#I’d like to see if we could add pokemon to it as well one day

[waywardstation]

Pokemon Masters’ new photoshoot feature is so much fun lol

[karkallicious]

Homestuck as random bullshit I've said EB: someone's gotta tell betty crocker to lay off the cocaine.

EB: i’ve seen michael cera more times than i’d like to today.

EB: i'm sure ben stiller is a decent guy irl but if given the choice between being shot or watching all of his movies i'd ask about the bullet caliber.

TT: Women only want me for my skills in the occult and not my great personality or awesome ass...

TT: That sounds like an issue you should take up with Freud.

TT: But when someone add's apostrophe's to any word that end's with s? You went out of your way to add those. Ignoring your spell check screaming and crying. A tear rolling down the cheek of your elementary school teachers.

TT: Sometimes I'll see an incredibly minor typo and have to resist the urge to be the most pedantic person known to humanity.

TT: This is eldritch horror fucker discrimination.

TG: you dont just take someones obama prism away man

TG: i draw the line at rapping muppets dude

(when questioned as to why $100 was spent on a sword) TG: uh. well. it's a sword.

TG: well it doesnt sound as hilarious to review dildos and say "this one is sans" when you guys are this unenthusiastic

TG: if i ever die play caramelldansen at my funeral TG: theres no sentimental reason or anything TG: i just want to completely throw off the vibes

GG: i’m on board with men in maid dresses regardless of furry status coward

GG: home alone so things are getting pretty wild (talking to a cactus)

GG: local bitch takes "worst nap ever" wakes up several hours later sweaty and somehow more tired

(extreme cold warning in effect, active blizzard outside, sent at 7:18 pm) GG: my grandpa and i are going to dairy queen just for the hell of it

GG: I was gonna get shit done today, so I made a pie.

GG: The only explanation I had for my impromptu dessert making was “This is how I deal with stress...”

GG: Getting genuinely invested in the Cookie Clicker stock market.

TT: (watches toddler trip and fall) skill issue

TT: I frankly think it's a tragedy disney hasn't remade more movies but with muppets.

TT: They're just like "yeah okay dark lord with a robot army we all know you have a ponysona"

TT: I don't make a habit of looking at US political figure anime boy mpreg.

(while holding a katana and talking to a poster) TT: Do you think I make too many impulse purchases, Hatsune Miku?

TG: if not meant to claw grip kitty head why kitty head so holdable

TG: "it's a bad omen when a black cat crosses your path" incorrect, my day has just been significantly improved by seeing a kitty

(on fruitcake) TG: listen you have to pour alcohol into that shit until too many pieces could have you stumbling. great grandma knew how to party

GT: My amusing mugs have had the side effect that today my grandma asked me if she should go full goblin mode or if I wanted to.

GT: You don’t ask questions when a game makes the bold decision to sexualize a t-rex.

GT: Thinking about the time we played a murder mystery game as a family and I got way too into character as a victorian era author.

GT: I'm still disappointed about the time my zoo camp didn't get to watch the tigers being fed because like 15 tornadoes were headed towards us.

GT: Hey lads I just almost accidentally blinded myself.

AA: i love ritualpastas. i like to figure out at what point i would fail and probably get my skin turned into a throw rug or smth

AA: (skelet0n v0ice) hey bitches

AA: oh i have demons in me now thats fun

AA: d0 gh0sts c0unt as pe0ple?

AA: there would be teeth scattering like a fucked up sprinkler

AT: tHIS ISN'T ABOUT PORN ANYMORE IT'S ABOUT MAKING MORE POKEMON COMPETITIVELY VIABLE

AT: i’D LIKE TO THINK I’M NOT OVERLY EMOTIONAL BUT JUST NOW I ALMOST CRIED BECAUSE I REMEMBERED THE SOUND PORCUPINES MAKE AND I REALLY WANT TO HUG ONE BUT DUE TO THE NATURE OF PORCUPINES I CANNOT

AT: i CAN FAINTLY HEAR A CHICKEN IN MY NEIGHBORS’S YARD,,, wHAT

AT: i JUST SPILLED HOT COFFEE ON MYSELF AND APOLOGIZED TO THE BARISTA PROFUSELY

TA: my neme2ii2, biilly bob rockafiire. iit wa2 dark iin there.

TA: (dub2tep play2 a2 ii collap2e on the floor)

TA: ii don't thiink ii've giiven a fuck iin 2everal year2

TA: at thii2 poiint ii’m a2kiing the computer iif iit want2 a blood 2acriifiice

CG: *PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS AND IM NOT ALLOWED TO SAY THAT IN NINTENDO GAMES WHICH I PLAY DUE TO THEIR MORE CALM NATURE*

CG: IMAGINE THE MOST LOUD, DISAPPOINTED, DEFEATED SIGH YOU CAN. ON MY BEHALF.

CG: I WILL FUCK MYSELF OUT OF SPITE. IT WILL BE AN ENDLESS FEEDBACK LOOP, AN INFINITE ENERGY SOURCE, OF SPITE AND SELF FUCKING

CG: "THAT'S A PROBLEM FOR FUTURE ME," I SAY, FORGETTING THAT NOW FUTURE ME HAS TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM

CG: UGH THIS PLACE IS FULL OF PEOPLE AND THEYRE ALL STUPID AND I HAVE NO ONE TO VOICE MY GRIEVANCES TO OUTSIDE OF THE INTERNET.

AC: :33 < you meow in theory catgirls would probably eat anything smaller than them based on actual cat behaviours

AC: :33 < i at one point went out in public with homemade cat ears and a tail and tbh it wasn’t that bad. like sure people might judge but it turns out being cringe is being fr33

AC: :33 < *bap bap bap bap bap*

AC: :33 < i just wanted to try something but discovered the owo extension was twagically wemowoved. a woss fur evewybody

AC: :33 < today i said "you will be exiled for your baby crimes" because my cat was messing with my sketchbook

GA: If You Wouldnt Fuck A Vampire Minimum Youre A Coward

GA: I Use Amazon The Least I Can Out Of Spite That They Took Away My Favorite Fabric Store

GA: My Aesthetic Is Vampire Aligned Not Ghost Aligned I Dont Wear White

GA: I Am Going To Forcefeed You An Entire Fucking Dictionary

GC: 1 DON'T CONDON3 CR1M3S GUYS. UNL3SS TH3Y'R3 FUNNY

GC: TH3 ONLY V4L1D CH4NG1NG LOGO TO R41NBOW FL4G TH1NG 1S WH3N TH3 SCP FOUND4T1ON DO3S 1T

GC: 1T’S TH31R F4ULT TH3Y COULDN’T H4NDL3 B31NG D3C4P1T4T3D OFF1C3R >:]

GC: DON'T D13 DUD3 TH4T WOULD B3 D3C1D3DLY UNG4M3RL1K3 OF YOU

AG: remem8er kids: no matter how 8ad things get, at least you’re not the middle dude in a human centipede. pro8a8ly.

AG: spider furries: “88w88 what’s this?”

AG: may god have mercy on your 8ones because I won’t

(about a ripped cat plushie) CT: D --> we can rebuild him. we have the technology.

CT: D --> why must being cool come at the cost of being really sweaty

CT: D --> that's a horse... with an ass on both ends...

TC: WhY wOuLd YoU bUy *ShRoOmS* oN *eTsY*

TC: SoRrY wRoNg PoSt I wAs TrYiNg To ShArE cLoWn MiLkInG

TC: “AnY lAsT wOrDs, PuNk?” “HoNk”

TC: I hAvE aCtUaLlY eAtEn LeMoN sLiCeS aT rEsTaUrAnTs As ThE wAiTeR wAtChEs In HoRrOr

CA: i wwas nevver invvited to any high school parties. they might havve happened. i just wwas not invvited

(about invasive fish coming onto land) CA: i knoww this is an envvironmental hazard and all but let’s face it it’s a little funny

CA: i havve an spqr hat and i lovve it but also don't wwant people coming up to me like "you knoww wwhat the romans did right" like if i did not knoww a god damn thing about roman history i wwould not be wwearing the hat

CA: i'm a slut in theory. in practice i am not vvery good at it.

CA: anyone wwho thinks i'm insufferable for acknowwledging that i'm not unattractivve is ignoring all the other perfectly vvalid reasons i'm insufferable.

CC: one time I managed to make ocean puns back and fort)( wit)( a friend for like an )(our and I t)(ink our friend w)(o was also in t)(e car actually contemplated krilling us

CC: starfis)(... are mermaid nipple clamps

(Sends picture of a horde of goldfish) CC: my entourage

[archersxartxblog]

the beginning

hey, I hope this isn't to boring to read, it's just some family fluff, and I wanted to set some stuff up for some future chapters.

so I hope you all enjoy

Chapter 8

It was hotter than usual today, Ingo noticed as he pulled his hat off just long enough to wipe his brow, before replacing it back on his head. Almost unbearably so, only made slightly worse by the Pearl clan outfit which was made to stand against the harsh weather of the iceland. Ingo had even tied his coat around his waist to alleviate such heat. 

It was odd even though in the summer the mountain tended to be fairly cool. 

Even the twins seemed to be feeling the effects of the heat, their normal boundless energy turned to tired huffs as they made their way back once more with arms full of herbs he’d asked them to collect.

“We’re back.” Emmet called as he and his brother made their way back towards the tent.

“I think the heat is even getting to the pokemon, the Toxicroak didn’t even try to fight us near the Quarry. They just flung mud at us as we walked past.” Young Ingo added as they placed the requested herbs in the basket outside of the tent. 

True to his word, their pale pink outfits were covered in mud stains and Ingo could clearly see splotches on their faces and in their hair as well.

They would have to wash up at some point during the day.

Then again he was in need of some maintenance as well today as well. It had been some time since he washed his own cab, and with the added sweat and grime caused from chopping up firewood all morning he was feeling especially gross.

Just more to add to the list.

But just the thought of doing any more in this heat was unappealing, even a pokemon battle sounded like it would be a bit much.

“I’m tempted to go bother one of the Gyarados by the waterfall. Maybe they’ll use Water Gun on me.” Ingo could hear his eldest joke, a slight laugh in his tone as the boys stopped to stand in the shade of the tree for a moment before heading off on their next chore. 

They still needed to find Plump beans for tonight.

“Gyarados can’t learn Water Gun.” Emmet replied matter of factly, seemed to relax a little from not being directly in the sun's rays. “It would probably use Twister Instead.”

“I’d still take it. Sounds like it would be better than this heat, I mean It feels like the Desert Resort out here.”

Ingo simply shook his head and chuckled as he listened to their conversation, pausing in his wood to look over the mountain. 

It was just like the boys had said, the heat seemed to be getting to the surrounding pokemon as well; driving them into the cool dark depths of caves, Mud lakes and Watering holes. Even the Parascets around the base of the mountain seemed to be looking for shelter from the heat. Only water and grass type pokemon seemed to be doing well.

His eyes landed on the Fabled spring not to fair off.

He had never been big on swimming, though he was in fact a fairly strong swimmer. It was mostly because he wasn’t fond of going near deep water; for a reason he was unable to recall but it was a reason nonetheless.

Yet the lake seemed rather inviting, with its cool waters and splashing waterfalls promising to rid him and the boys of grime and cool their bodies of the heat. Better yet there was nothing but a few very shy Basculin swimming about.

But if they were to stop now then they would find themselves falling behind schedule, and the mountain could be harsh in the winter for those that weren’t prepared for it. And Ingo would rather the boys be prepared for it.

Once more he looked over the Fabled spring and then glanced at the twins.

Then again how many more days would they have left to be able to go swimming in the lakes and wash their clothes at the shore before it became too cold to do so? They would need to conserve water once Winter came.

Besides Maintenance was Maintenance, and he couldn’t expect all trains to operate to full efficiency if he didn’t give time for proper repairs. 

And the water wasn’t overly deep anyway so there was nothing to be worried about on that front.

Setting his ax down by the pile of firewood, Ingo looked back over to the twins, catching their attention. “You two head inside and get changed, preferably into something you can swim in.” he instructed, as he picked up the last of the wood and stacked it in the nearby pile.

“We’re going Swimming!” Emmet seemed to perk up at this, a bit of his lost energy seemed to be renewed at the prospect of going into the water. The boy was practically halfway to the tent before he realized that his brother wasn’t following him.

But for once Young Ingo didn’t seem to mirror his brother’s excitement, in fact he almost seemed horrorifed; his posture and face more rigid than normal. “S-swimming. B-but don’t we have chores to do? Shouldn’t we get those done first so we don’t fall behind schedule?”

Ingo couldn’t help but laugh as the boy gave voice to the thought he had himself not too long ago, yet he sensed there was something else behind the child’s words. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one not overly fond of swimming. 

“While that is true, it’s important to make time for repairs if we want to continue to run along these tracks at optimal efficacy.” in turn he gave a voice to his own conclusion to his internal argument. “Besides, I can’t risk you forgetting your safety checks again and pestering the local water types just to cool down. I figured it would be best to conduct you both towards safer tracks.”

His eldest groaned slightly as he went to follow his brother, muttering under his breath about ‘opening his big mouth’.

He had to admit he felt a little bad for making the boy do something he was clearly uncomfortable with, but young Ingo was just as much in need of a good wash as the rest of them; and the swim would do him some good in the end. Ingo wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea himself, but if he was going to make the boys do it then he wasn’t about to sit on the sidelines.

It was either this or beginning water from the rivers back up the cliffs just to bathe and wash clothes in, and that would take much more time and much more work.

“Once we’re done in the spring, we’ll continue on with our assignments. I’m sure Tangrowth will be more than happy to assist the two of you.” he added as he waited for the two to finish up, before heading in to get changed himself.

—

“Common Ingo. it’s not that deep.” 

The warden heard Emmet call out to his brother, and looked up from washing his coat; just in time to see him splash the other boy in an attempt to get him to chase him further into the lake.

An attempt that looked like it was about to work as young Ingo took a few steps forwards, his face pulled into a frustrated frown but went no further. Like there was some kind of mental barror he was trying to pull himself over but to no avail. 

Even Ingo’s team had tried to coax the boy deeper in at one point. With Alakazam wading chest and holding out her arms out for him to swim to her, but to no avail. 

In fact Machamp looked just about ready to throw the boy in himself, but luckily refrained. 

He wasn’t sure how the boy could take just standing half in the water and half out, with the sun’s rays beating harshly on his upper half; turning his pale skin red as it burned. Ingo was hot just looking at him.

Surely the cool water would feel better then simply then allowing his up half to be Hot Boxed.

Yet somewhere in his heart Ingo felt like he knew that whatever was tethering his oldest son to shore was something that was not easy to fight against.

And as he looked down at his coat, that he’d been washing for the past ten minutes and had been cleaned by the first five; Ingo wondered if really had any room to judge. 

Wasn’t he just delaying his arrival to the station just as well.

Perhaps it was time for them both to ease their breaks off and continue down the tracks.

Pulling his coat from the water, he rang it out the best he could before hanging it up next to his hat to dry and removed his simple gray Kimono as he moved towards the water.

There was a moment of pause as he reached the water’s edge, a sense of unease and fear clutched his mind. Evoking the feeling of a cold ghostly tendril wrapping around his leg. but without any context behind the thoughts he was able to push through with facts. 

These waters were safe.

They were not that deep.

And there was nothing lurking under the waves aside from a few harmless Basculin, and even if there was anything he had a full team of pokemon ready to defend himself and twins.

As he passed he took the young Ingo’s hand in his own. The warden gave it a slight squeeze that he hoped was comforting, his hold wasn’t overly tight; but the boy would not easily slip for his grasp. Giving a small smile he looked down at the boy as he backed into the water pulling his son in with him.

Slowly Ingo inches back into water, pausing only mid-way as the cold water hit his back, causing his muscles to tense for a brief moment before relaxing. 

Rather than focus on how deep he was getting he instead focused on keeping his son afloat. The boy’s movements were a clear sign that he wasn’t a strong swimmer and at best might be able to keep his head above water, but he was unable to relax enough to let himself float.

As much as he worried for the boy it was a welcome distraction as the water came up to his own shoulders, and his foot could just touch the bottom. 

“Ingo and Dad finally made it into the water.” Emmet cheered as the younger twin swam up next to them, earning a splash from his brother for his troubles. Never one to back down Emmet of course splashed back catching both his brother and his father as he laughed. “It’s not my fault you’re scared of water.”

“I-I’m Not scared of water Emmet! I’m scared of Drowning which is perfectly logical and rational!” Young Ingo shouted, making even Ingo’s ears ring a little, his face red as he splashed back at his brother.

Sensing a fight about to break out and having already been hit by a wave of water once, Ingo quickly set out to put an end to it. “Okay, Okay, that’s enough.” He tried to keep his own tone even so his own distress didn’t leak out on accident, as he put his hand on Emmet’s shoulder and pulled Young Ingo closer to his chest. 

“To be fair Emmet, I’m not fond of going into the water either. So I would kindly ask you not to tease your brother about it less you wish to tease me as well.” he requested, offering up his own insecurities to try and quell the argument.

With a sigh, and a slight look of guilt Emmet relented and went back to trying to chase after the Basculin. the water type fleeing from the boy just fast enough to remain out of reach but would slow down if they went too far, clearly playing with the human child.

Crisis averted for now, Ingo started to feel himself relax a little into the coolness of the water. The ache in his muscles from the days work slowly bleeding away from his body; taking away with dirt and sweat that had no doubt built up on his skin. 

Carefully he allowed himself to lean back keeping an arm out for his eldest to hold onto as the boy tried to get his movement in the water a bit more under control. At best he was getting a basic Growlithe paddle down.

This was…nice.

“Canon Ball!”

The words were the only warning any of them got as something large came crashing into the water. Sending waves of water crashing against them from all sides. Within millia seconds Ingo had sat up, his mind on full alert with his eldest holding onto to his chest in a slight death grip. 

Even Emmet was shielding his face from, looking unhappy with being hit by such a large volume of water.

A moment later Akari broke the water’s surface with a laugh, and pulled her hair back out of her face. “Sorry if I’m intruding, but I was doing some research in this area for the professor and saw you guys.” She smiled looking over towards Ingo. “With this heat, I figured you guys probably had the best idea.”

“So you splashed everyone.” Emmet stated, his face pulled into an annoyed frown as he pushed the drenched silver locks from his face, glaring at the teen.

Ingo took a moment to take a deep breath, calming himself back down and bringing an arm around the still startled child; before looking back at Akari. 

"We were just taking a break from our work to enjoy nice weather, and you're more than welcome to join us, Akari. As long as the professor doesn't mind of course." He offered, taking the chance to move himself and his eldest to shallower water, so he at least had better footing.

"It's all good." The teen grinned, seeming at home in the water as she was on land. "I have to hang out around the springs until night time, anyway. Have to observe the way the clefairies act in the light of the full moon." She explained with a shrug. "So I figured I'd hang out with you guys."

"Well, like I said. You're more than welcome to join us." Ingo reiterated, giving a slight smile.

“Thanks uncle Ingo-huh?” Akari chimed only to take notice of the Ten year old holding onto his chest, and her smile grew. "Aw, is someone being a clingy little Oshawott?" Her tone turned teasing, as she turned her attention towards Young Ingo; drawing a groan from the boy.

"Ingo and Dad are scared of water." Emmet laughed from behind the teen, and Ingo the boy a look of mock betrayal. 

"Really" Akari said as she turned her attention back to the Warden. "Warden Ingo is scared of water?" She gave him a bewildered look, with one brow raised as if she couldn’t believe what his son had just told her.

“I’ll have you know, neither of us are fond of deep water.” Ingo corrected, holding his head just a little higher to show the teen her disbelief didn’t affect him. “And Young Ingo isn’t the strongest swimmer, so yes, I am assisting.”

This seemed to draw a chuckle out of the girl. “Guess you two needed something in common aside from names and looks.” she teased, swimming backwards to join Emmet. “Careful Lil’ Ingo, next could be Male pattern baldness.” 

“Hey Now” Ingo scolded, though he couldn’t help but grin as his youngest seemed to respond by Splashing the grin. 

Slowly Ingo ran a hand through his thinning hair. He'd hardly say he was Bald, sure his hairline was in the same place as the twins was and there wasn’t as much of it as them but at worst he’d say it was a more of a receding hairline.

“I don’t think you're bald.”

Ingo quickly looked down to see wide silver eyes staring back up at. His eldest had been so quiet the past few minutes it had almost shocked him when the boy did speak up. 

“Thank you, Ingo.” The Warden gave his son a slight smile, noting that the boy seemed to be a bit more comfortable in the water than he was; no longer clinging to him like he had been. Though he was still holding onto him for support, Young Ingo was at the very least trying, and Ingo was proud of him for that. 

Glancing up, Ingo looked over towards Akari and then back down at his son, pulling the boy closer once more as he tried to widen his own smile. “Though I do not believe Akari has much room to talk about us.” The Warden made no effort to keep his voice down, even drawing attention for the local Clefairies. “As I recall a curtain passenger needed me to hold their hand as I led her through a darkened Wayward cave.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ingo watched as the girl’s shoulders went stiff as she froze in place. Slowly she turned to look at him, her eyes wide and her mouth drawn into a straight line. Ingo didn’t turn to look at her, but just continued to watch out of the corner of his eye

Behind her, he heard Emmet start to cackle, easily picking up on his words. 

Next to him, there was the familiar twitch of young Ingo’s cheeks and his eyes closed as he too started to laugh. “Akari is Scared of the dark?!” 

Ingo wasn't sure if the boy had meant to be as loud as he was, or if it had been an accident. But his voice echoed through the cliffs only making his brother laugh even harder.

"I take it back." The teen huffed, her face now beat red. "You two have another thing in common. You're both too loud."

—

“Okay, how about this one.” Akari flipped to a random card in her pokedex, and held it up so the twins could see what was on it before reading the entry. “This Pokemon has an unsophisticated face and is rarely flustered by anything. There have been instances involving this pokemon sauntering into villages and gnawing on the houses without a single care." The teen finished looking back at the twins. "Okay, give me a name, the type and best strategy to deal with them."

Turning back towards the work table, Ingo turned his attention back towards the preparation of night's dinner; listening in on the game behind him as he worked.

The day had gone by fairly uneventfully, which the Warden was thankful for.

They had stayed in the lake for a few minutes more after Akari had joined them, at one point Emmet had even joined him and his brother before the four decided that it was time to get out. Their clothes had been somewhat damp still so they had been left at the tent as they went back to work, Akari and the twins going out to gather plump beans and other ingredients with Tangrowth, Ingo finishing up chopping wood and checking on Lady Sneasler. 

By the time the sun had started to set over the mountain, clouds were starting to gather in the sky and everyone started to return to the tent for one final meal before bed.

And thus while Ingo worked on dinner, Akari had invented a game with the twins where she would read off a dex entry and the twins had to guess who the pokemon was, their typing, and the best match ups. So far the twins had done well, though they had been tripped up a few times mostly with regional variants, some of the Pokemon that seemed to only be found in Hisui and the professor’s sometimes interesting wording.

“That’s easy! Bidoof. Their normal types.” Ingo heard Emmet answer quickly, seeming to be fastest to pick up on the descriptions and typing; even as he leaned tiredly against his father’s side as he worked on the pot in the center of the room. Clearly worn out from the day's work.

“And it’s a little rude to say they have a ‘unsophisticated face’, and I don’t think it’s all that scientific either.” Young Ingo added, making his father chuckle slightly. The Professor really did have his own way of describing things sometimes.

“Verrrry unscientific.”

“I’ll be sure to let him know.” Akari laughed a bit at that. “Now common, weaknesses let go.”

“Fine. Bidoof are a solid normal type. Only gaining a second water typing after evolution. If we’re talking about a well trained one or maybe even an Alpha I’d say a fighting type like Machamp using a move like Low Sweep or if you want to take a small risk the vertical throw. Though if you want a low risk battle that could end up being rather long, you use a ghost type with a secondary typing and just use moves from that secondary typing. Forcing the trainer to circumvent the ghost typing.” Ingo could hear his oldest ramble slightly about the topic, and stopped only to catch his breath. 

Despite being rather shy and quiet around people he didn’t know, Young Ingo could be quite the chatterbox once he got to know someone; and if you managed to ask about one of his interests then he could talk your ear off or talk himself horse. It was how Ingo had learned more about trains in one night than he had about anything in all his time in Hisui.

So it was good to hear the boy opening up to someone else other than himself and his brother, though Ingo was sure this was Akari’s first time experiencing such a thing; if the look on her face was anything to go by.

“As for a wild one.” Young Ingo continued, and the Warden could almost hear the shrug the boy gave. “Pick it up with your hands and put them outside? They're not really all that hostile, just avoid in the teeth. Battlewise, pretty much anything will work aside from ghost moves, and fighting moves would be overkill.”

Akari just laughed as she moved on to another page in the dex. “Alright smart guy how about this one ‘Widely shunned as a bearer of ill fortune. Upon crossing paths with this creature, I’ve been told one much chant ‘Workrum, Workrum-bad luck don’t come’ as a protective incantation.’ you know the drill, Name, Type, and best way to beat it. And Emmet can’t help you this time.”

“I am Emmet. I am too good.” His youngest proclaimed proudly and Ingo could only chuckle and pat the boy’s head as he reached over to grab the bowls he had set out.

He wasn’t too sure if his eldest son would be able to get this one, as the wording was fairly vague. In fact he wasn’t sure if Emmet would be able to get it either. Ingo of course knew it but only because he recognized the so-called ‘Protective Incantation’ that often came from Cabala whenever a Murkrow was around; who no doubt had been the one to inform the professor of it.

“ ‘Sunned as a bearer of ill fortune’? Dragons, that could be almost any ghost of dark type pokemon.” Already young Ingo was seeming to get a little frustrated, the amount of pokemon that seemed to fall under that category of ‘bad luck’ seemed to be too great sometimes.

Rather than let the boy continue to struggle, the Warden decided to throw his son a bone while he got dinner up. “It’s a Dark Flying type.”

“Oh, then it’s either a Murkrow or a Honchkrow, so any Electric, ice, rock or even fairy move would be effective.” Young Ingo eminently perked up, rattling off the appropriate tactic. “There aren’t a whole lot of electric fairy types but I’m sure there are a few Ice Rock types that would work.”

“Uncle Ingo!”

“You said Emmet, couldn’t help. You said nothing about me.” Ingo informed as he ran his hands through Emmet’s hair, waking the boy enough to hand him a bowl of stew before going to fill another bowl. “Besides, dinner is done so it’s best if we wrap this up. Are you staying for Dinner Akari or did you need to start heading to the Fabled Spring?” He handed the second bowl over to his eldest, who happily took the food.

“Turn down free food?” the Teen laughed, moving closer to the harth. “I don’t think so. I’ll head out after dinner.”

To this Ingo nodded and started to fill another bowl.

Aside from the heat, all and all the day had been fairly uneventful. And With his sons in his care now, the Warden couldn’t help but feel like those were the best.

[askaceattorney]

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Oh wow, I don’t know how I missed this one. This was at the bottom of the inbox.

At the moment of sending this, they had a huge number of letters pouring in but that has since decreased to 2-3. I’d say the maximum they’ve sent in a day is 5. Lately, I’ve hardly had any letters from them I’ve had to delete. No one seems to have an issue with Dawsongfg anymore. 

I did say around the point this letter was supposedly sent that their letters have decreased. The reason you didn’t see that around October and November was because I was answering letters from July and August. This is exactly what I meant when I said, “you are not seeing it at the moment.” Now, you are seeing it, because several months have passed. 

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I’m lost, because I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is a blog that answers letters. It’s not a fan fiction or roleplay site.

(Referenced Letters)

Dear Draph91,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Thanks. Fixed it.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Inferno,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I know I’m hijacking a character letter, but that’s because this one was fixed before I saw your letter. I thought Edgeworth was getting slapped when he was being told to slap instead of kill. Sorry about that.

Dear Draph91 (again),

Chief Mod Edgeworth: That’s fine. We’re just trying to avoid another incident like last year. As for Apollo having a cat, (it’s two cats actually) it’s like Edgeworth having a dog named Pess. It is mentioned, but we never see the cat in general.

(Referenced video)

Dear Vivyn,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: It would depend on the video and if it could be taken as something that happens to real life celebrities or YouTubers. In the case of reviews, most of them can be done on people in real life based on their performance in their careers or content. However, many game reviews of characters are criticized for how they’re animated, written and executed as fictional characters. Those cannot be translated to be reviews of real life people. 

In this case, it seems like the video has people talking about characters they consider hot. This kind of review is done with real life people. Just give us the time stamp to the video talking about Godot, and you can have him or someone else respond to it without breaking the fourth wall.

(Referenced Link)’

Dear skibot99,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Thank you for the tip, but I would rather stick to universally known holidays. Believe it or not, I did have a discussion with Mod Justice when he wanted to add Pi Day. I don’t think we should add holidays that people only celebrate one year, then forget the next. 

I say we keep it simple and celebrate holidays that are universally celebrated by the country or the world. Even the two extra holidays I added for TGAAC are celebrated and well known in those countries.

Mod Justice: Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed about these holidays not being shown, but I didn’t really mind it. It’s kind of like being at a store and your favorite brand of a certain item is out of stock: “Aw, they’re out of the [insert brand name here] brand of [insert related item here]... Oh well, I’ll be fine with [insert alternate brand here].”

(Referenced Letter) (Referenced video)

Dear invenblocker,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Ah! Thanks for this. In truth, I never really got that big into Pokemon. Not the anime anyways. I played Soulsilver and that was it.

Modshoe: The Pokerap! I’m actually a huge fan of Pokemon, so this was nice to hear again :D.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Vivyn (again),

Chief Mod Edgeworth: No worries, I didn’t take it as you being aggressive or a personal attack. You’re also not the only one that gets misgendered. Even in real life, I once got misgendered when I was in 4th grade and I’m not even trans or non-binary. It happens to the best of us and I’d be lying if I said I never did the same in my life.

I find laughter to be the best medicine personally.

(Referenced Letters)

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Thank you. It is a bit tricky to know how to link previous sites. I’d read this, if you wish to know different ways of doing it that will go through. I’ve updated this, so people new here will know how to write letters. I recommend everyone else to also read it if they’re having issues with the letters with HTML, links and other things not showing.

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: So, you think that because we answered these letters with having characters not fall for these letters because they know said character long enough to tell they’re fake, we never have letters where the characters do fall for it? Not here, here, here, here, here or even here? 

Not saying you’re trying to be rude, but this isn’t a blog meant to have characters act stupid when someone they know very well acts strange. The Judge didn’t fall for it, because it read “Overly dramatic Phoenix Wright” and Phoenix doesn’t sound like that. Apollo didn’t fall for it either, because he knows Kristoph isn’t a dramatic person. He was named “the Coolest Defense Attorney in the West” for crying out loud! 

If these letters feel lackluster, then I don’t know what to tell you. It’s just as lackluster when characters read the letters and somehow do not see that these characters they’ve known for years are not acting like themselves. Is it really that difficult to still write meme letters with the characters somewhat acting in character? At the very least, if you have to risk making them OOC, make sure that the OOC canon character letters are sent to characters that don’t know them. Maybe have Phoenix act OOC as college Feenie or have those letters from Kristoph be given to Winston Payne. 

[prof-peach]

Please, I need help with a rescue Togepi. Basicaly, she had been given to her 'trainer' by a dad who thought that a Togipi was the perfect pokemon for his 'baby girl'. said girl wanted a fighting type and basically just put this poor Togepi on a pile of blankets in the closet and left her there. it looks like she was also only fed things like chips and soda. She doesn't make any sounds and has an aversion to touch. I've only ever worked with Eevee/lutions but I desperately want to do this right

Right well, they’ll need to have their own space, first and foremost.for this case I’d suggest a small hide, within a larger space. You want to put healthier foods and fresh water at the other end of this space, to coax them to come out of their own accord to get use to being outside of a box. If all this pokemons known is a dark cupboard, then provide one of those towels from the old cupboard, a cardboard box, with a door cut into it would do, and also offer up other bedding items within their own space, this can be fabrics, hay, cotton down from Pokemon like wooloo or whimsicott, or shredded papers, they may take a liking to some of the new textures offered and begin using it to make their home more comfortable for them. The body of togepi within its egg, as you may have already noticed is covered in very small, very soft feather, not fur, and not skin. I’d advise not returning the Pokemon to a ball while working with it, unless of course you return them for safety reasons. They do need to have access to a bath, they will sometimes do this in their drinking water if one is not provided. It shouldn’t be more than 3-4cm deep, but big enough for them to sit in and manoeuvre to preen. They don’t do this often but it helps them settle to have the option. Outside of their new cardboard box home, try to keep it bright, and get the airflow up. Good fresh air, if you can, open a window and pop a guard over it to stop them hopping out and getting hurt. If you can, try to find someone locally who has one of this pokemons evolutions, and see if they could let them come to visit form time to time, having a gentle matured individual of the same species will certainly coax them out of their shell...no pun intended. Provide toys and games outside, offer them a chance to interact with them alone, no one watching them intently. This Pokemon will become more shy if you keep your eyes glued to it. Best thing you can do is to include them but not have the focus on their participation. Everyone’s playing? Give them a few things to look at, even if you leave them at the door of their box house, they may be tempted to peek out and see what going on.

This is a serious case of neglect and isolation, so don’t expect this to be a fast recovery. This poor Pokemon has had a rough start, and at such a young stage in their development. They’ve had no chance to gain social skills, learn about how the world works, or explore even just the home that’s been around them, so go slow and stead, all the way. Giving it a chance to meet one of its own kind is often a gateway for many Pokemon, they connect to them better, they recognise and relate to each other so much more. That’s not to say other species won’t be friendly and helpful, but this Pokemon hasn’t had a chance to even learn about itself, it’s skills, it’s heritage, seeing another Pokemon that looks like them will usually spark some curiosity and bravery in them. Even if they don’t interact much at the beginning keep bringing round others of this species, prefrably the same one if possible, keep a schedule, don’t make it a big song and dance, but certainly tell them they may have a visitor the day before and again the morning of. Routine helps them adjust, they learn there’s times and places for certain things, breakfast, playtime, if you want them to open up to you it may also be wise to let them know what you’re doing day to day. Just talk at them, don’t have to sit and have an intense conversation, just chat towards them in a light and upbeat way, and they’ll get use to humans being around them, it will also help to teach them that if you say you’re going out for an hour to get groceries, or to see your family, that you’ll be back. They won’t just get left alone again, put away in some cupboard like last time. I don’t doubt for a second that this togepi is going through a lot right now, new smells, new sounds, strange Pokemon, they don’t know you, or your family or your friends, they are no doubt terrified of so much right now. I would focus on getting them comfortable in the home before you tackle outdoors but if you can, alwasy offer them a way out to fresh air, just in case, Pokemon who haven’t interacted with others much tend to scope out a home to see when the Pokemon and people are gone to asleep, using this quiet time to come out and explore, to get a feel of the place. Give them that chance. If they at any point develop the strength to come out of hiding and test the waters, they gotta be able to take it so long as it’s safe. We advise keeping them near a door to the outside, with a small area around the exit fenced off, so they don’t go missing. This is fine if you have an enclosed garden, but if you live somewhere rural, it may be easy to lose such a small Pokemon.

As for the aversion to touch, they may never develop a huge love of it, or they may just not be use to it at this point in time. Pokemon can be pretty feral until handled and trained not to be, try them on different berries and fruits until you find their favourites, then use this as treats to coax them out of hiding, they can have the treat if they come get it. Start a few cm outside of their box hide, and every time they attain the fruit they love, add another cm or two. in time you may get them to come out without hesitation, or even as soon as you turn up in the space. It takes time, but they’ll get use to you being around, from there it’s quite easy to encourage play and develop a way to interact without freaking them out so much, touch should be done gradually, don’t just grab them a load and think it’ll work, they gotta be ok with it too. Alwasy ask permission, and don’t be upset with them if they get spooked and hide away again. It’s ok, there’s plenty of time to practice some more.

Start with this, once they’re brave enough to handle the house, we can discuss the great outdoors should they still have any severe issues. For most it’s a case of exposure and support. They must know it’s ok to feel how they feel, be it scared, or nervous, or sad, whatever it is, it’s fine. Everyone feels that way at some point, what they’re going through is entirely unfair, but it’s happened, so all you can do as a human is be there, and do your best to show them that there’s more to life. Taking on a case like this may mean sleepless nights and early mornings, but it’s worth it, these Pokemon are sweethearts to be around when they like you, don’t give up, and if it gets too difficult, call in help, ask your local nurses, talk to other humans who work with the species, contact professors again. We’re all here to help.

[yanderepuck]

The mansion in the 21st century

For the sake of our sanity we are going assume they are all still alive in the 21st century since we don't know when everyone was turned (just that Will was first)

We're also gonna pretend that Sebas is still around(I don't think he'd accept being a vampire???? But for the sake of this he's gonna be here)

Arthur is his full whore self and is with guys and gals. He put the bi in bitch

Leonardo is also bi(historically there's no record of him ever being with a woman)

Imagine the shit posts on social media

Arthur has an Instagram and he posts about everyone's life, even using their names, but no one takes it series

A few times a week Arthur does something called "where is Leonardo sleeping today?"

Vincent uses tiktok for art

Theo has been able to get in contact with more artists all over and be able to sell their art. It's made it a lot easier for him and even though it's a lot more work he enjoys it

Dazai is also a shit poster, only he asks weird things that keep you up at night

But Dazai also publishes short stories. Probs has a blog.

I could also see Dazai basically running an animal shelter in the back yard. He gives off Disney princess vibes. Only it's like ducks, a bunch of birds. A horse or two and some sheep.

Will has probably moved back into the mansion since everything he has done has been forgotten by society.

He finds it odd how kids in schools study is plays and have to analyze it. He's just like "everyone's gay and every other line is a dick joke???" But he still doesn't speak normal.

LEONARDO GOT BACK INTO PAINTING.

Leonardo and Vinc would both have a tik tok and Instagram to show off their work and their hella popular

Isaac wanted to keep a low profile, but since the internet isn't face to face with people, he's able to publish his findings without having to actually deal with society. He's just social awkward okay

Sebastian also has a blog. He calls everyone his roommates and he's like "you'll never guess what my roommate did today"

Arthur collects mugs.

During that Italian hand meme, everyone paid more attention to Leonardo to see how often he does it

He does it too often and he doesn’t realize it

At some point Dazai HAS yelled “DO IT FOR THE VINE”

He was probably yelling at Theo

Want to know whats really dangerous?

Shakespeare learning modern slang

No one in the mansion knows what he’s talking about in the first place.  Then suddenly he goes “For never was a story of more woe.  O bard Alexa, play us  Despacito”(I will not take credit for that.  I remember reading that phrase LONG ago)

Isaac says “Me” “Same” and “Mood” a lot

He sees garbage on the ground and goes “It’s me”

Dazai is into anime don’t @ me

Also. Napoleon is also bi as all hell

Drunk or not him and Sebas have made lip contact at least once

Imagine what Mozart could do with music now.

He still loves his piano.  Nothing is better than physically playing an instrument

He probs went viral for a hot minute when Arthur posted a video of him playing piano

Comte is even more of a tired mom.

HE’D SO BE A PINTEREST PERSON

You know how people make board for their friends?

He does that with everyone in the mansion

I honestly know nothing about Jean and Napoleon.  I’m sorry for their lack of content. Plz add things for them.

Imagine everyone playing Mario Kart

Not every week because they all have lives outside the mansion.  But at least once a month they have a game night

None of them are really TV people.  They’ll watch movies but that’s about it

They’d all watch documentaries on themselves, and point out everything that is wrong, and even be like “where the fuck did they get that from?”

Because I have watched documentaries on him.  Often a Da Vinci documentary will mention was arrest with sleeping with another guy.  The rest of the guys are waiting for him to call that  bullshit and he’s just sitting there eating popcorn.

Meanwhile Will is in the back like “Eyy! Me too!”

“Did that really happen?”

“What?  Me getting arrested?  Yeah”

“No, well yes, but did you sleep with another guy?”

“Yeah”

“Was he worth it?”

“I don’t know which one their talking about”

Chaotic bisexuals everywhere

Arthur however has watched the BBC Sherlock series. 

Arthur and Dazai would probs watch the most tv out of all of them.

I say this cause Dazai would be into anime and Arthur got hooked on NCIS

Arthur write quite a bit of short stories that he’s gotten published

Will would love that goddamn Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet.  I hate that movie with a passion

Also, I can’t imagine how many jokes they’ve managed to come up with about Leonardo DiCaprio to Leonardo.

If Arthur and Mozart can stay up for days with coffee, imagine what an energy drink would do to them

All of them in modern fashion???? HOT DAMN

Will likes the Titanic 

I see Theo being the one that’s into MARVEL and DC movies

Imagine showing Vinc Bob Ross

Leonardo and Isaac are Tony Stark(Ironman) and Bruce Banner(Hulk)

Everyone in the mansion is into conspiracy theories .

Comte himself is a conspiracy theory 

One night Napoleon is like “Guys.  Look.  Aliens” and they all watch conspiracy theory videos.

It’s the one thing they can all agree on that they have in common

Vinc and Leonardo also enjoy pinterest  because of all the art/crafting/diy things they find.

Arthur 100% listens to ebooks

THE MANSION IS A POKEMON GO GYM.  But they aren’t all on the same team so battling can get serious some days

They all still have pets

Honestly.  At any point in time, not just modern.  They made fun of each others accents.

Lets be real.  Will would end up liking anime too

SNapchat filters on the guys??  The dog filter on Theo??? Flower crown on Vinc???  Face swapping everyone with everyone???

One of them is bound to have a candle obsession and I want to say its Comte.  Only he buys them and doesn’t burn them.  Sebas ends up slowly taking candles from the stash and burning them in a few rooms.

The music room smells like chocolate but Mozart can’t find the candle.

Leonardo's room is even more cluttered.  He has too many hobbies.

Vinc making his own paint???  I’d love.

Theo and Arthur cried a little when their favorite bar shut down.

Masterlist

[limit-list]

ATLA AO3 Fic Recs!

idk about how y’all are handling the state of the world rn, but i have retreated into the “consume every available fanfic ever” phase!! for anyone else who wants to read lots of Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction, i’ve gathered a list of some of my favs so far!! i’ve split it into gen series, zukka series, gen fics, and zukka fics because those are the types of fics i thrive in. they’re not in any particular order other than that.

i will say that a funny trend i recognized was that Haicrescendo on AO3 (@sword-and-stars on here) made it on to every single list because everything they write is amazing hahaha, feel free to do as i did and just read all of their atla fics. anyway!! here goes, hopes this helps people, ill prolly add onto it at some point haha.

GEN SERIES:

What We’re Given by Haicrescendo

The premise of the story is that Zuko, Iroh, and the crew set out when Zuko was banished, found out that the Sky Bisons never died out, turn their ship into the Jasmine Dragon (a tea shop on a boat!!!), and never hunted the Avatar. This series is so good, it’s currently updating every Friday I think and I love it so much.

Dragon of the Yuyan by 00AwkwardPenguin00

Summary is: “In which Zuko is fostered/adopted/raised/recruited by the Yuyan Archers of Pouhai Stronghold, and destiny hiccups.” Y’all I adore this series so much, I receive so much serotonin every time this updates. The plot develops really really nicely, the OC’s are my fav people ever, and the way the author uses the signing is just perfection. It’s currently updating every Saturday I think.

kintsugi by discordiansamba

Summary is: “au in which a banished for good zuko ends up being hired by the beifongs to watch over their daughter- or, zuko and toph never took that field trip in canon so now she gets to hog him for three whole years”. If y’all know me, y’all know I love some Zuko and Toph friendship. This story is PEAK bonding, it makes me so happy.

ZUKKA SERIES:

Quarantine and Chill 2020 by Haicrescendo

Literally what it says on the tin haha. Series about roommates Sokka and Zuko as they’re stuck in quarantine, first two are explicit, there’s four total so far, and I love them all. The characterization is immaculate, the banter had me cackling, and all in all just a great series!

Carry On For You by Haicrescendo

Summary is: “Not the Pokémon AU you asked for but the one you’re getting anyway. Featuring: full time gym leader and local cryptid Zuko, badge challenger Sokka, and Katara who can only look at so many memes before she flips.” Yall I know nothing about Pokémon but this series!!! It brings me SO much serotonin. I adore this series so much, we get Zuko interacting with animals at the same time as Zukka develops and Iroh is there and I just love it.

the best laid intentions by alittleduck

Post-show fics for the most part. Summary is: “Centers around members of the Gaang coming out to their well meaning but woefully unprepared friends. Part one is centered around Zuko coming out as gay, the second one is centered around Toph coming out as a lesbian and the third one is centered around Sokka coming to terms with his bisexuality.” I love this series a lot, it’s super cute and I thrive on LGBTQ+ gaang fics. We got gay Zuko, lesbian Toph, and bi Sokka and they make me so happy.

GEN FICS:

Embers by Vathara

Ooo boy, this is a long fic, but it is my absolute favorite fanfic in possibly any fandom I’ve been in. The summary for this fic is: “Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world...” I dunno how to put it any better than that without spoilers!! It rewrites canon from I think Zuko and Iroh getting into Ba Sing Se on. Expect politics, interpersonal tension, several plot lines overlapping and weaving their ways through the story, amazingly developed OC’s, and just incredible writing overall. Definitely a must read.

For Hearth and Home by Haicrescendo

Post-show fic in which Zuko hangs out with a baby all day while everyone falls in love with him. Summary is: “In which Fire Lord Zuko is a total mess and somehow people manage to love him for it anyway.” Honestly I think that sums up the plot, this is just such a pure story, it cheers me up like instantly haha! This is one of the cutest and most relaxing fics I’ve read.

The Family You Choose by TunaFishChris

Show rewrite soulmate fic with the Gaang as family! Summary is: “Some people are born with soulmarks. Zuko has them, but his grandfather burned them off because they ‘make you weak.’ Team Avatar has a few things to say about that.” No spoilers, but I love a good soulmate fic and I’ve never seen a concept quite like this one!! I think I’ve read this two or three times at this point. Amazing.

Unwanted Friends by FoiblePNoteworthy

This was inspired by The Family You Choose by TunaFishChris (see previous), and I love it so much. It’s the same concept, but minus Suki and told from the other’s perspective at an earlier place in the timeline! If y’all end up liking The Family You Choose, you’ll like this one too!!

Perfection is Overrated by Jagged Cliffs

Post-show fic. If you’re like me and have a soft spot for fics where Fire Lord Zuko is an absolute sweetheart to the palace staff, then you have to read this. One of my all time favorite fanfics. Everything about this story makes me happy.

Another Brother by AvocadoLove

Show rewrite. This is a WIP, I’m actually still reading it rn but it’s really good!! It’s about if Hakoda found Zuko as an 8 year old injured on a Fire Nation ship and brought him home to the Water Tribe. No spoilers here, but it’s a really good pure story and I love it so much so far.

Salvage by MuffinLance

Show AU WIP. Ooo goodness I love this story! Summary is: “Mid-Season-One Zuko is held ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.” Zuko is an angsts bby whomst I adore, Hakoda is my favorite ever, and the OC’s are legit the best. MuffinLance is another author where every fic is amazing! This fic in particular tore me to shreds and then makes up for it in absolute amazingness.

OUTLINE: Amnesia!Zuko Joins the Earth Army by MuffinLance

Show rewrite, I can’t remember from what point exactly, but it’s before Ba Sing Se. Summary is: “Zuko loses his memory and becomes an Earth Kingdom war hero. His father is going to LOVE this.” Written in outline/concept form, I adore this so so much. This fic is why I post concepts of stories I’ll never write, cause this story made me realize people enjoy reading them!! And this is sooo enjoyable, I fuckin love this fic.

ZUKKA FICS:

The Good Vanilla by Haicrescendo

Show AU-ish from the Western Air Temple I think. I think this is the fic that made me fall in love with Zukka actually omg. A beautiful fanfic that shows how Zuko and Sokka slowly fall in love, no spoilers here, there is lots of cooking.

Quit your life and come train Pokemon. (orphaned)

Modern Day AU. Another one of my starter Zukka fics!! Sokka kinda maybe falls in love with Aang’s roommate Zuko. There is nerdiness and awkward situations and ~emotions~. It makes me happy, definitely one of my favs.

by the stars above, i knew we were in love by theycallmesuperboy

Post-show fic. This one tore me to shreds!! It’s a fic about Zuko working his way up to proposing to Sokka. No spoilers, just saying that this story hurt me in all the best ways. Amazing story.

Unchained Melody by AvocadoLove

Show rewrite from Hei Bai’s Forest episode, WIP. Basic premise is that Sokka turns into a ghost, and Zuko is the only one who can see him. The dynamic between Zuko and Sokka is just explored so well here, and the banter is perfection. There are so many things I could say about different parts of the story, but I don’t wanna spoil a thing, so go read it!! Love this fic.

Sea Cranes by Druddigonite

Show AU. Summary is: “Between chasing the Avatar and dealing with his disgrace, Zuko begins to cough up flowers.” It’s a really interesting concept which I’d never heard of before, but I loved this fic! Just enough angst to tear my heart up and then mend it back together.

Hotman by callmecaramleh

Set during the Western Air Temple Arc. Summary is: “Toph decides she needs to know who in the gaang is hot. This leads to quite a bit of trouble for Sokka.” I love this fic so much. It’s so clear that they’re awkward teenagers here, and as an awkward teenager I love the dynamic!!! I just adore these boys so much.

Something Good Can Work by beersforqueers

Bookstore AU!!! I live for a good bookstore AU, as well as library and café AUs. Anyway, summary is: “Bookstore AU! In which Sokka tries to not-so-subtly pick up the cute boy working in the bookstore, and the cute boy is totally oblivious. Because the cute boy is Zuko.” They’re adorable and flustered. It’s precious, another fic that brings me outta a bad mood in like a minute flat. I love this!

[lunathewafflelord]

The Pokémon Game That Changed My Life

I’ve been wanting to make a post about how Pokémon BW helped me deal with a tough time for a while now, and I figured that since I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the game that it’d be a good a time as any.

I’d like to warn that this story talks about child abuse and PTSD. This is something that actually happened to me, and I’d appreciate it if people didn’t make jokes in the comments about what happened.

With that being said, let’s get started~

Something that many people here know is that I have autism, but what a lot of people DON’T know is I am an abuse victim as a result of it. Growing up I was always forced into “autism programs” which were meant to “help” kids with autism, but instead they were practically tortured for misbehaving, yet they come up with poor excuses defending why what the teachers did was right. Because of these horrid experiences, I developed extreme PTSD and anxiety disorder, and I had trouble trusting people.

Sound familiar?

Well, on Scratch’s Pokémon Topic there was a person who absolutely LOVED Pokemon Black and White. I had been wanting to get another Pokémon game, so I decided “okay sure, I’ll get that one next” because she really liked it and I thought it’d be fun to check it out.

If only I knew at that time what would happen.

So one day after “school” we stopped by a nearby GameStop and I bought the game. After I transferred the Pokémon from the existing save file to Pokémon Bank, I reset the game and started playing. It was an amazing experience, and I was looking forward to meeting this “N” character said person was so into.

After finally encountering him, I thought what he was saying was weird. I kept on playing, and slowly understood more and more.

Eventually, I realized that N was an abuse victim just like me, for similar reasons too. We were both hurt for being “different”, and developed social anxieties. We were both closed off from the rest of the world, with our only friends being pets/Pokémon, and we were never able to experience things other kids were able to do just because we were “different”. I posted this on my unovamemes sideblog, but I theorize N has autism just like I do, which adds to my connection.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this game was helping me cope with my PTSD. I would think of the characters and they’d bring me comfort. Over time, rather than drawing ponies a lot like I used to I began drawing N and Reshiram all the time. I have so many detailed drawings of N, but most of them haven’t been shared publicly yet. It wasn’t until last month that I realized why I was doing this.

It occurred to me that N was helping me cope with my PTSD and anxiety. I would think to myself “N went through this, and so can I” or “what would N do in this situation?” I began seeing things in a different way, and became more self aware.

I even had dreams of me being in the Pokémon world, and being friends with N and other characters from the games. But mostly N. Sometimes I’d have lucid dreams, which for those who don’t know are dreams where you’re aware that you’re dreaming so you can control what happens in some way. In these lucid dreams, I was able to control myself but the characters were out of my control, so it was like I was really in the game’s universe with them.

All of these dreams made me so happy, and thinking of what goes on in them makes me smile. Sure, there’s some *weird* moments like N and Colress kissing after I reunited them (no, I don’t ship this.), but then there’s also really cool moments, like having Pokémon battles together or solving mysteries.

So, over time, I sort of considered N to be like an older brother to me, someone I’d seek help from when having a bad day. After reaching the end of the first game after THREE YEARS, N’s farewell nearly brought a tear to my eye (though I was mostly in shock that I finally beat Dennis, I had been struggling with that fight for such a long time). The one who I had considered a friend throughout my entire journey, even if we weren’t always on the same side, was leaving for two years because he had been hurt so much. I knew that he’d be okay because I knew some of the sequel’s storyline, but it was still so sad. I was scared for him. What if he got hurt again?

Then, he said the famous “dream your dream” speech.

I’ve had the same goal in life ever since I was a small child: being a professional animator. I’ve always wanted to share my stories with the world in the form of animated cartoons. What N said really spoke to me, as if he was telling me that I could live my true goal in life. I knew it was just some prewritten dialogue being spoken by a fictional character, however it really spoke to me.

I never knew one game would change my life so much.

Thank you, Game Freak, for helping me deal with such horrible things.

I’ve slowly been recovering now that I’m in a better school, however the pandemic has been making things harder as I have to do school from home. But N and the rest of the characters from the game have been there for me, as well as my friends on Scratch who would laugh at my N lettuce hair jokes. All of you were there supporting me when I needed it the most.

Even though the game was challenging at times (Elesa, the Elite Four, the fricking annoying (redacted bad word) Ghetsis), it brought such a feeling of satisfaction when I was finally able to beat them.

If you ever deal with something as horrible as I did, don’t do things alone. Seek help. Even if it is a fictional character, they might be able to help you get through it, just like N helped me with my anxieties.

There’s much more I’d like to add, but this post is long enough as is. But I hope that my story inspires you, or at least makes you understand how much this game helped me.

Signing off

-Luna M.

(Also, please message me if you ever want to talk about Pokémon! I need more people to talk about it with)

(Oh, and N’s farewell was stuck in my head while writing this. That song is beautiful but I sort of ruined it for me by using it in a memorial video for my cat. Now whenever I hear it I think of my cat’s death. 14 YEAR OLD ME WHY DID YOU DO THAT. Well, my N figure helped me feel better about losing her so there’s that)

[softboywriting]

Blonde | Shawn Mendes

Summary: You’re Shawn’s go to person, his confidant, his best friend who he is absolutely in love with but won’t commit to because of his hectic life. When things get too stressful and he feels like he’s completely lost control to his management and label, he comes to you with a bad idea and a tired heart. It’s finally time for things become more between the two of you. [established friendship/relationship] [non-au]

Word Count: 3.1k

|Masterlist In Bio|

Shawn shows up at your apartment at midnight two days before his birthday with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a box of platinum blonde hair color. He was the last person you expected to see when you looked through your peephole, but somehow you weren't too surprised. Shawn always comes to you when he needs someone, when he is sick of being famous and being told what to do and who to be. He comes to you for comfort, for love and affection. The two of you are good friends, very familiar with each other, you've hooked up a few times, it's a special relationship. It's like a no strings attached relationship because Shawn is afraid he can't commit while he's on tour and living his life as a rockstar. It's fine, you don't mind waiting for him because he is absolutely worth it. 

The moment you open the door he barrels in, bag in hand, and sets it on your kitchen island. "Fuck me up," he says, eyes tired. He's got dark circles, like he hasn't slept. He must have just gotten home from tour.

"Excuse me?" You laughs, folding your arms over your chest. "Are you alright?" 

"No. I'm tired of being told what I should do, what I should want. I'm sick of everything being planned. I just want to do something crazy, and I want to do it with you." 

You pull open the plastic bag and see the bottle of whiskey and the hair color. "Oh no, oh my God no." 

"Yes." Shawn runs his hands through his hair. "I want to piss Andrew off. If I go blonde he will be livid. I don't know what else to do that isn't too drastic, I need his attention and now. Things have to change."

"Damn. You've really had it." You turn the box of color over in your hands. It's permanent. "If I do this, I'm going to get chewed out by Andrew too. You know he doesn't like me very much anyway, after I refused to sign his NDA and stole you away from your birthday party last year."

"He won't know. I'll say I did it."

You raise your eyebrows. "Uh huh. Somehow I don't think he will believe you. But I'm not going to tell you no if it's what you want to do." 

Shawn goes to a cabinet and opens it to grab two tumblers. "It's either blonde or I buzz my hair off."

"Blonde it is." You step up behind him while he fills the glasses with ice. You run your hand up the back of his hair and he drops his head to the front of the fridge. He is always putty in your hands. "What about just the tips?" 

"No." 

"Highlights?" 

Shawn turns his head to look at you and you smile pleadingly. "I wanna go full blonde. If I have to I'll dye it back later but I want to give him an ulcer he's so stressed out, give him a taste of his on medicine." 

You back away, fingers sliding from his hair as you go. "What's the whiskey for? Courage?" 

"Fun." He smirks, clinking together the ice filled glasses on the counter before opening the amber bottle. "I haven't had a drink in three months. On tour I can't drink, not more than two beers maybe. It makes me feel like shit and my voice sound like hell." He pours the whiskey slowly. "So I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. Piss off Andrew, and loosen up a bit."

"I'm always down for both." 

"I know, that's why I came to you."

_____________________

Twenty minutes later and you've got Shawn sat on a dining chair, head full of blonde dye, your hands coated in the mushy foamy substance. It's probably the worst idea he has ever had but the way he smiled when you squeezed the first bit of mixture on his head sold you completely. He is going to look ridiculous, it's going to be awful and you know it. He knows it, but if it helps him get what he wants then so be it.

"Okay, I'll put a shower cap on you and we'll let it set for thirty minutes since you've got dark hair." You peel off the protective gloves the kit came with and toss them in the trash. "I can't believe I actually did this to your hair."

"Nah, come on it's fun." Shawn lifts his phone up to see his soaked hair. "It'll be great."

"Right, sure." You fit a spare shower cap over his head that you use from time to time for oil treatments on your hair. "Thirty minutes. I'll set the stove timer so we don't miss hearing it on our phones."

"Why wouldn't we hear our phones?" 

"Because." You pass him his drink. "You and I drinking together can get loud and or very involved." 

"I didn't come for that." He stands up and moves aside the dining chair. "I mean if it happens then that's fine but I don't want you to think I brought the whiskey for that." 

"I didn't think that. I just know it's a possibility." 

"So what do you want to do for thirty minutes?" 

You grab your glass and head for the living room. "Well, I'm sure there's a movie we could start watching. Or we can just talk for awhile. I could give you a massage?" 

"You'd do that?" He tosses back the rest of his drink and pours a bit more on the remaining ice. "I love massages." 

"I know. Come on, lay on the couch and I'll see what I can do." 

Shawn nods and puts his drink on the coffee table before laying face down on your sofa. You crawl onto his back, sitting on his butt and he groans.

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, just wasn't expecting that." 

"What? Me sitting on you?" You grip his waist and he visibly melts. 

Shawn mumbles something but you don't make it out as you go to work kneading his back gently. 

_____________________

Half an hour goes by quickly and Shawn falls asleep. You wonder why he has let his stress build up like this. Why not say something sooner? You crawl off of him and shake his shoulder. 

"Time to wash your hair out," you pat the shower cap and he sits up, a drool mark on the couch and his chin. "Come on big guy. Up and attem." 

Shawn rubs his face and stands up. "I didn't realize I'd passed out. It's already time to shower?” 

"Yep." You pull him up and he heads for the bathroom.

He pauses, looking back at you. "You're the only one who can put me to sleep like that."

You smile and he leans his head on the doorframe. "I'm glad I could help." 

"You always do." 

______________________

"This is awful." 

You look up from your phone where you've been scrolling through pictures of you and Shawn. It's nice to reminisce, to look back on the memories you've made the last few years. You can't wait to add a photo of his blonde hair to your collection. It's gonna be a good one. 

"Is it bad?" You call out, heading for the bathroom door. "Can I come in?" 

Shawn pulls the door open and he's standing there in his jeans, no shirt and his hair is light blonde. It's still soaking wet but it is undeniably blonde. When it dries it's going to be ridiculous. "It's something."

"Yeah, it's different." You stifle a laugh and run your hand through the back. "Looks like I got it all covered though."

"I love it." He grins, grabbing your hair dryer and plugging it in. "It's awful and perfect. Andrew is going to shit his pants."

You take the hair dryer and push him down on the toilet. "Let me do it." You grab the diffuser attachment from a drawer and put it on the end of the dryer. "I want to preserve your curls even if they are blonde."

"You always did love my curls." He smiles, and you tilt his head down. "Do you like the blonde?" 

"Like I said, it's different." 

He wraps his arms around your waist. "Thank you, for doing this for me."

"You know I'm up for anything, well, almost anything." You flip the hair dryer on and the noise fills the small room. "You're lucky I love you so much." 

_____________________

Morning comes and Shawn is curled around you in your bed. At first you're confused. The sun pouring in the thin white curtains casts a glow across your bedding and you see the tousle of blonde hair on the pillow beside you. You're unsure of who is in your bed, panicking for just a split second before you remember that it's actually just Shawn. 

"Good morning," you mutter, hand going through his hair. In the daylight it's so much worse. Blonde is not his color. 

Shawn lifts his head and rubs his eyes. "What time is it?" 

"Just after seven." 

"I have time then." He smiles and looks at you with sleepy soft eyes. "I don't have to be at the studio until nine. Do you want to get breakfast?" 

"Just us?"

"Mmhmm. The diner on fifteenth street has a good breakfast."

You sit up and he follows. "We've never gone out alone, just the two of us. Is it a good idea?" 

Shawn shrugs into a stretch. "I'm full of bad ideas right now. What's another one?"

You laugh softly. "Alright, get your jeans on and we'll get breakfast. But you're paying, since I did your hair for you."

"Deal."

______________________

Sitting in the diner with Shawn, you can't help but stare at his hair. You're obsessed and you can't decide if you truly hate it or not. It's just so different and the contrast between his eyebrows and the blonde hair reminds you of a Pokemon villain. No you don't like it. 

"What're you staring at?" 

"You." You chuckles and stir your straw around in your chocolate shake. Shawn insisted you get it since you said you've never been here and not gotten one. Never mind that it's just after seven thirty in the morning. 

Shawn runs a hand over his curls. "I'm gonna be honest, I avoided the mirror this morning. It's bad huh?" 

"It's not bad but it doesn't suit you. I've always loved your hair, at least you didn't buzz it."

"God no, I'd probably die if I did. I was only joking when I said I considered that."

"Good." You smile softly. "I'd have nothing to run my hands through if you did."

Shawn grins and takes your shake, drinking from your straw, not bothering to open a new one. "You're the only one I like to touch my hair y'know."

"Mmhmm. I'm also the only one who you like to rub your face when you have a headache, and scratch your back when it's itchy. There's a lot of things you only like when I do them."

"Yeah..." He smiles, into the shake and lifts the straw out to lick it. "Do you want to go out with me?" 

"We are out?" 

"No, I mean like out, out. A date."

You pull the shake away from him and he keeps the straw, sucking the chocolate shake off of it like a kid. "I thought you weren't going to date until you were at a slower point in your career."

"Yeah, but that's never going to happen and I'll be old and alone. You know what my life is like, you know how hectic it can be but you put up with it, with me." 

You lean your head on your hand and smile. Before you can say anything, Shawn's phone buzzes on the table. He grabs it and you give him a worried look. Breakfast will probably be cut short. 

"Studio?" You ask. 

Shawn shakes his head as he swipes to hang up on the call. "Nothing important."

"Oh." You push aside your now empty shake glass and sit back on the old red leather booth seat. "Well, I was going to say-"

His phone buzzes again, another call. 

"Just answer it."

"No." Shawn swipes and then does something else, presumably making it silent. "I'm on my time right now and I'm spending it with you."

"It's Andrew isn't it?" 

"Yep." Shawn smirks and pockets the phone. "So, my question?" 

You lean forward and fluff his hair. "Well I was going to say, this blonde hair has made you pretty bold or you're still drunk if you're asking me out." 

"No, I'm just tired of not being myself. I wanna live for me, do what I want, make myself happy. I want to start with you, because you make me so happy."

"You know I've been waiting for you to say the word, but I know you didn't want to date because of your work." You laugh and he threads his fingers between yours on the table, eyes on yours and they're so full of love. "Let's do this."

"Yeah I-" Shawn pulls his phone out and rolls his eyes. "Fuck, Andrew is freaking out. I guess I should answer in case it's an emergency."

"I don't mind, go ahead." You play with his fingers mindlessly, twisting his ring around on his middle finger, one you gave him a few years ago for Christmas. 

He swipes to answer and then looks around the diner. "What do you mean? Are you here?" 

You sit up straight and look around for Andrew. There are very few people in the diner and you definitely don't see his manager anywhere. 

"Yeah, I'm having breakfast. How'd you know where I was?" Shawn looks annoyed. "I'm allowed to have a life. I'm not supposed to be at the studio until nine." 

"Did he track you?" You whisper and he nods. Stupid GPS, it's ridiculous. 

"No I didn't get that message. Well, sorry. I guess my signal was shit last night. I guess we can meet you at the studio." He looks around once more and points to the front doors, behind you. You turn and look to see Andrew standing outside the diner. "Yeah, I'm with a friend and I'm going to bring her with me. Don't worry about who. No I'm not making her sign an NDA. Andrew it's fine." 

You roll your eyes. Andrew and his non disclosure happy ass. The dude didn't trust anyone alone with Shawn who wasn't his team, which have all signed NDAs too. It's annoying. 

"Yeah, we'll meet you outside. Yeah. I see you. Bye." Shawn pockets his phone and stands up, offering you his hand. "Come on, I'll make it up to you later." 

"But we haven't paid." You stand up and Shawn pulls a twenty from his wallet real quick and places it under the milkshake glass. It's more than enough. "Alright then, lead the way, or should I?" 

"You should. He's going to freak out when he sees my hair." 

You grab Shawn's hand and he turns around, facing the front doors of the diner as you head for them. As you approach you can see the color drain from Andrews face as he looks in the window. A wicked smile spreads across your face, ear to ear. It's just the reaction you both wanted. 

The door jingles as it opens and then closes behind you and Shawn. Andrew looks livid. He doesn't even say anything as he tugs a piece of Shawn's hair gently to check if it's a wig. 

"I decided to go for a new look." Shawn says through a shit eating grin. "I think platinum is in right now."

"Definitely." You agree, fixing a stray curl. 

Andrew runs his hand over his head and lets out the angriest sigh you have ever heard. "What do you want? What do you want Shawn? Why? Why?!"

Shawn puts his arm around your shoulders and pulls you against his chest. "I want to enjoy my life and have a little more control over what I say and do. I get it I'm restricted in some aspects by the label but I'm sick of being puppeted around." 

"Jesus... fuck- is this...like repressed teenage rebellion?" Andrew dials a number on his phone and holds it up to his ear as it rings. "I guess we can work something out I- yes Sheila?"

Shawn reaches out and takes Andrews phone from his hand. "No, this is what I'm talking about. You're fucking calling a hair stylist to fix my hair. You're literally making a decision for me, right now. Stop."

"Shawn, you're acting like a child." Andrew says, reaching for his phone. "We can discuss this later. In front of a diner is not the best place."

"I didn't want to have to do this, but I won't renew next month when my contract is up." His grip tightens on you and your heart races. 

"What!?" You interject, looking up at Shawn. He can't be serious. He would leave his management team and label over this. Things must be a lot worse than he has let on. 

Andrew's face pales for the second time. "You wouldn't." 

Shawn passes Andrew his phone. "I'm dead serious. I'm not asking for anything unreasonable. I just want to have more say in what I'm doing and where, and who with." 

"Fine. I'll talk to-" 

"No, you'll do this. Don't act like you have to talk to your boss. I know that it's your call to relinquish creative control and executive decision." Shawn leans his head on yours. "And the first thing I'm going to do is date someone, publicly."

Andrew closes his eyes and pockets his phone. "Alright. I'll make some calls, and I'll give you the option to do things or not, and..." He looks at you and you smile, knowing he isn't the biggest fan of you since you're the one who Shawn usually goes to and you're the one who encourages him to ask for more. "I suppose you can date publicly. I guess it's time."

"Thank you." Shawn says softly. 

"I'll meet you at the studio." Andrew says, turning and heading for his car nearby. "Try not to be seen?" 

"No promises," you laugh with a little wave goodbye. 

Shawn looks around at the very open public downtown street. "I'll do my best?" 

"Your gonna give me an ulcer." Andrew groans and gets in his car. 

You turn in Shawn's hold and lay your hand on his cheek. "Alright, you got your reaction. How fast can we dye your hair back?"

"Tonight, please?" 

"We'll stop by the store and get some dye on the way to the studio." 

"Sounds good to me." Shawn grabs your hand. "Do you want to go out afterwards? On an actual date?" 

You thread your fingers between his. "Yes, I'd love to."

He leans down and kisses your temple. "You're the best. Thank you for helping me with my bad ideas." 

You smile and laugh. "You're welcome, let's go." 

"Yeah, let's go, together." 

End

---------------------------------

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted fics.*****

[tumbling-odyssey]

Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness! 

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is. 

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them. 

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest? 

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway. 

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks. 

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it. 

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it.  And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

 I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life. 

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more. 

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements. 

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements. 

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks. 

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it. 

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much. 

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect. 

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea. 

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel  on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech. 

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true. 

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

 Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too,  simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call. 

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours. 

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds.  This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time. 

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime. 

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game. 

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

[reimahowaido]

I’ll get to those Magic Crafter Dragons I sweeeear But first, fun stuff from Discord. Dunno who made the original, it was just posted on a server, but yeet I did it anyway First of all, I don’t play a lot of games. I like games and the idea of them. I enjoy people playing stuff, I love watching others play. It’s that little sibling culture. But lemme toss a word or few about all of these. Though first of all, I only own 4 of the 8 games listed and even still I’ve only played 3 of them xD R.I.P. Pokemon Cafe Mix - The game is just Super Cute. Like oh my god Aesthetics! Adorable, every pokemon looks so nice and I just want to go to the cafe and taste everything and just chill. Please. It looks so cozy and relaxing. Gameplay is fairly simple too. Sometimes things seem a bit BS but in one way or another I’ll get through every stage etc. so it’s not too bad. Most of the time relaxing, can be addicting because of how simple things are. But really I love the game and I hope one day they’ll add more of the pokemon I like xD Buizel is my current favourite <3 It’d be nice seeing Mienshao or Mienfoo for one, maybe Glameow as it doesn’t get a lot of attention. We got Gogoat, but I wouldn’t mind a Sawsbuck or Deerling Pokemon Black 2 - To keep the Pokemon trend going, this is my fave out of the mainline games. I’ve been a fan ever since the first generation, I’m older than Gen 1 at that. But yeah, we did buy games but Nintendo stuff was too expensive and so I never really got to play those growing up. Black 2 was the first game I ever bought, for myself, with my own money. It was my first game and I loved it dearly. Still do and man I’d Love to replay it, but the curse of only 1 save file is cruel. I don’t want to restart my first ever save file. Currently I have no way of transferring anything over and I even have a Shiny Gothorita there (as underwhelming as it is, it was my first ever shiny). I love these games~~ Lots of different pokemon to choose from, great story, the fact that it’s a sequel is so freaking cool and unique I Love It So Much. Of course it’d be cool to have some extra things to do in it, like cleaning my badges, contests would be cool, I loved the mining stuff in Gen 4 when I got to try it on my friend’s Platinum save file as a kid. Speaking of, Gen 4 games would probably be my favourites, if I ever had the chance of owning and playing any fully. They have soooo much to do in them! Gen 5 is good and certainly up there in faves, but bruh, Gen 4 had all sorts of extra stuff, especially Platinum, and in HG/SS you had Pokemon following you like bruh that’s Crazy and I’d love to have that for a game I own, it’s like a dream Honorable mentions to Mystery Dungeon and Gen 6′s Pokemon Y for some grand memories. Firstly Pokemon Y, the second game I ever owned I think, great fun. I played that game for hooooooooours and it’s the only Pokemon Game that I’ve both played as a Nuzlocke and actually reset to play again. Also the first gen where I actually really got into competitive stuff, breeding for natures and stuff, and I’ve caught so many shinies in Y and Omega Ruby (mostly Y, OR has 1 shiny in Pidove, while Y has Ninetales, Pachirisu, Burmy, Gligar, and perhaps some other ones I caught/hatched myself). Mystery Dungeon games get a mention for having cool stories and I like the idea of the personality test and stuff. I’ve never played or owned any of these games, but I’ve watched Marriland play a handful of the games and currently am enjoying MDB playing through the first games in the series. Also a quick bloop on Colosseum being Cool as heck, and Battle Revolution gets a shoutout for looking so freaking good, having amazing music and making me search up videos with my favourite pokemon and just looking and watching hundreds of videos just because they looked so nice

Fire Emblem has to be the 2nd series of games I’ve gotten the most into. Although I’m a fairly new fan and my experiences and knowledge are limited, I do still enjoy the series and games - both old and new - a bunch. I only own Awakening, Conquest and 3 Houses, but I’ve again watched others play the past games a bunch, so I have some knowledge and memorable moments from those games too. Now I haven’t actually gotten myself to play 3 Houses yet, I’ve seen playthroughs of the game already and know the story etc. But yeh. Still, I’d say that I’ll probably like 3 Houses more than Awakening and Conquest. Awakening is nostalgia galore for me, but it does have its things with the story and characters and stuff. It’s nice, but I dunno, I just feel 3 Houses has an edge on it in some way. Maybe it’s just... Less controversial? Less Flame Wars? Maybe? Fates games, well, we all know the big glaring thing here. The story. And some of the characters suffer from this too. I kinda do wish that the Player had a biiiit more control in how the story went and played out, like I feel you definitely could have saved Scarlet in some way still, and all that. But eh, there’s enough stuff for me to go and prefer 3 Houses over it. And yes, I like choosing the members of my team and playing however I like, so giving me the ability to class my characters however I want is going to be a mistake as I’ll just make everyone a mounted unit and get destroyed but hey! Options :2 Variety :22 Great tiiiiimes~ Also it’s Blue Lions for me, Golden Deer Second Now for the games I don’t own. I chose Radiant Dawn because the Tellius games are just so good. I love the character in them, the story is pretty solid and the worldbuilding is cool too :2 I like both of the games, and while Path of Radiance is more coherent and doesn’t give split the characters up a bunch, Radiant Dawn has More of the great characters :2 Yes I know, not all of them are as fleshed out and thought out as the first game’s characters, but yo I still love them. I love a good continuation to a story. I love a ‘hey maybe it wasn’t as Black & White as we were made to believe’ twist. Also just hella good memories from watching BigKlingy play these games. The audience memed Aran to the final levels. We did it, he did so well, Aran deserved to be there xD Radiant Dawn also brings us Nailah, who is just. Yeah, you speak to me on so many levels, I’m easily readable. But also, woman, wolf, strong, yasss~~ Also I love the idea of the Jaegan character being a Thief/Assassin. That’s just so different and cool to me after all these Horse Units. And I’m the one guy who likes Levail and would love to see more of him. Give us more of Levail, the man who almost made it to being playable. Man. Levail is probably the one reason I’d pick Radiant Dawn over Path of Radiance xD The other game I’ve watched BigKlingy play through (and that’s my only experience on that game) is Sacred Stones. Pretty solid game all in all. Story, characters, but speaking of that story, if you really think about it, it’s Hella Dark, and that’s actually kinda cool in a way. I’m not that into dark stories, but here it worked. Also watched PhoenixMaster1′s playthrough on the Echoes game. I do like the game, if i find it one day I Might buy it but I’m not like in a hurry to get it. It was cool though, different for reasons but hey~ Also, Berkut, yes. I’m one of those people who like this angry man. But come on, he was really good xD Spyro I’ve already talked about in my lengthy little thing that I’ll get to continuing eventually xD But yes, I freaking love Spyro, my childhood, still very enjoyable experience full of great memories Metroid Fusion - Oh boy here come the nostalgia~ I’ve actually never played any Metroid games myself. I got introduced to the series in the early 2010s through youtube videos. I’m fairly sure it was me looking through dozens and dozens of Top 10 videos, several of which were on ‘the scariest bosses’, either unexpectedly scary or something else. But guess what, Nightmare from Fusion was in there, and I Think the person in the video said something on not wanting to even show the final forms of Nightmare’s face because it was that horrifying to them. And honestly? The fact that they didn’t show how bad it got, mixed with my morbid curiosity and woop, here I go~ Down the Metroid rabbithole where I watched a lot of videos on people fighting Nightmare and the other bosses in the game, eventually going into watching full run-throughs of the game and enjoying my time. Game looked pretty good, soundtrack was really nice too. And so I ended up on listening to a lot of the game series’ music and getting more familiar with the other games and the lore too. Learning to know that Samus was a lady was also hella badass. Fusion started it all for me, and while Super Metroid is cool, people also just play it a loooot, especially the Speedrunners, there’s also plenty of hacks based on that game and yeah I get it the game is Good, but that makes Fusion all the more special to me~ Devil May Cry 3 - Ok so again, I’ve not played any DMC games myself. This one again though is nostalgia ocean for me~ 2010 or such, I’m on some forum, said forum has a forum game based around songs or such and someone links one from this game. I Think it was the Doppelganger battle theme, or then I just found that one and listened to it for hours among the other battle themes these games have because they’re soooo gooood~~ DMC 4 was fairly new at that time, but I remember Gredo’s and Agnus’ themes being up there in songs I listened to a lot too. My experiences and stuff on this series was fully based on the songs, images on said songs, bits and pieces of the cutscenes of these games I saw and comments I read. I didn’t get too deep into DMC back then though, but I did have a bit of knowledge here and there, even if my idea of the stories in all the games was, well, I wouldn’t call it warped, but I definitely had imagined the story going differently to how things actually went xD Still, as a few years back I returned to DMC out of that feeling of nostalgia, and discovered DMC 5 had Just been released, boi, I was In. And I watched through cutscene compilations, playthoughs and what have you on all the games (Except for DmC, boot to you ReBoot), and it was quite the hype time~ I enjoy the chracters, the story that there is around them, and just how carefree and fun stuff can be. The party sure did get crazy~ Lost Dimension - The last game I have on the list there. This might be a weird one and I get that yeah. How many have even heard of this game? I sure wouldn’t have ever known of it without BigKlingy’s playthrough of it. But that playthrough was full of memories, I should really rewatch it one day~ I may not remember an awful lot about the game, but I do keep coming back to it in one way or another. I liked the character designs, the fact that all of them were unique and had their own abilities, there was a bit of story around all of them, the traitor system had you thinking & made each run a little different... That’s some Cool Stuff! The game might be a bit obscure and seriously not known at all, but for what it was, it was great and I enjoyed it a bunch! And now for stuff that wasn’t on the list but I kinda still want to mention. Because why not~ IB - This Almost made it onto the list, but I felt a little closer of a connection to the other games on it. But IB is one of those games from the early 2010s that I also got introduced to through the wonderful world of Youtube. I have forgotten the name of the person whose playthrough in the game I watched. But I watched a ton of people play this game. It was just. So cool. The puzzles in this game were nice and the fact I myself could solve and understand them too was pretty nice to me, and for some reason I just enjoyed watching other people react to the game and try solving stuff. It also had a couple different endings so watching and seeing what the other people got was also interesting. Great memories~ Witch’s House / Ao Oni / Mad Father - And all sorts of other horror games that kinda fall under this grouping and style and stuff. Yeah, IB kinda opened a bit of a thing for me as I realized I greatly enjoyed the horror games with puzzle elements to themselves + a bit of story here and there. There’s definitely much much more than these 3, I watched soooo many of these games being played by others. Ao Oni I may have discovered through my Hetalia phase though, HetaOni, if any of you still recognize that name. Daym. Although at first I didn’t want to watch HetaOni because of the portraits. Pfffff I thought the person who made them was being mean to some of the characters, but nah, I’d later learn that those were simply just mimicing the ones from the original game. But yeah, Ao Oni had a dozen variants and things inspired by it so those kept me busy for a whiiiiiile Hades - Now here’s a cool recent game! Again, haven’t played it, but it looks cool. The story is nice, character designs are God Like (hehe), soundtrack is super cool, aesthetics and oh my god everything is voice acted oh my gooood. This game is just. So cool. And the team who did it seems really cool too and are seemingly full of nice amazing people. This is definitely some great example work on how things should be done :2 Definitely something to look up to, I love everything about them~ The only reason Hades isn’t up there is because of its recentness and my brain not managing to think of it somehow even as I struggled to come up with stuff (I was mostly trying to think of stuff I had played, so that’s one thing. I even struggled to remember DMC because my current hyperfixations are elsewhere and that’s freaking Wild considering how much I enjoy DMC) But yeah, Hades is Super Freaking Cool Crash Bandicoot - These games I did play as a kid actually, the 1st one was way too hard and the 3rd one was my favourite. I like Crash, these games were nice too and I have plenty of good memories with the game, just not enough to make it up there on my list. Yeah it sounds stupid that I’d take out a game I actually played and replace it with stuff that I didn’t, but... Hey, my list Minecraft - Watched several videos on other people pllaying this game, I know of it, I respect it, but I’ve never played it myself and stuff. It’s cool but didn’t make it on the list Animal Crossing - Riiiiiight, these games seem adorable and I wouldn’t mind owning an AC game one day. I’d probably reset continuously though to get Skye in my town/village/island, she’s my favourite xD If the recent game had cost lest I might have gotten it. 60-70€ is just, a lot of money Persona - I guess I’ll mention these too. My experiences are through Bigklingy’s videos again. 3 is a fave, 4 seems cool, 5 I don’t know a lot about but it seems nice too. I probably wouldn’t be able to play these games myself, since some fights kinda need certain things and strategies and you can’t really just pick whatever and whom ever and roll through with brute strength. I mean, I Guess you could, but that might not be as fun in the long run? Who knows, but it’s not exactly like Pokemon or Fire Emblem in those regards you know The big conclusion is that I like all sorts of different aesthetic looks, mostly probably natural with some brighter colors in it. Stories are good, I love stories! Good characters with nice designs and backstories are really nice too. Things being thought out and built nicely is great you know? A little bit of strategy, fantasy here and there. Nothing too dark and gloomy or ‘hyper realistic’ or what have you. I guess no first person shooters either, though combat is fine. Games where I can pick and choose what to use and what kinds of ‘teams’ I build and the ‘members’ I use in them is nice. I do love watching others play, but with games like Pokemon & Fire Emblem I have that drive of choosing who to use and having my own unique experience kinda gets me to buy the games.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #456

“i don’t even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger, & that feels so rough”

What was the longest time you’ve had the hiccups for? I know at LEAST over an hour. I was in agony. What type of TV shows are your favourite? Animal docs. Have you ever been a complete fangirl/fanboy over anything? Bitch I still am lmao. Do you know anyone who has died in battle? No. When was the last time you went on an adventure? Bro, I could NOT tell you. I haven't had one of those in what feels like eons. What brand is your vacuum cleaner? I actually don't know. I don't pay attention. Are you good at rapping? Never tried, but I'm sure I'd be awful. I stutter too much. Name one world issue that upsets you. Just ONE????????? Well, I can name homelessness as very high on the list. How do you feel about tanning? I hate it. I can't stand the heat, so why would I deliberately go bake in it? Have you ever given a public speech? Yeah, in front of the whole 4th and 5th grade when I was innnn... one of those grades, idr which. It was for my D.A.R.E. essay. Do you read comic books? No. Do you force your way into conversations in which you are not involved? NOOOOOOOOOOO I'm way too awkward. Kiss with your eyes open or closed? Bro who tf kisses with their eyes open, that shit is creepy. Do you believe you can change someone? No. One can only change themselves. How did you react when your first pet died? I have no memory of our first pet. Have you ever drawn anime? No. Can you use a pogo stick? When I was a kid, I became a MASTER. I got one for I want to say Christmas and I was obsessed. When’s the next time you’ll see the person that you like? Idk, first he needs to get on Facebook and see I messaged him alsdkfjalkdj. He like never gets on there. Do you like bathing/showering? No. One, it's a chore, and two, it's actually painful for me, standing up so long and propping my legs up and stuff like that to clean myself properly. Have you ever considered entering a race? HEEEEEEEEEEELL no. Rihanna or Lady Gaga? Probably Gaga, idk. Who was your first good kiss with? Jason. What accessory do you want in your bedroom? I actually kinda want a TV now? What do you take the most pictures of? Flowers. What are you always in the mood for? Lately, Krispy Kreme donuts, lol. I haven't had one in a very long time, but goddamn does a hot glazed donut sound BANGIN' right now and has for days. What is something that you never turn down? Hm... how am I blanking??? What is something that you always turn down when offered? Certain foods or drinks, like tea. Name something sexy about your significant other. I don't have one'a those. What is one of your hobbies that you refuse to give up? Um, idk. As interests work, I may move away from any hobby eventually. If you could be a professional in any sport what would it be? Dance. If you could be a professional at any instrument what would it be? Violin. Would you rather be a surgeon or mortician? A mortician. That job doesn't even seem all that bad to me? I think it'd be kinda chill somehow???? I could NEVER be a surgeon. I'd be terrified of fucking something up. Have you ever been on a subway? No. Are you in love? No. Do you like having your lip softly bitten when you’re kissing? *eyes emoji* Do you want to get married when you’re older? Yes. What was the last band shirt you wore? PROBABLY my Metallica shirt? But I'm unsure, ultimately. You can have a milkshake right now. What flavor do you choose? Ugh, I've been wanting a nice chocolate milkshake for a while. Have you ever given someone flowers? For Mother's Day one year, I collected some wildflowers to put in a jar for Mom. I've also given Jason roses before. I really wanted to give Sara some when I surprised her for her birthday, but I didn't want to ask her parents to drive me somewhere where I could buy her some, ha ha. What day of the week is usually your busiest day? None. My days are all the same. Do you have any concerts coming up? No, but UGH, I was so hyped a few days ago because I saw Motionless In White was going on tour next year, but of course they're going to the big city on the OTHER end of the state versus the capital, which I'm way closer to. -_- Bands ALWAYS choose Charlotte on the super rare occasion they come to NC... Do you like or hate the smell of fish? Ugh, I hate it. What’s your favorite brand of chips? Doritos, maybe? Between Mountain Dew and those... I am such a fucking gamer stereotype lmfao. Have you ever written a poem and then read it aloud? I think I had to before in school? Idr. Do you like pineapple? Love it. Does your house have a dishwasher? Yes. A dishwasher is one thing I MUST have in my own future house. I cannot stand touching dirty dishes. Do you know anyone who has a flower tattoo? Oh, absolutely. Sunflower tattoos are especially popular around here. How many different languages can you say goodbye in? English, German, and uhhh Spanish? Agree or disagree: You like Adam Sandler movies. I don't mind them. I've never understood the hate, honestly? I think he's capable of being funny. Have you ever had to get a tooth pulled? If so, what for? Only by myself when I was a kid losing my baby teeth. Have you ever dated anyone while they were in jail? Nooooo. If you’ve ever babysat, do you like it? Fuck no, I hate it. What is your favorite flavor on sunflower seeds? I don't like those. Do you get cold easily? No, but I get hot extremely easily. Do you get a lot of spiders in your house? I don't think so, no. Do you admire nature? I positively adore nature. If only we treated it better... Name one naughty thing you’ve done. Done sexual things in places I probably shouldn't have, oops. Name two of your favorite things as a child. Pokemon and Webkinz. Do you own a Pillow Pet? No. They're cute, though. My niece has one. Do you tend to solve problems with violence? Absolutely not. Have either of your parents gone to jail? No. Do you know a hoarder? Yes. Do you wax, pluck, or leave your eyebrows? I just leave 'em be, honestly. Do you have any interesting scar stories? Not really. Do you hate the texture of meatballs? No, I love me some meatballs. Do you get migraines? Very, very rarely. They fucking suck. Do you like guns? NOOOOOOO guns terrify me alsd;kjfal;sdjfk Are turtles amazing creatures? All animals are. :') How much time do you spend taking surveys? A whole lot. It's just that I'm like... always bored and the randomness of surveys can add interesting little flares to the day, I guess. Would you rather visit: The Eiffel Tower or Egyptian Pyramids? Pyramids, for sure. Would you like to work at a candy shop? No. I don't want to work directly with people. Do you have feelings for someone? It's funny; now that I've settled the extreme indecision, I've come to realize that they're very strong feelings. How you go from being indecisive to really, really liking somebody, hell if I know. Which one of your guy friends is the best looking? Uhhh Girt is like my only real guy friend, so I guess it's by default him, ha ha. I'm not particularly attracted to him, but he's not ugly by any means. Do you have anything to say to your ex bf/gf? I'm so sorry. Which band do you have the most of on your iPod/music player? Either Ozzy or Metallica. Most likely Ozzy, though. Which song describes your mood at the moment? Hm. I dunno. Which movie(s) do you quote the most? None, really. Which one of your best friend’s friends would you most likely date? None; we don't share irl friends, being many states apart, and not even that many online ones. Would you ever let anybody else drive your car? I don't have my own car. Which one of your friends will be the most successful? I'm not psychic. What store did you last shop at? Mom and I picked up a Wal-Mart order the other day. Do you think telepathy is real? Absolutely not. When did you last draw something for fun? A few days ago, I started a drawing of Maieykio for Sara. Who makes the most in your entire family? I have no idea. Do you like writing essays? I don't mind, if the topic interests me. Do you think plastic surgery is no big deal? Nah. Well, I think you can take it to an visual extreme, but that's just my opinion. Do what makes you comfortable in your own body. Do you take your trash to the dump or have it picked up? It's picked up. When you sneeze do you sneeze into your shirt or your hands? The inside of my elbow. Do you usually have sex in the morning, noon or night time? It usually happened at night. Did you ever fail your learners/drivers test? Haven't taken it yet. Would you rather listen to Luke Bryan or Lil Wayne? OH MY GOD NEITHER Name someone you’ve become a lot closer to recently: No one, really? Well, unless you count my change of feelings for Girt, but it's just that: a type of change. I've loved him platonically since high school, and it's like, I feel the same for him, just in a romantic way now? Does your car have a sunroof? No. Are you closer to your mom or your dad? My mom. Have you ever had a friend with benefits? Nope, not how I roll. Who’s the last person you cuddled with? Sara. Unless you count my cat. Are you friends with any of your teachers on Facebook? Former teachers, yes. I feel kinda bad for 'em now... They're all the sweetest, God-fearing people, and then there's my outspoken (online) and liberal ass sharing shit that's gotta disappoint them now lmaoooo.

[ericsonclan]

The Gentle Warmth of Friendship

Summary: Brody and Violet journey with their Pokemon when suddenly they meet someone new.

Word Count: 3353

Read on AO3:

“Are you sure we’re heading in the right direction?” Brody asked as she struggled to balance the PokeNav in her hand while gently holding Cleffa. Ralts walked beside her, calm and collected as it followed its trainer.

“Clef?” The small pokemon looked up at its trainer’s face and saw the worry in her eyes. Brody’s brows furrowed as she studied the map. Prescott shouldn’t be far away from the route they were on.

“I don’t know. Aasim said to stay on route 116 and keep walking until we see a road marker that points towards Prescott,” Violet shuffled the pack on her back. Part of her wanted to take a break for the day and set up camp. But another, bigger part of her wanted to continue on. If the two of them walked on and didn’t stop, they could reach the town by nightfall.

“Okay, well I’m sure we’ll be able to find it,” Brody jogged forward and caught up with her friend. The auburn gave a friendly smile to Violet who offered a small one in return. Cubone walked alongside Violet and kept one hand on its weapon and another on her pant leg. The pokemon had always been extremely attached to Violet ever since the day she had found it after its mother’s passing.

Violet looked down with a smile. “You let me know if you get tired, Cubone, and we can stop,”

The words made Cubone look up with big eyes. “Cu? Cubone!” it cried happily and its grip on Violet’s pant leg tightened. Violet shook her head good-naturedly then turned her sights up ahead. Cubone had a tendency to push itself too hard but that only made things worse for the pokemon. With how tired it got it sometimes couldn’t keep up with Violet. At that point Cubone would start to cry from loneliness, causing a sad melody to vibrate throughout the skull it wore on its head, making it shake.

“Veno!”

The sudden call made Brody and Violet stop to see that Venonat had gotten distracted by rock collecting. The bug type pokemon pitter pattered over and stopped in front of Violet. Its large red eyes looked into hers as it held up the item. “Venonat!”

“For me?” Violet knelt down and gave a soft smile as her pokemon handed over the item before she tucked it away. “Thanks.”

“Nat! Nat!” The pokemon exclaimed happily and did a small dance before it gave Violet a look. Instantly the trainer knew what it wanted and carefully picked up her pokemon. Soon the two trainers were off on the route once more.

“Doesn’t carrying all those rocks become tiring?” Brody looked over at Violet who glanced over her way. Violet moved a bit closer to Brody and brought her voice down to a whisper.

“I don’t keep all of them. My pack gets too fucking heavy so when Venonat is napping I usually place them to the side or give them to some wild pokemon I see if they’re friendly.” Violet’s explanation made Brody chuckle softly. The reaction made Violet frown. “It's not funny.”

“Sorry, no, it's just that's really sweet. You really do love your pokemon, Vi.” Brody smiled softly and Violet looked away.

“Yeah, of course. I’d be a pretty shitty trainer if I didn’t think about my pokemon.”

“Speaking of trainers, I can’t wait to see the others in Prescott,” Brody’s eyes shone with joy and her Ralts moved closer towards her, drawn in by her positive emotions.

“Me too. I bet you’re really excited to see one trainer in particular,” Violet teased her friend who nudged her arm.

“Hey! I’m gonna be happy to see the others too! I haven’t seen Ruby in ages and Minnie will definitely want to challenge me to a pokemon battle when we arrive.” As Brody spoke Cleffa held onto her finger, snuggling it contentedly. “But yeah, I can’t wait to see Mitch either and watch that confident smirk turn dorky as soon as he sees me.”

“Not like your face is any better. You two short circuit around each other.” Violet’s words made Brody grow embarrassed.

“Well, it's not like you and Prisha are any better. You told me you dropped your PokeNav into the curry the last time you two camped together because she surprised you with a hug from behind!” Brody was now the one with the smug, teasing expression on her face while Violet felt overwhelmed.

“Whatever, the Pokenav still worked and besides, it's not as embarrassing as that berry incident,” Violet’s smile returned when she saw that Brody clearly remembered that day.

“Well played, Vi. Anyways, I heard that Prescott has quite the gym leader.” Brody shifted their conversation before rummaging around in her pockets. She offered some berries and other treats to Violet. Violet gave a small thanks before handing some of the treats to her pokemon before munching on a berry herself.

“Yeah, I heard the gym there is tough. The Fairy gym leader is known to kick anyone’s ass that challenges him,”

Brody nodded and was about to add to that when suddenly a patch of grass to her right rustled wildly. Both trainers stopped in their tracks and carefully studied the grass. Violet instinctively moved forward in front of Brody and prepared to defend her friend if need be.

The grass continued to move until suddenly a purple blob pokemon wiggled forward. Its beady little eyes looked at Brody then Violet before it smiled. “Ditto!” It cried happily then noticed Venonat staring at it from the safety of Violet’s arms. WIthout warning the Ditto began to transform and became an exact replica of the bug type pokemon.

“Veno?” Violet’s Venonat looked somewhat scared but squirmed out of Violet’s arms. Cautiously it moved forward and examined the Ditto who now looked exactly like it. Venonat did a few different motions with its claws and they were mirrored with ease. “Nat! Nat!” The pokemon screeched and waddled back frantically, clutching onto Violet’s leg desperately.

“Ditto?” Ditto looked confused as to why that had scared its potential new friend. The Ditto morphed back into its original form and was about to imitate another pokemon to see if it could become friends with it when all of sudden a soft voice called out to it.

“Ditto! There you are!” A trainer ran forward, his dark hair getting in the way of his eyes as he scooped up the Ditto. “I thought I told you, no running off and bugging other trainers,” The trainer scolded his pokemon before looking over at Violet and Brody. “Sorry about my Ditto.”

“It's fine,” Violet mumbled and picked up her Venonat.

“Yeah, your Ditto was just trying to make friends, right?” Brody smiled over at the trainer who nodded slowly.

“Ditto always tries to make new friends, thinks that it will help with my social anxiety,” the trainer explained, gesturing with his hands a lot and causing Ditto to nearly slip out of his arms.

“Well, there was no harm done. I’m Brody and this is Violet,” The auburn trainer gestured to herself then to Violet who gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

“It's nice to meet you. My name is James,” The trainer’s soft voice grew a bit quieter. It had been a while since he had run into trainers that weren’t mad that his Pokemon had bugged them. “Well, I should get-”

“Riolu!” A pokemon cried out protectively and ran forward. Its little paws whacked against the ground before the blue pokemon slid in front of James. Its red eyes dared Brody and Violet to even try to take a step forward.

“Riolu! No!” James placed down Ditto and reached out to stop his Riolu from starting a fight like it usually did. “These are nice trainers. What did I say about fighting?”

“Ri!” The pokemon huffed as it looked back at its trainer. James picked it up, now holding both his pokemon in his arms. Riolu’s eyes soon snapped over at the group once more. Quickly it sensed the auras surrounding the two trainers and their pokemon. Brody had a calm, comforting aura and her Cleffa and Ralts seemed to have a similar aura radiating off of them as well. Riolu looked over and noticed the spooked aurora around Venonat and felt the lonely aura around Cubone although it seemed to be tamer than other Cubones and an undertone of happiness danced within its aura. Lastly Riolu looked over at Violet and noticed her quiet, subtle aura. There was no malice or anger amongst them. The pokemon glanced back at its trainer. Now that Riolu thought about it, James’ aura was unusually calm too. “Ri, Ri,” Riolu grumbled and settled down.

“Thank you,” James hugged his pokemon softly. “Sorry about Riolu. He tends to get overprotective of me,”

“That's okay, just shows that you have a good bond with your pokemon,” Violet’s words made James’ eyes grow large. They had clearly meant a lot to him. He was about to thank her for them but a laugh made all three trainers pause. They looked over to see two grunts strolling forward. Both of them had a menacing aura to them and the look in their eyes made it clear they were looking for trouble.

“Look, Joey, we found some cool pokemon for the boss!” The grunt on the left smiled smugly at his friend.

“Yeah, I bet the boss is gonna give us a promotion. Maybe we can even get to choose one of the next Pokemon in the ring!” Joey’s eyes shone with a twisted joy.

“I don’t know who you are but we don’t want trouble,” Brody spoke up and drew the two grunts’ attention.

“Well, we do and we want your pokemon too!” Joey strode forward but Violet stood in front of the group alongside James’ Riolu who had wiggled out of its trainer’s arms.

“Get your own Pokemon and leave us the hell alone!” Violet growled at the grunts, her eyes burning with warning.

The two grunts shared a look and began to laugh.

“Who’s gonna stop us? Your little bug? Listen, just give us the Cubone, Riolu, Ditto and Ralts and we’ll let you keep your shitty pokemon.” There was cocky confidence in the grunt’s orders. Those words caused three different reactions from the trainers. Violet gritted her teeth and curled her hands into fists while James slowly strode forward, his eyes shimmering coldly. Brody gathered Ditto, Ralts, and Venonat together who Violet had told to go back to her.

“You would try to tear apart pokemon from their trainers? I won’t let you do that.” James’ calm aura had shifted and he was ready to fight if need be.

Heh, you don’t have a choice! We’re taking them by force! Ready, Justin?” Joey smiled over to his friend as he took out his pokeball.

“I’m always ready! We’re gonna show these dumbasses the might of Team Delta!” Justin unclipped his pokeball from his hip and tossed it in the air. The ball flew high before a light hummed from inside it and a pokemon emerged. A Machoke landed on the ground and shook its fist as it looked over at Violet and James. Its left eye was missing and scars littered its body. The sight pained James’ heart. What had happened to this pokemon? Had its trainer done this? Before James could ponder further Joey threw his pokeball and a Skarmory appeared in front of them. It gave a high pitched cry causing Brody, Violet and James to cover their ears. Its metal wings were damaged and its beak was bent. Violet clenched both of her fists. These two didn’t give a shit about any pokemon, even their own.

“Violet, would you help me in this battle?” James looked over with determination. Clearly he was just as upset by the sight before him as Violet was.

“Yeah.” Violet nodded and knelt down in front of her Cubone. “I’m going to need your help.” “Cubone!” The pokemon cried to hype itself up and waved around the bone weapon it wielded.

“Riolu, are you ready?” James asked his pokemon companion who got into a fighting stance.

“Riolu!” The pokemon declared proudly and glared at the Delta grunts.

“Okay then. We challenge you to a pokemon battle!” James yelled as he stood beside Violet.

“Bring it, losers!” Justin laughed then gave the first command. “Machoke, use low kick!”

“Choke!” Machoke roared and charged forward. It used its left leg to stabilize itself before sending a devastating low kick directly at Riolu’s face. Riolu lifted its arms to block the attack and soften the blow as it skidded backwards. Dust and dirt flew through the air; the battle had begun.

“Cubone, use headbutt!” Violet instructed and her pokemon charged forward with its head turned downwards towards Machoke.

“Cu!” the pokemon cried and landed a direct hit but it didn’t seem to do much damage.

“Skarmory, use wing attack!” Joey snapped and the pokemon immediately obeyed. Its sharp wings shone in the light and it flew forward, spinning wildly before its wings slashed out at Cubone. Cubone whimpered in pain and stumbled back. It was a super effective move.

“Cubone!” Violet glared at Joey with fiery hatred in her eyes. “You piece of shit!” Her anger only made Joey’s twisted smile grow. Violet’s jaw tightened; she wouldn’t give up so easily.  “Cubone, use headbutt!”

Cubone listened and charged forward, ramming into the Skarmory.

“Heh, you’re so fucking stup-’

“Now! Use Bone rush!” Violet’s words made Joey freeze as Cubone used its bone and harshly hit Skarmory again and again. Skarmory cried out  and tried to get away but the Cubone was too close and unusually fast.

“Justin! Help!” Joey yelled but his friend ignored him. He was too busy having fun using Machoke to low kick Riolu again and again.

“I don’t have time for your whiny shit, Joey! I’m busy beating the shit out of this twerp!” His words made James shake with anger.

“Riolu, use quick attack to dodge the next blow!” James cried and Riolu gave a nod. As soon as Machoke tried to use another low kick Riolu used quick attack, zooming underneath the outstretched leg.

“Machoke?” Machoke spun around this way and that to find its opponent.

“Now, use metal claw!” James’ voice rang out and danced around the battlefield as Riolu appeared through its makeshift shield of dust. Its claws shone as it tore at Machoke. Machoke gave a pained sound and tried to retaliate but Riolu slipped into the dusty wind once more. James continued on like this, commanding Riolu to use quick attacks to dodge Machoke’s onslaught before sending in a metal claw attack of its own. Slowly but surely Riolu was chipping away at Machoke’s health until James called out for the finishing blow. “Riolu, use force palm!”

“Ri, Ri!” Riolu dashed forward and appeared in front of Machoke. Getting on its left leg Riolu lifted up its right one slightly and got into a fighting stance. Moving both of its paws back it charged up a devastating attack and sent its right paw forward, crashing into Machoke’s chest.

“Choke?” Machoke stumbled back, frightened that it had lost. It tried to reach out to Justin but folded over and collapsed on the ground.

Justin tsked angrily and held out the pokeball to retrieve the pokemon. “Fucking useless! I’ll just have to steal a better pokemon,” Justin tossed aside the pokeball into a pile of mud nearby then looked over to see how Joey was faring.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!!” Joey yelled. “Skarmory! Use fly now!”

Skarmory tried its best to get away as fast as possible but it turned out to be fruitless.

“Cubone, use bonemerang!” Violet’s words made the Delta grunt’s eyes shake with realization.

“Cu, cu!” Cubone lifted up its arm and with a mighty toss threw its bone through the air. The attack connected and hit the Skarmory in mid flight. The pokemon gave another high pitched cry which made Violet and James cover their ears once more before Skarmory fell from the sky. Joey didn’t seem worried at all. In fact, it looked like he was going to let it fall to the ground. Violet and James ran forward at the same time to catch the pokemon, sliding across the ground to save it just in time. They had been able to stop the Skarmory from getting severely harmed even though it would definitely cost them a few bruises over the coming days.

“Argh!” Joey reluctantly held out his pokeball to retrieve Skarmory before he noticed that Justin had discarded his pokemon. Joey thought for a moment and followed suit, tossing aside his pokeball like it was nothing.

“How dare you!” Brody ran forward and carefully fished the two pokeballs out of the mud.

“You two are just selfish assholes!” Violet spat with venom and strode forward with James.

In that moment all of Justin and Joey’s bravery seemed to disappear and they frantically pushed each other out of the way as they tried to escape. They were fighting each other so much that a small pouch slipped out of Justin’s pocket without him even realizing it. “Team Delta won’t forget about this!” Justin yelled angrily then turned and disappeared down the road with Joey.

The three trainers were quiet for a few moments before Violet and James turned their attention to their Pokemon. Violet carefully checked Cubone’s injuries and took out a potion spray. Gently she began to spray the wounds and used some bandages to make sure no infection got into the injuries before they reached Prescott and could visit a PokeCenter. James frantically checked Riolu for injuries before tenderly holding the Pokemon in his arms.

“Thank you, for helping me fight them off,” James smiled softly at Violet.

Violet picked up Cubone who clutched onto her shirt. The blonde trainer looked over at James then glanced away. “It was no big deal. Someone had to stop those assholes,” Violet offered a small smile towards James then turned towards Brody who was sadly looking at the pokeballs which held the discarded Pokemon. “We should see if Prescott has a Pokemon sanctuary.”

Brody glanced up at Violet’s words and nodded. “I don’t know who would abandon their Pokemon like this.”

“Heartless people, that's who. I’ve seen it before,” Violet walked forward and stopped beside Brody. “They’ll be okay.”

That made a gentle smile appear on Brody’s lips. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Thanks for watching out for Venonat too,” Violet offered a small smile her friend’s way.

“No problem.” Brody’s lips held the same smile until an idea crossed her mind. “Oh, James, would you like to journey with us to Prescott? It could be safer to have others with you in case Team Delta shows up again. Plus, it's always more fun to travel with company,”

James’ eyes grew large at Brody’s offer. He studied her eyes for a moment and saw she was truly genuine. Glancing over, he noticed Violet gave a small nod in agreement and that she was being genuine too. “Alright, I haven’t traveled with others in a while so I may not be the best company,” James readjusted his pack then hurried forward with Ditto and Riolu.

“That's okay. I tend to do the most talking anyway since Violet can get lost in her thoughts and be kinda standoffish, especially with new people. But practice makes perfect so speak up whenever you feel comfortable,” Brody smiled over at James before looking at Violet who was frowning slightly at Brody’s description of her and quickly glanced away.

James was silent, processing the kindness he had been offered while watching as Brody reassured Violet who shrugged her off but seemed to not have taken offense. It was clear these two were close friends and maybe, just maybe they could be his friends too. James looked at the road ahead. It could be wishful thinking but he wanted to believe otherwise. These two definitely made him want to believe.

[beakybirdsong]

Sigh okay it's Pokemon News Drop Day so I'm gonna make a quick appearance for initial thoughts. But uhhh they're not great lmao

So if you don't like debbie downers probably don't read this lol

Because I got a bit...edgy

But like...I actually *hate* that we're getting 3 different games and none of them look remotely...good, all for different reasons.

The D/P remakes, from what we've seen so far, just don't excite me in any way. My opinion could change going forward but for right now it looks like it might as well be a remastered port, which is...not really what I've come to expect from Pokemon remakes, even as someone who's generally become a huge pessimist over the years lmao. HGSS added Pokemon following, the Pokathalon, a customizable Safari Zone, team photos, polished bits of existing storyline (like awakening the legendaries or disguising yourself as a rocket), and I think even the Battle Frontier iirc. We got much less in ORAS, but the story was admittedly still polished up good from what it was, including a little post game romp where we could catch Deoxys, the DexNav, which was super fun to play around with, and additionally Mirage Islands, a bunch of minimaps in the region that changed every day, which you essentially could collect from others by playing online or using Streetpass and accessing BuzzNav. It was also the first game to let us really hunt a hoard of legendaries, some of which were hidden in really cool updated areas (lookin at you Sea Mauville).

My point of all this I guess is that if you're going to give us a trailer for DP remakes can you not make it look like...samey and bland lol?? I'm not saying there WONT be any new content, but I am saying that if there isn't then it just...is not gonna be worth the money that a Switch game costs. Especially after Swsh left such a bad taste in my mouth. Like H O N E S T L Y I'd probably be being a lot nicer right now if Swsh was like...a good game lmao but that shit still has bugs and even after two full DLC drops there's nothing to DO (outside of being a crazy person like me and hunting shiny legends in Dynamax Adventures).

NOT TO MENTION HOLY SHIT, the longer time goes on the less forgivable it gets that these characters are sooooo fucking static!!!! The whole *thud* thing worked fine back in the DS era because it was....yknow, the DS era, but it just looks so stupid over a decade later. You can't add any more movement than that?? Barry's static pose in battle is also just completely devoid of personality. I'd honestly be fine with the chibi style if they did something interesting with it. Which is my point ig. Please please pleeeaaassseeee do something interesting with these remakes. Give me a reason not to just play on an emulator, or hell. Dig out an old copy and play on the 3DS, which still supports DS games lmao.

Okay phew ANYWAY.

Idk if it's because I'm coming down off of that hot mess but Pokemon Legends is actually...kind of interesting in concept. Like it takes place in the past, neat. And it's """"open-world,"""" okay neat. And the starter options are remixed, neat (I have a lot of thoughts on that actually and they aren't bad but this isn't the time or place). And they clearly told the tree-renderers to get their fucking act together, but like...that's a good segue into the problem I'm having with it which is that it still just looks empty. And boring?? And I think what I'm getting hung up on is that part of my brain is like ooh cool but there's a much bigger part of my brain that's like "OK but WHY"

It's just so frustrating as a longtime Pokemon fan to look at these two games which are both set in Sinnoh and only seeing wasted potential. Why aren't we getting one really good Sinnoh game that could happen with a little more time and less spread-thin resources? One looks bad because it's static and underwhelming port of an otherwise big beautiful labyrinthine region and the other looks bad because it looks good in places but is otherwise is an empty looking world in the way that the Wild Area was. We could have all the good stuff in one package but why would they do that when they can double up on profits by shipping out two mediocre games?

Speaking of, the nastiest taste in my mouth by far was the fact that we're getting three new games at all. Other parts of first-party Nintendo are making a point to ask for understanding and delay releases because of the pandemic and it seems like Pokemon just isn't letting up. What kind of conditions and crunch are these developers working under while also dealing with the handicap of doing it all remotely?? Do they get to sleep and eat like Jesus fucking Christ. I know there's a studio name I don't recognize helping with the DP remakes but STILL. It's not worth it! It's not worth it! Make a better game later!!! Stop beating your own franchise and the people who make it half to death!! Getting even one new mainline Pokemon game a year is unrealistic and unsustainable and it needs to stop fucking yesterday!! Hell, I would cry tears of joy if we went a year with no new Pokemon news at all! That's how ugly this feels.

In an attempt not to end on a sour note I guess, Snap looks good enough to get. I'm curious to see how many courses there are, but the characters look endearing enough, and by nature of being an on-rails game the world feels alive because it's not an unrealistic ask to make it feel that way (they did it just fine on the N64, even with the technical limitations of the time). I would much prefer mainline Pokemon games veer away from this "open-world" direction they're going in and just focus on making their little segmented areas tighter and more immersive in terms of aesthetic and exploration and maybe like one or two static encounter mons with a bit of personality. But I'm getting carried back into the Mainline Game Bad Thoughts Zone and I don't wanna be there. So. Idk check out that Venusaur doing a cannonball! Instant serotonin. Hoping there will be some fun pokemon interactions you can apple into happening like Surfing Pikachu or the Jigglypuff concert. Snap looks fun. I like fun. This is fun. This is fine!!!!!!!

[pocket-monsters-precure]

Chapter 21: File Not Found!? A Negative Missing Number!

This week’s nega-evolution was designed by @dai-rokuten-maou​ !

Guest appearances by Fanfancures by @salsasprecure​ and @bubblemahouhub ! 

“Hnnnngh…”

 With a grunt, Alice stretched herself as she leaned back in her chair, taking off her glasses briefly to rub her eyes. She got screen headaches much more quickly these days; she figured it was just a sign of getting older. But she still had more to add to her database; how could she possibly continue to be on top of her research into pokemon health if she didn’t keep up with the new information on nega-evolution provided by the Precure?

 A slight rumbling noise came from her lap, as she looked down to see Penumbra staring curiously back up at her; the Umbreon had been disturbed from its slumber when she stretched.

 “Oh…sorry,” she apologized softly, gently scratching her companion under the chin. “Though…seeing you sleepy like that makes me realize I should probably get some rest, too.”

 She looked back to her computer and navigated to the start menu, noting the computer wanted to update before shutting down. “Alright…there we go.” She selected the proper option before turning off the monitor, picking up Penumbra in her arms as she stood up. She couldn’t stop learning, now…for the sake of both people and Pokemon. And for the sake of the group’s new, reluctant ally in the form of a highly dangerous escaped genetic experiment, but he wasn’t there that evening.

 As she prepared to crawl into bed that evening, she stopped to lower the blinds on her window, obscuring her from the prying eyes outside.

  =====

 “Alice Pierce, pokemon researcher specializing in the field of pokemon health and medicine….” Bedlam muttered, arms crossed as he went over his gathered information aloud while lounging in a tree. “Yeah, I can see why they’d look to her for guidance.”

 “There you are!” Ataxia appeared on an upper branch, sitting daintily and looking displeased. “Return at once. Lord Tumult has informed us all of some strategic changes. All of us, that is, except for you.”

 “I’m assuming the changes aren’t all that different from the old strategies,” Bedlam shrugged, “Nega-evolve pokemon. Be defeated by a bunch of little girls. Swear revenge. Repeat.”

 Ataxia huffed. “If only you’d put a little bit more enthusiasm into this. Once Dys has enough sustenance to breach the worlds, we can expand, and create the paradise meant for us! Does that not appeal to you at all!? Don’t you want to succeed!? Don’t you want a world where everyone’s as wayward and lost as those Tumult has brought into his service? Where we can all be brought together by Dys, and never struggle or worry again?”

 “Quit with the preaching. Of course I wanna succeed,” Bedlam replied, “But frankly, I find it just a bit odd that Tumult hasn’t lifted a finger to do anything.”

 “Tumult answers directly to Dys!”

 “Whom none of us have seen up close. How do we know Tumult isn’t lying, or trying to screw us over so he looks better?”

 Ataxia sputtered. “A-are you…are you questioning your very mission, Bedlam!?”

 “I’m trying to figure out a new way, without Tumult. I’m going to strike at the heart of the Precure on this island….and if it works, then we can repeat the strategy across this world…”

 Ataxia watched him in silence for a moment. Then, she sat down next to him. “Well, then…be a team player. Tell me what you’ve learned so far, won’t you?”

 Bedlam looked back at her, briefly surprised. Then, he nodded.

 ===

 “Ready, and—!” Naomi set the volleyball, before leaping up as a mischievous glint flashed in her eyes, staring down Kailani opposite her.

 Kailani, meanwhile, froze. “I’m beginning to think I made a mistake—“

 “—SPIKE!” Naomi slammed her fist into the ball, smashing it down into Kailani’s head as she let out an unladylike squawk and fell over into the sand. The girls were playing out on the beach on a weekend day, having finished some difficult exams (and balancing that with battling nega-evolutions). It had been about a week since the previous incident, and though the girls had been keeping the island safe, nega-evolutions were still cropping up across the globe, and Rotomi hadn’t shown any new developments ability-wise, despite continuing to absorb the nega-energy left behind after each purification.

 “Kailani! Are you alright?” Fae called from the blanket where she sat with Asuka and Clefable; Asuka was focused on a tablet in her hands, while Clefable was sunning herself.

 “I’m…okay…!” Kailani called out, finally sitting up and rubbing her head. “Come to think of it, anyone know where Raichu is?”

 “He’s over there,” Naomi pointed, seeing Raichu surfing with his tail on some small waves out on the water, Rotomi flitting after him. “Looks like he got tired of watching us.”

 “Poor guy…I’m sure he misses the waves in Alola; they were much larger than these. We used to surf together.”

 “I’m much more of a windsurfing person, myself,” Naomi said, “Anyway, you wanna try again? I won’t spike anymore.” She held out her hand.

 “Yeah, let’s try again…” Kailani accepted the hand offered to her, standing up.

 Back with Fae and Asuka, the former glanced to the latter. “You seem really focused on something. You haven’t even let any of your pokemon out like you said you would.”

 “Huh? Oh! Ohh!!” Asuka hurriedly took out two pokeballs, releasing her Cyndaquil and Scizor. “I should shuffle my team more…I’d release the whole team but we shouldn’t crowd the beach.”

 “What’s on your mind? You’ve been glued to your tablet…” Fae tipped her head a bit as Asuka glanced back at the tablet.

 “It’s…this news from the Galar region. A nega-evolved dynamax pokemon appeared.”

 “Dynamax!? Those are huge, aren’t they!? That must have been absolutely massive once it nega-evolved!”

 “It was stopped by two Cures—Cure Monarch and Cure Phantasm. What luck they showed up…”

 “Nega-evolved and dynamaxed…the Cures in Galar must really have it tough.”

 “You’re telling me…” Asuka frowned as she looked back at the article on the screen. “And we already know that they can nega-evolve people…”

 Fae watched her face for a bit, trying to read her expression. “It’s okay, Asuka. I’m scared too. We’re all scared.”

 “We just…need to go over all the information we have,” Asuka muttered. “Maybe…maybe I’ll feel a bit better after we do that.”

 Asuka always preferred cold, hard facts. She liked being well-informed before making decisions. Being a Precure hadn’t always given her the luxury of that, but since they seemed to have some downtime, it was time to catch up.

 Nega-Evolution was spreading like a disease.

 More Precure were popping up, as if her world was creating antibodies, of a sort, to combat it.

 Darkness was a sickness…and they were the cure for it. It made sense. To her, anyway.

 As she was pondering this, Fae got an idea.

 “I’ve got it!” Fae tapped a fist in her palm. “Why don’t we go to Dr. Pierce’s place later and ask to see her collected notes? I know she’s been trying to keep things organized for us…”

 A rustling sound came from Fae’s bag as Rotomi burst out of it. “I need her to update her database from the Cure Dex anyway!”

 Asuka looked at the pair of them, as a smile began to cross her features. “That…would help a lot.”

 ===

 Meanwhile, in Johto…

 “Brace!” Cure Faith shouted—the trio of Sacred Beast Precure crossed their arms in front of them to absorb the blow of a shockwave caused by a Nega-Stantler, skidding back from the impact. The beast leered at them with a piercing, enraged glare, its sharpened, hooked antlers ready to gore anyone who got too close. It was rather small for a nega-evolution, but was still larger than the average Stantler; this beast stood about one story tall, and was making up for its smaller stature with pure rage. It dug a hoof into the ground angrily, before charging.

 “Shining—“ with a twirl, Cure Cascade sent a jet of water toward it to force it back, “—Torrent!”

 “How ‘bout this!?” Flash shouted, and with the snap of her fingers, she electrified the jet of water. A gruntlike, pained roar emitted from the nega-evolution, but as the jet of water ended, the creature still stood, its antlers beginning to glow with a sinister aura.

 “That’s a problem…!” Faith ran forward, before digging her fingers into the earth with unnatural strength and hurling a large chunk of solid earth at the beast—not only did the chunk break into smaller pieces as the incoming blast from its antlers was fired, but the chunks smashed into Nega-Stantler’s head, causing it to stagger.

 “Nice!” Flash pumped a fist, “About time we caught it off-guard, right?”

 “Let’s hurry!” Faith turned to face the other two. They shared a nod, holding out their hands as three large, golden, intricate fans appeared in their hands.

 “Open!” They declared in unison, opening the fans with the snap of their wrists. “Miracle Matsuri Fans!”

 “Precure!” They began to dance a choreographed routine, with grand, sweeping gestures, the fans seeming to leave trails of light as they moved. “Miracle Matsuri Refresh!”

 In a brilliant flash of sparkles, Nega-Stantler was defeated, the original Stantler left dizzily standing in its place. Shaking the dizziness away, it approached the Precure, seeming to understand the situation and nuzzling Faith before giving her a hearty lick on the face.

 “Ack—!” Faith made a face, as it scampered off into the brush.

 “Done and done.” Flash dusted off her hands, before flipping her massive, swirling ponytail.

 “At least it wasn’t more than one this time…” Cascade rubbed her temple with a hand.

 “Wait, what about the Shadowlings our pokemon were dealing with!?” Faith yelped in realization.

 “Grrrowf!” A voice declared, as Faith’s Growlithe ran toward them, joined by an excited Azumarill; Noctowl swooped down to join them.

 “Oh, thank goodness….!” Faith knelt down to catch Growlithe in her arms, sighing in relief.

 “Come on, we better hurry back to the National Park,” Flash grinned as she ruffled Noctowl’s feathers. “We might be able to catch the end of the Bug-Off! We can update the group doc later!”

 It seemed, even without someone like Rotomi to guide them, the Precure across the other regions were developing their own ways to learn and keep track—be it with technology or simply word of mouth. As the girls reverted to their true forms and headed back toward the National Park, the girl who was Cure Cascade was already pulling out her phone, accessing where they kept their notes, eager to jot down the information before it had a chance to leave her memory.

 ===

 “It’s a lot more to look at than I expected…” Asuka admitted as she sat before Dr. Pierce’s computer. The Cure Dex was connected nearby, Rotomi humming contentedly inside.

 “It’s not just notes we’ve gathered,” Dr. Pierce explained, “I’ve been keeping up with news headlines, and speaking to colleagues located in other regions to learn about their own experiences. Don’t try and overwhelm yourself, Asuka; it’s best to do things in bits and pieces.”

 “Hang in there,” Kailani reassured her, “If you find anything new or interesting, let us know! We’d hate to crowd around you while you’re trying to read. We’ll just help Dr. Pierce around the house.”

 Asuka looked over her shoulder at them, giving a smile and a nod. With that, she got to reading, looking at files that had names that piqued her interest—she was fortunate that most of them were fairly easy to read; they didn’t use a lot of complicated language like she was expecting. All this information now at her disposal…and more.

 But as she went over a headline regarding the spreading nega-evolution cases, something occurred to her.

 “Rotomi?”

 “Yes?” Rotomi’s voice came from the Cure Dex.

 “Your whole world suffered from this nega-evolution thing, right?”

 A pause, then a sad reply. “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”

 “…we’ve never bothered to ask you what it was like, have we? A world entirely nega-evolved.”

 A longer pause. “It’s really sad. I didn’t wanna bring it up in detail unless someone asked.”

 “Well…” Asuka debated opening up a word processor to note down what she was about to hear, but opted instead to just…listen. “…I’m asking now.”

 Rotomi exited the Cure Dex, looking down at the floor before floating into Asuka’s hands.

 “It’s dark. It’s hard to breathe, the air is so thick with…not something physical, but…just..this unease. This unfixable feeling that nothing is right. That nothing will ever be right. The people and creatures nega-evolved are shells of who they used to be. There’s no warmth or comfort. No satisfaction. It feels like whatever the solution is to whatever ails them…is just out of their reach.”

 Asuka listened, her stomach dropping. “That sounds horrible. I’m so sorry…”

 “It’s supposedly to feed ‘Dys.’ Whoever that is; I’m not sure. But what kind of person…what kind of thing…feeds off the misery of others? That’s just…that’s terrible. And…” Rotomi’s eyes saddened even further. “To think that…that Amaranth might be going through the same thing right now…”

 Asuka brought Rotomi to her chest, as if to hug her. “It’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to not know, and to worry. I’m sure Amaranth is worried about you, too. But we’ll find a way to save your home. And to help the people and pokemon here who were nega-evolved. And you’ve been getting stronger by absorbing the leftover energy, so maybe you still have things you’ve yet to figure out you can do! Even then…you’re safe, and you’re with people who will stay by your side until this is over.”

 Rotomi looked up at Asuka, smiling a bit. “…thank you.”

 “Of course, Rotomi. Any time you need reassurance, just tell me.”

 Asuka looked back at the screen, setting Rotomi carefully on the desk as she got back to skimming the notes; the little fairy flew back into the Cure Dex.

 Some time later, the girls were gathered around the coffee table while Dr. Pierce set down some tea and cakes. Asuka was sharing her notes with the group as they enjoyed the snack.

 “Dr. Pierce has been keeping notes on not just the nega-evolutions we’ve defeated, but any that her colleagues have encountered,” Asuka began, “Thankfully, some of said colleagues are also working with Precure…”

 “I’m currently adding their data to your Cure Dex,” Dr. Pierce explained as she looked over from her computer.

 “We were correct in assuming they just use warped versions of moves the pokemon knows,” Asuka continued.

 “Like Mr. Mime’s Trick Room, that shuffled the rooms at school!” Naomi piped up.

 “Exactly. But now there’s the matter of Shadowlings…”

 “They’re not physical pokemon, thankfully,” Kailani said, looking at the notes Asuka had written, “But they can be battled like any normal pokemon. I think we should be able to just leave those to our own pokemon in most situations.”

 “Chu-chu!” Raichu threw a little cake in the air in joy, as it landed on his head when he was unable to catch it and seemed to forget he had psychic powers.

 “…you’re lucky you’re cute,” Kailani sighed.

 “That reminds me,” Fae started, “There’s apparently this place in Sinnoh that, if you don’t take a ‘cute enough’ pokemon…”

 As the conversation started to derail, Asuka tried to get the group back on track. Dr. Pierce watched quietly, before hearing a knock at her door.

 “Hold on…” Dr. Pierce stood up to answer the door. “I’m coming!”

 However, the moment she opened the door, the girls heard her cry out in alarm. “Dr. Pierce!?” Kailani called as they stood up from the table, rushing to the foyer to find her in the process of sitting up, looking up in shock and fear at the new arrival…

 “Hello, ladies.” Ataxia waved a hand daintily as she stepped into the room, heels clacking on the hardwood floor. “Or, should I say, Pretty Cure?”

 “Ataxia!” Rotomi cried out, “You…you’re here!?”

 “I thought today I’d take a bit more of a direct approach.”Ataxia rotated her wrist, the Nega-Ring flashing briefly on it. With a flourish, she prepared to summon a ring of nega-energy.

 “Not so fast…!” Kailani and the girls pulled out their compacts, while Ataxia was already in the motion of preparing to cast it toward them—only to turn and direct it at Dr. Pierce.

 “Wha—“ “NO!” Rotomi shot out of the Cure Dex and smashed her tiny body into Dr. Pierce, knocking her over as the force knocked the Cure Dex off the table—which landed in the dark circle that had formed where Dr. Pierce once stood.

 It shook, rattled, as the darkness spread down the cable connecting the Cure Dex to the computer. The lights flickered, the air grew tense, and numerous error messages appeared on the screen. Before, finally

ERROR: MISSING_NO.();

 The darkness shot out the window.

 “Wait!” Kailani darted past Ataxia, who quickly vanished while the remaining girls tried to register what just happened. Kailani came to a stop outside, finding the group’s foe.

 The beast hulking before her was an amalgamation—vaguely carrying the traits of pokemon she knew, yet all the same crossing way into the uncanny valley.

 “NEEEGAAAAAA….” It rumbled, its voice distorted, as if trying to speak through a poor speaker, or a damaged sound card. Ataxia reappeared sitting on top of the roof, legs crossed daintily.

 “My,” she remarked, “That’s an unusual nega-evolution, for sure.”

 “It’s a…computer error, or something!?” Naomi tried to comprehend as the other girls caught up to Kailani. “It Nega-evolved the Cure Dex itself!”

 “Missingno!” Asuka reasoned, “It’s…some kind of error that pops up in pokedexes sometimes when it can’t find what it’s looking for!”

 “How can a computer bug be Nega-evolved!? It’s just code!” Naomi argued.

 The creature seemed to glitch in response to this, as if angry. Then, it raised its misshapen hands in anger. “NEGA!”

 “Alright, enough!” Fae pleaded, “We need to deal with it before things get out of hand!”

 “Right…!” Kailani gripped her compact.

 “Precure! I! Choose! You!”

 “Swarm it!” Sunrise declared, the quartet of girls rushing Nega-Missingno at once. It glitched away just as Sunrise and Starlight lunged, the two crashing into each other.

 “What a surprise,” Starlight mumbled, “That didn’t work.”

 “Wish whimsy….” Wish started up an attack, when Nega-Missingno glitched in front of her. “Ohh—!”

 “NE!” Nega-Missingno swatted her away, giving off a sinister aura of binary code and nega-energy.

 “Gotcha—!” Willow caught her.

 “Thanks…” Wish muttered dizzily.

 “Wake-Up Shock!” Sunrise clapped her hands together, sending the bolt toward Nega-Missingno. It glitched in place, and the electricity had no effect when it struck. “Huh!?”

 “That thing’s made from a modded Pokédex; why isn’t electricity scrambling it!?” Starlight summoned Absol. “Type: Dark! Precure Wicked Whirl!”

 As the duo’s summoned cyclone of darkness approached Nega-Missingno, it glitched in place again, giving off a bright pink burst of light as the attack struck…once again, no effect.

 “Oh, come on!” Starlight complained. “What’s going on!?”

 “That pink light was almost like a fairy-type aura….” Wish muttered.

 “Like a fairy-type…and dark types can’t affect fairy-types….” Willow murmured. “…hey. I wanna try something. Dr. Pierce!” She turned toward the house.

 “Huh!? Y-you need me!?” Dr. Pierce cried out from the window.

 “You have a regular Pokédex, don’t you? Scan the nega-evolution!”

 “Scan it!? Oh, yes…!” Dr. Pierce came outside, holding a standard Pokédex as she aimed it at Nega-Missingno.

 ERROR: MISSING_NO.();

 “It’s coming up with the Missingno error!” Dr. Pierce called out, “…but…it’s showing a fairy-typing!”

 “Someone attack it!” Willow called out.

 “On it!” Sunrise whistled, as Raichu zapped out of the house. “Type: Psychic! Precure PK Spectacle!”

 Master and pokemon placed their hands to their temples, as a spiral of psychic energy launched itself toward Nega-Missingno. The nega-evolution gave off a dark aura as the attack struck. No effect.

 “Scan it again!” Willow ordered.

 “Same error! But….dark-type!?” Dr. Pierce called back.

 “That’s it!” Willow pumped a fist. “I know what’s going on! It’s changing type once it realizes what type the incoming attack is! That nega-evolution is literally a walking database of pokemon typings!”

 “Then how do we beat it!?” Sunrise asked, letting out a startled yelp as she dove away from an incoming swipe.

 “I’ve got an idea! Huddle!”

 The four Precure immediately moved into a huddle, much to the confusion of Nega-Missingno.

 “Nega?” It comically leaned in, trying to eavesdrop from multiple angles, before jumping back as the girls parted.

 “Ready!” Wish and Willow narrowed their eyes, each summoning a pokemon—Charizard appeared proudly behind Wish, as Cyndaquil joined Willow.

 “Type: Fire!” they cried out in unison. “Precure Passionate Inferno!”

 As the heart-shaped, rose gold-tinted blaze spiraled toward Nega-Missingno, it seemed to shift in place, before the flames struck, with no effect.

 “Ground-type!” Dr. Pierce called.

 “Now!” Willow shouted. Sunrise and Starlight leapt up from behind with Brionne and Sharpedo.

 “Type: Water! Precure Wild Geyser!”

 Before Nega-Missingno could react, the pastel-colored, sparkling geyser of water struck it in the back; as it impacted the ground, Fae’s Charizard flew up and unleashed a flamethrower, predicting it would then change its type to grass, burning it in the process.

 “Now!” Sunrise shouted as the girls regrouped.

 “Precure Quartet Refresh!”

 As the refreshing attack purified Nega-Missingno, it seemed to stare at the group, in silence, before slowly fading away…leaving the Cure Dex behind.

 “Ohhh…!” Ataxia stomped a foot, crossing her arms, before glancing at Dr. Pierce. “…..” she vanished.

 ===

 “That was some quick sleuthing you did, Asuka!” Kailani beamed; the girls were seeing off Asuka as she was waiting for the ferry to head home.

 “It was just standard type-advantage logic…” Asuka replied sheepishly.

 “We even have an entry on Nega-Missingno now!” Rotomi piped up from inside the Cure Dex.

 “But now we have a bigger problem,” Naomi spoke up.

 “Yeah,” Fae began, “It looked like Ataxia was specifically targeting Dr. Pierce….”

 “We’ll be sure to check on her every day, then!” Kailani pumped a fist. “And if Mewtwo comes back, he’ll be sure to check on her, I bet.”

 “If he comes back,” Naomi emphasized, “He doesn’t seem keen on forming any kind of bond with us, though.”

 “He wants to keep himself updated on Dr. Pierce’s research, so I’m sure he’ll return,” Asuka reasoned, “Don’t worry…”

 The ferry arrived, and Asuka boarded, waving to the group as the boat set sail. She replayed the day’s battle over in her head—despite it being an amalgamation of code and data, she couldn’t help but feel bad for Nega-Missingno. For the fleeting time it existed, it only knew to fight and defend.

 She sighed, then nodded to herself. That was likely how all nega-evolved pokemon felt. And that was terrible. Stepping away from the rail and going to sit down, that realization was all it too to reaffirm her mission—she would do whatever it took to keep any pokemon for feeling that way for long. She had to work faster, undo the nega-evolutions faster.

[radramblog]

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is basically OK

Recently, I’ve partaken in some kind of cultural exchange with a friend of mine- namely, I’ve lent her my copies of the Scott Pilgrim novels (god do they kick ass), and she’s lent me her copy of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, seeing as I never played it at the time.

Well I’ve now beaten this game, and I have some thoughts about it, so chop chop Keara the story isn’t getting any younger I expect a full book report on my desk next Sunday.

Jokes aside, this was my first experience with a PMD game since Sky (discounting the demo for Gates to Infinity), and having missed the series’s third entry (fourth if you count those Japan-only WiiWare games), it’d be remiss of me not to at least mention that maybe some of the things I’m going to complain about were originally that game’s fault. But apparently that one actively sucks ass so who cares, just shift the blame over, eh?

(ah, primary-school-tier bullying, exactly what I want in my Pokemon game, cool)

I think one of the foremost issues people have about PSMD is the story, and I can’t help but agree. The game spends what feels like forever fucking about in Serene Village, doing what could charitably described as tutorial followed by slice-of-life-ish plots, and while I love me a good slice-of-life anime, those tend to be a lot less slow than this. Also the characters tend to be a lot less one-note, but it’s a kids game, so whatever. Speaking of kids, this to my knowledge is the only PMD game where you and your partner character are canonically children, and spend a lot of time around others. The game seems to establish unevolved Pokemon as kids, which while it doesn’t really add up with the rest of the series (e.g. in the first ones, Caterpie is clearly a child, but Metapod is as well and Gulpin is at least adult enough to run their own store), it would ultimately be excusable if it didn’t make that huge section of the game so boring.

They aren’t consistent with that kids thing, by the way. When you finally reach the Expedition society, you’re met with a bunch of unevolved Pokemon (Archen, Buizel, Bunnelby, Swirlix) that are running around behaving very youthfully, who then turn around and go hey we don’t allow kids in our gang please leave. Like, the plot had been leading me to believe that the whole place was shut down, Ampharos as its final member, and those kids were just running around an abandoned building, but nope, here are your teammates for the rest of the game.

(brown sus)

The remainder of the plot is basically fine, its not like the plots in this series are the greatest on the planet (save maybe Explorers), though the focus on the villains turning people into stone felt pretty awkward. It’s like they wanted to pull off a more dramatic, more personal-stakesy plot but couldn’t actually kill anyone. This gets kind of egregious when you end up in actual hell for a bit, in what I guess is the series tradition of potentially traumatic experiences and blasted hellscapes being exposed to the protagonists. The endgame plot all seems to come at you at once, not helped by it being lots of chained dungeons without returning to towns beforehand- it wouldn’t be as bad if the whole game was like this, but with such a slow start, it just feels so inconsistent. The endgame twist was pretty spicy, I’ll admit, but it didn’t have enough buildup to feel earned in my honest opinion.

(pictured: the best character in the game)

But the plot doesn’t matter so much as the gameplay does it? And as someone who has also concurrently been playing through the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game on my GBA, there’s a lot of interesting comparisons to make. The dungeons on the whole are shorter in PSMD, with few of the main-game ones reaching beyond 10 floors (and not going much past it) compared to the prequels’ capping off with a 25+5 floor behemoth in Sky Tower. This is made up for by every floor of the dungeons in PSMD feeling much larger and more labyrinthine than anything in other PMD games, meaning each one takes much longer than you’d think. I dread to imagine what the 99-floor dungeons are like in this game, especially considering you now need an item to quicksave the game if you want to do anything else now. The dungeons themselves additionally really do not feel like they’ve taken advantage of the 9 years of potential design improvements and two console generations of technology improvements between games- it is frustratingly same-old same-old in the dungeon design.

These problems are capped off with the increased difficulty- that is, that every individual Pokemon is significantly more of a threat to you than in previous games, and you don’t really get the opportunity to level grind much. And I’m not opposed to difficulty in games, obviously, but what it does in PSMD is ruin the flow of the gameplay for me. What works in Mystery Dungeons previous was that blend of exploration and combat, and in Super, that gets completely broken up by protracted encounters with even the chump-tier mons you encounter along the way. Also, they made the basic attack complete shit, and I don’t like that.

That’s not to say that the gameplay is all bad. I won’t comment too heavily on the Looplet/Emera system, because I’m kinda mid on it, but it didn’t help that despite all the game’s tutorialising I still didn’t get part of it until most of the way through the story. The game does have some moments of genuine brilliance in design, though. The way you recruit more Pokemon is so much better than the luck-based mission of the previous games, wihle managing to actually make you want to go on the random missions you get thrown throughout the game- for one thing they aren’t random, but it means you have a guaranteed good reward instead of the semi-RNG system where you just end up with a bunch of Gravelerocks and berries you’ll never use. In addition, the system where on non-plot days (and in the postgame) you just get 3 random Pokemon recommended to you, that get bonus EXP if you use them that day, is a great way of encouraging the player to diversify their Pokemon usage substantially, which is nice.

There’s a few other nice gameplay things I’d like to highlight. Considering the increased difficulty, the ability to rescue yourself (read: come back with the overpowered mons the game dropped in your lap) is really nice, especially since it’s not like anyone else is playing these games who can help. The way moves get better the more you use them is nice, especially considering how much more you use one move over and over in this game compared to main series Pokemon games. The random bonus missions and travelling mons you encounter in dungeons are nice, as well as the increased variety in missions available- as well as actually being able to revive fallen escortees, it makes the mission system overall much stronger than in previous entries.

Beyond that, though, I’m not sure what else I have to say about Super Mystery Dungeon. The game is a decent entry in what can barely be called a franchise these days, considering it’s 6 years old and yet still the newest entry, excluding the remake of the first ones that came out last year. It’d be a shame if this was the note we went out on for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but to be fair, I don’t think they’re ever going to be able to recapture the magic of the first two games. They struck gold with a lot of people, but I guess at this point, the gleam wore off.