderace can play and it only amped up from there.

[Video ID: a Hau’oli Tsareena with Comfey using Floral Healing on it knocking out four members of Earl’s. As it collects points, a Dragon-Dance boosted Hyper Beam K.O.’s the Tsareena and Comfey.]

The moment that turned the tides! It has been full Hau’oli domination until this point in the matchup but with Lonnie’s Dragonite at full power Earl’s Academy can begin scoring major points.

[Video ID: Earl Academy’s Chandelure using Ignite Midnight on the Regirock, also striking the opposing Eldegoss. The camera follows it to a free goal and watches as it scores, zooming in on its smiling face.]

Nimue was a last minute addition to Earl’s Academy’s team after an unexpected drop-out. Her Lampent — Torchiere — is making this seem a fateful intervention with its gameplay through all the battles.

Results — 416 : 200 , 332 : 358 , 372 : 423

Winners — Earl’s Academy (Violet)

— Ruby, UBN

[connorbarritos]

My Favorite Old Format (2016 Worlds)

Lately I've been reminiscing about older formats mostly because of how un-fun our current standard format is. So, I'd like to take a look back at some of my favorite formats from the past and share my favorite decks from said formats; I'll be talking about the 2016 worlds format for this post.

The Format

The 2016 World Championships included the sets XY Base Set and every set release afterwards until XY: Steam Siege (XY-STS), Steam Siege being legal for the first time at the World Championships. Some cards that were hyped up quite a bit when the set dropped were Special Charge, Pokémon Ranger, and both Volcanion (baby and EX). We also saw reprints of old favorites like Xerneas and Yveltal, and some new Break evolutions to go with them as well as Yanmega and its Break. Now let's talk about some of my favorite decks from this format!

The Decks

Vespiquen/Yanmega Break

Vespiquen had already been a dominate force in the format with its cheap costing attack and high power ceiling, often being paired with either Zebstrika or Zoroark as an early game partner, or with Vileplume to slow the game down by prohibiting items from being played to help you build up your damage (or just be annoying). Yanmega and its Break came in from Steam Siege, seemingly as a perfect partner for Vespiquen as it not only becomes a very strong early game attacker, but it can also potentially attack on the first time because of Forest of Giant Plants which essentially lets you cheat and evolve on the first turn a Grass Pokémon is put into play. Jesper Erikson took this strategy to a first place finish at the Pokémon World Championships defeating Connor Pederson's Toad Bats deck.

Night March

Night March is a deck that holds incredible power. Basically, you have three main attacker: Joltik, Pumpkaboo, and Mew FCO, and sometimes Shaymin EX if you're playing the mirror. Joltik, Lampent, and Pumpkaboo have the Night March attack, which lets you do 20 damage times the number of Pokémon with the Night March attack in your discard pile. With the help of Battle Compressor and Ultra Ball you can easily get your marchers into the discard pile! Sometimes, Night March can be paired with Vespiquen as an alternate attacker since you're going to be discarding a lot of Pokémon anyway.

Mega Audino

Prior to this world championships, practically nobody in the west knew what this card did even though it was printed in Fates Collide (FCO) and has been out for months. So when Japanese players came into this event with this unknown Pokémon, lots of players needed a translation including the commentators! Mega Audino has the Magical Symphony attack for three colorless energy and deals 110 damage, and if you played a supporter cards during your turn, you may deal 50 damage to one of your opponents benched Pokémon. Now, with decks like Night March and Vespiquen, it's very easy to pick up multiple prizes in a turn with this attack. Whether it be from knocking out 2 one-prize Pokémon, like a Vespiquen and a Combee on the bench, or from using Lysandre to bring up a Shaymin-EX with 110 HP to knock it out and something like Joltik. It's true power was discovered that fateful weekend when Shintaro Ito took the 1st place trophy with his version of the deck with Metal energy and Magearna-EX. Truly an amazing deck!

Turbo Darkrai

Whether it's 2013 or 2016, Darkrai-EX has been a staple deck in the standard format. In 2016's version though, Darkrai trades it's incredible ability with an incredible attack! Dark Pulse lets you deal 20 damage PLUS 20 more damage for each Darkness energy attached to all of your Pokémon in play. Some versions of this deck also play Giratina-EX as a way to wall Mega Pokemon with its ability and to prevent your opponent from playing Special energy, Tool cards or Stadium cards, and your Double Dragon Energy count towards Darkrai's Dark Pulse attack! Turbo Darkrai in general is an incredibly fast deck that utilizes cards like Max Elixir to ensure extra energy every turn.

Conclusion

Although I couldn't go through all of the big decks in this format, I hope this gives you all a general Idea of what the mega game looks like. However, you can experience this format, and other old formats, at TCG One. It's a website, similar to Pokémon Showdown, where you can build as many decks as you want without owning any of the cards. You can also check out other decks from this format on the recently launched website PTCG Legends, where you can looks at not only decks from old formats, but also watch streams from big tournaments and look at what those tournaments look like. Thank you for reading this far, I really love doing these write ups. I'll be talking about another one of my favorite old formats in my next post whenever that may be.

[bird-bitez]

your worst nightmare! 

i do a bit of a pmd rp thing and put everyone up against a zoroark that could summon their worst fears. it was fun! 

[ghostypetrainer]

What if Ingo didn’t cross space as well as time and ended up in ancient Unova? He searches everywhere but while there are plenty of things and people that look familiar no one knows him. Then the war that split the original dragon happens and Ingo and a bunch of other people immigrate to Hisui for safety. He’s part of the Galaxy team before Lady Sneasler meets him and decides he’s her warden. The Pearl Clan isn’t happy about a noble picking an outsider but can’t change her mind or tell her no.

Love this idea, because of how common the thought line is that Ingo and Emmet are the descendants of the twin heroes which means that while his literal ancestors are just wrecking shit left and right, Ingo is busy trying to protect people from the rampage of the dragons and get them all to safety. Like damn. Take a page out of your descendant's book, maybe.

They first evacuate to Galar, where Ingo meets Professor Laventon and is intrigued by the idea of a Pokedex, so he decides to join the man and his assistant on the journey to Hisui. He's probably picked up Litwick somewhere along the way, drawn to the ghost type's familiarity, and it's evolved into a Lampent at this point. They land on the shores of Hisui, and Ingo throws himself into the study of Pokemon- it's nice to have a purpose again, and winds up catching the rest of his Hisui team... when he has a fated encounter with Lady Sneasler of the Highlands and she takes a liking to this strange man who both kind to his Pokemon and totally confident when it comes to battling with them.

Next thing Ingo knows, he's being kidnapped by this long Sneasel and is taken back to the Pearl Clan where Lady Sneasler dumps him out in front of Lady Irida and insistently taps his wrist. This is her warden now. She's chosen. No one else gets to dispute.

[dragonairlairgiveaways]

Pokemon eat people?!

Sweet summer child, GF have been talking about that from the beginning lmao. Yes, Pokemon eat people. Or feed off of them, not always entirely gobbled up. Some examples: 

Guzzlord:

I mean... it’s a pretty prominent post-game plot point in SUMO that Guzzlord eats anything, including people such as a previous Faller Looker and Nanu used as bait years ago. Every Pokedex entry aside from Ultra Sun talks about how it’s constantly eating and constantly hungry and will devour whole moutain ranges and cities: Sun: It has gobbled mountains and swallowed whole buildings, according to reports. It's one of the Ultra Beasts.Ultra Moon: An unknown life-form called a UB. It may be constantly hungry—it is certainly always devouring something.

Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure:

Not strictly physically eating but they do basically sap your soul/life energy until you die/ are an empty husk: (Litwick) Black: Litwick shines a light that absorbs the life energy of people and Pokémon, which becomes the fuel that it burns.(Lampent) Black2/White2: The spirits it absorbs fuel its baleful fire. It hangs around hospitals waiting for people to pass on.(Chandelure) White: Being consumed in Chandelure's flame burns up the spirit, leaving the body behind.

Golbat and Crobat

Whilst it applies to the whole line, it’s only ever really played up with Golbat. It’s an absolutely gluttonous vampire bat that over-gorges itself on blood, Crobat has it mentioned in a lesser extent: (Golbat) Sapphire: Golbat bites down on prey with its four fangs and drinks the victim's blood. It becomes active on inky dark moonless nights, flying around to attack people and Pokémon.(Golbat) Moon: Sometimes they drink so much blood, they can't fly anymore. Then they fall to the ground and become food for other Pokémon.(Crobat) Ultra Sun: Its fangs are so sharp, if it bites you in the dark and sucks your blood, you won't notice any pain or realize you've been bitten.

Hydreigon: 

Whilst not explicitly said to eat people, it’s Pokedex entries heavily imply that it can and will when on a rampage: White: The heads on their arms do not have brains. They use all three heads to consume and destroy everything.Black2/White2: It responds to movement by attacking. This scary, three-headed Pokémon devours everything in its path!

Jellicent and Dragalge:

Whilst not related their Pokedex entries both imply pretty much the same sort of thing: they have been known to attack ships entering their territory and said ships aren’t seen again. With Jellicent it’s explicit they devour the life energy of those onboard, but it’s heavily implied to be the case with Draglage since it is a predator.  (Jellicent) Black: The fate of the ships and crew that wander into Jellicent's habitat: all sunken, all lost, all vanished.(Jellicent) Ultra Sun: Jellicent is always hanging around fancy cruise ships and tankers, hoping to drag away its prey.(Dragalge) Y: Tales are told of ships that wander into seas where Dragalge live, never to return.(Dragalge) Ultra Moon: It blends in with seaweed to ambush its prey and then takes them down with a poisonous liquid strong enough to melt metal.

Cacturne: 

Genuinely terrifying in that it just follows people and Pokemon lost in the deserts it inhabits and just waits for them to keel over. Imagine how horrifying a feeling that is, to have this Pokemon trailing behind waiting for you to die. Sapphire: If a traveler is going through a desert in the thick of night, Cacturne will follow in a ragtag group. The Pokémon are biding their time, waiting for the traveler to tire and become incapable of moving.FireRed/LeafGreen: It lives in deserts. It becomes active at night when it hunts for prey exhausted from the desert's heat.

Victreebel

Another case of people straying into their territory and never returning. Only more horrifying because it’s a giant pitcher plant. You are being slowly eaten/digested alive by their acid. Red/Blue: Said to live in huge colonies deep in jungles, although no one has ever returned from there.Yellow: Lures prey with the sweet aroma of honey. Swallowed whole, the prey is melted in a day, bones and all.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s plenty of other Pokemon mentioned to consume people in some way or another, whether it’s physically eating them or draining their body fluids or lifeforce and there’s others that whilst it isn’t outright stated, you can make the assumption they do based on context clues. 

Other delightful ‘mons I didn’t go into detail on: Sandygast/Palossand, Shiinotic, Tyrantrum (fortunately extinct in the wild), Froslass and Glalie, Rampardos (extinct in the wild and also hilarious given it’s based on a herbivorous dinosaur), Drapion, Darkrai, Yveltal, Gyarados and Kyurem. Again, there’s more than that, but they’re some truly LOVELY ones to think about too. 

[mauriooo]

because i’m a dang gremlin whose brain decided to hyperfixate on pokemon again i decided to give all of my ocs a partner pokemon (a la Detective Pikachu partner pokemon) so 1. i get to look at a bunch of pokemon and 2. i have something to draw when i’m bored so

a solid 55 ocs + pokemon (including legendaries just cos) are under the cut (cut out all non-humanoid ocs (piccolo, newton, endris) and limited the ghosties to their human forms)

you can also ask for explanations (even though i doubt anyone really cares lmao)

Skye - Cinderace Pine - Chatot Lavender - Banette?? maybe?? CC/Cecilia - Alcremie Pharaoh - Flygon Hawthorn - Rotom Genesis - Zoroark Aurora - Lapras Downpour - Floatzel Glitch - Porygon-Z Matrix - also Porygon-Z, but ~shiny~ Nova - Elgyem Aeria - Togekiss Fiti - Shaymin (Land Forme) Ka - Litleo Blackjack - Absol Hallo - Houndour Kohana - Swanna Nimbus - Swablu Digit - Porygon Khloe - Kirlia Disas - Runerigus Inklii - Smeargle Artemis - Oricorio (Sensu Style) Luna - Alolan Marowak Sol - Pignite Bee - Florges Hazel - Phantump Michael - Trevenant Cassidy - Honedge Ezekiel - Lampent Lisa - Mimikyu Gardenia - Gossifleur Ashe - Talonflame Meredy - Meloetta (Aria Forme Connor - Togedemaru Nikki - Magneton Renier - Gallade Anais - Boltund Coraline - Primarina Edward - Tauros Henry - Kingler Charity - Ralts Alexander - Mudsdale Leander - Pyroar (Male) Bianca - Wooloo Griffin - Drapion Evan/Evelyn - Klink Jacques - Gogoat Kai - Basculin (Red) Marley - Basculin (Blue) Kibo - Gothitelle Melanie - Bisharp Lady Fate - Mew

[chip-off-the-writers-block]

On Creepy Pokemon Entries

There’s always a lot of talk about how creepy the world of pokemon is, with many creepy entries in the pokedex. But for a franchise based around the sucess of people being correlated to how good friends you are to your pokemon, that doesn’t seem to fit. So, what if their entries are kind, but only because humans don’t understand them? I’ve framed a few in a positive light, but feel free to add on.

Drowzee: (Silver)  It remembers every dream it eats. It rarely eats the dreams of adults because children's are much tastier. At least, that’s what Drowzee tell themself. Night after night, they walk through the dark halls of the house, stopping only at the one at the end. The door is closed, but Drowzee already knows what they’ll find inside. A child, no older than the age of five, tossing and turning in a hidden battle. Nightmares taste bitter and spicy, but Drowzee has never wanted for anything else. They’re careful, tearing the nightmare apart cleanly and popping it in their mouth, the bitter taste made worth it by the tranquility that crosses over the child’s face.

Bannette- (Emerald)  An abandoned plush doll became this Pokémon. They are said to live in garbage dumps and wander about in search of the children that threw them away. Every child loves their toys. But every so often, a toy gets left behind. Bannettes are pokemon who are born of love and loss, the love of the child on the doll from where they were born. They wander back as far as they can remember, trying to find their child once again. When they find them, they turn back into a doll, ready to make memories with the child once more. 

Drifloon- (HeartGold)  It is whispered that any child who mistakes Drifloon for a balloon and holds on to it could wind up missing. (Pearl) It tugs on the hands of children to steal them away. However, it gets pulled around instead. Drifloon knows what it feels like to be alone. They were alone for as long as they could remember. They knew how it felt to fear. And they want to save others from that fear. They approach kids during the day, playing around with them. Kids who need them are light enough for them to carry off, and kids who don’t can’t be lifted.   Lampent: (Black 2)  The spirits it absorbs fuel its baleful fire. It hangs around hospitals waiting for people to pass on. Hospitals are bright and sterile, which is not the ideal place for Lampent to live. They prefer much dimmer places, filled with warmth and void of bright lights. But they also know the fate of spirits here. Many will turn to pokemon themselves instead of moving on, because their life was cut short and they’re unwilling to leave. Lampent gives the spirit an option. They take the spirirt within themselves, the flame within them burning brighter with new life, and show them the world through their eyes. Sometimes it helps the spirit pass on. Other times, it guides them on their journey into their new skin. Both ways, Lampent likes all of the new friends they make.

[schmidt-attack-pain-index]

I had a visit with family recently. One of my younger cousin still insists on her theory that my lampent, Fate, ate my soul but spat part of it back out because it felt bad and that is why I look, quote "Like That".

[thatvideogamezoo]

Alright, here we go. I will tell you my hodgepodge of a deck for the Pokemon TCG. My deck is still Standard legal, so if you really want, you can go out and be a degenerate like me! It could be modified some, but what I have currently feels pretty good. But yeah, here it is. My Pokemon TCG deck, Standard format. Deck Name: Powerful Doug Deck Affinity: Water/Fire Deck List: Pyukumuku x4 (Sun & Moon 47/149) Delibird x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 26/145) Regice x1 (XY Ancient Origins 24/98) Glaceon EX x1 (XY Fates Collide 116/124) Litwick x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 11/145) Lampent x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 12/145) Chandelure x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 13/145) Victini x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 10/145) Turtonator GX x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 18/145) Ilima x2 (Sun & Moon 121/149) Professor Kukui x2 (Sun & Moon 128/149) Lillie x2 (Sun & Moon 122/149) Hau x2 (Sun & Moon 120/149) Great Ball x2 (Sun & Moon 119/149) Nest Ball x2 (Sun & Moon 123/149) Pokemon Catcher x2 (Sun & Moon 126/149) Escape Rope x2 (XY Primal Clash 127/160) Red Card x1 (XY 124/146) Professor's Letter x2 (XY 123/146) Poison Barb x3 (Sun & Moon 124/149) Choice Band x2 (S&M Guardians Rising 121/145) Bursting Balloon x2 (XY BREAKpoint 97/122) Double Colorless Energy x2 (Sun & Moon 136/149) Basic Fire Energy x8 Basic Water Energy x6 Strategy: Punish people for attacking/stall for the Time Out This deck heavily punishes high aggro decks. A lot of cards here do damage or inflict a status effect when you hit them. Pyukumuku does 60 upon KO, Turtonator GX does 80 if they attack when Shell Trap is up, Bursting Balloon does 60 if they attack when it's up, and Poison Barb poisons them if they attack. EX and GX Pokemon are also rampant in good decks. I have a few cards to counter them too. Glaceon EX prevents damage from all Evolution Pokemon on the next turn if Crystal Ray is used, Regice prevents all damage from EX Pokemon on the next turn if Resistance Blizzard is used, and Choice Band does 30 more damage to GX and EX Pokemon when attacking. Chandelure is here to Burn things. The whole line runs on 1 Fire, and if I have Poison Barb on it, I can stack Burn and Poison and them for 30 Damage between turns. Or, put on a Choice Band and reliably do 100 damage every turn against EX and GX Pokemon, which is not bad for 1 Fire energy. Now... you may look at me and wonder why the hell Delibird and Victini are here. Delibird has "All the Presents." Flip until you get Tails. Search your deck for that many cards and put them in your hand. It's good early to just get any card I need, and even into the late game if I'm struggling for cards to save me. Surprise Attack for 40 and 1 Water Energy is OK if I really need to poke at something too. Victini isn't there to do damage. Its ability allows you to redo the results of coin flips on attacks once per turn. When Pyukumuku or Delibird fail to do well, I give myself a second chance. Victini is the savior I need. And, of course, some handy disruption and card draw/tutor effects to get what I need when I need it or mess with my opponent. This deck plays very slow, things don't do a lot of damage very quickly, but if you can't get the KO, you can scare your opponent into not attacking to go for the Time Out. You almost always have something up to punish them for attacking. So yeah, this is the deck that beat Volcanion in tournament. Type advantage or not, that has to be worth something!

[truthfinding-blog]

SAMUROTT ♂ ( mijiko ) - water, lvl. 87, gentle nature, torrent ability 

mijiko was touya’s first pokémon ( as well as his only pokémon consistent pokémon for a majority of his journey ). mijiko and touya are very close; the two having gone through a lot together since the trainer left nuvema town ( mijiko defending touya as a trainer since the beginning, and the two protecting one another through the various trials they encountered ). picking mijiko as an oshawott wasn’t a decision he put too much thought into —- bianca pressured him into going first, and he picked the pokêmon based on the fact his blue coloring matched the color of his clothes. being a gentle nature, mijiko is typically mellow and quiet; however, being loyal to his trainer and teammates can make him a formidable opponent.  

moves: surf, razor shell,  aqua jet, protect

BRAVIARY ♂ ( bonko ) -  normal / flying, lvl. 80, adamant nature, defiant ability

encountered by chance, touya found the pokêmon as a weakened rufflet that had been abandoned by it’s trainer a few days before. without hesitation, touya treated bonko, and later made it apart of his team. showing genuine kindness, braviary learned to trust humans once again and is nothing but loyal to touya and his teammates. bonko is noticeably smaller than others of his species, however he has learned ( with touya’s help ) to use his small size to his advantage.

moves: brave bird, fly, roost, air slash 

GALVANTULA ♂ ( uruko ) - bug / electric, lvl. 78, timid nature, compound eyes ability

( although touya would never admit it ) uruko caught touya off guard as a joltik in the chargestone cave; scaring both him and the spider. making the pokémon apart of his team, touya quickly found out that the small pokémon liked to hide under his hat —- something he didn’t mind at all until he evolved ( making him significantly bigger in size ); not realizing his own size however, the pokêmon still attempts to crawl beneath his trainers cap from time to time. 

moves: thunder wave, sticky web, bug buzz, discharge 

SAWSBUCK ♀ ( ikako ) - normal / grass, lvl. 77, lonely nature, sap sipper ability 

touya caught the pokémon as a deerling out of curiosity. having heard about it’s adaptability, he decided that he had to see it for himself. the pokémon ( luckily enough ) seemed to be just as curious about touya —- thus allowing herself to be captured, and travel the region. she is quieter than the rest of touya’s team, preferring to be by herself or only with touya rather than being amongst all of them at once ( not that she is opposed to it ). 

moves: return, horn leech, nature power aromatherapy

CHANDELURE ♂ ( moshiko ) - ghost / fire, lvl. 75, modest nature, flash fire ability

as a child, touya had always been interested in ghost pokêmon ( he had always encouraged ghost stories during late night get togethers with his friends ). running into a ghost type pokêmon had almost felt like something that was only waiting to happen ( fate, almost ). although it proved to be a tedious task, it wasn’t long until touya had a litwick to call his own. it wasn’t long until the pokêmon took a liking to touya. touya hadn’t been to adamant on evolving him once he had evolved into lampent ( he didn’t even have a dusk stone to be remotely excited about the idea ); however, it was moshiko who had accidentally evolved himself by stumbling upon and playing with a dusk stone he had found —- much to touya’s surprise, and later joy.

moves: shadow ball, will - o - wisp, hex, flamethrower

[schmidt-attack-pain-index]

I get ATTACKED by POKEMON and rate how PAINFUL it is on a scale of 1-4. ASK ME and I will tell you how painful a Pokemon’s attacks are. 

I am a PROFESSIONAL. Do NOT try this at HOME. You WILL DIE.

(ooc: inspired by a post made by @/adobe-outdesign. While the concept of the pain scale is based on a real life person’s (Justin Schmidt, Rest in Peace) work, and the last name of the character is also derived from it, the character themselves is not based on the person even remotely. If anything, Mike is partially based on a FNaF character.)

(ooc: Picrew of Mike’s appearance for fun. Made with This Picrew , This Picrew)

(ooc: Mike’s main Pokemon. Pinocchi the Banette, Port the Rotom, Cast the Abra, Fate the Lampent, Omen the Gengar, and Penny the Gimmighoul. Mike does not realize Cast and Omen are shiny.

Mike also has a non-battle Absol named Osha, a shiny Iron Valiant named Melody (whom he also does not know is shiny), and a Slither Wing named Furball. Ghost types seem naturally drawn to Mike, though he isn’t sure why.)